ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY MY ONLY POST ABOUT THE FISCAL CLIFF™

And really, I wouldn’t have posted anything about it at all if not for the insane genius that is Charles Krauthammer.

I’ve avoided posting about the Fiscal Cliff™ for two key reasons: (1) I know dick about economics, and (2) there’s really nothing to post about unless we go over it. And even then I probably wouldn't have much to say because of Reason 1. That, and I’m going with the assumption that both politicians and the media are making it out to be a far bigger deal than it really is.

In the meantime, we’ve gotten pretty much what I expected – a buttload of frontline partisan posturing while the actual negotiations go on in the back room, none of which helps me formulate any real opinion except that it’s business as usual.

Interestingly, that also includes the Tea Party dingbats making John Boehner look bad. So much for the hopes that some Republicans telling Grover Norquist to take a hike was a sign that the GOP had some sense knocked back into it by Obama’s re-election.

John Scalzi has that ground covered pretty well. But essentially, the upshot is that the GOP is still dysfunctional and hamstrung by the “never compromise, never surrender” mentality of the Tea Party that’s keeping it from making the deal its own leadership wants.

Guess whose fault that is?

Why, Presidente Obama, of course.

I know this because Charles Krauthammer said so.

“He’s been using this, and I must say with great skill – and ruthless skill and success – to fracture and basically shatter the Republican opposition… His objective from the very beginning was to break the will of the Republicans in the House, and to create an internal civil war. And he’s done that.”

Now, let’s be fair – it’s fairly normal in politics to blame the Opposition President for everything that’s wrong in America. No one here is in the business of making their opponents look good.

And I’d fully expect Krauthammer to go on Sean Hannity’s show and say that if when America sails off the Fiscal Cliff™, you can blame Obama for that.

But to blame Obama for yr own party not being able to get its shit together? That takes balls (or CHOOT-spa, if you will). It’s like the coach of a football team blaming the coach of the other team for not letting them win the Super Bowl.

Only Krauthammer is more like a cheerleader than a coach. But you see what I’m saying.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to the hoo-ha when the Fiscal Cliff™ kicks in. And there will be hoo-ha.

Falling off the edge of the world,

This is dF

RALPH KILLS HOBBITS SOFTLY IN THE WOODS

Presenting the last of the cinema reviews of 2012 (as I am very unlikely to go see Life Of Pi, Les Miserables or that Jack Reacher thing, and Django Unchained doesn’t open til January 11).

Killing Them Softly

On paper it’s promising – three nitwits rob a gangster-run card game, forcing the mob to call in a hitman to fix things up. And it almost works, thanks to some really good acting and some snappy dialogue.

But too often it really is a case of style drowning out the substance. It wants to be Pulp Fiction with social commentary, but the idea of gangsters being hard up for money in the tough economy doesn’t really come across, and director Andrew Dominick tends to bury scenes in eye-catching but gratuitous style.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

I’ll be honest up front: as much as I liked the Lord Of The Rings movies, I found myself looking a lot less forward to the film version of The Hobbit once I found out it was going to be done as a trilogy. They might as well have titled it The Hobbit: We’re Milking This Cash Cow For Every Penny We Can Get.

Which isn’t fair to Peter Jackson, I know. I’m sure he feels it’s artistically necessary to split it into three films. But with An Unexpected Journey running close to three hours, I’m also reasonably sure he’s doing some padding to accomplish that.

Anyway, as usual, it looks awesome. And Martin Freeman knocks it out of the park as Bilbo Baggins. But I can’t really say more than that until I see the whole story, and I really have a feeling that in 2014, my assessment will be something like: they really could have done this in one three-hour film.

Wreck-It Ralph

Disney film that does for video game characters what Toy Story did for toys. No wait, come back!

I had low expectations going in, partly because I was never a big fan of video games and thus wouldn’t get much out of it, and partly because the basic idea – Wreck-It Ralph, the villain in a video game, is tired of being the bad guy and wants to win a medal – sounds like too obvious a set-up. Also, Disney Animation Studios has yet to produce a film that I’ve really liked.

Until now.

Even if you just remember the kinds of video games that have existed in the last 30 years, that’s more than enough to get what’s going on, and while the storyline seems a bit too obvious in the first 20 minutes, it soon takes off into some interesting directions. Design-wise it’s amazing and clever, and it’s got a good mix of characters. So all up, I enjoyed it a lot.

The Cabin In The Woods

Yeah, I’m late with this one. By now you know the hype surrounding it: a horror film about five college kids who go on vacation in a remote cabin in the woods – only it’s not the movie you think it’s going to be. 

Which is true. It’s made clear fairly early that the above scenario is under the control of other people with their own agenda, and that there is far more at stake than a bunch of young people getting hacked apart by torture-zombies.

Anyway, it's a relatively original take on a hackneyed genre and pretty funny at times. People have complained it’s not very scary, but that’s not an issue with me as most “horror” films don’t scare me anyway.

And now for something completely different,

This is dF

LISTEN TO MY LAST WORDS OF 2012

[Via Things That Shine]

PRODUCTION NOTE: I have no idea where this is from. If anyone knows, please fill out the comment box below. 

Vengeance is mine,

This is dF