Summary: Alita is fun and beautifully done, and well worth seeing. Feminists’ reviews were savage. Their attacks reveal much about them and the new puritanism (ideological, not religious) sweeping America.
Reviews
Ultra Violence: A Book Review
This is a re-post Chet Richard’s review and the book author’s responses to his observations and analysis. stands on its own two feet and needs no additional context or explanation. The original is viewable on his website Slightly East of West. That said, this post you’re looking at now is more than a reprint. I’ve split up the original review to highlight each of his observations, and respond to them. I offer sincere thanks to everyone who’s read and commented on the content we’ve posted on Fabius Maximus over the years, and I hope you find this new column informative, or at least entertaining.
Spielberg Saved Private Ryan and Killed Patriotism
Synopsis: The classic 1998 gory D-Day movie Saving Private Ryan is a triumph of war cinema that lesser filmmakers have attempted to imitate countless times in the following decades up to the present day. Saving Private Ryan practically defined the entire genre of American war films, but also helped destroy it, perhaps irreversibly.
Super Women In the Trenches!
Synopsis: One boring night on Amazon Prime, I stumbled across the 2015 Russian WWI flick Battalion. Woman warriors march to the front lines, bayonets fixed, ready to charge into no man’s land! As I watched the drama unfold, another movie came to mind; Wonder Woman (2017) charging the German lines. How do the two movies compare? Uhh… different would be putting it mildly. Yet, despite being so different, they go hand in hand. They offer insights on their own, but when put side by side, create a whole picture. Wonder Woman and Battalion are polar opposites and teach opposite lessons. But they both serve the same purpose; to overwrite a dark moment in history, replacing it with a fantasy that’s both inspirational and comforting.