Free Republic

National borders are being superseded by the ancient battleground of al-Jazira. ___ Policymakers and media people—as well as anyone interested in the Middle East, Islam, terrorism, and related issues—need to be talking about al-Jazira. I am not talking here about the Qatar-based media operation that we usually call al-Jazeera. Rather, I am referring to those regions of Eastern Syria and Northern Iraq that have been in the news so much recently because they are the main stamping grounds of ISIL, and the core of the Islamic State, the Daesh. This is not just a question of applying a handy geographical...

It wasn’t a particularly good year for conservative cinema. It rarely is. Yet alongside the cavalcade of ideology, mediocrity and stupidity that is Hollywood today, a few gems shone forth dazzlingly. What is a conservative film? Let’s start with what it isn’t. It’s not about men with bulging biceps and even bigger guns. It’s not cartoonish action heroes. It isn’t revenge tales masquerading as heroism. Conservative cinema does more than entertain; movies that do no more are visual candy. It instructs and inspires. Conservative films celebrate virtue. They tell timeless tales of individuals overcoming all manner of adversity to achieve...

Producers of the 1979 cult indie 'Parts: The Clonus Horror' filed suit in New York claiming DreamWorks and Warner Bros. stole their movie for 'The Island'. Several critics have noted similarities between the two films, Daily Variety reported. Premiere magazine went so far as to say: The first hour of 'The Island' plays like a much more expensive albeit scene-for-scene remake (of 'Clonus'). In addition to unspecified financial compensation, Myrl A. Schreibman and Robert S. Fiveson want 'The Island' withdrawn from theaters and any further release barred, Variety said. Both films tell the stories of clones being raised as spare...

Yesterday I went to the movies with a dear friend and watched The Island, staring with Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson. What a great movie! It raised very timely issues regarding cloning, bio-ethics, the meaning of being human, of having a soul, of harvesting organs from human clones, of gassing them when they become "defective." Oh, and lots of special effects and chase scenes. I am amazed that a movie like this made it out of Hollywood. Don't expect too much hoolabaloo about it, other than the mandatory publicity! For the movie raises issues that the dominant cultural establishment doesn't...

On leaving a theater, have you ever been tempted to yell at the other moviegoers, "Hey, guys: Do ya get it? Do you know what this is about?" That's what I wanted to do when the lights came up and the credits started to roll for Michael Bay's just-released sci-fi block-buster "The Island." "Cloning! Embryonic stem cell research! Abortion! Euthanasia!" I wanted to shout. Still, "The Island's" pro-life message is unmistakable. Liberal critics are grumbling about it. Writing in the Hollywood Reporter, Kirk Honeycutt complains that "These filmmakers have, perhaps unwittingly, delivered a film certain to give succor to the...

(Warning: The following review contains plot spoilers. Also, it should be noted that there are two distinct faces to The Island. One face is that of an intellectual thriller that explores some of the most pressing moral questions of the present day and demonstrates a remarkable amount of respect for the dignity of human life; for this reason I recommend the film. The other face is that of an action flick with all of the genre-typical moral obfuscation-innocents being killed in fiery car-chases, etc. The film also contains a brief, non-explicit sex scene. The film is definitely not suitable for...

A candy man and a couple of randy men handily squelched a weak attack of the clones, though overall business suffered. The year-to-year down trend returned as the top 12 pictures generated an estimated $128.9 million, down seven percent from the comparable frame last year. Intended as a summer tent-pole, DreamWorks' The Island transplanted a meager estimated $12.1 million from 3,122 theaters. Director Michael Bay's $122 million clone thriller, co-produced by DreamWorks and Warner Bros., earned a fraction of such similar summer science fiction events as I, Robot and Minority Report and stands as a massive misfire along the lines...

A Wyandanch man fatally shot a 20-year-old man who tried to enter his home through a window early yesterday, police said. Tyrell Rudolph, of Wyandanch, was discovered in front of a home on Parkway Boulevard with gunshot wounds to his chest and left arm at 3:05 a.m. The alleged shooter, Sanjay Broomfield, 22, was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, a felony. Broomfield, a baker at Entenmann's in Bay Shore, told police he fell asleep Friday night, after working a double-shift, said Det. Sgt. Vincent Posillico, of the county's homicide squad. He said he was awoken at 9 p.m....