MOVIE REVIEW - "LINCOLN"

 

This is the 13th Steven Spielberg movie I've seen. True, most of the ones I saw were the typical summer blockbusters with this and "Schindler's List" being the only Oscar season historical films I've seen. But I find it one of the most unique and unforgetable. 

First, I left feeling like I just had a history lesson. In High School history, the 13th through 15th amendments were covered basically in a paragraph, leaving me to think these passed post-Civil War. In watching this movie, I realized that it passed Congress as the Civil War was ending, before the Southern states were able to block it. The movie made it clear that Lincoln was trying to end two things (slavery and the War) at the same time without sabotaging the other. 

Second, while there were plenty of characters that could be labeled antagonists, there wasn't anyone who would be designated as a villain, in my opinion. 

Daniel Day-Lewis deservedly won an Oscar, but he had a cast of peers to work with including Sally Fields and Tommy Lee Jones, both of which earned at the least the Oscar nominations they received.

Again, not a typical Spielberg movie. But one I feel better off having watched.

MOVIE REVIEW - DISNEY'S "THE GREAT MOUSE DETECTIVE"

 

It was 1986, and the summer saw not one Disney cartoon, but two. The latter was the famous (or infamous, depending on your view of it) "The Black Cauldron," the first animated non-musical with a tone quite different than what comes out of the house of the Mouse. 

Squeaking... or speaking of mice, the first of the pair was "The Great Mouse Detective," based on the Basil of Baker Street series written by Eve Titus (books 1-5, published from l58-'82). A little over three decades after the movie came out, Catherine Hapka revived the series with new stories between 2018 and 2020. No, I haven't read any of them... yet.

However, I finally watched one of the Disney movies that fascinated me the most. Two reasons. First was the mystery angle. The other was to hear Vincent Price's voice bring life to Professor Ratigan.

Does this movie reach the ranks of Disney classics like "Snow White," "Bambi, "Peter Pan," or "The Jungle Book?" No. However, I found it enjoyable. I enjoyed seeing the character development in Basil. And Price definitely sounded like he was enjoying that role. (By the way, for side trivia,  the actor associated with Holmes and Vincent Price played in at least two movies together: 1940's "The Tower of London" where Basil Rathbone had the lead, and "Comedy of Terrors" in which Price starred with Peter Lorre as his henchman - Boris Karloff also was in both movies.)

I would recommend this movie.

AN EVENING HANGING OUT WITH PETER IN NEVERLAND - MOVIE REVIEWS OF DISNEY'S "PETER PAN" AND SPIELBERG'S "HOOK"

 You may have remembered that last year I spend a few hours, watching both Disney's '51 animated and '10 live action films titled "Alice In Wonderland." Well, this year I decided to watch Disney's "Peter Pan" ('53) and "Hook" ('91).

There is a noticeable difference between my Alice binge last year and the Peter Pan double feature: As I mentioned, both Alices were Disney pictures. "Hook" isn't a Disney movie. In fact, one thing that I noticed was there was an allusion to Tinkerbell drinking poison to save Peter's life, as in the original story and plays, as opposed to her rescuing Peter from a bomb in the Disney version.

When I was young, I loved Peter Pan. It was onc of the Disney albums telling the story with a short illustrated version that I had - probably my second favorite (Jungle Book taking first place). However, it wasn't until seeing this movie again that I realized  that Peter was a womanizing flirt, mad when jealous Tinkerbell tried to have Wendy killed, laughing when jealous bikini-clad mermaids tried to drown Wendy, and having Tiger Lilly dance for him.

While I didn't catch this when I was 10, I did pick up on the racial slurs towards Indians (would characters in an English story that takes place in a fantasy world accurately be called Native Americans?). Even as a kid, I cringed wht the "What Made The Red Man Red." This was the first exposure I had to racial prejudice.

I am surprised at my typing this review, but "Hook" is more of a family film than the Disney classic. I will say it had a slower start before the film picked up. But Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, Julia Roberts, and Bob Hoskins (playing Peter, Captain Hook, Tinkerbell, and Mr. Smee respectively) did a great job in making this entertaining. 

Before I forget, I'll mention that my first introduction to Peter Pan was on the Disneyland dark ride (as was the case with Alice in Wonderland). This was the original version, where Peter was no where on the ride except for his shadow (the idea is for the rider to view themselves as Peter; same was true with the Alice, Mr. Toad, and Snow White rides).

MOVIE REVIEW - CITIZEN KANE

 

I first learned of "Citizen Kane" in a high school class, "American Humor and the Aescetics of Film." Since then, I started watching it three different times, and probably never got a fourth of the way through it.

You've probably heard it referred to as the greatest film made. After watching it, I won't argue. Director/star Orson Welles did an excellent job with directing, using atypical film angles and good music. One other stroke of genius was having a cast of unknowns. 

I've hear someone say that a lot of people admire the movie but not many actually like it. I can agree with that sentiment. To me, this movie is a tragedy, and reminds me of Lawrence Olivier's "Hamlet." 

Sometimes, seeing an older film/actor reminds me of a more contemporary thespian. This was true here - I could picture Robert Downey Jr. pulling the role off. There are parallels between Kane and Tony Stark.

While not a movie I'll probably rewatch, I think the movie is an excellent telling of "What does it profit if a man gains the whole world but forfeits his soul?" One of the character said that he was Kane's only friend, or maybe not, which meant Kane had no friends. One of Kane's weaknesses was self-love.

If you want to see a great work of art, see this. It is worth watching. 

MOVIE REVIEW - THE 7 CHURCHES OF REVELATION: TIMES OF FIRE

 

 

A friend told me about this video as I was preparing a study on the 7 churches of Revelation. I definitely included this film in.

"The 7 Churches of Revelation: Times of Fire" does an excellent job in dealing with Patmos, Ephesus, Smyrna, and Pergamos. Christophe Hanauer does an excellent job going through these communities as well as interviewing several scholars. This documentary not only looks at the Biblical text, but the history of those communities both before and after.

You may notice that I only listed the first three churches and the isle of John's exile. That's right. If you want to look at the remaining four churches, you'll need to get volume 2, "The 7 Churches of Revelation: Times of Deception." I'll admit, I feel gypped, because "Times of Fire" did not mention it the first volume. 

This does not change that this is a great video to watch. It does an excellent job of pointing out the persecution of the church, and makes the point that things haven't changed. 

I highly recommend this video. You can go to their website, https://7churches.com, if you want more information on both films. I'm surprised it's not available on Amazon.

By the way, I'm posting this the night I'm starting to lead a study on Revelation.

MOVIE REVIEW: SAVING CHRISTMAS BY KIRK CAMERON

 

There is debate among Christians whether to celebrate Christmas (and Easter) and if so, which elements should be kept and which discarded. This movie attempts to defend many of the current trappings of Christmas as part of celebrating Christ's birth. Unfortunately, it could have been done better. It ignored several arguments by those who consider Christmas a pagan holiday, as well as being comfortable with our materialistic society.

Additionally, this video seemed to be made with a goal of how long it should be and left me feeling that scenes were longer than they needed to be to reach the target.

Kirk Cameron starts the video with some thoughts, including the importance of stories and how we often don't have real bad guys and tamer heroes. To be honest, I found it ironic because the story told is a Christmas Carol Lite. You have Christian as the nicer Scrooge who instead of being a miser is one who thinks money spent on Christmas can help the poor instead. Instead of three ghosts, you have three points of holiday tradition, where Christian learns something new.

I have my doubts the anti-Christmas Christians will buy the arguments. They probably will be glad to tell you their concerns which this film overlooked. Becky and I were both highly disappointed with it. It is rare I give a project less than 5 (out of 5) stars; this I gave a 3 star review to.

To be honest, I think I could do a better job, and will attempt to in a blog next week.