Transformers

Saw Transformers last night with a bunch of my friends. I don't remember being a huge fan of the cartoon when I was a kid (which is the reason all my friends say they want to see it) but I went anyway because I had heard it was pretty action packed. I wasn't dissapointed. I really liked the movie and aside from a few cheesy subplots that are mostly played out toward the end, I thought it was excellent. Very entertaining!

Jesus Camp - the documentary

I can't remember where I first heard about the film, Jesus Camp, but I was recently listening to the Youthfront podcast (listen to the episode) where Mike King interviewed one of the directors of this documentary, and I got really curious. Then last Friday I was having coffee with my friend Dave and he mentioned it, and I remembered that I wanted to see it.

So, every Wednesday I get together with a group of guys who are in their early twenties. We had already planned to drive up to East Lansing this week and grab some pitas at Pita Pit (pretty amazing stuff if you haven't experienced it). Long story short, one of them had just gotten a new car that has a DVD player built in. We all piled in and watched 1/2 on the way there and 1/2 on the way back.

We didn't have much time to process it all together. It definitely made me think quite a bit. I found myself constantly fighting mixed feelings about what I was seeing. Some good, some very negative. The kids seemed so mature in their perspective. The emotions depicted in the film seem very deep and genuine. I was nearly in tears at one point as I watched a young girl weeping and praying at the alter. I work at a Christian school and at a church and I don't often see kids who have the kind of dedication, faith, and brokenness that some of those kids seemed to display. But, I was frustrated by something that I can't yet put my finger on.

Maybe I was frustrated by the political side, the cardboard cutout of George W. Bush, the railing against abortion, the power-point slides with "sin leads to death" in red dripping-blood font? Or was it the way Ted Haggard spoke with Levi, one of the key kids in the documentary? Maybe it was the fact that I've had some experiences that looked a lot like what I was seeing? Maybe it was because I know of camps that don't use the negative methods and i was worried all "Jesus Camps" were being labeled as right wing political brainwashing compounds? I don't know, but i am unsettled after seeing it.

Shooter

Saw this movie last night and it was definitely the best movie I've seen this year. Some points were a bit predictable but for the most part things moved quickly, the dialogue was good, and there were even some surprises. It seems as though there isn't a movie made any more without some kind of political message and there were definitely strong messages in this film on several different "hot points" in today's politics. In the end the solution seemed to be shoot everybody - which makes for an exciting film but not a great reality. I think we agreed that the best line in the movie came when an FBI agent trying to track Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg) said, "I hacked the FTD database and got an address...". I bet that was tough!

Ghost Rider

I don't believe there are words that could accurately describe this film. I guess I didn't realize it was a comedy. I mean... It's not, but I was laughing at nearly every scene because I couldn't believe this was supposed to be an action film. From the very first line spoken by narrator Sam Elliot (also plays "the caretaker") I knew it was going to be a doozy. The acting was on par with the weak and slow moving storyline and even Nic Cage was disappointing. However, all of this was so over the top that it actually was funny.

One redeemable aspect of the film was the fact that it dealt with demons and I even caught a Nephilium reference in there. This is cool for me because right now I am teaching a group of 10th graders some basic theology and we have been talking about angels and demons. I like using illustrations from popular media because they can often connect. I won't be using Ghost Rider as a reinforcement of Biblical truth, but rather as an example of some of the misconceptions that are out there.

If you see this film you'll want to go late at night with a bunch of friends and engage in a little "mystery science theater" type interaction. That's what made it fun for me.

The Pursuit of Happyness

I know it seems like all my posts lately are about movies, but two weeks off leaves a lot of free time to do whatever you want... and I like movies. I saw this one last night with my wife. I've heard two people put this film in the same category as Rudy (which is definitely worth watching if you haven't seen it).
The Pursuit of Happyness (spelled incorrectly on purpose- you have to see the movie to understand... and, if you haven't seen the movie and are planning to, I don't want to ruin it for you so you may not want to read this post until after you see it. Don't say I didn't warn you.) was heart-warming and sent that great American message that you can do anything you want if you put your mind to it. Unfortunately, I don't think that is entirely true. And if something isn't entirely true then we probably mean that it isn't true but we all want to think that it is. I recently posted about a book I'd been reading called Let Your Life Speak. In that book, Parker Palmer pulls the curtain back on this myth.
In the movie, Chris Gardner (Will Smith) tells his son that he ought not to spend too much time on the basketball court because he probably will only be an average player at best. In response his son is obviously disappointed and dejected. Seeing this, Gardner then tells his son to never allow anyone to tell him that he can't do something. I want to believe him but I don't. Sometimes people are right when they tell us that we can't do something. Sometimes others see things about ourselves that allow them to know that a certain career path may be the wrong one for us and we are blind to it.
In Finding a Job You Can Love, Ralph Mattson and Arthur Miller talk about determining your "central motivational thrust". In the movie, Chris Gardner goes through this process. He knows he has a way with people and gradually realizes he has also always had a knack for math, and it's a rubiks cube that seems to be the final clue that he has this gift. So the movie is a great story about a guy who didn't just decide one day to be a stock broker, he discovered that he those cards were already in the hand he'd been dealt. Had the movie been about his desire to become an NBA player it would have been horrible and nobody would have gone to see it, why... because he wouldn't have made the NBA and who wants to watch a movie about failure - most feel too close the that idea already.
My point is that it's a great story but it's not a story about someone deciding to do something and then doing it - although that may seem to be the message. It's really a story about someone who discovered the gifts that they had and learned how to maximize them in a career. I wonder what the movie would have been like had it focused on any of the other twenty guys who worked so hard and didn't get the internship.

Apocalypto

I saw this movie not knowing what to expect really, except that I had heard from several friends that it was "awesome". Before going I read a quick review just enough to know that I should expect some gore (lots of gore may be more accurate). Apocalypto is a non-stop action movie with layers of meaning for the reflective viewer. The full range of human emotions is engaged as you watch Jaguar Paw on a journey of life and death. I left contemplating the concepts of peace and fear that were presented in the film, and how fear may be impacting my own life. (Especially because I have a black cat that strongly resembles the jaguar in the movie.) I say: GO SEE

Read what my friend Randy wrote about this movie in his post called "nibbling on destiny"

Blood Diamond

I caught this film last week with my two brother-in-laws. Without doing too much research I thought it would be your typical action/suspense movie where obviously there is some feud over a diamond. Even the imdb site doesn't give a great description, "A farmer, a smuggler, and a syndicate of businessmen match wits over the possession of a priceless diamond." So I was a little surprised to find that it was a bit of a political and social message aimed at revealing the kind of struggles that Africa has faced for a long time. I say "kinds of struggles" because the film notes that diamonds is only one of the many conflict items Africa has run across in it's history. There has also been conflict over rubber, offshore oil, land, and more recently - religion. This film is filled with an incredibly raw look at forced slavery, the process of children being turned into soldiers (or more accurately - mercenaries), torture, the harsh reality of refugee life, the impotence of NGO's, and the strong sense of need for something to be done about it all.
I left the theater with a response that I feel is typical... I was overwhelmed. What could I really do to make a difference in these conflicts? There was a line in the movie where Maddy Bowen (played by Jennifer Connelly) says something about how rediculous it is to do something for just one family. Then she catches herself falling into the same trap she is busy trying to fight against throgh her journalism. The way we ease our conscience is to tell ourselves there is noting we can really do to help. I'm tired of that response.
So, I've moved to step two and that is education. I want to find out what is going on. In case your thinking, "this was just a movie". Here are some facts from globalissues.org:
There have been over 9.5 million refugees and hundreds and thousands of people have been slaughtered. If this scale of destruction and fighting was in Europe, then people would be calling it World War III with the entire world rushing to report, provide aid, mediate and otherwise try to diffuse the situation.
Angola has seen an estimated 500,000 people killed since 1989 and an estimated 3 million refugees. It is also being torn apart due to resources such as diamonds and offshore oil, with various factions fighting for these prizes, supported by multinational corporations and other governments.
I'm tired of learning about all of the things I should have been involved in by going to the movies.

Night At The Museum

Laura and I saw this movie last Friday night. It's a great family movie with a good mixture of humor and action. We didn't take the kids, but if they were a little older I am sure they would have loved it. Since we were in Grand Rapids where they have real movie theaters, I made sure to buy tickets for the DLP show. here's how Fandango describes the difference, "DLP™ shows are projected digitally rather than using conventional film. DLP™ technology is a revolutionary display solution that uses an optical semiconductor to manipulate light digitally. The result is maximum fidelity: a picture with impressive clarity, brilliance and color and a lack of scratches, fading and flutter." I am sold! It was incredibly clear and the difference was obvious. If you get a choice, make sure you go to the DLP showing.

An Inconvenient Truth

Last night the wednesday night group got together at my house. Somehow we got talking about global warming so we decided to watch An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's documentary on the scientific evidence regarding global warming that ought to concern all of us.

In the film, Gore quotes Upton Sinclair, "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it." I think the result of that truth has led to a general doubting of the science surrounding global warming warnings. I think it might be time to question those doubts. Gore talks about the danger of going from doubt to despair. And if you see the film, you would recognize how an inconvenient truth could lead to despair.

After watching it I got a sense that I should at least try to do something myself. My first thought was, "I should sell my gas guzzeling truck." Unfortunately this isn't necessairly going to do any good. If I sell my truck then some other guy will be burning the gas in it. Obviously this doesn't really solve anything. This is just one example of how it can seem overwhelming to address issues such as these. What are we supposed to do anyway?

www.climatecrisis.net is the web site dedicated to helping people better understand this issue. There are several simple and practical explanations of what you can do to help. You can even calculate your impact.

At one point in the film there was a picture of a giant scale with gold bars on one side and the world on the other. I'd suggest checking out the DVD and the website to see if you think it's worth what it might cost us to do nothing.