Recently, there was a movie released called “To Save a Life” (perhaps you heard about it). It has been pushed really big in our area (apparently the movie theater here had the 6th highest gross for the movie of any theater in the country). The movie is basically about a kid who knows a kid who kills himself. This stirs him to want to take a more active role in someone else’s life and chronicles the struggle with peer pressure and what not. The movie is apparently well done and I’ve heard good reviews about it.
Last night a student at one of the local schools committed suicide. It’s a horrible thing, obviously, and the students that go to that school that I know are all sort of shaken up by it. Our youth network, which handles church cooperation and bigger events like bringing the movie here posted this on Facebook today:
Please pray for the family of a Latrobe High School student who committed suicide last night. So incredibly sad. And please take all the students you know to go see To Save A Life this weekend – it’s not just a movie – it’s a challenge to keep this kind of thing from happening again. We can and must make a difference – lives depend on it!
I understand the point in all of this. “See,” they are saying, “this is a huge deal and seeing something like the movie can help.” I just look at this and it just hurts my head. Lives do depend on it, of course, but to boil this down to go see this movie and do what it says just seems like another “strategy”. I dont know about you, but short of relief efforts, I am so tired of ministry strategies. I’m tired of programming the life out of things. I’m tired of running to a curriculum or a famous youth leader, or kirk cameron and looking for “how to do things”.
Another thing that bothers me is what message am I sending to a kid by saying, “hey I know a friend of yours just killed himself, but come watch this movie so you can see the depressed kids and help them not kill themselves. You failed the first time, this time you won’t.” I just can’t see how that message helps at all. You would love to see a student body that pulls together and naturally nurtures each other. Why does the church have to step in and make sure that it gets top billing. The response of the church is love, not do this, this and this and it will never happen again. The church, which places itself at a distance to the distress and downtrodden just jumping in and helping to fix things (so everyone will know it is the church, not God) might be more of an insult than offering support to everyone that needs it.
I don’t know, I guess I’m just sort of upset with the whole thing and upset that we take a tragedy like suicide and spin it in to the Christian Marketplace.
1. A lot of people will see it (well, maybe not a lot by summer blockbuster standards, but more than a few).
2. No matter how silly the plot and dialogue are, they will not be as cheesy as 99% of Christian films that have been released in the past decade.
3. It will cause people to talk about spiritual things.
*As a note of disclaimer, I have not seen “Angels & Demons” and will not do so until I have seen Star Trek, Wolverine, and Terminator Salvation. (Having a kid has really cut back on the amount of movies I see in the theater.) I did see “The DaVinci Code” the week it opened.
This past weekend, our teen ministry video team met for the first time. We wanted the students to get some hands on experience with digital video cameras and editing software. After lunch, a quick discussion of what we were hoping to do, and a crash course in videography, we let the student loose. Here is one of the videos that resulted.
Obviously, this video was not intended to convey some deeply spiritual or religious message. We are hoping though, that our students will be given a new avenue to express themselves. Video is much more accessible today than it has been in the past. As a result, we find that many students are interested in it.
For us, this is only one piece of a much larger scheme. We want students to feel free to be creative and expressive. Some students will find their voice in the arts and media. Our student ministry hopes to cultivate creativity.
I’m interested in how other faith communities are equipping people to be creative and expressive. Please chime in and let me know; I want to hear from you.
On a recent episode of TRS, Dan Meth’s Trilogy Meter was discussed. Dan includes some sagas which are more than a 3-pack (like Star Trek and Superman). His rating is completely arbitrary. His conclusions were generally good.
I would depart from his assessment at a few points. Temple of Doom and Superman II were clearly worse than any others in their respective series. The Blade series wasn’t that good. Spiderman 3 shouldn’t even be considered a film. And, Return of the Jedi was as good as A New Hope.
What do you think? What are the top trilogies?
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additional note added February 27, 2009 2:05 pm.
It was pointed out to me by a student in my youth group that the Bourne Series is not included. How did that happen?
Of all the big movies out in theaters right now, you may be asking why I am reviewing a Disney flick that is out on DVD. Well. Mainly because I haven’t seen Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Indiana Jones, or Get Smart. These are all on my list, but between my 4 month old, the job search and doing a week of camp, I haven’t been to the theater in a long time. I have been watching a lot of rented movies since we don’t have cable anymore (long story).
So, back to National Treasure 2.
If I were to say I was disappointed, that would imply I had high expectations. I should probably lead with the fact that I don’t like Nicholas Cage. Somehow, he seems to land great roles in great films, but I’m not a fan. The writing was flat. The plot was predictable. The story was weird.
That being said. If you liked National Treasure, you probably like National Treasure 2. It was a fun way to waste 124 minutes.
Transformers was on the top of my “Must See” list of summer movies. I have been a fan of Transformers (primarily the cartoon) since my childhood.
For those of you not familiar with the Transformers franchise, I will give a brief history. In 1984, a line of toys was launched. To promote these new toys, they also started TV Cartoon and Comic Book series. I was four when this happened, and it was a significant childhood cultural phenomenon. The basic idea thought behind the toys and accompanying series involved alien robots who disguising themselves as earth machines, some bent on destroying humanity (the Decepticons), others on protecting it (the Autobots). Transformers had so much commercial success, other companies began importing similar toys into the US.
The Cartoon series ended in here 1987.
Needless to say, I was excited to hear Transformers would be on film.
The visual effects lived up to the hype. The bots looked amazing! The interplay between CGI and live actors was great. This film brought the cartoon to life. There were even a few tidbits of consistency with the original series thrown in for the geeks watching the film. For instance, Bumblebee (originally a VW Bug, who got a much needed overhaul and is a Camaro in the recent film) was still the first Autobot to encounter humans. The film also did a decent job filling in some of the blanks. Why do these alien robots look like common vehicles on earth? They have the ability to analyze and replicate machines they encounter, of course. The only drawback to the film was the goofy dialogue and predictable plot, minor inconveniences. The film was shot with a extremely dramatic feel, which the storyline just did not deliver.
The film came out the week of the Forth of July and scored nearly $153 million that week alone. But should you see it? There is a lot of violence (albeit digital robot violence), some strong language, and sexual tension between the leading actor and actress. It is rated PG-13 for a reason. I do not recommend you take your young children to see Transformers. But, any respectable child of the 80’s or Comic/Si-Fi/Action fan should check it out before it leaves the theaters.
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