That brings me to Despicable Me.  In a world without Pixar this would be a really good animated movie.  But we don’t live in that world.  That makes Despicable Me a fun but not great movie.

The story is a simple one that never really struck a deep chord with me.  Evil-bad-guy Gru wants to be the greatest villain in the world but he has some steep and younger competition.  So he enlists (through adoption) some innocent girls to help him in his plan.  But they pull his heartstrings and eventually he becomes good Gru (or loving Gru?).  The only problem is, they never convinced me he was bad Gru to begin with so the story left me with an “eh” felling.  More cute than good.

Where did it succeed?  It was fun to watch.  All of the characters are well voiced.  Steve Carell did an especially good job with Gru.  The little girls (especially the littlest) are very adorable and you feel for them because they are orphans.

Now for the best part of the movie:  The Minions (the little yellow guys).  Their antics were hilarious and they are probably the best “disposable-sidekick-type” characters I have seen.  They don’t really talk.  They just mumble and every now and then an intelligible word pops out like poop or idiot.    They made me laugh throughout.

Despicable Me ends up being a typical animated flick lacking in-depth; something proven to be attainable by Pixar films.  There are a few moments that shined about this movie (Gru, the littlest girl Agnes, and the Minions) but the rest was fun but pretty dull.

Inception delivers one of the most multi-layered cinematic experiences I have seen.  Think Matrix (real layer and matrix layer), but with more layers.  In most movies this translates into an unintelligible mess. But Inception gives each layer its own unique feel which makes it easy to tell which layer you are in and to track with the story.  Did I miss things?  Absolutely.  Which will make subsequent viewing all the more fun.

Let’s talk about the story for a moment (without spoilers).  Inception is, at its root, a heist story.  Build a team of specialists and steal something important (think Sneakers or Oceans 11) but all of that is done in dreams.  But it rises so far above just a heist that the heist seems more of a backdrop to what is going on with our main character, Cobb.  It is the canvas on which we are learning about him.  But that doesn’t mean that the heist story couldn’t stand on its own.

I’m not going to tell you anything else about the story.  I don’t want to ruin it for you.  And I don’t know if I could adequately describe it without taking up many more pages and no one has time for that these days.

The cinematography is beautiful as well.  Writer/director Nolan draws from such an incredibly diverse palate creating unique and vivid scenes.  Memorable.  The special effects are jaw dropping.  There is one action sequence in a hotel that is completely astounding.  It gives us a good look at how the different layers interact with each other and proves how well thought out this movie is.  But that is just one among many times I had to pick my jaw up off the floor, and not just for the visuals.  The ideas behind the movie are just as jaw dropping.

Inception is driven, not by the visuals, but by good, well fleshed out ideas.  This is a sign of a well executed movie.  Some movies have explosions just to distract you from the fact that the story probably doesn’t have many worthwhile ideas.  Inception on the other hand has great ideas that the special effects support.  They make the ideas shine.  That is actually one of the main thrusts of the movie: that ideas are very powerful things.  And Inception proves this to be true.

In the end Inception is an intertwining of many good ideas, each of which that could support a movie on their own, but combined create a movie experience seldom beheld.

So, should you go see it?  (I hope it is obvious by now but I’ll tell you anyway.)  Unabashedly yes!  Any movie that can make the audience give a collective and audible “Oh!” at the end is worth your time and money.  It is my favorite movie of the year thus far and I want to see it again.   Inception is about dreams and I left the theater feeling like I was in one.  Don’t forget your totem.  You will need it afterwards.  (You will get that bit after you see it.)

More than likely if you are reading this and you haven’t seen the movie yet you already know what you need to do:  go see Toy Story 3.   Really.  The only way I would recommend holding off is if you haven’t seen the prior two entries in the series.  But if that is the case, well, just go watch them.  All three of them.

What can I say that you probably don’t already know?  As with all Pixar movies the animation was beautiful.  The acting was superb as usual.  The story was wonderful (Andy is headed off to college.  What will happen to the toys?).  But that is nothing new.  Pixar achieves these things in all of its movies.  So what sets it apart?

It is the scope of the film that sets it apart and makes it not only the best Toy Story but the best Pixar movie to date.  But that greatness is built on the foundation of its predecessors.  The first Toy Story dealt mainly with the toy’s bedroom politics.  The second dealt more with ownership and loyalty.  Both of them were fairly toy centric.  The third installment zooms way out and deals more with who these toys are in respect to the people who own them.  And because of this we get the biggest emotional payoff of the series and a fitting end.

In a word, Toy Story 3 is masterful in its concept and execution.  And well worth the wait.

Are you still reading this?  Go see Toy Story 3!

Some things I enjoyed.  The characterizations of the two queens were great.  Alice was very good.  The dialog was fun.  The setting was dark and moody.  The music was really good.  As my wife said, “It’s a movie that really does take you somewhere else completely.”  (I think I got that right)  And she is right.  It is a complete departure from reality.  I liked that for this movie.

There was one thing that didn’t quite fit.  There were moments in the weirdness that they tried to pull away from it and provide a broad, epic feel.  I’m not saying I didn’t enjoy it.  It just seemed that the change of gears wasn’t quite as smooth as it should have been when introducing the epic parts.  It pulled me out of the movie for a moment before I could get settled back in.

In the end I was very impressed with the movie.  I enjoyed the parts in Wonderland more than the parts in the real world.  Alice in Wonderland takes a very nice detour from reality to step into a weirdly comforting weirdness.  I am sure we will be watching it again soon.

Brian

What you should expect is a great movie with very realistic characters, setting, and a unique but sometimes thick plot.  The movie opens with a wonderfully depicted castle siege.  King Richard is on his way back from the crusades and is trying to secure some money on his way home to England.  What makes this scene so wonderful?  The way it presents medieval combat.

Our main character, Robin Longstride, is introduced to us as an experienced archer in the Kings army taking his part in the action.  That is providing covering fire for the boys setting up explosive bags on the gate of the castle and then igniting them flaming arrows.  In the meantime, the warriors in the castle are being served lunch while they fight.  I really enjoyed the realism here.  People need to eat especially if they are to continue fighting.  Once the English have set fire to the gates Robin and the other archers retreat back to the English tents to play games while the attack continues.  Their part of the siege is done.  This scene did a great job of setting up the realistic tone for the rest of the movie.

What is different about this Robin Hood Story?  For one, there isn’t much robbing the rich and giving to the poor.  There isn’t much outlaw action.  Instead we are treated to a look at how Robin Longstride becomes the Hood we all love.  Along the way characters are  driven by their own internal motivations and not the plot that people expect.  The love story between Robin and Marian has a very unique twist to it.

The medieval setting is very well drawn, and not in an idealistic way.  It is real.  Life is very much tied to seasons and crops.  Men and women do what they have to do instead of what would make them look cool on the screen.  And all the while, it was fun to watch.

The only drawback to this movie for me was that the plot was hard to follow in some areas , particularly in the politics.  This is not a persistent problem and I am sure a second viewing will help, which I am more than willing to give it.

Everything considered, Robin Hood may not give you exactly what you want.  It does better than that.  It gives you what you didn’t know you wanted.

First off I want to say that I enjoyed this movie.  But Iron Man 2 is more fun than it is good.  I really enjoyed the first Iron Man.  It had a great character arc in Tony Stark and a good plot.  Add great special effects into this and you had a winner.

Why was the second movie more fun than good?  They fumbled the character arc they set up in the first movie, and the plot was disjointed.  But the action was great fun.  If some mostly good performances, clever jokes, and great action is what you want then look no further.  You will might enjoy this movie.

Superhero action is always fun and once Tony Stark got his head back on straight with about a third of the movie left it got very good.  From this point you get lots of action, great special effects, and better characters. It feels like they finally got the movie in gear. The Iron Man/War Machine sequence at the end is really good.  Lots of robots die.

The first two thirds of the movie had some problems but it had some bright points as well.  Robert Downey Jr. delivers a strong performance.  The dialog is pretty good most part of the time.  There were some awesome one-eye jokes.

So let’s talk about the problems now.  If you haven’t seen the movie yet then don’t read what comes next.  See the movie, form your own opinions, then come back and read the rest and agree or disagree with me.

[SPOILERS begin here]

The first thing that bothered me is that they seemed to have thrown out most of Tony Stark’s character arc from the first movie.  At the end of the first movie he had gone from arrogant jerk to confident hero.  At the beginning of the second movie he is back to the arrogant womanizing jerk.  It may be typical for a person to revert back to the way they were before but the writers could have provided a reason for it to happen.

I think one of the reasons the writers felt the need to make Tony more like he was at the beginning of the first movie was that it succeeded.  Give the fans more of the same.  This can be clearly seen in the annoyingly out-of-place clumsy robot arm.  It fit in the first movie because there were robot arms all over Tony’s garage.  Having one of them be the comic relief worked really well.  In the second movie they are all gone.  Except this one.  It was still there being as inept as ever.  Why would Tony keep this one around after all the others are gone?  Inexplicable and annoying.  Moving on.

Next,what happened to the relationship between Tony and Pepper?  It isn’t explained.  It is just understood that there is awkwardness between them.  If they had explained why they weren’t hitting it off it would have provided a reason for Tony to revert back to his old self.  But at the very end Tony realizes that he loves her.  And she loves him.  And they kiss.  Why?  There is no relationship building in the movie at all.

How about conflict in the story?  Can you pick out the central conflict?  Here are your choices.

1. Russian dude with daddy issues who is coming after Tony
2. Tony dealing with his mortality
3. Rival businessman Hammer has it in for Tony
4. Tony vs. the US government that wants his technology

So which one is the central conflict?  The answer that the movie wants you to pick is number 1.  It bookends the movie.  It opens with the Russian guy building his own suit and ends with Tony Stark beating him.  But it was too easy and it didn’t deliver any kind of emotional impact.  It was anticlimactic.  So the answer to the question is that there really is no central conflict.  This is what made the movie feel disjointed to me.  It couldn’t decide what problem it was trying to solve.  Or maybe it was trying to solve too much yet didn’t do a great job with any of them.

How could they have fixed this?  The answer is in the dads.  The Russian guy’s dad died not giving his son the life he thought he should because Tony’s dad kept him from being able to.  Tony on the other hand apparently has always felt that his dad never loved him.  But this bit of information is given to us late in the movie.  If they had made this more central in the conflict between Tony and the Russian guy it would have delivered a greater emotional impact and made the fight between the two meaningful.

Last on my list is Tony’s depression.  This is a pivotal part of the movie.  He is dying and doesn’t quite know how to deal with his mortality.  This occupies a good portion of the movie but all we get as a resolution is some technobabble about the creation of a new element that will save him.  They wrap this up too quickly and don’t get any impact out of something that dominated Tony’s character for much of the movie.

Maybe I am being too harsh.  Or maybe I am just flat wrong.  This is an action movie.  They don’t have to make sense right?  But I like them too and there is proof out there that it can be done.

[End of SPOILERS]

I will say it again, I enjoyed the movie.  I really did.  But Coming off the first movie I was a little disappointed in some of the plot and character decisions that went into this movie.  I wanted to like it more.  Should you see it?  If you were a fan of the first movie then yes (but you will be disappointed).  If you are a fan of good superhero action then yes.  If you absolutely require the story and characters to make sense to enjoy a movie then maybe not.  Regardless, it was a fun movie that I will watch again. (I did.  And it was worse.  I won’t be watching it again.)

Note to parents: As I mentioned before Mr. Stark is back to his normal self in this movie including his horrible treatment and use of women.  He is a womanizer.  This may be true to his character but it is not a good example for men of any age to see.  Also, during a downturn in Tony’s mood we get a pretty bad example of how to deal with down times in life.  He drowns himself in alcohol while giving the advice, “Don’t think, drink.”

But this isn’t a Robert Downey Jr. review, this is a Sherlock Holmes review.  What about the other actors?  Jude Law played a wonderful Watson.  Rachael McAdams was good but not great.  I enjoyed Mark Strong as Lord Blackwell.  His wardrobe really fit the dark disturbing character he played.  This leads me into the next piece of the movie I want to talk about.

The feel of the movie was great.  London was wonderfully, dark, gritty, and real feeling.  As mentioned before the wardrobe was really good.  The soundtrack was unique and amazing as is the usual for Hans Zimmer and really added to the movie.  Let me also note that there are some genius camera shots.

I read some reviews of Sherlock Holmes that criticized it for being focused too much on action.  It definitely had a good amount of action but I think that it was also a very good mystery movie.  Holmes is depicted as a logical quick thinker who can take action when he needs to.  Even during the fights the movie makes it clear that Holmes is logically thinking through what he is doing.  This is done in a very unique and entertaining way.

I enjoy movies that have a big reveal at the end provided that it is backed up very well by the rest of the movie.  The Prestige is a great example of one I liked a lot.  Sherlock Holmes does this very well.  I never could quite predict what was going to happen next but in the end it wraps up very nicely.  I always felt that Holmes was one step ahead of me.  This is the kind of movie that you watch the first time for the ending and the second time to pick up all the details that you missed the first go around.  Sherlock Holmes worked great on first viewing.  We will see how it performs the second.

Was the movie perfect?  Probably not.  But it knew its strengths and focused on them to the point that it hid any weaknesses had.  We will see how it holds up on the second viewing because I definitely want to see it again.

Note to Parents: There is a spoiler ahead.  Just fair warning. The movie is rated PG-13 for a little language, violence and a couple awkward scenes.  Nothing explicit is shown during a clothes changing scene and Holmes wakes up naked in a bed but he is covered and the scene is brief.

The only other thing I think would be a good topic of discussion for parents to have with their kids about is the use of the occult in the movie.  The bad guy in the movie uses magic gained through occult ceremonies to obtain his goals.  At the end of the movie it is all shown to be a fake but I still think that this is good discussion material.  At a follower in Christ I do believe that there is spiritual evil out there.  The real deal is not fake and we need to be aware of that as Christians.  Don’t use its inclusion in the movie as a reason to skip the movie.  Instead use it as a teaching opportunity to talk to your kids about the reality of spiritual evil in the world.

I am a big fan of animated movies, Pixar in particular (honestly, who isn’t).  They always deliver.  DreamWorks animated movies have all been pretty good but not great.  I enjoyed the Ice Age movies and I would watch them again but they never were quite as good as most Pixar movies.  How To Train Your Dragon has broken that mold.

The animation is beautiful.  The actors are great.  The writing was superb.  The pacing was perfect.  The humor hit all the high notes.  From the first scene to the last I was enthralled.  I don’t know what else to say.  This is a movie you should see.  That is all.

Brian

Danger: Spoilers lie ahead!

I love a movie with a good twist ending especially when it is one I couldn’t guess.  It makes a good movie great and makes subsequent viewings shine all the more as you pick out the foreshadowing to the ending.  This only works when the twist is well foreshadowed and adds depth to the rest of the film.  The Book of Eli accomplishes this with flying colors.

Throughout the movie we see Eli act like a normal person.  He engages in combat and seems very aware of what is going on around him.  So when we find out at the end of the movie that Eli is blind it makes you sit up and think.  But as you go back and think about situations he was in you realize that it makes sense.  For example, how does a blind man engage in a gun fight?  Eli has already proven through out the film that he can handle himself in combat and apparently he has been doing this for at least 30 years.  In the gun fight he doesn’t shoot anyone until they shoot at him.  He uses the sound of their gunshot to locate the person.

Another example of this is the first fight we see Eli engage in.  Just before the fight begins he backs into the deep shadows cast by a bridge.  On first viewing it seems like just a cool set piece for a fight scene to take place in.  In light of the twist we get a deeper meaning to it.  Eli doesn’t need light to fight but his attackers do.  So he is putting himself at an advantage.

Things like this exist throughout the movie pointing us toward the end so that when we get there and find out that he is blind we can think back on the movie and see how it all makes sense.  This is why I want to see the movie again.  Incredible!

Now on to the themes of the film.  Just to be clear I know that the allegories in this movie are not perfect but they do speak to great spiritual truths.

The Book of Eli does a great job of painting the human soul the way it really is: utterly sinful.  A popular notion in today’s society is that people are generally good or that everyone has some good in them.  The Book of Eli strips away any notion that people have any good in them. In a way it takes the nice face that society has allowed us to put on and show us who we are under that face.  We are all deceptive, ugly, and selfish at heart.

There is one man who is in contrast to this basal state everyone else is in.  The difference is the book he carries: the Bible  So it is his belief in the Word of God that sets him apart.  However he is not portrayed as a perfect man but as a sinful man who is in need of forgiveness.

So what is the importance of the Bible in this movie? After the war that made the world the desolate place it is people burned all the Bibles, blaming it’s teachings for the war and destruction.  The one Eli has in his possession is the last one as far as the viewer knows.  Eli’s mission is to get that Bible to an unknown destination (even to him).  This is where the theme of faith comes in.

Eli explains that God spoke to him, told him where to find the Bible, and then told him to go west and trust that he would make it to his destination.  Stepping out in faith, Eli does goes west.  For thirty years he goes west and God continually watches over him.

The theme of faith is punctuated at the end when we find out that Eli is blind and has been blind throughout the whole movie.  When this twist comes the whole film takes on a deeper meaning of faith.  He has been walking for thirty years blindly trusting that God would do what He said.  The faith exhibited by Eli is something that every Christian should hope for.

In contrast to Eli is Carnegie.  He wants the Bible as much as Eli wants to protect it but for different reasons.  He wants to use it as a weapon to gain power over people using belief as a tool to enslave them to his rule.  There are people like this in our world who attempt to use faith to secure power and we need to be aware of people like this.

Another spiritual parallel put forth is the idea of missions and discipleship.  At the end of the movie after Eli dies, Solara is given the opportunity to stay with the civilized humans.  Instead of choosing this easier option she opts to head back to where she came from, presumably to share the good news she learned from Eli.

The importance of scripture memory, or hiding God’s word in your heart, comes across as very important as well. Eli comes to a point when he must part with the book in order to save a life after realizing that he hasn’t been following what the book he carried taught.  But in the end he is able to deliver the entire book to its destination because he has memorized the whole thing.  This begs the question: what would you do if your Bible was taken from you?  We live in a time when this isn’t even a concern for anyone living in America.  I have several Bibles in my bookshelves but what would I have if they were taken from me?  Only what I had memorized.

Another thing the movie tries to highlight is how much we have.  When Eli is asked about the world before the event that destroyed it he responds with something like, “The things that people threw away then we kill for today.”  How much do we have and how blessed are we?  Sometimes it is a hard thing for me to truly know since this is what I have known my whole life.  But this movie is a good reminder and that is a good thing to have every now and again.

There may be people who disagree with me that this movie is worth watching to see the spiritual themes put forth because of the violence and worldliness present.  But at the same time we live in a world that is full of evil.  Do we ignore it or do we acknowledge that it exists?  I think that acknowledging it makes my faith in Christ sweeter.  It shows me what he has saved me from.  We need a good understanding of sin to see how great our salvation is and how beautiful Christ really is.

The Book of Eli is a very hard movie to review because there are many things that, if talked about, would ruin the experience the movie brings to the screen.  So, if you plan on seeing it you can read this post with no problems.  The second post will have spoilers.

The movie opens with a very telling scene.  A dead man lies on the ground and a cat has come to feed on him.  The cat does not look like the variety people have for pets.  It isn’t fluffy or cuddly.  Then we see another man hiding out with a bow, hunting.  He lets fly an arrow which skewers the cat. His next meal.

This scene sets The Book of Eli up very well.  The people in this world are in a situation where they must use dead men as bait and eat cats, something most Americans would not think of doing since they are pets to us.  It is obviously a time of great need and desperation.  The next scene gives us a sweeping view of the world the characters inhabit.  Desolate and bare.  Destroyed.

But the idea of seeing what people would be like if civilization was yanked away from them has always intrigued me.  The post apocalyptic genre is one that explores this so it is one that I am always curious about.

The visuals in this movie are stunning.  The world is well imagined.  The stark bareness of it really paints a picture that pulled me in.  The coloring has a drained look to it.  Things look drab and dirty, just as you would think they might after a global catastrophe.  This backdrop gives our characters a great place to inhabit.

The characters are mostly good.  Denzel Washington brings life to Eli in a way that only he could.  Gary Oldman plays a wonderful villain (Carnegie), as he usually does.  His motivation seemed a bit off to me but I think it fit with what the movie was trying to do.  The other main character played by Mila Kunis (Solara) is well acted but a little to “pretty” for the world she lives in.  Her character would be more believable if she fit in with the world more.  Only minor gripes here.  Nothing to avoid the movie over at all.

The story of the movie seems simple enough.  Eli is transporting a book to an unknown location and Carnegie wants that book believing it will give him the power solidify his rule.  We have two opposing sides so a fight breaks out.  Simple enough right?  On the surface, yes, but there is so much more going on underneath that I can’t talk about without spoiling the movie.

The movie had a nice slow and steady pace.  It didn’t feel rushed as some movies do.  It took its time and told the story.  With many movies moving toward a more fast paced, fast dialogued approach it was nice for the slower pace.

Is this movie for everyone?  I would say no. It is a very grim and gruesome movie.  Things in the world are not in a good state and the people in it are in an even worse one.  Some event has occurred (we don’t get too much information about it) that has wiped out civilization as we know it.  Desolate landscapes make up the majority of screen time.  People are acting on their very base instincts.  But I think this is a great backdrop for the themes of the movie.

One of the main themes dealt with in the movie is faith.  Eli is trusting God in his mission.  He doesn’t know exactly where he is headed but he trusts that God will get him there.  This becomes an even more important and accentuated theme as the movie progresses.  I think the movie also deals with the effects of sin, the importance of missions, and the importance of God’s Word.

But, like any good story, it wouldn’t be finished without the ending.  And what an ending it is!  I wanted to watch the movie again.  And that is saying something.

Stunning visuals, powerful themes, and a great ending make this movie one to consider. It delivers the strongest Christian message of any movie I have seen other than The Passion.  I would strongly recommend it if  the level of violence and language weren’t high.

Note to Parents:  As I mentioned before, this movie is grim and gruesome and not a good movie for kids to watch even though some of the truths put forth are important for kids to know.  The truths can be taught without the violent and crude content.  A moderate amount of heavy language exists and an implied rape and an attempted rape occur.  There is nothing explicit but it is, just because of what it is, disturbing.

Quick Take:  Interesting Premise + Lackluster Ending = Let Down

Why I saw it:

I have to say, I thought the post apocalyptic premise of this movie was interesting.  It is what drew me to this movie to begin with.  I like the idea of seeing how the world would handle it if everything reset quickly.  This was also an animated flick similar to a Pixar movie and that is always interesting to me.

The Good:

I thought the first 95% of the movie was good.  It had an interesting setting, interesting characters, and a hook that drew me in.

The basic premise of the story is humanity is gone and all that is left are these little creatures made of cloth and other materials.  They are like dolls that are alive and there are nine of them, each with their number on their bodies somewhere.  They face a mechanical foe who threatens their survival.  Pretty plain.  It was the questions that it brought up that made it interesting to me.  What was the significance with the numbers?  What are these things?  Where did they come from?  And, most importantly, what are they going to do in their situation and can they save the ones that have been captured?  All of these questions had me hooked from the get go.

The Bad:

The ending felt like it was from another movie.  It didn’t fit.  There was no foreshadowing for the events that take place.  It felt like they ran out of time to make the movie and then tacked on the ending.  And unfortunately an bad ending can ruin a good movie.  That is the case with 9.  It was fun to watch but expect a let down at the end.

1.  There are spoilers ahead (in the rant section. You can safely read the review)!  If you haven’t seen the movie and don’t want to know what happens then don’t read the rant section.  However, it is hard to spoil a movie that is as predictable as this one.  I will get to that later.

2.  It is apparently very hard for me to just watch a movie these days.  It is too easy for me to sit there and try to analyze the motives behind the makers of the movie, even more so when the motive is so blatantly in your face.  This isn’t conducive to an enjoyable movie experience.  You will hear more about this in the rant section.

With those two things in mind I will give you my (mostly) objective thinking on the movie.

Let me start with story.  There is absolutely nothing revolutionary here.  It is a story most of us have seen many times and probably will see many more times.  It was predictable.  It was cliched.  But it was a good handling of an unoriginal storyline.  The reason this story has been reused so many times is because people like to see it.  So don’t expect anything original (there is nothing new under the sun) but do expect a good handling of the story.

The dialog was clunky at times but was otherwise ok.  Again, nothing spectacular.  You could tell which parts were supposed to be funny but they felt forced so I really didn’t laugh at all.

I had heard over and over that this movie was doing for special effects in movies what Star Wars did back in the late 70′s.  This was probably the main reason I wanted to see it.  I had hopes of a good story and writing but, as I said, those were just eh.  I will say that the special effects were amazing.  This was the best part of the movie.

The world was beautiful and the computer generated characters were exceptional.  This is definitely a reason to see the movie if there is nothing else.  There were only a couple times that I felt like I was watching a mostly animated movie and that is quite a feat.  The animated characters and the human actors interacted seamlessly.  If this is the beginning of a new technology I am excited to see what will come in the future.  I was very impressed.

A note to parents: The aliens in the movie wear very little as many tribal type groups do (think National Geographic) however this was not made a center piece.  Their clothing covered but barely.  I would say that the animators did a good job of creating a group that obviously lives off the land but doesn’t turn it into a sexual thing.  Discernment is definitely needed considering our cultural norms but it didn’t bother me.  One scene of implied sex is present.  The movie implied that this act effectively bonded the two for life (marriage?).  A small amount of language is used throughout the movie.

Overall I would say that this is an above average movie but it is the special effects that take it there.  Everything else is passable.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

**************

Ok.  Next comes the rant.  Read on if you like but be aware that spoilers lie ahead.

I don’t believe I have seen a movie with a bigger agenda to date.  Maybe others have just hidden it better than this one.  The movie was bent on hating the writer and directors caricature humanity and glorifying nature and those who worship it.  There were four main groups in the movie:

1.  The corporate humans - portrayed as heartless and evil only out for their own gain.

2.  The military humans – stupid and evil destroyers

3.  The human scientists – this was the only redeeming group that belonged to humans. They were trying to understand the alien race and hold back the military and corporation from damaging the planet and the aliens that lived there.

4.  The Navi – the alien race that worships nature and was the writers portrait of what we should be.

I want you to understand that I know that there are people out there exactly like the evil humans in the movie.  But to characterize all humans as world destroyers is naive and irresponsible.

I really enjoy science fiction and fantasy.  It is a great way to engage your imagination and get a brief respite from the “real” world.  One of the things I enjoy about this genre is the imaginative way writers think of other races for their story.  In this movie it seemed that the writer just took everything bad about humans (from their viewpoint) and flipped it and came up with the Navi.  Humans are war mongers: the Navi are peaceful.  Humans destroyed their planet and want to destroy another: the Navi worship nature and are intimately connected to it.  Humans are callous and irrational: the Navi are shown as loving, rational, and wise.  Humans equal bad: Navi equal good.  Technology equals bad: nature equals good.  You get the idea.  In the end, the evil humans are sent packing back to the earth they destroyed.  Serves them right.

I also couldn’t help notice the parallels with a recent presidential administration (that this movie was in development during).  One of the characters mentions that the military is going for a “shock and awe” campaign against the Navi.  Hmmmm.  I wonder where that came from?  And the whole point of the humans being there was about a natural resource (Unobtainium) they wanted to control.  Are there parallels there?  I think so.

To sum up my rant, this movie stank of political and social commentary.  It was so drenched in it that it was very hard for me to enjoy the movie on its own merits.  I get it.  Humans are evil and we need to change.  At the end of the movie that does happen.  The main character becomes Navi.  He has seen the error of his ways and changes. Completely.  And the evil humans?  Well they are send packing back to their ruined planet.  The end.

Now, I understand that there is evil in the world and in the current system.  I don’t disagree with the writers premise that the world needs change.  But there is no magical “back to nature” change that could occur that would relieve us of our evilness.  Sin would rear its ugly head and we would end up back where we started.  What the world needs is a change that only Jesus can bring. (True change.  Not just attending church and acting morally.)  I don’t really expect Hollywood to key in on this change but it is the truth that people need to hear.  There are so many “answers” to our ills out there but there is only one true answer.  Jesus.  Seek Him and you won’t be let down because He satisfies eternally.

Brian

Update:  I watched this movie again after it came out on DVD.  Pretty much the same reaction.  Beautiful effects and in your face social and political commentary which yanked me out of the story several times.  When I watch a science fiction or fantasy film I enjoy going to another world for a little while.  Putting  in lines like “shock and awe” pulled me out of the movie and reminded me of real life.  I watch documentaries for things like that, not movies.  Oh well.

So, when I first saw the previews I thought it looked like another movie glorifying being young and irresponsible.  When some friends of ours heard a recommendation to the contrary we thought we (and our friends) would give it a shot.  The main premise was actually very good and to top it off was thoroughly pro-family.  At the point in his life when he is about to lose his family, the main character is given an opportunity to go back and figure out why his family is important to him.  It doesn’t pull any punches taking a strong stance against pre-marital sex and the importance of the family in raising kids.  Not only this, the movie is actually very funny and entertaining, with very few awkward moments.

While I was proud of the movie for taking a decidedly pro-family stance they just couldn’t be consistent.  Note to movie makers: If you are going to preach a message, please be consistent.  While the main character encourages his daughter not to have sex with her boyfriend (to avoid the circumstance he found himself in) he is actively trying to hook his son up with a girl.  The movie doesn’t say it is for the reason of having sex but if a girl and a guy are making out when they first get together, there are bound to be problems.

The other problem was the main characters best friend (a nerd who can’t get a woman to save his life)  Throughout the entire movie his goal is to get in bed with the principal of the school.  He ultimately achieves this goal.  So when it is our kids we want them to avoid becoming pregnant because of the effects it will have on their life, but when it is adults it’s ok?  Felt like mixed signals.  We will hold one group to one standard but not hold another to the same standard?

Like I said, I am glad for the pro-family stance our main character developed.  It really painted marriage (and kids) as something worth fighting for.  Even though all this was present, there seemed to be a moral double standard which spoiled some of the main message of the movie.

Brian

P.S.  This one was for you, Matt!

So, what are the movies I have seen so far?  Take a look below.

Star Trek

Even though this wasn’t the first “blockbuster” to come out this summer it was the first I saw.  I know what you are thinking.  “Brian, you said you set a high standard on the movies you watch.”  I also said there are exceptions.  But this movie is not an exception.  It was great!

Since the Star Trek franchise usually appeals to a certain audience (geeks and nerds, aka people like me) the makers needed to come up with something that could appeal to a larger audience.  I think they did this.  They made the movie more about character development than the technology surrounding the characters.  I really enjoyed the story line as well.  I can honestly say that I am looking forward to a sequel to this movie.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine

This is the second movie I saw this summer and despite the negative reviews it got, I liked this movie.  I think it did a great job as a prequel.  I was actually surprised by a twist at the end.  Perhaps it was the low expectations that I went in with that helped me to enjoy this movie.  On top of all that, my wife loves the X-men movies and she liked it a lot too.

Up

Ah, yes!  This years Pixar flick.  How can you go wrong with a Pixar movie?  Answer: so far, you can’t.  I have enjoyed every movie they have made and Up was no exception.  This has been my favorite movie of the summer (as of now).  The opening 20 minutes or so was a brilliant montage that tells us the story of a couple kids who grew up and got married and didn’t do everything they wanted to do.  The rest of the movie was about the old man trying to accomplish their goals and finding plenty of adventure along the way.

I would say more but I want you to experience the emotional roller coaster that is this movie.  And it is that.  But that is one thing that makes this movie so good.  I really enjoy a movie that can draw on a large range of emotion.  Go see this one!

Brian

One of the things that impressed me about this movie was that it didn’t just focus on making their marriage better, instead it showed the necessity of Christ at the center of a marriage.  The couple didn’t just make up and all of a sudden everything is fine.  They had to find out that they could not give love to each other that they did not have.  The love they needed to save their marriage could only come from Christ.

I am so thankful that my wife and I already knew Christ before we came into our marriage.  I have no doubt that we will have our problems but we also have the same measuring stick to come back to, Christ and His example of love toward us.  Even when we don’t deserve it He loves us.

This would be a great movie for anyone to see.  The message of Christ is not watered down at all.  It is powerful.   If you haven’t seen it, go see it.  If you have, watch occasionally.  It would be a good reminder of how our marriages rely on Christ.I praise the Lord for the people that made this movie and I pray that they will continue to make more.  Our society needs this message now.

Brian

So, the weekend has finally come and gone and I have seen the movie I have been anticipating for a long while.  If all you read is the first couple lines of this blog post, know this, The Dark Knight delivers in a huge way.  Also know that it is a marathon of a movie.  What I mean by that is it is long (two and a half hours without previews), it is intense, it is dark, and it is awesome.

Let the record show that I really enjoy long movies when all the elements come together.  I really enjoyed the Lord of the Rings movies.  They were well done.  They were epic.  The acting was great.  The story was wonderful.  The writing was superb.  And the director knew what to do with these elements.   The same can be said of The Dark Knight in every instance.  And all of this from a superhero flick.  You expect the flash, bang, and boom of special effects but not a movie that I would consider one of the best I have seen.

Long movies also allow for deep character development.  With the origin story out of the way we can delve deeper into the Batman mythos.  We get to see Bruce Wayne/Batman deal with choosing the moral thing despite what people think of him.  We get to see the rise and fall of another Gotham hero.  We get to see more of Gordon’s character and interaction with Batman.  And, yes, we get to see a lot of the much-talked-about Joker.  And since the movie is a long one it gives the director (Christopher Nolan) time to allow us to get to know this place and these characters in a deeper way.

Speaking of characters, let me talk for a moment about the actors in this film.  I did not see a weak link in the casting.  Every major character really stepped up and made the role theirs.  Heath Ledger, the most talked about for sure, brought the Joker to the screen in a phenomenal way.  When you watched him, you saw the character and not the actor.  He was funny in a very demented way and is probably the best villain I can recall seeing in a movie.  His character didn’t seem to have a weakness (other than to assume that others were like him).  Christian Bale was solid again.  Gary Oldman was allowed more screen time which allowed him to flesh out Gordon even more.  Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman were both great and added a little (lighter) humor that the film needed.  Maggie Gyllenhaal was a great replacement for Katie Holmes.

Without good writing the actors would have had a much harder time pulling this movie off but that was not a problem.  The writing was superb.  I am hard pressed to think of a sequence that didn’t work because of the dialogue.  The story twists and turns and keeps the audience on their toes wondering what will come next.  Several story elements were even unexpected.  The story was not shallow.  There was depth, complexity, and imminent peril present constantly.

With all the good that can be said of this movie, like anything else, it’s not perfect.  If you a concerned about spoilers then don’t read this paragraph until after you have seen the movie.  The transformation of Harvey Dent into Two Face seemed a little rushed.  The events that led him to this transformation were tragic enough to push someone over the edge but it just happened too fast.  Even with that said, the Two Face character was a perfect mirror with his twisted sense of justice to the Harvey Dent character.  The only other issue I had was with a plot element.  Somehow, we end up with two ferries on the river, one with normal people and one with convicts which set up the climactic showdown.  How did this just happen?  These were supposed to be people trying to flee the Joker’s “game”.  It just seemed a bit contrived and scripted.  I think it could have been just as compelling if both ferries were filled with normal people.  I know, I am nitpicking here.  Both of these items are  small in comparison to the overall greatness of this movie.

The Dark Knight broke through many of the boundaries that usually typify movies from this genre.  It became something more than a superhero movie.  It was a fantastic movie worth all the hype it has received.  The Dark Knight delivers on it’s promise.  It’s the total package.  Need I say more?  Go see it.

Brian

To those of you who have heard that this movie preaches environmentalism I would ask you to read this interview with the writer/director.  I have read several interviews that he has given and in every on he says that he did not write this movie to preach.  In fact he came up with the idea in 1994 long before the green hype.  What I took from it is something I already agreed with: God has given this world to us and we need to take care of it.  Do yourself a favor and go see this movie whatever you may have heard.

One of the things that stands out in my mind about this movie is the lack of dialogue but the fantastic story telling through character interaction and visuals.  It is a marvel to behold.

Pixar taught me a lesson with Cars.  I remember seeing the trailers for it and wondering how it would be a good movie.  When I did see it it was wonderful just like the movies that had come before.  It is hard for me to doubt this animation studio.

(I suppose this is turning into as much of a review of Pixar as it is of WALL*E.  I feel that if they made the movie I will see it.)

Not to be forgotten is the animated short that comes before the movie.  Again, wonderful!  I highly recommend this movie to you.  Go see it!

Brian

The last third of the movie was a disaster. They introduced an antagonist that was not believable at all which served to underscore the impossibleness of the already impossible premise. It felt like switching a car from first all the way to fifth gear. It practically ruined the first part of the movie.

All of that aside, I want to talk about something the movie did wonderfully. If you haven’t seen it and want to then read no further. Sunshine showed sacrifice in a very compelling way. It put the characters in a situation where they had to choose to go on. Most movies these days have happy endings. The main character succeeds in their quest, having to put it all on the line but surviving despite the odds. Most movies show humanity overcoming. We like to see this. I know I do. Very rarely does the main character put everything on the line and then lose everything. This is what happened in this movie. Everyone dies. I suppose the ending could be seen as bittersweet since they save earth in the process of dying but the movie did so little to tie us back to earth that when they finally did it didn’t work for me. I was emotionally tied to the characters, not to earth. They succeeded but they had to give everything to do so.

This idea is actually what made the movie worth watching for me. I am captured by the idea of sacrifice and having to go to the ends of myself for a purpose. I guess many people who work in a cubicle wish for this. We live such sheltered, safe, and happy lives in the U.S. that the “hard thing” is hanging a shelf on the wall or mowing the yard. Where is the adventure in that?  Granted I have to sacrifice my time to do these things but that is small in comparison to what I could be called to give.  What if we were put in a situation where we had to choose to put everything on the line knowing that we would not make it?  What would we do?

Brian

I thought this was one of the best movies I have seen in a while. I knew that as long as they stayed true to the book I would enjoy it. And they did. The only scene that I would have changed in the whole movie was the one where Edmund meets the queen for the first time. It felt rushed and did not seem to deliver the impact that it should. This scene is important because it shows why Edmund would betray his brothers and sisters. It did not accomplish this for me. Perhaps they cut the scene a bit to make the movie shorter but there where other places that could have been cut that would have left this crutial scene intact.

Other than that one scene, I truly enjoyed the film. I was very glad that they left the allegory of Aslan’s death on the stone table intact. You can see the definite comparison between that and Christ’s death on the cross. The visuals were very well done and the soundtrack was great (I want it for Christmas). It is good to see movies out there that corospond with my world view.

Just a note to parents (I don’t know how many parents read this): There are a couple intense scenes that might scare the kiddies but other than that it is very clean and family friendly.

Brian

To start off, I think that this is a movie that needs to be seen at least once. It shows the many different aspects that characterize us as human beings including loyalty, bravery, compassion and fear (of the unknown). It even shows us the dirty side of humanity in greed and feeling like we are more powerful than we really are. The movie was quite long (3 hours) and I feel like this was a little too long to tell the story that was told, but I can forgive that for the sake of the special effects that many of these extra scenes exhibited. Speaking of special effects, this movie was a visual masterpiece. I knew which shots were effects shots only because it would be impossible to capture these things in real life. Beautiful.

Before I go any further I want you to know that I do not pretend to be any kind of serious critic. I know what I like and what I don’t and I will tell you those things. So what you will get from this review and others are merely opinions. In other words, I do not have any technical expertise in cinematography. Another thing to note is that I am such a picky movie watcher that you will hardly see a negative review from me. With that said I will continue.

The story embodies our fear of the unknown, greed, and loyalty. Kong is seen by all of the cast but one as a danger but that feeling is not unmerited since Kong is only nice to one member of the cast. She is the beautiful Ann Darrow, the actress chosen to play a part in a movie to be shot on Skull Island. The King becomes entranced by her beauty and spends the rest of the film keeping her out of danger the best he can. His battles rage from the island jungle to the streets and buildings of New York City. The only thing that Kong wants is to be with Ann but others on the voyage have other plans for him. The greed that drives many people is typified in Carl Denham, the young and ambitious film maker who is determined to finish his film. Instead he seizes the opportunity to capture Kong and cart him off to NYC by using Ann as bait without her knowledge. And just like many of us, he becomes drunk on the power that he thinks he wields. This, of course, is his downfall and ultimately King Kong’s as well. When Denham gets Kong to New York he attempts to harness the uniqueness of this find by showing him off to the world through a commercialized show. Of course Kong escapes and runs amuck while searching for Ann. Kong finds her and tries to get away from everyone pursuing him ending in the famous scene on top of the Empire State Builiding.

It was touching to see Kong fight to the end thinking he was protecting Ann. It was sad to see humanity react to what they don’t understand by destroying it. It was revealing to see how greed can destroy something beautiful. It was disturbing to see our need to be so entertained and distracted from reality all the time that we end up hurting ourselves. It was inspiring to see what happens when we care about something so deeply that we would lay our lives on the line.

Note to the parents out there: There are some very intense and violent scenes in this movie as well as some mild language. It might not be suitable for the younger kids.

Even though this movie was a tad long I still throughly enjoyed it and will see it again. Everything from the effects to the acting to the sound was awesome.

Brian