Invictus

If you're looking for a film with great professional rugby and brilliant accents....don't go and see invictus, but if you do want to see a film with a great Nelson Mandela wave and a heroes story, invictus is the film for you.

A friend of mine always delights in telling me I'm not exactly Mr current affairs, but even with stories of Nelson Mandela (not exactly current affairs) I know the jist but even I could tell that at the end of the story it made Nelson Mandela to be the perfect person every country needs and Francois Pienaar as the captain of dreams that can do no wrong and everyone else in the story are basically idiots that come together at the end because of the inspirational pair.

Even with these faults, it was good to see the casting people involved in trying to get decent look a likes-some where better than others I must add.

Great dialogue and very inspirational...which is what they were going for I imagine,made for a good film, though slow at parts to emphasis rules of rugby for the non educated and to bring across the hatred of the blacks and whites (excuse me for not being pc at this point)

From a Christian perspective it was interesting to see a lot of talk about reconcilation, unity and forgiveness, with one of the tag lines for the film being -'he was in a prison for 30 years and being realised was ready to forgive the people who put him there'

It reminded me alot fo God's grace and how even though we don't deserve it he sent his son, Jesus Christ, to reconcile all things to Himself and to bring forgiveness for everyone ignoring the God that created them and cares for them. What a God!

Romans 5:6-8 ⁶You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.'

Philippians 2:⁹Therefore God exalted him to the highest place

and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Even psalms like 96 talk about all peoples and all nations and how we will all one day realise who Jesus Christ really is whether we do now or not!

Then we really will be 'the world in union' under the one true and living God

Never mind Mandela being the hero-Jesus Christ is the real one who is the true source and shows true forgiveness and reconciliation

So go and watch this film and be inspired!

The Book of Eli

'you don't understand'

those were the first words of the movie we heard as we entered the screening...because we arrived late. I was afraid that that would be it as far as catching up with the story but it seemed very easy to follow.

It is a post apocalyptic tale of when the world is in turmoil when things like water are a luxury-bad times, and even books! So this is were Denzil Washington comes in (although he looks slick you can tell hes getting on in years), he has the last bible on earth.

Enter the bad guy-hes been looking for this book because he wants to use it to control people through it. Just shows what happens when it gets into the wrong hands and is handled incorrectly.

As a Christian, someone who trusts and follows Jesus, i didn't walk into the film thinking it was going to evangelise to the world (even though movie mag Empire said that at times it felt like it was preaching, I didn't think so)-so I wasn't disappointed-with classic clique verses being used (if he had of mentioned 'as the deer pants for the water' I think he would have said them all), no mention of Jesus-the one whom this book is all about and a reference to faith being a special feeling rather than based on historical fact did grate me a bit but what did i expect?

What I did appreciate however, was the high standard it gave to the bible and alluded to the power the word has and leaving me with highly hypothetical questions such as-if you had the last bible on earth, would killing people to protect it be justified?

A great movie with the real gritty post apocalyptic feel through stunning background sequences and a fantastic set (at times I thought the screen wasn't as bright as it should be until I realised it was to get this feeling across), but for me they loved their slow motion camera a bit too much but I got over this annoyance through superb camera work for the death of a bird-and a fight scene at a house-superb.

The big thing about the film is the twist which is......well I'm not gona tell ya, not only because it would spoil it but because you should go and see it for this very reason-enjoy!

Daybreakers

'sure it passed the time, didn't it?'

that is the comment that was said after the film finished so hopefully that will tell you what was thought it.

For me, having not got into the whole twilight saga, it was quite an interesting story line considering being a vampire was a central plot to the whole thing. But for me, the one character that kept you on the edge of your seat was Willem Dafoe-great one liners that kept you laughing the whole way through (even if they weren't meant to)-Steven Seagalesc some might say.

But with great considerations on what the vampire world would look like ten years on-it had interesting attention to detail, obvious parts were included such as no exposure to sunlight and teeth marks on the neck, but in this picture it included having a camera as a car mirror so the vampire can check themselves out, and also most vampires smoked with the whole immortality thing.

For me, it was an interesting mix of immortality (living forever, which everyone seems to want), yet when they have it, still hoping for a happy ever after-it just shows what immortality would be in this self-centered, damaged world.... not much being the answer-still looking for the answer to the main problems. (not lack of blood but self-centered ness)

As for the special effects, they went from incredible gore, to ridiculous bore and not really knowing at times if you were in a serious movie or a vampire spoof-all in all, it wasn't a great watch, but sure... it passed the time, didn't it!

Avatar

Did C.S Lewis write this film?

that was the film posed to me as I watched the film. With ideas such as; hope, new world, service, prayer, teaching and training, hell, trust, relationship, rescue and many others-it does beg the question what director james cameron had in mind as he wrote the film.

What stretched my mind:

Was it that the leader of the rescue was both fully human and fully avatar (go with me on this)

Was it that once you have been born again you are part of 'The People'

Was it the training that got my mind thinking of apprenticeships and ministry and the importance of sharing life together while having the source of life at the centre

Was it the hostility shown towards 'The People' and their source of life-the way the world tries to rid the world of the true source of life

or was it wondering what James Cameron had smoked and drank to write the story of random blue people and to produce amazing special effects?

A man named Augustine once used the phrase 'visible words' and this film certainly got me thinking about so many different biblical themes in a visual, tangible way.

I went to the movie to experience the 3d, to see good special effects and avoid the fact it was about blue people but as the movie went on, my mind was racing with various ideas and being part of God's people, sadly for me, I really got into the story line and so came out with the experience of 3d, saw unbelievable special effects and loved the blue people.

Seeing is believing, and I suppose this rang true for me with a lot of hesitation and doubt before seeing this picture, but I was not disappointed by the end.

Whether you like blue people or not, this is a movie to definitely watch on the big screen with those geeky looking glasses on, it could get your mind racing about so many things, not just the phenomenal graphics and design, or it could have you wondering what Cameron was smoking when he wrote it?

Either way, it beats sitting in and talking more about the weather....

Sherlock Holmes

An entertaining night, a captivated audience, loveable characters, was I at the panto this cold winters night...

...o no i wasn't....

i was at Guy Ritchie's new film-Sherlock Holmes starring Robert Downey Jnr and Jude Law-which was very much a clash between the cluedoesc story line of the Da Vinci code or national treasure (thats a good thing in my eyes by the way), the action of Indiana Jones and the slickness of the Bourne series.

What resinated with me during this film was its search for answers-a quest we all like to go on and Sherlock Holmes did not disappoint.

With such references as being raised from the dead, the reading of Revelation 1:18 (the villian comparing himself with Jesus) and a constant battle between a faith response or fear response, it felt very much like a deep search for answers.

Along with the classic story line of the bad guy plotting for world domination (again, another way he tries to compare with Jesus me thinks), it really made me ponder about being around at the time when Jesus came back from the dead and the faith or fear response many people would have had-was it magic, just a trick.... or something more. Sherlock Holmes looks at his search for answers logically and tries to figure it out-something we should all do really if a man claims to have come back from the dead-so fair play to the old chap!

The costumes were timeless, the landscape scenes were epic, the slow motion clips were awesome, the camaraderie and humorous narrative between Holmes (Downey Jnr) and Watson (Law) all the while the music bringing you into its era made for great viewing.

As for the end... what the search for answers came to (whether taken from a biblical point of view or from this film alone), well....

that's elementary, my dear Watson!

Law Abiding Citizen

Everyone likes to think they know the difference between good and bad.

Everyone likes to think they have a good sense of justice.

That's what makes this movie so appealing-plus it has a great story line and great cast but for me, it was Gerard Butler who made the movie.

Watching the film with a Secular worldview, you see what the world likes to think-everyone has a good vibe of what good and bad is and if they ran the world, it would be all good and no problems-or even worse, we would end up like the singer Lemar with his song 'if there's any justice in the world, i would be your man, you would be my girl' (i think there's more pressing issues)

Watching the film with a Christian worldview, we all like to think we have a personally sound view of right and wrong and that we are in the right and are effectively 'law abiding citizens', but looking at the world and watching this film we see that deep down there is something fundamentally wrong with us.

The bible tells us its sin, I just wonder what people who don't have a relationship with Jesus make of this weird worldview, because in the film you are on the main characters side-even though he effectively is doing what we would classify as wrong, but yet you feel on his side at times-it doesnt make sense.

Thank God for the bible and telling us what is fundamentally wrong with us-a deeper issue than doing right and wrong or even right versus wrong but sin, and how justice for this messed up world is really achieved-at the cross-with Jesus (human-to be our substitute, and God to sort it out) taking the punishment we deserve for our sin-and not in our own redemptive plans or revenge.

In the end, it makes you question justice and right and wrong, great film, great cast, great questions brought out from it-go and watch it!

Reality Check

Yesterday I decided to join the revolution that is twitter...not because it interests me that much but because it seems to me that the God's people can't get left behind in the technological age, to keep up to date with what the world is at and because we need to raise up talented people who can make the internet a useful tool for the Glory of God rather than the glory of mindless rubbish (like blogging you may say) or for the glory of porn which has obviously made its mark in this technological age.

When thinking about Twitter, it got me thinking about facebook, bebo, hotmail and I'm sure you can think of all the other social networking websites you can get involved in, but it got me thinking.... do we need a reality check?

People, including myself it has to be said, add themselves to these sites and put across their personal information and how they want to be portrayed, however, it lessens the importance of relationships...i mean how many times have you been out but most people are on their mobile phones even though they are in a room full of real people?

Are we trying to get away from facing up to reality, reality of life, reality of this world, reality of God, reality of eternity... do we need to put the laptop, computers and mobiles down? do we need a reality of check?