Hi y'all. I'm Sarah. And I'm new around here, so I thought I'd start it off by combing a couple things I love: conservatism and spaceships.

Hot Air is currently running a poll on the Best Conservative Movies of the past 25 years. It's not something I noticed until a newsletter I subscribe to linked to a post at Whedonesque about how one of the films in the list is Serenity. The comments seem to be split pretty evenly about three ways: 1)Yes, it's conservative, because the hero's grand statement is that the government cannot make the world perfect and therefore should not meddle with people; 2) No, it's not conservative, because it's a triumph of feminist ass-kicking; 3) People making uncomfortable references to the Continental Congress by using the quote, “I aim to misbehave.”

I was intrigued by the excellent ads for "Taken" starring Liam Neeson. as Bryan Mills, talking to the kidnappers of his daughter in that calm voice of his and explaining to them that if they don't let his daughter go, he will find them and kill them with the "special set of skills" he's developed over a lifetime as a "preventer of bad things" for the U.S. government.

I think it was the juxtaposition of Liam Neeson, one of the most intelligent actors working today, and the explicit threat of violence that caught my attention. Interesting combination--like walnuts and Brie.

Taken is essentially a remake of Commando--bad guys take good guy's daughter, good guy goes berserk on them, but filmed in the now default style of the Bourne movies. Its entirely predictable, even mawkish in some places. I've had a seventeen year old daughter--the balance of irritation to affection is tilted far more towards the former than the latter.

Nevertheless, there are some arresting scenes in this movie. The cell phone conversation between father and daughter as she's being kidnapped is brilliant and will probably be imitated many times now. Mills' (Neeson) dinner with a former French colleague, now haute fonctionnaire in the security apparatus of France is also very memorable (I won't spoil it for you...)

The real debt "Taken" owes to the Bourne movies isn't the fight scenes, but the casting. Just as Matt 'Opie' Damon was just weird as Jason Bourne at first, Neeson is hardly the first guy you think of for a Rambo movie. Neither actor is what I would call menacing, and Neeson accentuates the surprise of his raging bad self with the tenderness he displays so convincingly towards his daughter in the first part of the movie (and at the end). In a sense, he is the anti-Bond. Whereas James Bond reveals the occasional glimpses of humanity, Bryan Mills reveals the occasion glimpses of savagery present in average, civilized man.

"Taken" is rated PG-13 for its "Gladiator-like", implied violence and profanity-free dialogue (unless you speak French, where the curses flow freely and are not faithfully transcribed in the sub-titles...)

Are you entertained? Are you entertained?

Yes. Yes I was.

I'm putting my Netflix account to good use by renting some of the old Hollywood classics. Right now I'm making my way through the Hitchcock library, with this week's selection being "To Catch A Thief".

The first thing that strikes you is how beautiful the film is. The VistaVision process produced extremely vivid colors, which Hitchcock used to good effect with extraordinary visuals of southern France and pretty wonderful clothes.

Clothes you say? Yeah, I know its weird but everyone is so fabulously dressed--men and women. This was Grace Kelly's last film before she married Prince Rainier and ended her film career, and I kept thinking what a shame it was. She was an extraordinary beauty and her allure was magnified by the costuming of Edith Head. Whose Edith Head? Well, you probably have no reason to know unless your in film school, are over eighty or you watched "The Incredibles". You remember the short little woman with the glasses and the bangs? That was the animated version of Edith Head.

Then of course there is the physical beauty of the stars. Its a little odd though to consider that Grant was 51 when he filmed the movie, and Grace Kelly was 26--young enough to be his daughter. Nevertheless, he looks damn good (and very tanned). Kelly is as usual, breathtakingly beautiful.

1953 Sunbeam Alpine. Click to enlarge-->

Even the cars look good. Classic designs from the hey-day of French carosserie.

The it all goes to hell.

It was a very popular film in its day, but unlike some of Hitchcock's other work, I don't think this one stands the test of time. The dialogue is lousy with innuendos, but rather than titillate, they seem trite and childish. The plot is predictable, which for a film that is supposed to be suspenseful, is a bit problematic. I knew who the cat burglar was going to be ten minutes into the film. Then there is the problem of casting Cary Grant as a former cat burglar--an awfully posh guy to be skittering along roofs and balconies.

Rent it for the scenery, but catch up on your Facebook page while you watch it.

Mick has repeatedly dissed Frost/Nixon, the movie. I saw it last night. The whole production is a liberal artefact which makes it all the more delicious that Nixon emerges as hero, willy-nilly, and the creep is the mean-spirited, cowardly (in the film), liberal apparatchik, James Reston Junior. The sheer quality of Nixon, the world-class operator, shines through. It's hard not to compare the sophisticated, battle-hardened Nixon with the juvenile imposter Obama. Would that Nixon were President now! His sins were fighting fire with fire. He'd been subjected to liberal shenanigans and voter fraud for many years. Then as now the media protected the more telegenic, but more scandalous liberal candidates, while emoting with outrage at the relatively humdrum crimes of their cultural arch-enemies. The script nicely symbolizes the culture war with lace up shoes versus elasticated shoes. The movie does more to rehabilitate Nixon than anyone involved could imagine. We crave ruthless competence in the service of America, the city on the hill.

Every red state seems to have a liberal enclave tucked away in some part of the state, and Utah as Park City, the site of the yearly Sundance Film Festival where for 11 days, we import strange creatures from Hollywood and other places in the country (and even the world at large), whose values are 180 degrees out from what passes for normal here.

"Contracorriente" (Undertow) — a Peruvian film (with subtitles) about a married guy with a pregnant wife in a fishing village whose gay lover dies and returns as a ghost to prod him out of the closet.

Review: Never see this movie. Ever.

"Blue Valentine" — about a married couple that used to be happy, but now their marriage sucks.

Review: See this film! Be glad you're not them!

"The Perfect Host" — about a bank robber who cons his way into a man's house to hide, only to find himself drugged, tied up and guest of honor at a dinner party with his host's imaginary friends. And that's just the first part.

Review: Only see it with your imaginary friends.

"Louis C.K.: Hilarious" — Louis C.K. is a stand-up comic whose specialty is "taboo-busting" — anything you think he shouldn't joke about, he jokes about — who filmed his monologue and turned it into this film.

Review: A very funny man who I'm pretty sure broke Tommy Lasorda's world record for most F words in a contiguous sentence.

(Just curious: Is there such a thing as an F rating? They use that word at Sundance. They use it a lot. If this column was a Sundance movie, I would have used at least 50 F words by now.)

Utahns don't casually utter the 'F word', and I don't just mean the Mormons. It puzzles us to watch films where its every second word. Are liberals congenitally ineloquent? Just plain angry? I know it can't be for the shock value, because when you hear a violent sexual reference that much, it just isn't shocking. What it is--is boring and unpleasant, like sewer gas backing up into your home. Like listening to your teen-aged daughter talk to her girlfriends on the phone, with the relentless drum beat of OMG! OMG! Grating.

I get to thinking about this every year, as long-time Utah resident, but unassimilated immigrant Robert Redford, invites his friends over for videos, weed, hooking up and distribution deals.

January is not a great time to visit Utah unless you ski. We generally experience several weeks of inversion, which is a climatic phenomenon that traps cold air (and pollutants) in the valleys like dense, smelly fog. The skiing is good, but people who come to Sundance spend their time in dark theaters watching boring films with people utter f**k, f**k, f**k every few seconds. Its like going to Hawaii and spending all your time in the condo watching DVDs.

There's a place for people who enjoy watching dysfunction, hearing vulgar language and seeing naked people.

Las Vegas.

How about it Bob?