Today I went to see Toy Story 3 with the kids while Danelle is in Muswellbrook with her family for birthday celebrations.

I am not a fan of animation and have been known to sleep (and snore) thru almost entire movies, but I enjoyed this one and particularly the short film that preceded it entitled ”.

The spiel about it reads:

When Day, a sunny fellow, encounters Night, a stranger of distinctly darker moods, sparks fly! Day and Night are frightened and suspicious of each other at first, and quickly get off on the wrong foot. But as they discover each other’s unique qualities–and come to realize that each of them offers a different window onto the same world–the friendship helps both to gain a new perspective

It was a great inspiration to learn from one another and appreciate points of view other than our own.

By and large I enjoy movies that tell a real story and that confront us with life as it really is and there’s no question Samson and Delilah does that.

Its the story of two aboriginal teenagers living on a community in central Australia who leave and attempt to find their place in Alice Springs. From beginning to end it depicts the tragic, meaningless existence of these young people and the lack of hope they experience.

I don’t make any claims to be knowledgeable on what its like to be an aboriginal teenager in the outback, but if this film has any currency then its not a pretty life.

The absence of dialogue combined with the non-stop petrol sniffing of the characters combined to leave you feeling hopeless and wondering where it was all headed… perhaps the point.

While the final scene offered a bit of hope it was still a tragic picture by any standard, but one that is worth watching if only to confront.

I picked this one up last night while we were camped in Jindabyne and it was another ‘different’ type of movie that did an excellent job at stirring thought.

Funnily enough it revolves around a ‘Mens Group’ that meets weekly and the struggles of the men within the group. Its very Australian and so the language is equally ‘Australian’… don’t rent it if you are easily offended by 4 letter words, but if you are interested in seeing the raw struggles that men face in family relationships then this movie is the one to get hold of.

I like movies that have a raw brutality about them and that don’t end in hugs and kisses – life is rarely like that – so to see the broken lives of the men in the story and to see that all is not well by the end of the story was somewhat satisfying.

Its only when you see a few movies ending with looses ends and tragedy that you realise how the vast majority seem to finish with very unrealistic and unsatisfying ‘happy endings’.

I wish there were more happy endings in life, but I appreciate movies that help me to live in and confront the world we actually live in as opposed to the one we wish for.

If you work with blokes or if you simply want to get a glimpse into the struggles of men then check it out.

A few nights ago in Woolongong on a cold night I decided to rent ‘Doubt’, a story based in a religious institution but more about the human condition in general than simply people of faith.

Despite falling asleep and snoring loudly for 15 minutes of it, I was still impressed by its careful and nuanced storyline. I felt it could easily have been retitled ‘Fear’ as this emotion pervaded the story to an equal degree.

Doubt is the story of a progressive priest in a Catholic school who is seen as a threat by the super-conservative principal nun. His long fingernails and use of a ballpoint pen instead of a fountain pen cause her to question the very core of his character and ultimately lead her to a place of character assassination to try and rid her life of this non-conforming and disturbing man.

Part of the genius of the movie is that we aren’t sure who are the ‘goodies’ and who are the ‘baddies’, but then maybe that is the whole point? No one is ever ‘all good’ or ‘all bad’.

The final scene of the movie is brilliant as it shows just what is at the core of Sister Aloysius’ own struggles and reveals the conflicted nature of so many who appear to be so righteous and who ‘need’ to denounce others who don’t share their high standards.

There aren’t many movies I like to watch twice, but I’ll be revisiting that one once it hits the weekly shelves.

I watched this movie last night and found it quite compelling.

It is the story of a Bengali family living in London and the struggles they face with issues such as arranged marriages and assimilating into a new culture especially as Muslims during the 9/11 period.

The characters are well developed and believable and the story has sufficient energy to keep you watching. The ending is not predictable and leaves you satisfied.

You can’t help but feel for the plight of people cast adrift in a foreign culture whose lives have already been torn apart by tragedy.

A great movie from the ‘alternative’ shelf at the DVD store and well worth the time to watch it

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The other day Scott recommended this movie download into the blue online download 6th day the dvdrip as worth a look.

So last night we got it out and watched it. In case you don’t know the story, its about a socially awkward bloke who struggles to relate to people, especially girls, sending off to buy a ‘real life doll’. This doll then becomes his ‘girlfriend’ and he treats her as if she were human.

It was a story with some great potential and had some great moment, but it really didn’t crack it for me. The energy level rarely got above 5/10 and the idea wore a bit thin after a while. What was of interest was the way the local small town community shared the experience with him, but even then their response was a little too homogenous to be believable.

A few months ago SBS ran a doco on ‘men who love dolls’, a look at the truly bizarre lives of several men who buy these dolls partly as sex partners, but also – for some – as actual companions. I was going to post about it the next day and include the youtube clip, but it was actually quite disturbing in places and in the end I deleted the post.

Some stuff we just don’t need to know I reckon…

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Today and tomorrow I am facilitating an .acom residential on Christology.

One of the things we did today to provoke thought around who Jesus is, was to watch part of the Last Temptation of Christ. Its definitely a thought provoking movie and made all of us feel quite uncomfortable in places as we watched its early scenes. It doesn’t come from an evangelical point of view and conveys an image of Jesus that in many ways is quite foreign.

And therein lies the value. Sometimes we need to be rocketed out of our conceptions of Jesus and even an off beam presentation can make us think more than simply more of the same.

I remember the stir when it first came out in 1989 as Christians protested and objected to it being screened. Of course all that did was send more people along…

We only watched the first 50 minutes and used it to reflect on our own grasp of christology. Scorsese portrayed a very human Jesus, but also a fallen, broken and confused Jesus.

I am looking forward to watching the remainder and chewing it thru.

I was hoping to see Atonement before writing my thoughts on ‘Kite Runner’, as it seems both films are centred on the same theme – that of making amends for wrongs done.

I really enjoyed the Kite Runner novel and the movie didn’t disappoint either. Its a great story of friendship, struggle and redemption. Little Hassan is a great character – gutsy, loyal and dogged – you really find it easy to like him. Amir is probably more like most of us – at times driven more by fear than any other motivation. In spite of his failings he is not a bad character at all, but he lives with the ongoing knowledge of what he did in his past and the consequences of his actions.

The phrase ‘there is a way to be good again’ recurred a few times through the film and without ruining it, the way to ‘be good again’ depicted by the author was that of making up for wrong done by doing right. It was good to see Amir develop courage and backbone as he sought to redeem himself.

I won’t write much more as it will spoil the film for those who haven’t been. Obviously from the perspective of Christian theology atonement is not about ‘redeeming ourselves’. However there is still the need for us to make up for wrongs done wherever we can without suggesting that this earns us favour with God.

I’d recommend the film!

After hearing about it a few months back, I finally got to see this movie today, quite an intriguing case study of a person’s life.

The synopis says:

“Into the Wild” is based on a true story and the bestselling book by Jon Krakauer. After graduating from Emory University in 1992, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gave his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska to live in the wilderness.

Its a great adventure but ends with Chris dying alone in an old bus from starvation. He was a middle class kid whow grew up in a messy family and who didn’t want to buy into all the trappings of suburban life.

From his own journal he writes:

“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”

Its an interesting story, but probably not a brilliant film. I didn’t find myself warming to Chris. He was a little too self righteous at times and self indulgent at others. To reject money and the norm of suburban life is one thing, but to then hitch your way around the country using someone else’s car/bus/truck just seems a tad hypocritical to me. If you’re going to criticise the system that harshly then make sure you have no part of it at all!

He was obviously a very smart young guy, but was both pursuing an ideal and running from a dysfunctional family. As I ponder my own quest for adventure it raises two significant questions: what’s driving me?… what are the consequences of my choices?…

It was pretty tragic to see the pain Chris’ family experienced as he went along his merry way and in many ways he could be seen as something of a selfish brat. It wouldn’t rate as one of my top 10 movies but its worth a look if for no other reason than to stir your spirit of adventure and your questioning of this current world!