New Movie Reviews!

I've seen several movies in the last week or so, and thought I should share a review with ya'll.



1. Blind Side -
I sympathize with the message of this movie. A wealthy, white, Christian family befriends, takes in, and adopts a very large, uneducated, athletic young black kid from a broken family and a terrible neighborhood, and helps him succeed. Sandra Bullock did well as the mother, though she sure did get a LOT of screen time, with lots of tight clothing and facial close-ups. Her character is clearly the leader of her family, financially, and spiritually. The story is touching, no doubt. From my experience working for the juvenile court in Cincinnati, I know something about certain realities of the black family portrayed in the film. I wasn't totally impressed by the character of the white family, and, if I were Af-Am, I would have been frustrated with the portrayal of black families. Yes, there are problems in the Af-Am community (as in every community), but goodness...the movie seemed to condemn black culture as a whole. And, of course, the white, Christian family came to the rescue. It was a bit much. There were several black families watching the same showing as I did, and they showed no difficulty with it; they cheered, defended the white family when they were accused, etc. (FYI, black folk are far more interactive with movies in theaters than your average white audience - it's a thing to behold. I once saw a Denzel Washington movie in a predominantly black community, and the women were constantly shouting, "Look out, Denzel! He's behind you, honey!" I heard one lady crying when he died. It was awesome!) In any case, I thought they could have done more to minimize the racial element. It was obvious there was a racial angle to the story; there was no need to emphasize it. 3/5 stars



2. Sherlock Holmes -
Good, old-fashioned, fun. I'm a Holmes fan, and though no one will match Jeremy Brett as Holmes, Morton [correction: ROBERT] Downey Jr. did a good job, and Jude Law did well as Dr. Watson. The on-screen chemistry between them was good. I got lost in time and thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Plot was good; special effects were good. There are some dark moments, portrayal of pagan/Satanic practices, but - not to give anything away - it's all good in the end. 4/5 stars



3. Star Trek -
I was totally surprised at how much I enjoyed this movie. I didn't expect much (maybe that helped), especially since it was a J.J. Abrams movie (I HATE the TV show "Lost"). And, I think it helped that I grew up watching the original "Star Trek" series with Kirk, Spock, Scotty and the gang. In my book, Nimoy and Shatner really are cool. But, the characters really grew on me. Spock, Kirk, Scotty, Sulu, Chekov - it was very well done. And what seemed so much fun was when we would see the origin of various things we older folks know from the original series, e.g., why is Dr. McCoy called "Bones?" When Spock showed up, and said to the young Jim Kirk, "I am, and always shall be, your friend," I got choked up. I feel like I know these guys, like I was with them during all those adventures in the original series. I was surprised at how much the movie affected me emotionally, and how much old-fashioned fun the movie was. 4/5 stars



4. District 9 -
This movie disturbed me. It is a faux documentary, set in the future, when some refugee aliens arrive in earth's atmosphere and end up taking up residence in Johannesburg, South Africa. A young bureaucrat working for the bureau of Alien Affairs is assigned the task of removing the aliens, called "Prawns," from their slum (District 9) to a new location. In the process, he becomes infected with alien DNA, begins to transform into an alien, and begins to see things from a different perspective. I can't quite pinpoint why I was so upset by the move, but something made watching it an unpleasant experience. There's no sex, lots of blood and killing, including dismemberment and eating of humans, and some rough language (rated R). The aliens themselves are somewhat distastful to look at. Parallels with other occasions of human rights abuses are clear. 2/5 stars



5. Avatar 3-D -
An amazing experience! I got a little disoriented near the beginning and had to take a quick walk around the lobby, but I only missed about 5 minutes. Visually stunning, colorful, beautiful - the fantasy world created by this movie is breathtaking in its color, lifeforms and scenery. The story is pretty predictable. Humans are plundering a certain substance on a planet known as Pandora, and the indigenous population becomes hostile, especially when the humans begin destroying locations of cultural/religious significance. Capitalism and military bear the brunt of ideological criticism in this pantheist/ environmentalist/ spiritualist/ pagan propaganda piece. A paraplegic veteran Marine takes part in a new technology that allows humans to animate a genetically created alien body (the "avatar"). His mission is to infiltrate the na'vi community to gain intel. The na'vi are deeply spiritual, deeply connected to their eco-system, and to their ancestors; and they worship a deity named Eywa. It is interesting to me that na'vi is the Hebrew word for "prophet" and the name of Eywa is oddly similar to Yahweh, but that may be coincidental. I felt like I was watching a super-tech fantasy version of "Dances With Wolves." If you are looking for a deep plot, this is not the movie; if you are looking for a feast of the senses and dazzling special effects, this is the movie for you. If you want a movie with a good message, biblically speaking, this is certainly not it. 4/5 stars

Some Summer Movie Reviews

Well, I've been using some of my credit card reward points to get free rentals from Blockbuster. Here're my opinions of the latest batch.

1. DEFIANCE - This is a Daniel Craig, Holocaust flick filmed in Europe. Craig is the leader of a group of Polish Jews who hide from the Nazis by fleeing into the forests, where they build camps and assemble a society of sorts. I've not been a big Craig fan, but this movie was simply awesome! There's romance, Jews, WWII, desperation, conflict, moral conundrums, war scenes, no sex, a little swearing, violence, etc. There's a moving scene where one of the Jews prays and asks God to "choose another people, and take back our righteousness." Wow. Great stuff. I totally lost sense of time and place watching this movie. The accents are convincing and the Polish and Russian dialogue are son convincing I thought I was really there. I give it 5/5 stars.

2. THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON - The latest Brad Pitt flick; Pitt plays a man who was born the day WWI ended. A clock maker designs a giant clock for a new train station, but designs it to run backward. Benjamin Button is born on this day, and therefore, his aging process is reversed. He is born as a baby but one with a 90 year old man, organs failing, etc. and as he ages, he gradually grows younger - a fascinating premise. Although I don't always think much of Pitt's politics and social action agenda, I think he is a good actor. This movie is no exception. Again, I was totally lost watching this movie (a key element that I consider when evaluating a movie). It made me think about life, relationships, etc. I give it 4/5 stars.

3. CHANGLING - I wasn't expecting much from this Angelina Jolie movie, based on a true story of a kidnapping in California and the legal reforms it launched. There are some points of extreme stress, so be warned - it isn't always a pleasant thing to watch. But in any case, I enjoyed it. I give it 4/5 stars.

4. APPALOOSA - This western stars Ed Harris, Jeremy Irons, and Viggo Mortensen. Historically, I am not a fan of westerns, but as I grow older, something about them is beginning to appeal to me. Maybe its the guns...maybe its the women...maybe its that each man must prove himself in a one-on-one contest with either the bad guy or nature or himself. Oh well, in any case, I thought this was well done. It wasn't over-the-top, very subdued, minimalist. The rapport between Harris and Mortensen is great. I give it 4/5 stars.

5. JAMES BOND, QUANTUM OF SOLACE - Hmmm, James Bond movies haven't changed much since I first saw "The Man With the Golden Gun" as a zit-faced teenager, drooling over all the beautiful women. Something inside me knew that he was not living a godly life, but I still kinda' secretly wanted to be James Bond and receive the adulation and affection of women the world over. Like I said, not much has changed in these movies, although I have a clearer understanding now of what I sensed were problems with such a lifestyle. Not much else to say about the movie. I give it 3/5 stars.

6. POWDER BLUE - This is a rather odd little thing, kinda' like "Crash" without the accident. Four lives in particular are gradually weaved together. There's not much violence, a bit of language, but way too much skin. I suppose any movie with a "stripper" in it should be a red flag... The lovely and talented Jessica Biel plays the stripper with a comatose son in the hospital. Her life intersects with a socially awkward mortician, some kind of a gangster, and a priest who apparently got married then lost his wife in a car accident and has lost his will to live. I love movies about plain, simple people who reach points of desperation and have to make heart-wrenching decisions. Be warned: the skin is a bit much. I give it 3/5 stars.

7. GRAN TORINO - This movie blew me away! I love it, I love it! Clint Eastwood plays an aging Korean war vet who spent his adult life working the assembly line in the car factories of Detroit, MI. His wife has just died and his neighborhood has been gradually taken over by the Hmong people. The man is grumpy, bitter, racist and generally mad at the world. Through a variety of circumstances, he becomes entwined with the lives of his Hmong neighbors and befriends a teenage boy who is trying to be forcibly recruited by a local gang. There's no sex, little violence, but the language is so foul and bad it got funny. He keeps in his garage a 1972 vintage Gran Torino in mint condition. That car becomes a symbol not only of his life but of the country he served and loves so much - aging, out of date, and no longer the same. This is a great parable of how our nation has in some ways become better but in many ways has become more violent, coarser and less a land of opportunity. If you want a story of sacrifice, redemption, humor, and clashes of culture, this is for you. I give it 5/5 stars enthusiastically!

Well, that's all for now. A pretty good batch. Let me know what ya'll think.

Crutch's Recent Movie Reviews

I rented some movies this weekend, thanks to our credit card rewards program! Here are my mini-reviews:

1. Kung-Fu Panda - Andrew and Diane assured me that I would laugh uncontrollably at this movie, but I found it pretty average. There were a few laughs, the funniest sequence is when the panda is fighting his "mentor" for a dumpling (food). All in all, though, I was a bit disappointed. I would give it 2/5 stars.

2. Doubt - again, this movie had potential - I love religiously themed movies! - but this one slipped into political correctness, and left too many loose ends. Meryl Streep was creepily excellent as the accusatory Sister Aloysius, and ole Philip Seymour Hoffman was great as the accused Father Brendan Flynn. I would give it 2/5 stars.

3. The Day the Earth Stood Still - the Keanu Reeves propaganda piece about global warming and environmentalism. This is a remake of the old 1951 movie, but I felt I was being preached at for most of the film. Even the gorgeous Jennifer Connelly was not on her best game. I give it 2/5 stars.

4. The Reader - the new Kate Winslet Holocaust movie. Of the lot I saw this weekend, this one was the best. We saw much more of ole Kate naked than I would have preferred, so be ready for that (I didn't realize it was rated R, and I thought the affair played a more minor role in the film). The first third of the movie is the affair she has with a 16 year old boy. There were some tender moments between them. A subplot of the movie is the negative effects that such an intimate relationship has on a young man. The film raises some interesting moral questions about the law and the Holocaust. I give it 3/5 stars.

Movie Reviews

It's movie month at my house! We signed up for Blockbuster's movie pass for one month. We can check out two movies at a time, as many times as we want, all for the low, low price of about $30. Here's a partial review...hopefully, more to come.

10,000 B.C.

I watched this movie with the family, and we all liked it. It was a good escape, including elements such as adventure, tension, romance, etc. I especially liked its ancient setting. I felt like I was watching an episode of "Age of Empires." In the West, we forget that for most of human existence, life has been very fragile and violent, might making right, ubiquitous evil and cruelty. Although that exists in much of the world, we generally don't fear a clan of mauraders sweeping down from, say, Canada, or up from Mexico, killing, burning, raping and pillaging anything in their way. In this movie, that is exactly what the characters face. I liked it.

Vantage Point

Again, a hit. I love the intrigue of an assassination, international violence, conspiracy, plots, etc. We were all on the edge of our seats for most of the movie. I liked how the various perspectives of the movie were gradually assembled to create the full story. Well done.

Rails and Ties

A nice, warm fuzzy, feel good movie starring Kevin Bacon and Marcia Gay Harden. A train engineer's wife has terminal cancer and after some tragic events, the engineer and his wife have to care for a little boy who starts to live with them. Again, I liked it, though it was a bit syrup-y at points. It showed how people deal with pain and death and tragedy. In one particular scene, a social worker has to choose between doing what is technically legal and what is morally right. She chooses the right (which I think is unusual for social workers). Sometimes rules have to be broken to achieve a greater good.

There Will Be Blood

This movie got a lot of hype from the industry and the media, probably because it demonizes capitalism, oil companies, and Christianity. Putting all that bias aside, I still did not care for the movie. Daniel Day-Lewis is good, but the story itself did not grip me. I was repulsed by the religious hypocrisy and I was disgusted at the callous heart of Daniel Plainview, the oilman. There were points I got bored. I couldn't keep my daughter interested either. It tries to be an epic, but I don't think it succeeds.

Jumper

Yeah, not much to say here. Nice premise, but the movie did not deliver.

IJ & Crystal Skull: "I Want My Money Back!"

WARNING: spoilers ahead.



I took my family to see "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" on Sunday night while we were on a short trip upstate. We stayed in "The Jameson Inn" on Clemson Road, then spent Memorial Day hiking to waterfalls near Walhalla. In any case, I spent $39 for this piece of entertainment. To be brief, I want my money back.



Clearly, the Indiana Jones franchise has "jumped the shark." Of course, IJ is known for his thrill-packed action sequences, but seeing a group of 4-5 people go over three consecutive South American Niagra-type waterfalls of over 50 feet each in a military style amphibious vehicle - all the while staying in or very near the vehicle - well, I checked out.

Picture

Also, the whole "alien" motif was, in my opinion, lame. Nice try.



IJ is known for action sequences with a supernatural element thrown in. "Raiders" was with Judaism; "Temple of Doom" was with some kind of tribal Hinduism (I think); "Last Crusade" was with Christianity; "Crystal Skull" was with extra-terrestrial life? I suppose the supernatural element had nowhere to go to gain my sympathies. But aliens? It didn't work. I would have been happier even with a "Scooby-Do" type "it looks supernatural but its really not" kinda thing.



Harrison Ford is old...like really OLD. Karen Allen as Marion Ravenwood, again, she is OLD. The magic was not there, though I liked the "family" element, that Indy and Marion had conceived a son together. I thought that was kinda cute.



The Russians were nice enemies, though again, the Nazis are simply too much fun to hate. I can't quite hate the Russians in the same way.



The Cate Blanchett character, Irian Spalko, was...just weird.

So, all in all, the romance was weak, the supernatural element was too fanciful, and the stunts unbelievable. IMHO, "Raiders" and "Last Crusade" are great; "Temple of Doom" and "Crystal Skull" are too dark or too weird/overdone.

UPDATE: "Prince Caspian" Shocker!

Could it be? Some are suggesting that the movie, "Prince Caspian," is actually BETTER than the book! GASP!


Fredrica Mathews Green writes an interesting piece in NRO. Her discussion ranges wide, touching other movies that were better than the books that inspired them. [BTW, she includes in that list _Lord of The Rings_, which will infuriate some philo-Tolkien-ists, but...I actually agree.]


Having reread the book so close to seeing the movie, I can see why she says Prince Caspian the movie is better than Prince Caspian the book. After finishing PC, I told my wife, "This is not the best of the Chronicles of Narnia." Green makes some of the same points I was thinking about. There actually isn't a whole lot of action in the book (one battle scene), whereas the movie has three major battles. It seems most of the book is taken up with the Pevensie children traveling to get to Prince Caspian, whereas the movie covers that journey pretty quickly.


John Mark Reynolds writes a positive review as well. He doesn't discuss how the movie trumps the film as much as Green does; rather, his is a reflection on how good the film was. I agree. My kids loved it, and I want to go see it again.

HOLLYWOOD'S TOP 12 CHRISTIANS?

I didn't know there were 12 Christians in Hollywood! (Just kidding.) According to beliefnet, here's the list (and here's the article from FOXNews). I wish there was a bigger Christian presence in Hollywood, but I suspect it is hard work to stick to one's faith in that godless industry. For those who keep it real, I tip my hat. See some video here.

1. Mel Gibson 40% - despite all his problems (which I definitely DON'T like, e.g., his DUI, his arrogance, his womanizing, his anti-Semitism - all of these are serious problems, in my opinion), I still like him. For "Braveheart" and "The Passion of the Christ," I shall be eternally grateful.

2. Tyler Perry 14% - African-American director, writer, producer, actor

3. Patricia Heaton 4% - outspoken former Catholic, now an evangelical Protestant; was Raymond's wife on "Everybody Loves Raymond." I like both her acting and what she stands for publically. Involved with "Feminists for Life," a pro-life organization.

4. Denzel Washington 24% - We all know this dude, the king of cool. I love his movies. Didn't know he claimed to be a Chrstian.

5. Ralph Winter 2% - lots of movie credits (search for him at IMDB); producer of "The Screwtape Letters," (in pre-production)

6. Angela Bassett 2% - famous African-American actress; didn't know she claims to be a Christian

7. Martin Sheen 7% - we know this guy; I think of him as your typical Hollywood wacko, know-nothing, liberal nut-case.

8. Martha Williamson 4% - wrote teleplays for "Touched By An Angel"

9. Kristin Chenoweth 0% - actress; was in "The Pink Panther" with Steve Martin; some of the images I found of her on Google stretched the definition of "Christian;" I admit though, I can see why people think she's hot. Didn't know she claims to be a Christian, though.

10. Philip Anschutz 3% - he made "Holes," "Because of Winn-Dixie," and "A Sound of Thunder;" also purchased rights to Narnia books; attends an Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC)

11. Howard Kazanjian - Executive producer for "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and producer of "Return of the Jedi"

12. Scott Derrickson - director of "The Exorcism of Emily Rose"

I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't know who most of these people were!