13 Days in October - 5 Years in Iraq

Watched Thirteen Days (Costner film about the Cuban missile crisis) yesterday. Very well done. Apparently a lot of the dialog was taken from tapes and note from the time. I was only 11 years old at the time, and only have vague memories of unease from the time.

What struck me about the situation was the dynamic between the politicians/leaders and the military. Now since the film was from the point of view of the Kenneth o'Donnell (Kennedy's chief of staff) and secondarily, the Kennedy brothers, the Army (Maxwell Taylor) and Air Force Curtis "bomb 'em to the stone age" Lemay come off as wanting a full scale invasion as a face-saving for the Bay of Pigs, while the administration was able to see the potential for escalation between the USA and USSR.

That's one thing that struck me as differing from today's environment - an administration that was capable of foresight. Admittedly today's global situation is probably as more complex than the Cold War as the Cold War was than the WWII era. But it helps to have leaders that recognize that complexity and plan and act accordingly.

Question for Blockbuster

A frustration with my Blockbuster "All Access" subscription triggers this question...

How come Blockbuster will rent "unrated" versions of slasher crap, gross-outs like "Jackass", and bloodier battle scenes and not legitimate "art house" movies like "Lust, Caution", "Henry & June", and "The Cook, The Thief, his Wife, and Her Lover" that happen to have been slapped with NC-17 ratings? (They do offer an R-rated version of "Lust, Caution" - the one that was made for the mainland China market - but not the version that fully reflects the director's vision.)

I can accept not putting them on shelves in stores where insufficiently parented children might pick them up, but since the online service relies on a credit card to access, there's no reason adults shouldn't have access to them.

It's not like the policy is just a simple, straightforward "no NC-17" since they list "Last Tango in Paris" and John Waters' "A Dirty Shame" in their offerings.

Best Sports Movie Ever

North Dallas Forty