McDozer's Movie Blog

Get-Real Movie Night

2012-01-09T12:10:00.000-08:00

It's 3:30 A.M. and I'm wondering whether it might be possible that I'm the only soul in a country of 1.7 billion who's ever heard of or listens to Bruce Hornsby, after having watched "World's Greatest Dad" about a pretty much true-to-life dad with a true-to-life son and a very bizarre, and perhaps not so true to life plot unfolding after that son's death, but all-the-while remaining more true to life than the evening news (especially if you're watching Fox).

I pick my movies very carefully and read plots and reviews before I bother to waste my time on them, and so it came as not only a pleasant surprise but nearly a renaissance of enlightenment to get ahold of 3 (what I'd consider) good movies in a row after the probably lamest year in cinematographic history.

The first one was "Flipped," which I expected to be a slightly above average teen comedy but turned out to be a trip back into a time where real human beings who knew how to communicate and articulate themselves and listened to their hearts were already rare and few in-between, but at least existent.

The generations growing up around our ears will unfortunately never know the degree of integrity and nobility streaming forth from a 50's teen girl's heart like Julie, the hero of the story, but if you do have any notion of being able to relate to what's going on in this film, should you watch it, send me a high five just so that I can die on peace knowing you're somewhere out there.

The second was "Adam," about a young man with a disorder called Asperger's syndrome, which basically stands for the disability to deceive or hide one's true feelings. Unfortunately, it also reveals the selfish core of the human nature to a stinging degree. Team that up with a pretty neat girl taking a liking to that boy and you'll come up with quite a story you can learn a thing a thing or two from.

When it comes to the selfish, childish and immature side of "Aspies," I'm afraid a lot of us are infected with perhaps slightly milder, or merely better camouflaged strains of the disease.

Finally, I decided to "preview" "Greatest Dad Alive," of which I also only expected the mediocrity I had started getting used to during the 365 days of a very uneventful (as far as Hollywood goes) 2011, but was surprised by an expose of the compulsively deceptive and dishonest society and culture that boasts of ruling the 21st century.

Seriously, when was the last time you saw Robin Williams in a movie truly worth watching? Well, this was one, as far as I'm concerned, even if it may sting a little, especially if you're American.

Altogether, it was an unforgettable movie night... One of those rare ones during which you feel that somehow, somewhere the light of truth was able to break through the thick morass of dull, gray time wasters, perhaps for one last time... you never know.

If God never used a movie to speak through or convey a message, then He must have at least shone through to the minds and hearts of the folks who wrote the scripts for these three, even if for no other purpose than to ask us, "For Heaven's sake, people, when are you ever gonna start to get real?"

Ramona & Beezus

2010-11-20T12:33:00.000-08:00

Living in a society in which conformity has been ingrained in people's minds ever since Charles Darwin told us not to act up since we're all just a bunch of overly mutated monkeys anyway, and that during a time when you can count the number of movies really worth watching that come out throughout the course of an entire year on the fingers of your two hands, coming across a cute little gem like "Ramona and Beezus" is perhaps not a privilege, but certainly a delight.

Just another American fairy-tale, to be sure, but one ever so lovely, and with a message that sounds so bizarre in a world of gray suits to bring tears to your eyes: "It's okay to be different!" - And produced in a manner which has made Hollywood the unchallenged master at visualizing fairy-tales, despite the piles of rubble and garbage it produces in the process, just as you'd have to unearth a ton of dirt in order to get one diamond.

About 5 minutes into the movie, you'll probably say "I love her (Joey King - the young actor playing the part of Ramona) already!" Since you couldn't picture anyone better for the role - except for the parts in which she's supposed to cry, perhaps because crying simply doesn't seem to be part of King's repertoire.

Without much of a plot, there's definitely a message some of us can relate to: "Less is sometimes more." And, yes, it's definitely okay to be different. Give it a few more decades, and maybe a few more minds to challenge Charley's monkey business theory, and maybe it'll sink into the heads of our less extraordinary fellow-humans as well...

Front of the Class

2010-09-17T14:56:00.000-07:00

There are two kinds of people: the crucified and the crucifiers. Only the former will appreciate a movie of the caliber of "Front of the Class." Only those who've had to overcome some sort of handicap and keep going against all odds, especially the ridicule of their peers, can sympathize with folks like Brad Cohen, an award winning, real life educator in spite of an incurable handicap called Tourette Syndrome that causes him to make uncontrollable noises.
In a world that seems to be moving ever more toward a degree of conformity that would have Adolf Hitler's forces grow pale with envy, it is encouraging to hear testimonies of people like Brad Cohen who managed to make a difference, simply because they were determined never to give in to their weakness, but instead somehow learned to make it their strength.
If you've ever been some kind of an oddball, someone who didn't quite fit in or stuck out from the crowd you will love this movie.
Stories like this show what a biased and tough world we live in, and yet that we can overcome the bias and cruelty with the right attitudes and by educating people, which basically means, relieving them from the ignorance on which their bias is based.

The Young Victoria

2010-08-05T14:39:00.001-07:00

I wonder how many of us - especially non-Britons, or non-historians - were totally oblivious to the youth of the great Queen Victoria; didn't know that she was a passionate woman, well capable of love, had an equally passionate German husband, and that together they had 9 children before he passed away of typhoid at the age of 42.

I was clueless. Be it because I dropped out of high-school too early, or they didn't make movies like that when I was younger. Movies that help you relate to the passions and plights of people who lived and loved more than a century ago, and whom we know remotely from pictures and older movies (like "The Little Princess"), but who once held a position that well deserved them the title of the most powerful woman in the world at their time...

Well, Martin Scorcese did an excellent job at arousing his audience's interest in such a spirit from the past who helped shape our present, and as far as Emily Blunt goes, it's hard to tell whether anyone could have ever done a better job at this role. She certainly did the job. Almost as if she had been much better suited for the 19th century than the 21st.

As for me, I feel enriched by the experience of "The Young Victoria," a tale of noble minds and spirits without whom this world might have been an even more woeful place. I guess we'll all find out someday to what degree we each made a difference and helped prevent greater evils from happening... or not.

Looking for Eric

2010-08-05T14:37:00.001-07:00

"Looking for Eric" is probably not the type of movie to be enjoyed by those who usually prefer the smug, multi-million dollar Hollywood productions with perfectly styled faces and perfectly shallow plots.

It's the type of movie that resembles real life too well than to be liked by the junkies of the escapist media who wouldn't even dare considering being unplugged from the Matrix.

The nice slant about it is that it's got a touch of the supernatural about it, since things start happening in Postman Eric's life after having weed-induced hallucinations of his soccer idol Eric Cantona, that are just too good than to ascribe them all to mere hallucination.

Thus it becomes a story of forgiveness, overcoming fears and self-doubts, as well as seemingly insurmountable obstacles with a little help from one's friends, and makes - what may have potentially, on the surface, looked like a drag to have to sit through - an enjoyable experience made in Britain that makes many US-made loser-turns-winner tale pale in comparison.

A Shine of Rainbows

2010-04-24T17:54:00.000-07:00

There are those who feel right smack dab at home in this world, because they've got all the good cards: they're bigger than the tiny squirts that look like pathetic losers compared to them, the bullies and champions of the universe.

Then there are those who've always known this wasn't home, who have to cope with their lot in a world that isn't really theirs.

Then there are the kind of people who were born to love people. And those to whose standards and expectations the little losers could never live up to, those just desperate for a little love...

Well, this is the Irish tale of "A Shine of Rainbows." A sad and yet happy tale indeed, if you're the sentimental kind. Alas, if you're not, and you're the kind that goes for action and "make'em dead," here's a stern warning: this movie is not for you!

All the rest of you, pull out your hankies and get ready for some heart-warming!

Green Zone: So Much for "Weapons of Mass Destruction"

2010-04-08T14:32:00.000-07:00

While this film may not have the visual quality and technical special effects that make the masses flock to see movies like "From Paris With Love," it contains the rare element of truth that has become the object of the affection of a small minority of folks on the globe who still use that stuff between their ears and don't swallow every bit of NWO propaganda blowing their way.

Green Zone, which also could have been titled, "The Way to Start a War in the 21st Century" describes the reason why in our era of enlightenment 1.5 Million Iraqis had to bite the dust thus far on behalf of our democratic concepts of liberty and justice for all... cough, choke... excuse me, that was my lunch!

Who cares? Right. Who does, when you're sitting up on the top of the world with your remote and a cool Bud?
Well, apparently the makers of this film cared enough to put a few million bucks in the sand for the love of that greatest of taboos of the 21st century called truth, and while it certainly isn't your average fix of "Here we are now: entertain us!" - you can learn something from it.

Namely, how to start a war in the 21st century: You take some high ranking government official from D.C. and have him call some career-horny journalist (what better place to find those than Wall Street?) and tell them some fairy tale about an inside informant on WMDs hidden in Big Bad Terror Country (remember: anything that wears a head covering is guilty, if you're a true American), and off the boys are to wreak havoc over there, yielding millions of bucks in those politicians' pockets, trillions more for the tax payers' unpayable debtload (and their children's and children's children's), heaps of corpses, and just about any evil imaginable beneath the sun, except them darn WMDs which seem to have dissolved into thin air like the Scarlet Pimpernel: "Some seek them here, some seek them there..."

But no worries, those politicians know their flocks: they know that after a few months of slaughter, nobody will give a hoot about that cheap excuse to just start another war. After all, it's just another one in a long line of wars since the beginnings of the greatest icon of democracy and enlightenment since the world began...
And the good thing about bearing that image is, you can't possibly ever be wrong, no matter how much blood you shed in the process.

Would I recommend this movie if you're looking to be entertained? Not in your life!
Would I, if you intend to make use of that clot of mass between your ears in this life-time?
You bet.

My Sister's Keeper

2010-03-19T18:55:00.001-07:00

Death, I believe, isn't as much the terrible thing many of us make it out to be as is their terrible lack of maturity shown in the inability to deal with it.

Of course, if you believe that life is merely the result of random chemicals having met under one hell of a bunch of lucky circumstances, and that when the lights are out, "game's over" for good, you'll beg to differ, & you'll hate this movie.
But when you actually happen to know the mathematical probability for that scenario, you'll like it.

Apparently, most folks are real bad at maths, & so they hate thinking, talking, or watching movies about death.
Some fight it tooth and nail, like the dear mother Cameron Diaz portrays in this story.
It's tough for some folks to let go, tough to admit that another should determine some things that concern the outcome of their life, or some aspect of it they feel they're in charge of.
Ultimately, we'll all have to cope with the fact that Someone else is and was in charge all along, and that's when life will finally become livable again for those around us.

On a positive note, imagine you knew you were going to die within a certain amount of time, and you'd invest that time in creating a beautiful gift for your loved ones to let them know how much they meant to you...
Personally, I prefer that scenario over the bad surprises that people get who have allowed movies of super heroes surviving hundreds of explosions and thousands of bullets to convince them of their immortality...
Sooner or later it's going to be wake up time for everyone, & we'll find out it won't be half as bad as we thought it was before we started doing our maths.

Edge of Darkness

2010-03-10T04:12:00.001-08:00

I like movies in which - for a change - the culprits are not your usual bearded, dark skinned, carpet-cutter wielding Hottentots from the outskirts of Godforsakistan, but the ones who are much more likely to be the real culprits, and I honor every director and actor who participates in such a screen statement, which requires a lot more courage than blaming it all on the Arabs, like the recent "From Paris With Love."

I also like movies which show that sometimes - perhaps often - you have to give your life in your fight for the truth, because, after all,
life may be a lot shorter than some of us think, and the only thing that will have made it worth living in the first place will have been the amount of truth lived during those years we will then look back on.

Hollywood producers always have this choice to make, about how much they're going to compromise with the truth for the sake of political correctness, popularity and gain, and I'd say kudos to Mel Gibson for not going the way of all flesh and the Travoltas of this world in this aspect.

Apart from the political message, the plot is also infinitely more intelligent than your average "Kill the Ayatollahs" rah-rahs.
There's always a lot more suspense involved in watching someone fight a real enemy, a ruthless and well protected enemy. Enemies that have the power of the authorities on their side, and it's so much closer to reality.

Needless to say, I'd highly recommend this movie way over the formerly mentioned type of Rambo-garbage, and would like to express my sincere gratitude to director Martin Campbell for creating a film that was not destined to insult the relatively few properly working intellects left on planet earth.

Tenure

2010-03-08T03:16:00.000-08:00

You know those movies featuring a total loser who's doing so bad that it actually becomes embarrassing? They're probably aimed at making us feel better about ourselves, the real losers, out there in that strange dimension called reality-land, trying to cheer us up that every loser can strike a happy ending and somehow, thanks to Hollywood magic, turn winner again...

Well, "Tenure" is one of those, with the relatively fresh twist that our "hero" is a college teacher. He's great at teaching, but not really good at anything else. His students love him, but his colleagues hate him. Plus, his best friend falls into the category of "With friends like that, who needs enemies?"

It's got heart, though, and though this film is by no means guaranteed to knock your socks off, if the same thing can be said of you, I mean, the "heart" thing, then you might like it. Especially if you've ever been in a situation trying to figure out how to get through to members of the younger generation, or you believe in Bigfoot, or you happen to like Gretchen Mol...

At first I wasn’t going to include this film on my list of favorites, but then I was reminded that among all the balderdash of loserdom and Yeti-hunting, there lay a lesson far too important to ignore. When Charlie Thurber (Luke Wilson) is asked to share his secret to his popularity with his students he wisely states that part of being a good teacher is to always remain a student to some extent.

That’s one of the major lessons in life right there. The problem with most people is all the stuff they think they know. There’s no room for anything new, much less the recognition of anything valuable you might learn from others, even if they’re your students.

Any fruitful process in life has always got to be a two-way street. Think of it: if even God needs us, who are we to refuse the input from our fellowmen, even if it sometimes seems to be pretty weird stuff?

Everybody's Fine

2010-03-05T00:11:00.000-08:00

To be quite frank, this is not the type of movie I'd be looking forward to watching a seond time, since the bulk of it is ridden with the bitter taste of reality - that of children lying to their parents as a result of parents lying to their children, to each other, etc. - and, after all, isn't that the one thing we're all escaping when watching movies - reality, and the principal reason why movies are a trillion dollar industry?
But then, this movie certainly has its lessons to teach, the protruding one of which might be summed up in the sigh, "If people could only accept one another for who and what they are, instead of expecting them to reach some self-imposed standard of their living our own 'impossible dream,' this world might be a better place.

In a society where achievement is what defines you, rather than your character or other inner values, the way to reach that goal of achievements - or at least the pretense of them being there - is paved with one thing that has been prominent in a few recent movies, like "The Informant" or "City Island:" lies.
It's as if we're all creating our own little matrix for our fellowmen in retaliation for the Matrix of the big lies our leaders are creating for us, and - aren't they showing us which way we're supposed to go, after all? Most of us, frankly, don't care too much about the truth to begin with, so, they're quite comfortable with that. Others, like De Niro's character in this film (some say his best yet), wouldn't mind occasionally being told the truth for a change. Once the illusions are destroyed and forgotten, lo and behold - who would have ever thought so? - life actually becomes enjoyable again, and "they all lived happily ever after."

It's Complicated

2010-03-04T01:05:00.000-08:00

If you have a bigger problem with adultery than with the absurdity of your President receiving the Nobel Peace Prize while waging war in 3 countries, you obviously won't like this movie. If, however, you're into people: what their needs are, their feelings and what makes them tic, instead of religious dogmas that artificially make you feel better than your fellowmen, you might enjoy it as thoroughly as we did.
Granted, the movie has a few moments that come across as a little less than real or even right. For instance, you might catch yourself thinking, "Gee, I never thought I'd ever have to watch Steve Martin kissing Meryl Streep." But latest by the time they both light up a joint, you'll know why he was chosen for this role, and the laughs and brilliant "people moments" in the film will rapidly make up for any of its flaws.
For anyone who has ever been divorced and knows that these things indeed are complicated, this should be quite enjoyable, although the ultimate lesson to be gleaned from it may be nothing more than a reminder of the way Joni Mitchell once put it: "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone?"

Big Bad New Age Movie

2010-02-19T02:08:00.000-08:00

I know, I know: "Avatar" is a bad movie with evil New Age doctrines that should in no way appear on any Christian's list of favorite movies.
Well, I've covered that more than sufficiently in my recent blog entry on this subject, and why I dare to disagree.
This is my personal list of favorites, and I understand that people will beg to differ, just as I understand that some folks will listen to Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra or Britney Spears rather than the type of music I prefer...
Feel free to make your own list if you don't agree with my personal taste, that's just fine. I had my doubts about watching it, too. But it was a whole lot better than I had expected, including the message.
You see, the bad thing about Christianity - as in, the way our faith is currently being practiced by the majority of Christians - is that a lot of what our enemies have to say about us is sadly but actually true. Let's face it: we Christians are generally a greedy, materialistic, separatist bunch who will gladly follow any maniac - as long as he sits in the White House - to butcher the god-damned pagans in the four corners of the world in the name of the figment of their imagination they call "god." But I have personally experienced the true God to be too much of a "tree-hugger" Himself to coincide with His Corporate, officially advertised version.

Yes, in some aspects, this movie is anti-Christian. But the amount of truth in it still outweighs that factor, because a lot about the way modern Christianity is being practiced on a large scale (and by "modern" I'm referring roughly to the past 1700 years), is not based on the truth of Jesus Christ anymore, but is ridden with lies, half-truths and compromises with other evil deities like Mammon, Mars, bringing a lot of Hades (death) to its victims.

I don't expect you to agree with me. I've considered other movies crap that others raved about (such as the original Star Wars trilogy). But I genuinely liked this one.

If the Western life-style of Corporate America and its colonies is more important to you than the raw truth of God, then, ouch, I believe watching this movie can hurt.
But if you have truly come to know that all the truth you'll ever need is wrapped up in the 3 words, "God is Love," you might enjoy it even in spite of the parts of its message that come across as "New Age" or whatever. I'd rather have peaceful New Age than warmongering "Christianity," because both are a lie, the former being the lesser evil.
Read the Gospels, if you don't believe it!

The Blind Side

2010-02-05T17:53:00.000-08:00

No matter how ridiculous and perhaps somewhat barbaric American sports, politics and worldviews may seem to the rest of the world, or how naive their religion and patriotism (the two of which are often hard to tell apart), you simply don't find a lot of stories like the one told in "The Blind Side" in other parts of the world, - The kind of story that grabs you emotionally and at the same time tempts you to brush it off as just another "American Dream" or fairy-tale, until the real folks the movie was all about show up at the end and you find out it was actually based on a true story.
Perhaps the countries and peoples with the greatest weaknesses and flaws are at the same time also those with the greatest strengths and vice versa. Perhaps God is simply showing off that He can use anything; whatever it is, it just makes you thankful that folks like the Tuhoys actually exist, no matter how rotten the rest of the world may seem at times.
Folks who somehow manage to practice that magic of "Inasmuch as you have done it to the least of My brethren, you have done it to Me."
It makes all the other rubbish: the politics, the idiotic sports, the naivete, vanish and for that moment speak louder than all those other factors. Maybe it's all just Hollywood hype and manipulation, but idiots will always exist anywhere, even without Hollywood, and if there's only a quarter of truth in this story and the way it is told here, then it's commendable, certainly watchable, and - for whatever it's worth - inspiring.
After all, the cynics of the world accuse us believers of just swallowing cooked-up stories about our Savior Who walked on water and fed multitudes with miracle bread, too, but it doesn't make them any happier, either, and for the most of what I've seen, not any more charitable citizens, either.
So, may Christian nuts believing in outstanding Christian values, spurring them on to outstanding Christian acts live on, and the cynics do whatever they may do.
May the critics tear apart Sandra Bullock's "distortion" of the original character of Leigh Ann Tuohy, we still think she was great in this one.

If "blessed are the poor in spirit" means to be dumb and simple enough to be enjoying a movie like this, then I will wholeheartedly join the ranks of those blessed and let the intellectuals torture themselves to death with their never-ending cynicism. Sometimes it's cool not to know that certain things can't happen or can't be done, and ignorance truly is bliss when the ignorant happen to know a few things that the sages simply don't dare to believe.

I'd definitely rank this one among the top ten movies of 2009.

City Island

2010-01-31T14:10:00.001-08:00

My biblical guiding theme for the year is Luke 12:2: "There is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall not be known," and there is probably hardly a movie that brings out this point better than "City Island."

In a world where cover-ups and lies galore all contribute to the great confusion surrounding us, it's a ray of hope to know that eventually, as truly as there is a God, the truth will come out, and all secrets, and the way things really happened (as opposed to the "official" fairy-tale) will be revealed.

So, if honesty's your policy, you'll enjoy this movie the way we did, and you can join us looking forward to the day the above Promise will be fulfilled.

Weather Girl

2010-01-18T16:36:00.001-08:00

We all know it - in theory: money and success don't really make you happy, and security is only an illusion, but how many of us really live according to that knowledge? Most of us keep chasing paper as if it was the holy grail, and we settle for the "safe" option as soon as it comes along.
After all, it's been drilled into us: we owe it to society.

"Weather Girl" is another reminder of life's lesson we constantly forget, that there are, indeed, more important things than money and our elusive security (as in: a "good" job, a wealthy husband - if you're a woman - etc.), such as friends, real love and honesty.

If you're anywhere near as idealistic as we are - my better half and I - when it comes to these things (and I ought to know: she stuck with a "loser" for love's sake), then you'll like this movie as much as we did.

It promotes a fresh and strange openness and honesty that strikes you as totally not-of-this world.

Long live not-of-this-world!

The Time Traveler's Wife

2010-01-03T16:16:00.000-08:00

While there is no deeper spiritual lesson to be found in this movie apart from the sheer beauty of people who for some reason are open to the supernatural, it is so well made and emotional that I've just got to feature it in this list among my favorites.
It's simply thoroughly enjoyable.

Over Her Dead Body

2010-01-03T16:09:00.000-08:00

I like ghost movies. Perhaps because they're one of the few places where life after death is being dealt with in a way that people aren't scared of. And so, I definitely like this one, which may not change anybody's life, but at least guarantees some decent, fairly wholesome entertainment (including a surprising twist on the obligatory usual show of political correctness toward the gay issue...).

Chaos Theory

2010-01-03T16:03:00.000-08:00

I guess I wasn't ready for the implying message of this movie when I first saw it some years ago. Probably I was still too stuck on the fatalistic, Hollywood cliche revolving the "falling in love" and "soul mate" myths, and would have seriously doubted the veracity of the statement made toward the end of the film that one can pretty much determine to love anyone. It's not a magical thing that happens as destined by the fates or it won't. We have the power to make it happen.
"Coincidentally," on the very day I watched this film for the second time last week, during one of the usual crises life brings that make you wholeheartedly agree with the father of the bride when he tells the groom in the movie, "Life's a mess!" and that make you concoct your own "chaos theories," I had read this Washington Post article about a new book by psychologist and author Robert Epstein who has proven in his own life the message to be true which I (like probably a lot of fellow Hollywood junkies) had previously not been ready to accept.

Life is a mess; life is a mystery; but the good thing is, we still have some say in the matter.

Waitress

2009-11-30T17:20:00.001-08:00

After the last two dozen of mediocre movies we watched that wouldn't have been worth wasting any web space or time on, (if you're out for something more than entertainment and happen to need something that grabs you by the... well, whichever place a movie's supposed to grab ya), it was good to finally enjoy the privilege of watching another "winner," which in my opinion, "Waitress" definitely was.

I like movies that teach you something about life, even if the plot isn't all as intricate as the "Matrix," and one of the things you can - if you're attentive - already grasp from the first twenty minutes of this film is a fact that seems to elude some folks for most, if not all of their lives:

The fact that we're not all the same. People are different. You may have certain goals and ambitions in life, you may want to be successful, rich or famous, but don't try to squeeze everybody into that same frame of mind of yours. Because there are different types of personalities around, and one person may have the need to dominate, another may have the need to succeed, or be secure, or to just be left alone, while yet others simply have the need to be loved for who they truly are.

And then there's another clue about that weird little thing called life: not only are people different from each other, but the person you are today may also be a totally different person than the one you might be tomorrow, or next year, or definitely in twenty years from now.
Some people change the moment they marry and become the monster they wouldn't have dared to show before, and others change the minute they have a baby and realize that something's been at work here that busts all previous confines and mindsets and schisms.

The master of the game may have drilled the Gospel of conformity into all of us for a century, getting most of us perhaps to accept that we're nothing more than mammals, and no matter how well your species may have mutated over the past 50 billion years, that's what you'll always be.

But every now and then something happens that dares to defy all that - excuse my French - bullshit and reveals that certain spark that makes the difference between us humans and our four-legged friends, even if some will refuse to see it until their deaths. It's the kind of "something" that happens while watching a movie like "Waitress" and even blows a magical breath of life into an otherwise totally idiotic ditty about baking pies, all of which (the "something," the "magic" and all that goes with it), only perceptible to those who actually walk through life with their spiritual senses activated.

Well, you may not be getting all this same stuff out of watching this movie, but that's because we're different. And if you're into people - I mean other people apart from the doubtlessly most important person to you: yourself - then you're going to enjoy this one.
I suppose it will always take a woman to make a movie like that. Perhaps because women don't restrict their thinking or knowing to that rational process men use the thing between their ears for - and as a man I'm allowed to say that.

"Waitress" is definitely not one for our pious brothers and sisters who insist that love can only be found within the sacred boundaries of marriage. But if it's reality you're after, you'll probably get a better taste of it with this pie than from a bucket full of evening news... The reality of being human to the core, that is so utterly different from the advanced ape-man mentality we're usually told to take on.

Call us decadent, call us shameless, sinful, and blame it all on that odious Creator who obviously didn't know what He was doing, but Who loves us humans to pieces anyway, and maybe - just maybe one day so will you.

My Life In Ruins: Coping with Co-travelers on the bus of life

2009-10-27T00:59:00.000-07:00

One of the deceptive factors about the theory of evolution is that people in this day and age think that no matter what they do, how many of their brain cells they drown in alcohol or drugs, thanks to the process of evolution, they're automatically bound to get smarter all the time.
When nothing - I mean, absolutely n.o.t.h.i.n.g. - could be further from the truth.

As a result we have a bunch of wise guys sitting along with us on the bus of life that aren't always exactly easy to love.

While this movie won't exactly knock your socks off, it does give a few clues, or even if nothing but some glimpse of hope, that it's not entirely impossible.

So, if you have a hard time coping with the devastating gap between what the world (and folks in it) ought to be like (according to your personal standards and ideas) and the way it actually is, this story might cheer you up a little.

The Answer Man: The Truth about Prophets

2009-09-28T10:09:00.000-07:00

Not every movie we watched over the past month or more has been worthy of their own post on my favorite movie list.
There were two more outstanding ones for brilliant performances and nice plots: "Phoebe in Wonderland," featuring a stunning Elle Fanning (Dakota Fanning's younger sis), and "The Soloist," none of them really bearing a unique message that I look for in movies, at least not any other than "The Man of La Mancha" did 50 years ago.

So, I was happy for the privilege to watch another "winner" last night: "The Answer Man."
While not altogether free from cliches & been-theres, the movie definitely has its own, new and unique message in spilling the beans about what a prophet actually is. Folks who are familiar with my considerably crazy ideas know that I believe God capable of communicating with us even via things like comedies. And in this case, He tells us how easy it is to be a prophet: You don't have to be perfect, you don't have to be a sinless saint, you don't even have to go to church. God is so desperate for folks who'll listen to what He's got to say these days, He'll communicate with anyone under the sole condition that they're interested.

And I'm speaking from experience.

God may have a lot of "fans" in the 21st century, and a whole bunch of acquaintances who come to visit Him in mass gatherings on Sundays, plus, of course, a lot of folks who are too scared stiff of Him to skip their daily prayers, but not a lot of friends who care to listen to what He's got to say.

So, occasionally, he'll even make do with a rotten sinner like me or you or Arlen Faber (Jeff Daniels), the hero of this story, for whom his questions to God (which he promptly found answered upon writing them down) spell both luck and misery at the same time, since the results turn into a best seller and make him famous as someone or something he knows best of all he's not.

Throw in a little romance and a cute kid, and you get a fabulous twist on "Moses goes to Hollywood." - Or rather, to Philadelphia, which made for a nice break from the endless Big Apple backdrops of late.

The Kite Runner

2009-08-29T16:49:00.000-07:00

The Kite Runner

A story of honor and courage from a culture as alien and foreign to most of us as the two aforementioned virtues in our society, in which the only virtue required is to be an obedient cog in the machine, and battles are fought with sophisticated weaponry that allow you to murder your enemy without even having to face him...

As foreign as a tale from another world, except for such stories as these, brought to us by some story teller who happens to have found enough listening ears to make himself heard.

A story of a world that once was, and what has become of it, leaving us with the only hope that God will fulfill His Promises to us that someday it will even be a better world than it ever was...

The 5 People You Meet in Heaven

2009-08-24T15:58:00.000-07:00

Although perhaps not your average multi-million dollar production of cinematographic exuberance and extravaganza, since it's a TV production, and probably produced with a fraction of some piece of trash like "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," or many similar recent Hollywood outgrowths, this film has probably more to say than perhaps the last dozen of "big" movies I've seen, put together.

It gives you a tiny glimpse of the fact that seems to totally elude most of us super smart, "evolved" and developed 21st century people, namely how little it is we really know, even about our own lives and the people who have touched it, and, thus, perhaps a little preview of the Eternity of surprises waiting for each of us at the end of our road.

May your surprises be as pleasant as those of "Eddie Maintenance."

"...And the world is full of stories.

But all the stories are one."

"Not Easily Broken" - The Definite Winner of 3 "Marriage Crisis" Features

2009-06-30T03:39:00.000-07:00

Comparing "Not Easily Broken" with the "white" version of a similar, "Marriage gone bad finds redemption" we watched recently, "Fireproof," the former is definitely the winner in that it feels infinitely more like the real thing. Although "Fireproof" definitely has some lessons in it, and would urge us all to be the nice, good and clean white Christian that is portrayed as the hero of that plot, it wouldn't have much to offer to anyone who doesn't already attend the pews on Sunday mornings...

In fact, people out in the real world with real problems, and often graver ones than being attracted to internet porn or the usual materialism, superficiality or just plain horniness, probably wouldn't be able to relate to the nice, white, clean American Christian world that the makers of "Fireproof" live in.
Whereas "Not Easily Broken" comes along much less preachy, and speaks from the heart instead, and thus, to the heart.
You can relate to it, and even if you don't know anybody as well-tempered in real life as the main protoganist in this (after all, a) movie, you wish you would, and you kind of wish it was you. Probably a lot of people can relate to it and feel like "been there," and the lessons and good advice this movie offers aren't just head stuffing you can rave about with the brethren on Sunday morning.
It's an everyday type of gospel, and what's even nicer, an everybody type of Gospel that not only the chosen few can relate to.

Yet another feature on a similar theme, offering a re-encounter with "Titanic" dream-couple Di Caprio and Winslet, presents the other side of the coin, what you could probably term the atheist version, in which the marriage gone bad winds up in total disaster.
Although "Revolutionary Road" definitely has some valuable lessons to teach about the danger of compromising one's true vocation, or even staying true to himself for material gain and safety, it's a painful lesson indeed, and while the first 3 quarters of the movie are definitely promising, intellectually stimulating and challenging, the ending (spoiler intended!) is too depressing to consider it worth it, and the only thing the movie has got going for itself in the end is that you can tell your teenage daughter, "You see, that's what would have happened if the Titanic would not have gone under!"

He's Just Not That Into You

2009-06-20T03:59:00.000-07:00

I wasn't sure at first, if I was going to include this movie on this list, because in some way it resembles the experience I had when I watched "Signs" for the first time in the theater, shaking my head at the apparent nonsense I had paid to watch, until everything finally started making sense during the last 10 minutes or so of the film.

The first and major part of "He's Just Not That Into You" is pretty much sheer, painful agony. Partly, because it's so true. Human beings are really that rotten, that motivated by cliches and Hollywood indoctrinations, and for the larger part of all that agony, you simply have to agree and understand why Jesus compared this mating game to the way things were before the days of Noah, and you come to the conclusion that our just punishment would be another flood to wipe us off the face of the earth.

But then that's where grace comes along, and plays the sweetest trick on us and gives us just what we don't deserve in spite of ourselves; and contrary to all natural expectations and calculations, love will come to you, pretty much like that wind that bloweth where it listeth, and canst not tell from whence it cometh or whither it goeth.

All in all, suffice it to say that there is a lesson to be learned from this movie, even if in a little bit of a painful way... that way it hurts when we discover a bunch of awful truth about ourselves, and it makes you feel like the only thing we'd deserve is hell, while all along Salvation and Heaven are just waiting around the corner.

Nothing But the Truth

2009-06-19T05:09:00.001-07:00

"Nothing But the Truth" is a great movie in my opinion, but can probably only be appreciated fully by those who can relate to having to pay any sort of price for standing up for one's convictions or staying true to their principles.

It certainly isn't for those who tend to get bored if there isn't a shoot-out happening every 3 minutes in a movie, in intervals with something being blown up.

On the other hand, as I've said elsewhere, the only place we really seem to find the heroism portrayed in this film, remains the movies, since the actual story it is based on doesn't seem to be quite as clear in defining martyrdom for the truth.

Nevertheless it's a good reminder of what we all really should be: un-nudging, relentless, furious voices for the truth sticking to our convictions and principles at any cost, even though in real life those may not be working for the N.Y.Times...

One fact the movie brings out, though: Freedom of speech and of the press is, and has been, and remains a thing of the past, (and not just under the Bush Administration), embraced by hopelessly idealistic men who fought to uphold human rights and freedoms long before they were replaced by the one right we have left: the right to remain silent.

As far as tattling on your friends goes, an interesting question comes up: how far would we go to protect our friends, acquaintances or brothers-in-arms in our fight for the truth?

If the Pre-Tribulation-Rapturists are wrong (of which I'm unfortunately certain), we may all yet have to find out...

The Duchess

2009-06-18T15:59:00.001-07:00

This one was definitely the pleasant surprise of the month. While it may not appeal to followers of the current Hollywood type of Christianity where extra-marital sex will wind you up in hell, but killing Muslims will land you in Heaven with the (former) President's personal blessing, those who have learned that the ways of God, love and life itself can sometimes indeed be mysterious and lead us beyond the confines of convention and artificial correctness, may find it quite enjoyable.

I never get into any of that stuff of how brilliant the actors were. If they hadn't done their jobs well, I wouldn't waste my time recommending this movie.
What I care mostly about in movies is the message (since I consider myself a messenger howbeit using a slightly different medium), and in this case we've got another beautiful testimony (since it's based on actual events) of how forgiveness is an integral part of love, and something we both need and need to learn to give, even if the circumstances may be less than fair and just, as well as of a time in which not everybody had the same freedoms, privileges and rights they may enjoy today, but still managed to be much happier and more fulfilled anyhow.

If you want to get a taste of how different life has been (and perhaps still is and can be in other cultures than our plastic Coca Cola culture), this movie is certainly an opportunity.

Frost Nixon

2009-05-12T07:44:00.000-07:00

While initially reluctant to watch a movie that was "only" about an interview with an ill-reputed politician from the 70s, all doubts were gone with the wind, pretty much as soon as it started. The actual interview turned out to be more exciting than any boxing match we'd ever seen, and definitely more intellectually stimulating.

For some, back in the 70s, Richard Nixon was the personification of evil. But what this movie sets out to show is that there's hope for anyone who is willing to admit their mistakes.

Girl's Best Friend

2009-05-12T07:22:00.000-07:00

If you're one of those types of people who tend to regularly get upset with their fellow humans' nagging quality of sheer imperfection, and you're open to the possibility that "anything is possible," even that your life and critical character might be changed by a quadruped not much bigger than a football, (even if "its" name should be as corny as "Binky"), then you might enjoy this movie.

It's an example of how life sometimes seemingly unjustly rewards the cold and cynical with undeserved happiness.

Now, isn't that what life has been all about, for many of us - enjoying the undeserved?

New In Town

2009-05-12T07:19:00.001-07:00

I used to be a city slicker, brainwashed by the politically correct dogmas of our time until I discovered that the gist of what life is all about was found in a totally different direction than the pseudo-coolness and artificial hipness society forces on its victims in the process of finding players for its game.

So, I could perfectly well relate to the role Rene Zellweger was playing in "New In Town."

Coincidentally, I recently recorded the German version of the very Christmas hymn ("Come All Ye Faithful") that the villagers of "New Ulm" sang in the freezing winter of Minnesota - a hymn that the bulk of my former city acquaintances and "friends" would certainly sneer at and would not be able to relate to, but then I doubt if they've come to experience mere fractions of the joy the Christian life has to offer (along its many trials).

While the heroism involved in moving from Miami to Minnesota remains the type that's probably purely reserved for the movies, I also share the belief that what really counts in life is the spiritual sunshine that springs forth from the believing hearts of friends, more so than fun in the sun (as much as I enjoy the latter).

And if you should have made similar experiences in life, I'm sure you will enjoy this movie, too.

Georgia Rule

2009-04-10T15:17:00.001-07:00

I only like to feature movies here that either really moved me or have had some other kind of lasting impact on me through some lesson or other valuable information or message it conveys, and "Georgia Rule" lives up to those criteria.

Probably anyone can in some way relate to or learn something from this pretty much true to life family story, whether they're a perfectionist distanced grandmother, a disillusioned parent, or a rebellious and confused teenager looking for a glimpse of real love and truthfulness out in that lost & lonely world of ours.

For those of us who are certain that we have found our path it's a good reminder that no matter how well that path may work for us, we might have to adapt somewhat to those close to us who can't accept that path for themselves.

For those of us who think we know all about people, it's a reminder to "look again" (the meaning of the word "re-spect"), because things people do or say aren't always what they seem; and for those of us who flee to poor substitutes in our sometimes frustrating quest for love it bears a glimpse of hope that true love is on its way, even if it may come into your life from a different direction than we expected.

If you like true-to life stories with a twist of determination to make lemonade out of the lemon life has handed us, and a glimpse of hope, then you'll probably enjoy this film as much as we did.

Inside I'm Dancing

2009-03-24T14:39:00.001-07:00

God bless the Irish.

Because that's what it took to make a brilliant movie like the 2004 gem "Inside I'm Dancing."

Remotely resembling British humor, yet the latter is infinitely less divine than what the Irish come up with in their joix de vivre, as opposed to English cynicism, and in embracing that glimpse of spirituality that the Brits have traded in exchange for Darwin.

Don't know why we missed this one for so long. Probably because our corner of the world is in a similar dilemma to her Majesty's.

But better late than never.

If you can handle hardcore humanity, try to see this one if you haven't yet.

Martian Child

2009-03-22T10:07:00.001-07:00

I was just reminded of "Martian Child" this morning, a movie I must have watched before I started this list, because it belongs here, I'd say.

Somewhat reminiscent of "K-Pax," the difference being that this one's based on actual events.

The "Making of" reveals that John Cusack originally didn't jibe too well with the kid who was to play the "Martian Child," which shows that regardless of our preferences or reservations, when it comes down to it, we've got to trust the Director of the "Big Picture" for the choice of our partners in the cast of the movie of our life...

He knows best, dude.

Yes Man

2009-03-22T09:57:00.001-07:00

I had read a few reviews of "Yes Man" before I finally dared to watch it. I like Jim Carrey, and have forgiven him for antics like "Ace Ventura" latest since "Truman Story," and, of course, "Bruce Almighty."

I understand that some folks can't deal with some of the lessons that movies like "Bruce Almighty" or "Yes Man" have to offer. Maybe they're not the personality types that this type of lesson applies to, so they can't relate to them, or they have a "Smells Like Teen Spirit" attitude toward movies: "Here we are now, entertain us!" and don't want to be bothered with lessons from a movie screen.

Well, I'm not a notorious "Yes Man," so I enjoyed what this movie has to say, and at the same time found it thoroughly enjoyable.

Being a former owner and fond conosseur of Third Eye Blind's '99 debut album, I particularly enjoyed Jim's rendition of "Jumper," probably one of the best 1000 rock songs of all times. I was laughing till I cried...

Apparently I wasn't the only one, judging by the amount of uploads of that scene to Youtube.

Expelled - No Intelligence Allowed!

2009-03-10T10:58:00.000-07:00

I haven't featured any documentaries on this list so far, but I think Ben Stein's courage to be one of the few (secular) voices of truth, butting the media and mainstream description of Intelligent Design, deserves an exception.

Even the title of the documentary alone, "Expelled - No Intelligence Allowed!" is a stroke of genius in itself, because by refusing to recognize the existence of intelligent information within the very basest form of life, namely within every living cell, and by refusing to acknowledge the fact that there can be no form of intelligent information without an Author, thus leaving the Evolutionary theory flawed at best, if not totally insufficient to explain where we came from, and thus crying desperately for a more sensible answer, the so-called "science" lobby Stein addresses in the movie prevents intelligent thought from happening altogether within their institutions.

Equaling their bias to practices of both the 3rd Reich as well as formerly Communist East Germany (both nations heavily influenced by the teachings of evolution) couldn't be more appropriate.

Apparently Ben is beginning to pay the consequences for his boldness, like any other lonely voice for the truth, but history will tell who were the blind, misled masses and who were the heroes that dared to speak up for the truth when nobody else did it...

10 Inch Hero

2009-03-09T07:11:00.001-07:00

Behold, truly one more American fairy-tale, but alas, one of hope and peace, justice and free sex for all...

And that even during a time when you would have thought hippies had all been wiped out by the "war on terror."

But there is a God and He loves us, even those of us who are hippies at heart, and even if there don't seem to be many other confirmations of that fact around than these concocted fantasy tales by dreamers like us, it's enough to keep us dreaming, or hoping that some day - against all odds - there are really going to be people like that walking on this planet, actually getting along wonderfully, and making love, not war.

Jack & Jill vs. the World

2009-03-04T05:17:00.001-08:00

Unbelievably, yet another flick cast in N.Y.City, "that great city" which, apparently, a lot of movie producers consider the "stage of the world."

Possibly so.

Well, it's nice to find - on that stage - a role played as nicely as that of Jack & Jill in this movie, as strongly opposing each other as they may initially be, and preaching a message that goes so much against the New York City Groove and its Wall Street Shuffle, and even has the audacity to label its game "stupid."

Thank you, Vanessa Parise, for making such a nice movie.

My better half specially appreciated it, since she very much resembles "Jill," and Jack's conversion probably very much my own... that mysterious conversion taking place when someone stops chasing temporal things (as in "the pursuit of happiness") and actually starts living...

A Good Woman

2009-01-31T08:14:00.001-08:00

Thoroughly enjoyable lessons on prejudice and gossip that we caught up with almost 5 years after release.

Just the way a movie ought to be.

The Go Getter

2009-01-31T07:55:00.000-08:00

While this road movie probably wouldn't rank among my favorite, potential life changers (I like my life changed regularly, if not frequently, so I allow what some would call fate -and I prefer to call God- greater access to that possibility, even via something as trivial as movies), I liked it because of its positive twist, compared to, for example, Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" with its sobering, if not depressing ending.

But I still wouldn't have bothered featuring it on this blog, hadn't it occurred to me sort of retrospectively that it has one of those metaphor factors in it, that I've discovered a few other times, as in "Serenity" or, of course, "The Miracle Worker," which triggered a torrent of reactions in my mind that still hasn't come to an end...

Some people see ghosts, others see the Devil everywhere; well, I prefer to see God everywhere or in everything, and holy ghosts, for that matter. And I happen to be able to see His fingerprints on this movie, too, although I doubt that the makers of the film intended it any more than Paul McCartney intended writing a song about an Endtime prophetess when he penned "Let It Be."

Inspiration's a funny thing.

Okay, the plot in my mind is this: The kid in the film is a lot like many of us on the road of life, who sort of break free from the System (he quits school), not really feeling much at home in that place to begin with. So, first he runs into the kind of stuff the world has to offer: a fist in the face, false love and counterfeit thrills in drugs, all the while, though, communicating with a voice that he feels "at home with," even though it belongs to someone he's wronged (since he stole her car, and hey, who of us gives God the credit for lending us the vehicle with cruise through life with?), met only with forgiveness on the condition of regular communication with her (sounds to me like the way we can obtain forgiveness via prayer...)

When things look pretty dark & bleak, all of a sudden that embodiment of unconditional love stands right in front of him, ready for more than just comforting words, and while that relationship is not without its ups and downs either (as I'm sure all of our relationships with God aren't, either), there is, lo and behold, a happy ending in sight - and that in spite of disappointments galore from anywhere else, which again confirms my personal experience: only God cuts the cake.

Some folks have great difficulties with any insinuations or attempts to ascribe female attributes to God or the Holy Spirit, but in my opinion they're trapped in some chauvinistic mindset that shaped their ideas of God more on the John Wayne movies they saw in their childhood than Genesis 1:27 and the rest of the Bible, thinking they're doing God a service by going to other countries & shooting off Hottentots, because that's just a real macho thing to do.

Well, you can keep doing that, and keep watching your John Wayne movies, if you wish, I prefer neat little love stories with happy endings. After all, the Good Book doesn't picture our Maker with a gun strapped around his hip, stepping out into the glistening midday sun to bring a swift end to his evil opponent, but in childlike and what some I'm sure might call naive fashion simply states that God is Love.

The Express

2009-01-17T15:53:00.001-08:00

Isn't it weird sometimes, how something you don't have anything to do with in real life can nonetheless be a great inspiration to you via the movies?
Take football, for instance, in Texas a religion, as they say in this movie, but zero relevance to my actual life as a musician...
And yet some of the most inspiring movies I've seen over the past year were about football.
Seems like God can use anything.

Even a 23 year old kid to kick some racist ass and change the course of history while he was at it, maybe - just maybe - paving the way for the elections of 2008, nearly 50 years after the incidents of the story this movie tells...

It certainly drives home the feeling of vindication the racially discriminated part of the American population must have felt after Obama licked McCain...

The acting & directing of this movie are both great. You'll have to blame the ending on real life & its sometimes weird ways.

Only Reality's More Bizarre Than "IGOR"

2009-01-12T16:25:00.000-08:00

My childhood fascination for cartoon movies is paying off big- time these days, in a way I'd never expected. Because modern cartoons seem to possess a quality that news channels and official media sources seem to have lost decades ago, and thus you can probably learn more about the reality we currently live in from this movie than from being tied to an arm chair and forced to watch Fox News for 72 hours in a row.

Of course, they wouldn't tell you the truth about the fake reality that our evil kings are making us take at face value, forcing us to resort to evil, and especially all sorts of evil inventions, in order to survive.

Nor would they imply that the underdogs and "Igors" of this world (in News lingo also referred to as "rebel forces," "insurgents" or "terrorists") are often a lot smarter than the evil inventors who run this place.

Well, you'll have to find out who the monster created in this film resembles in your life. But when you find out, be careful who you're going to reveal this discovery to, if you want to enjoy a peaceful and quiet rest of the evening.
Oh, did I mention it? The sarcastic humor in this movie is highly contagious, so junkies, watch out!

Then again, some folks - just as with the "Matrix" or any other movies that are truer than life somehow - never dig it, and for them it's just a pretty odd movie...

Possibly because they've never been an Igor...

Ghost Town

2008-12-30T10:01:00.000-08:00

Yet another New York fairy tale, trying to get us to believe that Manhattan is filled with exclusively lovely people and ghosts, except, perhaps, for the dentist Ricky Gervais (the Brit we frowned upon recently, in "A Night At the Museum") mimics so superbly that you can even watch this film twice and still laugh at his antics.

Another one for Enneagram freaks: This dude's a fairly obvious FIVE on his way to redemption via the path of love.

Thoroughly enjoyable.

27 Dresses

2008-12-18T05:29:00.000-08:00

Although the backdrop of this movie couldn't be more cliché-ridden: another wedding (or rather, a whole bunch of'em), in the "most wonderful city on earth," inhabited by "the most wonderful people on earth," - as if New York City were the epitome of paradise, instead of just another stinking, over-sized, overcrowded, over-prized and over-rated city, the story has a refreshing twist, and is one of the best in-depth character studies I've seen of late.

Especially those familiar with the Enneagram will be delighted to find the proto-type of a professional TWO, who is being thoroughly dissected by the man who dares to question everything she ever loved and stood for, but whom she also ultimately winds up together with - which, of course, is, where the realism stops again, but then, you never know...

Wrap the whole thing up in the well-flavored humor, pretty decent acting, and try to ignore the seen-it-a-thousand-times-before "N.Y. = Fairyland" backdrop, and you'll find yourself an actually thoroughly enjoyable film.

Elizabethtown

2008-10-20T08:48:00.000-07:00

Every now and then something happens that threatens to shake all my "Woe-is-America" convictions and what some people would term anti-American sentiments in its foundations.
Having watched the 2005 flick "Elizabethtown" recently was one of those events.

As much as you want to hate Americans for their stupidity in actually swallowing the garbage their President is saying - or the majority of their paid-off preachers, for that matter - you can't help loving its culture, its music, and the people who show that side of America, even if the only place it actually exists is in its movies.

Charlie Bartlett

2008-10-06T05:13:00.000-07:00

I think the first thing one would have to say about this movie is, that it's refreshingly different. Maybe only so because of the performance of the main actor, a kid I'd never heard about, (Anton Yelchin,) or maybe because it was made in Canada...

It only got a lukewarm rating on the Christian movie sites, probably because of it's blatant honesty, that's simply too much for that kind of religious hypocrisy, where it's okay to slaughter thousands in the name of God and President, but sex is a sin...

By the somber review this movie received on Crosswalk, I expected a gory dram, and was pleasantly surprised to find out that it's a witty comedy instead, to be enjoyed thoroughly. Looking forward to seeing more of Anton, although it's unlikely he'll easily find another role like Charlie Bartlett to play...

Reign Over Me

2008-10-06T05:09:00.000-07:00

Great character study and more. See more of my input on this one on my regular blog:

http://mcdozersblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/099-love-reign-over-us.html

Love in the Time of Cholera

2008-09-10T10:33:00.000-07:00

Love is forever, and if this movie doesn't prove it - since it's based on a novel - then at least it proves that there are other dreamers beside myself who believe it.

Set against the backdrop of one of the most gloriously beautiful countries on God's earth, "Love In the Time of Cholera" tells a slightly different love story, one perhaps too good to be true, and yet in some ways more true to life than the evening news, and definitely truer than the outgrowths of Hollywood's pop culture with its never ending hails to youth, and labeling anything past a certain age as unfit for life.

That's probably what I love most about this movie: it tells the truth about who really are the dead ones and who are the alive, or at least rings home the fact that love - as well as life (truly lived) does not have anything to do with age.

Lions for Lambs

2008-09-02T14:54:00.000-07:00

During the first few minutes into "Lions for Lambs" I thought I was watching U.S. government propaganda justifying the "War on Terror" and presenting the official 9/11 fairy-tale as truth. For one thing, I have never met any U.S. troops in real life as educated, well behaved and civilized as in any of those movies (and God knows I've played for a lot!), nor could I imagine an American politician in real life as whitty as the Senator Tom Cruise played in this movie.

Another 15 minutes into the movie I figured this must have been the smartest piece of U.S. propaganda I had ever watched.

Thankfully, it turned out to be no Neocon propaganda, after all, just a pretty good screen monument to the times we're living in, some sort of "golden finger" on the pulse of our times. The type that carries a message, which, sadly, will require a miracle for any significant amount of people to grasp, but part of the message was that it doesn't matter if it's just a single person who gets it, as long as that person does something about it for a change.

As someone who grew up on the '71 album "Who's Next" by "The Who," THE album by that band that's worth listening to, I was particularly thrilled about the little historic gem woven into this film when Meryl Streep (posing as awakening journalist Janine Roth) quotes one of my favorite songs from the album. A line that has come to my mind repeatedly in my life, whenever I see one regime or administration replaced by another, only to change absolutely nothing, especially not for the better: "Meet the new boss; the same as the old boss!" - Taken from the classical piece of rock music "Won't Get Fooled Again."

Except that the title couldn't be further from the truth. If there's anything that hits you about the general public per se, it's that they've been fooled over and over and over again since the song came out.

The bad guys in the movie are the politicians, sharing the blame with the news media, and the ray of hope is supposedly the beacon of education. What American producers like Robert Redford lack the guts to realize, of course, is that the sacred golden cow of education is just as much a hoax as politics and the media, and what's worse, movie makers who paint a reality a far cry from what's really happening. As long as people around the world can keep their Hollywood scope of things, the world isn't desperate enough yet for anyone to actually do something else besides watch movies and talk, even though this one was at least an effort to be a voice for the truth, even if the trumpet is sounding a signal that won't be understood by many, much less spur more than a handful to action, or even more than that special, chosen one...

In The Time of the Butterflies

2008-06-16T16:12:00.000-07:00

Everybody has heard about the big bad guys like Hitler and Stalin, and maybe a few others. This movie tells the story of one more of the probably countless other little Hitlers most of us have never heard about and some of his victims. It makes you wonder where the people who stood up against them in spite of the odds took the courage. But they did. Somehow God must have given it to them, and in the end, the good side finally won. It has always been like that, and it will always be like that, even during the time of the greatest Hitler this world will have ever seen.

The greatest challenge, as this movie brings out, is always to wake up the sleeping masses who don't want to know what's going wrong. It's always been like that, and from the look of it, it always will...

Freedom Writers

2008-06-16T14:36:00.000-07:00

Ooops, almost forgot about this one! Great and a must see for anyone dealing with young people!

Surf's Up

2008-06-16T11:21:00.000-07:00

Of all the penguin movies that have come out over the past few years, I guess this one’s my favorite. Light entertainment only, though, no big life-changing experience.
(Of course, the story is about as true as Alice in Wonderland...)

But wait... there IS a lesson to be learned from the story: Every now & then you've got to forget about the "contest" or (rat race) of life and whether you're going to be a loser or a winner, and just enjoy the ride for the fun of it...
Once you get the hang of the fun of things (like doing your job for God), regardless of whether you're going to win the trophy (or crown), you actually start becoming good at it, and that's when you start becoming good at life itself.

The Great Debaters

2008-06-16T11:19:00.000-07:00

Shows what the Afro-American population was up against in large parts of their country until not too long ago… Brilliant, if you like intelligent scripts.

Checking Out

2008-06-16T11:17:00.000-07:00

An aged Jew in N.Y. (Peter Falk, alias Columbo) decides it’s time for him to “check out,” but upon realizing that folks around him don’t agree, finds out what a dumb and selfish idea that was.

Run Fat Boy Run

2008-06-16T11:15:00.000-07:00

The moral of this British comedy: “The hare never made it, but the tortoise did.”

Resurrecting the Champ

2008-06-16T11:13:00.000-07:00

No, this is not yet another boxing movie, but a movie about honesty vs. twisting the truth for personal advantage.

Charlie Wilson’s War

2008-06-16T11:11:00.000-07:00

Shows what one man can do when he’s got the determination to do it. From an era when American foreign politics weren’t the bloody mess yet that they’ve become since.

Akeelah and the Bee

2008-06-16T11:09:00.000-07:00

Great re-encounter with Laurence Fishburne (“Morpheus” from the “Matrix”) as tutor of a girl who participates in a spelling contest.

Michael Clayton

2008-06-16T11:07:00.000-07:00

One of the better movies we've seen of late, and definitely one of the best roles George Clooney played in recent years.

P.S. I Love You

2008-06-16T11:05:00.000-07:00

Ignoring some of the negative ratings this movie got on some Christian sites like Crosswalk, we went ahead and watched it anyway, and were not disappointed. Plus, the movie reveals one of the big secrets of all times about what it is that women really want...

The Bucket List

2008-06-16T11:03:00.000-07:00

Yeah, that one was nice… What things would you do if you knew you were going to kick the bucket soon?

Dan in Real Life

2008-06-16T11:01:00.001-07:00

One of the better comedies of what’s come out lately. Enjoyable.

The Last Mimzy

2008-06-16T10:59:00.000-07:00

We really liked that one… apparently based on the whole “Alice in Wonderland” mystic, but cute & somewhat edifying. Again, it’s sometimes the seemingly useless little sister, not the smart alec big brother, who holds the key to the universe…

Second Hand Lions

2008-06-16T10:57:00.000-07:00

The Kid from “Sixth Sense” and “Pay It Forward” is back. Though this movie isn’t quite as much of a mind blower as those predecessors, it’s a wild American fairy-tale with a few possibly-real-life ingredients that can be thoroughly enjoyed.

Juno

2008-06-16T10:55:00.000-07:00

Neat movie about a teen girl who becomes pregnant and looks for the right foster parents for her child…

2008-06-16T10:53:00.000-07:00

Pretty good Sci-Fi about a dude (Nicolas Cage) who can look just 2 minutes ahead into the future… It does open a lot of possibilities…

Proof

2008-06-16T10:50:00.000-07:00

While some folks may not like this movie, it certainly bore some lessons for me personally. It’s not always the apparently smart and adored professor types who come up with the solution to life’s problems (though their meaningless garble can strangely contribute to someone else finding it), but sometimes it’s the person you’d least expect to, who holds the key…

August Rush

2008-06-16T10:48:00.000-07:00

Aren’t we all erring through our lives looking for our heavenly Father & Mother, singing our songs & playing our music in hopes they’re going to hear us & find us? When they do, that’s the magic moment that makes it worth it all.

Amazing Grace

2008-06-16T10:46:00.000-07:00

Interesting what those guys who abolished slavery all had to go through, especially in the light of the fact that they finally won with a trick. Sometimes you’ve got to beat the Devil with his own weapons.

The Holiday

2008-06-16T10:43:00.000-07:00

One of the better romantic comedies of late. Not exactly life-changing, but pleasant to watch.

Beyond Borders

2008-06-16T10:41:00.000-07:00

Though this movie doesn’t have a happy ending, it breaks your heart for those relief workers (as well as the folks they’re trying to help) and all they’re up against. Angelina Jolie did a great job in this one…

The Ringer

2008-06-16T10:40:00.000-07:00

Surprising comedy about a guy who’s talked into pretending to be handicapped in order to participate in the Special Olympics, and finds out that it’s not as easy to lick the “Specials” as he thought…

The End of the Spear

2008-06-16T10:37:00.000-07:00

The true story of 4 missionaries who were killed by natives in a South American jungle, who were forgiven and consequently ministered to by their widows… Sample of true Christian love.

Coach Carter

2008-06-16T10:34:00.000-07:00

Great movie & must see for anyone dealing with young people.

Blood Diamond

2008-06-16T10:33:00.000-07:00

Pretty rough movie on the exploitation of Africa by the white man, and what a lot of them are really in it for, down there…

La Vita e bella (Life Is Beautiful)

2008-06-16T10:29:00.000-07:00

How can you beat the eternal optimist?

Apparently you can’t, not even if you stick him in a concentration camp, not even if you kill him…

Bend It Like Beckham

2008-06-16T10:26:00.000-07:00

I’m not into soccer, and if you’re not either, this movie might help you relate to those who are, plus get a glimpse of Indian immigrant culture in England…

I Am David

2008-06-16T10:23:00.001-07:00

A different kind of WWII story. Not specially realistic, but beautiful.

Just Like Heaven

2008-06-16T10:21:00.000-07:00

Interesting slant of the life after death scheme: someone who appeared to be dead, isn’t dead, after all…

The Incredibles

2008-06-16T10:20:00.000-07:00

Don’t you sometimes feel like an old, worn-out superhero whom nobody wants anymore? Well, teamwork, apparently, is the solution…

Sophie Scholl – The Final Days

2008-06-16T10:16:00.000-07:00

In the light of how we’ve become just another monkey see, monkey do society, my admiration for those who dare to stick out & rise above the norm grows by the hour. Two such people were Sophie and Hans Scholl, who died for their convictions of what was right.

Constantine

2008-06-16T10:14:00.000-07:00

While I wouldn’t recommend this movie for everyone, nor consider it doctrinally kosher (like the role of “Gabriel” in this movie – ouch!), it generally does have a positive slant in the end, and any movie in which the Devil is licked gives me a little bit of personal satisfaction…

50 First Dates

2008-06-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

The comedy is just that, a neat little comedy, until you begin to realize how much we’re all like the girl in the movie, who has to be reminded each day anew of who she really is, and how much she’s being loved.

Spanglish

2008-06-16T10:10:00.000-07:00

Sweet movie about the contrast between latino culture and average white suburbia, (for the viewer to decide which of the two is more real,) plus the conflicts that can arise from the same…

Manchurian Candidate

2008-06-16T10:07:00.000-07:00

Remake of old classic about using mind control in order to create assassins. Some folks believe there’s some truth to this story… Tsk, tsk, those conspiracy theorists…

Kingdom of Heaven

2008-06-16T10:04:00.000-07:00

The world is developing a new sense of righteousness and a new picture of who the good guys are. Are Christians really “in it” for the right reasons? Or could it be that the dreaded enemy sometimes has an even greater sense of true justice than we do? Sometimes the truly good guys are the ones who try their best to keep the peace between the warring parties and do whatever has to be done for the best of life, even when the peace efforts fail…

Troy

2008-06-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

What I liked about this movie is the wise warning Achilles receives from his mother before going to Troy: “Your great exploits are your downfall.” Seems like whatever efforts we make to make a name for us and make ourselves immortal, that stuff always kills us…

Master & Commander

2008-06-16T09:57:00.000-07:00

I liked the lessons on discipline and loyalty in this movie, though younger folks might find it a bit too slow…

Kate & Leopold

2008-06-16T09:53:00.000-07:00

Time travel movie of a slightly different sort, which brings out the qualities of the past (they weren’t all dumb Neanderthalers a hundred years ago, you know), which turns out to be the destination of choice for the protagonists… “Back to the past”, instead of “Back to the future…”

Cypher

2008-06-16T09:50:00.000-07:00

What I really liked about Cypher was: sometimes we get so entangled in becoming somebody else for “business purposes,” that it takes quite an effort to re-discover and remember who we really are.

The Gospel of John

2008-06-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

Finally a Gospel movie that stuck to the book! No Nicodemuses in broad daylight, no mother Maries crawling on marbles floors, no happy-go-lucky Hollywood Jesus, just the good old and plain Gospel truth, portrayed in the most powerful, blunt and yet anointed way ever. Henry Ian Cusack is the best Jesus you've ever seen on a screen!

Bruce Almighty

2008-06-16T09:42:00.000-07:00

One of my absolute top favorites, and, apart from the "monkey scene," in my opinion one of the top ten efforts to bring across God's point through the movies, especially for people who think they've been cheated by life... How anyone can give higher ratings to the recent sequel "Evan Almighty" perfectly eludes me.

Frequency

2008-06-16T09:38:00.001-07:00

Probably one of the best time travel movies ever, including the paradox factor of altering the present via input from the past. I like to see it allegorically in the sense of our being able to alter our present reality with the help of input from those who walked this earth in the past...

Hearts in Atlantis

2008-06-16T09:35:00.000-07:00

Another fairy-tale (?) about how deeply two human beings from completely different age groups were able to connect once upon a time, not so long ago…

Luther

2008-06-16T09:30:00.000-07:00

Where would we be without Luther? Where would we be if he hadn’t had the guts? And where would we be if God wouldn’t have been on his side to protect him, as He always does for those who do His job of telling an un-welcome truth in a world governed by lies…

As Good As It Gets

2008-06-16T07:45:00.000-07:00

Another one on old grouch becomes pleasant type. If you can ignore the “queers are the nice guys” message, you’ll enjoy this one.

Shallow Hal

2008-06-16T07:44:00.001-07:00

Pretty good comedy about not looking on the outward appearance, but someone's soul and true self.

Powder

2008-06-16T07:40:00.000-07:00

Regardless of the controversy around the director of this film and the homosexuality issue, I still think this movie is one of the strongest statements describing human bias and bigotry versus anything and anybody who dares to be different, no matter how innocent. Certainly the fact that John the disciple was lying on Jesus' breast during the last supper would be frowned on by the same type of people who criticize this movie, the same type of people who live uner the illusion that they would treat Jesus any better than He was treated the first time around. They still didn't get the point, and God only knows if they ever will.

Finding Forrester

2008-06-16T07:38:00.000-07:00

It is my personal hope that there are kids like the one in this movie actually around somewhere…

Life or Something Like It

2008-06-16T07:29:00.000-07:00

This is another movie that shows how swiftly things can change once God puts the heat on.