Category: Film

I don’t want to put words in anyone’s mouth. But I’m pretty sure that there is a Dave Luke connection to the new Vendetta film by David Lehre. This is some high quality Ghost Riding mockery.

Stop what you are doing right now and head out to see this movie. In fact, if you have the ability to go see the movie at the IMAX with 3D, do that too. In short I loved it. I don’t really like movies in this genre but it had a lot to offer. Good story, believable graphics, great classic features of the old Superman movie, and seeing it on a massive screen made me want to jump up and cheer at times. (Much to the embarrassment of my movie-buddy Dave.)

Check out a review that my friend Patti Gibbons wrote over on YMX. [Read it now]

Sidenote: Since the movie was sold out, Dave and I had an inaccurately and incomplete gay buffer applied during the film. But I showered this morning so we’re OK.

Below is an excerpt from a review I published at YMX.

From the very first moments it was clear that the
movie and novel would lead down separate paths. While the book boldly
presented this conspiracy of a Messiah marriage in its opening
paragraphs the films first moment made it clear that murder mystery would prevail over the sub-theme of conspiracy.

      

Robert
Langdon is a Harvard professor specializing in religious symbology. He
is in Paris to promote a new book and his audience is griped by his
notion that symbols are everywhere. His book signing is
interrupted as a French officer asks for his help in solving a murder
at Paris’s second most famous tourist attraction, The Louvre.

 

For the next two and a half hours the viewer is taken on a treasure hunt as Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) and Agent Sophie Nouveau (Audrey Tautou)
search for the clues behind the murder turned Holy Grail quest, all the
while being pursued by an Opus Dei assassin and French authorities.

      

It’s
a well-known story which houses a better known conspiracy against
Christianity. While the movies story is complicated it is not well
told. [Read the rest]

It seems there is a healthy amount of fear about the upcoming release of the DaVinci Code. I have to say this… it’s nearly bursting out of me.

What are we afraid of? I’ve heard some fear-mongering on Christian radio about how damaging this book will be for Christianity. Really? Since when is the Gospel not true? Afterall, the only way the gospel message is damaged is if it is not true.

An open diologue is priceless! Instead of people fearing Dan Brown’s interesting conspiracy, we should be encouraging people to discover the truth for themselves. Afterall, hasn’t gnosticism been dead for a long time? Wasn’t the Nicene Creed written specifically to answer the gnostics?

Isn’t Brown’s interpretation backwards anyway? Didn’t the gnostics argue that Jesus was fully God… and the DaVinci Code is trying to show him as fully human?

I am dumbfounded by fear mongers in the church. We need to look at these not as attacks, but as opportunities. At the end of the day, truth always wins.

Last night Kristen and I went to watch Inside Man, the new Spike Lee joint. Let’s just say it was far better than I was expecting it to be. It had a psychological component that was unanticipated.

It’s a story about the perfect crime. The detective, played by Denzel Washington, is called in to negotiate with the bank robbers as they have taken about 40 hostages. During the course of the film, the viewer is left wondering who is who. Who is the victim? Who is the criminal? Who is the investigator. You have an arrogant robber versus an arrogant detective. Then there is the wild card. It turns out that they are not robbing the bank afterall, they are after a secret locked in the banks vault. Jodie Foster plays a wild card character that is also after the same thing in the bank vault… but she used her strong arm tactics to do what the theives use guns and guts doing.

At the end of the day, it’s one of those movies that leaves you scratching your head. Think the Sixth Sense meets Oceans 11 meets Ransom. Overall, I highly recommend it despite it’s language problem. Not for kids, but 15 and up?

Next up? Looks like a good summer for action thrillers. I am actually looking forward to the DaVinci Code movie. I know it presents a serious problem for Christians… but the movie looks quite good. This may be one of those things the church would be better off looking for the redeemable opportunities and discussion as opposed to fighting this movie.

OK, so Mel Gibson has a new movie coming out about the end of Mayan culture called Apocalypto. Well, it’s a pretty serious film, but he snuck this little beauty into the trailer. It’s only a frame or two, but it’s a blast.

I’ve still not seen this movie, though Kristen and I may go Monday. But there is a nice review over at Relevant Magazine that is worth reading. [Read review] Just to correct Pastor Bob from this morning, yeah… this is the story of Nate Saint, not Jim Elliot.

Last night Kristen and I went to see Glory Road. I’ve wanted to see it since I first saw the trailer several months ago. Overall it was a good story. As Kristen and I joked during the movie… it’s not like we didn’t know they were going to win all along… so in that regard the story was a little well-worn.

Contrary to what some fans of "big programs" have said… I am glad that they portrayed it as a tough road racially. Why? Because it was probably a lot worse than Disney portrayed. Even though fans aren’t OK with it, Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp was most likely just like the typcial white man living in the 1960’s. I even remember as a kid hearing a lot of the same comments that were made in the movie and I grew up 20+ years later. Remember Jimmy the Greek? That happened in 1998 and not 1968. I would like to think that today things are a little better.