Courageous Review

I have not seen the movie Courageous, but one commentator at the White Horse Inn blog says the following:

Courageous rejects nuance and the cross-bearing pilgrimage of the Christian life for artificially neat resolutions to the prayers of its one-dimensional characters. Sherwood continues to make films with God functioning primarily as a tool for our lives—whether he’s helping us win football games, repair our struggling marriages, or helping us find a job within seconds of a cry to the heavens. Brief, passing references to the gospel are only seen useful to convert a skeptic, who in a few tearful seconds somehow embraces the faith. Despite all the sermonizing dialogue—the story’s form and emphatic message has all of its focus on us and our accomplishments, not Christ and his work for us. In what could be page out of a John Elridge book, the “manly” vocation of police officer is used as the icon of fatherhood. Violent shootouts and car chase stunts ensure being a godly dad also looks as glorious as possible. Even the poster image calls to mind the slow-motion hero shot popularized by Michael Bay. As for the women, they are given little to do than look on approvingly.

HT: Blake White

Drive | Review

Ben Witherington has a review of the movie Drive, which I plan on going to see in the near future. He says:

First the disclaimers.  A movie for kids this is not.  A movie for Christian families with kids, this is not.  A movie for the squeamish when it comes to violence this is not.  If Tarantino’s ‘Pulp Fiction’ caused indigestion while eating popcorn, this movie has moments that will do the same.  At the same time, this film shows the wickedness and brutality and life-destroying power of all violence, and frankly that is a good thing.   The reviewers are saying this film will get some Oscar consideration, and I agree. It is a powerful film.  You may ask— How can a film about vice have virtues?  Well, in fact it can, if for no other reason that it reminds us to ‘go and do otherwise’ rather than being tempted to ‘go and do likewise’.

Firstly, this film is a morality play, as are most all mob movies. Things always go wrong, not as planned.  Wicked actions always have unintended terrible consequences.  It makes you believe we really do live in a moral universe.   And that is a good thing.

Secondly, the cinematography in this film is spectacular, the camera simply fixated on Ryan Gosling, and to a lesser degree on Ms. Mulligan.  It does indeed remind one of the old TV series Miami Vice, and so does the music, though it is a bit less synthesized than Maroder’s Korg  marauders. I almost expected to hear ‘In the Air Tonight’ in some scenes. The nighttime aerial photography is spectacular.  It almost makes one want to spend more time in L.A.—- welllll, almost.

Thirdly, Ryan Gosling establishes himself as a true James Dean type. Strong, silent, and an incredible driver, and a gear head to boot.  In fact he is so silent, I’ll bet his entire dialogue in this movie amounts to about ten pages of script.  The boy doesn’t say much,  he just drives.  But that in itself speaks volumes about him.

Fourthly,  Albert Brooks is excellent in this film.  In fact you could say he is ‘wicked good’ and mean it.  A stylish crook, smooth talker, but in the end, willing to resort to ‘whatever means necessary’ to maintain his life in the style to which he is accustomed.  None of the characters in this film, except perhaps Irene and her child, are all that likable, but the film does highlight that in the midst of the darkness, there are some redeeming features to the ‘kid’.  He has a good heart…. he also has a violent one.   Here again love and death are effectively juxtaposed.

Lastly, precisely because there are moral consequences to immoral actions, even our anti-hero does not have things turn out as he would like. Indeed, he has to get the heck out of Dodge. Just drive kid, just drive.  The problem is— wherever he goes, there HE is.  You cannot outrun yourself, but you can drive yourself crazy.  Think about it.

The Tree of Life Reviewed

It is a film that fascinates and frustrates. It enchants and exasperates.

2.5 hours of whispers, enrapturing scenery, and the occasional dinosaur. This will be a movie hated or loved, in fact, I find myself between the two.

Terrance Malick’s The Tree of Life is like moving from Ruth to Revelation. Most movies have a straight forward story, while Tree of Life uses images, sounds, and camera angles to communicate. The movie, like art, is meant to evoke feelings, and to be interpreted. Malick, as usual, breaks all of Holywood’s rules and composes a film that at times confuses, and other times soars. One reviewer rightly says:

The imagery focuses on life on a cellular level, to the family, to the vastness of space. It seems to show mankind’s place in God’s plan simultaneously as both insignificant and of the upmost importance. Beauty is shown all around us and emotion is displayed through the smallest facial gesture.

The Plot

The movie begins by quoting Job 38:4,7  “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding…when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” The entire movie is about God, the deep questions of life that only Scripture answers, and the opposing forces of nature and grace.

The plot begins with a tragedy in the O’Brien family and shows them struggling to survive with their emotions. Then as if harkening back to Job, Malick has a 15 minute section with no dialogue and an array of captivating scenery that chronicles the creation of the universe. Most identify it with the “Big Bang,” but my brain bent towards creation ex-nihilo. It felt at one point, as if I were seeing only what God saw before he made mankind.

The movie goes back to being 10 percent normal by rewinding back to the O’Brien family in Waco Texas in the 1950′s. Here it shows the complexity of this one family and the nature/grace dichotomy between the father (Brad Pitt) and mother (Jessica Chastain). Malick centers on the eldest son, Jack (Hunter McCracken, Sean Penn), entering the complexity of the emotions of a pre-teen. Through this boy Malick somehow combines a range of emotions that every child felt and did not know how to process. Guilt, happiness, anger, jealousy, lust, are all magically shown through the facial expressions and whispers coming through the screen.

The movie ends by showing Sean Penn symbolically dying and then entering the after-life on the beach with his family from the 1950′s.

Life

The movie is aptly named The Tree of Life because it has moved from the creation of the world to the death of it’s main character, Jack. Along the way the conflict between nature and grace are woven throughout its cinematic scenes. It is clear that the stuggle of Jack is a microcosm of the struggle of the universe.

Towards the beginning the narrator says “there are two ways through life, the way of nature and the way of grace.”  “Nature is willful, it only wants to please itself, to have its own way.”  On the other hand, “grace” is “smiling through all things.”  According to the way of grace, “the only way to be happy is to love.”

This dichotomy is most clearly seen in Jack. His father is a hard man, while his mother is full of grace. But as the movie goes on it is evident that Jack is turning out more like his father than his mother, he even admits it. Towards the end of the movie Jack whispers, “Father…mother…you are always warring within me.” With this line the scenes of Old Jack chasing Young Jack through the desert and beach begin to make sense. Jack is trying to figure out who he is, how he came to be.

Reflection

The movie moves beyond itself. At times it was pure worship, as if the Psalms and God’s speech in the whirlwind to Job, were coming to life before my very eyes. But at other times, I was bored and confused.

Is Malick just being artsy and the hipsters will love it because it steps outside the conventional ring? My wife began laughing when the credits rolled because she thought the whole thing was completely outrageous. And I sympathized with the laugh, the movie at times was completely loco. But I also sympathize with those who will love it, who can identity with Jack’s childhood, who can sit and appreciate the beauty that Malick has unfolded.

I think Malick could have made the film briefer, and easier to follow, but still kept his unique touch.

No matter what one thinks of the movie, they will walk away thinking beyond themselves. They will wonder where they were when the foundations of the earth were laid. They will wonder where the dwelling place of light is. They will come close to saying…

“I am of small account; what shall I answer you.” (Job 40:4)

And that is not so much a bad thing.

A Man for All Seasons

There are movies, and then there are movies.  Take Fast Five for example. The trailer pretty much tells the story. There will be cars, girls in few clothes, explosions, and terrible dialogue. And then there are movies. Movies that inspire, movies that move someone to action, movies that you cannot get out your mind.

A Man for All Seasons fits the later category.

A Man for All Seasons takes place in the early 16th century. It centers on Thomas More and his opinion of Henry VIII’s divorce. More (played by Paul Scofield) is “quick-minded, urbane, meticulous, cheerful, admirable, and humorous.” Most importantly he is a man of conviction; a man who knows exactly who he is. More’s performance is inspiring and I kept thinking that they need to remake this movie, but I doubt that any could top Scofield’s performance so maybe it is best to leave it as it is. I encourage you to watch it.

Below is the trial scene at the end of the movie. To watch this before the movie would ruin it. But for those who have already seen it, it serves as a good reminder.

Get Low

Last night Hannah and I celebrated the start of my spring reading days by watching the movie Get Low. I do not want to provide a full review of the movie or spoil the plot but only make a couple of comments. The movie was unlike any other movie I have seen. Not much happened in the movie (some might think it was boringly slow) but it was carried along by a curiosity and the remarkable acting.

What was remarkable about the movie was that the theme of guilt held the movie together. Guilt seems to be a lost feeling in this culture and to have a movie all about guilt would probably have not made it to the big screens without Bill Murray and Robert Duvall.

The movie left me sorry for those who do not know where to place their guilt. It would be a great movie to watch with non-Christian friends and then talk about how Christ has taken all of our guilt and we are now free in him.

Read Russell Moore’s piece on the movie which says much more than this.

Favorite Movies of 2010

1.  Inception: A Block-Buster with Brains.  The story keeps getting better as the movie progresses.  Many times movies like this with twists end up disappointing, but at every turn, at every dream, this one raised the bar.  The acting was good (not great) and the directing was superb.  The score is wonderfully put together by Hans Zimmer.  As you will notice, every great movie has a great score/soundtrack. A sub-par soundtrack always makes for a sub-par movie.

2.  The Social Network: This movie will be remembered long after people forget about Inception.  I thought about putting it as number one, but I had too much fun in Inception.  It is “our” generations movie.  But this movie is more about the characters, specifically Mark Zuckerburg wanting to be liked. Facebook is the backdrop.  What made this movie so great was that it was not made to appeal to 15 year olds who like Vin Diesel.  Witty dialogue and the cuts switching between trial scenes kept this movie going.  The acting was surprisingly good, and the director made something fun and engaging, out of seemingly nothing. 

3.  The King’s Speech: Superb acting by Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, and Geoffrey Rush.  It is rare to see a movie about a leaders weakness.

4.  Shutter Island: Most will find this one as a surprise.  It has some horror elements, but not a horror movie by any means.  However, this movie had me thinking about it for at least a week after-wards.  This movie did not get as much credit as it should have.

5.  127 Hours: I almost passed out when he cut off his arm, but the part I was feeling well I enjoyed greatly.  It reminded me of Into the Wild where a loner finally realizes that community is what he lives for.  

6.  True Grit: Ross Douthat got this one wrong.  Jeff Bridges does a superb job, although Mattie Ross (the 13 year old girl) gives him a run for his money.  The story was not great, the acting carried the movie. 

7.  Toy Story 3: Another great Toy Story, but at the end I thought I am tired of Toy Story.  If they do another one it will jump shark.  My view is also skewed on this movie because the sound was off tune in the theater.  When it got emotional, I kept laughing because it sounded like a violin out of tune. 

Movies I did not see but got good reviews: Black Swan/Restrepo/Winter’s Bone/Carlos