Word: alienation
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...reprieve, a final appearance from an old friend you thought was already gone for good. It's a shambles, a heap of shards, but they're Nabokov's shards and no one else's: the "nasty compassion" the partygoers direct at a drunken Flora; the "alien creams" Flora spots in someone else's bathroom (recalling the "solemn pool of alien urine" deposited by Mr. Taxovich in another bathroom in Lolita); the playful half-rhyme of belie and belly; the perhaps overly wink-winky inclusion of a pedophile named Mr. Hubert H. Hubert; and one lost, evocative phrase off by itself...
...this new isolationism will only make things worse. With limited interaction between expatriates and Afghans, misunderstandings will increase. If foreigners are not part of the local economy, they are more likely to be considered occupiers. They will become the equivalent of my imported turkeys - shrink wrapped, frozen and alien to the people they came here to help...
Every generation gets the sci-fi paranoia it deserves. Or lately, it borrows the paranoia from a previous generation. ABC's V (the highest-rated new show of the fall) is a remake, or in the new parlance, "reimagining," of a camp-classic 1980s miniseries about an alien takeover, which used its lizards-in-human-clothing story as an allegory for the rise of Nazism...
...Planet 51” features several references to well-known space movies, notably “Alien” and “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.” The dog-like alien pet belonging to Lem’s family recalls the eyeless, orb-like forehead of Sigourney Weaver’s original foe, while Elliott’s iconic bicycle silhouetted against the moon in “E.T.” is briefly parodied. By alluding to well-known scenes from past films, these references are perhaps a tongue-in-cheek acknowledgement of some...
Despite this fairly straightforward unfolding of events, the film remains entertaining. Amid the obligatory smattering of slapstick comedy scenes, whimsically amusing details highlight the differences between Earth and Planet 51. The aliens exchange “high fours,” alien children don astronaut costumes for the premiere of a new “Humaniacs” movie, and Chuck’s “Macarena”-playing iPod is labeled a dangerous and cruel weapon. Chuck’s mechanized companion, Rover, is a source of endearing robot humor that resonates with all audiences, despite being...