Dec 13 2007
The New York Times reports, Retail prices, particularly of books, are tightly regulated in France. Using "loss-leaders," or selling products below cost to attract customers, is illegal. Other restrictions apply to books retailers must not offer discounts of more than 5 percent on the publisher's recommended price. Ma...
Dec 13 2007
U.S. News and World Report says that Northern Virginia's Thomas Jefferson (TJ) is the best public high school in the country. Here's a neat paper by Lloyd Cohen of the GMU Law School estimating the extent of AA (or as he calls it "invidious discrimination in admissions") going on at TJ. Cohen took full advantage of...
Dec 13 2007
Am I the only Saw fan in the world who thinks that Enchanted is the best movie of 2007? P.S. The movie is far better than the trailer.
READER COMMENTS
Scott Scheule
Dec 13 2007 at 2:48pm
I’ll start taking your aesthetic advice the minute you stop raving about Ayn Rand.
Also, did you not see No Country?
Rue Des Quatre Vents
Dec 13 2007 at 2:50pm
Enchanted is second only to Ratatouille. The singing princess exemplifies the perfect dionysian yeah-saying Nietszchean. She sings yes to life, her optimism is a will to power. As opposed to that nay-sayer, Mr. Benatar, who claims life is not worth living.
drtaxsacto
Dec 13 2007 at 3:30pm
I agree – Enchanted was fun and innovative and a bit campy but certainly better than some of the drivel that passed for movies that came out this year.
Unit
Dec 13 2007 at 3:50pm
Yes but how realistic is it for a little girl to be home alone and that she then goes shopping with a perfect stranger and lends her her credit card? Also the final couple’s swap was way too smooth! Only extremely rational economic agents perfectly aware of their own self-interest can be that efficient.
Bryan Caplan
Dec 13 2007 at 4:31pm
Scott Scheule says:
Yep. Good start, but I thought it fell apart in the third act. It seemed like the Coens decided the movie was too long, so they randomly chopped out half of the last hour.
Fargo and the under-valued Intolerable Cruelty remain their masterpieces.
Scott Wentland
Dec 13 2007 at 4:43pm
I have free tickets to any Disney movie (via Disney reward points from my credit card)…and I was skeptical that Enchanted was even worth the opportunity cost of time of seeing it. My wife wants to see it, and so far I’ve heard good things; so, I’m beginning to reconsider. Seriously, best of 2007?
David Robinson
Dec 13 2007 at 4:47pm
I would wholeheartedly disagree (as a fellow fan of Saw). I thought Patrick Dempsey was surprisingly unlikable and that Giselle would have been much better with the hilariously unusual Edward. The climax with the dragon seemed both implausible (how did the dragon even die? What happened?) and unsatisfying.
I did laugh out loud during the scene where rats, pigeons and cockroaches cleaned the apartment, as well as the musical in the park. But that hardly makes it “the best movie of 2007.”
Scott Scheule
Dec 13 2007 at 4:49pm
Possible, thought that may have been the book’s author’s decision, not the Coens’. Don’t know, never read it.
You accidentally referred to Intolerable Cruelty as one of the Coens’ masterpieces. While it is undervalued, you meant to type O Brother Where Are Thou?
You would think I wouldn’t argue about a movie I haven’t seen, especially one with Amy Adams in it. However, two weeks ago I predicted The Golden Compass would be terrible, and when it was released, I was vindicated and then some. All that being said, I did kind of like the idea of Enchanted: I’m just too admit that to any of my friends.
jb
Dec 13 2007 at 5:13pm
I enjoyed Enchanted quite a bit – my 5yo daughter was… well…. enchanted.
Many of the scenes are hilarious, and the “awakening” of the princess is well-managed.
Best movie of the year? Hrm…. pause while I check Wikipedia….
No. It’s certainly the best or second best kids film of the year alongside Ratatouille, but both “Knocked Up” and “Superbad” are mind-numbingly funny, and still manage to make some great points.
I’m also a fan of Saw. So I would put Enchanted in.. fourth place for this year.
Robert S. Porter
Dec 14 2007 at 1:51am
I just finished The Myth of the Rational Voter and loved it and you go and recommend those movies… My world just collapsed a little.
Scott Scheule
Dec 17 2007 at 11:33am
All right, I went and saw Enchanted.
Caplan’s right about this one, folks.
Comments are closed.