Saw X-Men III: The Last Stand and it is neither as bad as the critics claim it to be nor as good as its sudden blockbuster status might lead you to believe. A decent ending to a trilogy... on par with Return of the Jedi and its loathed Ewoks. (I think this comparison is pretty apt, because I, as a kid watching Jedi, wasn't as bothered by the teddy bears as the older fans were. In the same way, there were kids watching X-3 who were cheering when Angel swoops in to help while I sat there thinking, "Really? They're liking this bit?")
I also saw United 93 again... and I really do think it's just an incredible piece of filmmaking. The thing that stuck out to me this time though is when the military are frantically scrambling to get through to the President in order to get the authority to shoot down planes (should they need to) and he's simply NOT AVAILABLE/REACHABLE. It made me remember that shot from Fahrenheit 9/11 where Michael Moore shows Bush sitting in the classroom for 7 minutes reading 'My Pet Goat'. I never really "got" how much of an indictment this was against the Bush administration until I realized while watching United 93 that Bush's inaction shut down the entire chain of command. His thumb-twiddling could have cost the loss of the White House, or the House of Representatives, or any other target worthy of the attention of Al Qaeda that day. I know we're approaching 5 years after the fact, but it just made me pissed at this monkey of a man all over again.
I didn't intend to go political in this post, but what I really want in a President is a leader who is smarter than me. Bush seems to be neither.
By the way... the President in X:3 is a real thumb-twiddler too.
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