When Pirates of the Caribbean first came out, everyone who saw it thought Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow was both wonderful and familiar- he seemed to be channeling someone but we couldn’t quite put a finger on it. Then the realization came… OH… he’s doing Keith Richards.¬†

So… does anyone really believe that a movie by War on Terror fan Frank Miller (one of my favorite comic authors, by the way) about a group of brave men, believing their life of freedom and democracy to be at risk, leaving home to fight the Persian enemy over there so they don’t have to fight them at home, while a group of corrupt and cowardly politicans squabble over whether to send more troops and support… is just about a battle in ancient Greece?

I know, I know… written awhile ago. But still.

This is a powerful movie about a nation who raises its sons in a militaristic culture. It’s a beautifully done piece of art, even if it is a bit hard to watch at times (I think there are parts I would have enjoyed a lot more before becoming a father myself…) The depiction of Xerxes (whom many think is the king in the biblical story of Esther) was wild, but in Leonidas there was (finally) a hero who was more compelling than the villian (a persistant problem in the movies)…

I have very mixed feelings about this movie- I enjoyed it on so many levels, but shudder to think of the timing, politically, and then socially of young men watching this and not understanding that knowing how to fight is good, but knowing how not to fight is even better.

So let’s talk about movies…

A Scanner Darkly: Now why exactly did I watch this movie? Some great actors, some groundbreaking animation techniques, a storyline by Philip K. Dick… and still I’m wondering. Eh.

Grilled: The two shows I BUY on dvd are Everybody Loves Raymond and the King of Queens (and Mad About You, whenever they get around to it). So, I’m walking through Blockbuster and see a movie with both Ray Romano from ELR and Kevin James from TKoQ on it. Pushing past my inherent squeemishness for under-advertised movies I’ve never heard of, I pick this one up and bring ‘er home.
Yeah… Favorite shows or not, this was just kind of a bad movie. It had its moments (good) and it had its moments (bad… oh so bad), but overall, it did what movies that bypass theatrical release and go straight to dvd always do- it failed to work. That’s all- a ton of recognizable actors, two bona-fide funny, funny guys, a can’t miss premise (door to door meat salesmen? C’mon people! There’s gold in them thar hills!) and still… it just kind of laid there.

Heat:
I’ve been watching this in chunks when I work out, and to be honest- I had forgotten just how good this movie is. Excepting the Godfather, when they were never on screen together, this was Pacino and DeNiro’s first time acting together. One plays a manic cop, the other as a cool-as-permafrost criminal. Pacino virtually chews up the scenery (and Hank Azaria, in one particularly funny scene) as the cop who is so angry that the biological father of his step-daughter is ignoring her, but simply can’t see he’s doing the same thing to his wife… and DeNiro is at his absolute best as the mastermind of a crew that takes down intricate scores so well, and experiences such personal failure that you end up rooting for them…
There are some deep things going on in this movie, not really addressed explicitly… I don’t think it’s the kind of movie you can have a good discussion around, but maybe I’m wrong. It is, however, the kind of movie that makes you feel, and that’s good.
If you’ve never seen Heat, and can handle a bit of the ol’ gunplay, you should check it out. Worth it just to see Henry Rollins get his butt kicked

The whole marketing movies to churches/Christians thing is only going to be picking up steam. It’s nice to have people paying attention to you, but still…

The latest entry?

Rocky Balboa

No… seriously!

“Welcome to RockyResources.com
This site is designed to provide useful tools to learn about Rocky Balboa, the final round in the award-winning Rocky franchise, and utilize the film as a teaching, preaching or outreach opportunity. If you are a church, school, or small group leader, there are some excellent resources here that will help you ‚Äúget in the ring‚Äù with Rocky.”

I feel badly taking a little poke at this because I know this was a personal project for Mr. Stallone that he had to… uh… fight hard… to get made. No one in the studio system wanted to take a chance on Stallone. Will he prevail?

Check it…
And don’t miss the “exclusive Keeping the Faith” trailer!

When “Bruce Almighty” trailers first started showing up, I was appalled… I thought the movie would be a total disaster- a mockery of Christianity.

Man, was I surprised. It actually turned out to be a really good, fairly deep film. No, it didn’t dot all the theological i’s and cross all the doctrinal t’s… But still really good-made by a Christian, in fact- and a great movie for movie night discussion type things.

Anyway- there’s a sequel coming out. When I first saw the ad I thought… oh no- they’re going to ruin Bruce Almighty (kind of like Matrix Reloaded totally ruined the Matrix…and yes- it made me cynical and jaded. I’m still bitter)

But check out the trailer- this actually looks hilarious:

…rocks.
Totally.

I saw this yesterday, on the Fourth. It was a husband treat for me… I gave Amy a morning without the kids and “got” to go to a movie while Jack was taking his nap, so…

Anyway, like I say- it rocked. Exceeded expectations (which had been set to “reasonable” by mixed reviews).

Singer totally made the right choice in jumping shio from the increasingly complicated and blurry X-Men franchise in favor of resurrecting one with more potential for poetry and big, beautiful moments… which Superman Returns has in spades.

This movie is gorgeous in places- Singer has an amazing eye for visuals and he pulls out all the stops here, recreating even the first Superman cover ever, , the iconic image of Atlas holding the Globe, amazing shots of Superman hovering over the earth… Just a lot of great visual moments.

Kevin Spacey, while no Gene Hackman, was great as Lex Luthor, and the choice to keep the score from the original movie was inspired… It took me right back to fourth grade, made me feel like a kid again.
The story was great- I realized half-way through that the movie was avoiding all the predictable, cheesy-poor choices that movies today often succumb to- no “action hero” catch phrases, no bad dialogue stringing together incoherent action sequences… There was actually some good emotional depth to this movie.

Highly recommended…

CANNES, France (Reuters) – Critics panned “The Da Vinci Code” on Wednesday ahead of the world premiere of the year’s most eagerly awaited movie.Opening the annual Cannes film festival, Ron Howard’s adaptation of the Dan Brown bestseller was described variously as “grim”, “unwieldy” and “plodding”.

Link: The Da Vinci Code secret is out: critics hate it.