Movies

It’s Friday, and for many families that means a run to the local movie rental store. With Blockbuster promoting ad nauseum the new Twilight saga DVD release, New Moon, it’s past time for me to post a thoughtful critique from The Christian Research Journal of the series for Christians to consider, especially ones with teen friends and family attracted to the novels and movies.

Read the article here.  It says in part:

“The Twilight love saga, then, may be the ultimate female coming-of-age fantasy that our biblically illiterate culture can offer, and, as such, this captivating story evokes dangerlously false expectations in young women that no man could ever satisfy. In fact, given that female sexuality is quite naturally rational, far more so than young male sexuality, the comparison that comes to mind is that Twilight is to female sexuality what pornography is to male sexuality.”

10. A Christmas Story (so many classic lines)

9. Frosty the Snowman (brings happiness even thinking about it)

8. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (lovin’ the song)

7. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the cartoon, not the Jim Carey)

6. Miracle on 34th Street (the black and white version, of course)

5. Ernest Saves Christmas (admit it, you like this one too)

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve never been able to put into words why of all the Pixar movies, A Bug’s Life, is my favorite. This article, in part, does it for me. Here’s an excerpt.

In Pixar’s first two feature length films, Toy Story (1995) and A Bug’s Life (1998), after a violent confrontation, two of the main characters are face to face. One of them berates the other in defense of an age-old system of master and servant, a system that the other character actively denounces because this system gets in the way of his lofty ambitions. In both films, the plot centers on this conflict of those who wish to uphold boundaries and those who wish to break through them.

However, there’s one main difference. In the film’s ideologies, Buzz Lightyear is wrong, and Flik is right.

Be that as it may, I say three cheers for (almost) all the Pixar movies. Keep ‘em coming!

Last week, I had the chance to see The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry. I expected the movie to be somewhat typical of recent movie releases with a Christian theme – weak in acting, solid in message.

Staged in the summer of 1970, the film gives an appeal to more innocent times. Boys walking to an ice cream parlor, fishing from a river bank, mowing lawns in the neighborhood are some of the activities of bygone days Sperry features.

Gavin McLeod of The Love Boat and The Mary Tyler Moore Show plays the title role and befriends Dustin and his two young pals, encouraging them to come to his house for a Bible study. Jonathan Sperry shares some great lessons of life. 

He gives them a unique perspective of how to handle a bully who takes a slice of pizza away from the boys. Instead of fighting, Sperry tells them to offer the bully another slice.

Robert Guillaume of Benson plays Mr. Barnes, Sperry’s crotchety neighbor. For an undisclosed reason, Sperry pays Dustin to mow Barnes’ yard, but tells him to never reveal to Barnes who is paying for the work.

Nobody can miss the straightforward message in this film. The plot is creative and reveals some unexpected moments throughout. Of all the Christian-theme movies I have seen, none is as powerful as The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry.

I just read an article about actor Gavin McLeod who played Captain Stubing on The Love Boat along with other television and movie roles including Murray on The Mary Tyler Moore Show. He is starring in a newly release movie called The Secret of Jonathan Sperry.

I’ve never heard of the movie until I read this article. Apparently it is affiliated with the same people who produced Fireproof and Facing the Giants. I found out it is being shown this weekend in Oklahoma City. I plan to see it and will give a review. To find out more about the movie go to www.sperrymovie.com

Conservative blog Midwestern Clarity gave my exact sentiments after watching Julie & Julia, a recent movie release featuring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams.

Both actresses were amazing, especially Streep whose performance as Julia Childs was incredible. As Midwestern Clarity points out, Streep’s “cadence and accent on choice syllables is so faithful to the real deal, it is almost unsettling.”

Overall, I did enjoy the movie, but there was one ridiculous and unnecessary line. Adams’ character meets with her boss who confronts Adams about missing work and posting in her blog about her absence. The scene concludes with her boss stating “a Republican would have fired you.”

Hollywood is famous for berating conservatives and the Republican party. However, I don’t recall a more baseless and chiding remark about conservatism ever featured in film. I welcome suggested considerations.

“Now personally, I don’t recommend the Potter books. I’d rather Christian kids not read them. But with some 325 million of them in print, your kids will probably see them and hear others talk about them, and they’re probably going to read them anyway. So use this occasion to teach them to be discerning—like Daniel. Dare them to have Daniel as their role model, not Harry Potter.

“And if your kids do enjoy Harry’s magical world, you should give them copies of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books and Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.

“These books also feature wizards and witches and magic, but in addition, they inspire the imagination within a Christian framework—and prepare the hearts of readers for the real-life story of Jesus Christ.”

–Chuck Colson in his July 2007 Breakpoint commentary

What do you all think? Is Colson right?

For better and worse, I’m always trying to read the subtle messages movies send, especially to children. Here’s a great line from a movie I’ve never seen called The Last Days of Disco, criticizing Lady and the Tramp:

“[Tramp's] he’s a self-confessed chicken thief, and all-around sleazeball. What’s the function of a film of this kind? Essentially as a primer on love and marriage directed at very young people, imprinting on their little psyches the idea that smooth-talking delinquents recently escaped from the local pound are a good match for nice girls from sheltered homes. When in ten years the icky human version of Tramp shows up around the house, their hormones will be racing and no one will understand why. Films like this program women to adore jerks.”

Over the top commentary? Yes. But think about it: “Lady” really should have accepted “Jock’s” [pictured left] marriage proposal. He would have made a way better husband and father.

Hat tip: JR

One of my favorite authors and professors, Dr. Timothy Paul Jones, answers “How should Christians respond to the new movie Angels & Demons?” You can read his entire press release here, but for a taste:

“As in The Da Vinci Code, Brown blends history and fiction so smoothly that it’s difficult to tell where one begins and the other ends. The difficulty comes when readers fail to explore the claims and inadvertently trust fiction as a fact. According to Angels and Demons, ‘References to all works of art, tombs, tunnels, and architecture in Rome are entirely factual, and the brotherhood of the Illuminati is also factual,’” says Jones.

The Illuminati

“In Angels and Demons, The Illuminati is depicted as an organization that began in the 1500’s, whereas it actually began in 1776,” Jones says.

Persecution of Galileo?

“And as for the supposed persecution of Galileo: While Galileo was correct that the earth moved around the sun, his reasoning was wrong. Galileo’s ‘proof’ was the movement of the ocean; he said that the tides came in and out because they were sloshing around on a spinning earth. We know now that that’s not what causes the tides. He was never tortured, and he wasn’t convicted in court because of scientific irregularities. It was because he lied under oath. He was exiled to a luxuriant villa where he carried out scientific research until the day of his death.”

The Death of Copernicus

“Angels and Demons declares that Copernicus was murdered by the Roman Catholic Church for his scientific research when, in truth, Copernicus was a Polish priest who died a natural death,” Jones says.

Me: Dr. Jones provides some worthy analysis. Yet unlike The Da Vinci Code,  this movie seems to be drawing a yawn from critics, the media, Christian apologists. Just about everybody, including me.

The name of the movie is The Unborn.  It is a horror film starring Gary Oldham who plays a “spiritual advisor to a young girl who is tormented by the soul of her unborn twin brother.”

Did you catch that?

Read the rest of this entry »

10. A Christmas Story (so many classic lines)

9. Frosty the Snowman (brings happiness even thinking about it)

8. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (lovin’ the song)

7. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the cartoon, not the Jim Carey)

6. Miracle on 34th Street (the black and white version, of course)

5. Ernest Saves Christmas (admit it, you like this one too)

Read the rest of this entry »

I bought this for my wife for Christmas. Why ruin the surprise with this blog entry? Because we already opened her gift and watched it. (Does that make it “our” gift?)

We can’t decide if Prince Caspian is better than The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, but they are both simply superb and are must-sees. The action in Caspian is slightly better, but it’s hard to beat the original’s storyline.

Here was my mini-movie review, published last May.

Note: About the title to this entry, I just got used to saying “available on DVD” instead of VHS, and now they invent Blu-ray to confuse this Luddite. Go figure.