Devil

It's been a long time. I'd given up on him, but M. Night Shyamalan finally did something worthy of his earliest successes.

Harry Potter for Christians: Plausible? or Just really Wrong?

I have to admit, part of this topic I feel strongly about, while the other, I’m a little conflicted.

In regard to the Harry Potter series of films and the novels they are based on, I do admit, not ever reading any of the books themselves (Yeah an avid reader myself, never taking the time to reading this series oh the irony!). However I will also admit to have seen just about every Harry Potter film that has been made so far, and I have to admit, what I’ve seen is quite good. I have at times heard from various people (usually from old school Christians), that looking at movies both in general and wizardry/magic based fantasy films are not only taboo, but are a steps into witchcraft and devil worship. Yes, for most of them, those are the exact words I’ve been told when mentioning I’m going to check out *blank* movie in the theatre. (Just ask a few of the other posters here, I’m sure they’ve heard just as bad if not worse). 

Clearly this type of thinking about films has been going around for many Christians for some time now. Just look at my “Film Limitations or Limiting Imagination” article about that.

X-men: First Class - A Class Act Movie indeed!

Well it’s been a while, sorry of that. With spring in full swing and summer just around the corner, I’m been busy with other projects as well as the usual day-to-day living.

Speaking of the spring/summer, the line up of movies for 2011 is proving to be a pretty lively one. There are several films I would (and most likely will) see before this year is up, one of which I saw with my significant other just a few days ago, X-Men First Class. 

Villians: The "necessary evil" for the Hero archetype?

In all honestly I’ve wanted to come back to these movie archetypes discussions for a bit of a while, just to balance out the discussions with the hero genres. It seemed only fair to do a focus towards the antagonists as well, since they are an equal and necessary part of storytelling, especially in movies.

Think about it, just how far and how good a film would be without the right type of villain or foe to show the endurance of the characters, the characterization of the antagonist, in comparison to the protagonist, and the storyline itself? In my opinion, probably not that far or that great.

Now I know I mentioned this before, but just to set the record straight once again this is not me glamorizing evil or its ideology, etc. This is just a discussion on the role of the antagonist in storytelling, and more specifically why we have them.

Prequels to Sequels... Yay or Nay?

In case any of you were wondering, here was the situation that brought me to this particular topic. I was out with two friends of mine not long ago and as usual our conversation eventually shifted towards media, and movies. We were all anticipating (and that the same time loathing) this year’s lineup for spring/summer seasons. At some point tin the conversation, one of us pointed out that lately, certain genres of movies have been over saturated within the last several years or so. In this case superhero type films, such as the X-Men based movies. With the X-men, there have been at least 4 affiliated films, in the past 10 years, with a 5th one “X-men: First Class” out this spring, and apparently 4 more confirmed titles out within the next 7 years or so. Yikes…

Sucker Punch, visual eye-candy with no substance, or something more?

Well, I guess with a movie this questionable yet visual, it was inevitable that someone to a review on it. And I guess that someone will be me…lol.

Some have said Sucker Punch is simply over-stimulated eye candy (in more ways than one) in a 120min extended fanboy commercial. Other say it’s a new rendition of GG live version of a anime, or a videogame. While even a few have compared its female empowerment ala fem fatale-ness approach is reminiscent to films like La Femme Nikita or Thelma and Louise. For myself, well…it’s hard to sum up a film like this, but I can try to put my two cents into what I felt about it.

The Soloist and the dignity of non-judgment

 

The Soloist, based on a true story, shines a heart-warming ray of light into squalor, blight and hopelessness.

The backdrop is Los Angeles, which ultimately serves as a metaphor for the human condition, and it's depressing. 

Throughout the film we are shown alternating images and vistas of beauty and ugliness, order and chaos, light and darkness: in one scene, the camera pans upwards from the literal underbelly of streets where the homeless Mr. Nathaniel Anthony Ayers (played by Jamie Foxx) lives to the bright shiny streets of downtown Los Angeles where Times writer Steve Lopez (played by Robert Downey, Jr.) works. There are plenty of more visually disturbing scenes to offset the bright, sunny beautiful scenes worth seeing almost for their own sake. But the screenplay is not the driving force of this movie. The driving force of this movie is, absolutely, the story - no car chase, no explosions, no '"big reveal" twist ending...just a heartwarming story.