William Petruzzo

Everything you’ve heard about the new Batman movie is true. It met, if not exceeded every hope and expectation I had for it. I’ll try to keep this clean and clear and hopefully offer some tips to help you better receive the movie.

 

First of all, against the backdrop of bubble-gum, popcorn superhero flicks, The Dark Knight is seriously fresh. Not to say I didn’t enjoy those other movies. I did, they were fun, but that’s generally where they stopped.

The Dark Knight however offered more.

So, for that reason, I will not call it a superhero movie. In fact, if I were to judge it by the same rubric I used to judge The Hulk or Spiderman, I would probably find that I didn’t much care for it.

Go into The Dark Knight looking at it as any other suspense, thriller, action movie. One that just so happens to feature two of our childhood’s most beloved characters.

Christian Bale delivers, I think, the weakest performance. Although that’s not to call the performance weak. He did a great job.

Aaron Eckhart, playing Harvey Dent, sells it. I bought it all.

But where the movie oozes with magnificent delivery and on-screen presence… you guessed it: Heath Ledger. He tears it up. From the first moment he appears on screen to the last exposure, he’s phenomenal. I expected never to be out-impressed after Jack Nicholson. But Ledger delivers everything the Joker should be and way more.

I’d rather not go into details about the story. Partly cause I think the ambiguity is good. But, partly because I just don’t want to.

I loved this movie. As a Christian I loved this movie. The Batman franchise is notoriously dark. The Dark Knight promised to be all that and more. And it lived up to its promises. But the movie wasn’t about death and destruction and mayhem.

The movie was about self-sacrifice. Being for others what they need you to be. Giving yourself for the benefit of others, even if they don’t understand or recognize it.

In this film, Batman’s trademark sense of revenge was almost altogether absent. What it was replaced with was the inner struggle of man to provide for people what they needed. Even if it meant losing what was precious to him.

I absolutely recommend heading out to see this movie. But, I’m not sure younger kids ought to be there. Everything is more realistic and in all probability the Joker will give them nightmares.

I know I only sporadically do reviews on movies, which makes this seem a bit silly. But the truth is, I’d really like my limited audience to know this: every one of you ought to go and see this movie.

 

In my personal opinion, Pixar is on this whole other level of visual story-telling. They take movie animation to this brand new level where people can feel a real kindred with fish, or find real compassion for their old toys they’ve neglected, or even, yes even, find real empathy for a couple of unlikely robots in love.

Of course, Pixar hasn’t always hit the mark. Cars and A Bugs Life weren’t the best. But they also certainly weren’t the worst. But none of them are the point here in this post. The point is that Pixar did hit the mark on Wall-E. Seriously hit the mark.

Wall-E tells the story of the world somewhere around the year 2700. Mankind has abandoned the earth they’ve wrecked to a team of clean-up robots. Unfortunately, all of the robots broke down, except for the one quirky little guy who’s glitch gave him a personality. The one little robot, Wall-E, continues to do his job attempting to clean up the earth to little avail. One day a probe robot looking for life shows up on the scene and steals Wall-E’s heart. The rest of the film we follow Wall-E’s adventure of self sacrificial love and persistence to be with “Eva” his robot opposite.

First of all, I’d like to preface by saying, I’m not going to say much else about Wall-E. The movie really will speak for itself (figuratively speaking).

I love Wall-E. This release from Pixar is, hands down, their strongest most compelling movie. The story-telling is masterful. The relationships are genuine and moving. The plot powerful and poignant. On all fronts Wall-E is a winner.

The first 30 minutes have no dialogue at all. The rest of the film, and none of the plot, rest on dialogue. It’s all communicated in “body” language and “facial” expression and the occasional computer tone emitted from Wall-E and Eva. Yet somehow, the two express more than most films express with a full gamut of dialogue.

There are obvious environmental themes to the film. But unlike other movie’s with the same message, Wall-E doesn’t come across as preachy. In fact, in a weird way it did a great deal more to cause reflection on environmental issues than any other movie has.

As a kid’s movie, Wall-E might be lost on the much younger crowd. But you know what? It was a worth while sacrifice.

On a brief final note. Wall-E made me choke up. Twice. It was worth every penny I spent, and it’s going to be worth every penny I spend to see it again.

I highly recommend you see it.

I watched The Basketball Diaries tonight; a drug culture drama from early on in Leonardo DiCaprio’s career. Also, a film adaptation of a series of journal entries from the true story of well known and respected Jim Carroll. Since the movie came in 1995, you might not even remember it. It wasn’t exactly a blockbuster smash hit then either, but to date, it’s still one of my favorites.

For those who haven’t seen the movie, the story follows Jim (Leo) as he transforms from reckless, but fun loving middle-lower class kid, quickly gaining the attention of basketball recruiters, to a full fledged homeless junkie willing to do absolutely anything for a fix. There’s very little about this movie that doesn’t scream “mid-90’s!”. The acting. The lighting. The setting. The lingo. But what is unusual is a really stunning performance from Leo. By today’s standards, a lot falls as far as dramas go. But Leo’s acting, even today, is still rarely matched.

While the movie is good as it is, it’s not especially entertaining. But that’s alright. Entertainment here doesn’t seem to be chiefly the point. It’s one of those few films that you watch and don’t enjoy and on some level never want to watch again, but at the same time you can’t turn it off and you won’t bad mouth it when it’s over. At some points, the gruesome sobriety on screen will make even a person sitting alone feel awkward or queasy inside.

I’ve never been a rock bottom drug addict in New York City before, so it’s hard for me to say just how realistic the culture portrayed is. But it seems to me that regardless of that, the point is clear and the culture has little to do with it. Jim gave himself, foolishly, to a dangerous bride. Like so many of us here and now, he was bewitched and intoxicated by what he’d surrendered himself to and he couldn’t walk away. Of course, we might hide it better than a junkie.

If you haven’t seen The Basketball Diaries, go grab it. And if you haven’t seen it in a while, maybe you’d like a refresher. Just remember, it’s not exactly a popcorn flick.

Over the past three days, my mother and I have watched the whole Lord of the Rings trilogy, extended versions, on DVD. I’d seen the first one several times and the second one two or three times, but the third one I hadn’t seen since the theaters, and hence never seen the extra footage from the extended DVD. My mother had never seen any of them, and after recently watching the new Indiana Jones movie and Prince Caspian, felt like she wanted to catch up some.

Most everyone is familiar with the movies, and the creature Gollum. The skinny, big eyed, schizophrenic, ring-of-power withdraw patient. Now, I’m sure that many have made this comparison before me, perhaps that was even the original intention in designing such a character—but of all the characters in the entire set of movies, I think that I identified with Gollum the most closely. Of course there are plenty of other characters anyone would rather see themselves as, but in the soberest of realities, Gollum is the closest comparison.

There are some times when my own conversations with myself, about sin, mirror the creature’s debates over how to get back his beloved ring. It’s a striking parallel sometimes.

I can see, again, Paul’s inner struggle in Romans 7:14-24:

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?

However, unlike Gollum, who’s divided person met his end in flames, clutching his ring in hand, I can say with Paul, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:25) I will not share in Gollum’s fate.

Guilty pleasures. We’ve all got them. Not necessarily moral guilt, although I’m sure many have those also. I’m talking about cultural guilt. Like secretly getting really excited about Project Runway or singing at the top of your lungs to Fall Out Boy songs in the car. Well, for me, it’s musicals. There are others. But musicals make up a big part of the guilty pie. There’s something about life and ordinary discourse happening in strange choreographed song and dance—I just wish it worked that way in real life. I know, it’s weird.

Throughout high school, I had this fantasy of coordinating a huge troop of people to break into song and dance somewhere in public. Maybe in a mall, or a coffee shop or something. At times, it even seemed like it could actually happen. I was friends with some a handful of people in the performing arts department and my crew was always into doing weird things in public. To my dismay, but my ultimate peace of mind, I discovered that a troop, Improv Everywhere, saw my vision to fruition.

So there it was folks. The end of a dream… *sigh*

I watched Ben Stein’s Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed last night, discussing the scientific and academic boundaries levied against the theory of intelligent design. I must say outright, that this documentary was very well done.

The film begins with about half a dozen interviews with extremely well qualified professors at prestigious universities who lost their jobs for simply entering the idea of intelligent design into research. None of the interviewed professors sided with the idea of intelligent design or had any overt affiliation to religious systems. They simply wished to enter the hypothesis in along side other valid hypotheses. That clearly didn’t work.

Through the course of the film, a great prejudice is exposed in the academic and scientific community. After many interviews, the viewer will be convinced that the evolution theory, while scientifically plausible, is not as rock solid as we are led to believe. A fight against evolution, however, is neither the point nor the strength of this documentary. The intention is to expose the deteriorating freedom of inquiry in American academia. All inquiry is permitted up until the suggestion of a higher power or creator. Many scientists, including well known Richard Dawkins, prefer the explanation that “aliens” did it, rather than suggesting the possibility that a god was responsible.

Throughout the film, the Berlin Wall is used as a metaphor for these problems we face today; a poignant choice, considering the immediate effects of the Berlin Wall. Along the same line of thought, the film also guides the viewer through some of the philosophical implications of limiting this freedom of inquiry: eugenics, to Nazism and so on.

The film concludes with a truly brilliant, telling and climactic interview between Ben Stein and Richard Dawkins that I really couldn’t do justice to.

The temptation for many Christians in watching this film will be to respond in a gung-ho manner with a “see, I told you so” attitude. While the film should be an encouragement against the onslaught of flimsy, but loud, scientific study, this movie is not waiving any kind of Jesus banner (let’s remember that Ben Stein is a practicing Jew). The point of the movie is not religious, it’s sociological. It’s not about proving Christianity, Judaism or Islam or any other deity based religion right, it’s about challenging the current status quo; religion is scientifically unconfirmed, but so is Darwinism.

Many of the reviews you read for this film are either going to absolutely love it, or absolutely hate it (just look on IMDB). For me, that is somewhat telling. Many will call this movie a “propaganda piece”, although that didn’t seem to evident in the film. I highly recommend everyone get out to see this movie, or rent it when it hits DVD. I believe it will either stand as an encouragement to your faith, or challenge the scientific community and their megaphone.

I enjoy the movies. I think I most enjoy the movies when I can walk into a movie theater and once the movie begins, I forget that I’m watching anything until the credits roll. I most enjoy movies when they can carry me off to some alternate reality for ninety-four minutes. That’s not the only time I’ll enjoy a movie, but it’s the only time that I really, really fall in love with a movie. Amongst movies, some of my favorites are suspense thrillers, or to a lesser extent, horror movies. But that’s likely on account of the feeling of suspense being unusual in my daily life, so if a movie can pull it off, it’s doesn’t have to go far to get me out of my current reality.

I have obvious gripes with movies that make play with demonic forces. I have issues with movies that point overwhelmingly to hell. But I think most of all, I have issues with movies that are unabashedly grotesque. Sometimes the promos even flaunt them that way. You’ve probably heard that ridiculous voice actor from the previews, “A grisly tail that will haunt you for weeks!” It’s not as much bothersome when the bawdiness is instigated by, or involved in some supernatural or otherworldly force (i.e., aliens, zombies, etc.). However, that’s not really the majority of these movies.

I recently read a review of the movie Untraceable. I have no intention of seeing this movie, especially after reading the review. The basic gist is that people gradually murder victims through carefully designed torture weapons simply by logging onto a website. Sounds great. Before this it was a whole host of other ultra realistic gore parades, including the Saw trilogy, The Hills Have Eyes, and Hostel, just to name a few; movies that recreate very real human suffering only for the sake of entertainment; any redeeming word to humanity was lost long ago in the gallons and gallons of (probably, although we can’t tell) artificial blood.

“In prison, they put iron tubes around his legs and tightened them with screws. Then they beat on the tubes with a hammer until the vibrations broke the bones in both legs. All this to make him confess to imaginary crimes against the government. He did not confess. Several Communist police officers then went to his home and one of them, a woman, held Vladimir’s baby in his hands and told Vladimir’s wife, ‘If you don’t sign an accusation against the prisoner [her husband], we will smash the had of the child.’ She refused… the woman police officer smashed the baby’s head against the wall several times, killing it.”

The above quote doesn’t come from a synopsis of a Hollywood movie; although it likely could have. It comes from Foxe’s Book of Martyrs. Vladimir was a Christian undergoing very real torture for his “crimes”. To speak hypothetically, let’s say that Vladimir were here today and went to the movies to see one of the installments of Saw. How do you suppose he would react to seeing a victim rigged into some terrifying murder and torture device?

Which brings me to my larger point, how do we go one minute and indulge in the very realistic fantasy of seeing someone brutally and graphically tortured and murdered purely for our own entertainment, to the next minute in which we are supposed to be compassionate, loving and broken hearted for those in pain. I submit that it is unlikely that the two can coexist. Either watching it on screen must break our hearts for those who are, even right now, experiencing similar horrors; or else we must have little or no compassion for those people and on some level delight in their pain. If we continue on this path, I doubt it will be very long at all before someone merges these horror films with reality television and we see a rebirth of the Roman Gladiators.

Jesus, I pray that you would change my heart. I pray that you, by your Holy Spirit would be persistent in sanctifying me. God, I pray that you would create in me an ability for the words of my mouth to meet the actions of my body. Jesus, I pray that you would give me and your church a broken heart for those in need, for those suffering, for those dying; for the sake of your glory, O Lord.

I know it’s a tad late, being that January is coming to a close soon, however, it’s not too for me to share my cinema likes and dislikes from 2007. I would generally say that I judge movies based on whether or not I was kept entertained, then if it failed, met, or exceeded my expectations. So that’s how I’ll share my opinions; sporadically and with an inconsistent measuring stick. Enjoy!

Arranged by release date:

 

The Messengers

Expectation: Met

Entertained: Somewhat; it had it’s moments of excitement and chills.

Recommended: Probably, if it were for some reason free.

 

Ghost Rider

Expectation: Met

Entertained: I got in for free; I still miss those precious lost moments.

Recommended: Maybe for military torture; but only if its for the good of the nation.

 

Wild Hogs

Expectation: Exceeded

Entertained: Shamefully; it was royally dumb, but I couldn’t help but enjoy myself. It was actually pretty funny.

Recommended: Yeah, in rental. Don’t expect too much.

 

Zodiac

Expectation: Met

Entertained: If I didn’t love David Fincher’s work, I’d probably have become bored at some point through the movie- it was long. However, being as it is, I enjoyed myself and got what I wanted out of Fincher.

Recommended: Yes, especially if you’re a fan of his previous stuff (se7en, Fight Club, Panic Room).

 

300

Expectation: Failed

Entertained: Yeah, I enjoyed myself, it just should have been better.

Recommended: Yes

 

Reign Over Me

Expectation: Blown out of the water.

Entertained: I cried. Adam Sandler does his job way better when he’s not trying to make me laugh.

Recommended: Absolutely.

 

Blades of Glory

Expectation: Failed

Entertained: Yes, it was funny, but no where near as funny as their premise allowed for.

Recommended: Only if you can put up with needlessly lewd humor.

 

The Lookout

Expectation: Failed

Entertained: Yes. Joseph Gordon-Levitt did an awesome job as the lead and it was great pretty much every time he was on screen. Beyond that though, we’ve kind of seen the story already and the rest of the package was only mediocre.

Recommended: Eh, sure

 

Meet the Robinsons

Expectation: Failed

Entertained: Not really

Recommended: It’s not worth the rental

 

Disturbia

Expectation: Seriously met

Entertained: Crap yes; the characters were seriously believable, the situation wasn’t too far fetched. It did a great job keeping you on the edge of your seat and Shia, he did an awesome job.

Recommended: Yes, emphatic, yes!

 

Hot Fuzz

Expectations: Failed

Entertained: Only for the last few minutes. The mock-action movie shtick was pointless because it only described the last few minutes of the movie.

Recommended: Unless you’re a fan of the troop, no.

 

The Invisible

Expectation: Failed

Entertained: By how bad it was.

Recommended: No way

 

Next

Hahahahaha

 

Spider-Man 3

Expectation: Met

Entertained: Yup; it was funny, exciting, cool and in the end pretty satisfying.

Recommended: Yeah, but don’t expect the Mona Lisa on screen, she won’t be there.

 

28 Weeks Later

Expectation: Exceeded

Entertained: Yes, it was good second installment. I found that I cared about the characters and easily got involved with their situations.

Recommended: Sure

 

The Ex

Expectation: Met

Entertained: Yes, but it was hard to watch. It was in the same vein as Meet the Parents in that things just kept going wrong for the main guy, so much so that it almost hurt.

Recommended: Good date movie

 

Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End

Expectation: Failed

Entertained: Only so much that it finished out the trilogy and wrapped some stuff up. Jack Sparrow lost his appeal, the spontaneous wit from the first move was gone by the third.

Recommended: If you’ve seen the first two

 

1408

Expectation: Exceeded

Entertained: It was genuinely scary. Cusak did an awesome job and it had a good word buried under the thrills.

Recommended: Yes

 

Evan Almighty

Expectation: Failed

Entertained: Not so much

Recommended: No

 

Live Free or Die Hard

Expectation: Met

Entertained: Definitely; tons of fun action. It’s nice to see them let Bruce Willis just go nuts with a ridiculous character.

Recommended: For sure

 

Transformers

Expectation: Met

Entertained: Again, Shia is awesome, the action and effects were cool, and the soundtrack was totally epic.

Recommended: Of course

 

Joshua

Expectation: Met

Entertained: Very, it was slow, but characters and situations were so ominous, however pacing wise, it was slow. The photography was excellent.

Recommended: Unless you have an affinity for film photography, probably not.

 

Hairspray

Expectation: Met

Entertained: I love musicals, and this one was through and through

Recommended: Get the sing along version.

Sunshine

Expectation: Failed

Entertained: Yeah, but it felt really incomplete; like they poorly adapted a graphic novel.

Recommended: No

 

The Simpsons Movie

Expectation: Exceeded

Entertained: They did a great job taking genuine Simpsons humor and putting it in a full length movie plot. It didn’t seem like a really long episode and good thing! I also appreciated that it was, by and large, pretty clean.

Recommended: Yes

 

The Borne Ultimatum

Expectation: Met

Entertained: Like the rest in the series, it was awesome. Really compelling and tons of fun. Plus, its great cause Jason so satisfyingly stays one step ahead, all the time.

Recommended: Watch the first two first.

 

Hot Rod

Expectation: Exceeded

Entertained: Lots of good belly laughs. Nothing too crude. Stupid, it’s unrelentingly stupid, but in a witty, creative way.

Recommended: Yes, watch it with friends.

 

Stardust

Expectation: Met

Entertained: Yeah, it was fun and funny

Recommended: Yeah, but you gotta be okay with cheese.

 

Superbad

Expectation: Failed

Entertained: Unfortunately. Michael Cera was really good, but it was so raunchy that I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy most of it.

Recommended: No way.

 

3:10 to Yuma

Expectation: Blown away

Entertained: Thoroughly. Maybe the only meaningful, powerful, thrilling, western I’ve ever seen. Everyone does an awesome job.

Recommended: Definitely.

 

Across the Universe

Expectation: Failed

Entertained: Marginally; the music was good but strung together in a relatively incoherent manner.

Recommended: Eh

Trade

Expectation: Obliterated

Entertained: That’s not a good word, really. It was truly powerful and thought provoking. Marvelously acted. I cried through a good third of the movie.

Recommended: Yes, but it’s heavy. You need to be ready to consider what the movie is bringing to you. It’s not just for fun.

 

Darjeeling Limited

Expectation: Exceeded

Entertained: It was genuinely funny, not too slow, I cared about the characters and their relationships to each other. I could have done without the sex.

Recommended: Yeah, but start it 15 minutes in. You’ll miss the gratuitous nudity.

 

Gone Baby Gone

Expectation: Exceeded

Entertained: Yeah, Casey Affleck did a great job and I liked the outcome.

Recommended: Yes

 

Martian Child

Expectation: Exceeded

Entertained: Definitely; everyone did an awesome job. The story was touching, but not hokey.

Recommended: Definitely

 

No Country for Old Men

Expectation: Exceeded

Entertained: Definitely, the movie was genuinely chilling and thrilling. Although it was gory in the beginning, they stopped showing it unnecessarily once they got the point across (unlike others, i.e. Pan’s Labyrinth)

Recommended: Yes

 

Beowulf

Expectation: Met

Entertained: Yeah, kind of.

Recommended: Probably if its free

 

August Rush

Expectation: Failed

Entertained: Only a little cause I liked the music; but by and large it was just cheesy without much to say for it.

Recommended: No

 

Hitman

Expectation: Failed… miserably

Entertained: I forgot what movie we’re talking about

Recommended: Only if it can be refined into an alternate fuel source.

The Mist

Expectation: Exceeded

Entertained:  Definitely, it looks the way books do in my head when I read them. The effects were sometimes sub-par, but I enjoyed the photography.

Recommended: No, you’ll be disappointed with the ending.

 

Juno

Expectation: Met

Entertained: Definitely. Really funny, moving, and treating a serious topic with a lot of respect while still making us laugh.

Recommended: Yes

 

I Am Legend

Expectation: Failed

Entertained: Yeah, I enjoyed Will Smith in the roll and it did keep me thrilled. However, with the plot they had, they could have taken the movie for three hours and I would have stuck with it. As is, they cut it short and it felt forced.

Recommended: Not really

 

Sweeney Todd

Expectation: Exceeded

Entertained: Oh yeah, I love musicals, I love Tim Burton, I love Johnny Depp. Recipe for success. The atmosphere was awesome, music was awesome. Gore was whimsical and obviously artificial, which made it easier for me to watch.

Recommended: Yeah, but you need to okay with a lot of fake blood.

 

There Will Be Blood

Expectation: Exceeded

Entertained: Thoroughly; everyone did an awesome job and the characters were legitimately interesting.

Recommended: Yes

Two nights ago I went to see Sweeny Todd, the musical in theaters. Now, let me get something out before I move onto other things. I loved this movie. The characters were all deeply and believably insidious. Johnny Depp does an excellent job in pretty much any roll he takes on and in this case played the part of a sinister serial killer very well. The songs, once you got used the style, were really catchy and carried the plot well. The movie ended giving you pretty much all the justice you were hoping for and even some of the sympathy. On the down side, it was whimsically gory (i.e., the blood was such a bright red it was clearly not real) which at times was difficult to watch because, well, I’m just not a huge fan of watching people get their throats slit. All in all, the movie was excellent, I think, if you can stomach the gore, it’s definitely worth watching.

Now, onto the other part of the discussion. I’ve had a few days to mull this film over in my head and I think that I’ve come to some conclusions. Watching Sweeny Todd in all of his vengeance and evil, is much like looking into a mirror of man’s, my heart; we really do think on some level that we’re justified in our violently selfish actions that try to take rise from inside of us. On a natural level, we do look on ourselves with pity, even with blood stained hands. Were it not for the grace of God, there would be no hesitation in us to consume another person to feed our insatiable lusts and, when others join our sins we jump at the opportunity to be justified in committing them.

A running theme throughout the film was that all men ‘deserve’ to die, and so in Sweeny’s mind, he is justified in his murders and eventually is brought to his own justice. How great a God we have though that he would look on us with kindness and mercy and take upon himself the vengeance that was due to us. Yes, even us in our murderous rampages of selfish ambition, adulteries and pride he would look still with mercy and kindness; Sweeny Todds and Mrs. Lovitts, for us there is grace enough.

If you read my post yesterday, you would have poised yourself for a great new era in movie enjoyment. Thanks of course to Bill & Steve. We did our first video yesterday, an introduction to what we’re going to be doing. Here it is:

A Brief Introduction

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