Just finished watching Gran Torino – moving and thoughtful and funny as well. I know… I’m a bit behind on my movie watching (as well as my blogging). If you haven’t seen it, Clint Eastwood directs, produces and also plays “Walt”, a recent widower living in a Michigan suburb now populated by poor Asian immigrants [...]
Archive for the ‘Movies’ Category
Clint Eastwood as Jesus
Posted: October 31, 2009 in Christus Victor, Movies, Redemption, Sin, The CrossTags: Christus Victor, Clint Eastwood, Jesus Christ, Redemption, The Cross, the last castle
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Francis Ford Coppola – Culture Cannot Save You
Posted: August 15, 2009 in Culture, Movies, RedemptionIn today’s Globe and Mail there was a review article of Francis Ford Coppola, winner of 5 Oscars and Director of classic movies such as The Godfather and Apocalypse Now. In referred to Copploa’s new movie “Tetro” Michael Posner says the following… (Coppola is) also interested in the gap that separates artistic and intellectual achievement from [...]
Movies, Church and the Yearning for Shared Experience
Posted: July 30, 2009 in Church, MoviesTags: Church, church in the 21st century, cinema and church, Movies
I’m currently in New Zealand – hence, one of the reasons for my lack of posts. The weekend before we left Canada Ruth and I (plus our two daughters) “attended” two fairly popular “cultural” events which made me think about the latent need for communal ritual and connection which still resides within our post-Christian culture. [...]
The Importance of Benediction at the Movies
Posted: July 17, 2009 in Movies, WorshipTags: Aaway We Go, Alexi Murdoch, Benediction, My salvation is in your love, Orange Sky, Prodigal Son, the embrace of the Father
A few years ago I heard a talk by Ron Reed, Artistic Director of Pacific Theatre, on how movies can feed our souls. And one of the thing I remember his saying was that staying for the credits was like staying for the benediction at the end of a worship service. For many people today going [...]
Away We Go
Posted: July 14, 2009 in MoviesTags: Away We Go, Jacob returning home, returning home, searching for a sense of home, the embrace of the Father
A week ago Sunday morning I was preaching at church (Point Grey Community Church) and spoke on Jacob coming home 20 years after he has fled from his brother Esau whom he has cheated out of his father’s blessing. Coming home can be hard and scary. The night before (Saturday) Karis and Alana, our two daughters were on [...]
Rachel Getting Married – The Reality of Forgiveness
Posted: April 23, 2009 in Forgiveness, MoviesTags: Anne Hathaway, Forgiveness, Rachel Getting Married
Think about the parable of the Prodigal Son… then imagine instead of two sons there are two daughters… and instead of a party being thrown for the younger daughter after she comes home imagine the younger son coming home to a party being thrown for the older daughter… and imagine that the younger prodigal daughter only comes home because she [...]
Body of Lies
Posted: April 16, 2009 in Movies, The IncarnationTags: Body of Lies, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ridley Scott, Russell Crowe, The Incarnation, W H Auden
Well… I’ve actually been sick (as they say in Canada) with the flu for the last couple of days. As part of my recovery I watched, in my bed of sickness, Body of Lies (a movie which I know that Ruth wouldn’t really like). It’s directed by Ridley Scott and is fairly typical of his movies [...]
The Boy in the Stripped Pygamas
Posted: April 5, 2009 in Movies, The IncarnationTags: Incarnation, The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas
We’ve just finished watching “The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas” – a “Holocaust story” about a young German boy and his forbidden friendship with a Jewish child. The movie has had very mixed reviews. It gets a 63 on Rottentomatoes and on metacritic gets a 55 (with ratings ranging from 100 to 0). But 3 out the [...]
