Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

—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
—10. Presentation Downloads

Harry Potter is older, grittier, darker, more magical—and all of that makes the story more life like. We live in a gritty, sometimes dark world where miracles happen everyday but we only notice when they’re BIG and in our faces. The development of Harry and his friends continues in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire provides an adventure for all ages, that allows the characters to symbolize ideals bigger than themselves. Readers beware: spoilers abound.

We get to enjoy a bit of sports entertainment as Harry (Radcliffe), Ron (Grint), and Hermione (Watson) visit the Quidditch World Cup, and set up some of the foreboding that will follow them through this film (and the future installments of the series.) Thankfully, the growing fear that accompanies Harry’s nightmares is more grown-up, as he battles adolescent interactions with enemies and new loves throughout the film. The critics who fear that the story has gotten too mature for its readers seem focused on the ‘scare’ value, but I see the ‘hope’ factor as equally mature. If Harry remained a quaint, docile little boy battling a ridiculously caricatured Voldemort (played wonderfully by Fiennes), it would only reinforce the stagnation of our faith in hope.

Instead, Harry’s battles are magical representations of those we face as pre-adults and adults. The three challenges of Triwizard Tournament are excellent, figurative depictions of hurdles that must be crossed to enter mature faith. The first challenge, the dragon, highlights the fears that Harry feels in his inadequacy and limitations. We are often forced into situations where we feel completely unprepared and lacking in skill. We must rely on God’s guidance and empowerment to overcome these obstacles, just as Harry applies the wisdom of his friends and mentors to use his skill in flight. Still more, his steady determination and unwillingness to cave in the face of impending doom play important roles in his success in the first task.

Having completed the first, Harry feels stretched to maximum capacity but finds himself facing the submerged mission, rescuing that which is important to him. Unlike his fellow competitors, Harry sees all of the ‘imprisoned’ treasures as valuable in their humanity, breaking the rule of the merpeople, and sacrificing (at least momentarily) his own life. Having taken up the challenge to which he feels completely unworthy, Harry has next sublimated his own needs and desires for the greater good.

Finally, Harry once again faces up to his past. And here lies the greatest challenge of all, not the maze, but the recognition that his own history may be his undoing. In no way is Harry’s past a fault of his own, but he recognizes that he has to fight off his own demons before he can move forward (literally.) In doing so, his own example of sacrifice is mirrored by one of his competitors, showing that not only has Harry achieved a place of learning or growth, but he has passed it along as well.

To debase the Harry Potter series for its scary screen moments or for its use of magic is to minimize the realistic battle of evil wills and relentless hope. Watching the news or reading the paper, we’re faced with more realism than one could possibly hope to endure, and hope becomes a fleeting thing. But when we can recognize the parables within the realms of wonder and magic, even the most skeptic experiences a bit of optimism.

—Overview
—Reviews and Blogs

Yours, Mine & Ours

—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 (Dennis Quaid)
—8. Production Notes (pdf)
—9. Spiritual Connections
—10. Presentation Downloads

Yours, Mine & Ours is light-hearted fare, aimed at families with small children, and is basically The Brady Bunch for an extended show. Two high school sweethearts reunite two marriages and quite a few years later. Their high school courtship must have been a good one—they’re married within 24 hours of their second ‘date’ 20 years later! The catch: between the two of them, they have 18 children and none of them are happy with their new living arrangement. Will these two ‘star-crossed’ lovers adapt or will their second chance relationship crash and burn?

This movie rolls along in a sugar sweet way, breezing through the absence of their respective spouses, and hilariously depicting the juxtaposition of their attitudes toward childrearing. Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo admirably grin and grimace at all the right times but the problems presented by their marriage seem swept under the carpet. How would two families mesh with two children each, let alone 10 and 8? What right do the children have (when half of them are grown) to speak up? Especially in Russo’s case, it seems odd that she might get married without having a wind chime meeting of the clan. I’m often skeptical of ‘plot jumps’ within the confines of a genre, and I’m skeptical of how this one works—especially if it’s based on a true story (as it’s based on the original Yours, Mine and Ours from 1968.) That point made, let me move on…

So the kids join together to sabotage the marriage and the squabbling that would seem natural comes flying out between their parents. The ability to make decisions jointly erodes as they differ on the varied situations that their children throw at them. He, the coast guard captain, wants discipline and order; she, the purse-designing artist, wants freedom of thought and creativity. (You really could not find two more dissimilar people.) They finally split over the usual breaking point: career or family. He chooses to follow his career dreams and she remains with her children.

This allows for a quaint little tie-in from the beginning of the movie. Quaid tells the story of a sailor who wanted to know his dear lady was true, so he set a light within the house that would show him the way home. As long as he saw that the light was shining out, he knew that she still waited, true to her love for him. So, we see by the end, that her true love doth shine down from yonder tower…sorry, I got lost again! The truth of the fable is that there is a light shining out there, burning in eternal flame. True love, unconditional love, shines forth from God to provide us a way home, a reminder that the love of God is always laid out for us.

So, however you see it, love, forgiveness and positive compromise earmark this family flick. Fans of Quaid and Russo will get to see them smile quite a bit, and many folks will walk away thinking, that Eight is Enough.

—Overview (multimedia)
—Reviews and Blogs

Walk the Line

—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 (Joaquin Phoenix)
—8. Production Notes (pdf)
—9. Spiritual Connections
—10. Presentation Downloads

Joaquin Phoenix gets my vote for Best Actor, having seen the Johnny Cash biopic, Walk the Line, but my admiration for the movie goes beyond acting. Here, the fictionalized rise to fame of Cash doesn’t get much polish—Cash is no saint, no choir boy. But the beauty of the movie (call me crazy) is that there is a story of human fall and redemption involved that rises above one individual’s story, beyond the movie’s focus on Johnny Cash, rockstar. This movie works because it strives to define the roots of human failure, even as it highlights the very definition of salvation and redemption.

We learn early on that Johnny knows all the hymns, but that his brother, Jack, is the ‘good’ one because he knows all the Scriptures. Jack’s untimely death, and Johnny’s indirect involvement, drive his father, Ray (wickedly played by Robert Patrick), to cry out that Satan is in control because the wrong son was taken. Not much pressure to live with AS A TWELVE YEAR OLD! Ray is a hard-working, hard-drinking farmer who Johnny wants to relate to but whom he can never please. He represents the past that Johnny can’t get away from and embodies the voice (in all of us) that says you’ll never be good enough, you’re not worth it.

Vivian (Ginnifer Goodwin) becomes Cash’s first wife, even after Johnny doesn’t really ‘measure up’ to her father or her expectations…and this spells T-R-O-U-B-L-E. The Cashs have children together, and she definitely stays longer than one might expect, from the very beginning of their marriage, it is obvious that Vivian and Johnny are aimed at different goals. Vivian wants Johnny to have a safe, steady job while Johnny dreams of singing his songs for other people. And we know where this is going, because it’s the story of Johnny Cash.

The first song Cash wants to record gets shot down as ‘gospel,’ and ‘gospel just won’t sell.’ The recording studio boss tells him to play the song he would sing if he was lying in the gutter about to die, with one song to show God and other people what he was all about. From this launching point, Cash’s passionate pursuit of life through music goes public. It seems that in this crucial moment, the gospel (used broadly) is being presented by Johnny to the world, without sounding gospel-like. Rather than being ‘gospel-lite,’ the songs of Johnny Cash present the place where life, love and God cross paths—a tradition embraced now by U2, Switchfoot, and others.

Of course, there wouldn’t be a movie if Cash’s life was all roses. He struggles (and loses) with alcohol, prescription drugs, and lusting after random women, driving a wedge within his own family and damaging his own soul. June Carter (Reese Witherspoon) rebuffs his advances (at first) and challenges him to take control of his own life. After she has surrendered to his lure, she attempts to intervene with his drug use but he spirals downward until he has lost everything. His drug use still appears to be an attempt to dull the pain of his brother’s loss and his father’s loathing, but for a man with so much to lose, he still couldn’t make the decision to change.

A baptism by water and tractor finally allows June the moment she needs to intervene…literally. Having survived withdrawal, Johnny looks June in the eyes endearingly, only to hear her say, ‘God gave you a second chance; what are you going to do with it?’ Here, tough love serves to be the necessary tool by which Cash will be freed of his sins and the sins of others. June Carter loves Johnny unconditionally, in ways that we (and she) may not understand. She exhibits the gospel of love and forgiveness could not be more fully depicted. The two attend church, he stays drug-free, and their marriage (it’s history!) become fact.

Walk the Line provides more than a backstage pass to Johnny Cash, rock star—it provides the testament of a life wrecked and rebuilt that many will understand. We all have someone or something we’d like to be, but haven’t been yet. We all have demons in our closet or under our bed or in pictures on the wall that hold us back from who we hope to be. The truth of Johnny Cash’s story is in the failure, because that makes the success of who he was even more sweet. I hope that anyone who reads this review and all who see the movie will see a man who made mistakes, who was loved unconditionally and recognized that love, and embraced humility in celebrating new life.

—Overview

The Legend of Zorro

—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 (Catherine Zeta-Jones)
—8. Production Notes (pdf)
—9. Spiritual Connections
—10. Presentation Downloads

The Legend of Zorro melds the best of the older Zorro serial television series and the equally revered Wild, Wild West, with a splash of religiosity for good measure. You have TWO vile villains, with one serving as the henchman and the other as the ‘big picture’ guy. Neither one can be a match for the star power exhibited by Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones as Zorro aka Alejandro and his lovely wife Elena. You don’t go to see the sequel to the Mask of Zorro expecting that tragedy can really behalf our heroes in this one, and I don’t think it’s a reach to say that the ‘divorce’ doesn’t cause much drama.

Much has been written about the slowing down of both Banderas and Zeta-Jones, that is to say, there have been claims made of less action, than in the ‘original’ movie. Having attended the movie with my youth, they left feeling like they got plenty of bang for their buck, and I would tend to agree. Still, the ‘divorce’ left a bitter taste to our discussion of the movie and for that, I question what ideals the movie was presenting.

The divorce occurs for the purposes of the plot, driving Elena into the arms of her previous acquaintance/interest(?), the slimy Armand (Sewell.) The argument that we overhear between Alejandro and Elena before the breakup is purposefully frustrating, because the argument is over Alejandro’s participation in fighting evil as Zorro. Supposedly, in the first movie, Elena loved Alejandro as Zorro before she loved him as Alejandro. So, fifteen minutes into the movie, I am distracted by a quarrel that I wouldn’t buy in real life (between two people who are genuinely committed to each other.) Yes, it’s a movie, and yes, it’s a plot point, but it’s flimsy at best.

Here we are, watching Elena throw herself at Armand, and we’re watching Alejandro get smashing drunk—and he does a great job of making a fool of himself. For a family, kid-driven movie, there’s a lot of drama here that doesn’t need to be. But let me emphasize some positives now that I have that off my chest…Adrian Alonso plays Joaquin to the hilt, the son of the de la Vegas, who appears to be just as comfortable playing a Little Rascal as he would a Spy Kid. He represents the crucial relationship between fathers and sons, one that must be carefully nurtured and not left to empty assumptions. With the unmasking of Zorro comes a baring of their relationship and a restoration that I think may lead to a three-way billing in whatever they call the sequel.

The religiosity mentioned above is Catholicism versus extremist Protestantism, with some fatalism on both sides thrown in for good measure. Alejandro ‘prays’ that he be given the strength to don the mask one more time (to save his family), in the face of Nick Chinlund’s cross-scarred villain. This villain’s evil delivery of the “Lord’s wrath� makes me cringe in its similarities to blind hatred spewed out by some claiming to be fundamental Christians. Brennan Manning’s comment that the greatest cause of atheism is Christians who walk out of church and deny Christ by their lifestyles seems well summed up by Chinlund’s character.

Thankfully we have a gentle mix between Chinlund’s villain and Alejandro in a priest friend who serves as a counselor to Alejandro and knows his secret. (I am sorry to say I could not directly match the actor’s name and the character name for this review!) This character urges Alejandro to take care of himself, respect himself, serve justice, walk humbly, and to care for children! Seems reasonably gospel-like to me, even if the movie comes across as a whole to be gospel…lite.

The hero, the heroine, and the hero-kid are all proven to be altruistic and team-friendly, in a world where men are often shown as flying to the aid of everyone else. So rather than a hero movie, we are provided with a heroes movie, and they seem to be Christian and a more than average way. So, grab the kids, or your buddy, or your girlfriend, and head to the Legend of Zorro, it’s a summer blockbuster that probably won't be legendary, but the overall message speaks to family and restoration.

—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 (Catherine Zeta-Jones)
—8. Production Notes (pdf)
—9. Spiritual Connections
—10. Presentation Downloads

Thrice: Vheissu

The post-hardcore band, Thrice, released its latest albumVheissu a few weeks ago, to less fanfare than Switchfoot’s Nothing is Sound, but with an equality of lyrics that some may have missed. While the band’s edges blur as they mix their emo/screamer roots with more auditory pleasing sounds of the keyboard, the piano and the accordion. And the root of the title? Drummer Riley Breckenridge told Rolling Stone that it stands for the “mouth of a cluster of tunnels beneath Mount Vesuvius� because they see themselves “standing at the gateway to a bunch of different tunnels,� not knowing “how things are going to end up. You just have to pick a tunnel and go.�

In “Image of the Invisible,� frontman Dustin Kensrue sings “We’re more than carbon and chemicals/free will is ours and we can’t let go.� Desiring to be known and recognized, the band derives its purpose and meaning from something bigger than itself, that results in the world’s derision. Admittedly, pursuing these grand proposals is hard, in “Between the End and Where We Lie,� as the singer struggles to find the door, recognizing that there is much more outside. Speaking to the human condition, Thrice believes that better things await outside but finding the way out has become more difficult. Light becomes the imagery by which deliverance comes—“daylight, they tell me it’s just a myth/they try to betray me with a kiss/daylight, they tell me that it can’t exist/they might never know just what they missed.� The struggle continues, but the outcome shows the light in his grey eyes.

I have to hear “The Earth Will Shake� in terms of Paul and Silas, imprisoned in Acts—I’ll leave that for you, the reader, to listen and evaluate for yourself. “Atlantic� skips by too briefly as I’m a big fan of ocean imagery, and the semi-dream state shows promise. “For Miles� goes back to seeking the future for all its potential in peace and love. In this future, pain will pass away and we’ll be able to see how we learned from it: “As long as we live, every scar is a bridge to someone’s broken heart/and there’s no greater love, than that one shed his blood for his friends.� I don’t think Thrice is hiding anything, but the allusion to Jesus’ statements and life choices seems to be pretty boldly presented here. They propose that we “open the wounds and share them then soon they start to heal.� So we must give something up to cause healing in return? Seems like a safe bet.

“Hold Fast Hope� seems to be a visually-descriptive interpretation of the Book of Jonah as our decisions bring us down but our repentance can reunite us with grace. This grace is ours, sings Thrice in “Music Box�: “we are not alone, we feel an unseen love/we are sons and heirs of grace/we are children of a light that never dims/a love that never dies, keep your chin up child/and wipe the tears from your eyes.� They again refer to the light, as “we are children of light<� and present their hope for a better life. Sometimes that better life takes us through suffering and sometimes through self-incrimination as Peter discovers (as he breaks bread with Jesus and betrays him later) in “Like Moths to a Flame.�

Hope rises again in “Of Dust and Heaven,� but Thrice artfully references hope in more than material goods and success. In “Stand and Feel Your Worth,� breaking bread again becomes a point of reference, as well as baptism in “we are fuel and fire both, we are water/wed with wine and ghost.� This song also references baptism, death, and salvation, so it’s a decent profession of Thrice’s faith. I wish the album would’ve ended there as “Red Sky� is much more opaque, but I think the close hinges on this: “and soon the sea will give up her dead/we’ll raise an empire from the bottom of the sea.�

From beginning to end, Thrice recognizes their shortcomings but continually presents the eternal hope they have. I hope that folks will give the new album a listen, and consider the hope that Thrice has for themselves.