Lary9

I've decided to binge rewatch "Penny Dreadful" S.1, 2 & 3 (2014-16) to reorient myself & prepare for the new "P.D.City of Angels" (plot unrelated) season 2020, which is, like its older cousin, wow-level good. Eva Green's performance in S.1 is among the best I 've ever seen. OMG! She is so incredibly talented. It helps that she has a screenplay to match her growing virtuosity. A "must watch", this sustained anthological feast of reimagined classic tales of the grand guinol is intelligent, near flawless and will definitely delight artistically demanding adults.

Firstly, I'm an atheist. I was raised a devout Episcopalian but I often refer to myself as a secular humanist & non-believer but raised with culturally Christian views. Having said that, I noticed right away at the scene in the history class that nothing Melissa Hart said actually violated any hard & fast 1stAMD separation issues. She was within her rights to share those historical facts. She responded to a question in a history class about historically specific correlations between traditions in non-violent protest and passive resistance. Maybe she could have omitted the lengthy scripture quote from the Gospel---but a sound argument could be made that even that was academically relevant too. So...IMHO it was quite relevant and legal. Remember...I'm not a "believer". No school board would take this complaint seriously. I actually think that the ACLU might have defended Melissa Hart!!! It's obvious that the movie makers are trying to unfairly demonize the "freedom from religion" crowd (a rapidly growing demographic BTW) as fanatically unreasonable and angry. In fact, I've found that the exact opposite is usually true. Just research the landmark Kitzmiller vs Dover School board case. As to the ongoing portrayal of atheists and liberal religious types throughout the film, it's an inartfully constructed "straw man" set up for the express purpose of getting easily knocked down. Poor Christians! They have a Biblical persecution complex and are happiest when they can imagine being burned at the stake by the ACLU and a shouting, un-Churched mob of pagan non-believers! Wait 'til you see how they depict the ACLU lawyers as basely motivated by notoriety, power politics and publicity. Not very good...and not persuasive. I think most people can see through this bit of evangelical agitprop whether religious or non-religious.

What do these people all have in common? Donald Sutherland ... Brooke Adams Jeff Goldblum Veronica Cartwright Leonard Nimoy Kevin McCarthy They all had roles in one of the most underrated sci-fi/horror films of all time. It's a pleasure to revisit it every time---and that has been often. 7.4/10.0 on IMDb and I concur. Notably, this 1978 remake of this 1956 classic, unfolds with almost ~zero~ soundtrack music to garnish the scenes or the dialogue. Occasionally some orchestral trumpets blare to accompany forthcoming shocks. I won't bore you with a plot synopsis. Who hasn't seen one of the versions of it? It's an iconic grandparent to many sci-fi offspring over the past 3 decades. BTW; just an aside...a young Jeff Goldblum has already begun to carve out his specialty niche in 'Snatchers-2'; e.g; the fast-talking eccentric whose free associating dialogue keeps the film moving at a brisk pace... (yet with no particular goal in mind.) Goldblum has this particular 'shtick' patented...reacting to scenes like they were Rorschach inkblots is a colorful additive. Alba's Real Science Ratings give it an acceptable RSR...i.e; it's realistic except for stretches the "MacGuffin" (the body snatching pods.)