King Kong

—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
—9. Spiritual Connections
—10. Presentation Downloads

King Kong is great. Its brings all of the thrills of the modern movie (Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, Titanic) to the screen, while maintaining most if not all of the period-piece feeling to the original. The acting is campy but I’d say that’s intended. The special effects are dizzying, particularly Kong’s last stand above New York City. And the warnings against our ‘Babylon’ merits some thought. I would see the movie again—just don’t tell me it’s a love story.

I’m going to be straightforward (fully knowing that this will draw the ire of true Kong-ists), but I see more Stockholm Syndrome than Romeo & Juliet in the relationship of Kong and Ann Darrow (Watts.) Supposedly, Darrow has fallen for Driscoll’s words before she even meets the man himself, but she quickly rejects his advances when compared with the ‘advance’ of the wild Kong. Kong did save Darrow repeatedly, but it is his fault that she’s in trouble to begin with, while Driscoll has risked his life for his budding love.

Jack Black steals the show in a movie that is both Peter Jackson’s childhood dream and a fantasy of mammoth, or rather gorilla-like, proportions. As movie director Carl Denham, it is Black who comes across in a more alive and defining way than the often silent emotions of Watts' Darrow. This is not to say that Watts doesn’t swoon or stand fiercely at all the right times, that Adrien Brody’s Jack Driscoll isn’t writer-turned-hero enough or that Kong doesn’t fill up the screen, but the wit and mercenary behavior of this conniving movie director controls the first two-thirds of the film.

It seems that this week was just my time for movies that come out hard against greed and capitalism. Like Syriana’s oil moguls, Denham is solely focused on making the big buck, through the perfect motion picture. He figures that if the crew can capture the images of peril so severe, that the public will pay over and over to come and see his film. He begins his quest for Skull Island with the police (and his investors) hot on his heels, but he twists the truth repeatedly to get the ship where he wants it. And all of this is delivered with the over-the-top wit and expression of Jack Black.

Stuck on a ‘deserted’ island, Denham grabs his camera. Battling antagonistic savages, Denham has his camera. Chased by wild dinosaurs, his camera is rolling. And finally, after losing two of his crew, he promises to donate the proceeds from his show to the widows of each man—which he can’t do, having sworn to give money that is not his to begin with, to both! I may not be guilty of such prideful aspirations as Denham, but I wonder how often my views are presented to my ‘public,’ no matter what the cost? And if I’m not the media, how am I backing up untruths, slanderous allegations or even material that once watched/read/seen cannot be helpful to my personal growth? (I, for one, would have to start with which films I go to see, but that’s for another day.)

Go see King Kong, and witness the adventure that has captured the minds of many in Technicolor and Jacksonesque quality. See the lust for money of Denham, the desire to be known and loved by Darrow, and the truly heroic heart of Driscoll. Ask yourself which one you are most like, and maybe include Kong as an option. Is it safer on the other side of the wall? There’s an innocence lost somewhere along the way, and it seems that maybe it is ours.

—Overview (multimedia)
—Reviews and Blogs

Syriana

—1. Overview
—2. Reviews and Blogs
—3. Cast and Crew
—4. Photo Pages
—5. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack
—6. Posters (George Clooney)
—7. Production Notes (pdf)
—8. Spiritual Connections
—9. Presentation Downloads

Syriana is the political thriller, whose thriller is replaced by character study. From the minds that produced Traffic comes an equally disjointed, multifaceted story about the U.S. government’s involvement in the Middle East, specifically in the oil business. As I am tied to neither political party, I saw this less as a condemnation of government and more as a critique of humanity. As Jesus asked in Mark 8:36, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?�

Bob Barnes (Clooney), Bryan Woodman (Damon), and Bennett Holiday (Wright) are the main characters in different pieces of the Syriana puzzle. Barnes is a CIA operative on the way out of the business, but he’s also a man yearning for a connection with his teenage son, and haunted by the rocket launcher that he ‘misplaced’ in the Middle East. Woodman is the analyst who gains the trust of Prince Nasir (Sidding), only after his eldest son is accidentally killed. And Holiday is the lawyer intent on clearing the oil company of wrongdoing, who is also the angry son of a junkie.

In this mockumentary, I half-expected to be barraged with data and dates as the credits rolled, but the movie had rarely focused on cold, hard facts. Instead, we see that Barnes is the pawn of his superiors, who works hard at what he does, never betrays what he’s told to do, and ultimately pays for being a ‘good’ man. Woodman’s success can only be seen in light of the drowning of his son, yet he coldly moves along to the benefit of his company and the detriment of his soul. Holiday seems the least prepared to make decisions based on truth, but the paperwork and drudgery of his portions in the movie left me prying my eyelids open, so maybe I missed it!

Barnes comes to see his ‘calling,’ when the truth or the absence of truth, sets him free from his previous obligations. And here, with calling, guilt comes into play. To what extent would we confront the demons of our past, regardless of how long ago they had been and what had caused them, and try to make them right? While I find the answers in Syriana to be rather bleak and unfulfilling, they still explore good questions.

Finally, regardless of your ‘side’ in the present political climate, the truth for Christians is that we should be pursuing peace. In Syriana, the peace is broken by the governments who wage war on each other but it is affected by the private citizens who seek their own ends, their own gain, their own greed. We may never be the presidents of corporations or the heads of state, but we allow our ‘power’ to be bought and sold with our purchases, our time, and our attention…everyday. So, in what ways am I responsible for people like Barnes before and after his ‘conversion experience?’ How have I made my life a commodity rather than a series of choice that I make for myself?

Quoting that Jesus again, “you can’t serve both God and money� and “you can’t serve two masters.� That’s true regardless of your political affiliation, religious affiliation, or job situation—when your allegiances are divided, you fall. We’d all do well to watch the character study that is Syriana, whether it thrills you or not.

—Overview
—Reviews and Blogs

Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

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

I found The Chronicles of Narnia by Walden Media to be much more enjoyable as an adult than I found the BBC series—it’s amazing what millions can do! The acting is better, the sets are better, the special effects are better. But the truth is, it’s still the story that makes it work, and we owe our thanks to C.S. Lewis. Many reviewers will give better compare and contrast (with the book) or play-by-plays than I can. But I was so strongly moved by the way in which the gospel of Jesus Christ shone through the movie, that I put my remarks out here for consideration.

Before I get to my main points concerning Edmund and Aslan, I HAVE to highlight the wonderful exchange between Peter, Susan and the ProfessorMoseley, Poppewell and Broadbent.) Straight from the book, the two eldest Pevensie children worry that their younger sister Lucy (Henley) has fallen off the deep end. He asks them if she usually lies and they reply that she does not. He then points them back in the direction of truth through their own question and answer, in a wonderful expression of belief. Is Jesus a liar, a lunatic, or Lord? It seems that he cannot be more than one, and in the case of Lucy, she was the window through which the rest could see the truth. On to the gospel according to Aslan…

( Edmund (Keynes) betrays himself, his family, and Aslan in his falling to the temptation by the witch, Jadis (Swinton.) We hear Jadis’ ridicule of Aslan as she ‘reminds’ him of the old magic/law by which a traitor must be put to death. She knows that Aslan cannot stand to watch one of his or anyone else’s children die, so he must offer himself up in Edmund’s place. We watch Aslan go, knowing how much it will hurt, with those few who ‘remain awake,’ and witness his scorn and torture at the hands of those twisted by the witch. And, we watch as a magic older than time rises to usurp the power of death and Aslan rises again. How can the story not be seen as an allegory of the last days and resurrection of Christ?

With the resurrection of Aslan, the ‘dead’ are raised. More exactly, those whose lives have been cut short by Jadis are restored by the breath, the spirit, of the king of Narnia himself. These become new soldiers, restored in power, in the battle for Narnia, which I see as the kingdom of heaven or God. The tide of the ‘battle’ is turned and the wicked are turned back with the onset of the ‘good,’ the restored, the resurrected.

Within the conclusion of the battle, the restoration of Edmund occurs. His skepticism, doubt and bitterness has been washed away by the perfect, sacrificial love of Aslan and his own self-awareness as a part of the ‘team.’ The young person who has been stuck firmly in adolescence emerges within his test in the wonderland of Narnia to become a man. Of course there is room for improvement, but the Christian journey of awareness and responsibility has been exhibited in an individual at the same time that the land itself is restored.

—1. Overview
—2. Reviews and Blogs

Aeon Flux

—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 (Charlize Theron)
—8. Production Notes (pdf)
—9. Spiritual Connections
—10. Presentation Downloads

Aeon Flux is…different, in a disjointed, MTV-music video meets futuristic sci-fi sort of way. The action is fast, the dialogue isn’t smooth, and even after the feature length movie, you’re only slightly more informed than you were before. But the truth is out there, and in her, and our heroine (played in traditional garb by Charlize Theron) is out to find it.

Basically, Aeon Flux is about self-discovery. We’re provided a brief background of the world as we know it by Aeon herself, but she’s only half-informed about what really takes place. Spoiler: In a cataclysmic plague, the world’s population gets minced but one scientist, Trevor Goodchild (Csokas) has worked out a way to ‘reincarnate’ people mechanically. When person A dies, their clone is developed from their DNA and is implanted in the womb of a woman so that she delivers a child who will grow up to be person A again. Goodchild’s moral code begins to challenge his own actions, but his brother, Oren (Miller), refuses to let go of his continuous cycle.

The build-up to the actual ‘plot’ takes awhile and we’re left staring at Theron for most of the first third of the movie. As the intrigue and side stories grow, we’re sure that the confrontation between Aeon (who we accept as ‘good’) and her opponents will be action-packed. McDormand and Postlethwaite provide interesting bit parts that are a far cry from their ‘Oscar-worthy’ films.

Like A Sound of Thunder, which few moviegoers actually saw, shows the consequences of messing with the natural order, or playing God. Unlike Thunder, Aeon Flux has the benefit of a cult following through its place in MTV’s Liquid Television. While Thunder played more like a vindictive Planet of the Apes, Flux shows the choices that people with knowledge make: sometimes they use their power for good, sometimes they seek only their own benefit.

What could be simply science fiction and leather-bound heroines, turns into an exploration of choices and the justifications that we make to achieve what we want. Aeon Flux proves to be worthy of her role because she shows those who are apathetic and afraid that they must make choices to better humanity, even at a cost to themselves. Because Aeon is willing to sacrifice herself, others show that they are willing to join her, but she had to liberate them from their doubt and apathy first.

Aeon Flux isn’t going to win an Oscar but it’s entertaining and to some degree, thought-provoking. What would you do if you knew the truth? What choices would you make if those choices might hurt? The truth shall set you free…that has a certain ring to it.

—Overview (multimedia)
—Reviews and Blogs