Under The Same Moon/La Misma Luna: Carlitos (Adrian Alonso) is a nine-year-old boy living in Mexico with his grandmother. He's never met his Dad, and his Mom, Rosario (Kate del Castillo) left four years ago for Los Angeles, working as a maid and a dressmaker and whatever she can find, in order to save the money to bring her son to her. She calls him from the same pay phone every Sunday morning at 10 a.m., and tells him that when he misses her just to remember they are both under the same moon. When Carlitos finds that his grandmother has died in her sleep, he embarks on an unlikely odyssey to cross the border by himself and find his mother.
Of course there was no fool like Henry VIII, and no fool's gold like desiring a male heir to the throne. He never did sire (a legitimate) one, but his daughter by Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth, reigned powerfully for 45 years.
Of course, Anne Boleyn was only legitimate because she insisted that Henry would have to divorce his Catholic wife, Katherine of Aragon, in order to have her. Just shunting Katherine off to a nunnery would not be enough, because then she would still be the Queen. And so Henry does the unthinkable: he divorces his Queen, permanently breaking relations with the Catholic Church, and thus establishing, by default, the Church of England. Protestantism, here, could hardly be deemed a theological Reformation. But, as we all know, that's not the end of the story.
"The Golden Compass" has generated a lot of "buzz" because of its supposedly anti-Christian content (propelled by reports that the author of the book on which the movie is based advertises himself as an atheist). But "The Golden Compass" is merely a fairy tale. Like all fairy tales, in places it is extremely creative, in other places practically plagiaristic, and its apparent purpose is simply to entertain.
We begin with a bit of overdubbing by way of introduction. There are several parallel universes, connected by some sort of cosmic dust. In each parallel universe, humans have different relationships to their souls, or spirits.
For the past few months moviegoers have had their imaginations piqued by armored polar bears, flying witches, blockbuster stars (Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig, Sam Elliot, and Eva Green) and incredible digital animation, all packed into a three minute teaser trailer. The promise? A classic action-fantasy quest story, with compelling, imaginative characters engaged in a good vs. evil adventure of mythic proportions. The wait is over.
"The Golden Compass" is the film version of book one in a fantasy adventure trilogy (His Dark Materials) by Oxford's Philip Pullman, an award-winning British author of children's literature. New Line Cinema is following their familiar strategy: a December blockbuster release of British fantasy literature adapted for the big screen (who can forget the incredible three-year dominance of "The Lord of the Rings" movies?). Indeed, New Line's early promotional materials for "The Golden Compass" specifically mention the beloved Tolkien series to whet our appetites: "In 2001," the text scrolls, "New Line Cinema opened the door to Middle Earth." As the familiar "one ring" tumbles, slow motion, down the screen, it morphs into a golden compass. The text continues the promise: New Line will take you "on another epic journey."
Anybody remotely related to Christianity, and its churches, would have to be automatically interested in a film named 'Atonement.' That is, after all, the essence of the Christian message: that Christ came to offer atonement for our sins. However, atonement, among us mere mortals, at least, comes with many emotional layers, if it visits at all.
It will be very difficult to see this movie with "fresh eyes," that is, not already aware of all the media buzz surrounding it, including, alas, this review. The novel upon which it is based, by Khaled Hosseini, is simply magical. The movie is faithful to the book. So this remains a singular experience. And you'll want to see it and hear it as if for the first time, if you possibly can.
Part of what is so enchanting about this story is that it transports the Western viewer to another time and place. Most of us know little or nothing about Kabul, Afghanistan. We are perhaps vaguely aware of it having been a "trouble spot" with the Russians, right before their ignominious collapse. Be that as it may, there is a "before" and an "after" in this story.
"The Ten Commandments": Talk about unanswered prayer: the Hebrews cried to the Lord for 430 years before God decided to send deliverance. This animated version of the life of Moses is quite serious and literal about the capricious Pharaoh, the slaughter of the innocents, the baby in the basket in the bull rushes, and Moses being brought up as a youngster in the Pharaoh's house, raised as a stepbrother to the "real" Prince.
Anybody who's ever had a 'coming of age' summer will identify with this one. There's an inherent sadness here, though, that assaults the viewer from the very first scene, as the Australian orphan boys are lined up, from oldest to youngest, looking so hopeful, and the prospective adoptive parents proceed slowly down the line, until they arrive at....a cute young one. The rest of the boys, like losers in a beauty contest, are forced to feign gladness for the one who was chosen over the rest of them. He is whisked off to his happily ever after, and they are left...with the nuns in the desolate Outback.
What makes it a compelling mystery is that almost no way you add it up makes total sense, either if you assume she's a prodigy or the whole thing is a scam. What's been interesting to me is that in the screenings, and the Q and A after wards, the audience has been divided about it, which makes for an interesting Q and A...I was attracted to this story because of the lack of standards in Modern Art. Some 4-year-old is a prodigy? According to who (m)? But just because there are no objective standards doesn't mean you can't develop your own opinion. So you have to engage in these paintings either way, which gives people an opportunity.
This one will break your heart. Over and over. Cesar Ramos is Jorge, a thug-in-training in Juarez, Mexico. He's learned just enough English to be able to approach American tourists. He's looking for the men who are by themselves, so he can show them pictures of naked young girls, and promises that one of them is available just around the corner. If his 'mark' falls for it, he follows Jorge into a back alley, where he is threatened, robbed, ridiculed, and, if necessary for cooperation, beaten. The victims won't dare tell the police, because then they'd have to admit why they were in that back alley. And besides, chances are, they couldn't identify anybody, anyway, and don't even speak the language. Stupid gringos.
Who would have guessed that a children's book that's fundamentally about death would have one of the largest publishing runs of any book in history -- garnering 3.7 million pre-orders (that's pre-orders, before the actual sales began) from Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com? I am talking, of course, about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Those sorts of sales would be amazing enough in a single volume, but this is number seven -- of seven -- Harry Potter books. Each one of the previous volumes has been a blockbuster best-seller, as well.
'For God knows the secrets of the heart.' (Psalm 44:21) Each of these four films tries to maintain a certain bonhomie, a spirit of levity and jocularity and camaraderie, but some succeed more than others.
'Daddy Day Camp': Rookie Director Fred Savage draws upon his Disney background to try to make a film thoroughly kid-friendly, meaning the adults are inept buffoons and there will be jokes about passing gas. There's a tender underpinning to this movie, about fathers and sons reconciling, and we think we want to see the cruel, arrogant, greedy bully get his comeuppance, but somehow our heroes forget their innocence along the way. In the end, it's all about winning, and humiliating as well as defeating your opponent---not really the primary focus of Christian Education.
'In Search Of Mozart': Undoubtedly this film will be approached with much skepticism ('Haven't we already done 'Amadeus'?), and not a few yawns ('Can't we see this kind of documentary on the History Channel?'). And admittedly, the rewards for viewing this film are sublime, by Hollywood standards: no doomsday plot, no explosions, no chase scenes, no sex, no nudity, no foul language, no crude humor, no cute little animated figures, no computer-generated graphics, no battle panoramas, no sci-fi bedazzlement.
Just a calm, reasoned, brilliantly-presented biography of one extraordinary man, whom we will never meet. But we can't help but be affected by his remarkable legacy to us.
'The Bourne Ultimatum': Readers of the Robert Ludlum books will find the shaky-camera direction of Paul Greengrass to accurately reflect the confusion, chaos, sudden violence, and split-second plot twists of the popular spy thrillers. Jason Bourne (Matt Damon) is a lethal CIA agent who has gone rogue.
In 'No Reservations,' Kate Armstrong (Catherine Zeta-Jones) is a world-class cook. She's the executive chef of a swanky restaurant in New York City, where the patrons expect consistently superb quality. She closely supervises every dish that leaves the kitchen. She's a demanding taskmaster to her loyal crew, who remain not because they feel appreciated, particularly, but because they know they're with the best, and they enjoy being part of a top-notch operation.
'Rescue Dawn' is another scenario where the main character's world is turned upside down, but this is based on a true story, and it's every bit as grim and gritty as 'No Reservations' is refined and genteel.
In all these movies, love is not always patient or kind (I Corinthians 13:4), but it does provide the moments of clarity.
"Charlie Bartlett" (Anton Yelchin) is a clean-cut teenaged boy whose Mom (Hope Davis) is rich but Dad's in prison for tax evasion. He genuinely loves his spacey Mom, who seems to treat him with kid gloves, because his father's gone, but he acts out his anger with enough misbehavior to get him kicked out of all the expensive private schools. So he shows up at the local public school in tie and blazer, looking like a preppie, and very out of place.
There are two sets of folks who will be seeing this film: the huge fans, who have read all the books and seen all the previous movies, and the casual acquaintances, who perhaps are being introduced to this series for the first time. Either group will enjoy the experience, but in different ways.
Those who are very familiar with the scriptures will always approach a bible movie with mixed feelings: the film, no matter how likeable, is never going to be completely faithful to scripture, without risking a literal woodenness, but if it takes liberties with the story, it risks the ire of those who would have preferred more authenticity. So it is with the avid Harry Potter devotees: the movie is good as far as it goes, but leaves out a significant amount of material (how could it not?), and takes a few (minor) liberties with the story.
Morgan Freeman as God? Well, why not? He has the advancing age and regal bearing and sonorous voice to be considered dignified, and possess sufficient gravitas, but he also has a sense of humor, laughs easily, and can even dance, on occasion.
Steve Carrell as Noah? Well, why not? As recently-elected Congressman Evan Baxter, he has the name recognition, organizational skills, and the personal charisma. He's lacking somewhat in the faith category, but that can be developed, because he's the kind of man who works hard, loves his family, tells the truth, can invest himself in the grandiose, and does not give up easily.
'Knocked Up': If the title makes you cringe at its crudity, then the movie itself will make you apoplectic. But behind all the crusty repartee is a character with a good heart. Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) is a classless slacker who spends all his time getting high with a little help from his friends, carefully tracking porn. He happens to meet a nice girl named Alison (Katherine Heigl), who is actually on a career path, and otherwise wouldn't have given him the time of day, but well, she was a little tipsy from celebrating a promotion, and the next thing you know, they wake up together in the morning wondering who in the world is this person next to me in the bed. That would have been the end of it, except, you guessed it, eight weeks later she turns up pregnant. And then they have to try to figure out if they even like each other, much less can raise a child together. A thoroughly modern reverse love story, told with so much off-color off-handedness as to leave hardly a hint of saccharin aftertaste.
Link to Movie Review article, Mar 12, 2007
Advance Work:
1) Ask one member of the group to research the life of William Wilberforce, and how the movie emphasized certain parts (his opposition to slavery) and omitted others (his views on 'The 'Trouble in The Colonies,' the American Revolution). He served 45 years in Parliament. What American politicians have enjoyed such a breadth of service in Congress, and what legacy did they leave?
Chris Pratt (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) had it all: he was a star athlete, young, handsome, and charming. He's driving a convertible at night along a country road, and wants to show his date, and his best friend in the back (with his date), how amazing it is to drive with the lights out and watch the luminescent fireflies. They are at once enchanted, thrilled, and frightened. As he speeds up to heighten the sense of danger, the others start "freaking out," begging him to turn on the headlights, and as he does, they all see the combine inexplicably parked on the road, just before they hit it head-on.
This is the fascinating story of the life of William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffudd), the late-eighteenth century member of the British Parliament whose life work was finally succeeding in getting a provision passed that banned the slave trade in Great Britain. (OK, so historically, it just moved to other places during the next century, like the Indies and the Americas, but it was still a heroic struggle.)
Outlook: How has your faith helped you in your whole journey?
JD: My faith has been central to me. From the very beginning, in Sudan, I was baptized when I was two years, or one year. And later, in the camp, when we formed into 93 groups, of about a thousand each, every group had a covenant box, like the people of Israel on their journey. And the box was in the middle of the gathering, and we would pray together every day, from 6 in the evening until 9 in the evening, singing songs to the Almighty in our native language, though in the camp they taught us English. Then, on Sundays, we would all gather together, outdoors, with just the fence around us, and worship the Lord. We are the Gentiles, not the Jews, and we believe that Jesus Christ is for all people.
After reviewing scores of films in 2006, these are my selections for the best in their categories. We will see which films and performances win honors at the 2007 Academy Awards on February 25.
'Breach' is a chilling tale, based on actual events, of an FBI agent convicted of selling secrets to the Soviets.
No, it wasn't during the Cold War era. This was 1991, when our country's relationship with the former Soviet Union was supposed to be glasnost. But we've had a spy network since before we were officially a nation---George Washington relied heavily on his 'intelligence community' during the field maneuverings of the Revolutionary War---and we still routinely spy on other countries with whom we are theoretically at peace. Most of us just don't know the extent of our network of 'operatives.' And we never will. But some of us have attained some access, and some of us have abused the privilege.
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