Walk The Line

LINKS
—Overview (multimedia)
—Overview Basic (dial up speed)
—Other Reviews
—Cast and Crew
—Photo Pages

Walking the Red Carpet

IF I believed in reincarnation, Walk the Line would be a great movie to prove that theory. Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon (playing Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash) give tour de force performances as they recreate this pair of country western greats. Not only does Phoenix achieve every little twitch and tic that Johnny Cash was known for, he completely captures Cash’s voice down to the very bassest of notes. Reese Witherspoon also does her own singing and amazingly becomes June Carter Cash, making her natural flair for humor and that deep Southern twang come to astonishing life. Even Ginnifer Goodwin (who plays Cash’s first wife, Vivian) brings tremendous credibility to her supporting role.

The core of this film deals with the impact that childhood has in framing and forming our egos and adult lives. Johnny Cash’s father, Ray, was a brutal alcoholic emotional abuser who showed no tenderness to his youngest son. He actually blamed John for the death of his older brother, Jack, whom he considered to be the “good� son and the carrier of great prospects for the Cash family name. Johnny himself would later follow in his father’s footsteps of abusing alcohol, adding to it addiction to various prescription medications.

There is also a strong theme of redemptive love which is embodied in June Carter Cash and to some extent Johnny’s mother. While Carrie Cash did her best to protect John from the worst of Ray Cash’s abuse, she did not have the strength to overcome or stop the deep hurt that his father’s disapproval caused him. The best she could do (and it is one of the things that saved John Cash) was counteract her husband’s lack of love with the deep and abiding nurture of a mother’s love and encouragement.

On the adult side of John’s life… enter June Carter Cash, whose friendship and love literally saved him from total destruction. June struggles with demons from her own past, especially guilt over failed marriages, but she has the will and determination to be the tough-love type of person that John Cash needs. Where Ray Cash uses his tongue to lash, slice, kill and destroy, June uses her tongue to speak the truth in love so that stripes, while not completely avoided, are ministered to and healed.

Walk the Line is a very good portrait of what the writer of the Bible's books of James is trying to convey with all his talk about the tongue. This small organ is capable of great good and great evil—a veritable double-edged sword. So many people are haunted by the echo of hurtful words that have cut deeply or that bring back painful memories and feelings of fear and inadequacy. Johnny Cash is haunted by the hateful words of his father, but redeemed by the loving words of June. And, as James says, “Be not hearers only of the word, but doers also.� June Carter backs her words with positive actions that ultimately transform both her life and John’s.

This movie is very well made both technically and directorially. The PG-13 designation covers some swear words (very few) and adult themes, but there is no nudity. Personally… I am off to find Johnny Cash’s autobiography. I just must know the answers to questions left unanswered by the movie.


CONTINUE
—Overview (multimedia)
—Overview Basic (dial up speed)
—Other Reviews
—Cast and Crew
—Photo Pages

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

LINKS
—Overview (multimedia)
—Overview Basic (dial up speed)
—Other Reviews
—Cast and Crew
—Photo Pages

What Is Right or What Is Easy?

Grab your Thunderbolts and Nimbus 2000s; you are in for a great ride!

There is always a palpable sense of tension in an audience that is waiting for a new installment in a series of movies. You can almost hear the thoughts grinding: Will this movie be as good as the others before it? Will this movie be better than the others? Will the characters still have chemistry? Will the new characters be well-acted and believable? Will the movie do justice to the book? How on earth will the screenplay adapt itself to a story with so much to tell?

These were questions that I struggled not to be concerned about as I waited for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire to begin. Within moments of the opening scenes and dialogue, I knew I had nothing to fear. Steve Kloves again scores hugely with a screenplay that masterfully handles a very large book filled with multiple themes and plot twists. Mike Newell reveals his directorial eye for blocking and composition and a director’s mind that understands the personalities and motivations of his characters. The movie fairly reeks of a cast having a great time making Book Four come to life on the screen!

If you are unfamiliar with the Potter books, you must know that as the series progresses the struggle between good and evil becomes stronger and darker. It is really book four that moves Harry Potter out of the realm of young children’s fantasy literature and demands a more mature audience. The movie is exactly the same and thus draws a PG-13 with good reason. The six-year-old next to me was overcome several times by some pretty frightening images—and the impeccably seamless and masterfully created CGI effects had the most jaded part of even me believing in the reality of dragons and the evil Lord Voldemort. (Someone ought to win an Oscar for make-up; you cannot even see Ralph Fiennes, who portrays the evil lord.)

The themes in this movie are also very mature. Harry is confronted with the age old battle of choosing between what is right and what is easy—something we all must make choices about every day. He is hindered along the way with relationships that are changing, enemies that are persistent, an arch-nemesis increasing in power, and his own misgivings about the whole growing up process and his very real desire to be out of the center of attention.

This all sounds very much like what we all go through on a daily basis. Should the world be given its way? Would it not just be easier to conform to the norms of society and do what is expected or accepted? Why listen to the warnings and instructions contained in an antiquated book, spoken by a “good man� who lived over 2,000 years ago—or any other ancient wisdom, for that matter?

After all, if we believe such things, that belief requires action of some sort. Harry, for his part, must choose whether to acknowledge and battle Voldemort. It would be easier for him, as it is for us, to just walk away or live in denial.

Jesus and the writers of the New Testament spoke often of the narrow road that leads to holiness and the wide gate leading to perdition. As Harry struggles with each challenge of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, he is constantly challenged to choose what is right over what is easy. And, Harry isn’t always one to make the best choice or be perfectly upright. Just as we may struggle to be “in the world, but not of it,� Harry has moments when he chooses not to be noble and gives in to jealousy, revenge, anger, and a definite snuffing of his usually strong moral fiber.

But, in the moments that really matter, Harry chooses the right course over the easy out. It is this constant choosing that constitutes the process of his maturity, as our choices do for us. As the movie ended, I heard a parent ask a child what he thought the moral of the movie was. The boy, who was probably eleven or twelve, said, “It isn’t always easy to do what is right.� Exactly. It isn’t always easy, but the end result is worth the effort.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire signals a call for perseverance and steadfast progress toward mature actions and deeds—something that Jesus called for, too. The cast is maturing, the themes are maturing, and even the theme music has matured into a fully orchestrated blend instead of the tinny tinkle of single notes that began the first three movies.

There is much worth discussing in this movie, especially with mature children who are beginning to attempt to carve out their own individuality and spiritual journeys. It won’t hurt the conversation by the fact that Harry Potter is a teenager struggling with some of life’s hardest questions and realities, too.


CONTINUE
—Overview (multimedia)
—Overview Basic (dial up speed)
—Other Reviews
—Cast and Crew
—Photo Pages