The best of the rest, as promised and only a few days late...

I said on Monday that I'd post this list Tuesday... is this Tuesday still?

Monday's list was most inspirational to me.

This list is just plain favourites.

The Matrix
Monty Python Quest for the Holy Grail
The Philadelphia Story
All About Eve
Vertigo
The Princess Bride
The Royal Tennenbaums
O Brother Where Art Thou
Citizen Kane
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Two Towers
The Return of the King
In the Heat of the Night
The Grapes of Wrath
Toy Story
Wall-E
Up


That list will do for now... we still have about 40 or so from our list of 100 to watch so far, so likely that list will grow over time.

Dirty Dozen Movie List

Five or six years ago, this list would have been a lot different. I don’t even know if I could have come up with 12 movies for this category at that point. I have not been watching a lot of inspiring new movies. I am sure they still make those (I just saw The Blindside a few days ago and really enjoyed it.) The reality has been that I have been exposed to many old movies through the wonders of the modern library and the joys of the Best Buy shelf.

Several years ago my dear wife and I decided to watch the American Film Institute’s list of top 100 movies. Since then they’ve come out with an updated list and we pick off of that list too. I also decided back then that I wasn’t going to just watch, I was going to engage- pay attention to what was being said. I must admit that that doesn’t always happen, sometimes I just sit and watch. Sometimes I’m waiting to see why this movie could possibly have made the list (see Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf… no wait, don’t see it!). Suffice it to say then, that while I have not seen that many movies in my life, I’ve seen lots of acclaimed ones covering a wide variety of time periods. If you’ve not visited some of these older movies, you’re missing out, if you’re a literature/movie fan.

The Power of One. That seems to be the trend for my movie selections. I don’t know why that seems to be at the top of my list of inspirational things. I thought about adding A Beautiful Mind since it has an inspiring personal story and an even more inspiring love story, but it didn’t quite make it. For some reason, those stories are not quite as powerful to me as these which tend to follow that thought- The Power of One.
The Weakness of the Whole. The opposite of the power of one is also true. We live in a world where as a whole we are sick. We fail, we are weak. We tend toward protection of those like us. We do not hold up those in need. We do kick each other when we fall (see Tiger Woods, Britney Spears, et al.) We hate, we avoid, we ignore, we kill, we rage, we over simplify or over complicate, we compete, we conquer, we divide.

It seems to be the one who has to fix the whole. Jesus is my strongest example of this.

Here they be then, top 12, no particular order.

It’s a Wonderful LifeFor one thing, you get to watch Jimmy Stewart in almost every scene. That’s worth the price of admission. Frank Capra’s movies have been given the knock of being “Capra”-corn. You can see that with this movie. However, that doesn’t mean the idea portrayed- that everyone’s life is important and, potentially, wonderfully important to others- isn’t worth reflecting on.
Mr. Holland’s OpusWhy this obscure one? Well, partly because of when it came out. Right as I was in my last year of teacher training , this Richard Dreyfuss movie came out and made it okay for me to believe that, like George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life, it was possible for me to make a real impact on the life of others. And, it was more than a flash in the pan, it was his whole career. It gave great perspective for a guy just starting out.
Dead Poets SocietyAnother teacher movie. This one helped me to get a glimpse into what it takes to inspire kids to pursue their dreams. Even to dream if they’ve never dreamed before. I think it even helped me to dream dreams I had never dreamed before. A great, sad, wonderful movie.
Schindler’s ListSee, there’s inspirational, compelling you to pulling up your socks. Then there’s inspirational, compelling you to help other people pull up their socks. Then there’s inspirational where you are forced to come to grips with doing something about people actually losing their life. Schindler’s List.
City LightsCharlie Chaplin stars as the little tramp who does his best to do his best, even when he doesn’t know what is right. His redemptive actions toward his love are inspiring in light of his outcast roll in society.
On the Waterfront
Will you do what is right even when it means you’ll lose? When it could cost you your life? When it means the people who are close to you won’t appreciate you? Will I?
Mr. Smith Goes to WashingtonTrying to sneak another Jimmy Stewart movie in here…Small town hero becomes a national hero. The machine of big government can not stand against one man who knows he is right. What difference can one man make? What a difference!
The Fellowship of the Rings
For Sam alone, I love this movie. Loyalty is not a word heard round these parts these days (thanks, Bill Mallonee).
The Shawshank RedemptionHope in the midst of darkness. You can lock up a man’s body, but not his spirit.
Here are two men who I need to learn from.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044706/
What wins out, your beliefs or your friends? Are some things I hold to be true not really true? Could it be possible to stand for what is right even when no one else does? No one, only you?
Field of Dreams
I must say that as much as I love this movie, I loved the book even more. Read it, Shoeless Joe, by W.P. Kinsella. The movie reminds us of the power of dreams and the eternal impact we can have on others. This movie portrays it as a love of baseball, we all know there are more things too. But I love baseball and this movie has inspiring and baseball. Plus I went to college just outside of Davenport, Iowa and worked in a classroom with a girl who was Kevin Costner’s “baby”.
Life is Beautiful
I think this movie may be number one. If you haven’t seen this one, you haven’t seen an inspirational movie yet. A man, his son, the darkest hour, the brightest heart. You’ve got to watch this one and weep and laugh and mourn and rejoice. And sigh for our cynical world.
12 Angry Men
What would happen if one man stood up against what everyone else sees as being opposite to him? What if he was right? What would you do? How would you get other people to see things your way?

I put in thirteen, but the last one has 12 in the title, so it fits the rules.

The Ten Commandments

We watched The Ten Commandments over Easter. Apparently its the Easter movie, according to tv... and since culture takes their direction from tv... that's the law! Anyway.

If this is what Easter is about, then we miss the message. Easter is not about the law, about freedom from slavery, about Moses. It blows past that and goes so much deeper.

The movie itself is a loose adaptation of the Biblical account. It takes some necessary licence with the story, filling in dialogue and plot points for instance. But it also takes unnecessary turns as well. Its one thing to assume things and skip over things for the sake of time, another to say that something happens that didn't.

Now you can say, its a movie, who really cares what they did. Go ahead, I'll give you a second to actually say that... time's up. But. If movies are modern literature, then we must be very careful that we don't let our movies that tell Bible stories become our Bible. (See VeggieTales!) We must turn to the Word itself, see what it says, see how the movie varies from the written account and not the other way around.

And, since we're talking interpretation here. This movie presents as its central theme that the story of Moses is about people bowing to God's laws and not man's. That no one has the right to take away our freedom. Is this a modern reading? An American reading? A satanic influence? We have to be careful that we don't take minor life lessons that can be learned and make them the story. We have to read the Moses account and see what God is doing, not a humanity thing. God rescued his people from slavery. He presents the law to them so that they can have freedom from death. He offers freedom and life to all who trust and obey. Blood sacrifice was the only way to avoid death in Egypt, and a blood sacrifice is the only hope for me today. Praise God for Easter and the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Looking at life through the eyes of Martian Child

What is at the heart of love? This deep question floats just below the cute, heart-wrenching movie that is Martian Child.

He lives in a world where people just, “disappear”. That’s why he’s afraid he’ll just float away and wears a weight belt to keep him earthbound. We all want to be well grounded, yet, we are also the Martian child, in the world but not of it, trying to rise above the common, and at the same time wondering why we don’t fit in?

Martian Child is the story of a grieving widower who decides he’s going to open up his heart and home to a very needy boy who claims to be from Mars. The movie does an admirable job of setting up the question of “Is he really from Mars?”, another K-Pax, this time with a child at the root of the question.

Here are a few thoughts raised by the movie:
a) Son: “Is it good to be like everyone else?”
Dad: “That’s a really good question,… that’s usually what adults say when they don’t know the answer.”
b) Publisher (to writer, Dad): “Why can’t you just be what we want you to be?”
c) Writer (Dad): Sometimes we forget that the children have only just arrived on the earth, they are a little bit like aliens, trying to fit in.
d) Little girl in group home: “He’s a weirdo, he doesn’t have any friends.”
No comment needed.

Here’s my favourite line though, deep in its irony. It is uttered by the same little girl as mentioned above, telling the literal physical position of the little Martian. “He’s in the box.” Is he really in the box, or is he way outside the box? Here’s a little one, struggling to understand the world, everyone he knows and has tried to care about has walked out on him. His adoptive dad calls those people, “the stupidest people in the universe.”

That part of the movie is touching enough, that we all struggle in some way to find our place on this planet. That theme though is pretty common, lots of people have told that story. The other, more pressing side of the movie, the part that strikes me closer to home has to do with adoption. Not many people talk about that.

“Nice talk.”
The Martian child utters these simple words to his new dad when the two share a non-verbal few moments, Dad trying to understand son by just being with and like him.
“Most people spend more time thinking about how to raise tomatoes than how to raise their own kids.” No comment.
“I understand not wanting to bring a child into the world, but what’s wrong with loving one that’s already here?” Wow, I’ve heard people say, “Why would you want to bring children into this world?” And sometimes I understand that question. But here, we have presented to us, an even more pressing question, since at its heart what we have here is a challenge not just to parenting and adoption, but selfishness. How can you answer that question without it sounding like an excuse?

Hey, you, “What’s wrong with loving one that’s already here?”









(said looking into mirror)

Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Cult of celebrity set in the 1800’s.

The phrase about Robert Ford being a coward strikes me as odd. Everyone in this movie is paranoid. I don’t know if that makes them cowards or not, but every shoulder is being looked over, every person is suspecting and suspected. Paranoia is the key word to the whole world portrayed here. Paranoia and obsession, though what the difference is between those two is hard to decipher. Paranoia is one part of the larger category of obsession. When I prop this movie up beside All About Eve, a classic we just watched last week, I can’t help but notice the fear that many are faced with, 'whether to keep their celebrity or to keep their life'. What do I cling to, to the point of paranoia? Is that only for those in high places?

This “true” story of the murder of Jesse James, tells us that society’s infatuation with crime and criminals is not new. The movie does not really portray Robert Ford to be a coward, I don’t think. He’s more portrayed as an obsessed fan, a glory hound who wants to be someone, anyone.

The word “assassination” is used in the title, and though the word is used to mean killing of a ranking person, here it’s used for the killing of a killer. This was not an accident as the public outcry is also demonstrated to be as though they mourned for a friend, not an uncommon robber and murderer. Robert Ford is not portrayed as much more honourable, but Jesse James turns his back, surrendering life like a coward and lets Ford take him out the “easy way”. Ford gets the label, James the glory.

I was reading in 2 Timothy this week, Paul’s last letter in the New Testament. He is not clinging to his position, he is not holding onto his power, his glory. He desperately wants others to carry the truth on of what he was saying, to the point of even getting Timothy ready for the end of his life to ensure that he was giving to other faithful people the message and ensuring that they all took its continuation as seriously as Paul himself did. And there’s the rub. Holding onto something bigger than “me” keep us from an unnatural fear of everyone is out to get us.

What's hidden deep in Pan's Labyrinth?

Pan’s Labyrinth tells the story of Ofelia, a young girl who's mother marries an unlovable (meaning: evil) man after the death of her father. She and her mother move to the front line, where her stepfather serves as an army leader, sorry, I forget the rank! But there is more to the story, it seems that Ofelia is not of this world!

She comes from:
-Land where there is no pain or lying.
-Comes to another world, where she does not fit in.
-She does not live with her real father.
-She communicates with the other world.
-She performs miracles (though not through her own power).

There is one use of Jesus’ name that normally we’d consider blasphemous, but I wonder if it wasn’t intentionally referring to Ofelia as Jesus...


Now Pan's Labyrinth is not a child's tale. This is not a nice easy fairy tale. You have to cringe at times as death is meted out to innocent victims. This is also not a straight allegory. Ofelia's father is the king of the underworld, a little backward from tradition! Pan, from Greek or was that Roman, mythology, was where we get our modern idea of Satan with horns and hooves, I believe.

A story is told within the movie of a rose on the mountain top which holds eternal life but the poison in the thorns were too dangerous for people to risk pursuing the flower. The movie puts it this way the people "always talked of their fear of pain and death but never of the promise of eternal life”

You may have heard this one before too..."Don’t eat the food"… she eats the fruit and an evil creature wakes up.

In the end, Ofelia dies because she won’t sacrifice an innocent baby, she dies for a helpless creature in other words. And, in the end, she is accepted as the king’s daughter, back in the underworld where she came from.

Some might say that the whole thing is just modern fairy tale... modern meaning set in 1940's Spain, but I think there is more to this thing. Perhaps there is a twisted version of the gospel here, Pan at times is portrayed as a very frightening creature, "not a tame lion" and certainly not Mr Tumnus! The Spanish title in the movie was The Labyrinth of the Faun, perhaps signifying that the original intent was more fairy tale then Greek Mythology or even Satanic sub-plot!

However, intentional or not, the good news is everywhere, an innocent died so we don't have to and today, He's accepted for us, Easter is coming, see if you don't hear the story of Pan's Labyrinth in the next couple of weeks.

Life Lessons from Big Fish

Life Lessons from Big Fish

Well, it’s a Tim Burton movie. If that means anything to you, you know what you’re in for. Now I only have experience with Edward Scissorhands and a few glimpses at Sleepy Hollow and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but for some reason, it just says Tim Burton. To top it off, it is creative and well scripted.

What is to be learned or gleaned from this quirky little fantasy movie for adults?

“A dangerous path is made much worse by darkness.” This line reminds us that not only is the road to destruction a road with a doomed destination, sometimes we are blind to the fact we are on that path.

“Most things you consider evil or wicked are lonely or lacking in social niceties.” Though some things which are evil we tend to look at as being quaint, there is some truth to the quote. We criticize what we don’t understand to quote the old song. We look into what is different from us and decide it is wrong, evil.

“Truth is I’ve been thirsty my whole life, I just don’t know why.” What a telling line for those searching for God. Dead, but not knowing what would give the life they are looking for.

The movie does have a few instances of artistic license that some may find objectionable, but all in all, it is a very fun, confusing, thoughtful movie.

Life lessons from White Christmas

White Christmas is a classic. It can't help it. It has Bing Crosby singing, Danny Kaye mugging for the camera, Rosemary Clooney's temper outbursts and "choreography".

Basically its a romance and a comedy and a musical and a Christmas movie all in one, you can enjoy it for whichever or all of those if you wish. Our eleven year old watches it over and over, all year long, Christmas being a sidebar to the whole movie's plot.

Honour is a great theme of this movie. Honouring soldiers, or being honourable in our behaviour. Oh, and honouring those we hold debts too as well, Danny Kaye would remind us!

I don't know what else to say here. Maybe there is no life lesson here, just a reminder of what following some things that we already know may look like if we try.

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Life lessons from Edward Scissorhands

Edward Scissorhands. It sounds like a horror movie, and in some senses it is pretty horrific. It shows the pressures to conform and their terrible effects. Visually it is an intriguing piece of art.

Edward Scissorhands shows that the perfect suburban life is not always the perfect suburban life. It shows what one woman in her naivete is able to do with one poor outcast. It shows how we as humans have an idea of how we are to be but how we often sell out. Similar to Its a Wonderful Life I suppose, but George Bailey sells out his own dreams to help others realize his own. In Ed.Sc. the pressure on Edward is to see a "doctor who could likely help him".

The most remarkable about the movie as art to me is the contrast between Edward's personality and his physical appearance. When matched up with the physical appearance of suburban life, in all its pastel "beauty", Edward's pale, punk appearance with metal hands that keep people at arms length and then some offers a stark reminder that you can't judge a book by its cover.

It is easy to find yourself in both camps. Edwardian backwardness, holding back because of fear. Angry because we're not like everyone else. Then again, I'm suburban, I want to be "normal", to blend in, to be socially acceptable. Why? So that people will accept my Jesus? Or, so that people will not notice him???

Life lessons from The Bells of St. Mary's

Bells of St. Mary’s is a classic movie of Father O’Malley and his efforts to turn around old St. Mary’s school and, in spite of, and because of his efforts, a “miracle” happens and all ends up right with the world. It stars Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman.

The movie poses several things to think about, I didn’t write anything down as I was watching it tonight, (the third or fourth time I’ve seen it, but I barely remembered the ending from before.) so its likely that I’m missing things.
1. As a teacher, it is difficult to know what is the best idea when wimpy little Eddie doesn’t fight back and Father O’Malley pats his more aggressive schoolmate on the back for being such a good fighter. This is followed up by a quiet debate on whether the world was better off for teaching people to stand up for themselves or whether people standing up for themselves is the problem. Though Sister Benedict does not agree with Father O’Malley she soon teaches young Eddie the art of boxing. Eddie later proves himself a worthy pugilist on the playground, but the obvious joy he has as he first bates his nemesis and then toys with him in the ensuing fight helps us to realize that there is something about his new power that is frightening and dangerous.
2. A second dilemma arises when Father O’Malley tries to help young Patricia, a girl with little help from home in the first 13 years of her life. Her final act of intentionally failing her year end \exams in order to stay at this one true safe place for her one more year demonstrates the importance of teachers, schools and that we need to get to the heart of the matter before we leap to logical conclusions, as in many cases, logic does not really come into play. Sister Benedict’s desire to adhere to the rules and standards of St Mary’s is commendable and right, but Father O’Malley is also right in his desire to show grace.
3. Lastly, we see Mr Bogardus and his struggle to say “no” to God. For a movie with main characters who are a priest and a nun, God rarely makes an appearance in this movie. The most beautiful part of the movie takes place in the grade one class as the children put on their own interpretation of the Christmas story. Here alone do we see Jesus, and one of the few times that God is referenced. In spite of this oddity, there is little doubt that God is chasing down the curmudgeonly old Mr Bogardus. It is a tip of the hat to both the sovereignty and love of God as we see the older man give in to God and experience the joy of generosity.

Does God show his face in this movie? Yes. Is there room for more of Him? Isn’t there always more place we can make for Him in our lives too? This is a movie of internal struggles, about trying to figure out what is right for others, about obeying God. All in all, it’s a wonderful movie to re-view as often as possible.