Movies I’ve Seen #2

Across the Universe – This movie was NOT what I expected. I’m not sure what it IS I expected, but it was not this. What I got, however, turned out to be more than I expected. At first, I was put off, but I slowly warmed up to it. I think this is an extremely visually entrancing film. Loved it.

No Country For Old Men – LOVED it! After months and months of hearing folks say that it was a terrible movie, and that it did nothing but glorify violence, I decided to watch it. And I thought it was an AMAZING flick. The acting was great, the story was awesome. I just thought it was good all around. I was engaged the whole time.

Memento – Rented this. I saw it right when it came out and hated it, but I decided to give it another go, and I loved it as well. It’s done by the same director that does the Batman movies. So far Christopher Nolan is turning out to be an amazing filmmaker.

This About Sums It Up

I’m reading “A Purple State of Mind,” by Craig Detweiler. In the first chapter, he quotes Fight Club, and it really struck a chord with me. It perfectly defines what we’re going through today. It defines the zeitgeist, the moral sense of life, that we as Christians have to face head-on and address.

Here’s the quote:

“Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don’t need. We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War’s a spiritual war… Our Great Depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires and movie gods and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact. And we’re very, very pissed off.”

Welcome to the world, folks.

What does the gospel have to offer in the face of this? Church on Sunday, then a nice dinner, then back off to work for another week? What sort of radical life is Christ calling us to? What alternative does he hold in his hands?

The world is dying, literally dying, to hear the gospel.

We just need to make sure we’re getting the message across.

And, truthfully, I’m still kind of in the process of finding out what that message is.

What is it, people? What can we, as Christ followers, offer a dying world, enslaved to consumerism and self-worship?

What can we do?

Movies I’ve Seen #1

Some movies I’ve seen recently:

The Dark Knight – It’s not just fluff – Heath Ledger really IS an amazing Joker. The movie was epic, which means it was long.  Batman sort of felt like an afterthought in the flick, but I’m okay with that – I couldn’t handle his deep voice whenever he was suited up.  I understood the logic behind it, but it still made me laugh.  But the Joker… that was just creepy.  Creepy enough to make me want to see it again.

The Ruins – Rented this.  It’s really bad.  Don’t watch it.  But it IS a prime example of the depravity of the human spirit that chooses to rear its ugly head every now and then.  The “sense of life,” to borrow from Ayn Rand, of this film is nothing but death and chaos.  No redemptive value at all.

The Music Within – Amazing movie about a deaf guy who works to help disabled people get jobs.  Loved it.

The Last Legion – I love Arthurian lore.  I did not love this movie.  In fact, I didn’t even finish it.  Come on, Colin Firth.  What were you thinking?

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford - LOVED this movie. The cinematography was great.  It’s long, but it’s worth it.

There Will Be Blood – Loved this as well.  Just a good film.

What have you seen lately?

Saved!

I just re-watched the movie “Saved!”  When I first saw it, I was surprised at how much I liked it.  I thought it would be pretty lame, but it turned out quite differently. 

This movie has a lot to say about pop-Christianity and church culture.

And there’s a very deep insight towards the end, where the main character asks the question “What would Jesus do?”  and gives her own very honest and valid answer: “I don’t know.  But in the meantime, we’ll be trying to figure that out.  Together.”

Another time, the same girl says, “So everything that doesn’t fit into some stupid idea of what you think God wants you just try to hide or fix or get rid of? It’s just all too much to live up to. No one fits in one hundred percent of the time. Not even you.”

I think the church needs reminded of this point a lot. 

We think we all have it figured out.  We have this list of what to believe, and what to condemn, and life moves along just fine.

But it’s not that simple.

Is everything a shade of grey?

What do you think?

Stardust

I watched “Stardust” last night, that movie based on Neil Gaiman’s story, and absolutely loved it.  I thought it was had a great interweaving of characters, making for a very complex and epic story.  It involved all things fantastic: pirates, swords, unicorns, kings, castles, witches, falling stars, tiny villages, broken hearts, feuding princes, the whole deal.

Great cast, too:  Robert DeNiro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Claire Danes…

It was honestly one of the best movies I have seen in a while.