The Weatherman

—1. Overview (multimedia)
—2. Overview Basic (dial up speed)
—3. Reviews and Blogs
—4. Cast and Crew
—5. Photo Pages
—6. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—7. Posters (Nicolas Cage)
—8. Production Notes (pdf)
—9. Spiritual Connections
—10. Presentation Downloads

If this past year has shown us only a few things, one of them would have to be that weather can be a beast. Sure, it may be the easiest topic of casual conversation. Yes, we may read its cards and broadcast its fortune like we control it ourselves. And, I admit it, some days it is no more than an indicator to help us in our fashion choices. We like to think we can predict it, prepare for it, and do as we please whatever it may be doing. But, when it comes down to us and weather, sometimes all we can do is watch as it throws all of our predictions, preparations, and ways of life out the window.

For weatherman David Spritz, this realization is exactly what he must face as the movie The Weatherman begins. He has spent his career broadcasting the weather, telling Chicago what day of the week will be “The Spritz Nipper,� and smiling at the camera. He has the act down pat and is up for a move from regional to national…But, as everyone knows, the forecasts of life are never as simple and easy as a performance in front of green screen.

Although David Spritz has been very successful in his career, he is a mess. He explodes at fans eager to meet their friendly weatherman. He seems unable to utter a single off-air sentence without at least one large handful of swear words. And, at some point or another, he and his family have met some ugly storms that have left them struggling to recover.

Standing on the outside and looking at his life, all David can say is, “someone should be happy here.� According to his predictions, his life should have turned out a whole lot better. His family should still be together. His wife should still love him. His son should not have been sexually assaulted by his drug counselor less than a month after being released from rehab. His daughter should not have to endure insults from her classmates or smoke cigarettes on a deserted playground. And his father should not be dying.

If David’s predictions had worked out as planned, he would be a better man, he would have a better life, and everyone in it would be a whole lot happier. But the problem with predictions is, they don’t always come true, they don’t always pan out, and they don’t always stay on track as the winds of life push us and them from one year to the next.

Far from living the life he once thought he would live, David Spritz is very much aware that the best of plans and predictions don’t always come to true. He sees it in his life, on his daily broadcasts, and in his “accidental� hobby of archery. No matter how hard the meteorologists try to predict the weather, the wind is always there ready to blow every prediction off course. No matter how much he tries to hit a bull’s-eye with his arrow, the wind is always going to throw in an extra twist to his shot.

David’s life is not pretty. In all honestly, David himself is not all that likeable. The wind has thrashed him around. The storms seem to continue to surround him. And, despite some of David’s best efforts to remedy the stormy destruction in his life, we know, that just like all of us, David will still face many more windy days around the corner.

From its beginning to its end, The Weatherman is about the storms of life. It is about the atmosphere that surrounds us and the things that blow us off course. In the end, however, the story is also about the way we choose to face those storms that leave us wet, cold, and wondering where the bright sunny day we expected has suddenly gone.

As David says, “Easy doesn’t enter into grown-up life.� From his perspective, life seems to be no more than walking against a wind that just does not seem to stop blowing.

A few years older and bit more experienced, however, David’s father Robert pushes David to see that as much as the storms of life can affect us, the way we respond to those storms is what will actually shape our lives. “The harder thing to do and the right thing to do are usually the same thing…� says Robert. “Anything of value isn’t easy…to get anything of value, you have to sacrifice.�

For every one of us, there are storms we must face. They may seem as devastating as an endless hurricane season or an unexpected Tsunami. They may be more like a drenching rain that never stops. But no matter what, they will always be filled with winds that cannot help but push us from the exact path we are trying to take.

Life is not easy. Life is not predictable. But, as Robert infers in some of his final words to David, value is there; often we just have to walk against the winds, endure the storms, and search out the spots of sunshine to find it.

The question for us is: Are we willing to brave those winds? Are we willing to believe that there can be sunshine beyond any storm? And, are we willing to believe that in the same way Jesus once halted a sea of storms with only his words, He is also here today ready to lead us through and deliver us from any and every storm that we may face.

—1. Overview (multimedia)
—2. Overview Basic (dial up speed)
—3. Reviews and Blogs
—4. Cast and Crew
—5. Photo Pages
—6. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—7. Posters (Nicolas Cage)
—8 . Production Notes (pdf)
—9. Spiritual Connections
—10. Presentation Downloads

In Her Shoes

—1. Overview (multimedia)
—2. Overview Basic (dial up speed)
—3. Reviews and Blogs
—4. Cast and Crew
—5. Photo Pages
—6. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—7. Posters (Cameron Diaz)
—8. Production Notes (pdf)
—9. Spiritual Connections

Loneliness is not good. Being alone? Not so much fun. Sure, everyone needs some alone time. Every once in a while, all of us need some alone space. Sometimes our only desire is just to get away from it all and have everyone leave us alone. The problem is, when it comes to actually BEING alone, to actually existing as a fully independent and self-sufficient being with little or no real connections to anyone around us, it just doesn’t work.

In the movie In Her Shoes, we are invited into a story about these connections that inevitably construct our lives. Yes, some of the connections are difficult. Some of them let people down and stress people out. But, in the end, each character shows us how much these connections mean to them and how essential close friendships and relationships are to actually making it through this life.

Meet Maggie and Rose Feller. They are sisters, but they are as different as different can be.

Maggie is your stereotypical “blonde.� She spends her time flirting for free drinks at bars, she doesn’t seem to have ever held a job for any substantial period of time, and none of her relationships seem to add up to much more than an admiring eye, a source of money, or a place to sleep.

Rose, however, is a bit more serious. She is a lawyer. She has probably never flirted with a man in her entire life. She spends long hours at the office and few anywhere else. And, she is number one on her sister’s drunk dial list.

Maggie and Rose are frivolousness paired with seriousness, dependence matched with a sense of obligation, and selfishness smothering an already lacking sense of self-value. Their polar opposites make them almost inseparable, but at the same time, they easily push them to a painful falling out.

For both women, the exit of the other from her life and the circumstances surrounding it leave them both feeling very alone. Maggie finds herself with no one to go to but a grandmother she has never met and just recently found out existed. Rose finds that not even doing a good job at work keeps her together and, as quickly Maggie disappeared, spends her days walking dogs instead of trying to please the humans around her.

One woman enters a new life ready to do no more than find another person to take care of her. The other woman has no reason to believe that anyone she meets will ever see her as anything more than a disappointment or a doormat. But both women are in for a surprise.

As much as Grandma’s arms are open wide when her long lost granddaughter arrives, Maggie soon finds that Grandma Elle is no pushover. She wants to get to know Maggie, she wants to make up for all the years she was not there, but Elle also knows that handing out money and letting Maggie do nothing is not what she needs.

Knowing that money will motivate Maggie, Elle promises to match whatever Maggie earns if she will work. She tries to join in Maggie’s interests so that they can spend time together. When Maggie finds something she is good at, Elle is ready to help her out with the details Maggie is not so sure how to do herself. And, when she sees the pain that Maggie’s rift with her sister is causing her, Elle takes care of what need to be done.

Back in Philadelphia, Rose’s life is also going through transformations, namely a relationship and an engagement with a man who clearly likes and loves her for who she is as she is. The problem is she is worried about Maggie, her worry is consuming her, and her fiancée Simon knows that is something with which neither he nor she can live.

The solution—Grandma Elle brings the girls together, and, as much as their reunion is difficult, Maggie and Rose realize how much they have been there for each other and how much they still need each other.

Looking through photo albums they have never seen, the sisters remember their mother—a woman who battled mental illness, but also a woman who loved her family more than anything in the world. For the first time, they talk about her death, about a death that was no accident, and about the threat of separation from her family that came just before she took her own life. And, even as all three women lament absent relationships and missed time, the moments they have been able to be there for each other stand out as just the thing that has and will keep each woman and her life together.

For anyone who has ever had a sister or a close friend, In Her Shoes is a poignant reminder of the value of the relationships we share with those around us. Through their journeys, Maggie and Rose remind us of our own value both as individuals and as people who have the power to deeply touch and encourage those around us. And, as once estranged sisters, long-lost grandmothers, and cuddly dogs come together to celebrate friendship and union at the movie’s end, Maggie and Rose send us back to our own lives knowing that this life is never meant to be lived alone.

The people that we share our life with may be different. Husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, and/or best friends. Sometimes one of those people may be missing. Sometimes the people who fill those roles may be lacking. But never should we feel alone.

In the same way that Maggie describes her bond with Rose saying, “I carry your heart. I carry it in my heart,� and with the same love that compels Elle to offer of herself to help Maggie do more, the one who is father to us all has also sacrificed more than we could ever imagine to help us out of our troubles, will always be with us no matter where we go and what we do, and will always make sure we are never alone.

Seeking the best for us and desiring us to live lives full of value, connections, and meaningful relationships, God truly carries our hearts. He carries them in his heart. And whatever my come our way, we too can rest assured that we can also carry his heart, his guidance, his love, and his strength in our own hearts as well.

—1. Overview (multimedia)
—2. Overview Basic (dial up speed)
—3. Reviews and Blogs
—4. Cast and Crew
—5. Photo Pages
—6. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—7. Posters (Cameron Diaz)
—8. Production Notes (pdf)
—9. Spiritual Connections

A History of Violence

—1. Overview (multimedia)
—2. Overview Basic (dial up speed)
—3. Reviews and Blogs
—4. Cast and Crew
—5. Photo Pages
—6. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—7. Posters
—8. Production Notes (pdf)
—9. Spiritual Connections

There is a common expression that says, “You can never escape you past.� In many ways we seem to believe in it wholeheartedly. It supports genetic predisposition. It reinforces the defining nature of childhood. It holds up a firm belief in justice and rightful consequences. At the same time, however, we also seem to hope that this is not always the case. We encourage underprivileged children to rise above their family history. We eagerly read self help-books and visit psychologists. We believe in the self-made man, in rags to riches stories, and in the plausibility of picking yourself up by your bootstraps.

In the movie A History of Violence, director David Cronenberg tells a story in which one man and his family must face this dilemma of the influence of our past. On the surface, it seems that the answer is easy. After family man Tom Stall’s defensive killings of two would-be murderers, publicity quickly brings his past and several angry characters from it to his doorstep. Yes, it is a past he has been disconnected from for a long time. It is a past that no one in his immediate present knows about. But, sitting at his dinner counter, parking outside of his house, and driving around his town, his past has clearly caught up with him and shows no intention of letting him escape.

Faced with his reemerging past, Tom must decide how to face it. He tries to ignore it, to deny it, and to send it away. The thing is, no one from his past has any intention of letting the past go, everyone is determined to exact revenge, and violence and death are the only options they are willing to offer Tom. Having intimately known the men that he is facing, Tom knows that they are not kidding. And, with only those options, Tom does end up using violence in response.

After watching A History of Violence, many might say its story proves that we cannot escape our past. Through Tom’s violent actions and even his son’s, it almost shows that violence runs through our blood; that as long as blood runs through our veins, violent people will always be violent people. Many people might say it proves that some people are just bad people and will always be bad people.

I, however, would have to strongly disagree. Yes, the movie does show that past is difficult to escape. It does reveal that consequences do have a way of catching up with us. But, through Tom’s actions, the movie also seems to pose an even more important question about past. Even if we can’t completely escape our past, even if we can’t completely avoid consequences, does that past have to control who we choose to be and how we choose to live in the present?

Each time Tom kills, a variety of people accuse him of just becoming who he really is, a violent man. They question and denounce the caring father, loving husband, and caring townsperson he has been for the last 20 years. Tom, however, firmly states that who he once was “has been dead for a long time.� And I believe him.

Some people might disagree with me. He does exact some very gruesome acts of violence reminiscent of the violence we are lead to believe defined his past. But, as much as the physical characteristics of his present actions might resemble his past, the emotions that surround each action seems to separate his present violence from his past.

In Tom’s past and in the present of the men who are pursuing him, violence is seen as way to preserve reputation. It centered on revenge and power. It is about preserving status, and, in the end, it is all about self.

For Tom, however, his violence is shown as something very different. He tries to avoid it. He pleads with those around him to just make peace. And, when he uses it, he does so not for power, not for reputation, but in an attempt to preserve a life centered around love and to preserve the lives of those he loves. Even when Tom defends his own life, selfishness seems distinctly absent. In the same way that a new mother once told me that she only fears death now that she has a child to love and care for, Tom seems to value his life and seek to preserve it not for himself, but so that he can love and care for just those people who are now his life.

At the same time that Tom uses violence to preserve that which he values, he also seems to recognize its destruction, a quality which none of his former acquaintances seem to possess. It angers him. It brings him to tears. And, as he washes blood from himself after his final killings and returns home to his family, he shows that the person he truly desires to be is a father who loves his children, a husband who loves his wife, and a man who knows what a blessing a life of love and family is compared to a life of violence and revenge.

In a world where his son has trouble looking at the future with any better prediction than—“we grow up, we get jobs, we have affairs, and we become alcoholics,� Tom knows the person he has managed to become and the loving relationships he has filled his life with are things of great value. Although Tom’s past acquaintances see nothing but downsides to the commitments of marriage and family, Tom sees nothing but an upside he will never take for granted—a love that helped him become who he is and a love that, however difficult, has stood by him and will stand by him when he returns home.

While we may not be able to completely escape negative pasts, in the story that unfolds in A History of Violence, Tom Stall shows us that we need not be defined by them. Yes, our pasts can hurt us. Yes, they can hurt those around us. But, with the ability to let go of a need for vengeance and to realize the value of love, we need not be controlled and defined by them.

In the same way that Tom returns home to his family at the end of the movie, we too have a life of love and value that God will always have ready and waiting for us to return to or join for the very first time. Yes, there may be awkwardness, there may be difficulty, and we may need to deal with negative pasts at various points in our future. But, as Tom’s family shows us, even in pain, even in difficulty, amidst love and in its pursuit, we can overcome any past and be who we and God truly desire and know us to be.

—1. Overview (multimedia)
—2. Overview Basic (dial up speed)
—3. Reviews and Blogs
—4. Cast and Crew
—5. Photo Pages
—6. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—7. Posters
—8. Production Notes (pdf)
—9. Spiritual Connections