Foxbooks

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

2009-06-22T08:04:00.000-07:00

At some point I'm going to write a post about sequels - how they usually fall short and why I think that is...

but until then, I want to talk about a sequel that didn't disappoint. The new Night at the Museum movie was fantastic! It had a good story and great humor and it had the original actors (which is always a positive when talking about sequels).

The story starts after Larry has quit his job as night watchmen and become a successful entrepreneur. He returns to the museum one day for nostalgia's sake and finds that all of his friends are being packed up and shipped to the Smithsonian in Washington.

But it's not until he receives a call from them one night that he goes to D.C. to find out what's wrong.

The story is not very different then that of the first movie, but it still works.

The theme is best summed up in Honest Abe's words "A house divided cannot stand" (who in fact was quoting Jesus when he said it)

Overall this movie is fantastic and I highly recommend it.

Also check out hollywoodjesus.com for another take on the movie

What did you think? Was it as good as/better than/or worse than the first movie? What did you like? What didn't you like?

Up

2009-06-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

Pixar has done it again. Up is a fantastic movie! Everything about it - visual, story, acting - fantastic! And it's in 3-D!

One of the things that struck me about the movie was how mature it was. Not in a vulgar or a violent sort of way, but in a thematic way. It's rated PG and for good reason. It deals with death in a way that doesn't take it lightly.

Don't get me wrong, the movie isn't about death per say. The movie is about an old man who sets off to find paradise by strapping thousands of balloons to his house. It's about ambition, you can see both the positive and negatives aspects of it from Carl, Russell, Charles, even Dug.

I hope all of this though doesn't make you think that the movie isn't funny; quite the contrary - the movie is hilarious.
The dogs and squirrels and the climatic fight scene between the hero and villian is pure Pixar genius!

Also, check out this blog for some good perspective

My review: If you haven't seen it yet, what are you waiting for?

Teminator: Salvation

2009-06-12T08:50:00.000-07:00

I have a confession - I enjoy the Terminator movies. Heck, I even enjoyed the Sarah Conner Chronicles on Fox. And I was kind of excited about the new movie, especially when I heard Christian Bale was playing John Conner.

For my bachelor party, the guys took me to see it and I wasn't disappointed.

The story takes place at the beginning of the War against the Machines when John Conner first meets his father, who is only a teenager at this point.
There are two stories woven through the plot, one of John searching for his future (and past) father and one of Marcus Wright figuring out who/what he is.

The movie wrestles with the themes of what it means to be human and even some prejudice issues between man and machine.

The story was good, the visual effects were stunning; overall the movie is great.

My only complaint is that Christian Bale's John Conner is very similar to Christian Bale's Bruce Wayne (more specifically his Batman - with the raspy voice and such). Because the two characters are so similar, it would have been nice to have them a little more distinguished from each other.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

2009-05-12T14:50:00.000-07:00

Check out this blog for another perspective:

I love summer movies. It's one of the things I look forward to the most during the summer season. This summer seems to be shaping up to be another good one: Wolverine, Transformers 2, Angels and Demons, Star Trek, Up, Terminator, Land of the Lost, and Year One just to name a few.

I had the opportunity to go see Wolverine at midnight on Thursday when it came out. I must say, a very good start to the summer movie season

As someone who doesn't know much of the Wolverine (or X-men) canon and didn't enjoy the X-men movies very much, the only complaint I have is that they never really explained why Wolverine's name was changed from James to Logan.

Also, I would have enjoyed seeing Gambit's and Deadpool's characters fleshed out more, but other than that, it is a great movie and I recommend it to anyone.

Watchmen

2009-04-02T10:58:00.000-07:00

I haven't seen a movie that has blown me away this much in a long time (probably last summer with The Dark Knight). It was absolutely fantastic!
Let's start on the surface level. Visually and musically stunning. The look and feel of the movie was outstanding. The visual and sound effects were great as well. The acting was great, the actors really knew their characters well. Really, I can't say enough good things.

One of my friends and I had a discussion today about some of the questions that the movie raises, like "Is Ozy a good guy or a bad guy?" "What does being a superhero (or vigilante depending on how you look at it) really mean?" We also talked about the change in the ending.

This is a pretty good article about one writer's opinion of the movie.

But here's the thing: even though I loved the movie, it is hard for me to full out encourage people to see it. It's rated R (for good reason) for sex and violence. But there is enough of both that if they took out one of them from the movie, it would still be rated R. In other words, if they took the sex out, it would be rated R for violence and if they took the violence out, it would be rated R for sex.

In the end, I don't think I would ever not encourage someone to watch it (given they are at least 17 and mature enough to handle the gore and sex) but I would want them to know what to expect.

What do you think? Have you seen it? If so, what did you like about it? What did you dislike? If not, why not? Do you think you would consider watching it ever?

From: Faith Journey through Fantasy Lands

2009-04-01T10:32:00.000-07:00

"The Bible is not simply a collection of theological essays or a list of abstract doctrines and ethical principles. It does not come to us as a handy answer book with clear-cut answers to frequently asked questions. Instead, the Bible has been revealed to us as historical narratives, stories, poems, prayers, songs, and letters written to specific communities in specific circumstances. Christian educators sometimes treat the Bible as though they think that the writers who wrote it or the Spirit who inspired it made some terrible mistake. They seem to believe that they must fix a Bible story or psalm by decoding it into a theological doctrine or ethical principle. They try to reduce Bible passages to one or two handy points for their students to apply to their lives. But the Bible is so much richer than that. The narrative and the poetic nature of the Bible is not a mistake, but a generous gift from God. Each Bible passage provides learners with the wonderfully rich nuances - if only teachers would allow their students to explore it without the goal of reducing the passage to just one lesson or sound bite. Through the genres of the Bible, the Spirit of God can speak to people in many ways, on many different levels, and to many different life situations."

Do you agree? If you do, how should this change how we read and study the Bible?

Check this out

2009-03-31T14:13:00.000-07:00

This is a link to my youth pastor's blog. He's now in the church planting business and has started Awaken Church down in Colombia. You should check out today's post (3/31) from him.

I'm a fan.

My Christmas Story

2009-03-29T20:24:00.000-07:00

The following is a story that I wrote around Christmas. Actually, it's a compilation of the introductions of the four gospels.

This is the beginning of the good news of Jesus, the Liberating King, the Son of God.

Before time itself was measured, the Voice was speaking. The Voice was and is God. This celestial Voice remained ever present with the Creator; His speech shaped the entire cosmos. Immersed in the practice of creating, all things that exist were birthed in Him. His breath filled all things with a living, breathing light - light that thrives in the depths of darkness, blazing through murky bottoms. It cannot, and will be quenched.
The Voice that had been an enigma in the heavens chose to become human and live surrounded by His creations. We have seen Him. Undeniable splendor enveloped Him - the one true Son of God - evidenced in the perfect balance of grace and truth.

The emperor in Rome, Caesar Augustus, required everyone in the Roman Empire to participate in a massive census - the first census since Quirinius had become governor of Syria.
Each person had to go to his or her ancestral city to be counted. Mary's fiance Joseph, from Nazareth in Galilee, had to participate in the census in the same way everyone else did. Because he was a descendant of King David, his ancestral city was Bethlehem, David's birthplace. Mary, who was now late in her pregnancy which the messenger Gabriel had predicted, accompanied Joseph. While in Bethlehem, she went into labor and gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped the baby in a blanket and laid Him in a feeding trough because the inn had no room for them.

Nearby, in the fields outside of Bethlehem, a group of shepherds were guarding their flocks from predators in the darkness of night. Suddenly a messenger of the Lord stood in front of them, and the darkness was replaced by a glorious light - the shinning light of God's glory. They were terrified!

Messenger:
Don't be afraid! Listen! I bring good news, news of great joy, news that will affect all people everywhere. Today, in the city of David, a Liberator has been born for you! He is the promised Liberating King, the Supreme Authority! You will know you have found Him when you see a baby, wrapped in a blanket, lying in a feeding trough.

At that moment, the first heavenly messenger was joined by thousands of other messengers - a vast heavenly choir. They praised God.

Heavenly choir:
To the highest heights of the
universe, glory to God!
And on earth, peace among all
people who bring pleasure to
God

As soon as the heavenly messengers disappeared into heaven, the shepherds were buzzing with conversation.

Shepherds:
Let's rush down to Bethlehem right now! Let's see what's happening! Let's experience what the Lord has told us about!

So they ran into the town, and eventually they found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the feeding trough. After they saw the baby, they spread the story of what they had experienced and what had been said to them about this child. Everyone who heard their story couldn't stop thinking about its meaning. Mary, too, pondered all theses events, treasuring each memory in her heart. The shepherds returned to their flocks, praising God for all they had seen and heard, and they glorified God for the way the experienced had unfolded just as the heavenly messenger had predicted.

Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem, in the province of Judea, at the time when King Herod reigned. Not long after Jesus was born, magi, wise men or seers from the East, understood that the One who would save His people from sin had been born, so they set off to find the baby Savior. Making their way from the East to Jerusalem, these wise men made inquiries

Wise Men:
Where is this newborn, who is the King of the Jews? When we were far away in the East we saw His star, and we have followed its glisten and gleam all this way to worship Him.

King Herod began to hear rumors of the wise men's quest, and he, and all of his followers in Jerusalem, were worried. So Herod called all of the leading Jewish teachers, the chief priests and head scribes, and he asked them where Hebrew tradition claimed the long-awaited Liberator would be born.

Scribes & Priests:
An ancient Hebrew prophet, Micah, said this
But you Bethlehem, in the Land of
Judah,
are no poor relation -
For from your people will come a
Ruler
who will be the shepherd of My
people Israel

Herod called the wise men to him, demanding to know the exact time the special star had appeared to them. Then Herod sent them to Bethlehem.

Herod:
Go to Bethlehem and search high and low for this Savior child, and as soon as you know where He is, report it to me so that I may go and worship Him.

The wise men left Herod's chambers and went on their way. The star they had first seen in the East reappeared - a miracle that, of course, overjoyed and enraptured the wise men. The star led them to the house where Jesus lay; and as soon as the wise men arrived, they saw Him with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him. They unpacked their satchels and gave Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

And then, just as Joseph did a few months before, the wise men had a ream warning them not to go back to Herod. The wise men heeded the dream. Ignoring Herod's instructions, they returned to their homes in the East by a different route.

On: Movie adaptations of books

2009-03-23T13:49:00.000-07:00

Last Spring, I took a Lord of the Rings class. It was a "literary genres" class and this particular genre was LOTR. I'd never read the books, but I enjoy the movies so I felt it was a good time to read the books. I liked to take time after I finished each book to watch the corresponding movie (extended edition, of course). It was interesting to notice the similarities and differences.

I used to be very critical of book-to-movie adaptations, always complaining about the changes that were made. But, since I've been learning more and more about the concept of the myth, I've become more accepting of said adaptations. My religion professor, Dr. Judge, says that myths are stories that are "truer than true." What he means is that myths are not about historical accuracy, but rather exploring some kind of truth. He actually uses LOTR as an example, talking about lessons of loyalty and friendship that can be learned from the story. In other words, when comparing the book to the movie, we need to consider who's telling the story and why they are telling it. For LOTR, we should remember that we're dealing with two different mediums (ways of telling the story) and we have two different storytellers (Tolkien and Jackson).

As a side tangent; Superhero movies get a lot of heat for not sticking to the "canon." My question is, which canon? Hardly any superhero has one specific back story. Of course, there's always the general background, Peter gets bit by a spider, Clark is an alien from space, Bruce's parents were killed when he was a kid, but the specifics change based on, looking at the big picture, the generation they're published.

So, instead of critisizing a movie because it didn't follow the book word for word, maybe we should be willing to step back and look for the truth the story is trying to explore.

What do you think? Should we be more or less critical when it comes to book to movie adaptations?

The End?

2009-03-20T13:17:00.000-07:00

I love the endings of movies.

The bad guy's plot is foiled. The hero triumphs and gets the girl. Questions are answered. There is closure. Think about those movies that are sequential trilogies. By sequential, I mean that they go in order, it's encouraged to watch the first one before the second before the third. For example, The Matrix trilogy or the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. One of the complaints I heard about the second Pirates movie is that it left you with unanswered questions. Well, that's because it's not the end of the story. There's still more to tell.

Lately I've noticed just how much an ending can turn an ok movie into a great movie for me. I've watched more then one movie lately and throughout the whole movie I'm thinking "Ok, this movie isn't bad, it's not great, but it's not bad." But then the ending comes and I'm like "....whoa....that was amazing!" The Number 23 and Stranger Than Fiction are good examples.

And then, when I watch the movie again with the ending in mind, I enjoy the movie that much more. It's amazing how much an ending can make or break a story. That's why so many of the new horror movies fail - because they have bad endings.

I'm sure someone (probably more than one) out in the cyber world has thought "why can't he just go enjoy a movie without thinking about it?" I think immersing yourself into these medias without any thought is a very dangerous thing.

One of the purposes of this blog is to encourage whoever reads this to think about the stories that you choose and begin good dialogs. Russel W. Dalton calls it "watching with your eyes open." Also, I also want to challenge you (as well as myself) to truly evaluate what is "beneficial and constructive."

Yes, we can watch/listen to/read whatever we want, but does that mean we should?

What do you think? Am I just over-thinking or is there something to this idea of watching with your eyes open?

50 First Dates

2009-03-18T09:53:00.000-07:00

Typically, I don't like romance movies. It doesn't matter if its a romance comedy or a serious romance. Being that they are in the romance genre, the main theme of these movies is, obviously, love. A lot of people use movies in general as an escape from real life or for entertainment. To me, love is not something to be used for a couple of hours to help you escape or entertain you. (Also, Hollywood tends to confuse "love" with "attraction")

Now, having said that, it should be noted that I am a big Adam Sandler fan. The first time I watched this movie, though, I didn't like it. If I'm honest, I have to admit that I was coming from the perspective of a guy who is not suppose to like romantic comedies. But, the more times I watched it, the more I started to like it. So, eventually I decided I would try and figure out why. Here's what I came up with:

1) It is full of Adam Sandler humor. Most romantic comedies have humor that is, at best, cute. While there is nothing wrong with that, it doesn't appeal to me. However, this movie had humor that was pure Sandler. (Not always the cleanest humor, but it makes me laugh anyway - for better or worse.)

2) Lucy's dad and brother spent almost an entire year reliving the same day over and over. In essence, living a lie. Henry Roth (Adam Sandler) comes in with this ground-breaking new concept...tell her the truth. One of the biggest turning points in the movie is when the truth starts getting told. Lucy's family learns that they by lying to her everyday, they really weren't loving her, they were just tolerating her (this is very evident in the scene where they are watching The Sixth Sense).

3) Real love, is not something that occurs in a short period of time and this movie does a good job at portraying that. The movie show them dating over an indefinite period of time, followed by an indefinite breakup span as well. Then the movie ends years later, with them married and with a child who is at least 4 or 5. The whole movie lasts at least 5 or 6 years. Also, love, in any sense, requires sacrifice and this movie also portrays that fact. Henry gave up so much of his life to help Lucy, and Lucy, at one point in the movie, gives up her love for him, which she deems as selfish, so Henry can go on his trip to Alaska.

My review: I recommend this movie.

"The Purpose of this Blog" or "First Post"

2009-03-13T17:29:00.000-07:00

When Jesus taught, he used two main techniques; one of which was telling stories (parables). I believe he told stories because he knew the value of story and the power of art. One of the good things about art is that it can break down barriers, almost unknowingly to the audience, and get one thinking about certain things that they wouldn't have thought about if the subject was blatantly given to them.

Robert L. Short writes "Art has a way of getting around man's intellectual and emotional prejudices. This is because art always speaks indirectly - whether in being the vehicle for delivering a new answer, or in causing a new kind of question to be asked that must be asked before any new answer can make sense."

For example, some people are uncomfortable talking about spiritual things (God, religion, etc...) so they may go into a defensive mode if someone walks up to them with a tract. But, present them with a set of 50 images and a few questions to answer based on those images and they become much more willing to open up.

Over the past couple of years I have realized just how important story still is. It hasn't gone away, it's just taken a different form. Story still remains, at its core, an art form used to make a point (even if the point is that there is no point - like Seinfeld).

All of this to say that my hope for this blog is that it will encourage people to not just enjoy movies, books, music, and all such manner of storytelling but to enjoy them more fully, through thought and discussion with others. Because our culture is very visually stimulated, many of my posts will be related to movies and t.v. shows, but I also want to look some at books and even music.

Are there any other story telling mediums I should consider?