MOVIE'S 2014

@LHoffman:

Again, it just seems incredibly strange if Craig were to just be done and they continue on with a new actor for Bond as if absolutely nothing had changed. I would find that hard to deal with.

It feels wrong I agree Hoff - but they’ve made it work time and again over however many changes of Bond across so many films. Bond is sufficiently fixed in the mind of the audience regardless of the actor playing him - a strength of the franchise - and a weakness.

Marc is right about the other characters getting involved in the action. It had not struck me that this is a change. A welcome one as it allows more complex finales.

Welcome back!

Good to see you posting again.

Alright, here goes.

Let’s assume for a moment that the briefcase does contain Marsellus’ soul.  The combination for the briefcase is: 666.  Perhaps the Devil took Marsellus’ soul (possibly from the back of his neck, hence the band-aid that Jermo mentioned) and placed it into a briefcase.  Tony gets a hold of it and passes it along.  Marsellus finds out that Tony has something of value to him (an understatement) and tosses him out of a window.  The fact that Tony can’t speak properly anymore is the Devil’s way of literally keeping his mouth shut.

And speaking of souls and how beautiful they are, it is likely that Marsellus’ soul is not that beautiful.  But maybe his soul actually is beautiful, meaning that he is actually a good guy, and he just needs it back, so that he won’t be an a$$hole anymore.  When Butch goes to the apartment to get his watch, he shoots and kills Vincent.  After leaving, he runs into Marsellus (with his car) and they end up fighting.  But, after Butch saves his life, Marsellus agrees to let him go, and they call it even.  I think that this is influenced by the fact that Marsellus’s soul had been restored.  Otherwise, he might not have been so lenient.

Now, back to the “Divine Intervention” scene.  Jules and Vincent expected to have been blown away,  But they were spared by “some strange coincidence”.  Again, I think this is God allowing them no harm until they have completed their task.  After the task is completed, they are no longer protected by his will.  (This is why Vincent had no chance when Butch gunned him down.)

Now on to the date between Vincent and Mia Wallace.  They go out, dance, have a great time, she re-establishes my point that no-one really knows why Tony was thrown out of the window, and later she ends up putting a little too much heroin up her nose.  In my opinion, Vincent is in no way to blame for her near-death, but I don’t think Marsellus would agree.  As Vincent puts it to his dealer, “If Marsellus finds out about this, I am a f***in’ grease-spot!”  So they end up saving her life, and Vincent gets off the hook.  What would happen if she had died of her overdose?  Marsellus would probably have had Vincent killed, so then Vincent wouldn’t have been able to help deliver the case, and also wouldn’t have been available to help Jules out in the diner when he was talking with “Ringo”.  And on that note, Pumpkin and Honey-Bunny also learned a valuable lesson when they found out what exactly they were dealing with, and what Jules’ cargo was.  But before all of that, Jules and Vincent were still just talking, and Jules mentioned that he was thinking about the miracle they witnessed.  But carrying something sacred like that is, to me, what convinced Jules that he was living the wrong lifestyle.  And even earlier, when “The Wolf” tells them to move out of the sticks and get a cab, they decide to go and have breakfast.  Once again, this breakfast proved fateful, and Jules learns about what he feels is his destiny.  Not only that, but he sets himself on the path that he now feels is right, and making himself broke by giving all the money he had to the couple, strengthening the love they had for each other, and all the while saving everyone else from being robbed or killed.

I’m sure there may be some details I forgot, but if anyone has any to add, or any criticism to offer, please do.  :wink:

@ncscswitch:

@Jennifer:

Why were you stuck in the Army’s camp for misguided little boys so long, NCSC?

Well, originally I was there for Infantry Training for the PA National Guard (11C, my local guard unit was Combat Support, to had to learn to fire 4-deuces).  But, my knees that had been patched  back together after I tore them up at USAFA failed again…

But, rather than let a perfectly good former Academy puke go to waste, and since they were shorthanded in my Bat, they turned me into a Unit Supply NCO and Unit Armorer.  Went from Trainee to Trainer overnight.  Went from Barracks to BEQ.  And spent a year wearing a “Follow Me” patch instead of my “Bloddy Bucket” until my med board finally was processed.

Yep… it SUCKED!  But I loved it :-D

Ugh, yea the med-board process SUCKS for trainees!  They tried to make me go that route, I told em unless they could guarentee me a 30% or more disability they could shove it up their rosey red buttocks!  Then they tried to Chapter 5-1-2 me (medboard without a voluntary subject) and I called my congresswoman (who, since I’m in IL is a democrat) and she stopped that cold.

Now I’m assigned to the IL Nat’l Guard as in their IT dept.  But hey, at least I don’t have to move!

As for my AC being “broken” in Georgia, it was not Rune.  There just wasn’t an AC there!  Silly army…like we all want to camp or something…sheesh!

Thanks ZZZ, nuff said.

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGAKBWN9NED.html

Well, are they there … or aren’t they?
Only their camel attendants know for sure! :)

I think most of the backing came due to two facts:
(1) the USSR needed reforms, that was obvious.
Still, they probably wanted a long term leader that could be influenced => a younger one, after the two short reigns of Andropov and what-was-his-name… Probably, the influentials wanted some change, but surely not that much that it would threaten their power-base, one of the reasons for the coup that failed due to Jelzins help for Gorbachev.
(2) The general secretary and all the other positions he fills made him the most powerful man in the USSR. Probably, whoever put Gorbachev into place, underestimated him. Pretty much the same underestimation that Hitler faced when he was appointed Chancellor, but luckily Gorbachev used that to reform positively, and i consider the new freedom of information, the right to ask wether the party is right and that the crucial reform.

So, I don’t think that there was “real” backing, i believe Gorbachev was kind of a compromise candidate, kind of a makeshift. Of course, once he was into power, you ccouldn’t remove instantly, that would have meant that the party made a mistake (which was not “allowed” before Gorbachev). And he was clever enough to stay into power, and use his popularity at the beginning (which soon, after the economy started to collapse openly, was reduced to more or less nothing) to enforece the reforms.

And you don’t think we oppose them too? But so far, no hate crimes have been committed or buildings exploded. I say that would be Democracy at work.