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Religulous: Two Opposable Thumbs Up!
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The most disturbing aspect was the Jesus theme park in Orlando Fl, complete with dancing routines, a gift shop, and a daily crusifiction.I think Christians and Muslims faced the brunt of the attack and Jews were left largely unscathed by the documentary. I guess that's my biggest beef...Maher did not spend equal time (or vitriol) on his chosen religions. He also didn't focus on Asian religions. And his spoof on Scientology was all of 2 minutes.
His main point was that those who are of the 16% skeptical minority need to come out of the shadows of doubt and begin to openly question. Those who merely tolerate religion in their lives need to decide if religion is worth all the wars, the death, and the destruction that has been a result of organized religion.
For a movie abut decrying religion, Maher was actually pretty preachy at the end.
I enjoyed it. But I think it would be nice if someone on the other side of the issue made a counter documentary discussing how religion can be a positive influence in life.
Re: Religulous: Two Opposable Thumbs Up!
I also thought it quite good. I agree that he didn't cover Judaism as much as I would have liked, though the one Rabbi he did speak to was looney. I think he probably spent so much time on Christianity and Islam because they make up such a large part of American society, and indeed that of the world.
The theme park in Orlando was insane. I guess I sort of knew things like that existed, but the whole crucifixion scene was incredibly unsettling. Likewise, the homosexual man who now derides homosexuality and runs a religious seminar (?) to cleanse people was just outrageous.
The end of the movie was depressing to me. Logically, I knew everything that he said, but it all seems very daunting and unfixable to me.
I have to say that I thought that tone was noticeably lacking in this movie. He asked questions... a lot of questions, but was rarely rude to anyone's face.?
Yeah, the end was a little preachy, but I guess he really wanted to drive home the reason he made the movie.
I think he focused on Christianity becuase of it influence on our politics. No other religion has that sway in our country.
The crucifixion scene was disturbing. Could you imagine taking your young children to see that? My god.?
I love how he showed the other eastern religions with the virgin birth of the son of god on the 25th with the apostles.?
The whole theater was cracking up the whole time.?
huh- your description of it makes me more into seeing it! glad you liked it!
Yes, our theater was packed and clapped at the end. Everyone cheered the W preview. And the theater hissed and booed at the inane Louis Vuitton ad that plays the somber music to scenes of different cultures in far off lands and at the end the name Louis Vuitton splays on the screen (do you know which one I am talking about?). That was a pricesless moment.
Also, there were a million Obama stickers in the parking lot...just random observations I found interesting.
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Dylanite and I were surprised at how full our theater was on Friday night since we live in a very ultra conservative area (south OC). We were joking that we wanted to go introduce ourselves to everyone in the theater and make friends since we were so happy to find other people "like us" lol?
Ha! We felt the same way.
LOL! Were we at the same theater? Our theater was SO excited about the W preview, and laughed and laughed throughout the whole movie.?
Obviously there are many, many belief systems that could/can be explored but Maher seemed to focus on religions based on Abraham, though he briefly skewered Scientology. As for homeopathy, he met with a man who is a preacher (?) of the church of cannabis in Amsterdam. While Maher enjoyed lighting a doobie with the preacher, he had the same sardonic approach to the cannabis preacher that he took with all other believers.
I don't really think his tone was out of line. It was really just about him posing questions to the faithful (whatever faith they may be).I told my mom about it last night and her response as a Christian (raised Lutheran) was "well I was always taught to question my faith, there is nothing wrong with this."
It's only the very end that I think could pose to be objectionable because he links organized religion to some very horrific acts...although nothing he says is untruthful.
Eh. H and I thought it was just okay. I liked his speech at the end, and the stuff about the end of times being a self-fulfilling prophesy. But I would've liked to have been challenged more. I mean, if you interview a bunch of idiots of course they're going to look like idiots--and when you juxtapose the idiots against creepy religious movies, of course you make a good point. But Mahr didn't bring all that much to the table himself--he just looked skeptical through his interviews and I didn't think he raised very compelling points.
And keep at mind that I'm the choir to whom he's preaching. So, while I agree with him, I think it could've been done way better
Color me shocked..he interviewed religious "idiots" rather than level headed religious people like myself?
And he didn't get into Judaism much? Perhaps that's because it would have come across as anti-semitic..and that's not acceptable. However, it isn't unacceptable to "question" Christianity or Islam.
2vermont, it seems like you have a preconceived notion that this film would be really offensive to you. Maybe, but it's a different perspective and good to have out there. Questioning christians, muslims and jews seems about equal on the acceptability scale, and I think the reason he interviewed who he did was probably based on timing. This film could've been done better but he made some good points.