Arts and Media

"The Vow" Movie Review

Christopher Faris — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:08:58 -0800

Imagine waking up tomorrow in a hospital bed, unsure of how you got there. As you look up around the room, you notice several unfamiliar faces that are looking empathetically at you. In the midst of your aching head and confusion, one of those persons says they're your spouse. But you don’t recognize them, and you have no idea how you got there. You just want to go back to your life as you know it and wake up from this bizarre dream.

Suppose in that old familiar life you were already engaged or even married to someone else. Suppose you had a career in law but in your newly awoken life you were a renowned visual artist. The amount of disorientation – a rebirth and change in your life that was unforeseen and now unrecognizable – would be staggering. Yet, it would be true.

That’s the basic set up of “The Vow,” where Rachel McAdams is the car crash victim who has head trauma that manages to erase several formative years of her adult life. Elements of her family history, love life, and career get erased. The story especially works on the strength of what the 20’s are as a stage of development. The early 20’s are generally a time of going from uncertainty and dreaming to actualizing those dreams and cementing them in a career or owning ones purpose in life. Major life questions begin to get answered like; who do I want to spend my life with, what do I want to spend my life doing, and how do I grow into an independent adult? Only in this case, imagine having no say or recollection of how you grew and what you learned about yourself – you just woke and were there.

“The Vow” focuses on the marriage and relationship between Leo and Paige (Played by Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams). The movie spends its time asking some great questions: What if you had to woo your spouse all over again? Would you do it? How? Could you do it? Implicit in this question is a central truth about marriage, which is that the wooing doesn’t stop at the altar. Rather, the wooing keeps going all marriage long. You commit to loving one another based on the relationship, not based on the feelings alone. It is challenging and difficult, and any marriage can be faced with any degree of hardships and struggle.

The film is inspired by the lives of Kim and Krickitt Carpenter, a real life couple who wrote a book about their experience where Krickitt woke up from a severe accident and didn’t recognize the man calling her his wife. In the real story, the couple cites their faith in God as a major reason for their ability to overcome their circumstances. In the film, this is mentioned nowhere, which for some viewers will be disheartening. In fact, the film is careful to tell us that it is “inspired by” not “based on” true events. The Carpenter’s lives were not utilized as a blueprint for the script (The screenwriters informed us at a press event that only a month or two before the film released did they learn that the Carpenters wrote a book about their true experience).

The story plays out like something of a mash up between “Memento” and “The Notebook.” We learn about the couple’s history for the first time as Paige does, leading to some shocking revelations about her family history and an interesting reason to be compelled to the plot's changes. But it plays like other familiar love stories in its style and tone. Two of the prettiest actors were chosen as the leads, and the surrounding cast looks like they were plucked from a modeling agency.

The film certainly tries to fight this stereotype. The soundtrack is laden with indie rock superstars like The National and Lykke Li, McAdams character has a hipster haircut (which is a very obvious and silly looking wig) to show her “artsy” side, and Tatum’s character owns a recording studio where he produces indie rock bands in the heart of Chicago. Therein lies the films greatest frustration, which is Channing Tatum himself. He is not a strong actor, and in this film there are a few moments where he seems to struggle (such as when he nearly breaks a stereo because he is angry). In addition, it is really hard for me to buy into him being a hip music producer. Channing is too “pretty” to look like a guy who spends his time in cowboy boots and skinny jeans while going through 80 cartons of cigarettes telling bands to run one more take of a song. Also, the film features requisite bare butt and shirtless moments of Channing that I’m sure the ladies will see as a treat. I thought it might be humorous if Jack Black was in the lead role instead. At least he knows music.

Also problematic is McAdams road to recovery. We see the accident scene (which is brilliantly done visually and aurally) and then McAdams is in the hospital. However, after what appears to be a few days her scars are basically gone. In spite of having major head trauma, she still has all her hair and goes through almost no physical therapy on the road to a remarkable recovery. I recognize my bias – my Mom was nearly killed in a car accident where there was major head trauma over 10 years ago. To this day she still has the physical affects of the accident plaguing her life. I get why it is for film and story sake – the film is about the questions the couple faces emotionally and relationally, not the reality of the accident’s physical effects. Still, it was notably distracting.

Overall, "The Vow" is a good love story that finds its strength based on its premise. I wasn't sure I'd like the film at all. I was prepared to mock it, but I came away pleasantly surprised. In my eyes, the questions are so good that the film really can’t lose. It’s confidently directed, looks good, and is acted well enough. I went in expecting “The Notebook” all over again (which also shares amnesia in its plot), and to some degree it feels really similar. But to another degree, “The Vow” has better questions at its core: Does your vow to love your spouse for better or for worse really hold true? How do you continue to love your spouse even after the big day? They are questions that challenge us even when trauma does not play a role in our married and romantic lives. I left the film thinking about what I could do to show my wife I loved her. I really can't fault any film that provokes that sort of response from me.

Check out our interview with the cast and filmmakers of "The Vow" for more on the story and the experience making the film:

http://www.conversantlife.com/film/the-cast-and-filmmakers-of-the-vow-talk-with-conversant-life

Review: The Grey

Brett McCracken — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:10:32 -0800

Joe Carnahan’s The Grey is the first truly great 2012 release. Which is surprising. I didn’t expect all that much from it, thinking it might just be a typical “angry Liam Neeson” action film. But wow is it more than that.

Ostensibly a “been there done that” narrative (survivors of a plane crash in the harsh environs of remote Alaska try to stay alive), The Grey adds impressive layers of depth to what might otherwise just be a serviceable action thriller.

Neeson leads a band of seven survivors when a plane full of oil drillers crashes in the wintry, impossible wilderness of Alaska. From there, the movie could essentially be called Man vs. Wild. Or, more appropriately: Man vs. Wolves. There are wolves everywhere, and they are territorial and hungry. They like killing humans. And, one by one, they savagely pick off the band of plane crash survivors, stalking them mercilessly with those big, bad, glow-in-the-dark eyes.

The only option for the men is to fight back. To become wolves themselves, savage as they have to be. But just when you think this movie is going down the well-worn, Jack London-esque path of “humans are just as base, savage and instinctual as animals!” it becomes clear that that’s not what this film is about at all. The “grey” is not about the blurry lines between man and beast. It’s about the mysterious no man’s land in between life and death. It’s about the spiritual space at the end of one’s life, as the light of life dims and mixes with the unseeable darkness of whatever lies beyond.

The Grey is a movie about death. But don’t worry, it’s not depressing. It’s about dying well, dying humanely. What separates humans from animals? Among other things: the way that we die. Sure, we are like animals in that we instinctively fight to the death. Like wolves, we do not go quietly into the good night. But unlike wolves, when we do go into that good night, we do so self-reflectively, mournfully, existentially. We reflect on our lives and contemplate our conclusion like a philosopher, holding the hands of our loved ones as we go.

The Grey is essentially one death scene after another, though not in the Final Destination sense. These are beautiful scenes. They don’t milk emotion gratuitously or take up more time than is necessary. But they pack a punch. Especially in the last 30 minutes of so, The Grey really hits you.

This is a poetic film. There is literal poetry in it, and it’s central. But it’s also poetic in the way that’s it’s shot, in the way that flashbacks are utilized (like in The Thin Red Line, women only really appear in flashbacks), in the way that manhood and masculinity are explored. It’s poetic in its honesty about fear, dread, bravado, faith.

God is a major character, albeit mostly as an absentee, unbelieved-in-but-raged-against force in the sky. He may not seem to have a place in a story about plane crashes, unholy blizzards and demonic wolves who tear apart humans, but make no mistake: The Grey has its mind on God, or at least His imprint on it. What gives humans the grace to die well? What is it really that separates us from animals and makes us, for example, willing to appreciate a handshake, a memory, and a mountain vista in our final moments of life? The image of God which we bear. It sets us apart. It is the light that gives reprieve from the “only the strong survive” darkness. It is the light which, in clashing with the dark, creates the grey.

The Cast and Filmmakers of "The Vow" Talk With Conversant Life!

Christopher Faris — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 15:01:42 -0800

When a Hollywood studio options the rights of a book to make into a movie, fans of said book get nervous. And rightly so – how many adaptations have we seen in the past where things go from grand and glorious, to botched and reworked?

So, when I had the chance to learn more about the film “The Vow” (due out this Friday), I learned that fans of couple Kim and Krickitt Carpenter, whose lives and book inspired the film, will be in for a potentially unpleasant surprise: Screenwriters Marc Silverstein and Abby Kohn have never read the book. They just got some ambiguous direction. “They (the studio) really said ‘a couple, they’re married, a crash, she doesn’t remember him.’” So naturally, we are in for rough waters, right?

But for “The Vow,” the filmmakers were intent on making a compelling narrative inspired by true events, not based on true events. Said Kohn, “I’d prefer that. It leaves us free to create whatever we think would make the most of that dramatic situation. Whatever characters we want to create, whatever past we want to have for them, we can invent. I think that left us free to create something that we felt best served that.” After all, there are some book adaptations that are so faithful that they lose sight of the possibilities given the medium of film.

Instead of utilizing the book as a go to framework for the script, Silverstein and Kohn played with a DVR of the human life while skipping through various stages of development. It creates an interesting idea and dilemma, partly because it can actually happen. Says Silverstein, “We were more interested in – if I looked at myself at 29, and I was transported to my 22 year old self…what would I be thinking? How would I function in this world with how different I was in those 2 time periods?” But what if you woke up and completely missed out on one of life’s biggest questions – Who you’ll be spending it with?

Director Michael Sucsy seemed to appreciate the degree of flexibility as a filmmaker. Coming off of an award winning machine with his directorial debut in the HBO film “Grey Gardens,” Sucsy had the chance to make the film more personalized, with multiple moments that Sucsy stated were either his own real life experience or allowing Channing Tatum to interject some of his interpretation of the character, whom Sucsy insists really is Leo. “He had some questions about Leo and the character arc and he was like, ‘I would take more action, I wouldn’t do this, he’s sort of too passive, I’d get really angry if this was happening.’” Sucsy allowed Tatum's interpretation to influence the film. This kind of flexibility is part of what helped Tatum join the project, after initially turning it down.

Sucsy is also quite aware that his film shares characteristics of modern romantic films, but was happy to be able to put his own spin on things. The characters journey’s, the stunning crash sequence, or his choice to record a soundtrack that was lighter on the stringed instruments to try and avoid manipulating his audience. “We had the budget for a 250 person orchestra. I think we only had 7 or 10 instruments.”

With so much distance from the real life couple, one would think they might be glad to distance themselves from the set. But the filmmakers and cast insist otherwise, talking about set visits from the Carpenter’s and their interactions with the filmmakers and cast. Of the Carpenter’s, Tatum stated they are “One of the most lovely couples I’ve ever come across.”

There seems to be an easygoing relationship between the true-life events and the desire for a good narrative fostered in a creative environment. Said Tatum, “Specifically, Michael didn’t push me to read the book because Leo was really different. I wanted to experience Leo in this situation anew. I didn’t want to have these experiences and these stories from the real couple that I could expect something and go into every scene being like, okay I’m not sure what she is going to do and I don’t know how to deal with this and deal with it in the best way I could.”

In addition to this kind of creative approach to the story, Tatum and co-star Rachel McAdams seemed to genuinely enjoy one others company on set – something well communicated in the films expression of the character’s relationship. In one scene, the two are tasked with eating a large box of chocolates. Leading up to the scene, McAdams seemed to take pleasure in egging Tatum on by frequently eating junk food in front of him while Tatum worked out to look good on camera. “We were looking so forward to that, we were running everyday, doing sit ups, but then she got so, so sick.” Says McAdams, “I felt like the kid who eats their whole advent calendar.” The fun the two seemed to have on set comes through on screen.

But with so much flexibility and distance from the Carpenter’s book and life experience, a freshly created story, and the chemistry fought for by the films leads, is “The Vow” any good? You’ll have to check back on Friday for the full review!

In the meantime, check out the trailer.

The Vision of Literary Apologetics

Holly Ordway — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:00:03 -0800

Why is apologetics, the defense of the Christian faith, important?

In one sense, Christianity needs no defense. God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, does not depend for His existence on our belief. However, many people who do not know the living God are separated from Him in part by intellectual obstacles. Removing those obstacles by showing that Christianity indeed makes sense on a rational level is an act of love and care for our neighbor. Defending the faith also builds up a strong foundation for believers. A securely built house has a solid, well-built foundation, so that the vagaries of wind and weather don’t damage it or cause distress to the inhabitants. It’s natural to have questions and doubts - think of the disciples, asking Jesus “increase our faith!” or the man who cries out “Lord, I believe: help my unbelief!” Apologetics helps strengthen the foundations by providing answers to questions and doubts, so that the Christian can grow stronger in his or her faith.

What about “literary apologetics”?

Literary apologetics is that mode of apologetics that functions through the use of the Imagination in stories, poetry, drama, and song. Imagination is a mode of knowing; it is the twin sister of Reason. Imagination that is not grounded in Reason can become what JRR Tolkien called “morbid fantasy,” unhealthy and unhelpful; conversely, Reason that is not supported by Imagination can become sterile, rigid, and unfruitful. Literature is particularly well suited to bring these two often-separated sisters together, so that Reason and Imagination can illuminate the path to truth.

Stories, poetry, and drama can help us to both comprehend the truth (with our intellect) and apprehend it (imaginatively and emotionally). As with rational argument, literature cannot in itself bring a person to know Christ, but it can open doors, challenge assumptions, and most importantly provide a glimpse of experienced truth. Stories invite readers to indeed “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8).

Literature can best fulfill this role when the author is committed both to expressing the truth and to creating a good story. The best literary apologists - CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien, GK Chesterton, Dorothy Sayers, and others, just to name those of the past century - did not set out to wrap a moral in a story, or explicitly to promote Christianity through their fiction writing. Rather, they believed fully and deeply, and sought to glorify God in all that they did - and so their stories show the truth, in deep and satisfying ways.

Today, we need a new generation of Christian writers who will do what those great writers did. We need well-informed, thinking Christians, who know their Scripture and theology, are committed to living out the Christian life in word and deed, and show forth that living truth in their work.

We need writers who will immerse themselves in the best writing of centuries past and learn from it, and be able to draw on that rich treasury of imagery to do new things.

We need writers who are willing and eager to view writing as a God-given calling, and to joyfully pursue the craft and art of it with dedication and hard work.

Fortunately, we do not have to start from scratch! We have the works of Lewis, Tolkien, Chesterton, MacDonald, and others to study and learn from. Going further back, we have an absolute treasure chest of writers: Coleridge, Donne, Herbert, Hopkins, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Spenser, Dante, to name just a few.

We are not limited to the great writers of the past, however. We have people who even now are taking up the challenge of writing to draw people through the imagination to know Christ. In England, the poet and scholar Malcolm Guite (www.malcolmguite.com) is doing marvelous work with poetry. In my own blog, Hieropraxis (www.hieropraxis.com), I am attempting to cultivate an appreciation for literature and literary apologetics, as well as writing my own poetry.

To be an effective literary apologist means a commitment to the craft of writing, so that the great and glorious truth of our faith is presented to the world in the most beautiful, powerful, gripping, and transformative ways possible. It also means a commitment to community. Just as Lewis and Tolkien were part of the Inklings, commenting and critiquing each others’ work, so too the writers of today need the kind of community where “iron sharpens iron.”

One of the challenges of Christian writers is to find that kind of community - so part of the project of literary apologetics is to help provide the kind of context where new writers can grow. That’s why I’m delighted to be part of a new project as the Program Director of the Literary Apologetics Certificate Program from Athanatos Christian Ministry. I’ve been involved with ACM for several years as a conference speaker and sponsor of their writing contests: they are on the front lines of training writers and encouraging the reading of great works of Christian literature. This online program combines classes in theology and Scripture with specifically writing-related courses to help Christian writers share the good news of God in Christ in ways that are artistically powerful and effective, engaging readers through the work of the Imagination. (Classes start in February, and I will be teaching a class in “Wordsmithing” as well as co-teaching “Principles of Literary Apologetics.”)

I think we’re at the beginning of great things for literature in the service of God. My friends, let’s go further up and further in!

The Artist

Christopher Faris — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 19:54:34 -0800

Let’s face it: movies have been pretty underwhelming this year. There has been an explosion of comic book movies adapted from nearly every angle – from dark and gritty, to lighthearted action. There have been silly dramas, requisite attempts at an Oscar grab, and a couple of underwhelming features from the giants of filmmaking (“War Horse” and “Hugo” while good, were far from as great as they could have been).

Enter “The Artist.” It’s the film people are talking about with overwhelming praise, as well as a few angry detractors (which I suspect will only grow as the film gains more and more momentum). My expectations were high going in after seeing the trailer, which floored me in communicating its emotion and charm. Added to that is the amount of critical praise the film has received so far, making me excited for what appeared to be a breath of fresh air in the theater. For the most part, “The Artists” delivers.

“The Artist” is a silent film that tells the story of one movie star who falls from riches to rags, while a young starlet embraces stardom on the rise to fame. “The Artist” utilizes its adherence to the silent film genre with devotion and care, but there are some slight variations on the theme for surrealist effect. No lines of spoken dialogue drive the narrative forward, and at times characters mouths will move and we have no idea what they are saying because the title cards are absent. While this devotion is exciting, one element of it was aesthetically lacking. While the picture was stylized to its era, (even featuring a 4:3 aspect ratio instead of widescreen) the score sounded as that it were recorded on modern equipment. A more “lo-fi” approach to the score may have been a neat option in sucking us into the world of late 20’s filmmaking.

The story is plain and simple enough, but “The Artist” strength is the means of in its telling. The film unfolds in sequence after dazzling sequence framed beautifully on camera with intent and precision. Each moment of the film features something interesting visually or sonically to the point where it feels like a group of brilliantly conceived short films melted into a perfectly coherent story. Whether it’s a flat shot of a group of stairs, a dance, a dog’s movements, or many other beautiful moments, “The Artist” is always interesting to look at and frequently beautiful to listen to.

Acting wise, Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo head a cast with some surprisingly familiar faces. But of all the faces, it is Dujardin’s whose expressiveness which comes out in every wink, smile, and nod. His face is never at fault if you don’t know what’s happening. No less charming is Bejo, whose dance moves and winks accompany the empathic moods which grow deeper as the film progresses. In addition, John Goodman is a great choice as the film studio head, and other familiar faces appear. Most unfortunate of these choices is James Cromwell, an actor so closely associated with his famous role in “L.A. Confidential” that his lowly servant role here is a bit hard to swallow. And I'm not sure where to mention this other than here, but the dog in the movie is freaking awesome.

Michael Hazanavicius is to be credited for the huge vision that comes to life on screen and for his command of talent. But as much as I loved the movie, it wasn’t quite the earth shattering experience I had expected. There are a couple of artistic choices that I don’t think paid off very well, which are experienced in the end. Saying more would be to spoil it. In addition, one has to wonder if the film is so widely celebrated thanks to its style as a silent film that its deeper themes will be largely lost. Will we see this on an Oscar reel years from now and remember it as a great film, or remember it as an affectionate homage to its nostalgic roots that managed to hoodwink its audience because people don’t talk in the movie?

For the time being, the heart wrenching theme that plagues us all – out with the old, in with the new – is one every artist can cling to. While at one time we may have been on the cutting edge of what is cool with music, art, film (or whatever), those coming after us might stare in confusion as to why we are drawn to that “old school” band or hipster lingo that is no longer relevant. And relevance is painful – when we feel it, it means inclusion. When we lose it, it means we are on the outside. Dealing with change and holding onto systems of the past is a constant question every human must be flexible to in order to survive and adapt to the system of how things work in the world. Seeing oneself at the center of progress, only to be moved to its frayed edges looking in at the new star in the spotlight in whatever field or medium is a heartbreaking reminder of what was. It’s brilliant then that “The Artist” can look on the silent era, returning it again to its place in front of the crowd.

Home Cinema Sick Days

Christopher Faris — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 23:45:56 -0800

I love being that kind of sick where I’m just under the weather enough that I need to stay home and rest, but have enough coherency that I am not tied to the bathroom and miserable. It allows me to watch my Netflix backlog, and catch up on guilty pleasures. I am emerging from my living room cave with comments on a few flicks for your perusal...What have you seen lately that you would recommend to watch or avoid?

Cowboys and Aliens:

A movie without a center of gravity on which to stand: Both too derivative to be a great sci-fi flick, and too stupid to be taken seriously as a hard boiled western. The trailer made it look and feel tongue in cheek, and every write up ahead of time made it look like a fun time at the movies. In addition, the film is stocked with talent: Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard produced it, Jon Favreau is a great action director, Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford are more than capable, etc. Hey, the creature design is even really cool. But when any film is credited as having 7 people creating the story (5 of whom are the screenwriters), you know there are going to be some bumps in the road

Terrible dialogue, frequent wooden acting, and clichéd characters stock the movie. The worst offender though is the story itself and the films creator’s insistence on it being taken as seriously as a Sergio Leone movie. Confusing changes in tone and other regular consistency issues in the story leave me scratching my head at what could have been a fun movie. As is, it’s so mediocre to poor that it’s the worst kind of bad – it can’t be so bad it’s good or as good as its loony premise suggests. It just tries hard and succeeds at very little. The most disappointing film of the year.

The Hoax:

This little film from 2006 is certainly one to put on your Netflix queue (providing you haven’t dropped the service yet). Richard Gere and Alfred Molina star as two writers who concoct a hoax to write an autobiography of Howard Hughes. As one lie leads to another, things get awfully twisted and complicated in a matter of minutes that have big effects on the characters and everyone in their lives. I’ve never cared much for Richard Gere, but here he is irreplaceable. Slimy, yet charismatic, you kind of want his plan to work even though you see the holes in its plausibility.

Molina is great as well, but it’s the “based on a true story” elements of the film that left me hanging on to what felt like a slightly long movie. Lots of curiosity about what really happened and what didn’t are made all the muddier by the Gere’s characters real life inability to be trusted. Frequently funny, well written, and notably brought to life by its stars, “The Hoax” is a film well worth checking out.

Buried:

Ryan Reynolds, gagged and sweaty in a coffin for 90 minutes. While for some I just described their fantasy (for better and for worse), the rest of us should know whether or not it makes for a good film. The answer is absolutely “yes.” The film throws just enough curve balls to keep you guessing right up to its conclusion, which I won’t spoil here. I’m most curious about repeat viewings – it could be boring as once the film’s conclusion is known, the tension may evaporate (So don’t read about it in advance).

Technically, the film is also brilliant. Several of the shots (of which no CG is added) are so well done featuring 360 crane shots that leave the coffin still enclosed, and frequently effective lighting show us just what we need to see. Ryan Reynolds is fantastic, toning down his charismatic funny guy persona while playing things straight to perfect effect. Last, the film is most effective for playing on our fears of being in Reynolds place and doing everything he can to survive as an everyman – he isn’t a martial arts or survival expert, just a guy trying to take care of his family. It’s relatable which makes the film that much more interesting. Some plot holes and a cynical worldview prevent a whole hearted recommendation, save for Hitchcock lovers and suspense junkies.

Takers:

Looks and feels a lot like a Tony Scott film with a color palette that is oversaturated and fast camera movements to boot. Also like recent Tony Scott films, the characters are 2 dimensional and simple minded. The film also has every cliché imaginable – expect double crosses, “one last job” plot points, and one scene where the sexy man stars walk away from an explosion without looking back. It’s derivative and mindless, with an over dependence on slow motion and a barrage of musical accompaniment.

In addition, the film feels like it is acted and played by male models. While that’s exciting for some, for the rest of us it leaves us watching tailored suits and Gucci ads when we don’t care. Terrible subplots are littered throughout the film and everyone talks like they just got off of the set of a stereotypical rap video from the mid 2000’s. To its credit, there is a fantastic chase sequence where Chris Brown goes from rapper to parkour expert with unbreakable bones (by the way – he sucks at acting). Additionally, a slow mo shootout and street explosion sequence made for some great set pieces. Still, none of that can save the films general derivativeness, and desire to watch far better heist flicks out there like “The Town” or any of Jean Pierre Melville’s heist films.

Burn After Reading:

The Coen Brothers ode to stupid people is better with every repeat viewing. This one was viewing number 3 or 4 for me, and it was funnier than the previous viewings. John Malkovich’s use of colorful language (of which the film features aplenty) is also unabashedly hilarious, especially in the opening scene. Brad Pitt’s character is also consistently hysterical. It won’t convert the non-Coen film lovers out there, but for people like me, it’s an easy vote for a great sick day flick.

Red:

This is what it looks like when actors are having fun. Great chemistry from the leads with lots of heart. One liners abound with a surprising amount of violent shootouts. Bruce Willis is charismatic in the lead, but it’s John Malkovich who steals the show. Shootouts are well staged, including a hilarious scene early in the movie that leaves a house with way too many bullet holes. Mindless without being too stupid, fun and full of action, “Red” won’t change the face of cinema but it will likely be remembered as at least being entertaining.

Best Books I Read in 2011

Brett McCracken — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:28:56 -0800

My 2011 recaps ends here, with my list of the best books I read in 2011. I read 42 books, of vast variety–some old, some new, some fiction, mostly nonfiction–many of which were in some way research for the book I am currently writing. About half were for no other purpose than pleasure. Here are my picks for the ones that stood out the most:

10) Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? by C. John Collins: A very thought provoking, biblically informed and fair assessment of a timely and important question. See also this Christianity Today story on the topic of the historical Adam.

9) Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer: For some reason the movie version looks terrible to me, but I enjoyed the book, which is lively, creative, unexpected and, in the end, a requisite bit of post-9/11 American literature.

8) Earthen Vessels by Matthew Lee Anderson: Anderson’s first book is a comprehensive but accessible theology of the body, covering plenty of controversial ground (tattoos, homosexuality, etc.) but doing so with impressive eloquence and erudite insights. The book is a welcome contribution to a very neglected but vital topic for evangelicals.

7) Walking in the Spirit by Ken Berding: Berding’s book is a quick read and offers a practical, biblical, wise guide to life in the Holy Spirit, as outlined in Romans 8. Filled with real-life examples and engaging personal stories, Spirit recalibrates our understanding of the ministry of the Holy Spirit, providing an invaluable corrective to many of us who have either ignored, forgotten, or misunderstood the role of the Spirit in the Christian life.

6) A Meal With Jesus by Tim Chester: As a lover of Jesus and a lover of food, I was in heaven reading this book, which combines the two. Chester sketches a sort of theology of eating (missionally, with hospitality, etc.) by taking us through the biblical instances of eating–particularly the many “eating scenes” of Jesus in the Gospels. A delightful read.

5) Last Call by Daniel Okrent: Between Ken Burns’ documentary Prohibition, Boardwalk Empire, and the speakeasy bar craze, it seems Prohibition is en vogue right now. Okrent’s book is a fascinating history of it, full of all sorts of great details about how the Volstead Act came to pass, what life was like during Prohibition, and what led to its demise. A must read for anyone curious about American history during the Prohibition years.

4) On Evil by Terry Eagleton: Aside from the occasional cable news talking head who refer to terrorists or serial killers as such, “evil” is not a word you hear much anymore. That’s why Eagleton’s treatise on the subject–a witty, sharp, characteristically well written argument that yes, evil exists–is so surprising and refreshing. Eagleton is not a Christian apologist (he’s a Marxist literary critic, albeit with a penchant for calling B.S. on people like Richard Dawkins), but his book on evil would be a helpful addition to any theologian’s library.

3) King’s Cross by Tim Keller: Keller is as reliable as they come. He’s a rock-solid biblical expositor, pastor, writer, and all around exemplary Christian, and his latest–King’s Cross–is a wonderful read. Refreshingly straightforward–essentially a chapter-by-chapter exposition of the Gospel of Mark–Cross is a biography of Jesus Christ that brings the story to life in a way that is relevant and powerful without feeling opportunistic or agenda-driven.

2) Columbine by Dave Cullen: The most haunting and intense book I read this year. A true page-turner, Cullen’s book is the definitive account of the 1999 Columbine High School massacre. Massively detailed–part psychological portrait of the killers, part harrowing account of the massacre itself as compiled from a decade’s worth of research and interviews–Columbine is a modern day In Cold Blood. It dispels many myths (the Trench Coat Mafia, Cassie “She Said Yes” Bernall’s martyrdom, etc.) and in 400 pages offers more detail about the killers and victims than any of us every picked up through the media coverage. For anyone who remembers watching the Columbine massacre unfold live on T.V. that horrible day (as I do–I was a sophomore in high school), this book is essential reading.

1) Simply Jesus by N.T. Wright: Subtitled “A New Vision of Who He Was, What He Did, and Why He Matters,” N.T. Wright’s latest (his 2nd or 3rd book to come out in 2011, I can’t keep track) is a wonderfully concise, popular-level summary of his 1996 magnum opus, Jesus and the Victory of God. As he typically does, Wright tells the story of Jesus in a way that makes it seem fresh and thrilling, even for someone who’s been a Jesus follower their whole life. Wright is the rare academic star who is also a wonderful writer–accessible, witty, to-the-point, full of apt metaphors and imagery (his “storm” motif in this book is especially memorable). His books are incredibly meaty and rich, but not intimidating, full of historical insights and big-picture context. Simply Jesus is a grandiose, inspiring, fascinating book about Jesus that I’d eagerly lend to even my most skeptical of unbelieving friends.

Honorable Mention: For Calvinism by Michael Horton, The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk, Art For God’s Sake by Philip Ryken, Everyday Theology edited by Kevin Vanhoozer, Rabbit Run by John Updike

Best Films of 2011

Brett McCracken — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 08:28:31 -0800

Perhaps I’m biased (see my #1 pick and the entire month of May in my blog archive), but 2011 was a banner year for cinema. The Tree of Life is one thing, but there was a lot more going on this year to make a cinephile like me excited. There was a lot of artful doomsday (Melancholia, Take Shelter, Tree of Life, Another Earth), some great homages to early, classic and Spielbergian cinema (Hugo, The Artist, War Horse, Super 8), and some truly exceptional films about faith (Of Gods and Men, Higher Ground, The Way, The Mill & the Cross, Tree of Life). There was so much good cinema that my “best of” list actually includes three different top tens: the best 10, the second best 10, and then 10 honorable mentions. Many of them are available now on Netflix Instant, while a few of them have yet to release in most parts of the country. However you can, I hope you get a chance to see them!

10) Martha, Marcy, May, Marlene (T. Sean Durkin): An astonishing, accomplished debut from director T. Sean Durkin, Martha gives the audience more respect than any other film this year. There are a lot of gaps we, the audience, must fill in. But far from a head-scratching frustration, this subtle insinuation and refusal to spoon-feed is one the film’s most thrilling qualities.

9) We Need to Talk About Kevin (Lynne Ramsay): By far the scariest film of the year. Not jump-in-your-seat type scary, but horribly unsettling dread and tension scary. Tilda Swinton plays a mother in a worst-nightmare-for-any-parent scenario, as she deals with an evil teenage son, Kevin, who commits a massacre at his high school. But the scariest parts of the film are the things we don’t see and the questions that go unanswered: where does the evil of a kid like Kevin come from? What do parents do wrong to lead to this?

8) Meek’s Cutoff (Kelly Reichardt): One of the most original and haunting westerns I’ve ever seen. Kelly Reichardt’s minimalist, observational style (see Old Joy and Wendy & Lucy) is perfectly suited to this period costume drama set in the 1840s on the Oregon Trail. And Michelle Williams is mesmerizing as the centerpiece heroine. Like Martha, Marcy, May, Marlene, this film is intentionally ambiguous and invites the interpretations of an active audience, which is something I always applaud.

7) Take Shelter (Jeff Nichols): A jittery, tense, unsettled film for the unsettled world in which we live, Take Shelter is about the fears and anxieties of a modern-day working class man who simply wants to protect his wife and daughter from all manner of peril. Featuring stunning performances by Michael Shannon as a good-at-heart man (possibly) losing his mind and Jessica Chastain as his longsuffering wife, Shelter builds and builds to a finale that will leave you speechless.

6) The Artist (Michel Hazanavicius): One would have reason to approach this film skeptically. A silent film? Really? But what at first glance appears to just be a stunt or gimmick is quickly found to be something remarkably beautiful, charming, nostalgic and yet new. It’s an homage to Hollywood, to storytelling within the bounds of technological limitations; but it’s also about pride, love, adaptation, and the fickleness of fame. Go see it. You won’t find a more pleasant surprise at the movies this year.

5) Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami): Certified Copy is essentially Before Sunset in Italy, which is good because Sunset is one of my all time favorite films. Filmed in glorious Tuscany, featuring the sublime Juliette Binoche, and riffing on notions of originality, inspiration, and cinema itself, Copy is a wonderfully complex modernist experiment in the style of Alain Resnais, and yet it flows breezily and romantically, never too pushy with its philosophical or theoretical notions. Academics should watch this film and take note: academic inquiry doesn’t have to be convoluted, dry and inert. It can be as simple and beautiful as walking and talking in lovely Italian sunlight.

4) Poetry (Lee Chang-dong): It’s a tragedy that only about 30 people saw this masterpiece when it opened in theaters early in 2011. From the masterful Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong (Secret Sunshine), Poetry is a film befitting its title if ever a film was. It’s about poetry literally, in that the protagonist–an elderly woman in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease (Jeong-hie Yun)–is taking poetry classes; but the film itself is poetry: a delicate, quietly observant film that is unsentimental and yet profoundly moving, especially after it’s sat with you for a bit.

3) Of Gods and Men (Xavier Beauvois): A true story about monks in North Africa who risk it all in pursuit of their mission, Gods is one of the most inspiring films about faith, sacrifice, and community that I’ve ever seen. A quiet, austere, but utterly transcendent film, Gods paints a picture of what it means to be faithfully present as Christ’s ambassadors in a world that is beautiful, dynamic, and frequently hostile. At once entirely timely (it deals with terrorism and Christian-Muslim relations) and timeless, Gods is a film I’ll come back to in years to come–for inspiration, encouragement, and instruction for my own journey of faith.

2) Melancholia (Lars von Trier): Though often, and rightly, contrasted with Tree of Life (both films juxtapose the cosmic and intimate, and depict earth’s demise), Melancholia stands on its own two feet as one of the year’s most masterful films. More than just the antithesis of Tree of Life, Lars von Trier’s gorgeous apocalyptic vision contains some of the most striking imagery and sequences you’ll see this year. It may be bleak, nihilistic, and (insert depressing synonym here), but Melancholia is above all authentic. It’s Lars von Trier speaking his auteurist mind and bombarding us with sound (Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde), image (a planet colliding with earth, Kirsten Dunst unhappy in a wedding dress), and mood (sadness, dread) to astonishingly powerful effect.

1) The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick): What can I say about this film that I haven’t already said? It met and exceeded all my expectations and instantly took a place on my list of all time favorites. Critics are right to be universally heralding this as the best film of 2011. It’s one of the best films of all time. It’s a film with the kind of scope, ambition and excellence that we just don’t see anymore. It’s a film that goes after big questions (the biggest) and attempts to be all-encompassing (God, life, death, sin, redemption, creation, apocalypse, everything else in between), but does so as much or more through the inherent strengths of the cinematic form as through traditional narrative exposition. It’s a film that shows us the world in a grain of sand, so to speak. It blows open the possibilities of the medium, or rather–at times–perfects the medium to such an extent that it looks foreign to us, like something altogether new. Malick achieves something with Life that can rarely be claimed by a filmmaker or artist of any kind: He’s given us something that we’ve truly never seen before, and yet something that will undoubtedly endure.

The Next Ten: 11) Hugo 12) Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives 13) Midnight in Paris 14) The Way 15) The Descendants 16) Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy 17) The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo 18) Bellflower 19) Another Earth 20) Warrior

Honorable Mention: Coriolanus, The Mill and the Cross, Contagion, Moneyball, The Trip, Hanna, Drive, War Horse, Higher Ground, Margin Call

Best Reads of 2011

Carrie Nye — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 19:58:43 -0800

I read some great books this year. Here are the books that made my year-end review of bests.

The Help: Wow! What a great story this was to read. This book was an entertaining page-turner. Set in the south during the 1960’s The Help captures the voice and perspective of the white women who employ black women as the help and the black women who work for them. The Help captured some of the realities of that time and managed to bring out some humor in doing so. Check out the movie too if you haven't seen it yet.

Unbroken: Looking for an adventure story? Unbroken is your book. Unbroken is the true story of Olympian, WWII veteran and POW survivor, husband and father and broken spirit who found God at a Billy Graham crusade Louie Zamperini. Zamperini’s life is something out of a movie. In fact, I believe a movie is in the works. Zamperini’s story is one of resilience in the face of great danger and intense threats upon his life whether by a plane crash over the Pacific, stranded at sea for over a month, shark attacks and capture by the Japanese. Throughout the story it is unmistakable that God holds Zamperini’s life in the palm of his hand.

The Dangerous Act of Worship: Mark Labberton, pastor and author writes about justice as worship to God. Labberton believes the American church by in large is taking a nap. He says, “Waking up is the dangerous act of worship. It’s dangerous because worship is meant to produce lives fully attentive to reality as God sees it, and that’s more than most of us want to deal with.” Elsewhere he says, “God intends that from true worship will flow lives that are the evidence of his just and righteous character in the world.” I’ll be reading The Dangerous Act of Worship again. For anyone seeking to understand what it means to live lives of justice and lives that reflect the character of God, this book is a great help to what we find in the Bible on justice and worship.

Mark of the Lion trilogy: Okay so I’m a little late in the game. While this trilogy has been around for quite some time, I finally got around to reading the three books in 2011. I loved these books. Set in the first century when the Romanian Empire was in full force, the story follows very realistic characters, namely Hadassah, a young girl who looses her Christian family at a time when Christian persecution was extremely high. She ends up serving a Roman family as a slave and her faith is tried time after time as she lives out her new lot alone among a family of idol and pagan worshipers. Hadassah exemplifyes what it means to take up your cross and follow Jesus. The Mark of the Lion books are full of adventure, suspense, drama, passion, love, sorrow and what it means to truly follow Christ.

I am currently reading Half the Sky by New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof and his wife Sheryl WuDunn. The subtitle of the book says it all: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. The book is comprised of stories of girls and women who Kristof and his wife have met along their travels as journalists. They tell the stories of these girls so that the voices of the oppressed are heard. Not only are their stories told, Kristoff and WuDunn then go on to share about who and what has led these girls and woman to transform their lives out of oppression and into opportunity for themselves, their families and their communities. The reason for the transformation in the majority of cases is education, namely the education of women. The Skirball Center, a Jewish cultural museum in Los Angeles is currently hosting an exhibit on Half the Sky now through May 2012.

That's it for me this year. What were some of your favorite books of 2011?

You were Made for Chistmas - Thanks Mr. Mumford for the Reminder

Christian Buckley — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 21:19:31 -0800

You were MADE to meet your maker

If you know me then you know that my wife is way cooler than me. No question. One such area of cooler-ness is that she seems to find new and interesting music all the time. This is especially depressing for me because I have been a musician, in one form or another, for the better part of 20 years. Depressing I say - but on with the point.

One such discovered band (update - now super popular and super Grammy nominated) is Mumford and Sons and they have a song Awake my Soul that I love with the following lines:

In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die
Where you invest your love, you invest your life

Awake my soul, awake my soul
Awake my soul
You were made to meet your maker
You were made to meet your maker

Normally the phrase “meeting your maker” is used around the idea of death and the fact that we all get the chance to meet our maker - like it or not – when we close our eyes that last time. You meet your maker when life runs out – or rather into Him.

But when you put the phrase “you were made” on the front of it, it takes on new meaning for me. Instead of an inescapable inevitability of doom meeting our maker becomes the purposeful point of our existence – it has been knitted into the fabric of our being.

God didn’t just make us to live and die, love and hurt, grow and fail, skin our knees and watch the clouds. He didn’t just make us to be sons and fathers, husbands and wives, dog owners and cat haters.

We were made to meet our maker. We were made with the purpose of, and potential to, meet our maker and in one very tangible way we get the chance to meet Him in a cold crowded barn beneath a bright and shining star. We get to meet Him at His most vulnerable. We get to meet him as a baby. We were made to meet Him there.

We were made to meet our maker this Christmas season. Will we?