Steve’s Blog

Hey everyone, this Sunday after church we are going to continue our Lenten movie series with  “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” .   Afterwards I’m leading the discussion on the symbolism (particularly baptism) in the film as well as  how it wrestles with the idea of redemption.  I hope you can join us.

hey everyone.  The oscar nominations came out today and (in an effort to drive people to spend more money at the box office) this year they have nominated 10 movies for best picture.  So far I have seen 7 of the 10 nominees which means I have a little more than a month to see The Blind Side, An Education and Precious… none of which were high on my list this year to see but I guess I’ll give them a shot. 

Of the 7 that I have seen I would rank them in this order.
1. A Serious Man
2. The Hurt Locker
3. District 9
4. Up in the Air
5. Inglorious Basterds
6. Up
7. Avatar

What I think is really cool about this year’s group of nominees is that many of them invite the audience into an imaginative world that works.  District 9, Up and Avatar in particular create an alternate reality that allows the audience to wrestle with  issues such as racism, death and environmental abuse in a way that may have been too much for us to handle in a more familiar setting.  I chose A Serious Man as the best film of the year primarily for it’s theological undertones and how it portrays the human search for divine understanding as the world you know comes crashing down.  It’s a great film that shows the absurdity of life in a way that makes you appreciate what is most often overlooked and mundane or routine. 

I was sad to see that Where The Wild Things Are was pretty much ignored, it was easily my favorite film of the past year.  Oh well… what do you think?  Have you seen any of the 10 films?  What should win?

It’s weird to think that we are coming to the close of another decade isn’t it?  Paste Magazine has put out three best of the decade lists for you to check out/argue over.  I tried putting mine together but it almost made my head explode going over all the great music, movies, tv shows and books of the past 10 years.  Anyhow go check out what Paste thinks are the best books, albums, movies and  tv shows.  (These would probably be my top three albums)

I have been the teaching assistant these past two weeks for a class on postmodern theology, film and youth culture which has used movies as a lens into the shifting from a modern to a postmodern mindset (we can get into that later if you are interested).  In our class we have watched the movies Fight Club, Josie and the Pussycats, Memento, Spirited Away, Saved and yesterday we watched the film Twilight.  If you are not familiar with vampire/romance saga that has swept through our culture feel free to read up on in here, but the entire story of the novels and film were only a stepping stone onto the reality of pluralism and the acknowledgment of the “other” that is facing us.

The conversation after the film didn’t revolve around the cultural relevance of the story or the phenomena of its popularity, but the symbolism of learning how to live with incredibly different people.  In the context of the film, vampires (both blood sucking and “vegetarian”), warewolves and human have all figured out a way to live together and even fall in love.  While we are not faced with the mythical pluralism of the books/movies, we are faced with how to live along side people who are drastically different than who we are.  As Christians, and humans, we live in a world where we try to coexist with people of  alternate lifestyles, religious beliefs, political ideology and ethnic backgrounds while trying to hold onto the core of our spirituality.  It’s a daunting task to say the least.

What we can learn from Twilight is that the “other” is not as scary as we might think and must not be pre-judged and avoided.  As a Christian, it is our calling to love them as a fellow creation of God.  All of this is swimming around my head as I put together the subject matter for the fall and I think it is an unavoidable aspect of discipleship.  It is because we can no longer live inside our comfortable Christian bubble (if there ever was one) that we are going to be dealing with discipleship and pluralism in the high school group this fall.  More to come on the exact teaching points but I am a firm believer that we cannot be a person of faith and avoid this issues.  If you are interested in finding out more about spiritual pluralism, please check out beliefnet at pewforum.

This is a fitting video tribute to the director John Hughes who passed away earlier this week.  He helped define the teenage experience of the 80’s and his impact on youth culture can still be seen in every high school across the country.    Enjoy a quick ride through the life of his greatest creations.

This Sunday after church the high school group is going to be having lunch and watching Lars and the Real Girl.  It’s one of my favorite movies and an amazing story of compassion and the need for community.  Come join us from 12:30-3 in the downstairs lounge.  If you have any questions let me know, see you Sunday!

The movie “This is Spinal Tap” is one of my all time favorites.  Its quick witted sarcastic humor still gets me rolling and its poignant satire of the music industry captures the ridiculous side of a music industry that is changing (failing?) more each day.   So to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the film, England’s loudest band decided to re-unite for a brief acoustic tour and I was fortunate enough to be there last night at the Wiltern to revel in the glory of three comedic masters.

Harry Shearer, Michael McKean and Christopher Guest not only played through the “hits” of Spinal Tap but also played songs from the folk music satire “A Mighty Wind.”  The night was a hysterical tribute to the film that included jazz versions of heavy metal songs, interpretive dancers and even a didgeridoo solo (no joke).  I laughed till I cried on a couple occasions.  Now that I have seen Spinal Tap live, even though it was acoustic, I feel that I have added one of the biggest feathers to my music going cap!

When I first heard that they were going to make a movie version of Where the Wild Things Are I was skeptical at best. I am pretty tired of how a lot of popular movies are either action sequences spliced with nudity or depressing make-you-hate-life drama epics and so I was afraid that one of my favorite childhood stories would be stripped of the beauty and simplicity that has made it a classic. I remember reading the book and being able to imagine myself in the land of the Wild Things with nothing but my imagination to limit our adventures. Looking back at the book it is amazing that a story that is only ten sentences can be made into a full length movie, which is why I’m still a little worried about the film. One of the best parts of reading the book is imagining what the characters are doing in each of the pictures and creating new stories with each read.

However this first trailer has given me great hope for the film and has made me excited to see a big screen adaptation of one of my favorite stories. I can only hope that the movie can capture half of what comes from a childish imagination.