http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9567540/posts/summarySun, 08 Jan 2006 06:33:19 +0000http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/comments/darrel/blog.htmlrevdem@comcast.net (Darrel Manson)Blogger115http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9567540/posts/summary/117002528683065409Sun, 28 Jan 2007 22:58:00 +00002007-01-28T15:01:26.844-08:00"Death is more universal than life; everyone dies but not everyone lives." So said someone named A. Sachs. I have no idea who he is or in what context he said it, but there is a certain wisdom to it. That wisdom is the core of Venus, a story of an old man and a young woman and the love that they manage to find together. As I skimmed through some reviews of the film, I noted that many centered onhttp://www.hollywoodjesus.com/comments/darrel/2007/01/venus.htmlrevdem@comcast.net (Darrel Manson)http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9567540/posts/summary/116978623917109268Fri, 26 Jan 2007 04:36:00 +00002007-01-25T20:40:03.300-08:00So, the Super Bowl teams are determined. Two Midwest teams will go to Florida to play each other. Seems to me it would be better to play the Game in Gary, Indiana, between the two, but it's not really about the football game -- it's about the event. There is a load of money involved in Super Bowl XLI. There are the tickets -- that only corporations can afford to buy. There are the TV ads http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/comments/darrel/2007/01/mansons-memo-xli-is-on-way.htmlrevdem@comcast.net (Darrel Manson)http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9567540/posts/summary/116871765975169479Sat, 13 Jan 2007 19:46:00 +00002007-01-13T14:35:18.453-08:00It hasn't been a bad year. If it's easy to put together a top films list, then there hasn't been much to choose from. This year my list overflows. Although all of these films are certainly worth seeing, what the year lacked is a few films that just plain knock your socks off. That means that the grade for the year is a respectable B-. Here are my "dozen" films for 2006: Tsotsi - the http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/comments/darrel/2007/01/darrels-dozen-top-films-of-2006.htmlrevdem@comcast.net (Darrel Manson)http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9567540/posts/summary/114361032555598445Wed, 29 Mar 2006 05:31:00 +00002007-01-13T11:26:02.436-08:00Every day we hear people spinning the truth. They may be part of the government (from either party), a lawyer trying to make his client look better than he is, a mother trying to convince a toddler that the child really does want to eat broccoli, or an advertisement trying to sell their product. At times, we all pick and choose the facts we want to highlight while hiding the facts we don't want http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/comments/darrel/2006/03/thank-you-for-smoking.htmlrevdem@comcast.net (Darrel Manson)http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9567540/posts/summary/116840459280730511Wed, 10 Jan 2007 04:48:00 +00002007-01-09T20:49:52.823-08:00The Painted Veil opens in a florist shop where we learn that Kitty's family doesn't buy flowers, because why should you buy something that you can grow. They also don't grow flowers because it is "silly to put all that effort into something that's just going to die." Certainly an unromantic beginning to a love story. Well, I say it's a love story, but it takes a while to get there. Kitty http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/comments/darrel/2007/01/painted-veil.htmlrevdem@comcast.net (Darrel Manson)http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9567540/posts/summary/114904079944771713Wed, 31 May 2006 01:59:00 +00002007-01-07T17:27:42.823-08:00 First things first: The Proposition is a brutally violent film. Even though I knew there was a lot of violence, it was still shocking at times to see the level and graphicness of that violence. Anyone planning on viewing this needs to steel themselves for what they will see. That said, it is also an extremely engaging film. As brutal as it is, one cannot turn aside. http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/comments/darrel/2006/05/proposition.htmlrevdem@comcast.net (Darrel Manson)http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9567540/posts/summary/114205157346231315Sat, 11 Mar 2006 04:32:00 +00002007-01-07T17:21:19.386-08:00 -1. Overview -2. Cast and Crew -3. Photo Pages -4. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack -5. Posters (World War I) -6. Production Notes (pdf) -7. Spiritual Connections 8. Presentation DownloadsThe story is often told of the first Christmas during World War I when troops in the trenches sang Christmas carols back and forth, and even shared their Christmas rations. The stories have http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/comments/darrel/2006/03/joyeux-noel.htmlrevdem@comcast.net (Darrel Manson)http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9567540/posts/summary/115552547339983961Mon, 14 Aug 2006 03:16:00 +00002007-01-07T17:10:20.106-08:00A suicidal Proust expert, a drug-addled grandfather, a self-help guru who can't get anyone to listen and his frustrated wife, and a teenager who hates everyone and has taken a vow of silence travel the road to California in an old VW bus that needs a clutch so that the family's youngest can take part in a beauty contest. In a nutshell, that is Little Miss Sunshine. But the nutshell can be http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/comments/darrel/2006/08/little-miss-sunshine.htmlrevdem@comcast.net (Darrel Manson)http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9567540/posts/summary/114680352761286048Fri, 05 May 2006 04:31:00 +00002007-01-07T16:56:49.846-08:00 Mr. Lazarescu doesn't feel well. He's had a headache for four days. He thinks it's from his stomach; he's been throwing up as well. Walking through his apartment he speaks to one of his cats, complaining about how bad he feels noting, "You don't even care, you bloody animal." The sad thing is that nobody else cares either. The Death of Mr. Lazarescu is a trip through http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/comments/darrel/2006/05/death-of-mr-lazarescu.htmlrevdem@comcast.net (Darrel Manson)http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9567540/posts/summary/114075707821082567Fri, 24 Feb 2006 04:57:00 +00002007-01-06T18:03:46.076-08:00-1. Overview -2. Cast and Crew -3. Photo Pages -4. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack -5. Posters (Current Films) -6. Production Notes (pdf) -7. Spiritual Connections -8. Presentation DownloadsA young man who has grown up on the streets of the townships outside of Johannesburg is known only as Tsotsi -- the term for a street thug or gangster. He is the leader of a small pack of petty (and http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/comments/darrel/2006/02/tsotsi.htmlrevdem@comcast.net (Darrel Manson)http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9567540/posts/summary/114057707622260903Wed, 22 Feb 2006 02:57:00 +00002007-01-06T17:52:07.136-08:00-1. Overview -2. Cast and Crew -3. Photo Pages -4. Trailers, Clips, DVDs, Books, Soundtrack -5. Posters -6. Production Notes (pdf) -7. Spiritual Connections -8. Presentation Downloads The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada is one of those films that has far more going on than you can absorb in one sitting. Even a few days after watching the film, there are bits and pieces that I wonder about, http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/comments/darrel/2006/02/three-burials-of-melquiades-estrada.htmlrevdem@comcast.net (Darrel Manson)http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9567540/posts/summary/114119209207514580Wed, 01 Mar 2006 05:47:00 +00002007-01-06T17:42:10.686-08:00 - Overview - Cast and Crew - Photo Pages - Spiritual Connections - Presentation Downloads In February 1943, as Germany struggled with a two front war, a group of university students in Munich were busy publishing leaflets. The leaflets were diatribes against Hitler and the German government over the war and various government policies. They were strongly worded and called on the http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/comments/darrel/2006/02/sophie-scholl-final-days.htmlrevdem@comcast.net (Darrel Manson)http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9567540/posts/summary/116805476947378154Sat, 06 Jan 2007 03:38:00 +00002007-01-05T19:39:29.476-08:00The original edition of Robert K. Johnston's Real Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue has been for many, myself included, a very helpful text to understand the interaction between theology and the movies we watch. In recent years this interaction has been a growing discipline. Johnston, who teaches at Fuller Theological Seminary, has been a leading writer in the field. Now a second http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/comments/darrel/2007/01/book-review-reel-spirituality-2nd.htmlrevdem@comcast.net (Darrel Manson)http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9567540/posts/summary/116805411924562596Sat, 06 Jan 2007 03:27:00 +00002007-01-05T19:28:39.260-08:00At one point in The Pursuit of Happyness, Chris Gardner considers why Thomas Jefferson in writing the Declaration of Independence enumerated among our unalienable rights not happiness, but the pursuit of happiness. Perhaps, he surmises, happiness is not something in and of itself, but is only known in the pursuit. The story (inspired by a true story) is about Chris and his son (his wife is http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/comments/darrel/2007/01/pursuit-of-happyness.htmlrevdem@comcast.net (Darrel Manson)http://www.blogger.com/feeds/9567540/posts/summary/116800754563203537Fri, 05 Jan 2007 14:31:00 +00002007-01-05T06:34:04.226-08:00Robert Wilson may be an artists' artist. That is, his avant-garde creativity is especially appealing to other creative people. His work may not be quite as approachable for the average person and doesn't really fit into a mass market art world. That is why you may not have heard of him or seen any of his work. Absolute Wilson gives us a chance to see glimpses of his work and, more importantly,http://www.hollywoodjesus.com/comments/darrel/2007/01/absolute-wilson.htmlrevdem@comcast.net (Darrel Manson)