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Oscar, the Gospel, and the Preacher

What follows are some thoughts on the films that were chosen for “Best Film” nominations this past year and how they might enrich our preaching. When the Academy announced that it was going back to its old practice of nominating ten films for this category I thought they were crazy. It just seemed like too large a number, needlessly complicating an already difficult task of selecting a “Best Picture.” However, when I looked at the list, I realized that this was a good move because it gave recognition to a few films that probably would never have made it onto a list limited to five. District 9 is a wonderful science fiction film that came from a very unHollywoodish place—South Africa. Up, being an animated film probably would not have made the cut either, nor might even the ultimate winner The Hurt Locker, because of its poor performance at the box office. However, once on the list, Academy members took it seriously, preferring a show string-budgeted film to the most expensive film ever made. Also, from a faith perspective, the number 10 does havesignificance, perhaps surpassable only if the number had been increased to 12.
So let’s look a little more closely at the films (or at least 9, as I have yet to see An Education):

Avataroffers social justice-minded preachers an opportunity to explore such themes as colonialism, racism, and the exploitation of people and resources. The human race is shown as treating the world known as Pandora as ruthlessly as we have Earth, paying little heed to the natives, known as Na’Vi or the beautiful tree which they revere as a holy place. Also the able use of 3-D effects in the film underscores a theme that is basic to our Christian theology, that of seeing. Just as 3-D challenges us to see the film in a new way, so the story shows its hero John Dunbar going through the process of seeing the Na’Vi in anew way. He begins at the same point as his superiors, who see the Na’Vi only as an obstacle that stands in the way of their obtaining the rare mineral that had brought them to the planet. When John enters his avatar body and lives among the Na’Vi, his view of them changes from that of an outsider to that of insider. He almost literally lives out the old Native American saying that one should not judge others until one walks in their moccasins. I prefaced my review with the following two Scripture passages:
Listen, you that are deaf;
   and you that are blind, look up and see!
          Isaiah 42:18
The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows
   to bring down the poor and needy,
   to kill those who walk uprightly;
          Psalm 37:14
To that I would now add a passage from the apostle Paul, because what happens to John Dunbar when he lives among the Na’Vi, even falling in love with one of them, is so similar to what happens to us believers when we accept Christ into our hearts:
“ From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”      1 Cor. 5:16-17

The Blind Side is a good film to bring in when preaching on the Parable of the Good Samaritan, or gain, a social justice theme dealing with the oppressed or outsiders. Memphis belle and socialite Leigh Anne Touhy (delightfully played by Sandra Bullock, who deserves her “Best Actress” Oscar) could have “passed by on the other side” the night that she and her family spotted the African American youth walking alone. She didn’t. Instead, when her daughter recognized the boy as a fellow student, Leigh Anne asked her husband to turn the car around so she could talk to him. Learning that he had no place to go, she invited him to stay with them for the night, and the rest, as they say, is history, with the boy Michael Oher, enabled by her fierce love, to overcome many obstacles to become an All American football player. Her own humility, in telling a friend praising her for her “charity” that she received far more than she gave, should be emphasized as an antidote to any smug paternalistic idea of the Good White helping the Poor Downtrodden Black. One of Leigh Anne’s friends also makes a point of the young man being black and such, so one could derive from this film a good sermon on what a true family is, using the gospel passage that prefaced my review:
“Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, ‘Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.’ And he replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ 34And looking at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.’”             Mark 3:31-35

District 9, like so many science fiction films, is a social justice-themed film. Although the aliens who come to earth as refugees are from another planet, the thorny question of how we should treat aliens in our own country is the real subject. And not just in the U.S., for the film was made by and set in South Africa, the filmmakers recognizing that the treatment of “the alien” is a world-wide problem. A search of the word “alien” turned up a host of passages, the ones used in the review being but a small sampling:
“You and the alien who resides with you shall have the same law and the same ordinance.”
          Numbers 15:16
“I charged your judges at that time: ‘Give the members of your community a fair hearing, and judge rightly between one person and another, whether citizen or resident alien.”
          Deuteronomy 1:16
“Thus says the Lord: Act with justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.”
          Jeremiah 22:3
And of course, there is the New Testament passage that is the yardstick which Christ gives us to measure how we deal with others:
“I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.”
     Matthew 25:43

The Hurt Locker, in beating out the blockbuster Avatar for “Best Film” Oscar, Kathryn Bigrelow’s is another example of David vs. Goliath. This intense film may be of more help out of the pulpit than in for preachers who have parishioners serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. Like the excellent film Brothers, it depicts the effects of war experiences upon soldiers, lingering long after the sounds of battle are left behind and the soldier returns with deep psychic wounds. Although I used Psalm 76:1-3 with the review, a better one might be Jeremiah 8:22, “Is there no balm in Gilead…?

The suddenness of death in the story led me to James 4:13-14,
“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there, doing business and making money.’ Yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
A comment by a reporter in the film “War is a drug,” which applies to the main character, a soldier who disarms bombs, also could lead to some further comments on violence in our lives and in the popularity of violent films. How do we deal with this as followers of one who taught non-violence?

Inglourious Basterds

Samuel said to Saul, "The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I will punish the Amalekites for what they did in opposing the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.” 
     1 Samuel 15:1-3
Like all of his films, Inglorious Basterds sweeps viewers along with its action and many memorable characters, and as one who has memories as a young boy of World War II, I was delighted by his rewriting of history. However, I was glad that this film, favored by the many fans of Quentin Tarantino, was passed over for the more reality-based The Hurt Locker. Even more, because of its exaltation of the theme of vengeance. This film makes Dirty Harry seem like a piker by comparison. I would hope that anyone with a twinge of conscience influenced by the teachings of the New Testament on vengeance, would have been bothered when the audience erupted in cheers as hundreds of Nazis and their women were incinerated or trampled in the theater scene, one that has its parallels in another popular war movie, The Dirty Dozen. Contrast the passage from Samuel with that of Romans 12:19-21. Note also that this is based on an Old Testament passage as well as Christ’s Sermon on the Mount, so 1 Samuel is not the last word in the Jewish Scriptures. Preachers could bring in this and other vengeance films (such as many of the Westerns) while expounding on the theme, pointing out how this is so much a part of our culture, and reminding the congregation how counter-cultural Christ and his teachings are.

Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire is another social justice-themed film, helping us to see the basic worth of “one of the least of these…” Its depiction of the triumph of loving nurture over the oppressive background of poverty and abuse is especially heartwarming in that the heroine is not a sleek svelte teenager but a 330-pound African American girl. Despite her middle name, Claireece Precious Jones is anything but precious to her abusive mother who uses her as a virtual slave. The girl’s size affords preachers a good opportunity to weigh in on our culture’s Barbie Doll fixation in regard to females. The good affect that loving attention can have upon a person’s self-esteem is another theme. And in the tearful tirade of the abusive mother in the social worker’s office we are cautioned about judging a person, even one so mean as she, until we “walk in their moccasins.” Of the many available Scripture passages suggested by the film, the following three were cited in my review:
Since there will never cease to be some in need on the earth, I therefore command you, ‘Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbor in your land.’
          Deuteronomy 15:11
For the needy shall not always be forgotten,
   nor the hope of the poor perish for ever.
      Psalm 9:18
It (love) bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
          I Cor. 13:7

A Serious Man, oneof the darkest comedies to arise from the quirky minds of Joel and Ethan Coen, ought to remind even the densest student of the Bible of the Book of Job. Job insists that he is a “righteous man.” Professor Larry Gopnik keeps insisting that he is a “serious man,” in essence both affirming the same thing. Larry does not fool around—it is his wife who does, demanding of him a divorce so she can marry their best friend, a widower. Larry is an honest man, turning down a large sum of money rather than falsify the poor grade of a student. He resists the blandishments of a sex-starved neighboring woman, and he is confused by his selfish daughter and thieving son, and even more so by his sponging brother-in-law whom the police come to arrest. The three so-called comforters are rabbis, none of whom seem to have a clue as to the ways of God or of humanity—and then there is the strange ending that flies in the face of the easy-going benevolent god of pop religion. The ending involves the whirlwind, but is God to be found at its center, responding to the anguished cries of suffering humanity? What a film to explore the theme of theodicy with a group with their Bibles open to Job and certain of the Psalms! Here are just three of the many Scriptures that could be used with this film:
There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.
          Job 2:1
Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind:
 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Gird up your loins like a man,
I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
          Job 38:1-3
Why, O Lord, do you stand far off?
   Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?
                        Psalm 10:1
While exploring this rich film and the gospel you would do well to explore Psalms 37 and 73 as well.

Up is but the best of the many animated films of 2009 that combine humor, wonderful art, and themes that touch the hearts and minds of both young and old. The sequence in which the old man remembers his courtship, marriage, and shared dreams of traveling to South America, only to be thwarted by the death of his beloved is alone worth viewing, and affords a good opportunity to discuss or preach on the companionship of marriage, as well as the price of deferring dreams for too long (James 4:13-14 could be a basis of the latter). Even more, the relationship of the old man with the young boy, and the way in which young Russell leads Carl to discover what is really important in his life can be connected with Jesus’ statement that one must become like a child in order to enter the kingdom of God, and also the following passage on our relationship to our things:
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust  consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “
     Matthew 6:19-21
Two other Scriptures for probing this film and the gospel are:
The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
          Isaiah 11:6
A friend loves at all times,
and kinsfolk are born to share adversity.
          Proverbs 17:17
Still another theme in the film is our society’s view of the elderly, with the stereotypical view that they are finished with life and have little value. This is a funny, poignant, and above all, insightful film makes the task of preaching a joyful one!

Up in the Air is an engaging story that could be used with John Donne’s famous “No man is an island…” quotation. Our hero Ryan lives a solitary life flying around the country to destination at which a company has hired him to do its dirty work, terminate a no longer needed employee. He engages in one-night stands, and, in his off time, is motivation seminar speakers whose theme is that we should pack our bags sparingly and avoid entangling commitments. He observes that he has spent "322 days on the road, 43 miserable days at home," the latter a rather barren apartment in Omaha that is about as distinguishable as one of his motel rooms. His meeting another frequent traveler, the enticingly smart and beautiful Alex, and then his attending his niece’s wedding, leads to his transformation--what the Parable of the Waiting Father in Luke states, “But when he came to himself…” It was the song “Be Yourself” by Graham Nash, played at the end of the film that really underlined for me the kinship of the film and the parable from Luke. Included in it are such phrases as:

“How does it feel when life doesn’t seem real?/And you’re floating about on your own…”
“We needed a saviour…”
“A prodigal son was coming home…”
“Be yourself, why don't you be yourself ?”
However, as I wrote in my review, “What if nobody was home when the prodigal son came “to himself” when arrived back at his birthplace? No father. No servants and a fatted calf for celebrating. Not even an older brother to quarrel with.” Ryan does have a sister and a niece, but when he realizes how empty his life has been and sets out to act upon his newfound self-awareness—in the words of the song when he tries to “be yourself”--what will happen to him when he receives the shocking surprise? A great film to discuss with young adults, as well as when preaching on the great parable, or on the theme of self-awareness. Here are two good Scriptures to relate to the wedding scene in which he comes to his self-awareness:
“Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone…”
          Genesis 2:18a
“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other; but woe to one who is alone and falls and does not have another to help. Again, if two lie together, they keep war, but how can one keep warm alone?”
            Ecclesiastes 4:9-11

My hope is that preachers who have not seen all of these nine films will now seek them out on DVD, exploring them not just for their entertainment value, but also for preaching. Indeed, before mining them for homiletical purposes, I would urge that they be watched with a group of parishioners, who will increase the preacher’s enjoyment and understanding of them. My mantra that I teach at my film workshops is “All of us see more than one of us.” Try it--and see how these Oscar nominated films can enrich our understanding of the gospel.

*Full lyrics can be found at www.musicsonglyrics.com/G/grahamnashlyrics/grahamnashbeyourselflyrics.htm

Edward McNulty is the editor and chief review of Visual Parables, the sister publication of LectionAid that can be seen at visualparables.net. Subscribers have access to literally hundreds of reviews with discussion questions as well as preaching helps and film program suggestions. Check the site out to see a sample issue, as well as some free materials such as Film Capsules (mini-reviews designed for church newsletters).


The New Revised Standard Version, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1989.

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Visual Parables was started by Edward McNulty in 1990 as a monthly newsletter to alert fellow pastors about must-see movies. The newsletter grew into a magazine designed to equip church leaders to engage film and use it in preaching and teaching by means of reviews of theatrical, cable TV and video films; film discussion guides; a devotional column; a column linking film scenes to the Common Lectionary; and many other features exploring film, theology and the church. As a guide for film content that might be objectionable we offer our unscientific assessment of the content of a film in regards to Violence (V), Language (L), and Sex/Nudity is measured on a scale from 0 (None) to 10 (Highest). It is intended to give viewers some idea as to why a film is rated R, PG-13, PG, or G.

Because of printing and distribution costs Visual Parables is no longer available in print form, except for a Year-end Annual in 2007. (The last print issue is for Fall 2006.) The website (visualparables.net) has already enabled us to post reviews in a more timely manner than print allows. The Current Movies section of the site will continue to feature the latest reviews, and we will still post a quarterly issue that will include reviews with pictures, Lectionary Links, reviews of short DVDs, Praying the Movies, and Doug Sweets column on DVDs and film books. A new feature will be added, Film Capsules, which will include short reviews suitable for free use in the newsletters of churches and organizations subscribing to VP. The Year-end Annual will include reviews of the years most significant films, the index for the year, and possibly program articles. This will be available on line and also either on disk or in print, depending on readers interest; subscribers who pay $36 will receive thisthe on-line only subscription fee will stay at $30. Readers who do not use the Internet should contact me at 859-493-0286 (or the surface mail address on the back cover) for an adjustment of their subscription, which will have to be my sending you a copy of either one of my books, the Gospel & Comedy Retreat kit, or the Babe VBS kit. There have been many changes since I began using and writing about filmfrom 16mm film to VHS to DVD and downloading; from typewriter to computer; print to electronicso this is one more, a change that I hope will lead to your receiving the information more quickly and more conveniently.
 

 

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            Reprinted from Visual Parables. The full review available at visualparables.net.

 

Film Capsules August 2010

Flipped
Rated PG. Running time: 1 hour 30 min.

Rob Reiner’s new film is a delight for families looking for meaningful entertainment. The narrative flips back and forth between two 8th graders, Bryce Loski and Juli Baker, narrating the events of the past seven years, with each giving a very different view of the same incident. The first dates back to the day when then 2nd grader Bryce moved to the neighborhood. Because this is mainly about children, some critics have compared it unfavorably to Reiner’s classic Stand By Me. Don’t believe them; to this viewer this is a better film, not only because it is free of the gutter language that marred the earlier film, but even more so because of its theme. This is a story of the need to see others through new eyes, very much a biblical theme. Church leaders should have a great time seeing and discussing this with youth. (My review at visualparables.net includes 14 discussion questions and numerous Scripture passages.Also watch You Tube for my review comparing this to a more spectacular recent film: hope to have this up by Aug. 28.)

Eat, Pray, Love
Rated PG-13. Running time: 2 hours 13 min.

See this spiritual-lite flick mainly to enjoy the radiant Julie Roberts, who looks glorious in a closet full of frocks. (The DVD should include a short feature on how she packs so much into so little luggage.) After a disastrous divorce, the reason for which we are told very little, she links up with a younger man, then leaves him. With an advance from her publisher to write about her adventures and supposed spiritual quest she sets forth for Italy (Eat), India (Pray), and Bali, Indonesia (supposed to be “Balance” from a shaman she had met earlier, but “Love” because she meets a sexy Brazilian importer/exporter). Other than the advice received in an Italian barbershop that Americans need to learn to enjoy doing nothing, there is little that she learns that she could not have received by staying at home and reading a few spiritual classics from her Christian past. Of course, then she wouldn’t have met her True Love or penned a New York Times Best Seller.

I Am Love
Rated R. Running time: 1 hour 59 min. (Italian with English subtitles))

Be warned that there is full nudity in a couple of love scenes, but for those who do not subtract from the worth of a film by the acreage of skin exposed, this is a powerful study of a wealthy Italian family. Tilda Swinton is a Russian-born wife of an Italian textile magnate whose company has a questionable past during the Mussolini era, and which might be heading toward an equally questionable future, now that the family patriarch has turned over to her husband and their son the leadership of the company. Apparently treated like a trophy wife, her repressed passion is unloosed when she meets the best son of their son, a talented chef whose dishes seem to arouse sexual passion much like the food in Like Water for Chocolate or Chocolat. She discovers that with freedom there come dire consequences.

Charlie St. Cloud
Rated PG-13. Running time: 1 hour 35 min.

Starring heartthrob Zac Efron, this tale of a young man wracked with guilt over the death of his little brother in the car he was driving will be of special interest to girls. Charlie gives up his college scholarship and takes up the job of caring for the cemetery where his brother is buried. Imagine his surprise when his brother shows up every evening near sunset to practice the baseball catching interrupted by death. Thus each night Charlie must return to keep his appointment. Then he meets the girl who will cause him to choose between serving the living or the dead. Beautifully photographed, the film could generate a good discussion for a youth group.

T. Girl Who Played with Fire
Rated R. 2 hour 9 min. (Swedish with English subtitles)

Again be warned of nudity (during a lesbian love scene) and some intense violence in this thriller. A journalist tries to reach and help a computer hacker, who is a former lover who and now suspected by the police of being a killer. A sequel to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, this is mainly for those who like either sophisticated thrillers or foreign films.

Salt
Rated PG-13. Running time: 1 hour 40 min.


One of those thrill-a-minute summer flicks, this film is graced by Angelina Jolie playing CIA agent Evelyn Salt. She is probably the one female actress who can make the character and her actions at least halfway believable. She is suspected of being a Russian plant, like those in the news recently, and keeps us breathless with her escapes from impossible situations.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
Rated PG-13. Running time: 1 hour 52 min.

This video-game/comic book inspired movie is definitely for the X-box generation. (And this is why for my Visual Parables I turned to Markus Watson to write the review.) The young actor whose break through role was the boyfriend in Juno, Michael Cera, plays the young lay about who falls for a Goth like girl and has to fight her seven ex-boyfriends before he can win her hand. Reminded me of one of those medieval tales of a knight fighting for the hand of his fair lady, but these fights are jazzed up a lot by special effects even more spectacular than fire-breathing dragons.

 

Film Capsules July 2010

The Karate Kid
Rated PG

This is that rare occasion when the remake of a film is better than the original. The new film sticks closely to the plotline of the original, with the emphasis being on the relationship between an old wise man and a young boy, but the scene of action shifts from Southern California to China. (Yes, I know that Karate is Japanese that should have resulted in the film being called The Kung Fu Kid.) When the widowed mother of 12 year-old Dre is transferred to China, the boy becomes unhappy not only due to the uprooting and having to adapt to strange customs and language, but also because of a bully and his cronies who take it as their mission to make life miserable for him. Enter building custodian Mr. Han (aptly played by Jackie Chan), who tutors the boy. Not just in the physical aspects of Kung Fu, but in its Taoist underpinnings of harmony, honor, and respect of others. Shot in China, including atop the Great Wall, the film treats us to many scenes of exquisite color. The ending is far more believable this time around. Parents should be warned that the action scenes include a lot of brutal hitting and body slams.

Mother and Child
Rated R

This is a heart-rending story of three women: Karen (Annette Bening), a forlorn physical therapist caring for her aging mother and haunted by her past: she had been forced be her mother when she was a pregnant teenager to give up her infant daughter. Elizabeth (Naomi Watts) is an ambitious young lawyer, fiercely independent and reluctant to enter into any commitment, even with her widower boss (Samuel Jackson) who would like to marry her. She also is haunted by her past, often wondering about the mother who had given her up for adoption at her birth. Lucy (Kerry Washington) is a young African American wife unable to conceive a child and thus eager to adopt the one being offered by the pregnant and single Ray. The latter, however, is very choosey, insisting on interviewing perspective parents laying down specific conditions. This is a film that refuses to follow the usual formulas, so expect some surprises along the way, making this one of the best films that I have seen this year.

Please Give
Rated R

The wonderful Catherine Keener plays Kate, a wife and mother whose perhaps over-sensitive conscience has led to a guilt complex that towers as high as the Manhattan high rises where she lives. She cannot pass a homeless person without handing out five or twenty dollar bills, much to the disgust of her bratty teenaged daughter Abby (Sarah Steele), upset with her mother because she will not spend $200 on the jeans she covets. With husband Alex (Oliver Platt) Kate runs a very upscale vintage furniture/home accessories store. Part of her guilt stems from the fact that they buy their items at estate sales: in one scene Kate conjures up in her mind the image of the woman who had died in the chair she is now selling. Kate and Alex have optioned to buy the apartment currently occupied by the crotchety old Andra, whose two grown granddaughters look in on virtually every day. This is an interesting, amusing character study, marred only by a subplot of adultery that does not make much sense.

Splice
Rated R

This is another of those sci-fi cautionary tales that follow in the wake of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Two hotshot geneticists are upset when they engineer a pair of critters that look like the Pillsbury Doughboy without any limbs or head and their superiors order them to stop experimenting and get down to the business of making something practical from their discovery. Instead they secretly mix some of their DNA with that of other animals to create a being that grows rapidly, looks half-human, and develops cognitive abilities. You can guess that something will go awry with their plans, this old story like most other tales of the “beware of messing with creation” following the arc of Genesis 3. Yes, even to the point of it being the woman who leads her lover by the nose into the mess. If you go, be forewarned that there is a very graphic inter-species sex scene (at which the preview audience laughed)—years ago this film would have been X-rated.

Toy Story 3
Rated G.

Andy is growing up and about to go away to college. What will happen to the toys? In most families either Plan A, B, or C would have been followed without any hitches. That is, the toys would be boxed and stored in the attic; the toys would be given away to others; or they would be placed curbside for the trash man to pick up. Almost all of these things happen, but, of course, in this fantasyland, the toys have minds of their own. Great fun is the introduction of Barbie Doll and Ken, the latter attracting the former because he is such a clothes hog. This is a delightful tale of “putting away childish things” (I Cor. 13), of friendship, and of united action in the face of peril. A wonderful morality tale for young and old (is Pixar capable of making just an average movie?). Adults will love the reference to Cool Hand Luke.

Winter Bones
Rated R.

It is easy to see why director Debra Granik’s Ozark-set film wowed the Sundance crowd. Dealing with those whom the Scriptures refer to as “the oppressed,” people of faith should also be drawn to it. 17 year-old Ree Dolly, at a time when teenaged girls of the dominant culture are dreaming about prom dates and going on to college, is worried that her family is going to lose their home, and only she can prevent this. She is enmeshed in the criminal activities of her clan through her father, known widely for his “cooking”—and denizens of this rural drug-sodden culture are not referring to any recipes on the Food Channel when they use the term. The Sheriff tells her that after his arrest, her father was released only when he put up their house as collateral for bail. No one has seen him since. Ree has been caring for their mentally incapacitated mother and her younger brother and sister, so she has more than herself to worry about should they become homeless. Determined to find and convince him to turn himself in, Ree sets out, walking for miles up and down the hollows trying to find either kin or neighbor who might be willing to tell of his whereabouts. She soon finds everyone, even her uncle, upset by her quest, with everyone warning that she had better quit and go home—or else. A spare film that is somewhat similar to Frozen River, another film dealing with a family struggling to survive poverty, this is one of the best of the year thus far. Despite its bleakness and the horror of one scene, it is filled with stark moments of grace and ends on a note of hope.

Solitary Man
Rated R


If you enjoyed hissing at Michael Douglas’s Gordon Gekko in Wall Street, and don’t want to wait till its sequel comes out later this year, then this tale of a womanizing creep will do nicely. Douglas’s Ben Kalmen is a once prosperous New York BMW dealer who lost everything because of shady dealings. That also included the wife he had known since school days because he cannot keep his hands off any attractive woman who glances his way. He hopes to make a comeback, and even has the support of ex-wife Nancy (Susan Sarandon), but will his many flaws—he cannot even keep his promise to his adoring grandson to come to the boy’s birthday party—stand in his way? The film is a fine character study of a man who does not know what is really important in life. The ending might keep you guessing.

Despicable Me
Rated PG


Filled with droll humor, this, the first of Universal Pictures animated feature films, is a story that could have come out of Charles Dickens (with a touch of James Bond thrown in). Orphans; a dastardly villain; and the melting of the latter’s cold heart when he comes in contact with children. Gru thinks that he is the world’s greatest villain. After all, he has stolen the Statue of Liberty and the Eifel Tower, he boasts to his minions, as the horde of little critters who labor happily in his secret underground lab and factory are called. Then he adds that these are the smaller ones from Las Vegas. However, there is a new villain who manages to steal the real thing, the Great Pyramid of Egypt, thus jeopardizing Gru’s reputation for evil. He comes up with a plan to steal the moon, a complicated task calling for the invention of a shrinking machine and the use of 3 innocent orphaned sisters whom he fraudulently adopts. It is not spoiling things for this predictable but delightful tale to reveal that the 3 adorable girls will have a greater affect on him than he upon them. Great fun, for all who love the similarly themed How the Grinch Stole Christmas; A Christmas Carol; or even Shrek.

Cyrus
Rated R


Expecting this to be just another summer gross comedy, I was happy that this turned out to be a warm comedy/drama with themes of hope, change of heart, and reconciliation. John (John C.
Reilly) is an emotionally needy guy who still turns to his ex-wife Jamie (Catherine Keener) for advice and support. He meets cute (this is not the place to say how) Molly (Marisa Tomei) at a party to which Jamie has dragged him, and it soon appears he has met his soul mate. All would be well, but then he discovers Cyrus, Molly’s 21 year-old still living with her in a relationship so close that it seems that there is still an invisible umbilical cord joining them. Cyrus seems warm and friendly in his welcoming John, but then…Funny and poignant at times, and unlike most summer comedies, insightful at times. Truly an adult comedy.

Inception
Rated PG-13


I attended an advanced screening of director Christopher Nolan’s film just two hours after experiencing the magnificent Winter Bones. Thus it became too readily apparent that excellence in filmmaking is more dependent on a great script and nuanced acting, than money, even the $200 million spent on this blockbuster. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a corporate spy teamed up with Ellen Page, stealing secrets from people’s minds through the use of sophisticated technology. His wife has died because of the dream-invasion techniques he is so skilled at. The police think that he has killed her, and so he has had to flee the country, thus separating him from his two adorable children. Now he has an opportunity for wiping his slate clean and returning home by doing one last dream-invasion job. This time it is not to steal a secret from a person’s mind, but the far more dangerous task of planting an idea in the target’s mind. The sci-fi thriller keeps us on the edges of our seats as we follow him and his friends deep into the subconscious, but after over two hours of special effect laden action, the film seems likely to be easily replaced by still another thriller with even heavier music and more special effects.

 

Film Capsules June 2010

The Secret of Kells
Rated PG

This beautiful Irish animated film, a combination of myth, legend and history tells the story of the creation of the Book of Kells. Brendan is an orphaned boy monk at Kells where his uncle, the Abbot, has Cellach raised him. When Brother Aidan arrives, fleeing the Vikings’ destruction of the Iona Community, he brings with him to Kells an unfinished manuscript. The curious boy soon becomes friends and ventures out into the forest to find the berries that bro. Aidan needs for making green ink of the illumination of the book. In the forest Brendan meets a sprite or fairy named Aisling, who helps him find the berries high up in the trees. Abbot cellach is furious with his nephew for leaving the monastery, his biggest concern being to build strong walls for protection against the Vikings. Thus the boy becomes torn between his uncle and Aidan. The resolution of this conflict and how Brendan becomes a part of the finishing of the Book of Kells is a delight. Even though it was nominated for an Oscar, the film has already left the Esquire Theater, so put this on your “must see” list when it becomes available on DVD or Netfleix.

The Secret in Their Eyes
(El secreto de sus ojos)
Rated R


This year’s Oscar winner for “Best Foreign Film” is a riveting mixture of mystery and romance genres. Set during the years of the Peron regime in Argentina during the 1970s, the film begins 25 years later when Benjamin and Irene meet for the first time since working together in the past. He had worked under her as a criminal investigator when she was an assistant to a political hack judge. Against orders, he had become involved in the investigation of the brutal rape-murder of a young schoolteacher, inconveniently proving that the two foreign workers accused of the crime could not have done it. The film is pervaded with the sense of unresolved issues—of the solution to the crime and also of the relationship between the two principals, both separated by the culture due to their difference in class and wealth, education, and job status. The director gives us plenty of time to become involved in the lives and the troubled times of all concerned—not only of the almost-lovers, but also of the victim’s grieving husband and the alcoholic assistant to Benjamin.

Shrek Forever
Rated PG


Maybe, as the critics say, the film is not as good as its predecessor, but it is still provides a wonderful opportunity for family viewing—and plenty of life lessons too. Like three of the friends in the far less satisfying Sex in the City 2, our green hero is having a parental mid-life crisis, which is worsened when he signs a contract with the evil Rumpelstiltskin that lands him in an alternate universe where Shrek is single again (as he had momentarily wished). However no one knows him now, and Rumpelstiltskin is the evil ruler, with Fiona leading a revolt of ogres against him. Shrek has just 24 hours before he ceases to exists, and his former wife is so repelled by him that she resists his attempts to kiss, the one thing that will save him. Good fun with the caution that we should be careful of what we wish for, as well as a revelation concerning true love.

City Island
Rated PG-13


Andy Garcia plays the Walter Mitty-like Vince Rizzo in this whimsical story unfolding on an island across from Manhattan that resembles a New England fishing village. By day he works as a prison guard but one night a week, when his wife and grown children think he is at a poker game he attends an acting class. His dream, so secret that he has never told even his wife Joyce, is to become an actor. Encouraged by his acting partner Molly, he goes to a casting call for a Martin Scorcese film. He harbors still another secret: scanning the records of newly arrived prisoners, he discovers that one of them is a son that he sired many years earlier when he was 19 and going with his first love. How all these secrets unravel is both funny and poignant, with an ending that is almost operatic as all the characters confront each other in the street outside the Rizzio house. Turns out that his college-age daughter, his teenaged son, and wife Joyce also have secrets. Be prepared for some coarse language

Sex & the City 2
Rated R


This is one of those bad films, in terms of the superficial and even wrong-headed values of its creators and characters that nonetheless could lead to a great discussion for young adults. It follows the affairs of four women two years after the first film—there is a gay wedding, a series of problems that reveal that three of the friends are not living “happily everafter,” and a ridiculous trip to the Middle East where the four engage in their own version of the Clash of Civilizations. And of all things, these representatives of all things feminine that the Women’s Movement fought against, sing a karaoke version of Helen Redding’s “I Am Woman,” which almost is inspiring. Subscribers to my visualparables.net will find a more detailed review with ten questions for exploring the values and issues raised by the film. Others can contact me directly for a copy.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Rated PG-13


Lots of sword and sandal (and sand, lots of it) mayhem in this computer-enhanced action film set sometime between ancient and medieval Persia. (The architecture and costumes are from the Muslim era.) The two Douglas Fairbanks would have loved this film, with Jake Gyllenhaal’s Prince Dastan performing impossible stunts, running up wall, leaping across great gaps between rooftops, and turning somersaults above the heads of his attackers, and of course fighting and overcoming several at one time. There is a bunch of nonsense about a feisty princess and her magic dagger that is able to turn back time, and the necessity of retrieving it when it is stolen, lest the world be totally destroyed—oh yes, and a search for hidden “weapons of mass destruction”—I kid you not. Pure escapism, with the best part of the film being Alfred Molina as a crafty, talkative sheik whose anti-tax rantings make him sound like he started the Tea Pary movement.

 

Film Capsules, May 2010

Robin Hood
Rated PG-13

Blockbuster director Ridley Scott is well served by writer Brian Helgeland in this revisioning of the old Robin Hood franchise. No staff dueling with Little John on a log or riding atop Friar Tuck and being dumped into the stream for this Robin Hood. This is about how Robin Longstride (Russell Crowe) served with Little John and Will Scarlet in the army of King Richard the Lionheart (Danny Huston) and then, after the King is killed while besieging a castle, makes a promise to the dying Robert Loxley (Douglas Hodge) to return his sword to his father Sir Walter Loxley (Max von Sydow) at Nottingham. Marion (Cate Blanchett) is not “Maid Marion” in this version, but the widow of Robert, and, of course…well you can guess what will result. Especially commendable is the depiction of the politics that eventually will result in the Magna Carta—Robin Longstride is declared an outlaw by King John because he champions a precursor of the Carta. Although I still love the 1938 Errol Flynn version with its more colorful costumes, this earthier and history-linked (and more violent) version is well worth seeing.


Iron Man 2
Rated PG-13

This sequel could serve as a Midrash of Proverb’s “pride goes before a fall.” The first Iron Man film depicted the redemption of wealthy war profiteer Tony Stark (Robert Downey) as he uses his wealth and power to become the peace-enforcing Iron Man. What happens to a man when he sits at the pinnacle of power, presuming to retain it for himself and become the sole arbitrator of law and order? It should not be surprising to Christians that such a man would become boastful and a bit arrogant, or that others would strive mightily to topple him, as does a rival entrepreneur teamed up with a Russian inventor consumed with a grudge against Stark. Lots of sparking computer-enhanced combat (enough cars are destroyed to re-invigorate Detroit, were they real!), with some humor and a hint of a son still living in the shadow of his dead father and trying to come to terms with the latter’s seeming neglect.

Date Night
Rated PG-13

Tina Fey and Steve Carell are delightful as Phil and Claire Foster in this cautionary tale (“Never steal someone else’s reservation at a fancy restaurant!”) about a suburban couple trying to recapture some romance in their marriage by dining out. His white lie leads to a case of mistaken identity when two goons show up at their table demanding that the couple return a stolen zip drive. They are chased all over Manhattan, resulting in revelations of corrupt cops, the perversion of a politician, and of course, of how much they mean to each other. Despite a vulgar scene in a sex club, this is an enjoyable hour and a half romp for a couple wanting its own date night.

Letters to Juliet
Rated PG-13

Vanessa Redgrave is the main reason to see this romantic piffle set amidst the golden atmosphere of Italy. When Sophie (Amanda Seyfried), a young woman with her fiancé visiting Verona, joins a group that answers the notes and letters left by women on the wall of the fabled courtyard of Juliet, she answers a forty year-old letter written by an Englishwoman. Sure enough Claire Smith shows up, accompanied by her skeptical grandson Charlie. Will the trio locate the Italian whom Claire could not forget over the years? And will Charlie, who at first dislikes Sophie for what he regards as her meddling, become attracted to Sophie? And will there be a balcony scene, and what will Sophie do about her fiancé? If you need me to answer these questions, come see me about a great bargain on a bridge to the east of us. Still, all in all, another good date night movie.

North Face (German with English Subtitles)
Not Rated

This is a suspenseful fictionalized version of the 1936 attempt to scale the Eiger Mountain in Switzerland, the last of the peaks to be conquered. The Nazi government, preparing for the Berlin Olympic games that year, was eager that a German team win the glory. A female reporter, a former sweetheart of one of the climbers, is dispatched with her Nazi boss to cover the event. This is a real fingernail-biting film that demonstrates how politics and the press and sports have become intertwined.

The Jones
Rated R

A funny satire that changes into a tragic-comedy, this is the story of an artificial family sent by an advertising film to infiltrate a posh neighborhood and plug a myriad of products to their unsuspecting neighbors and acquaintances. This makes Hollywood’s present product placement practice seem amateurish by comparison. A delightful tale that will remind some viewers of Jesus’ warning about selling one’s soul to gain the world.

Kick-Ass
Rated R

Funny at times, but filled with vulgar language and extreme violence, this comic book-based film will appeal mainly to young geeks who, like the teenage hero, also dream of becoming a superhero. I found the film especially objectionable because a father trains his young daughter to slit the throats and machine-gun bad guys, the two of them also donning superhero costumes to fight crime. What an example of a new form of child abuse! And the little girl has no qualms, bad dreams, or any other side-effect from the bloody mayhem she commits!

Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Rated PG

Although in some ways a bit like Kick-Ass in that Greg, the middle school hero, dreams of being able to withstand the bullying from bigger kids, including his obnoxious teenaged brother, this is a little more reality based—and a lot less violent. Not too likeable at first, especially when he betrays his chubby friend, Greg gradually becomes less self-centered, performing an admirable act of self-sacrifice at the end. A pretty good family film, though not nearly as good as the one it most resembles, How to Eat Fried Worms.

 

Film Capsules, April, 2010

Letters to God
Rated PG-13. 2 Corinthians 3:2-3.

Tyler, a young boy with cancer and Brady, an alcoholic mailman, could be a study in contrasts. One is young and naively trusting, the other is hurt and despairing. Tyler possesses a strong faith in God despite his possible impending death. The older man, cut off from a son by his divorce and his drinking, sees nothing in which he can believe. The two are brought together when the naïve child’s letters that he mails to God wind up in the Post Office’s Dead Letter Department, and then wind up through a series of events in Brady’s hands. A good family film in which the filmmakers who produced Fireproof and Facing the Giants make no bones about their Christian agenda. In other words there is considerable talk among the characters about God and Christ. Opens wide in Cincinnati on April 8.

The Green Zone
Rated R. Job 13:4; Proverbs 12:19, 22

This conspiracy tale is more relevant than most “they’re taking over the world” thrillers. Matt Damon, in a far more realistic role than the Jason Bourne films, is a soldier seeking to find in Iraq the WMDs that were the reason given for invading the country. After he arrives at a site and finds nothing on several occasions, he begins to question the source of the government’s information. This soon lands him in trouble with his superiors, although a CIA agent who also doubts that there were WMDs teams up with him. The action is almost non-stop, and the ending will leave you wondering.

How to Train Your Dragon
Rated PG.

This delightful children’s animated feature is a good peacemaking film. Hiccup (no, we’re not told how our young hero got his name) is Viking teenager that, as is the usual case in such tales, does not fit in and often disappoints his father. All the other boys are much bigger, well on their way to becoming like the burly adults, whereas Hiccup is scrawny. His village is often besieged by fierce dragons, and then one night when the boy is told to stay inside during an attack, he sneeks out to fire his catapault weighted with balls on the ends of chains. The next day he discovers that he had snagged a young dragon, but instead of killing it, he befriends it, and—. A tip to save money—the 3-D is so-so, so go to the 2-D version, and you will miss very little.

Clash of the Titans
Rated PG-13.

This mythology-lite epic is just the film for adolescents who love computer-generated special effects. Filmed in wide screen 3-D, the action thriller will especially delight fantasy fans. The script makes a number of changes in the classic myth, but the main plot is recognizable, with our hero Perseus, sired by Zeus, rescued from a box tossed into the sea and raised by a kindly fisherman. Growing into a young titan, he soon is off on his adventures to rescue humanity being beset by calamities unleashed when Zeus, worried that humans are no longer worshipping the gods. This deprives them of their power, so he allows his ambitious brother Hades to launch assaults on the kingdom with the aim of turning the people back to the gods. This latter will remind some of God’s agreement with Satan in the book of Job. For adults the best thing in the film is Liam Neeson as Zeus.

Remember Me
Rated PG-13. Ecclesiastes 2:16-17

In the year 2001 a young man, quoting Gandhi, wonders if his “insignificant life” makes any difference. His involvement with a girl takes a stormy course. Both are hurting—she from being present years earlier when her mother was shot down on a subway platform, so that now she cannot bring herself to ride one. He is still grieving over the death of a brother—and both have troubled relationships with their fathers. The significance of the title you will learn only at the end of the film, and also how one “insignificant life” can indeed impact others for the good.

The Bounty Hunter
Rated PG-13

Even such likeable stars as Jennifer Anniston and Milo Gerard Butler cannot do much to save this trite story about a divorced couple forced together when he, the bounty hunter of the title, arrests his ex-wife and sets out to take her to jail. She is a journalist who skips out on a court hearing to run down a hot tip on a story, so her ex is delighted to be assigned to go after her. (Since when does even a wasteful system go to the expense of tracking down someone for such a minor crime? Better, since when has Hollywood become so desperate as to spend so much money on a film that is better suited for the Life Time cable?

 

Film Capsules March 2009

Alice in Wonderland
Rated PG. Psalm 1:1; 4-6

Tim Burton creates a version of Lewis Carroll’s classic children’s novel suitable for adults by making his Alice a 19 year-old faced with a life-changing decision at the beginning of the film and another at the end, thus turning the story into a pro-feminist tract. In between much of the craziness of the original novel, plus large doses of Through the Looking Glass, will keep us laughing at our human foibles. Although Johnny Depp has garnered most of the attention of critics for his portrayal of the Mad Hatter, Helen Bonham Carter, whose costume and enlarged head might remind one of Betty Davis as Queen Elizabeth, steals the scenes in which she appears. Although the number of her “Off with their heads” has been severely reduced, she becomes the evil power against which Alice, in support of the White Queen, must contend, attired in a shiny suit of armor that makes her resemble Joan of Arc. Thus filled with Burton’s own additions, the film is one that children should see in the company of adults because of its occasional dark scenes. Also, I would hope that adults might return to the novels to enjoy Carroll’s delightful word play (mostly left out of the film), and even more so, the little coda concerning Alice’s older sister, who, after Aslice has awakened and is sent off to tea, reflects that when the child grows up she “would keep, through all her riper years, the simple and loving heart of her childhood…” If only for that insight, I believe that the One who said that we must become like a child to enter the kingdom of God, will one day say to the author, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

The Last Station
Rated R. The Song of Solomon 3:1-2

Count Leo and Countess Sofya could be the poster couple for that old adage “Can’t live with each other, but can’t live without each other.” Helen Mirren and Christopher Plummer both deserve their Oscar nominations for portraying the famous couple and their stormy marriage during the last year of the Count’s life, 1910. A living bundle of contradictions, he is a world-renown pacifist teaching the life of simple poverty while living on his magnificent estate. He also taught celibacy, while siring 13 children. She lives in fear that he is writing a new will that will give away “to the people” their land and publication rights, thus leaving herself and their children in poverty. Striving for this is Vladimir Chertkov, Tolstoy’s chief disciple, who hires the young Valentin Bulgakov as the Master’s new secretary. The story is told from the latter’s point of view with much humor and drama—and especially at the end, with pathos. This film is well worth the long trek (for some) out to the Mariemont Theater.

Shutter Island
Rated R. Psalm 55:4-8.

The great film director Martin Scorcese proves again that what resides in the human heart and mind can be far more horrifying than any supernatural or creepy hockey-masked killer. In 1954 two Federal agents arrive at a Federal maximum-security prison on an island near Boston to investigate the mysterious escape of a mother who had drowned her three children. Her cell was under 24/7 watch and, of course, locked from the outside. They are received by the two head psychiatrists with less than warm hospitality. Leading us to suspect that they are covering up some diabolical conspiracy. Agent Teddy Daniels, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, is haunted by nightmares of twin horrors—he was part of a unit that liberated the Dachau death camp; and his wife died in a terrible fire. What they, and we, discover is a shocking revelation, one that leads to his resolve to hold onto his humanity despite the inevitable consequences.

T. Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Rated PG-13. Jeremiah 17:9-10.

Here is Christopher Plummer again, this time playing a thousand year-old man who, like the knight in Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal, gambles with the Devil for souls, this time around being that of the soul of his daughter when she reaches her 16th birthday. Aided by her, a dwarf, and a lad in love with his daughter, he travels around London in a tall carnival wagon, still drawn by horses, even though the time is the present. When they cut down a body hanging from a bridge, it turns out that the man is alive. Claiming amnesia, the stranger (played by Heath Ledger in his last performance) actually is a cheating head of a charity fleeing from the law and thugs. How all this works out is often confusing, but well worth seeing, the magical lands lying beyond Dr. Parnassus’s magic mirror reminding one of Alice Through the Looking Glass—only in his mirror land, everything is determined by the person’s desires (or in many cases, lusts).

Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Rated R. Ecclesiastes 3:16-17; 8:10-13.

In what started out as a remake of Abel Ferrara’s 1992 film (which starred Harvey Keitel), there is no redemptive appearance of Jesus to the troubled hero. Nicholas Cage’s drug addicted “Bad Lieutenant” is really bad, using his badge to intercept couples at night so that he can scare the guy, confiscate his dope, and rape his escort while the hapless guy looks on. And this is a cop whom we see being decorated for his courage—which is also real, as, at the beginning of the film, we see him at a jail where he jumps into the rising, snake-infested water to rescue a prisoner trapped in his cell—it is right after Hurricane Katrina has hit the city. Sometimes using images of reptiles—the snake, an alligator, and iguanas—as symbolic of evil, Werner Herzog’s tale will remind one of Woody Allen’s film about the corrupting power of sin, Crimes and Misdemeanors. Fans of Law and Order will find little of either in this blackest of black comedies.

T. White Ribbon (German with English subtitles)
Rated R. Matthew 18:6-7.

Like Bad Lieutenant and Shutter Island, this Oscar-nominated film from Germany explores the dark recesses of the human psyche, this time in what looks like a bucolic village in northern Germany just before the outbreak of the First World War. The story is told years later by a much older and wiser School Teacher as an attempt to understand the dark horrors that engulfed his nation, and Europe, during the next several decades. What we see is as ugly as the landscape is pretty. Such as a Protestant minister harshly punishing his children for being late for dinner, and later tying his oldest son’s hands to his bed at night because he mistakenly believes the boy is masturbating. There are many other examples of child and spouse abuse, as well as a series of crimes that begins when the Doctor is badly injured by a trip wire across the path causing him to fall from his horse. Is the perpetrator of this and also of several deaths a single person, or the group of children? Or the mayhem the result of some force seeking vengeance on those who deserve punishment? A very disturbing film, partly because its director Michael Haneke is not interested in following the whodunit formula, it would be well to see this after reading the 7th chapter of the apostle Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Also, in regards to Jesus’ words from Matthew, I believe it is significant that only the children are given personal names—all of the adults we know only by their occupation or station in life.

 

 

Film Caps February 2010

Crazy Heart
Rated R . Luke 15:17a


Jeff Bridges is every bit as good as advertised in his role of Bad Blake, a hard drinking and whoring country western singer far along on the downward trajectory of his career arc. Playing in bowling alleys and bars, he rises to the occasion when he is offered the opening spot of the younger singer with whom he had had a falling out, Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell). Earlier, while singing at a bar in Santa Fe he is interviewed by a reporter named Jean (Maggie Gyllinghaal). Over the next few days he becomes close to her and her 4 year-old son Buddy, but given his addiction to drink and casual sex, will he be able to “walk the line”?  Although similar to such films as Tender Mercies,  the talented cast and bitter-sweet resolution set this film apart as a rewarding story of love and redemption.

The Book of Eli
Rated R. Romans 15:4


In this Western-Samurai-Post-Apocalyptic film Denzil Washington is like Clint Eastwood’s character in his spaghetti Westerns—traveling alone, quiet-spoken around others, and seemingly harmless, until provoked—then, watch out. The book that Eli is carrying on his mission to the west coast of the devastated America is just what you think it is. Because of his deep faith he prizes it for itself, but Carnegie (Gary Oldman), boss of the town that Eli stops over in, wants it for the power that he believes it will give him. When Eli refuses to join his gang or to hand over the Book, enough blood is shed to keep the Red Cross supplied for a year. Eli picks up the unwanted companionship of a female companion in the town, but during the long chase sequence she becomes a valuable ally. Not for the squeamish, and yet the film compares well with the other recent film of its genre, The Road—and the intriguing ending will remind you of Ray Bradbury’s classic, Fahrenheit 451.

The Lovely Bones
Rated PG-13. Psalm 10:8

Peter Jackson directs this adaptation of Alice Sebold's novel about a young girl brutally raped and murdered, and who then narrates her story from a place somewhere between heaven and earth. The young actress from Atonement Saoirse Ronan plays 14 year-old girl Susie Salmon, and her performance is the best thing about this bizarre film. Like those in ghost tales in which a dead person lingers around a former homes because of unresolved issues, Susie refuses an invitation from other murdered girls to journey along with them toward heaven because their serial killer lives right down her street undetected. The sometimes-confusing tale is an unusual take on unresolved murder, showing the effects upon the father, mother and surviving sister as well. Aiming for a rating short of R, Jackson quickly moves past Suzies’ awful death. Even though we know the outcome, he instills a great amount of suspense into the events leading up to her death, and even more in a scene involving her sister.

Dear John
Rated Philippians 2:3-4

It is well into the story, based on Nicholas Sparks’ novel, before Army Ranger John Tyree (Channing Tatum) receives the infamous letter that gives the film its name. A little before 9-11 he had been home on leave in Charlotte, SC when he had met at the beach the lovely coed entering her last year of college, Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried). She was home for summer, and though attached, quickly dropped her old boyfriend for John. She was not only beautiful (Aren’t they all, even “Ugly Betty” easily beautified with the right hairdo and makeup?) By the time his leave is up and he is returning to Afghanistan, the two have vowed to marry when his term of service is over. Then comes 9-11, and John follows the example of his buddies by re-enlisting. Savannah is not pleased, but maintains their relationship through a series of letters that we might call “dear John with a little d.” Over several years there are a lot of changes, including some with a neighbor and John’s somewhat autistic father, whom she often visits. The critics have been unkind to the film, but those wanting a film that makes them feel warm and fuzzy might appreciate this tale in which war and national tragedy serve as a backdrop.

Edge of Darkness
Rated R. Romans 12:17-19

It has been 13 years since Mel Gibson played the suffering hero in Signs. (Well, of course, there is that Hero in a certain 2006 film, but he did not star in it, only directed it.) Gibson plays Boston police officer Tommy Craven, happily welcoming home his daughter Emma (Bojana Novakovic), scientist working for a large corporation. She begins to develop nosebleeds and vomiting, he rushes to take her to a hospital, but when they open the front door, a man shoots her with his shotgun. Thinking himself to be the target, Tommy sets forth to avenge Emma’s death, his search taking him to the facility where she had worked and to a high level of the federal government as well. Darius Jedburgh (Ray Winstone), a sinister British agent, flits in and out of his life as Tommy discovers that his daughter had become a whistle blowing member of an environmental group out to expose corporate and government wrong-doing. Conspiracy theory lovers will enjoy this far too bloody for its own good romp that plays to our dark impulse to wreak double vengeance upon evil doers.

A Single Man
Rated R. Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

George Falconer (Colin Firth), a transplanted Brit teaching literature at a California university, cannot recover from the loss of his life partner Jim in an auto accident. As he meticulously starts his day grooming his body and laying out his clothing, we wonder if this will be his last day because of the gun he places in his brief case and stops to buy bullets for. Through his relationship with a male student and a fellow Brit who wishes that he could relate to her on a sexual basis rather than just friendship, we are given a peek at the life style of a gay man striving to hold on in a largely hostile world—it is the early 1960s—not at all interested in understanding him. The best film dealing with this subject since Brokeback Mountain.

T. Tooth Fairy
Rated PG. Ezekiel 36:26

This somewhat silly attempt to raise belief in the Tooth Fairy to the level of belief in Santa Claus will be of interest mainly to those who want to see Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson dressed up in tights and a pink tutu. In fact, I suspect that the story might have sprung from a story conference set up to create the next vehicle for the star of so many action films. Someone toosess out what he thinks is a crazy idea, only to be surprised that the others take him seriously. Borrowing a lot from Miracle on 34th Street, they hit upon children’s belief in the Tooth fairy. In the story rugged hockey player Derek Thompson denies the Tooth Fairy’s existence, almost spilling the beans to the little daughter of his girl friend. Because of this and an incident following a game when Derek disillusions a young fan, the head of the real tooth fairies summons him to wherever tooth fairies live and sentences him to two weeks service as a tooth fairy himself. Although containing some of the usual “moral instruction” of such films, one would do well to wait until this film appears on AMC—no money wasted. 

 

Film Caps January 2010

Avatar
Rated PG-13. Isaiah 42:18; Psalm 37:14


James Cameron’s expensive ten-year gamble to immerse us in the alien beauty of another planet has paid off handsomely, both for himself and for us viewers who love a good story in which are embedded social justice issues. It is a century in the future, when a large mainlining corporation, no doubt related to one of those currently stripping away the mountaintops in West Virginia, has established a large base on Pandora, a satellite of a planet in a distant star system. Its objective is to acquire a rare and vital metal with the ironic name of unobtanium, but it has come up against two obstacles. Humans cannot breathe the atmosphere, and the ten-foot tall blue-skinned natives, called Na’Vi, have been provoked to hostility—and their most sacred object, a huge tree, sits right over the mother load of unobtanium. Thus has been created using DNA from humans and Na’Vi bodies called avatars. By developing a process for injecting the minds of humans into them it is hoped humans can communicate better with the Na’Vi. If this does not work, the head of the security force stands ready to remove the Na’Vi by force from the coveted site. Our paraplegic hero Jake loves being able to walk again through his avatar, and when he lives with the Na’Vi develops a deep respect for them, as well as a love for the Pocahontas-like daughter of the chief. Thus like Lt. John Dunbar in Dances With Wolves, Jake turns against his own to fight with the Na’Vi. The film’s 3-D effect joins with the plot to give us a new perspective on the old colonialism that swept aside native populations on our planet, the spirit of which is not dead, judging by the feelings of many Americans concerning the American Way of Life versus the Muslim world.

The Princess and the Frog
Rated G. Philippians 2:3-4


An absolutely delightful music-filled twist on the old fairy tale, this version is set in WW 1 era New Orleans and surrounding swamps, with the main characters being an African American daughter of a seamstress, a father away at war, and a foreign prince visiting the city. Our humble heroine shares her father’s dream of opening a café. How she meets the prince, cursed by a sorcerer, and in a twist of the plot becomes a frog herself, sharing a series of adventures with a horn-playing alligator and other creatures, is fun to watch. There is plenty of underlying moral instruction, such as what you want is not always what you need; hard work is required to bring about a dream; and real love results in making great sacrifices—all illustrated in beautiful flat, hand-drawn art that proves that one does not need all of the lavish CGI effects to make a compelling movie that appeals to children and adults.

The Road
Rated R. Jeremiah 12:4


This dark post-apocalyptic film is less of a Mad Max-like thriller than it is a visual meditation on the fallen nature of humanity and the struggle to retain one’s human dignity amidst dehumanizing circumstances. Known to us only as The Man and the Boy, a father and his young son leave their home in what seems to be the N.E. of the US to seek a warmer climate where they can find food. Cities and the land lie in ruins because of some undescribed catastrophe that has reduced humans to competing bands of savages, many of them resorting to cannibalism to stay alive. Twice The Man and the Boy barely escape from such a band. The father tells his son they must “carry the fire,” and later when the boy asks if they are still “the good guys,” the father assures him that they still are (even though he has had to kill to protect the boy). Discussion of God, a memorable scene in the ruins of a church, and a bittersweet ending leaves us with a ray of hope that, in the words of the 4th Gospel, “The light shines in the darkness…”

Up in the Air
Rated PG-13. Ecclesiastes 4:9-11; Luke 15:17a


Audiences are probably drawn to this film by the appealing George Clooney who plays a cad enjoying his uncommitted life of flying around the country collecting bonus miles while he fires employees on behalf of his clients. However, if viewers listen closely to the Graham Nash song that plays over the end credits, “Be Yourself,” they will leave the theater with a little more insight into how the most popular of one of the parables told in Luke’s gospel still resonates in the life of a self-centered man who “comes to himself” in a moment of epiphany. This moment comes at his niece’s wedding when he gives advice that he has not been following himself. A development in the trysts with his girlfriend sharply deviates from the usual arc of such films, so that the concluding sequence lifts this far above most other films of the genre.

It’s Complicated
Rated R. Exodus 20:14


Maybe it is, but the simple fact is that this film is another Hollywood justification for adultery. Oh it is highly enjoyable, thanks to the great talent of Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, and Steve Martin, but the makers still skillfully are seducing audiences to accept something once deemed repugnant. Streep’s character falls in love again with her remarried ex-husband when both are far from home attending the graduation of one of their sons. There are some good family moments, notably when Streep’s grown children express their hurt resulting years ago from the divorce, but this largely formulaic film—there is the usual circle of female friends who too readily justify our heroine’s affair—will be difficult, I hope, for people of faith to accept its major premise that a little adultery is good for the soul when committed by Beautiful People.

Nine
Rated PG-13. Romans 8:5-6
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This version of the hit Broadway musical should be of interest to fans of the great Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini because it is inspired by his own semi-autobiographical film 8 ½. Both deal with a philandering filmmaker struggling to come up with the concept of a new film. His is a desperate struggle because his last films have all been failures, and his backers have set a meeting at which he convinces them that his concept for his new project will succeed, or else. A series of the women in his life come and go with their songs describing their relationships. Although the music is not memorable, the film is thanks to a talented cast that even includes Sophia Loren as the troubled director’s mother.

 

Film Capsules December 2009

Invictus
Rated PG-13. Romans 12:18-21

Clint Eastwood continues, even in his 80th year, his string of excellent films, this time venturing far beyond the borders of the USA. He recaptures the euphoria of the days in South Africa during the early 1990s when Nelson Mandela was released from prison and then, a few years later was elected head of the government that had imprisoned him for 27 years. As we see in his efforts to unify his deeply divided nation, Mandela was God’s man for the times, appealing to his close followers to let go of their grudges against the whites who had so brutally treated them during the dark days of apartheid, and to the whites, assuring them that they had nothing to fear from the new government now in the hands of the blacks whom they had once oppressed. Morgan Freeman is inspiring as the man who lived forgiveness and reconciliation, and Matt Damon is convincing as the captain of the rugby team that Mandela sees as the key to bringing whites and blacks together during their uphill struggle for the World Cup. The old sports genre is brought to new heights by this talented director and cast, giving us a film that shows what great leadership can accomplish.

A Serious Man
Rated R. Job 2:1; Psalm 10:1.b

Although the Coen brothers can always be counted on to give us each year a film with provocative ideas (remember Raising Arizona; Barton Fink; The Big Lebowski; O Brother, Where Art Thou; or Fargo?), they have outdone themselves with this dark comedy, which in its profoundness can only be compared to Woody Allen’s masterpiece that explores similar theological territory, Crimes and Misdemeanors. Like a modern day Job, Professor Larry Gopnik is beset on all sides by troubles—at work he might not attain tenure because a failing student who had tried to bribe him is sending anonymous messages denouncing him; his wife has told him she wants a divorce so she can marry a mutual friend; his daughter wants a nose job so she will not look so ethnic; a bill collector is hounding him about a purchase he never made; his son is in trouble and might not be able to read the Torah passage at his Bar Mitzvah; his doctor has what could be bad news for him, and—well, you get the picture. And none of the three rabbis to whom he pleads for help is the least bit of comfort for him: indeed they appear to about as helpful as the three so-called friends of Job. The film ends with lots of questions, leaving the audience very much up in the air (you will see what I mean by this when you watch the very last scene) wrestling with the same questions that beset Larry—and Job.

b
Rated R. Ezekiel 37:1-3; Psalm 10:1

A powerful story coming out of the Afghan War, this is another tense film helmed by Jim Sheridan about a Good Brother and a Bad Brother that refuses to accept such labels. Just as Tommy (Jake Gyllenhaal) gets out of prison, his brother Capt. Sam Cahill (Tobey Maguire) is about to be deployed to Afghanistan for the fourth time. The film shifts back and forth between the horrendous ordeal of Sam when he is captured by Taliban insurgents and Tommy and Sam’s wife Grace. Tommy, striving to clean up his life, helps Grace cope and enjoys being uncle to Sam and Grace’s two daughters. When the Army informs Grace that her husband has died in combat, Tommy stands by but carefully not imposing himself. His relationship with is disapproving ex-soldier father begins to improve. Then they receive word that Sam is alive. Sam’s body survives his captivity, but his guilt over a decision that no human being should be forced to make cripples him emotionally, and his gratitude toward his brother for helping his wife and children while he was away turns into suspicion and hostility, threatening to explode in violence. The question posed by God to the ancient prophet in the Valley of Dry Bones is very much like the one that concludes this parable of loyalty, grief, and clinging to hope.

The Young Victoria
Rated PG. Romans 12:2 (J.B. Phillips)

You do not have to be an Anglophile to enjoy this lavish production starring Emily Blunt as the young heir to the British throne whose stepfather and mother tried to bend to their will. Like most Americans, I had no idea of the harsh attempts and schemes to force the teenaged princess to sign a paper giving her ambitious stepfather and her mother the power of regents, thus enabling them to rule on her behalf. Such was her mother’s attempt to dominate her that she kept her from seeing her uncle the King, except on a few state occasions, and she would not even let her daughter go up or down the stairs without holding the hand of an adult. (Talk about “smothering love”!) An exhilarating and dramatic moment in the film is the scene in which Victoria is informed that she is now Queen, whereupon she refuses her mother’s order to take her hand as she ascends the stairs. We see not only a strong-willed young woman, but also one who, when her romance with the socially progressive Prince Albert flourishes, takes a deep interest in the welfare of her people. If you love the Masterpiece Theater productions, you will love this film.

Did You Hear About the Morgans?
Rated PG. Colossians 3:13

This is much more of an adult comedy than most inane releases this year—you know, the ones that have to resort to human anatomy and gaseous emissions to elicit laughs. Although it is a familiar fish out of water tale, Hugh Grant and Sarah Jessica Parker play well together (and off each) other to make us laugh at the predicament of two New Yorkers who had almost decided to head for the divorce court, now forced to live in close quarters in a tiny Wyoming town because they had witnessed a gangland murder, and the Feds had placed them in the witness protection plan for their safety. Sam Elliott and Mary Steenburgen contribute greatly to the enjoyment as the small town US Marshall and wife who provide the warring pair room and board and, more importantly, advice and a good example of what a marriage can be. Despite the stereotypes of small town and big city characters, this is an enjoyable parable about forgiveness and reconciliation.

Men Who Stare at Goats
Rated R.

Almost as wacky as Joseph Heller’s anti-militarism Catch 22, this film starring George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, and Jeff Bridges is a fictional version of the US Army’s experimentation with paranormal phenomena to come up with non-violent war tactics during the decades following the Vietnam War. Sort of a Zorba the Greek meets St. Francis and Gandhi by way of Catch 22, the film will leave you laughing at some of the New Age antics of Bridges and Clooney, but also wondering, and maybe even, as it did this reviewer, thinking of Gandhi’s proposal for an army of non-violent warriors that he hoped India would adopt when it became independent.

What if…?

The Fantastic Mr. Fox
Rated PG. Proverbs 17:20

George Clooney and Meryl Streep lend their voices to Wes Anderson’s first animated film, an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s novel. Mr. Fox is much more of a rogue in the film than he was in the book, stealing chickens, turkeys, and cider from the three near-by farmers with no qualms of conscience, and desiring more spacious living quarters than his cramped underground lair provides. How he protects his wife, children and other denizens of the underground when the three farmers mount an intensive campaign with machines to excavate the hill and exterminate its creatures makes for exciting viewing.

 

Film Capsules Nov. 2009

 

A Christmas Carol

Rated PG. Galatians 6:7-10
Dickens great classic story has been filmed at least 25 times (including the numerous made for TV adaptations). However if the question should arise about needing another version, the first few minutes of this 3-D version provides an affirmative answer: what an exciting ride over the rooftops of Victorian era London, and then the camera swooping down through the crowded streets, around, over, and under signs, archways, buildings and people. The old ghost story of the redemption of a wealthy miser might make one think of the story of Zacchaeus in the Gospel of Luke. Thanks to a voice cast as talented as the animators, the film is as timely as ever. Director Robert Zemeckis wisely sticks to the novel’s dialogue, and composer Alan Silvesti deftly makes us aware that this secular tale is really Christian at heart by using several Christmas carols, the most notable one being “Joy to the World.” Despite an overlong episode involving a chase through London’s night streets, no doubt inserted to please young lovers of action, watching the film is a superb way to begin the extensive Christmas season.

The Blind Side


Rated PG-13. Mark 3:31-35
Writer/Director John Lee Hancock story, based on the life of All American Football player Michael Ohe,r might seem like the made-up story of a sentimental novelist were it not true—and to prove it the director provides an album-full of photos of the real characters to accompany the end-credits. When Memphis belle Leigh Anne Touhy is riding home one night with her family, she sees Big Mike, as Collins, her teenaged daughter knows him, walking along the street. It is winter but he is dressed in shorts and a t-shirt—no coat. The African American boy has been attending the same Christian school on a scholarship, but has no place to call home. Without much hesitation Leigh Anne invites him to stay the night at their home, and thus begins an odyssey that will change all of their lives. This is one of the most heart-warming stories to be seen, again showing how family is far more than a matter of blood, or race. This must-see film again shows that so-called sports films transcend the sport itself.

Precious

Rated R. Psalm 9:18
What a refreshing story of the triumph of loving nurture over impoverishing background, especially in that the heroine is not a sleek svelte teenager but a 330 pound African American. Despite her name, Precious is anything but that to her foul-mouthed, abusive mother Mary. The latter is the epitome of the stereotypical welfare mother, never lifting a finger to even care for their apartment or child while glued to her TV set. As soon as the girl returns home from school her mother demeans her and demands to be fed and pampered. Continually raped by Mary’s common-law husband, Precious’s second pregnancy turns out to be a good thing, the school authorities sending the girl to an alternative school where a caring teacher and social worker offer the kind of nurture necessary for the oppressed girl to gain a measure of self-esteem. The foul language might be offsetting to some viewers, but it is a story all of us living on the “right side of the tracks” need to see.

2012

Rated PG-13. Mark 13:1-2
This science fiction film is a good example of the catastrophic or end of the world genre, relying mainly on incredible CG effects. The talented cast—John Cusack, Danny Glover and more—is overshadowed by the effects, coming at us at regular intervals, thus making the film seem like a roller coaster ride. Due to firestorms on the sun, Earth’s temperature has been heating up, eventually causing huge earthquakes and tsunami waves. Warned three years ahead of time by scientific studies, as well as by a Mayan calendar supposedly ending in 2012, the governments of the earth have secretly joined together to build six huge metal arks to save a portion of humanity—the rich and the important. Before civilization is destroyed will our heroes manage to get to the Himalayas, the site of the ark construction due to the projected mountain-high height of the tsunamis? You will remember far longer the destruction of Los Angeles, California, Las Vegas, New York, the White House, the Eiffel Tower, and the Sistine Chapel and St. Peters, than you will the fate of the band of stalwart Earthlings.

The Hurt Locker

Rated R. James 4:13-15a
Probably the best film to come out of the Iraq War, director Kathryn Bigelow’s film follows the details of Bravo Company during its last 38 days of deployment. The film is probably the most intense and suspenseful film you will see this year in that the three protagonists’ mission each day is to defuse bombs planted by insurgents during the early days of the invasion. Indeed, the film focuses upon one man Sergeant First Class William James, the expert who dons the padded suit and, while his comrades guard him with their weapon (sometimes the bomber is present looking on!), actually figures out which cables to cut. His fellow soldiers despair of his heedless neglect of safety rules and his tendency not to listen to his radioed instructions. We receive the key to his seemingly reckless behavior by the quotation of New York Times reporter Chris Hedges that opens the film, “War is a drug.”

Amelia

Rated PG. Proverbs 31:10-14.
Hilary Swank both looks and acts like the great “aviatrix of the 1920s and 30s. Opening with her ill-fated attempt to become the first female to fly around the world, the film flashes back to her meeting the man who will become her sponsor, mentor, and eventually husband, George Putnam, and then moves on to other events, such as her two crossings of the Atlantic Ocean. Very much the “New Woman” that emerged during the Roaring Twenties, Emily’s marriage is as unconventional as her career. This is an engaging film that reminds us how women have had to struggle against the prevailing paternalism in order to win their own place in the sun. Amelia is a long way from the ideal woman that the writer of Proverbs described—which perhaps has both its positive and negative aspects.

 

Film Capsules, October 2009

 

Where the Wild Things Are


Rated PG. Isaiah 13:21-22a
My fears that Maurice Sendak’s ultra-short  story would be spoiled in the same way that the bloated adaptation. How the Grinch Stole Christmas spoiled the Dr. Seuss story has been laid to rest. Although this adaptation is a few minutes too long, sagging during the rather plotless island sequence, Spike Jonze is to be commended. The director is a friend of the author, who asked him to do the film (Sendak collaborated on the project, being listed as one of the producers). After the unruly Max defiantly disobeys his mother, he runs outside, through the woods, and launches off in his little sail boat for a series of adventures on an island “where the wild things are.” In this land of his fertile, and fierce, imagination he becomes king of an assortment of beasts. However, despite all the wild howling and enjoyable events, such as the building of a palace, the pull of home, seen as a secure haven of love, is strong, eventually exerting a stronger pull on his heart and mind.

Capitalism: A Love Story

Rated R. Mark 10:21-22.
Although dismissed by some as a grandstanding iconoclast, Michael Moore’s newest film, issued on the 20th anniversary of his first film Roger and Me, is noteworthy here because he reveals so fully the Christian basis for his views. He not only interviews two Catholic priests and a bishop to bolster his argument that capitalism as it has been practiced in the US for the past 40 years is an evil institution built on unrestrained greed, but he also invokes the gospel story of Jesus and the rich young man. His satirical use of scenes from Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth (he literally puts words affirming the values of modern capitalism into the mouth of Jesus) will be appreciated by Christians who know that their Master affirmed the opposite of which the doctored image is saying. Most of all, the heart-wrenching stories of little people victimized by institutions of capitalism show that the filmmaker sides with the One who came to bring “good news to the poor” and “release to the captives.” One can argue with some of his assertions and extreme arguments perhaps, but what appears to be the source of his passionate views is unimpeachable.

Pirate Radio

Rated R. Psalm 144:9
Hard to believe that the homeland of the Beatles and The Rolling Stones once banned rock music from the airwaves. But until the latter part of the Sixties that was the case, except for a 45 minute segment on the BBC. Thus enterprising entrepreneurs stepped into the breech by operating illegal radio stations from ships that stood just outside Great Britain’s territorial waters. The Ship That Rocked (the film was renamed for US distribution) tells in a farcical style the story of eight rebellious music loving  DJs who broke the law and agreed to live aboard the ship. Their story is told through the eyes of a young man whose mother, worried because he has been expelled from school for smoking weed, has been sent to her friend who owns the “pirate radio“ ship. The British government does everything it can to shut the operation down. An audience of 25 million rock devotees hope and pray that they will not succeed. The film is fun to watch but, from a Christian standpoint seriously flawed, with scenes of its lecherous crew engaging in sex with the “birds” who are brought out on a periodic basis, and especially by making the young hero’s loss of virginity something to be celebrated and shared via radio with millions of approving listeners. Be forewarned also that there is a scene, admittedly funny, in which a DJ (wonderfully played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) manages to get around the ship owner’s order not to use the “F” word over the air.

T. Invention of Lying

Rated  PG-13
Imagine a world in which everyone tells the truth--sort of a world in which humankind has not suffered a total fall from grace. Several amusing scenes show this, such as when people really tell each other what they think of the other. Our hero’s first date with the heroine is unpromising in that she tells him that he is too short and fat for her to love because his genes would provide a less than satisfactory sperm source for children. Then by chance he tells what he considers a lie and is believed. He is with his dying mother (the name of the nursing home, which in our would might be called “Happy Haven,” is "A Sad Place Where Homeless Old People Come to Die"). To comfort her he tells her that there is an afterlife where they will one day be reunited. Other people hear about what he has said and clamor to hear more about this, and our hero reluctantly complies by declaring that there is a Man Up There, thus launching something akin to a religious movement. The film’s premise that religion is possible only by lying about reality might make you bristle, but the film is genuinely funny and offers a great opportunity for church groups to explore truth and its consequences, the nature of faith, and the age old attempt to explain the goodness of God and the existence of evil. Beware, the PG-13 rating is due to language and to some sexual content.

The Informant


Rated R. Ecclesiastes 10:12-15
Although played for its comedic elements, this film is based on a real life whistle blower at Archer Daniels Midland, among the top fifty of US corporations. He aspires to become the CEO of his company by informing on his superiors’ long time practice of price fixing with international firms. He agrees to become an FBI informant, wearing a wire to record business meetings. At first Stephen Soderbergh’s film seems like another version of The Insider, a film based on an executive’s revelation of the tobacco industry’s deceptions, but the latter half of The Informant is far more complicated. As the months and years pass by, the FBI try to make sense of the conflicting stories that their spy tells them, and eventually discover that he has had an agenda that he has kept hidden from them. Brad Pitt is delightful as Mark Whitacre, the executive , who eventually due to his nefarious machinations, served a longer prison sentence than any of the crooked executives whom he brought down. The psalmists, decrying “the wicked” who become ensnared in their own traps, would have enjoyed this film, though, as we see at the end, there is more than just a moral lapse to the story.

Bright Star


Rated  PG. Song of Solomon 8:6a & 7
Poet John Keats could be the poster boy representing the popular cliché of the starving, short-lived artist (he died at the age of 25). Jane Campion brings the story of star struck lovers beautifully to life in a film that deserves to reach an audience beyond the art house circuit. Keats lives with his friend and fellow poet Mr. Brown, the latter becoming jealous when Keats and the daughter of their landlord Fanny Brawne fall in love. However, as Fanny’s rather liberal-minded mother observes, the poet has "no living and no income," thus making marriage impossible. Although the poet’s first volume has been published, few have bought it, even though its first poem begins with the immortal line “A thing of beauty is a joy forever. “ Both adhering to the strict moral code of the early 19th century, they are unable to consumate their love, making one believe that the lines from his “Ode to a Grecian Urn” grew out of their bittersweet experience:
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal -- yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,
For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!

More Than a Game


Rated  PG.
Kristopher Belma’s well-edited documentary follows the incredible 9-year journey of five Ohio basketball players known as “The Fab Five,” among whom is the future NBA superstar LeBron James. Coached in Akron, Ohio by the father of one of four boys who have played basketball together from the sixth grade, they are joined in high school by transplanted Chicagoan James LeBron, the five playing so well together that they lead their team to a national championship. The director has assembled interviews, newsreel footage, home videos and photographs into a seamless film that should appeal not just to basketball fans but to anyone interested in the small and improbable winning out over great odds.

 

Film Capsules September 2009

 

9

Rated PG-13. Running Time: 1 hour 19 min. Genesis 6:5 &  11:4a
9 is beautifully animated film set in a world made ugly by the wars against humanity--indeed, this being a post-apocalyptic film, the last war as far as humans are concerned. Centering on a few doll-sized androids created so hastily during humankind's last moments that their inner workings are covered by crudely stitched together burlap with a large zipper for closing, it is the old story of freedom versus security, of fear versus faith. In a series of old newspaper photos and a newsreel our hero, named 9 because he was the 9th in a line of experimental droids, learns of the wars among humans as they develop ever more intelligent machines of destruction, and then of the war of annihilation when the killing machines turned on their creators. 9 and the other droids debate whether to stay hidden in security or to venture forth into danger in order to combat the soulless machines that now rule the world. This is a well crafted film that asserts that there is a spirituality necessary for meaningful existence--but leave small children at home, because of numerous violent scenes that could lead to nightmares.

 

Inglorious Basterds

Rated R. Running Time: 2 hours 32 min. 1 Samuel 15:1-3
Quentin Tarantino's films are always smart and interesting, filled with humor, allusions to classic or cult films, and sometimes, as in the case of my favorite, Pulp Fiction, with theological insight. His current rewrite of WW 2 history, mainly from the standpoint of the devourers of that period's pulp fiction, is too similar to the blood bath film The Dirty Dozen for this reviewer to feel comfortable, even though I enjoyed it. A band of American Jews recruited by an officer to wage behind enemy lines a vicious campaign of exterminating Nazis: a German movie star who spies for the Allies; a young theater owner in Paris who a few years earlier escaped the massacre of her Jewish family; and a Nazi SS officer whose manners make Agent 007 seem like a crude bumpkin yet whose ruthlessness makes Hannibal Lector appear to be a humanitarian--these are characters you will not forget. But can we as Christians condone their methods, even in a juvenile fantasy world that offers a comic book ending to the bloodiest war in history?

Two Excellent Films On DVD
The following two films provide a great opportunity for church groups to gain insights into and discuss an important issue that will come to the fore again after the current furor over health care reformation (or not) has subsided.

Sine Nombre


Rated R. Running time: 1 hour 36 min. Deuteronomy  24:19-22
This is a heart-wrenching film that deserves to be seen by those advocating both sides of the debate over immigration policy in the US. Weaving together the stories of Sayra, a teenage girl who joins her father and uncle atop a train heading from Honduras to northern Mexico, with that of  Willy, nicknamed Casper, a member of the brutal Mara Salvatrucha gang in southern Mexico, it is the best film since 1983's El Norte for putting a human face on the issue of illegal migrants. Already in trouble with his gang leader for lying to them, Casper makes the final break when he rescues Sayra who is about to be robbed and raped on the train. The realism of the film stems from writer/director Cary Fukunaga's having himself ridden a atop a Mexican train bound for the northern border. The story is a harrowing one, told with no sentimentality, yet filled with love and grace--and at the end, a shred of hope. The film played for just a couple of weeks at an art house theater, but thanks to its DVD release is now available to all. Please spread the word about this excellent study of "the wretched of the earth."

Sugar

Rated R. Running Time: 1 hour 54 min. Leviticus 19:34
Like Sine Nombre, Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck's film came and went before it could garner the audience it deserves. It too deals with the immigration issue, but from a very different perspective--through professional baseball and its program of recruitment in the Dominican Republic. Miguel Santos, nicknamed  Sugar, is a young man with potential talent who is sent to a farm team in Iowa to prove himself and receive further training. The film follows his introduction not just to minor league baseball with its ups and downs, but also his introduction to American culture as he is boarded out to a farm family. He must cope with learning English, eating new kinds of food, adapting to a different form of the faith when he attends the Protestant family's worship and youth services, and the different customs in regard to relating to girls--the kindly family have a daughter about his age. The film's plot does not follow the usual arc of those of the sports genre, making this a much more original and interesting movie.

 

Film Capsules August 2009

 

District 9


Rated R. Matthew 25:43
Director Neill Blomkamp's film again proves that science fiction is an excellent means for exploring a burning social issue. In this case it is the controversial subject of the treatment of aliens, important not only in a US worried about the security of its borders, but in many European, African, and Asian countries as well during this time of turmoil when so many people are forced to flee their homelands. In this film the "aliens" are from an unspecified planet, their giant spacecraft having come to earth 28 years before the action in the film begins. Far from being the marauders of the usual scifi tale, these aliens turn out to be "the huddled masses yearning to be free." South African security forces have herded them into the slum known as District 9, a reference to a real district back in the days of apartheid when the black residents were forcibly removed to make way for whites. In this film the government contracts out to MBU, a private company ominously like Halliburton, to remove the alien population away from the city to a remote region where they will not be so pesky. Although a very violent film that will please lovers of the summer action genre, through the character development of the MNU flunky assigned to head the removal, we are shown the inhumanity of the humans compared to the aliens who, like E.T., just want to go home. People of faith will find many references in Scripture to "the alien" as good handles for interpreting and discussing the film--such as "You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt." (Exodus 23:9).

Julia & Julie


Rated PG-13. Ecclesiastes 8:15
It will help, but you do not have to be a gourmet food lover to enjoy Nora Ephron's film that finds parallels between the lives of two women of two different generations but who share a love of cooking--and their first names both begin with "J." Julia Child (Meryl Streep, exquisite as always!), supported by her super supportive husband Paul (Stanley Tucci), a staff member at the US Embassy in Paris, after floundering about, discovers her culinary skills at the famed Le Cordon Bleu. However, it is 1949 when male chauvinism rules in the professional kitchen, and McCarthyism threatens the careers of liberals, especially those in the State Department, so Julia faces plenty of obstacles before she can change the way Americans regard and cook their food. Intercut with episodes from the Childs are less interesting scenes of aspiring writer Julie Powell (Amy Adams) in 2003 New York, where she also is supported by a loving husband but stuck in a dead-end job. Hitting upon the idea of cooking her way within a year through Julie Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking and writing a blog about it. Lots of drama, humor, and good feeling from all concerned triumphing over the odds in this engaging film.

 
Bandslam

Rated PG. Colossians 4:5
At last, a film about teenagers that does not feature fart jokes or feature boys and girls ripping their clothes off after knowing each other for 15 minutes. The plot is familiar, the story of a group of outsiders who form a band and struggle hard to find their voice, against great odds, of course. New student Will has grown up resenting his deceased musician father, but he shares his dad’s talent, not for playing music, but for knowing how to range it and develop the talents of players. When former cheerleader Charlotte drafts him to shape up her mediocre band, he discovers his calling at the school--to expand and improve the band so that they can compete in the tri-state competition known as “Bandslam.” He also befriends fellow outsider Sa5m (the 5 is silent--how cute!), quickly developing romantic feelings for her, but not suspecting what great musical talents she has. Lots of energetic music, an ending that is both conventional and yet with a slight twist.

Funny People

Rated R. Proverbs 18:24
It is almost a cliché that comedians, the funny people of the title, are crying on the inside while laughing on the outside. In this Adam Sandler film his character George Simmons, a famous stand-up comic and movie star, is laboring under the dreadful news that he has a disease that will kill him in a year or so. Then, as the author of Ecclesiastes repeatedly reminds us, of what benefit to him will be all his wealth, fame, and talent? He recruits an aspiring stand-up comic Ira Wright (Seth Rogen) to write jokes for him and then takes him on as his personal assistant. When an unexpected turn of events happens, their tenuous friendship is broken, and George must learn the importance of relationships. The reconciliation at the end is a lovely, understated moment. Unfortunately there is so much crude language and so many penis jokes that the otherwise appealing film will put off many church folk--the film obviously being made for young adults who frequent comedy clubs or watch such cable channels as Comedy Central.

Ponyo


Rated G.   Romans 13:8
Considered by many to be the greatest animator in the world  Hayao Miyazaki has gifted us with a beautiful tale based on Hans Christian Anderson's story of "The Little mermaid"--and he has done it the old fashioned way, by hand, eschewing fancy computer animation. 5-year old Sosuke, the son of an oft-absent sailor, lives with his mother Lisa in a house high on a cliff overlooking the sea. One day he rescues a little gold fish
 trapped in a bottle. When he cuts his finger while smashing the glass, the grateful gold fish licks the wound, and the taste of human blood gives the magical little creature the power to become human. Naming her Ponyo, the two immediately love each other. It seems that Ponyo is the daughter of a sea wizard father and the goddess of the sea. Lisa, who works at a home for the elderly, agrees that Ponyo can stay with them. However, for some reason Ponyo's transformation upsets the balance of nature, causing the moon to draw closer to earth, this generating a giant tsunami that washes over the land. Through a series of harrowing adventures the children set out to save the world. This is a truly magical tale of love and relationships that will charm young and old viewers.

 

 

Film Capsules, July 2009

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Rated R Director David Yates. Warner Brothers. Running Time: 2 hours 30 min.
Although they have left out the climactic battle that concluded the novel, most of the other plot developments are included in this darkest of the Harry Potter films. David Yates, who ably directed the fifth Potter film, returns, along with the cast we have come to love. Michael Gambon proves that he was a good choice to replace the deceased Richard Harris as Professor Dumbledore. Our three heroes become enmeshed in their teenage romantic entanglements, and Severus Snape and Draco Malfoy show which side they are on in the sad event in Hogworth’s Astronomy Tower, a dark deed which Harry proves helpless to prevent. Without the climax of the novel, this film becomes more of a bridge or preparation for the two films to follow. Yes, I wrote two, the filmmakers wisely deciding to break the last novel into the films.

Public Enemies

Rated R. Proverbs 4:14-17
In his very well made crime thriller director Michael Mann gives a romanticized take on bank robber John Dillinger (Johnny Depp) and the FBI agent in pursuit of him Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale)—though in truth, the emphasis is upon the crook, as we see nothing of the lawman’s personal life. For the most part the script stays close to the facts, although it does not include Dillinger’s second girlfriend, whom he acquired after the capture and imprisonment of his first love, Billie Frechette. Of interest is how the killers (the plural in the title refers to Baby Face Nelson and other members of the Dillinger gang) became folk heroes in the eyes of many of the public. As now, during the Depression era banks and bankers were held in low esteem, back then because they had wiped out the savings of so many depositors and foreclosed on the homes of so many. The public also admired the canny way in which Dillinger eluded capture, or when he was apprehended, how he was able to break free. Nonetheless, the screen robber, like the real one shoots down in a hail of bullets far too many lawmen unfortunate enough to cross his path.

Moon

Rated R. Psalm 25:16-18a.
At last, a science fiction film not filled with deep space battle scenes and black holes, evil aliens attacking noble humans, or a hurtling planet, asteroid or sun flare rushing to destroy Earth. Sam Rockwell, his character also named Sam, is outstanding as the lone engineer tending a mining operation on the other side of the moon—his role is similar to Tom Hanks’ in Castaway. Well, Sam is not quite alone, as there is a mobile computer dubbed Gerty that tends to both his human needs and those of the base and mining operations Sam is nearing completion of his three year term, eager to return to his wife and baby daughter, when he makes a shocking discovery. There is an accident with one of the moon rovers and a huge digging machine, and inside the damaged rover there is —a man! Where did he come from, and more puzzling, why does he look like Sam? Quite a mystery, followed by some challenging questions about the power of a conglomerate (the film opens with a good “Infomercial” about the mining company that is much like those of chemical companies that promise us “Good living through chemistry”—or oil, or electricity) and the use of science by profit-making groups.

Whatever Works

Rated PG-13. Ecclesiastes 2:18-26
It is great to report that Woody Allen has found his “groove” again, after such a long string of so-so films (with one or two exceptions) since the golden years of Hannah and Her Sisters and Crimes and Misdemeanors. He returns to his beloved Manhattan and again stays behind the camera, with actor Larry David playing the usual Allen neurotic. However David’s Boris Yellnikoff, a retired Columbia professor who tells everyone that he had been close to winning a Nobel Prize for Quantum Mechanics, is so misanthropic and convinced that the universe is pointless that he makes the protagonists of previous Allen films seem like Polly Annas! Much of the humor comes into play when the innocent Melody St. Ann Augustine (Evan Rachel Wood), a naïf from New Orleans, moves in with him (much against his loud objections), takes his metaphorical criticisms of the world and of herself literally, and then begins to mouth his nihilistic philosophy. Imagine that the writer of the biblical book of Ecclesiastes (Vanity of vanities...!”) were to make a film: this would be it.

Away We Go

Rated R. Psalm 10:1
British theater director Sam Mendes, who gave us American Beauty and Revolutionary Road, provides us with another look of askance at our society in this road film about an expectant couple searching for a suitable place to raise their child. They leave their Colorado home because his parents, whom they expected to be of great help, have suddenly decided that they are going to live in Belgium. The pair visit an assortment of relatives and friends in such places as Phoenix, Tucson, Montreal, and Miami, but for an assortment of reasons—some funny, and at least one poignantly sad—they soon depart for another city. Their journey leads them into all sorts of reflection, upon marriage (he wants to marry, she asks “What’s the point?”), ways of raising children, and where and what is home. A somewhat chaotic film, but far better than most of the cineplex drech.

 

Film Capsules June 2009

 

UP

Rated PG. Isaiah 11:6; Proverbs 17:17
The 10th film from Pixar easily maintains the studio’s reputation as the producer of the best animated films to be found anywhere. Like last year’s WALL-E, there is a sequence near the beginning of the film that seems like one of the old silent films, providing us with the back story of why the elderly Carl is so sad and grumpy, He lives alone in the house once shared with his wife, both of whom had wanted to go to Paradise Falls in South America for an adventure, but had put it off until it was too late. He rebuffs the help of chubby Russell , a Boy Explorer out to complete his sash of badges by earning a Help the Elderly badge. But when Carl, once a balloon salesman, ties thousands of balloons to his old house and lifts off, he is surprised to discover that Russell is still on his front porch. Thus begins a series of wild adventures and at first grudging friendship between the old man and the boy, one that brings great benefits to both, each learning what is most important in life. A truly great film that should be shared by young and old!

Easy Virtue

Rated PG-13. Proverbs 26:23-25
What seems at first like a drawing room comedy lifted from the period between the two great wars of the 20th century turns out to be a poignant tale of love and honesty versus hypocrisy and coldness of heart. Based on an early Noel Coward play, the film follows the adventures of Larita, an American woman famous as a successful race car driver, who falls for a handsome English aristocrat a few years younger than herself and then collides with the stone wall that is his snobbish mother and two sisters. The latter are convinced that the interloper married for money and status, so they are bent on destroying the marriage, labeling her a woman of “easy virtue.” Only the father, burnt out by his experience in the Great War, appreciates the fresh air that the breezy young woman brings with her. Filled with zingy lines that sometimes mask pain and envy, this is a delightful tale of human folly and love.

The Taking of Pelham 123

Rated R. Psalm 119:28-30
Although a remake (which is usually not a good thing), this thriller, directed by veteran director Tony Scott, keeps the audience eagerly leaning forward in its seats with its fast-paced action. The story of armed thugs taking over a New York subway train and demanding a ten million dollar ransom unfolds in real time. Virtually every second is precious because Ryder, the killer played by John Travolta, declares that unless the money arrives on the exact minute of his dealine, he will kill a hostage for each minute of tardiness. The “guy on the other end of the line,” as Denzil Washington’s dispatcher Walter Garber calls himself, is placed on the hot seat, at one time required to make a decision that will either cost a hostage his life or Garber his job and his freedom. Thus the film becomes a good character study as well as a fast-paced action thriller.

My Life in Ruins

Rated PG. Ezekiel 36:26
Compared to her first film My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Nia Vardalos’s third film might well be called “My Movie in Ruins.” Her first film, which she wrote, was fresh and breezy, whereas this one, written by Mike Reiss, invokes about every plot cliché and stereotyped character imaginable. Vardalos plays Georgia, an American would-be college professor living in Athens whose plans have not worked out, so that she is forced to work as a tour guide for a third-rate company that always gives her a wheezy old bus and books the tourists in flea-bag hotels. Her bus driver, named Poupi (yes, it does sound like you know what) at first looks like Rasputin, but when he, attracted to Georgia, shaves his beard, he becomes an Adonis, especially when he doffs his shirt. The tourists are an unruly collection of characters who would rather shop for cheap souvenirs than listen to Georgia lecture on the beautiful sites she conducts them to. Guess what happens by the end of this limp tale? Best thing about it is the usurpation of the music from and the transformation theme of Zorba the Greek.

Four films for wasting your time and money:
The one good thing about buying ticket to these films is that you are keeping a lot of Hollywood folk in employment (I almost included “gainful,” but only the movie folk gain anything here—you buy, you lose. Don’t say you weren’t warned.)

Angels & Demons

Rated PG-13.
You can be sure that this Dan Brown-derived potboiler will not be mentioned when Tom Hanks receives the customary “Lifetime Achievement Award.” He shows up for the camera and recites his lines as the so-called “Harvard symbologist” called in by the Vatican to solve a mystery involving the abduction of the four leading candidates for the office of Pope. Best thing about the thriller are the magnificent sets of the Vatican and Saint Peters. You will not be bored by the fast pace, but neither will you be moved by the story.

Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

Ben Stiller returns to NYC’s Museum of Natural History to rescue his pals who spring to life after sundown and the museum is emptied of visitors. They have been shipped to the Biggy of all American museums, the Smithsonian, where he must save them—and the world (of course)—before a deranged Pharaoh can get his hands on a magic tablet and—. Best parts of the movie involve Amy Adams as a sparkly Amelia Earhart and some imaginative sequences in which works of art come to life: in the famous photo of a sailor kissing a woman in Times Square to celebrate V-J Day our hero find themselves amidst the crowd, and even kissing the woman.

Drag Me Down to Hell

Rated PG-13
Drag yourself out of the theater if you are tempted to buy a ticket to this nihilistic horror flick starring Alison Lohman as a bank loan officer whose misfortune is to arouse the ire of a Roma crone’s application for an extension of time on her home mortgage.

Land of the Lost

Rated PG-13.
Strictly for Will Ferrell fans, this adventure yarn is about a scientist and two companions sucked into a space-time vortex where they discover a tribe of primitives and a fierce and hungry T-Rex. It would be best if you got lost on the way to the theater and forgot about this supposed comedy, so filled with vulgar, juvenile humor.

 

 

 

FILM CAPSULES, May 2009

 

Star Trek

Rated PG. Proverbs 2:21-22
This prequel to the long Star Trek series begins with a bang. A Star Fleet ship is under attack by a huge, strange shaped vessel captained by a Romulan renegade named Nero, who is bent on avenging the destruction of his planet. Overwhelmed by superior firepower, Captain George Kirk orders his ship to be abandoned. Among the evacuees is his wife Winona, about to give birth (don't ask why she is aboard). Captain Kirk, seeing that the only way to keep Nero at bay, thus allowing the rest of the crew to escape, is to stay with the ship and ram the attacker, keeps in radio touch with his wife to the last moment of impact. The baby boy emerges, they express their love, agree on the name of James--James Tiberius Kirk--and say farewell. Thus is born the great hero of the Star Fleet, half-orphaned, and, as we see subsequently, a hellion of a kid raised in Iowa. The film also provides a glimpse of the young Spock, a ridiculed outsider on Vulcan because his ambassador father had married an Earth woman. Vulcans might be ultra-rational, but they can also be subject to prejudice. Jump ahead in time to the Academy where, to our surprise, Spock and Kirk begin their relationship as enemies. Before long they are aboard the brand new Enterprise with the Vulcan as Captain, at odds over what to do about Nero and his immense ship that has just destroyed the planet Vulcan. Aboard also are the younger versions of the crew we have come to love, the young actors being wonderfully matched to their older characters. There is the usual scientific gobbledygook necessary for this genre (including the beginning of what will become the beloved phrase "Beam me up, Scotty"), wonderful special effects, and best of all, the beginning of the relationships that have always been at the heart of the series. A special crowd pleaser is the appearance of Leonard Nimoy as Spock, at  the ripe age of 129 Earth years, who has somehow come from the future and speaking to the young Kirk in an ice cave. Director J.J. Abrams and his crew have honored the original, producing what should be a box office winner. Director J.J. Abrams and his crew have honored the original, producing what should be a box office winner

 

The Soloist

Rated R. Proverbs 17:17
This is another film based on a true story of a journalist trying to help a down and out man. Newspaper columnist Steve Lopez is curious when he stops beneath an L.A. Freeway underpass to listen to a man engrossed in playing a two-stringed violin. It is a beautiful Beethoven piece, and when the player mentions that he has studied at Julliard, Lopez senses a story. It is indeed a Big Story, the homeless man being Nathaniel Ayers who dropped out of school when his mental illness overwhelmed him. In response to Steve’s story readers send in instruments, and Nathaniel is able to play his first love, a cello. As their friendship develops, Steve works with a church shelter counselor, Nathaniel’s sister who flies in from their hometown of Cleveland, and with various members of the L.A. Philharmonic to help Nathaniel reconnect with the world. However, this does not proceed according to the usual Hollywood formula, the filmmakers refusing to sugar coat Nathaniel’s illness. The film is a wonderful, only slightly fictionalized, tale of friendship, love, and fighting the good fight against life’s cruel slings and arrows. The church counselor comes off as a very compassionate and perceptive care-giver.

Paris 36 (French with English subtitles)

Rated PG-13. Proverbs 6:11-19
Writer-director Christophe Barratier delightful work could be seen as the ultimate “let’s save the day by putting on a show” film. Set in a working class district of Paris in 1936, hence its title, it chronicles the efforts of an assorted group of folk to save a decrepit music hall from being torn down by the ruthless man who heads the local Fascist movement. One of the characters is a talented boy who clandestinely keeps his manager father afloat financially after the theater is first closed and their mother-wife leaves with another man. When the authorities catch the boy playing his accordion with another performer at cafes, the out-of-work father loses custody of the boy and the mother cuts off all contact between the two. When the former performers and stage employees put on their Big Show to raise money for the purchase of the theater, matters turn out very differently from the old Hollywood formula, though the new girl hired to introduce the acts does turn out to be a singing sensation. There is also an underlying theme of anti-Semitism and the rebirth of one of the performers who has succumbed to it. Filled with tuneful songs and humorous moments, this is well worth the trip up to the Esquire to catch it.

Earth

Rated G. Psalm 24:1-2
If you enjoyed the old Disney “True Life Adventures” such as The Living Desert, you will love this journey around our planet and through the seasons. The producers have taken some of the best sequences from the BBC and Discovery Channel series “Planet Earth” and woven them into a fascinating film, whose beauty at times will fill you with a sense of awe. The struggle of a mother polar bear and her two cubs to find food cuts back and forth with that of a male polar bear, supposedly the “father,” which vainly tries to stay alive when food becomes both scarce and difficult to kill when it does find it. The 3000 mile journey of a mother humpback whale and her calf; a herd of elephants crossing a desert to find water; these and other vignettes of animals make us aware of how vast and varied are the animals of our world, and also how some of these are threatened by our pollution.

On DVD: The Tale of Despereaux


Rated G. Colossians 3:13.
Although named after a tiny nonconformist mouse with Dumb0sized ears that wants to become a knight, several other lives are intertwined in this twist on the old fairy tale genre —that of Roscuro, a rat that is banished when he falls into the Queen’s soup; a Princess grieving over the death of her mother, caused by the shock of seeing a rat in her soup; and a pug-nosed peasant maid who dreams of leaving her pigs and servant chores and becoming a princess. Little Despereaux is the bane of his parents and teachers because he is unafraid of cats; loves to read books rather than to eat their paper and glue; and worst of all, because he enters into a conversation with a human, the Princess. For all of this he is banished from the mouse section of the castle into a deep, deep shaft, at the bottom of which is rat territory. How he teams up with Roscuro and overcomes all obstacles so that he can achieve his dream of becoming a knight makes for an amusing and inspiring tale. Parents and grandparents could use this DVD, with some funny games and activities, to bond with a child and talk together about some important issues

 

All FILM CAPSULES after May 2009

 

Preaching Moments

from the Movies

By Edward McNulty

This is the first of two articles not only suggesting that many films offer great opportunities for preachers to connect their message with the movies, but also providing an example. We begin with the review of the selected film that was carried in out sister publication Visual Parables so that the reader will have a good idea of the plot of the film, and from the discussion questions will discover some of the issues raised by the film. Then

Sweet Land
Rated PG. Our ratings: V- 0; L- 1; S/N-3 . Running time: 1 hour 50 min.

We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another. Whoever does not love abides in death. All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them. We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?
Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.
1 John 3:14-22

“Drive out the wicked person from among you.”
1 Corinthians 5:13

There are two deaths and two reckonings that conjure up the past in director Ali Selim’s film, his script based on Will Weaver’s short story “A Gravestone Made of Wheat.” At the death of his grandfather Olaf Torvik, Lars visits with his grandmother Inge (Lois Smith) and helps bury the old man in the middle of a wheat field. Through her stories and old photographs he is drawn into the story of her youthful days when she came from Norway to Minnesota just after WW 1. The second death is that of Inge herself, and now older and bearded, Lars wrestles with the decision as to whether or not to sell the farm, now that his grandmother no longer lives on the land. His wife sits by him for support as he again looks through his grandmother’s photographs and papers.

One of the photographs is of a young and beautiful Inge (Elizabeth Reaser) taken in front of the house, not long after she had arrived in town by train lugging two suitcases and an unwieldy horn-speaker phonograph. She practices the one sentence of English that she knows, “I could eat a horse.” Unable to understand the words of the two men—Olaf (Tim Guinee) and Frandsen (Alan Cumming)— who come long after her arrival to pick her up, she identifies the wrong man as the one whom she is to marry. Her pick, the talkative Frandsen is very married, he and wife Brownie (Alex Kingston) being the proud parents of nine children!

Her intended, Olaf, takes her to his church where the pastor Minister Sorrensen (John Heard) and the congregation apparently have gathered for their wedding. However, Inge does not have her citizenship papers, and when the pastor learns that she is a German who had been living in Norway, everyone is aghast. The final straw leading to his refusal to marry her is the revelation that she was a Socialist. Although the war has been over for two years, anti-German feeling is still strong, along with the new anti-Red phobia sweeping through the country.

Unable to marry, Inge accompanies Frandsen to his farm, where his wife Marta (“Call me Brownie”) welcomes her with a hug and the offer of a bath. Seeing her hosts nine children lined up waiting for their turn in the tub, Inge declines the honor of going first while the water is still clean. Over the next several days, Brownie helps Inge with her English and shows her the secrets of upper Midwest cooking. The scene in which Brownie introduces Inge to pie is a delight, the two finding their pieces so good that they go on and consume the whole pie.

The night scene in which Inge wanders the fields while gazing at the northern lights is beautifully photographed. She finds that she has come to Olaf’s house, so she enters, and thus begins her long but chaste stay with him, he sleeping out in the barn. As they grow closer, she works the fields with him. Their living together does not escape the church’s notice, Minister Sorrenson declaring that the couple are going against God’s way. The two leave the sanctuary, as does their friend Frandsen, despite the reluctance of his wife.

How this conflict is resolved, with a satisfying change of heart of the minister makes for a deeply moving, lyrical film. Although born in Minnesota and the creator of hundreds of TV commercials and company films, Ali Selim’s film (his second) is more European in style than American. His is a minimalist style, far more being shown than spoken. When Inge speaks German and Norwegian, there are no subtitles, and thus we must rely on her expression and tone to surmise what she is saying. Like another of my favorite films, Tender Mercies, much of the action takes place off camera; and like that film, Mr. Selim’s is full of grace. Minister Sorrensen could have easily been portrayed as one more narrow-minded hypocrite, so dear to many Hollywood filmmakers, but he is as multi-dimensional as the strict minister-father in Footloose. Relegated to the art house circuit, no doubt because the independent distributor lacks promotional funds, this lyrical film deserves a wider audience.

For Reflection/Discussion
Beware of the spoilers toward the end of this section.
1) What kind of a person do you think Inge is? What must she have in order to cross an ocean to live among a people whose language she does not know? What does her belonging to the Socialist party in her native Germany suggest about her mind and education? Do you see any symbolism in her carting her large phonograph across the ocean? What role does music seem to play in her life? Have you found music a must in your life, and if so, why?
2) From the scenes in which characters react to Inge’s German origin, what is the common view of Germans in 1920? Judging by what the law clerk says about Germans, is this view much different from prejudice against blacks or Jews?
3) What do you think of banker Harmo (Ned Beatty)? He is a church attender, but do you think he has imbibed much of the spirit of 1 John? What does his statement concerning foreclosure on Frandsen and Brownie’s farm (“Business is business.”) reveal about the connection between his ethics and his faith? How is it necessary to put religion and business in tight compartments for him to live with himself?
4) From what you see of Frandsen and Brownie, who probably actually runs the farm? How is Brownie a good embodiment of the passage from 1 John?
5) When Minister Sorrenson says in his sermon that he believes in “a God of love and compassion,” but also in the necessity to follow the narrow way, what conflict do you see in this—and perhaps within himself? Describe the tension between the two passages quoted at the beginning of this review. Do you think that this is a problem still for the church? How do you think that the church can be welcoming and yet also stand for certain beliefs and a code of conduct?
6) What do you think of Olaf’s bidding on his friend’s farm? A major act of grace? From a business standpoint, how is it foolish?
7) When Minister Sorrenson confronts Olaf and Inge about their living together, what do you think of her reply that in her heart they are married? And then to his assertion that in reality they are not, her challenge to him that her belief is similar to his own faith in God, not something that is “real,” but is a matter of the heart? How is this exactly the answer that can get through to him?
8) How is the arrival of the minister and other farmers a matter of grace, of the community responding to a neighbor’s need, as John urges in his letter? What apparently had the minister been doing between the auction and that moment? (Similar to the minister’s acts in Tender Mercies.) How is the “dance” scene that closes the film appropriate? How does this film make you feel at its conclusion?
9) The film’s official website offers a number of excellent clips that you can download and use with a group. Go to http://www.sweetlandmovie.com/ and click onto “Clips.”
Reprinted from the Summer, 2007 issue of Visual Parables,

Preaching Choices

The film is so rich in themes—the courage exhibited by Inga when she leaves her country to come to a strange country and marry a man she has not met; the hospitality and love of Frandsen and Brownie; the love that grows between Inga and Olaf as they live together and strive to raise their crops; the narrowness of the minister and church; the disconnect between the banker’s professed faith and his foreclosing on Frandsen and Brownie; the grace seen in Olaf’s bidding on the farm at the auction, and then later that of the Minister Sorrensen and the church leaders. The preacher could build a topical sermon around any of these themes. The one chosen for the sermon below is the theme of fear, or maybe better, how love overcomes fear.

The Antidote to Fear

O.T.: When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 19:33-34

N.T.: There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.
1 John 4:18

Fear is a basic fact of life. In small doses it is a necessary part, warning us of danger. But uncontrolled it can be disastrous, paralyzing both rational thought and action. It is this uncontrolled fear that the writers of our Scriptures contend with. “Fear not...” the angels said to the shepherds on that first Christmas night. Long before that first Christmas God had said to their ancestor, “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” During the tumultuous time at the end of the Babylonian Captivity the prophet known as Second Isaiah many times said “Fear not...”, as when, “But now thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: / “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine./ When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you...” I wonder if Jesus had this passage in mind when the disciples, fearing that the raging storm was about to swamp their boat out on Lake Galilee, woke up their master, “And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O men of little faith?”

Were we people “of little faith” left to ourselves, we would be most pitiable, much like those rain and wave drenched disciples fearing for their lives in their little boat. However, God has not left us to dwell alone in our fear. As people of faith we are given something stronger than fear—love. The Scriptures bear witness to this God-given love throughout their length and breadth. The Old Testament proclaims the love of God for Israel, and his expectation that they will share that love—not only with other Israelites, but even with foreigners—or as such are called in the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, “aliens,” “strangers,” and “sojourners.” A word search in these books will turn up several dozen passages in which the people are commanded to make special provision for the welfare of the non-Israelites who lived amongst them, culminating in today’s commandment, “you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.”

Our natural tendency to fear, rather than to love, the alien is well dramatized in the delightful film directed by Ali Selim Sweet Land, set in Minnesota shortly after WW 1 when anti-German feeling was still strong, and a new fear of “the Bolsheviks” or “Reds” was growing. Inge is a young woman just arrived in this country from Norway, a mail-order bride for farmer Olaf Torvik. The only English she knows is the phrase, “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse.” She stays at first with Olaf’s best friend Frandsen and his wife Brownie. When she and Olaf appear in the little Lutheran church to be married, Minister Sorrensen asks for her citizenship papers, but she does not have any. To his surprise he learns that she is not Norwegian, but a German who was living in Norway when she accepted Olaf’s marriage offer via mail to emigrate to America. He is even more upset when his questioning reveals that Inge was a member of the Socialist Party in Germany, as is the gathered church members. He refuses to go on with the wedding.

To make a long story short, Inge, after staying with Frandsen and Brownie for a period, decides to move in with Olaf and set up their home. This further scandalizes the minister and people, leading to them being banned from attending worship. The pair work hard to plant and tend their crops. There is a confrontation between Inge and Minister Sorrensen in which she apparently touches his heart when she compares their common-law marriage with his faith in a God whom he cannot see or prove. When Frandsen and Brownie’s crops fail, and the banker, a devout church member, holds a farm auction because they cannot meet their mortgage payments, Olaf somehow comes up with the money and “buys” their farm. It is not too long before Olaf and Inge are also in financial straits, and they also face the grikm prospect of losing everything for which they have worked so hard. Then comes, during the night, a knock on the door. It is Minister Sorrensen, accompanied by several church elders. He hands over to Olaf an envelope containing the money they need, obviously taken up from the church members.

This is a film in which we are not shown everything that happens. Earlier we watch Minister Sorrenson deliver a sermon in which he states that he believes in “a God of love and compassion,” but also in the necessity to “follow the narrow way.” This narrow way, based on the fear of the alien and prejudice against opposing beliefs, stands in stark contrast to love and compassion. The minister and his people have apparently struggled with this, and to their credit and the glory of God, love and compassion had won. As surely as it must in our own spiritual journeys, if they are indeed to be journeys of faith.

I am not certain where the above leads us during this time when fear reigns in our national life and we are beset by politicians and the media who would use that fear for their own ends. There are real terrorists out there who would do us harm. There are economic forces beyond our control that would shrink or wipe away our savings and threaten our retirement plans. Violent forces of nature, fire, winds, flood, can render us homeless, as they have thousands of our citizens. Our loved ones are taken from their families and sent overseas to dangerous countries, from which too many come back injured or dead. Millions of desperate foreigners slip into our country to work at low wage jobs, changing the social, economic and political make-up of our communities.

There is much to fear, and it is especially at such a time as this that people of faith have the antidote needed, lest our fears cause us to act in harsh ways that we will live to regret. Like Minister Sorrenson in the film, we need to replace our fears and prejudice with love and compassion—not that these will give us easy answers. Such issues as immigration policy or the threat of terrorism are too complex, with perhaps neither the harsh desire to “send them all back to their own country” nor that of granting amnesty to all being realistic. We will not tar all Muslims with the label “terrorist,” nor will we dismiss real terrorists with such “answers” that they act “because they hate our freedom,” when in reality they hate us because they perceive our policies as one-sided and anti-Muslim.

Living up to our belief in a God of love and compassion will be difficult when our government and society have given in so much to fear. But what is the alternative for those who believe in a God who declared, “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.” And who later sent his Son to bring us out of bondage far greater than that of Egypt through his death on the cross, the result being that a man freed by that sacrifice could declare, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.”



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Index of Year 2005

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Index of Year 2007

 

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Visual Parables
Cumulative Index
1990 through July/August 2010

This Index includes all films reviewed in VP since its first issue appeared in February 1990 through part of 2010. I will update the Index at the end of each year. To allow room for expansion a number of columns have been left blank.

The films are divided into the following catagories:Theatrical; Cable/TV; Documentary; and Short Films. Other catagories include: Film Guides; Praying the Movies; Preaching the Movies; Articles; Book Reviews; and (some of) Doug Sweet’s SweetResources columns. Indexing Lectionary Links proved to be too complicated, so at a later time I will deal with it, possibly as a special CD book that includes searchable lists of the films and Scripture passages and includes all of the articles.

If the website’s search engine does not bring up the film title you want, you can use this index to find the issue of VP containing it. Your subscription gives you access to issues dating back to August 2003. For issues before then we have for sale printed copies (and in some cases DVDs formatted in pdf) of the majority of issues, indeed every issue from 1990 through 1993. A price and availability list can be obtained by contacting the editor at emcnulty@insightbb.com.

I have spent hours trying to find irregularites of spelling and other errors: if you find errors, please report them so that I can make the correction.

THEATRICAL FILMS
Included in this section are films that first opened in theaters, plus films the reviewer first saw on DVD. A number of films are also listed under “On Cable.”

A

Above t. Rim-May94
Abraham Lincoln (Gore Vidale’s)-
Feb95
About A Boy -July02
About Schmidt -Feb03
Absolute Power -Apr97
T. Abyss -Sep93
T. Accompanyist-Apr94
Across the Universe -Spring08
Adam -Sep/Oct09
Adaptation -Feb03
T. Addams Family -Dec91
Addicted to Lov e-July97
Adoration -Sep/Oct09
Adventureland -May/June09
T. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
-May93
T. Adventures of Pinocchio -Sep96
T Adventures of Shark Boy an
Lava Girl in 3-D -Sum05
T Affair of t. Necklace -Feb02
Affliction -Aprl99
After t Wedding -Sum07
Afterglow -May98
T. Age of Innocence -Nov93
Agent Cody Banks -Aprl03
A.I. -Aug 01
Air America -Sep90
Air Force One -Sep97
T. Air Up There -Feb94
Akira Kurasawa’s Dreams -Oct90
Alaska -Oct9ct6
Ali -Feb02
Alice -Feb91
Alice in Wonderland -Mar/Apr10
Alien 3 -July92
Alien Resurrection -Jan98
Alive -Feb93
All About My Mother -Feb00
All I want for Christmas -Dec91
All That Heaven Allows -May03
All the King’s Men -Fall06
Alladin -Jan93
Almost Famous -Nov00
Almost Heroes -July98
Always -Nov90
Amazing Grace -Spring07
Amazing Grace & Chuck -Oct95
Amelia -Nov/Dec09
Amélie -Jan02
American Beauty -Nov99
American Dreamz -Sum06
American Gangster -Wintr07
American History X -Jan99
American Me -Apr92
T. American President -Jan96
American Splendor -Nov03
Amistad -Feb98
Among Giants -Jun00
Amos & Andrew -Apr93
An American Tale: Fievel Goes
West -Dec91
Analyze That -Jan03
Analyze This - May99
Anastasia -Jan98
Andre -Oct94
Angela’s Ashes - Mar00
Angels and Demons -July/Aug09
Angels in t. Outfield -Aug94
Anger Management -Aug03
Angie -Apr94
Anna and the King -Feb00
Anne Frank Remembered -Mar97
Another 48 Hours -July90
Another Stakeout -Sep93
Another You -Sep91
T. Ant Bully -Sum06
Antonia’s Line (caps.) -Mar97
Antwone Fisher -Jan03
Antz -Dec98
Any Given Sunday -Aprlr00
Anywhere But Here -Jan00
Apocalypto -Wintr06
T. Apostle -Apr98
Appaloohsa -Wintr08
Apollo 13 -Aug95
Apt Pupil -Dec98
Armageddon -Aug98
Arachnophobia -Aug90
Are We There Yet? -Spring05
Arlington Road -Sept99
Army of Darkness -Apr93
T. Arrival -July96
As Good As It Gets - Mar98
Assault on Precinct 13 -Spring05
Assisted Living -Spring05
T. Associate -Dec96
Astro Boy -Nov/Dec09
T Astronaut Farmer -Sumr07
T Astronaut’s Wife -Nov99
At Play in t. Fields of t. Lord
-Apr93
At First Sight -Mar99
Atlantis -Aug01
Atonement -Spring08
August Rush -Wintr07
Austin Powers -June,97
Australia -Wintr08
Avalon -Nov90
Avatar -Jan/Feb10
T Aviator -Spring05

T Aviator -Spring05
Awakenings -Feb91
Away From Her -Sumr07
Away We Go -July/Aug09
An Awfully Big Adventure -Sep96

B

Babe -Sep95
T. Babe -May92
Baby -Oct00
Baby Mama -Sumr08
BABE: Pig in the City -Jan99
The Bachelor -Dec99
Back to t. Future II -June90
Backbea t -July94
Backdraft -July91
Bad Girls -June94
T. Bagdad Cafe -Apr97
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New
Orlean -Mar/Apr10
Bad News Bears -Fall05
T. Ballad of Little Jo -Dec95
Balls of Fury -Wintr07
Bamboozled -Jan 01
Bandslam -Sep/Oct09
Bandits -Dec 01
Baraka -June94
Barcelon -Oct94
Barnyard -Fall06
Barton Fink -July97
T. Basket -June01
Basketball Diaries -Jan96
Basquiat -Oct96
Basic Instincts -Apr91
Batman & Robin -Aug97
Batman Begins -Sum05
Batman Forever -July95
Batman Returns -July97
Battle for Terra -May/June09
Be Kind, Rewind -Sumr08
Be Cool -Spring05
Bean -Jan98
T. Bear -Dec90
Beautiful -Dec 01
A Beautiful Mind -Feb02
Because I Say So -Spring07
Because of Winn-Dixie -Spring05
Bedazzled -Dec00
Before & After -Jan97
Being John Malkovich -Dec99
Beautiful Girls - Mar96
Beauty & t. Beast -Dec91
Beauty Shop -Sum05
Becoming Jane -Fall07
Bed of Roses -Mar96
Beethoven -May92
Beethoven’s 2nd -Feb94
Before & After -Jan97
Before Night Falls -Apr01
Before t. Rain - Feb96
Behind Enemy Lines -Jan02
Being Human -June94
Belle Epoch -Jly94
Beloved -Dec98
BEN-HUR: New DVD Edtn
-Wintr05
Bend It Like Beckham -May03
Benny & June -June93
Besieged -Aug99
The Best Man -Dec99
Best in Show -Dec00
Beverly Hills Chihuahua -Wintr08
Beverly Hills Cop III -July94
Beyond Borders -Nov03
Beyond Rangoon -Oct95
Beyond Silence -Jan 01
Beyond the Sea -Spring05
Bicentennial Man - Feb00
T. Big Green -Nov95
T.Big Lebowski -Apr98
Big Momma -Jan 01
T. Big Night -Nov96
Billy Elliot -Jan 01
T. Bird Cage - Apr96
Bill & Ted’s Bogus Adventure-
Aug91
Billy Bathgate -Nov91
Bird on t. Wire -June90
Black & White -Mar 01
Black Beauty -Sep94
Black Book -Sumr07
T Black Dalia -Fall06
Black Robe -Aug92
Blacksnake Moan -Spring07
Blackhawk Down -Mar02
Blades of Glory -Sumr07
T. Blair Witch Project -Oct99
Blank Check -Mar94
Blast from the Past -Aprl99
Bleu May94
T Blind Side -Nov/Dec09
Blink -Mar94
Blood Diamond -Wintr06
Blown Away -Aug94
Blue Chips -Apr94
Blue in t. Face -Feb97
Blue Sky -Aug95
Bob Roberts -Oct92
Bobby -Wintr06
Bonhoeffer -Sept03
Bonhoeffer: Agent of Grace
-Jan 01
T. Bodyguard -Dec92
Body of Evidence -Feb03
Bogus -Oct96
Boiler Room -May00
Bolt -Wintr08
T. Bonfire of t. Vanities -Jan91
Boogie Nights -Dec97
Book of Eli -Jan/Feb10
Boomrang -Sep92
Born on t. Fourth of July -Feb90
Born to be Wild -May95
Borat -Wintr06
Born Yesterday -May93
T. Borrowers -Apr98
Bounce -Jan 01
T Bounty Hunter -May/June10
The Bourne Identity -July02
Bowfinger -Oct99
T. Boy in Striped Pajamas -Wintr08
Boys Don’t Cry -May00
Boys on t. Side -Mar95
Boyz ‘N t. Hood -Oct95
T. Box of Delights -Nov94
T. Boxer -Feb98
Brainscan -June94
Brassed Off -Aug97Bram Stoker’s Dracula -Dec92
T. Brave One -Wintr07
Braveheart -July95
Breach -Spring07
T. Bread, My Sweet -Feb03
Breakdown -June97
T Break-Up -Sum06
Breaking t. Waves -Feb97
Brideshead Revisited -Fall08
Bridge to Terabithia -Wintr06
Bridges of Madison County -July95
Bridget Jones Diary -Nov 01
Bright Star -Nov/Dec09
Bring It On -Oct00
Bringing Out the Dead -Dec99
Brokeback Mountain -Wintr05
Brokedown Palace -Oct99
Broken Arrow - Mar96
Broken English -Sep97
A Bronx Tale -Oct93; Oct95
Brooklyn’s Finest -May/June10
Brother Bear -Nov03
Brothers -Jan/Feb10
T Brothers Grimm -Fall05
T. Browning Version -Nov95
Bruce Almighty -June03
Bucket List -Spring08
Buddy -July97
Buffalo 66 -Sep98
Buffalo Girls -Feb96
Bug -Sumr07
A Bug’s Life -Jan99
Bugsy -Jan92
Bullet Proof -Oct96
Bullworth -July98
Burn After Reading -Fall08
T. Burning Season -May97
Burnt by t. Sun -Feb96
T. Business of Strangers -May02
T. Butcher Boy -June98
T. Butterfly - Oct00

C

Cache (Hidden) -Spring06
Cadillac Man -June90
Camp -Oct03
Candyman -Nov92
Cape Fear -Dec91
Capote -Wintr05
Captain Corelli’s Mandolin -Sept 01
Capturing the Friedmans -Oct03
Cars -Sum06
Carrotblanca -Oct95
Carlito’s Way -Dec93
Carnosaur -July93
Casino -Jan96
Casino Royale -Wintr06
Casper -July95
Cassandra’s Dream -Spring08
Cast Away -Feb01
Casualties of War -May90
Cat in the Hat -Dec03
T. Cat’s Meow -July02
Catch a Fire -Fall06
Catch Me, If You Can -Jan03
Cats and Dogs - Sept 01
T Cave -Fall05
Celebrity -Jan99
T.Cell - Oct00
T. Cemetary Club -Dec93
Center Stage - July00
Central Station -Aprl99
Chain Reaction -Sep96
T. Chamber -Dec96
Le Chambon -May98
Changing Lanes -June02
Changeling -Wintr08
Chaplin -Feb93
Character -June98
Charlie a& t.Choc. Factory -Fall05
Charlotte’s Web -Wintr06
Charlie Wilson’s War -Spring08
Chicago -Jan03
Chicken Little -Wintr05
Chicken Run -Aug00
Children of Heaven -Sept00
T. Children of Huang Shi -Sumr08
Children of Men -Wintr06
Children of t. Revolution -Apr98
China Cry -Dec90
China Moon -May94
Chocolat -Feb 01
A Christmas Carol -Nov/Dec09
A Christmas Without Snow -Nov92
Christopher Columbus: T.
Discovery -Sep92
T Chronicles of Narnia -Wintr05
T. Chronicles of Narnia: Prince
Caspian -Sumr08
Ciao, Professore -Nov94
Cinderella Man -Sum05
Cinema Paradiso -Aug02
T. Cider House Rules -Feb00
Cinema Paradisio -May91
Cinema Paradiso -Aug02
A Circle of Friends -May95
Citizen Kane on DVD -Nov 01
Citizen Ruth -Mar99
City Hall -Mar96
City of Angels -May98
City of Ember -Wintr08
City of Ghosts -June03
City of God (Ciadade De
Deus) -Aprl03
City of Hope -May96
City of Joy -May92
City Slickers -July91
City Slickers II -July94
A Civil Action -Mar99
Clash of the Titans -May/June10
T Class -May/June09
Class Action -Apr91
Clean Slate -June94
Clear & Present Danger -Sep94
Clerks II -Sum06
Click -Fall06
T. Client -Aug94
Cliffhanger -July93
Clock Stoppers -May02
Clockers -Nov95
Close Encounters of t. 3rd Kind
-Aug98
Close to Eden -June93
Cloudy With a Chance of
Meatballs -Mar/Apr10
Cobb -Dec95
Un Coeur en Hiver -Nov93
Cold Creek Manor -Oct03
Col. Chabert -May95
Color of Night -Oct94
Come See t. Paradise -Mar92
T. Commitments -Oct91
Con Air -July97
Confessions of a Shopaholic
-Mar/Apr09
T. Conflict (aka Catholics) -Aug02
Congo -July95
Consenting Adults -Nov92
Conspiracy Theory -Oct97
T Constant Gardener -Fall05
Constantine -Spring05
Contact -Sep97
The Contender -Dec00
Conversations With God -Fall06
Cookie’s Fortune -June99
Copland -Oct97
Copy Cat -Dec95
Coraline -Mar/Apr09
T. Core -Aprl03
Corina, Corina -Oct94
Cotton Patch Gospel - Feb92; Oct95
T. Count of Monte Cristo - Mar02
T. Counterfeiters -Spring08
Courage Under Fire -Aug96
Cool Runnings -Nov93
Cop & a Half -May93
Cousin Bette -Aug98
Cloverfield -Spring08
Cradle Will Rock -Mar00
Crash -Sum05
Crazy/Beautiful -Sept 01
Crazy Heart -Mar/Apr10
Crazy in Alabama -Dec99
Crazy People -May90
T. Crew -Oct00
T. Crime of Father
Amaro -Mar03
Crimes & Misdemeanors -Feb90
Crimson Tide -June95
Crooklyn -June94
Crossfire Trail -Jan 01
Crossing Over -May/June09
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
-Mar01
T. Crow -June94
T. Crucible -Feb97
Curious Case of Benjamin Button
-Jan/Feb09
Curious George -Spring06
Curly Sue -Nov91
Cry, t. Beloved Country -May96
T. Crying Game -Mar93
The Cup -May00
T. Cure - une95
Curse of the Golden Flower
-Wintr06
T. Curse of T. Jade Scorpion
-Oct 01
Cyrus -July/Aug10

D

Daens -Fall06
T Da Vinci Code Sum06
Damage -Aug97
Dan in Real Life -Wintr07
Dancer in T. Dark -Jan 01
T. Dancer Upstairs
-June03
Dances With Wolves -Dec90
Dancing at Lughnasa -Feb99
Dangerous Beauty -May98
Dangerous Ground -Mar97
A Dangerous Life -Nov96
Dangerous Minds -Sep95
Dante’s Peak -Mar97
Daredevil -Mar03
Darfur Now -Wintr07
T. Darjeeling Limited -Wintr07
Dark Blue -Mar03
T. Dark Half -June93
T. Dark Knight -Fall08
Dark Man -Sept90
Date Night -July/Aug10
Dave -June93
David Copperfield -Dec00
T. Day t. Earth Stood Still -Wintr08
Daylight -Jan97
Days of Thunder -Aug90
Dazed & Confused -Dec93
Dead Again -Oct91
Dead Man -Sep97
Dead Man Walking -Mar96
Dead Presidents -Aug96
Dear Frankie -Sum05
Dear God -Dec97
Dear John -Mar/Apr10
Death Becomes Her -Aug92
Death & t. Maiden -Sep95
Death at a Funeral -Fall07
Debajo Del Mundo -Mar94
Deceived -Nov91
Deconstructing Harry -Feb98
Deep Blue Sea -Sep99
Deep Cover -May92
Deep End -Oct 01
Deep End of t. Ocean -May99
Deep Impact -June98
Defending Your Life -Jly91
Defiance -Jan/Feb09
Definitely, Maybe -Spring08
Deja Vu -Wintr06
Delta Farce -Sumr07
Dennis t. Menace -Aug93
T Departed -Fall06
Desperado -Oct95
Despicable Me -Jul/Aug10
Devil in a Blue Dress -Nov95
T Devil Wore Prada -Sum06
Devil’s Advocate -Dec97
T. Devil’s Own -May97
Diabolique -May96
Dialogues With Women -Sep94
Diamonds -Aprl,00
Diary of a Mad Black Woman -
Spring05
Diary of a Wimpy Kid -May/June10
Dick -Oct99
Dick Tracy -July90
Did You Hear About the Morgans?
-Jan/Feb10
Die Hard With a Venge­ance -July95
Diggstown -Sep92
Dinosaur -July00
Dirty Pretty Things -Sept03
T. Dish -July 01
T. Distinguished Gentleman -Jan93
District 9 -Sep/Oct09
District 13 -Sum06
Divided We Fall -Nov01
T. Diving Bell and the Butterfly -
-Spring08
Doc Hollywood -Sep91
T. Doctor -Sep91
Dr. Dolittle -Aug98
Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who
-Sum08
Dr. Seuss’ How T. Grinch Stole
Christmas -Jan
Dogma -Jan00
Domestic Disturbance -Jan02
Dominique & Eugene -Mar92
Don Juan DeMarco -May95
Donnie Brasco -Apr97
Don Quixote -Jun00
Don’t Say a Word -Nov01
Door to Door -Aprl03
T. Doors -Apr91
Doubt -Wintr08
Down Came a Blackbird -June97
Down Periscope -Apr96
Down in the Delta -Feb99
Downfall -Spring05
Dragon: T. Bruce Lee Story -June93
Dragon Fly -May02
Dragon Heart -July96
Dream Girls -Wintr06
Dreamcatcher -Aprl03
Dreamer -Wintr05
Dreamlife of Angels -July99
Driving Miss Daisy -Feb90
Drums Along t. Mohawk
-Aug99
Dumb & Dumber -Feb95
Duck Tales: T. Movie -Sep90
Duplicity -May/June09
T Dust Factory -Spring05
Dying Young -July91

E

88 Minute -Sumr08
T. 11th Hour -Wintr07
Earth -May/June09
East Is East -July00
Eastern Promises -Wintr07
Easy Virtue -July/Aug09
Eat, Drink, Man, Woman -Feb96
EdTV -May99
Ed Wood -Nov94
Eddie -July96
Edge of Darkness -Mar/Apr10
Edward Scissorhands -Feb91
8 Seconds -Apr94
Eight Below -Spring06
Election -July99
Elf -Dec03
Elizabeth -Jan99
Elizabeth: T. Golden Age -Wintr07
Emma -Sep96
T. Emperor’s New Clothes -Aug02
T. Emperor’s New Groove
-Feb01
Enchanted -Wintr07
Enchanted April -Oct92
End of Days -Jan00
T. End of t Affair -Mar00
T End of t Spear -Spring06
T. End of Violence -Aug98
Enemies, A Love Story -Mar90
Enemy at T. Gates -May01
Enemy of the State -Jan99
L’Enfant (The Child) -Sum06
T. English Patient -Jan97
T. Englishman Who Went Up a
Mtn & Came Down a Hill
-June95
Enigma -July02
Entertaining Angels: T. Dorothy
Day Story -Aug97; July2002
Entrapment -July99
Epic Movie -Wintr06
Eraser -Aug96
Erin Brockovich -May00
Escape From L.A. -Sep96
E.T. -May2002
Ethan Fromme -July93
Eve’s Bayou -Jan98
Evelyn -July03
Evan Almighty -Fall07
Even Cowgirls Get t. Blues -July94
Evening Star -Feb97
Everybody’s Fine -Oct91
Everyone’s Hero -Fall06
Everyone Says I Love You -Mar97
Everything is Illuminated -Wintr05
Evita -Jan97; Feb97
Executive Decision -Apr96
Exit Wounds -May20 01
T. Exorcist -Dec00
Extreme Days -Nov01
An Eye for an Eye -Feb96
T Exorcism of Emily Rose
-Wintr05
T Express -Mar/Apr09
Extraordinary Measures -Jan/Feb10
Eyes Wide Shut -Sep99

F

T 40 Year-old Virgin -Fall05
1408 -Fall07
500 Days of Summer -Sep/Oct09
Face to Face -Sep97
Facing the Giants -Fall06
Factory Girl -Spring07
Fair Game -Dec95
Fairy Tale: A True Story -Dec97
Fairy Tale Revisited -Nov98
Fallen -Mar98
Falling Down -Apr93
Family Man -Feb 01
T Family Stone -Spring06
A Family Thing -May96
T. Fan -Sep96
Fantasia -Nov90
Fantasia 2000 -Aug00
T. Fantastic Mr. Fox -Jan/Feb10
Far and Away -June92
Far From Home -June95
Far Away, So Close -June94
Far From Heaven -Jan03
A Far Off Place -May93
Farewell, My Concubine -Apr94
Farewell to t. King -Feb93; Oct95
Fargo - May96
Father of t. Bride -Jan92
Father’s Day -July97
T. Favor -June94
T. Favor, T. Watch, and T. Very Big
Fish -Sept 01
Fear -May96
Fearless -Dec93
Feast of Love -Fall07
Ferngully:T. Last of t. Rainforest
-May92
Feast of July -Sep96
Fever Pitch -Sum05
A Few Good Men -Jan93
T. Field -June92
Fierce Creatures -Mar97
T. Fifth Element -July97
15 Minutes -May01
T. Fight Club -Jan00
T. Fighting Temptations
-Sept03
Final Destination -May00
Final Inquiry -Jan/Feb09
Final Fantasy -Aug 01
Final Solution -Mar03
Finding Forrester -Feb 01
Finding Nemo -June03
Finding t. Lost -Mar98
Fire in t. Sky -May93
Firelight -Mar00
Fireproof -Wintr08
T. Firm -Aug93
First Kid -Oct96
First Knight -Aug95
First Landing -May/June09
First Target -Oct00
First Wives Club -Nov96
T. Fisher King -Oct91
T. Five Senses -May 01
Flags of Our Fathers -Fall06
Flash of Genius -Wintr08
Flatliners -Sep90
Flawless -Jan00
Fled -Sep96
Flesh & Bone -Dec93
T. Flintstone -July94
Flubber -Jan98
Fly Away Home -Nov96
Flyboys -Fall06
Food Inc. -July/Aug09
For Love or Money -Oct93
For t. Boys -Dec91
For Love of the Game -Dec99
For Us t. Living -June97
For Your Consideration -Wintr06
Forest Gump -Aug94
Forever Young -Jan93
Forget Paris -July95
Forgetting Sarah Marshall -Sumr08
1492: T. Conquest of Paradise
-Nov92
Fortress -Oct93
T Fountain -Wintr06
T Four Brothers -Fall05
Four Weddings & a Funeral -My94
Fracture -Sumr07
Francesco -Nov94
Franky & Johnny -Nov91
Freaky Friday -Sept03
Free Willy -Aug93
Free Willy 2 -Sep95
Freedom Song -Sept00
Freedom Writers -Wintr06
Freedomland -Spring06
French Kiss -June95
Frequency -July00
Fresh -Oct94
T. Freshman -Mar91
Fried Green Tomatoes -Feb92
A Friend of t. Deceased -July98
Friends With Money -Sum06
From Dawn to Dusk -Feb96
T. Front -Aprl99
Frost/Nixon -Wintr08
Frozen River -Fall08
Friendly Persuasion -Sep98
T. Fugitive -Sep93
Funny People -Sep/Oct09
FX2 -June91

G

G.I. Jane -Oct97
Galaxy Quest - Feb00
Gandhi: DVD Version -Oct 01
Gangs of New York -Jan03
T. Garden -Apr96
Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties
-Sum06
T. Gathering Storm -July03
Gattaca -Dec97
Georgia -Apr96
George Washington -July 01
Georgia Rule -Sumr07
Geronimo -Jan94
T. Get Away -Mar94
Get Him to the Greek -July/Aug10
Get On t. Bus -Dec96
Get Smart -Sumr08
Getting Even With Dad -Aug94
Gettysburg -Nov93
Ghost -Aug90
T.Ghost & t. Darkness -Dec96
T Ghost Writer -May/June10
Ghosts From Girlfriends Past
-May/June09
T. Ghosts of Mississippi -Feb97
G.I. Joe: Rise of t. Cobra
-Sep/Oct09
Giant on Thunder Mountain -July97
T. Gift -Aprl 01
Gigli -Sept03
Girl Interrupted -Mar00
T Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
-May/June10
Gladiator -July00
T. Glass House -Nov01
Glen Garry Glen Ross -Nov92
Glory -Feb90
Glory Road -Spring06
Go -July99
Gods and Generals -Mar03
God’s and Monsters -Mar99
Godzilla -July98
T. Gods Must Be Crazy -May90
God’s Outlaw -May91
T. Godfather Part III -Feb91
Godspell -Mar97
Gold Diggers: t. Secret of Bear
Mountain -Dec95
T. Golden Compass -Wintr07
Gone Baby Gone -Wintr07
Gone With t. Wind -Aug98
T. Good Boy -Nov03
Good Fellows -Oct90
T Good German -Sumr07
A Good Man in Africa -Oct94
Good Night, and Good Luck
-Wintr05
T Good Shepherd -Wintr06
T. Good Son -Nov93
T. Good Thief -June03
Good Will Hunting -Feb98
A Good Year -Wintr06
Good-bye Solo -July/Aug09
A Goofy Movie - May95
Gore Vidale’s ABRAHAM
LINCOLN -Feb95
Gosford Park -Feb2002
T Gospel -Wintr05
T. Gospel According to St.
Matthew -May94
Gospel Road -May94
Gothika -Dec03
Goya at Bordeaux -July01
Grace of My Heart -June97
Gracie -Sumr07
Gran Torino -Jan/Feb09
Grand Canyon -Feb & Mar92
T. Great Debaters -Spring08
Great Expectations -Ap98
T. Great Panda Adventure -Oct95
T. Great White Hype -June96
T Greatest Game Ever Played
-Fall05
T. Greatest Story Ever Told -May94
Green Card -Mar91
Greenfingers -Dec 01
T. Green Mile -Feb00
T Green Zone -May/June10
Gremlins 2 -July90
Grifters -Mar91
T. Grosse Pont Blank -June97
Ground Hog Day -Apr93
Grown Ups -Jul/Aug10
Grumpy Old Men -Jan94
T Guardian -Fall06
Guarding Tess -Apr94
Guess Who? -Sum05
Guilty By Suspicion -Apr91 &
Apr99 (vid)
Guilty as Sin -July93
Gulliver’s Travels -Feb97

H

Hairspray -Fall07
Hamlet -Feb91
Hamlet 2 -Fall08
Hancock -Sumr08
Hanging Up -Apr00
Hannibal -Apr01
T. Happening -Sumr08
Happily Ever After -July93
Happily N’Ever After -Wintr06
Happiness -Dec98
Happy Feet -Wintr06
Happy Feet: Special Features
-Spring07
Hard Target -Oct93
T. Hard Way -Apr91
The Harmonists -June99
Harold and Kumar Escape From
Guantanamo Bay -Sumr08
Harriet t. Spy -Aug96
Harrison’s Flowers - May2002
Harry Potter -Jan02
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
-Wintr05
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood
Prince -July/Aug09
Harry Potter and the Order of the
Phoenix -Fall07
Hart’s War -April02 & May2002
Havana -Jan91
He Got Game -June98
Heart Breakers -May 01
Hearts in Atlantis - Oct 01
Heart of Dixie -Oct90
Hearts & Souls -Sep93
Heat -Feb96
Heaven & Earth -Feb94
Heaven’s Prisoners -June96
T. Heist - Jan2002
Hellboy 2: T Golden Army -Fall08
Henry V -Apr90
Henry Fool -Sep98
Henry Poole Is Here -Fall08
Hercules -Aug97
Hero -Nov92
Hide and Seek -Sum05
Hideaway -Apr95
Hideous Kinky -July99
T Hiding Place -Fall07
High Art -Aug98
High Crimes -May2002
High Fidelity -Jun00
High Noon -Aug00
Higher Learning -Feb96
Hillary & Jackie -Mar99
Hiroshima: Out of the Ashes
-Sum06
A History of Violence -Wintr05
Hitch -Spring05
T Hoax -Sumr07
Hoffa -Jan97
Holes -May03
Hollow Man -Sept00
Hollywoodland -Fall06
Holy Man -Dec98
Holy Smoke - Dec 01
Home Alone -Dec90
Home for t. Holidays -Jan96
A Home of Our Own -Dec93
Homeward Bound -Mar93
Honey, I Blew Up t. Kid -Sep92
Honey, I Shrunk t. Kids -Aug90
Hoodlum -Oct97
Hook -Jan92
Hoop Dreams -Mar95
Hope Floats -July98
T. Horse Whisperer -July98
Hostage -Spring05
Hot Shots -Sep91
Hot Shots: Part Deux -July93
Hotel Rwanda -Spring05
T. Hours -Feb03
House of Cards -Oct93
House of Fools -Sept03
House of Spirits -June94
T. House W/O a Christmas Tree
-Nov92
Household Saints -Feb94
Housesitter -July97
How She Move -Spring08
How To Eat Fried Worms -Fall06
How to Make an Am. Quilt -Nov95
Howards End -Sep92
T. Hudsucker Proxy -May94
Hulk -July03
Human Nature -June2002
T. Human Stain -Nov03
T. Hunchback -Mar98
T. Hunchback of Notre Dame
-July96
T. Hurt Locker -Nov/Dec09
T. Hunted -Aprl03
T. Hunting Party -Wintr07
T. Hurricane -Mar00
Husbands & Wives -Oct92
Hustle and Flow -Fall05

I

I Am Legend -Spring08
I Am Not Rappaport -Sep97
I Am Sam -Apr2002
I Have Loved You So Long
-Mar/Apr09
I Know What You Did Last
Summer -Dec97
I Like It Like That -Aug95
I Love You, Man -May/June09
I Love You To Death -May90
I’m Not There -Spring08
I Will Fight No More Forever
-Sep97
Ice Age -Apr2002
Ice Age: The Meltdown -Sum06
T Ice Harvest -Wintr05
T. Ice Storm -Jan98
An Ideal Husband -Oct99
Identity -June03
Idlewild -Fall06
If Lucy Fell -Apr96
Il Lagro Di Bambino -July93
T. Illusionist -Fall06
T. Imaginarium of Doctor
Parnassus -Mar/Apr10
Immortal Beloved -Mar95
T. Importance of Being Earnest -
July2002
Imposter - Mar2002
In Bruges -Sumr08
In Country -Aug90
In Love & War -Mar97
In t. Army Now -Oct94
In t. Bedroom -Feb2002
In t Cut -Nov03
In T. Gloaming -Mar98
In Her Shoes -Wintr05
In t. Line of Fire -Sep93
In T. Mood for Love -May 01
In t. Mouth of Madness -Mar95
In t. Name of t. Father -Mar94
In the Valley of Elah -Wintr07
T. Incredible Hulk -Sumr08
Indecent Proposal -May93
Independance Day -Aug96
T. Indian in t. Cup­board -Aug95
Indian Summer -June93
Indiana Jones & t. Kingdom of
t. Crystal Skull -Sumr08 Indochine -Sep93
T Informant -Nov/Dec09
Inglorious Basterds -Sep/Oct09
T. Inheritors -Mar94
T. Inkwell -July94
T. Inner Circle -Feb93
Inside Man -Spring06
T. Insider -Dec99
Insomnia -July2002
Instinct -Aug99
I.Q. -Feb95
T International -Mar/Apr09
T Interpreter -Sum05
T. Intersection -Mar94
Into t. West -Oct93
Into the Wild -Spring08
Intolerable Cruelty -Nov03
T. Invention of Lying -Nov/Dec09
Invictus -Jan/Feb10
Invincible -Fall06
Iris -May2002
T. Iron Giant -Oct99
Iron Man -Sumr08
Iron Man 2 -July/Aug10
Iron Will -Feb94
Is Anybody There? -July/Aug09
T Island -Fall05
T. Island of Dr. Moreau -Oct96
It Could Happen to You -Sep94
It’s a Wonderful Life -Fall05
It’s Complicated -Jan/Feb10
Italian for Beginners -May2002
T. Italian Job -June03

J

Jacob -Aug96
Jack -Sep96
Jack t. Bear -May93
T. Jackal -Jan98
T Jacket -Spring05
Jackie Brown -Feb98
Jakob the Liar -Nov99
Jacob’s Ladder -Dec90
James & t. Giant Peach -May96
Jamon, Jamon -Aug94
Jane Eyre (1996) -June96
Jane Eyre (1983) -July96
Jarhead -Wintr05
Jason’s Lyric -Nov94
Jefferson in Paris -June95
Jennifer 8 -Dec92
Jeremy’s Egg: A Film For Holy
Week/Easter -Mar 01
Jerry Maguire -Jan97
Jesus -Jan 01
Jesus Christ: SUPERSTAR-May94
Jesus of Montreal -Oct90; May94
Jesus of Nazareth -May94
Jesus Son -Sept00
Jet Lag -July03Aug
JFK -Jan92
Jimmy Hollywood -May94
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius -
May2002
Joe Vs. t. Volcano -Apr90
John Q -Mar03
T Jones -May/June10
Joseph -June97
Josh & S.A.M. -Jan.94
Joshua -June2002
Journey to t. Center of t. Earth
-Fall08
T. Joy Luck Club -Nov93
Joyeux Noel -Sum06
T. Judas Project -May94
Judgment at Nuremberg -July00
Julia & Julie -Sep/Oct09
Julian Po -Mar98
Jumanji -Feb96
Junebug -Wintr05
Jungle Book 2 -Aprl03
Jungle Fever -July91
Junior - Jan95
Juno -Spring08
Jurassic Park -July93
Jurassic Park III -Aug 01
Just Another Girl on t. IRT -Sep93
Just Cause -Mar95
Just Like Heaven -Wintr05
Just the Ticket -Jun00

K

Kadosh -Nov00
Kama Sutra -June97
Kandahar -April2002
Kansas City -Nov96
T Karate Kid -July/Aug10
Kate & Leopold -Feb2002
Keeping the Faith - Jun00
Kick-Ass -May/June10
Kicking and Screaming -Sum05
T. Kid -Sept00
A Kid in King Arthur’s Court
-Sep95
Kill Bill, Vol. 1 -Nov03
Kindergarten Cop -Jan91
T. King & I -May99
King Kong -Wintr05
King of Kings -May94
King of t. Hill -Feb94
King Ralph -Apr91
T Kingdom -Wintr07
T Kingdom of Heaven -Sum05
A Kiss Before Dying -June91
Kissing Jessica Stein -May2002
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl -
Fall08
T. Kite Runner -Spring08
A Knight’s Tale -July01
Knocked Up -Sum07
Knowing -May/June09
Korczak -Mar94
Kolya -May97
K-Pax -Dec 01
Kuff -Feb92
Kundun -Apr98
Kung Fu Panda -Sumr08

L

La Cage aux Folles -Apr96
Ladies in Lavender -Fall05
Lady in the Water -Sum06
Lakeboat -Feb2002
T Lake House -Sum06
T. Land Girls -June99
Land of Plenty -Spring07
Land of the Lost -July/Aug09
Lantana -May2002
Lars and the Real Girl -Wintr07
Lassie -Sep94
Lassie -Fall06
T. Last Boy Scout -Jan-92
T. Last Butterfly - ?
T. Last Castle -Dec 01
Last Chance Harvey -Mar/Apr09
Last Dance -June96
Last Holiday -Spring06
T Last King of Scotland -Wintr06
Last Man Standing -Nov96
T Last Mimzy -Sumr07
T. Last of t. Mohicans -Oct92
T. Last Samurai -Dec03
T Last Station -Mar/Apr10
T. Last Supper -Mar91
T. Last Temptation of Christ
-May94
Late for Dinner (cap) - Sep96
T. Lawnmower Man -Apr92
Le Divorce -Sept03
A League of Their Own -Aug92
A Leap of Faith -Jan93
Leatherheads -Sumr08
Leaving Normal -Oct93
Leaving Las Vegas -Mar96
Legally Blond 2 -July03
T. Legend of Bagger Vance -
Dec00
Legends of the Fall -Mar95
T Legend of Zorro -Sum06
Legends of t. Jungle Book -Jan95
Legion -May/June10
Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Un-
fortunate Events -Spring05
Les Miserables (1935) -July96
Les Miserables (1957) -July96
Les Miserables (1996) -July96
Les Miserables -June98
Letters From Iwo Jima -Wintr06
Letters to God -May/June10
Letters to Juliet -May/June10
Lethal Weapon Three -June92
Levity -July03
Liar Liar -May97
T Libertine -Spring06
Liberty Heights -Mar00
L.I.E -Dec 01
Life -June99
T Life Aquatic -Spring05
Life As a House -Dec 01
Life Is Beautiful -Dec98
T. Life of David Gale -Mar03
Life or Something Like It -
June02
Life Stinks -Aug91
Life With Mikey -July93
Light It Up -Jan00
Lightning Jack -Apr94
Like Water for Chocolate -July93
T. Lion King -Aug94
T. Lion King II: Simba’s Pride
-Feb99
T. Lion, T. Witch & t. Wardrobe
-Feb94
Lions for Lambs -Wintr07
Little Big League -Aug94
Little Buddha -July94
Little Children -Wintr06
Little Giants -Nov94
Little Man Tate -Nov91
Little Manhattan -Sum06
Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland -Sep92
Little Children -Spring07
Little Miss Sunshine -Fall06
A Little Princess (1995) -Dec95
T. Little Princess (1939) -Dec95
Little Voice -Mar99
Little Women -Feb95
Live Free or Die Hard -Fall07
T Lives of Others -Spring07
Living Large -Nov91
Living Out Loud -Jan99
Loaded Weapon On e-Mar93
Lone Star -Aug96
T Long Kiss Goodbye -Nov96
T. Long Walk Home -Apr91; O95
T Longest Yard -Sum05
Look Who’s Talking Now 3 -Dec93
Looking for Comedy in the Muslim
World -Spring06
Looney Tunes: Back in
Action -Dec03
Lord of t. Flies -Apr90; Oct95
Lord of t. Rings -Feb02
Lord of War -Wintr05
Lorenzo’s Oil -Jan93
Losing Isaiah -Ap95
T. Loss of Sexual Innocence
-Aug99
Lost & Found -June99
Lost Boundaries -Dec03
Lost in Space -May98
Lost in Translation -Oct03
Lost in Yonkers -June93
Lost World: Jurassic Park -July97
Love Actually -Dec03
Love Affair -June95
Love and Basketball -Jun00
Love Field -Apr93
Love in the Time of Cholera -
Wintr07
T. Love Letter -July99
Lovely & Amazing -Aug2002
T Lovely Bones -Jan/Feb10
T. Lover -Feb93
A Lowdown Dirty Shame -Jan95
Lucky Numbers -Dec00
Lumumba -Feb2002
Luther -Nov03

M

Mad City -May98
T. Magdalene
Sisters -Oct03
Magnolia -Apr00
Mad Dog & Glory -Apr93
Mad Love -July95
Made in America -July93
Madison -Sum05
Magic in t. Water (cap) -Sep96
T. Majestic -Feb2002
Major League II -May94
Malcolm X -Dec92
Malena -Mar 01
Malice -Nov93
T. Mambo Kings -Dec96
Man Dancin -Sumr08
Man in t. Moon -Dec91
Man Facing Southeast -Nov91
& Dec01
T. Man in t. Iron Mask -May98
Man of the Year -Fall06
Man on the Moon -Apr00
Man on the Train -July03
T. Man Who Cried -Sept01
T. Man Without a Past
-July03
T. Man Who Wasn’t There
-Jan2002
T. Man Without a Face -Oct93
Man’s Best Friend -Jan94
Mandela & De Klerk -June98
Manhattan Murder Mystery -Oct93
Manna From Heaven -May03
Mansfield Park -Feb00
Map of t. Human Heart -June93
March of the Penguins -Fall05
Marie Antoinette -Fall06
Mark of t. Hawk -Mar98
Marley and Me -Mar/Apr09
Married Life -Sumr08
Marooned in Iraq -Aug03
Mars Attacks -Feb97
T Martian Child - Wintr07
Martin Luther -Dec03
Marvin’s Room -Apr97
T. Mask -Sep94
T. Mask of Zorro -Sept98
Master and Commander: T Far Side
of the World -Dec03
Match Point -Spring06
T. Matchmaker -June98
Matchstick Men -Oct03
Matewan -Oct95
Matthew -Nov97
Matilda -Sep96
Matinee -Mar93
T. Matrix -June99
T. Matrix Reloaded -June03
Matrix Revolutions -Dec03
Maverick -July94
Me, Myself and Irene -Aug00
Me, You, & Everyone We Know
-Fall05
Meet the Fockers -Spring05
Meet Joe Black -Jan99
Meet T. Parents -Jan 01
Meet the Robinsons -Sumr07
Melinda and Melinda -Sum05
Memento -June,01
Memoirs of a Geisha -Sum06
Memphis Belle -Nov90
Men in Black -Aug97
Men Who Stare at Goats -Jan/Feb10
Men With Guns - May98
Men of Honor -Jan 01
Menace II Society -July93
T Merchant of Venice -Spring05
Mermaids -Jan91
Message in a Bottle -Aprl99
T. Messenger: the Story of Joan of
Arc -Jan00
Meteor Man -Sep93
Metropolis -Mar03
T. Mexican -Aprl 01
Miami Blues -June90
Michael -Feb97
Michael Clayton -Wintr07
Michael Collins -Dec96
Midnight Clear -Fall08
Midnight in the Garden of Good
& Evil -Jan98
A Midwinter’s Tale -Apr96
Mighty Aphrodite -Dec95
T. Mighty Ducks -Nov92
T. Mighty Ducks II -May94
A Mighty Heart -Fall07
A Mighty Heart -Jan/Feb09
Mighty Joe Young -Feb99
A Mighty Wind -May03
Milk -Jan/Feb09
Milk Money -Oct94
Miller’s Crossing -Nov90
Million Dollar Baby -Spring05
Millions -Sum05
Milo & Otis -July90
Mimic -Oct97
Minority Report -July2002
Miracle at Santa Anna -Wintr08
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
-Oct94; (1994) -D94
T. Mirror Has Two Faces -Jan97
Mr. And Mrs. Smith -Sum05
Mr. Baseball -Nov92
Mr. Brooks -Sumr07
Mr. & Mrs. Bridge -Aug91
Mr. Holland’s Opus -Jan96
Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium
-Wintr07
Mr. Saturday Night -Oct92
Mr. Wonderful -Nov93
Mrs. Brown -Oct97
Mrs. Doubtfire-Jan94
Mrs. Doubtfire (Behind T. Scenes
Edition) -Sum08
Mrs. Henderson Presents -Spring06
Miss Congeniality -Aprl 01
Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day
-Sum08
Miss Potter -Wintr06
T. Missing -Dec03
T. Mission -Oct95
Mission Impossible -June96
Mission Impossible II -July00
Mission Impossible: III -Sum06
Mississippi Masala -June92
T Mist -Wintr07
Mo’ Better Blues -Sep90
Mo’ Money -Aug92
Moll Flanders (cap) -Sep96
Mom & Dad Save t. World -Aug92
Mondays in the Sun -Aug03
Mongol -Sumr08
T. Money Train -Jan96
Monkey Trouble -May94
Monsieur Ibrahim -Spring05
Monsignor Quixote -Jan98
Monsoon Wedding -June02
Monster House -Sum06
Monsters -Dec01
Monster;s Ball -Apr2002
Monsters Vs. Aliens -May/June09
Moon -July/Aug09
More Than a Game -Nov/Dec09
Mortal Thoughts -May91
Mother -Mar97
Mother and Child -Jul/Aug10
Moulin Rouge -July, 01
Mountains of t. Moon -Mar92
MouseHunt -Feb98
Much Ado About Nothing -Sep93
Mulholland Drive -Dec01
Mulan -Aug98
Mumford -Nov99
Munich -Wintr05
T. Muppet Christmas Carol -Nov94
Muppets in Space -Sept99
Muppets Treasure Island -Mar96
Murder at 1600 -June97
Murder By Numbers -June2002
Murder in t. First -Mar95
Muriel’s Wedding -May95
The Muse -Nov99
Music and Lyrics -Spring07
T. Music Box -Mar91
Must Love Dogs -Fall05
My Best Friend’s Wedding -Aug97
My Big Fat Greek Wedding -
Aug2002
My Family -Jan96
My Blue Heaven -Sep90
My Cousin Vinny -Apr92
My Dog Skip -May00
My Father t. Hero -Mar94
My Favorite Martian -Aprl99
My First Mister -Dec 01
My Giant -Mar99
My Girl 2 -Mar94
My Left Foot -Mar90
My Life -Dec93
My Life in Ruins -July/Aug09
My Sister’s Keeper -July/Aug09
My Son t. Fanatic -Nov00
Mystery Date -Sep91
My Name is Joe -May99
Mystery, Alaska -Nov99
Mystic River -Nov03

N

Nacho Libre -Sum06
Naked Gun 1/2 -Aug91
Naked Gun 33 1/3 -May94
T Namesake -Sumr07
Nancy Drew -Fall07
T Nanny Diaries -Fall07
Nanny McPhee -Spring06
National Treasure -Spring08
T Nativity -Wintr06
Natural Born Killers -Oct94
Necessary Roughness -Nov91
T. Net -Sep95
New Jack City -Aug91
New Jersey Drive -Aug96
New World -Spring07
T New World -Spring06
Next Stop Wonderland -Sept99
Nicholas Nickleby -Jan03
Night at the Museum -Wintr06
Night at the Museum: Battle of the
Smithsonian -July/Aug09
Night Falls On Manhattan -July97
T Night Listener -Fall06
T. Nightmare Before Christmas
-Nov94 & Dec00
Nights in Rodanthe -Wintr08
Nine-Jan/Feb10
Nine Months -Aug95
Nell -Feb95
Night & t. City -Dec92
Nixon -Feb96
No Country for Old Men -Wintr07
No Escape -June94
No Man’s Land -Apr2002
No Reservations -Fall07
Nobody’s Fool -Mar95
North Face -May/June10
Northfork -Sept03
North Country -Wintr05
Not One Less -Jun00
Not Without My Daughter -Feb91
Notes on a Scandal -Wintr06
Notorious -Mar/Apr09
Notting Hill -Aug99
Novocain -Jan2002
Now & Then -Dec95
Nuremberg -July00
Nurse Betty -Oct00
T. Nutcracker -Dec93
T. Nutty Professor -Sep96

O

101 Dalmatians -Jan97
187 - Sep97
O - Oct 01
O Brother, Where Art Thou? -Mar
01
Ocean 3 -Fall07
Ocean 11 -Feb02
Oceans -Jul/Aug10
October Sky -Aprl99
Of Mice & Men -Nov92
Offside -Sumr07
Office Space -Aprl99
Old Gringo -June91
Oliver & Company - May96
T Omen -Sum06
Once -Fall07
Once Around -Mar91
Once Upon a Time...When We
Were Colored -Mar97
Once We Were Soldiers -Apr02
Once Upon a Time in
Mexico -Oct03
One Good Cop -June91
One Night With the King -Fall06
One True Thing -Nov98
101 Dalmations (Animtd) -Aug91
101 Dalmatians (Live) -Jan97
Off the Map -Sum05
Only t. Lonely -June91
Open Range -Sept03
Opportunity Knocks -May90
T. Opposite of Sex -Aug98
Oscar -May91
Oscar & Luncinda -Mar98
T. OT.-Sept 01
Othello -Dec96
Other People’s Money -Nov91
T. Other Boleyn Girl -Sumr08
T. Other Sister -Aprl99
Our Family Wedding -May/June10
Our Fathers -Sumr07
Out of Sight -Mar99
Out of Time -Nov03
T. Out of Towners - May99
Out to sea -Sep97
Outbreak -Apr95
Outside Providence -Nov99
T. Outsiders -May98
Over the Hedge -Sum06

P

Pacific Heights-Nov90
T. Pagemaster -Jan95
T Painted Veil -Wintr06
Pan’s Labyrinth -Wintr06
Pandorum -Nov/Dec09
Panic Room -June02
Panther -June95
T. Paper -May94
Paradise -Nov91
Paradise Now -Wintr05
Paradise Road -June97
Paranormal Activity -Nov/Dec09
Paris 36 -May/June09
Passenger 57 -Dec92
T Passion Recut -Spring05
Passion Fish -May93
Patch Adams -Feb99
The Patriot -Aug00
Patriot Games -July97
Paulie -June98
Pay It Forward -Oct00
Pearl Harbor -July01
T. Pelican Brief -Jan94
Penelope -Sum08
T. People Vs. Larry Flynt -Feb97
Percy and the Olympians: T
Lightning Thief -Mar/Apr10
T. Perez Family -Feb96
A Perfect Murder -Aug98
T. Perfect Storm -Sept00
A Perfect World -Jan94
Permament Midnight -Nov00
Persepolis -Spring08
Peter’s Friends -Apr93
T. Phantom -July96
Phantom of the Opera -Spring05
Pharoah’s Army -Fall06
Phenomenon -Aug96
T. Phone Booth -May03
Philadelphia -Feb94
Pi - Nov98
T. Pianist -Dec02
T. Piano -Dec93
Pieces of April -Dec03
Piglet’s Big Movie -Apr03
T. Pillow Book -Sep97
Pineapple Express -Fall08
T Pink Panther 2 -Mar/Apr09
Pinnochio -Jan03
Pirate Radio -Nov/Dec09
Pirates of the Caribbean
-Aug03
Pirates of the Carbn -Sum07
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead
Man’s Chest -Sum06
T. Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything:
Veggie Tales -Spring08
Pitch Black -Apr00
Planet of T. Apes - Sept01
T. Player -June92
Playing for the Heart -Mar99
Pleasantville -Dec98
Please Give -Juy/Aug10
T. Pledge -Mar 01
Plunkett & Macleane -Nov99
Pochahontas -Aug95
Poetic Justice -Sep93
Point Break -Aug91
Point of No Return -May93
Pokemon -Jan00
Pollock -May 01
Ponette -Aug97
Ponyo -Sep/Oct09
Pooh’s Heffalump Movie -Spring05
Poseidon -Sum06
Posse -June93
Postcards From t. Edge -Oct90
T. Postman -Feb96
Powder -Dec95
T. Power of One -Feb93
Prairie Home Companion -Sum06
Prancer -Nov92
T. Preacher’s Wife -Jan97
Precious -Nov/Dec09
Prelude to a Kiss -Aug92
Presumed Innocent -Sep90
A Price Above Rubies - July98
Pride -Sum07
Pride and Glory -Wintr08
Pride and Prejudice -Spring06
Priest -June95
Primal Fear -May96
Primary Color -May98
Prince Brat & t. Whipping Boy
-Feb97
Prince Caspian & T. Voyage of t.
Dawntreader -Feb94
Prince of Egypt -Dec98
Prince of Persia: T Sands of Time
-Jul/Aug10
Prince of Tides -Feb92
T Princess and the Frog -Jan/Feb10
Princess Caraboo -Nov94
Priscilla, Queen of t. Desert -Oct94
Prisoner of t Mountains -Oct97
Private Parts -Apr97
Private Ryan (Re-release)
-Mar99
T Producers -Sum06
T. Professional -Jan95
T. Program -Nov93
Public Enemies -July/Aug09
Public Eye -Nov92
Pulp Fiction -Nov94
Pump Up t. Volume -Sep90
Pure Luck -Sep91
T Pursuit of Happyness -Wintr06
Pushing Hands -Apr96

Q

Q & A -June90
Quantum of Silence -Wintr08
T Queen -Fall06
Quest For Camelot -July98
T. Quick & t. Dead -Mar95
Quick Change -Aug90
T. Quiet American -Jan03
Quigley Down Under -Nov90
Quills -Feb 01
Quincenera -Fall06
Quiz Show -Nov94
Queen Margot -Sep95

R

Rabbit-Proof Fence -Jan03
Race Against Time -July00
Race t. Sun -Mar97
Rachel Getting Married -
Mar/Apr09
Racing Stripes -Spring05
T. Radicals -Sep90
Radio -Nov03
Radioland Murders -Dec94
Rainmaker -Jan98
Raising Cain -Sep92
Raising Victor Vargas -June03
Ransom - Dec96
T. Rapture-Sep92
Rat Race -Oct 01
Ratatouille –Fall07
Ravenous -May99
T Reader -Jan/Feb09
Ready to Wear (Pret-A-Porter)
-Feb95
Real Women Have Curves -Jan03
Reality Bites -Apr94
T Reaping -Sumr07
T. Recruit -Feb03
Red -Mar95
Red Corner -Dec97
Red Eye -Fall05
Red Rock West -Sep94
T. Red Violin -Sept99
T. Ref -Apr94
Regarding Henry -Aug91
Reign Over Me -Sumr07
Reindeer Games -May00
Remains of t. Day -Dec93
Remember Me -May/June10
Remember t. Titans -Nov00
Renaissance Man -July94
Rendition -Wintr07
Rent -Wintr05
Requiem For a Dream -Jan 01
Rescue Dawn -Fall 07
Rescuers Down Under -Dec90
Respiro -Sept03
Resurrecting the Champ -Fall07
Restoration -Mar96
Resurrection -Jan91
Return of t. Jedi -Oct96
Return to Me -July00
Return to Never Land -April2002
Return to Paradise -June99
Reversal of Fortune -Jan91
Revolutionary Road -Jan/Feb09
Rhapsody in August -July97; O95
Rich in Love -June93
Richard III (cap) -Sep96
Ricochet -Nov91
Ride with the Devil -Oct00
Ridicule -Feb97
Riding Alone for Thousands of
Miles -Fall06
Rising Sun -Sep93
A River Runs Through It -Dec92
T. River Wild -Nov94
T Road -Jan/Feb10
T. Road Home -Nov01
Road to El Dorado -Jun00
T. Road to Freedom: T. Vernon
Jordan Story - Mar95
T. Road to Galveston -Oct96
Road to Perdition -Aug2002
Rob Roy -May95
T Robe -Sumr07
Robin Hood -Jul/Aug10
Robin Hood: Men in Tights -Sep93
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
-July91
Robots -Spring05
T. Rock -July96
Rock Star -Oct 01
T. Rocketeer -July91
Rocky Balboa -Wintr06
Rocky V -Dec90
Romance and Cigarettes
-May/June10
Romeo & Juliet -Dec96
Romeo Is Bleeding-Romero -Oct95
Romeo Must Die - ay00
Ronin -Dec98
Roomates -Ap95
T. Rookie -June02
Rookie of t. Year -Apr93
Rosewood -Apr97
T. Royal Tenenbaums -Feb02
Ruby in Paradise - Mar96
The Rug Rats Movie -Jan99
T. Rug Rats Go Wild -July03
Rules of Engagement -Jun00
Rumble in t. Bronx -Apr96
Rumor of Angels -Oct03
Run -Mar91
Run, Lola, Run -Sept99
Runaway Bride -Oct99
Runaway Jury -Nov03
T Runaways -May/June10
T. Rundown -Nov03
Running Mates -Aug00
Running With Scissors -Fall06
Rushmore -Aprl99
Russia House -Jan91
T. Russian Ark -June03

S

16 Blocks -Sum06
17 Again -May/June09
Safe Passage -July95
Saint Ralph -Wintr05
Salt of the Earth -Mar03
T. Sandlot -June93
Sarafina - Oct92; Oct95
T. Savages -Spring08
Save T. Last Dance -Mar 01
Saving Private Ryan -Sep98
Saving Sarah Cain -Spring08
T. Scarlet Letter (cap) -Sep96
Scenes From a Mall -Aug91
Scent of a Woman -Feb93
Schindler’s List -Mar94
School of Rock -Sept03
School Ties -Oct92
Schultze Gets the Blues -Sum05
Scoop -Fall06
T. Score -Aug 01
T. Scout -Nov94
Scream -Feb97
Sea of Love -Aug90
Seabisquit -Aug03
Searching for Bobby Fischer
-Oct93
Seasons of t. Heart -Jan95
Secondhand Lion -Sept03
T. Secret Life of Dentists
-Oct03
T. Secret Garden -Sep93
T Secret in Their Eyes -Jul/Aug10
Secret Life of the Bees -Wintr08
T Secret of Kells -Jul/Aug10
T Secrets & Lies -Apr97.
Secret of Roan Inish -Feb96
Selena -May97
Sense & Sensibility -Mar96
T Sentinel -Sum06
Serenity -Wintr05
Serial Mom -June94
A Serious Man -Jan/Feb10
Set it Off -Jan97
Seven -Nov95
Seven Pounds -Jan/Feb09
Seven Years in Tibet -Dec97
Sex and T. City -Sumr08
Sex & the City 2 -Jul/Aug10
Sexy Beast -Sept 01
T. Shadow -Aug94
Shadow of T. Vampire -Apr01
Shadows & Fog -Apr92
Shadow of t. Wolf -Apr93
Shadowlands -Feb94
Shaggy Dog -Sum06
Shakespeare in Love -Feb99
Shall We Dance -Oct97
Shanghai Ghetto -Oct03
Shanghai Knights -Mar03
Shanghai Noon -July00
T. Shawshank Redemption -Oct94
She’s All That -May99
She’s t. One -Oct96
Sherlock Holmes -Jan/Feb10
Shine -Mar97
T. Shipping News -Feb02
Short Cuts -Feb94
A Shock to t. System -June90
Shop Girl -Wintr05
Showtime -May02
Shower -May 01
Shrek -July 01
Shrek the Third -Sumr07
Shrek Forever After -Jul/Aug10
Shutter Island -Mar/Apr10
SiCKO -Fall07
Side Kicks -June93
Sidewalks of New York -Feb02
Sidney White -Spring08
T. Siege -Dec98
Signs -Aug2002
Silence of t. Lambs -Apr91
T. Silver Chair -Feb94
Simon Birch -Nov98
A Simple Plan -Mar99
A Simple Twist of Faith -Nov94
T Simpsons Movie -Fall07
Sinbad -Aug03
Single Man -Jan/Feb10
Single White Female -Sep92
Singles -Oct92
Sins of the Father -Sum05
Sirens -May94
Sister Act -July97
Sister Act 2 -Jan94
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
-Sum05
Six Degrees of Separation -Apr94
T. Sixth Sense -Oct99
Sky High -Fall05
Sleepers -Dec96
Sleeping With t. Enemy -Apr91
Sleepless in Seattle -Aug93
Sleepy Hollow -Jan00
Sliding Doors -June98
Sling Blade -Apr97
T. Slingshot -Aug95
Sliver-July93
Slumdog Millionaire -Jan/Feb09
Small Time Crooks -July00
Smilla’s Sense of Snow -May97
Smoke Signals -Oct98
Snake Eyes -Sep98
T. Snapper -Apr94
Sneaker s-Oct92
T. Sniper -Mar93
Snow Falling on Cedars -Mar00
Snow White -Aug93
Snow White: A Tale of Terror -
Mar98
Soapdish -July91
A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries
-Dec98
Solitary Man -July/Aug10
T Soloist -May/June09
Some Mother’s Son -July97
Sommersby -Mar93
Something New -Spring06
Sometimes in April -Sum05
Son of the Bride -July2002
Son of Ranbow -Sumr08
T. Son’s Room -June2002
Song Spinner -July03
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
-Sum06
South Central -June93
Space Cowboys -Sept00
Space Jam -Jan97
T. Spanish Prisoner -June98
Spawn -Sep97
Spelling Bee -Aug03
T Spiderwick Chronicles -Spring08
Sunset Park -June96
Something to Talk About -Sep95
Space Jam -Jan97
Species 2 -May98
Speechless Jan95
Speed -July94
T. Sphere -Apr98
Spider Man -June02
Spiderman 3 -Sumr07
Spirit -July02
T. Spitfire Grill -Oct96
Split Second -June92
Splice -Jul/Aug10
Spy Game -Jan02
Spy Hard -July96
Spy Kids -June01
Spy Kids 3-D:Game Over
-Sept03
T Squid and the Whale -Wintr05
T. Stand -Dec97
Standing in the Shadows of
Motown - Jan03
Stanley & Iris -Mar90
Stardust -Fall07
Star Kid -Mar98
Star Trek -May/June09
STAR TEK 6: T. Undiscovered Country -Jan92
STAR TREK: First Contact -Jan97
STAR TREK: Generations -Jan95
STAR TREK IX: Insurrection -
Feb99
Star Trek: Nemesis - Jan03
STAR WARS: T. Phantom Menace
-July99
Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge
of the Sith -Sum05
Stargate -Mar95
Star Wars: Attack of the Clones -
June02
T. Stars Fell on Henrietta -Apr96
Starting Out in T. Evening -Sumr08
Star Trek: Nemesis -Jan03
State of Play -May/June09
Stay Tuned -Sep92
Stealing Beauty -Aug96
Stealth -Fall05
Step Brothers -Fall08
Stepmom -Feb99
Stigmata -July 01
Stir of Echoes -Nov99
Stop-Loss-Sumr08
T. Story Lady -July95
T. Story of Qiu Ju -Sep93
T. Story of Us -Dec99
T. Straight Story -Jan00
Straight Talk -May92
Strange Days -Nov95
A Stranger Among Us -Aug92
Stranger Than Fiction -Wintr06
T. Strangers -Sumr08
Street Fighter -Feb95
Street Kings -Sumr08
Strictly Ballroom -May93
Strictly For Business -Dec91
Strip Tease -Aug96
Stuart Little - Mar00
Substance of Fire -Oct97
Sudie & Simpson -Oct96
T. Sum of All Fears -June02
Sunshine -Fall07
T. Super -Nov91
Sugar Hill -Apr94
T. Summer House -May94
Sunshine Cleaning -May/June09
Superman Returns -Sum06
Surf’s Up -Fall07
Surrogates -Nov/Dec09
T. Swan Princess -Jan95
S.W.A.T. -Oct03
Sweeney Todd -Spring08
Sweet and Lowdown -Mar00
T. Sweet Hereafter -Feb98
Sweet Land -Sumr07
Sweet Talker -June91
Swimming Pool -Sept03
Swing Vote -Fall08
Switched-June91
Syriana -Wintr05

T

3:10 to Yuma -Fall07
12 and Holding -Sum06
28 Days -Jun00
28 Weeks Later -Sumr07
29th Street -Aug97
300 -Spring07
2012 -Nov/Dec09
10,000 BC -Sumr08
T. Tailor of Panama -June01
Take the Lead -Spring06
Taken -May/June09
T. Taking of Pelham 123
-July/Aug09
Talladega Nights:T Ballad of Ricky
Bobby -Fall06
T. Tale of Despereaux -May/June09
T..Talented Mr. Ripley -Feb00
Talk to Her -Mar03
Talk to Me -Fall07
Tanglewood’s Secret -Mar92
Tank Girl -May95
T. Tao of Steve -Nov00
Tarzan -Aug99
Tarzan & t. Lost City -June98
Tea With Mussolini -Aug99
Teaching Mrs. Tingle -Oct99
Tears of t. Sun -Aprl03
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III
-May93
T. Temp -Mar93
Temptress Moon -Sep97
T Ten Commandments: Ann.
Edition -Spring06
T. Tenth Man -Oct02
Terminator -July/Aug09
Terminator 2 -Aug91
Terminator 3 -July03
Terminator Salvation -July/Aug09
Thank You For Smoking -Sum06
That Old Feeling -May97
That Thing You Do -Nov96
That’s Entertainment Part III
-Nov94
Thelma & Louise -July91
T. Theory of Flight -Jan03
There Will Be Blood -Spring08
There’s Something About Mary -Sep98
T. Thief -Nov98
A Thin Line Between Love & Hate
-May96
T. Thin Red Line -Mar99
13 Conversations About One Thing - Aug2002
Thirteen -Nov03
Thirteen Days -Mar 01
This Boy’s Life -June93
This Christmas -Wintr07
This Is My Life -Oct9ct3
Thomas and the Magic Railroad
-Sept00
T. Thomas Crown Affair -Oct99
Thr3e -Wintr06
T Three Burials of Melquiades
Estrada -Spring06
Three Kings -Dec99
Three Men & a Little Lady -Dec90
T. Three Muskateers -Dec93
Three Seasons -Aug99
Threesome -May94
Thumbsucker -Wintr05
Thumbalina -May94
Thunderheart -May92
T. Tigger Movie -Aprl00
Till Human Voices Wake
Us -May03
Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before
Christmas -Dec93
Time Code -July00
A Time for Killing -Sep96
Time Line -Dec03
T. Time Machine -May02
T Time Traveler’s Wife -Sep/Oct09
Tin Cup -Sep96
Titan:A.E. -Aug00
Titanic -Feb98
To Die For -Nov95
To End All Wars -Aug02
To Kill a Priest -July03
Together -Aug03
Tom & Jerry: T. Movie -Sep93
Tombstone -Feb94
T. Tooth Fairy -Mar/Apr10
Topsy-Turvy -Apr00
Tortilla Soup -Dec01
Total Recall -June90
Touch -Feb98
Touch of Evil -Jan/Feb09
Tous Les Matins Du Monde
-May93
Town and Country -June,01
Toy Story -Jan96
Toy Story 2 -Jan00
Toy Story 3 -Jul/Aug10
Toys -Jan93
Traffic -Feb, 01
Training Day -Dec01
Traitor -Fall08
Transamerica -Spring06
Transformers -Fall07
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen -July/Aug09
Trapped in Paradise -Jan95
Treasures of t. Snow -Mar92
Trial By Jury -Oct94
Trigger Effect -Oct96
T. Triumph of Love -June02
Trois Couleurs: Blanc -Oct94
Tropic Thunder -Fall08
T. Truce -Feb99
True Identity -Sep91
True Lies -Aug94
True Romance -Oct93
T. Truman Show -July98
T. Truth About Cats & Dogs -
June96
Tsotsi -Spring06
Truth or Dare -June91
Tuck Everlasting -Feb03
Tully -Mar03
Tumbleweeds -May00
Turtle Diary -Oct91
Turtles Can Fly -Sum05
Twelve Monkeys -Feb96
T. 25th Hour -Feb03
28 Days Later -Aug03
Twilght -May98
Twilight Saga: New Moon
-Jan/Feb10
Twilight Saga: Eclipse -Jul/Aug10
Two Bits -Apr97
Two Day in t. Valley -Nov96
Two Family House -Jan 01
T. Two Towers -Jan03
Two Weeks Notice -Feb03
Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls -
Spring07
Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Family
Reunion -Spring06
Tyler Perry’s “Meet T.Browns
-Sumr08

U

U-571 -Jun00
U Turn -Dec97
Ulee’s Gold -July97
Unbreakable -Mar 01
Under Siege -Dec92
Under Siege 2 -Aug95
Under T. Sand -Sept 01
Under t. Tuscan Sun
-Oct03
Unforgiven -Sep92; O95
Unhook t. Stars -June97
United 93 and Flight 93 -Sum06
Unlawful Entry -Aug92
Unleashed -Sum05
Unstrung Heroes -Nov95
Untamed Heart -Mar93
UP -July/Aug09
Up Close & Personal -Apr96
Up in the Air -Jan/Feb10
T Upside of Anger -Sum05
Uptown Girls -Sept03
U.S. Marshalls -Apr98
Used People -Feb93
Ushpizin -Wintr05

V

V For Vendetta -Spring06
Vacancy -Sumr07
Valkyrie -Jan/Feb09
A Vampre in Brooklyn -Dec95
T. Van -Jan98
Vantage Point -Spring08
Vatel -Oct03
Vanya on 42nd St. - My95
T Velveteen Rabbit -Mar/Apr09
Venus -Spring07
Veronica Guerin -Oct03
V.I. Warshawski -Aug91
Vicki Cristina Barcelona -Fall08
View From t. Top -Aprl03
Vincent & Theo -Sep91
Virtuosity - Sep95
T. Visitor-Sumr08
T. Visitors-June97
Volcano-June97
Volver -Wintr06

W

W. -Wintr08
T. Wackness-Fall08
Wag t. Dog -Feb98
T. Wager -Wintr07
Waiting for Guffman-July97
Waiting for t. Light-Dec90
Waiting to Exhale -Feb96
T Waitress -Sumr07
Waking Life -Jan2002
Waking Ned Devine -Feb99
Walk Hard -Spring08
A Walk in t.Clouds -Sep95
Walk t Line -Wintr05
A Walk to Remember -Mar2002
Walkabout -Jan2002
Wall-E -Sum08
Wallace & Gromit: T Curse of the
Were-Rabbit -Wintr05
T. Wansee Conference -Mar94
Wanted -Fall08
T. War -Dec94
War of the Worlds -Fall05
T. Warden -Jan01
Warriors of Virtue -June97
Watch It -Dec93
Watchmen -May/June09
Water -Sum06
T. Water Horse -Spring08
Waterworld -Sep95
T. Way Home -Feb03
Wayne’s World -Ap & May92
We Own t. Night -Wintr07
T Weatherman -Wintr05
T. Wedding Gift -Nov94
T Wedding Crashers -Fall05
T Wedding Date -Spring05
T. Wedding Singer -Apr98
Welcome to Sarajev -May98
Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
-Nov94
Whale Rider -July03
What About Bob? -June91
What Dreams May Come -Dec98
What Lies Beneath - Sept00
What Women Want - Aprl 01
Whatever Works -July/Aug09
What’s Cooking? - June,01
What’s Eating Gilbert Grape-Apr94
What’s Love Got to Do With It?-
Aug93
When a Man Loves a Woman-
June94
When We were Kings -Oct97
Where t Heart Is -July00
Where t Money Is -Jun00
Where t Wild Things Are -
Nov/Dec09
Wild Hogs -Spring07
While You Were Sleeping -July95
Whispers in t. Dark-Sep92
T. White Balloon - May97
T White Countess -Spring06
White Fang-Feb91
White Fang 2-May94
White Hunter, Black Heart-Nov90
White Man’s Burden - Jan96
White Men Can’t Jump (Title left
out!) -Apr92
White Noise -Spring05
White Palace -Dec90
T. White Ribbon -Mar/Apr10
White Sands -May92
Why Do Fools Fall in Love?
-Oct98
Wide Awake - Jan99
T. Widow of St. Pierre -May 01
Widow’s Peak -Aug94
Wild America -Aug97
Wild Bill -Jan97

Wilde -Aug98
Wild at Heart -Sep90
Wild Bill -Jan97
Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken
-June91
T. Wild Thornberries -Jan03
Willard -May03
Windtalkers -July02
Windhorse -July99
Wing Commander -May99
Winged Migration -Aug03
Wings of Desire -Mar92 & Nov98
Wings of t. Dove -Apr98
T. Winslow Boy -Aug99
Witchblade -Aug00
T. Witches-Sep90
With Honors -June94
Without Limits -Nov00
Witness -Oct95
Witness Against Hitler -Dec97
The Wizard of Oz -Dec98
Wolf -July94
T Woodsman -Sum05
World Trade Center -Sum06
Wonder Boys -Jun00
Wonderland -Nov03
T World’s Fastest Indian -Spring06
T Wrestler -Mar/Apr09
Wrestling Ernest Heming­way
-Nov95
Wyatt Earp -Aug94

X

T. X Files -Aug98
X-Files: I Want to Believe -Fall08
X-Men -Sept00
X-Men: The Last Stand -Sum06

Y

Y Tu Mama Tambien (Your Mama
Too) -June2002
T. Yards -June01
Year One -July/Aug09
Yi Yi (A One and a Two) -July01
Year of t. Comet -May92
T. Year of t. Gun -Nov91
Yes Man -Jan/Feb09
You Can Count On Me -Feb01
You Don’t Mess With T. Zohan
-Sumr08
T Young Victoria -Jan/Feb10

Z

Zeus & Roxanne -Mar97
Zodiac -Spring07

ON CABLE

Acceptable Risk -Oct01
American Hot Wax -Oc01
The Avenger -Spring06
Boss of Bosses -May 01
Call Me Claus -Dec 01
Cartoon Networks “Adult Swim”
-Sept 01
T Closer -Fall05; Sum05
Disappearance -Apr02
T Engagement Ring -Wintr05
14:Hours -Spring05
First Shot -July2002
Into the West -Sum05
James Dean -July 01
T. King of Texas - May2002
T. Mists of Avalon -July01
Monday Night Mayhem -Jan2002
A Perfect Day -Fall07
Samurai Jack -Aug 01
Stephen King’s NIGHTMARES &
DREAMSCAPES, Pt. 1 -Sum06
T. Triangle -Aug 01
Wanted -Fall05

On TV

Kings -May/June09

DOCUMENTARIES

Amazing Grace -June91

Beyond Gates of Splendor -Fall05
Capitalism: A Love Story
-Nov/Dec09
T Education of Shelby Knox
-Sum06
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the
Room -Sum05
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
-Sumr08
From Swatztika to Jim Crow -Jan
01
Gunner Palace -Sum05
Hanged on a Twisted Cross
-Feb01
In the Shadow of the Moon
-July/Aug09
Into T. Arms of Strangers -May01
Jesus Camp -Fall06
Mad Hot Ball Room -Sum05
Religulous -Wintr08
Road to Guantanamo -Sumr08
Roger & Me -Mar90
Through G ates of Splendor -Fall05
T. Wannsee Conference -June01
Weapons of t. Spirit -Mar92;
Mar94
Where in T. World Is Osama bin
Laden? -Sumr08
Wordplay -Sum06

SHORT VIDEOS

Acts -Jan98
Advent Calendar on DVD -Wintr07
Advent Calendar on DVD 2 -Fall08
T Adventures of Carlos Caterpillar:
Episode 12 -Jul/Aug10
Affectionately Yours, Screwtape:
THE DEVIL AND C.S. LEWIS
-Sum07
Amazing Grace -June91
An American Boy -Wintr05
And Then... -Feb95
Art Shapes Faith Shapes Art -Jan94
Avenue of t. Just -Mar94

BETHLEHEM Year Zero -Dec00;
Fall05
T. Box of Delights -Nov92
T. Bridge -Feb95

Captain Kangaroo’s Merry
Christmas Stories -Nov92
Celtic Hymns -Spring08
A Charlie Brown Christmas -Nov92
Charlie’s Christmas Project -Nov92
Charlie’s Christmas Secret -Nov92
T. Children’s Crusade -Aug2002
Christ in Art -Nov94
Christ Incognito, “Jesus B.C.”
-Dec00
A Christmas Story -Fall05
Christmas Joy -Dec97
A Clown is Born -Feb95
Clown of Freedom -Jan93
Communion of Saints -Oct94

Dateline: JERUSALEM -(Feb 01)
T. Donkey’s Tale -Nov92; Nov94

T. Eric Liddell Story -Nov/Dec09

T Fanny Crosby Story -Spring05
T. First Christmas -Nov92
First Fruits -Spring05
Forgiving t. Unforgivable
-Jan/Feb10
T. Four Chaplains -Sum05
Francesco’s Friendly World: T.
Broken Cross -Aug2002

Giotto: His Life and Art -Sumr07
Gladys Aylworth -Wintr08
God’s Trombones -Sum06
T Gospel of Judas & Other Gnostic
Secrets Revealed -Mar/Apr10
T. Gospels -Dec97
T. Gospels for Lent:
T. Adulteress
T. Fig Tree
T. Prodigal
T. Temptation-
T. Transfiguration
T. Trial -Fep93
Grandfather’s Birthday -Sum06
Grandma’s Ornament
-Nov92;Nov94
Greater Love -Feb95
Hanged on a Twisted Cross
-Wintr05
Herod’s Temple -Fall07
Hildegard -Sum06
HILL STREET BLUES: Santa
Claustrophobia -Nov94
Hymns of Praise: Charles
Wesley -May/June10

If You Love Me, Show Me -Feb93
Images of Jesus -Dec00
T. Incomparable Book -Jan93

Insight Series:
T. Day Everything Went Wrong - May98
Fisheyes With Ted & Lee:
Episodes 1 & 2 -July98
God in t. Dock -Feb98
Jesus: B.C. -Mar98
Packy -Jan98
T. Singer of Israel: T. Life of David -July98
This Side of Eden -Jan98;Jan 01
T. Walls Came Tumbling Down - Jan98

It’s About This Carpen­tar -Feb95

Jacob’s Ladder: T Invitation
-Nov/Dec09
Jesus & His Times-Pt 1 -Nov93 Jesus & His Times: T. Story Begins
-Dec97
JESUS of NAZARETH:
Christmas seg .-Nov93
A Savior Is Born (Slides, Part
One) -Nov94
T. Jesus Roast -Jan93
JESUS: Who Do Men Say That I
Am? -Mar98
T Jim Elliot Story -Fall05
John Wesley -Spring05
Just in Time for Christmas -Dec00

Last Stone -Mar 01
Line in t. Sand -Nov92
T. Long Road Home -Oct93

Making Choices: The Dutch Re-
sistance During World War II
-May/June10
Mark’s Gospel on stage… -
Jul/Aug10
A Matter of Principle -Nov.92;
Nov94
Mind That Child -Feb92
Mine Eyes Have Seen t. Glory
-Aug93
Mr. Krueger’s Christmas -Nov92;
Nov94
Mister Pascal -Jan93; Feb95

Nicholas: T. Boy Who Became
Santa -Nov92

Oh Happy Day -Feb95
One Killer Too Many -Wintr05
One Who Was There -Feb00

Parable -Feb95
A Passion -Feb95
PAX: An Alternative To War
-July/Aug09
Preparing for Christmas -Nov92

Questions of Faith -Jan93

T. Rabbi’s Gift -July97
Red Boots for Christmas -Fall05
Reflections on Lord’s Prayer
-Wintr08
T. Revolutionary -Mar97
T. Richard Wurmbrand Story
-Nov/Dec09

St. Francis of Assisi and T.
Franciscans -Dec 01
Schindler -Oct94
Short Films for Lent: T. Jesus
Roast; Mr. Paschal; T.
Incomparable Book; Wm.
Wilberforce; T. Gospels for Lent
(6 films);l Clown of Freedom;
Questions of Faith -Jan93

Silent Mouse -Nov92; Nov94
Small Womders -Mar98
So Who Is This Jesus? -Spring05
T. Spirit of t. Season -Nov92
A Star For Jeremy -Nov92
Storytelling Know-How for…
-May/June10

Taize’: That Little Springtime -Sept
01
Tales From T. Mad House -Jan
01
Three Christmas Classics: T. Stable
Boy’s Christmas; T. Town That
Forgot About Christmas;
Christmas Is -Fall05
Through Joy & beyond -Feb94
Through t. Shadowlands -Feb94
Till My Last Breath -Wintr05
To God Be the Glory -Spring08
T. Trial & Testimony of t. Early
Church -May91 & Sum06

An Uncommon Union -Spring05

T. Visual Bible: MATTHEW
-Dec00
Who Is Jesus? -Mar/Apr10
Wholesome …Johnny Appleseed -
Mar/Apr09
T. William Tyndale Story -
Nov/Dec09
William Wilberforce -Jan93
William Wilberforce -Spring07
T. World of Jesus Christ: A Christmas Celebration -Nov92

DISCUSSION GUIDES

T. Agony & t. Ecstasy -Sep93
Amadeus -Aug93
American Beauty -Sept 01
Amistad -Sep98

Babe -May96
BABE: Pig in the City -Dec99
Babette’s Feast -Oct92
Bagdad Cafe -Jan00
Beautiful Dreamers -June94
Bob Roberts -Oct00
Bopha -July94
Boyz N t. Hood -Apr92
Breaking t. Waves -June98
Broadway Danny Rose -Mar97

A Bronx Tale -June94
T. Burning Season -Feb98
T. Butter Cream Gang -July98

Chariots of Fire -Oct96
A Charlie Brown Christmas -Dec97
Chocolat -Oct01
Christy -Spring07
T. Color Purple -Aug92
Cradle Will Rock -Nov00
Crimes & Misdemeanors -Jan97
Cry Freedom -Nov93

Dead Man Walking -Sep96
Dogma -Jun00

Eleni -May95
T. Empire Strikes Back -Mar97
End of T. Affair -May 01
Erin Brockovich -July, 01
Entertaining Angels: the Dorothy
Day Story -Oct97
E.T. -April02
Fearless -June94
T. Fisher King -Mar93
T. Five Heartbeats -July93
Francesco -Oct95
Fried Green Tomatoes -Aug99

Gandhi -Oct95
God Bless t. Child -Jan95
T. Gospel According to St. Matthew
-Feb95
T. Grapes of Wrath -Aprl99
Grease -May98
T. Great Santini -Sep97
T. Green Mile -Aug00

Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone
-July02
Hook -Jan92
How t. Grinch Stole Christmas -
Dec97

I Am Sam -Apr02
Ice Age -Apr02
T. Importance of Being Earnest
-July02
Imposter - Mar02
In t. Bedroom -Feb02
In t. Name of t. Father -Aug94
T. Insider -Dec00
Insomnia -July02
Iris -May02
T. Iron Giant -Feb00
It’s a Wonderful Life -Dec91;
Nov94
Italian for Beginners -May02

Jacobs Lader: Samuel’s Destiny -
Nov/Dec09
Jesus of Montreal -Feb95
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius - May02
Joshua -June02
T. Joy Luck Club -July94

Kandahar -April02
Kate & Leopold -Feb02
Kissing Jessica Stein -May02

Lakeboat -Feb02
Lantana -May02
Les Miserables -June99
Life Is Beautiful -July99
Life or Something Like It -June02
Lilies of t. Field -June93
T. Long Walk Home -July97
Lord of t. Rings -Feb02
Lovely & Amazing -Aug02
Lumumba -Feb02

The Majestic -Feb02
Manna from Heaven -Wintr05
T Man Who Wasn’t There -Jan02
Matewan -Jan92; Nov95
T. Matrix -Nov2002
A Midnight Clear -Dec95
The Mighty -Oct99
Minority Report -July02
T. Mission -Mar92
Monster’s Ball -Aug2002
T. Music Man -Jan98
My Big Fat Greek Wedding -Aug02
My Family (Mi Familia) -Aug98
My Life -June94

Network -Apr96
No Man’s Land -Apr02
NORTHERN EXPOSURE:
Aurora Borealis -Mar95
T. Big Feast -Dec94
Crime & Punishment -Jan95
T. First Episode -Oct94
Seoul Mates -Oct94
Thanksgiving -Nov-94
Novocain -Jan02

O Brother, Where Art Thou? -
-June01
Ocean 11 -Feb02
T. Official Story -May92
T. Old Man and T. Sea -Feb, 01
On t. Waterfront -May93
Once We Were Soldiers -Apr02
One Flew Over t. Cuckoo’s Nest
-June92
T. Outsiders -Aprl 01

Panic Room -June2002
T. Paper -Jan95
Patch Adams: Laughter as Medicine
-Jan2002
T. Pawnbroker -Feb92
Philadelphia -Aug94
T. Pianist -Dec02
T. Piano -Aug94
Places in t. Heart -May97
Plenty -Aug97
Ponette -Nov98
Powder -July96
T. Purple Rose of Cairo -June97

Quiz Show -July95

Remains of t. Day -July94
Return of t. Jedi -Apr97
Return to Never Land -April02
Rhapsody in August -Apr93; S94
T. Road to Freedom -Mar95 & Aug02
Romero -Sep95
The Rookie -June02
Rosewood -Mar99
T. Royal Tenenbaums -Feb02

T. Saint of Ft. Washington -Sep94
Salvador -May96
Schindler’s List -Mar94
Selma, Lord, Selma -Mar, 01
Shawshank Redemption -June95
T. Shipping News -Feb02
Short Cuts -July94
Showtime -May02
Sidewalks of New York -Feb02
Signs -Aug02
Sling Blade -May99
Smoke -Dec96
Smoke Signals -Aprl00
Snow Falling on Cedars -Sept00
Son of the Bride -July02
T. Son’s Room -June02
Spider Man -June02
Spider-man 2 -Spring05
Spirit -July02
T. Spitfire Grill -Apr98
Spy Game -Jan02
Star Wars -Feb97
Star Wars IV, V, VI -Sum05
T. Straight Story -July00
T. Sum of All Fears -June02
T. Sweet Hereafter -Feb99

Tender Mercies -Mar98
T. Tenth Man -Oct02
13 Conversations About One Thing - Aug02
T. Time Machine -May02
To Kill a Mockingbird -Jan96
The Thin Red Line -Nov99
T. Third Miracle -Jan, 01
To End All Wars -Aug02
TOUCHED BY AN ANGEL: The Spirit of Liberty Moon -Jan99
Trip to Bountiful -Nov96

Unforgiven -Sep92

Waking Life -Jan02
A Walk to Remember -Mar02
Walkabout -Jan02
Walking Across Egypt -Aug 01
T. War -Aug95
West Side Story -Fall05
What’s Cooking? -Nov01
Whistle Down t. Wind -Mar00
T. Winslow Boy -May00
Windtalkers -July2002

T. Year of Living Dangerously -
Mar96

Zorba the Greek -Sept99

ARTICLES

T. Academy Awards: Box Office
Versus Art -Apr95
Advent Film Series -Nov/Dec09
American Films Overseas -Apr92
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Part 1 -
Aprl03
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Part 2 -
May03
CD Review: Paradise Road -June97
Church & Film in Conversation -
June96
The Da Vinci Code:Mary
Magdalene in Film -Spring06
Dreamworks Offers New Version
of Story of Moses - Nov98
DVDs for Thanksgiving, Advent &
Christmas: Northern Exposure;
Seoul Mates -Fall08
T. Eddies Awards-Apr94
Fathers in Films - June96
Films About Artists - Oct96
Films & Violence - Oct95
Films for Lent -Wintr05
Films for Lent - Feb96
Films for MLK Holiday -
Nov/Dec09
Films For Season of Nonviolence -
Feb,98
Films of John Sayles-Aug96
Lenten Program -Wintr06
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman -
Mass Media Bargains - Oct97Spring07

A Moment of Grace in A TIME
FOR KILLING -Sept96
More Christmas DVDs -Fall08
More Films on South Africa -
May96
More on Jane Austen -Mar96
Other Films On Social Justice -
Oct97
1998’s TOP TEN FILMS From a
Spiritual Perspective -Mar99
1999’s Top 12 Films -Feb,00
Northern Exposure -Sep94
The Oscar Controversy and Two
Films on Blacklisting -Aprl99 Outreach Cinema -Wintr07
Report From t. Montreal World
Film Festival -Sep/Oct09
Some Other Christmas Films Previously Reviewed -Dec97
Special 10th Anniversary Section -
Feb00
TableTalk:An Intergenera­tional
Lenten Event -Feb95

T Prophets in Psalms and Film -
Sum06
T Prophets in Psalms and Film” Part
II -Fall06

Television: Clueless -Oct97
Television: Four Series Featuring Ministers -Sep97
Ten Films of 1997 That Affirm t.
Spirit -Apr98
Top Ten Films of 1993 -Jan94
Top Ten Films of 2004 -Spring05
Top Ten Films for 2005 -Wintr05
Top Ten Films 2006 -Wintr06
Top Ten Films 2007 -Spring08
Top Ten Films 08 -Jan/Feb09
2 Films for MLK Day -Wintr08
Usng Films as Vis. Parables -Dec91
VP’s Pick for T. Top 10 of 00 -
Mar 01
VP’s Top Ten Films of 2009 -
Mar/Apr10
Wasn’t It Nice in the NEIGHBOR-
HOOD? –May03
What Did You Do on Dec. 28?
-Dec96

BOOK REVIEWS
(DS indicates was in Doug Sweet’s column)

The Academy Awards Handbook -
Feb00 DS
A CALL TO PEACE -July99
Chris in t. Morning -Mar95
Chronicle of t. Cinema -Jan97
City of Joy: T. Illustrated Story of t. Film-May92
Film Guides from the Presbyterians
-Oct97
T. Civil War in Popular Culture -
DST.
Divine Images: A History of Jesus
on t. Screen -Apr00 DS
Fisher King: T. Book of t. Film -
Apr92
T. Francis Book-Oct93
Fritz Eichenberg: Works of Mercy -
Aug97
God, Death & Love-Mar91
Hollywood Dreams & Biblical
Stories -June96
I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie -
Aug00 DS
I Was a Fugitive from a Hollywood
Trivia Factory -Dec00 DS
IMAGING THE DIVINE: Jesus &
Christ Figures in Film - July99
Inside Oscar: t Unofficial History
of t Academy Awards - Feb00 DS
John Irving’s A Praer for Owen
Meany -Nov98
John Irving’s MY MOVIE
BUSINESS
Ken Burns’s T. Civil War: His-
torians Respond - DS
A Killer Angels Companion -
DS
Lest Innocent Blood be Shed -
May98
Let’s Go to t. Movies, V. 1-8 -
Sept00 DS
T. Long Loneliness: T. Autobi-
ography of Dorothy Day -Aug97
Love, Sex, Death, & t. Meaning of
Life -Oct91
More Than Entertainment -Aug90
Movie Christs -May91
Movies That Inspire -July93
T. Movie Mom’s Guide to Family
Movies -May00 DS
Northern Exposure Book -Sep94
Peter Bogdanovich’s Movie of the
Week: 52 Classic Films For One
Full Year -Mar00 DS
Rent two Videos & Let’s Talk in t.
Morning -Aug98
A River Runs Through It -May93
St. Paul at t. Movies -July94
Schindler’s List -Mar94
Screen Saved -June,01
Screening America -Feb97; Mar92
70 Years of the Oscar: The Official
History of the Academy Awards
-Feb00 DS
Song of Survival -June97
Video Hound Golden Movie
Retriever 00 -Jan00 DS
Whose Birthday Is It...?-Nov94

(Note: in the June 1996 issue the article “Ch. & Film in Conversation” includes brief descriptions of about16 books on film & theology.)

 

New Movie Annoucement...

A Film Capsule: Amish Grace

Everyone knows about the killing of five Amish girls in Lancaster County and of the incredible act of forgiveness on the part of the Amish community. This Lifetime Movie Channel film fills in the details, focusing in on the struggle of the mother of one of the murdered girls to accept her church’s decision to love rather than to hate.

<Contact>

To Contact Editor Ed McNulty phone 1-859-493-0286.
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Editor/Reviewer: Dr. Edward N. McNulty
Web Editor/Publisher: Dr. J. Nichols Adams
Columnist: Rev. Doug Sweet.
Additional reviewers: Rev. Tom Willadsen
& Rev. Markus Watson
The Internet Version is updated weekly,
and the print edition is published annually.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Mar/Apr issue of VP is up

Email to Ed
To read Ed McNulty's article "Mainline Christianity in Film" in the new web service called Patheos go to:
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Additional-Resources/
Mainline-Christianity-in-Film.html
.
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