Ellen Leventry: July 2007 Archives

Paris is often referred to as the City of Love. The food, the fine wine, and the historic atmosphere all serve to act as an intoxicating aphrodisiac--the perfect recipe for a romantic relationship. The very title of "Paris, je t'taime," a recently released film featuring 18 vignettes--dare we call them love letters to Paris?-- and helmed by well-known directors Alfonso Cuaron and Wes Craven, harken back to this very Parisian stereotype.

But this film is interested in more than just romantic relationships. It revels in all relationships: familial, spiritual, socio-economic, accidental, and internal.

With 18 vignettes, the film is a tad too long but is completely worth the 8-10 francs (or dollars) you’ll spend at the box office (especially for those who have been to Paris and long to see the city in cinematic splendor). Sure, there are twists on the typical Parisian love story scattered throughout the ensemble--my favorite being a young man who is aided in keeping his fiancée by the ghost of Oscar Wilde in Pere-Lachaise--but there are truly profound stories here too.

Yesterday afternoon, a friend of mine sent me the CNN.com link flacking Tammy Faye Messner's "Larry King Live" appearance scheduled for 9:00 p.m. The subject line read, "This is terrifying." For anyone who tuned in last night, or saw the clip, the sight of the terminally ill, 65 pound former wife of televangelist Jim Bakker was startling. In fact, King so much as said so at the onset of the taped segment, noting that if she was only weighing 65 pounds, that weight was all heart.

There are few people in this world that I have a profound admiration for, but Tammy Faye is one of them. Like many people, I grew up knowing her as the cherubic faced, mascara clad other half of the couple at the heart of the PTL scandal and didn’t know much else. That is until I saw the brilliant documentary by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato called "The Eyes of Tammy Faye." The film opened my eyes to what a talented, charismatic, loving, and indefatigable woman the oft-caricatured evangelist is. This woman endured the hostile takeovers of projects she nurtured and built into successes , public humiliations that most of us will never know, recurrences of cancer and yet, she still manages to laugh and love others.

This woman evokes a pathos in me that is overwhelming; she does not allow herself to be a victim and has a constant, unbreakable faith--something the best of us would have a hard time doing. And she has unconditional love for everyone, absolutely everyone. She was one of the first prominent Christians to publicly open her arms to AIDs sufferers and build a bridge with the gay community.

Paris Hilton found the Bible--or at least "The Bible for Dummies"/"Idiots Guide to the Bible," according to inside sources--and the self-help blockbuster "The Secret" while incarcerated, but rival starlet Lindsay Lohan has decided to outdo her frenemy's literary forays by keeping Machiavelli’s "The Prince" close at hand while in rehab.

As the troubled starlet told Britain’s Tattler (via TMZ.com), "I was going out with someone, and they said I should read Machiavelli and I was like, 'nah,' and then I was, 'OK, I'll read it' and now it is always with me."

A work of political advice, advocating very harsh use of power in the consolidation and maintenance of authority, "The Prince" is perhaps best known for this bit of, well, Machiavellian advice: "It is best to be both feared and loved, however, if one cannot be both it is better to be feared than loved."

Sure, we applaud Lohan, who just finished a six-week stint at Promises in Malibu, for tackling a classic piece of literature and avoiding the cliched works of self-help gurus. But let's leave your "Mean Girls" persona on the big screen where it serves you best. A book that espouses "an understanding that apparent cruelties and vice may be essential to maintaining stability and power," may not be the best guide for a recovering addict and enfant terrible.

There are few things one can count on in life other than death, taxes, and the fact that people will be dressed as stormtroopers at San Diego Comic-Con. But now we can add the bastion of pop-culture punditry known as "The Simpsons" to that list.

Reuters reports that a ten-minute clip of "The Simpsons Movie" shown in London suggests that "the environment and religion would be major themes." Meaning that Groening and company aren't toning down content to appeal to a wider audience, and fans can rejoice knowing that it will be the same old irreverant, yet super-sized, Simpson family.

Series writer Al Jean acknowledged that there were grand themes afoot in Springfield, but that both sides are represented: "They are big themes, especially the environmental theme, but we always like to approach it from both sides, so later in the film when Lisa's giving a lecture about the pollution, the label of the lecture is 'An Irritating Truth.'"

And, just like the series, pivotal action takes place at church with the family displaying their brand of ditzy devotion. At one point in the sneak-peek, Homer is seen flipping through the Bible only to conclude that "This book doesn't have any answers."

While Groening admits that,the purpose of the film is "to entertain people and also to annoy a certain segment of the audience as well," the fact of the matter is that it will also educate people. Aside from "South Park," "The Simpsons" is one of the most religiously relevant shows on television, with God frequently making guest appearances. In fact one survey said the show "more accurately reflects the faith lives of Americans than any other show in the medium.'' Which will surely have some people having a holy cow, man.

"The Simpsons Movie" opens Friday, July 27.

Want to read more about "The Simpsons"? Check out Beliefnet's coverage:

Like many in the nation this week, I took advantage of the gloomy fourth of July weather and headed into the dry confines of the local cineplex to take in "Transformers." My expectations were mixed: Many renderings of favorite cartoons on the big screen have been less than stellar ("He-Man," "The Flintstones"), but coming from Michael "Armageddon" Bay and Steven Spielberg, I figured it couldn't be totally bad.

I was, in fact, pleasantly surprised. At 2 hours and 20 minutes, the film is way, way too long; but, Bay certainly knows how to direct action-adventure/sci-fi, and there was plenty of humor and celebrity cameos to go around.

Based on the mid-80's cartoon series, which was based on the toy line from Hasbro, the film enhances the backstory of these "robots in disguise." Having battled until their home world of Cybertron was destroyed, the Autobots (The good guys) and the Decepticons (The Bad Guys) are on a race to find "The All Spark," the mysterious energy source cube from which all Transformer--sentient mechanical beings--life evolved. Of course, the All Spark has found its way to earth and humans are now involved, including an assuming geek named Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf).