Bulldog's Bimonthly Media Review

Here are some things that I've seen (or heard) over the past few days that I wanted to share a few thoughts on:

(1) Spider-Man 2
What a fantastic film! I wasn't a big fan of the first one (though I didn't dislike it, either), but 2 clearly blows 1 away.
Some fantastic storyline development that takes its cue from the first couple of Batman movies, plus some real conflict among the main characters.
My only question is... how are they going to play out SM3 knowing that he's run out of (real) villians to fight, and half the freaking world knows his secret identity now? Still, a minor complaint for a fun, enjoyable film.

(2) Fahrenheit 9/11
This was almost exactly what I figured it would be. Was it well-written, researched and entertaining? Absolutely. Did it teach me things about terrorism, the Bush family and the U.S. government I didn't already know? A few things, sure.
But my problem was that the film was anti-Republican as hell, which is fine if that's what you want to produce. But Moore is touting this film as "the truth", and it's just not complete.
Look, I'm not saying whether the U.S. should have or shouldn't have invaded Iraq; that's not a debate for me to have today. I'm saying that if you're talking about themes such as freedom of expression, then you need to support that by having ALL points of view heard, not just the convenient ones.
That said, I still enjoyed it overall. It did drag a little bit and roughly 2 hours.

The Cure - The Cure
I am a HUGE Cure fan, and have been since I first heard the Head on the Door album in 1985(ish). Their last few albums have been, uh, lacking, either because they're uninspired or just way too commercial (Friday I'm In Love. Nuff said.).
So this CD was a welcome surprise. While they don't "go back to their roots" or anything, Robert Smith & Co. busy out some original and powerful tunes. I especially enjoyed the hard, gritty "Us And Them" track. Of course, it will never be a single off the album, but that's fine by me. The Cure is one of those bands who gets ruined whenever they get too mainstream...