“Changeling” is definitely not happily ever after. Angelina Jolie plays Christine Collins, a single Mom of the 1920s, whose young son disappeared from home one Saturday while she was at work. What follows is her harrowing experience with the Los Angeles Police Department, who first did nothing, then didn’t believe her, then tried to pawn off another kid as hers, and then considered her crazy when she wouldn’t accept him as her own.
The first question that has to be asked is “Why now?” Why release a biopic about a sitting president, right at the end of his second term, and just a couple of weeks before the election for his successor? The answer is obvious: This movie isn’t just about the perceived buffoonery of our 43rd President. It’s also about the whole dangerous collection of manipulators, cynics, lightweights, sycophants, and dim functionaries around him; a collection which, by implication, would still be sniffing the hallways of power were the impending election to proceed in a particular way. Ah, now we get it. This is Oliver Stone’s political statement, under the guise of a documentary-looking caricature study.
“Beverly Hills Chihuahua” is one of those cute little talking animals movies, featuring (the voice of) Drew Barrymore as the upscale, uppity Beverly Hills dog who winds up lost and alone in Mexico City. But she is saved despite herself, learns some self-reliance and some humility, and now we all like her a lot more, plus she has a better perspective, as well. Of course it’s a parable. But it’s sweet and kind-hearted, and the whole family can enjoy it, which in itself is rare enough.
Both involve struggling against the powers that be. In both, the context is dark, cynical, and clandestine. In both, the world is seen as a precarious place teetering on the edge of chaos and obliteration. In both, it’s the little spark of romance and caring that sustains the main character, but it’s more a fantasy unfulfilled than any real intimacy.
Christianity’s Dangerous Idea: The Protestant Revolution — A History from the Sixteenth Century to the Twenty-First, by Alister McGrath. HarperOne, 2007. Hb., 560 pp. $29.95.
“Nights In Rodanthe” is every bit the middle-aged romance it’s billed to be, but the novel by Nicholas Sparks provides the narrative edge to prevent it from getting too syrupy. Richard Gere plays Dr. Paul Flanner, an otherwise skillful plastic surgeon who lost a patient on the operating table and forgot to be apologetic and remorseful to her husband afterwards.
“The Duchess” is based on a 1998 biography of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, 1757-1806. Georgiana (Keira Knightley), an aristocrat of passion and intelligence, is given in marriage to the Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes), who is interested solely in her fulfilling her obligation to produce a male heir.
The title of this film implies one of those spy thrillers that keeps everybody guessing about who everybody really is, featuring tense drama, split-second timing, thrilling chase sequences, and highly intelligent secret agents operating at the peak of their professional powers. Well, “Burn After Reading” is kind of the opposite of all that.
Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy by Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt, and David L. Weaver-Zercher. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: 2007. Hb., 203 pp., $24.95.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Is George Lucas finally getting to do a “Star Wars” movie, with all the special effects he wants, without having to mess with the human element at all?
“The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning” — Actually a prequel, where Ariel is a young mermaid princess, growing up with her sisters and a very happy Mom and Dad.
Henry Poole (Luke Wilson) has just been told by his physician that he has a rare, terminal disease. He seems healthy, and isn’t exhibiting any particular symptoms, but if he wasn’t depressed before, he sure is now.
Right now, there’s a lot of attention directed toward the southern border of the United States. The reality of illegal immigrants is a social problem at many different levels, for everyone involved.
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days — and also afterward — when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.” (Genesis 6:4)
“Kit Kittredge” hearkens back to an earlier time, the slow-paced days of the Depression, when little children played in tree houses, there was no television, and Momma had to take in boarders to make ends meet.
The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith and Politics in a Post-Religious Right America, by Jim Wallis. HarperOne, 2008. Hb., 352 pp. $25.95.
Before you read the first word of Jim Wallis’ transformative new book, you know something is different. Lined up like a political and theological renewal of the old television show The Odd Couple are names we know separately as representatives of vastly different worldviews.
All three are stories about irresistible force. One is historical, one is modern fiction, and the other is literally straight out of a comic book. In all three, there’s lots of random violence. In all three, the hero prevails, but what varies is whether the hero is himself the monster.
Genghis Khan didn’t grow up in palaces, even though his father was a local chieftain. They were nomads; they lived in tents and traveled with the herds. His father took him, at age nine, to be betrothed in a political alliance with a neighboring tribe, but Temudjin, even as a child, could do nothing other than be guided by his own lights. He picks a girl from another, less powerful tribe, which was a less honorable choice for his father, and, it turns out, also fatal.
