More Than One Lesson

In this episode, Tyler discusses James Toback’s Tyson and what we as Christians can learn from it.

EPISODE BREAKDOWN
00:00:45- Introduction
00:01:25- Announcement of For The Title raffle winners
00:02:31- MTOL press
00:03:49- Discussion of Christian attitudes towards Fireproof
00:15:20- Discussion of Tyson
00:22:19- Discussion of The Fog of War and Deliver Us From Evil
00:31:45- Episode wrap-up

Every New Year’s Day, I take time to reflect on the movies that are now officially ten years old. When I first started doing this, it was just a fun practice. A few years ago, I found myself listing movies that were instrumental in my cinematic education. Movies like Fargo, L.A. Confidential, The Truman Show, Saving Private Ryan, and The Insider. It’s yet another sign that I am getting older. It’s strange to think that there are, as we speak, 17-year-olds being shaped by There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men. To these kids, movies like American Beauty and The Matrix are older gems waiting to be discovered; to me, they were the new vanguard, the product of cutting-edge new voices in cinema. […]

In this episode, Tyler discusses Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air and what we as Christians can learn from it.

IT’S COMPLICATED (2009)
Written and Directed by: Nancy Meyers
Starring: Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin, Steve Martin

Maybe it’s out of a sense of obligation that Nancy Meyers feels she needs to make comedies. Perhaps she thinks that it’s what people expect of her and she doesn’t want to disappoint them. Whatever the reason, Nancy Meyers should stop. […]

A BLOODY MESS (2009)
Written and Directed by: Ryan O’Leary
Starring: Sean Caldwell, Robert Clohessy, Vanessa Cuccia

Several years ago, I was told that I had a kidney stone. A couple of them, in fact. This wasn’t declared immediately, of course. The doctor had to perform some tests to make sure. One of them was a routine prostate exam, a test that most men don’t experience until they’re around 50 or so. […]

I recently ran across an interesting quote from famed theologian John Calvin. I thought you might enjoy it.

Therefore in reading profane authors, the admirable light of truth displayed in them should remind us that the human mind, however much fallen and perverted from its original integrity, is still adorned and invested with admirable gifts from its Creator. If we reflect that the Spirit of God is the only fountain of truth, we will be careful, as we would avoid offering insults to Him, not to reject or condemn truth wherever it appears. In despising the gifts we insult the giver.

An important thought from a man who was not exactly a champion of the arts. God can use anything to get across His truth. Something to keep in mind.

I was recently speaking to an old friend and he revealed his general dislike of film critics. This was, of course, quite off-putting, as he knew that this is what I consider my calling to be. I asked what it is exactly that bothers him about critics. His answer was intriguing; he talked about the recent Mira Nair film Amelia, which stars Hilary Swank as famed female pilot Amelia Earhart. As the film’s release approached, he was excited to see the film. However, upon release, the majority of film critics panned the film, stating that it tried too hard to canonize its subject, rather than treat her as if she were a real person. Knowing that Earhart is already a rather mythic figure, the opportunity to see a realistic, human portrait of the missing pilot was an exciting prospect for most critics. But it was not to be and the disappointment of the film critic community was palpable.

[…]

We at More Than One Lesson are committed to creating a safe and encouraging place on-line to discuss issues of faith and art.  There are plenty of other sites on the internet that seem to want to promote controversy and divisiveness.  We have no such goal.  While we wish to maintain a policy on the website that encourages real conversation, we recognize that it is possible for people to abuse this policy and use the comments section of a given blog post to promote their own agenda, stir up controversy for its own sake, or insult others.

And so we reserve the right to delete any comments that we feel are written with a combative spirit and are not meant to be constructive.  This does not mean that we will immediately delete comments that are critical of More Than One Lesson and its views; simply that we will try as objectively as possible to assess a person’s motivation in posting a given comment.  If it is a negative criticism, but written in a spirit of constructiveness, we will leave it up.

We would also ask that those posting comments try to keep them as pithy as possible.  We understand that, given the nature of the show and its goals, people can respond with very strong opinions and will often have a lot to say.  However, the comment section is not meant to be a back way into writing a rebuttal blog post.  We ask that you try to keep your comments to 400 words or less.

If we feel that people- Christian or otherwise- are abusing the comments section, we reserve the right to delete their comment.  If we do choose to delete a comment, we will do our best to e-mail the commenter with an explanation of why; we feel that this is only fair, since we certainly don’t want to alienate those that have a legitimate complaint or concern with the site.

As stated, we know that opinions about both art and faith can be very personal, so we understand a certain level of passion in the comments and we want to be accommodating to that.  However, we also want to be sensitive to those that are searching for a more civil discussion on-line and desire to explore these deeply personal elements without fear of demagoguery or abuse.

If you have any questions, or would like to report a concern, you can e-mail Tyler at tyler@morethanonelesson.com.

Thanks for your continued support.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2009)
Written and Directed by: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Bob Hoskins

I remember first seeing the marketing campaign for Robert Zemeckis’ A Christmas Carol and rolling my eyes. The trailers and billboards featured a mugging Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge being put through the computer generated ringer; he gets flung through the air, shrunk down to the size of a mouse, and other supposedly hilarious things. This couldn’t seem less like the Charles Dickens classic; instead, it seemed like Zemeckis was taking things that we all knew about the story and was exploiting them. As such, I had no interest in seeing the film. “A Christmas Carol” has long been one of my favorite stories and I was in no mood to see it ruined by an overly-ambitious director with a limitless budget.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, I wound up seeing it and thought it was surprisingly okay. Perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised, though. There is such inherent power in Dickens’ story that all the special effects in Hollywood could never completely outshine it. If you’re going to make a movie of “A Christmas Carol,” all you have to do is remain fairly faithful to the source material and make a serviceable film and, almost by default, you’ve got a very watchable movie. Such is the nature with Dickens; he created such intriguing tales and characters, it’s nearly impossible to totally screw them up.

As expected, the action sequences stick out like a sore thumb, as if accidentally edited in from a different- worse- film. Their inclusion smacks of pandering, as they seem to come right in the middle of extended periods of genuine emotion and reflection. It seems as if Zemeckis was afraid of losing the audience with all this British dialogue and had to do something to keep their attention.

This is most problematic during Scrooge’s encounter with the Ghost of Christmas Future. In what is undeniably the darkest and most foreboding section of the story- as it should be, giving Scrooge’s emotional journey- our protagonist finds himself shrunk down to the size of a mouse and chased through the sewer pipes of London and comically smashed in the face by ice sickles. This makes so little sense dramatically, I wonder how a director as savvy as Robert Zemeckis was able to justify keeping it in. Perhaps he thought that some comic relief was needed. If so, it mystifies me as to why he felt the need to make the Ghost of Christmas Future so frightening in the first place. Don’t get me wrong; the dread is perfectly realized, and I count it as one of the film’s strength, but if the director felt the need to break the tension with some humor, perhaps he could have simply tried to make the section less frightening, rather than try to shoehorn in some broad physical comedy.

As frustrating as moments like these are, there’s no denying that Zemeckis is a master at utilizing cutting edge technology to create a fully realized world, as he did in Beowulf, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, and The Polar Express. While some of the character designs are still a bit too creepy for my taste- the impish Bob Cratchit being a prime example- the slightly off-kilter landscapes and grotesquely exaggerated characters seem to fit with the tone that Dickens so often strove to create.

The animation also allows Zemeckis the freedom to pursue his unique interpretation of well-known scenes. For example, as Marley’s Ghost clatters out of Scrooge’s house, we find him joining a veritable army of miserable ghosts haunting the streets of London, pleading for the forgiveness of the living. There are so many of these melancholy apparitions that we find ourselves coming to a harrowing conclusion: the greed and indifference of Scrooge and Marley is not an uncommon thing. Marley is merely one of the thousands- millions- of people that could have done something valuable with their money and time, but chose instead to hoard it and look down on those without it. Perhaps we know a few people like this. Perhaps we are people like this.

As entertaining as Dickens is, his commitment to stimulating social and economic awareness has always fascinated me. “A Christmas Carol” is one of his more straightforward treatises on the subject of the responsibility of those that have to those that don’t. It is dark and lingers on the precipice of condemnation, only to allow Scrooge- and, by extension, the audience- a chance at redemption. And, if we don’t take it, God help us, everyone.

As frustrating as some of Zemeckis’ artistic choices may be for me, I admire him for standing by the central idea of “A Christmas Carol.” He clearly understands the power and appeal of the story and, with a few notable exceptions, allows Dickens to speak for himself. And, as always, he has a lot to say.

Every few years, I reorganize my personal top 100. The last time I did it was about three years ago. Since then, some of my personal preferences (and prejudices) have changed, yielding the new list. Enjoy!

1. CITIZEN KANE
2. JAWS
3. 12 ANGRY MEN
4. NETWORK
5. DR. STRANGELOVE
6. GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS
7. NASHVILLE
8. BICYCLE THIEVES
9. CHINATOWN
10. THE MALTESE FALCON
11. L.A. CONFIDENTIAL
12. THE THIRD MAN
13. DOUBLE INDEMNITY
14. FARGO
15. LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
16. THE GENERAL (1925)
17. TOUCH OF EVIL
18. VERTIGO
19. THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP
20. M
21. THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST
22. THE GODFATHER
23. THE INSIDER
24. TRAFFIC
25. PINOCCHIO (1940)
26. PARIS, TEXAS
27. BARTON FINK
28. ORDINARY PEOPLE
29. OUT OF THE PAST (1947)
30. THE SWEET HEREAFTER
31. BLADE RUNNER
32. MAGNOLIA
33. PSYCHO (1960)
34. THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER
35. THE FRESHMAN (1925)
36. THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE
37. CASABLANCA
38. THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY
39. ALL THE KING’S MEN (1949)
40. ALIEN
41. CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT
42. JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG
43. SUNSET BLVD.
44. PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES
45. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK
46. THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES
47. THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI
48. UNFORGIVEN
49. THE LOST WEEKEND
50. VIDEODROME
51. THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
52. IRONWEED
53. IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT
54. THE THIN MAN
55. THE LAST PICTURE SHOW
56. PLANET OF THE APES (1968)
57. A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
58. ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN
59. PULP FICTION
60. QUIZ SHOW
61. THE LAST LAUGH (1924)
62. THE USUAL SUSPECTS
63. THE BIG LEBOWSKI
64. MILLER’S CROSSING
65. AFFLICTION
66. IN THE BEDROOM
67. JACKIE BROWN
68. REVERSAL OF FORTUNE
69. THE APOSTLE
70. THE FUGITIVE
71. A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS
72. THE WIZARD OF OZ
73. SPIRITED AWAY
74. FALLING DOWN
75. THE RULES OF THE GAME
76. THE FOG OF WAR
77. THE TRUMAN SHOW
78. THE STING
79. SECRETS & LIES
80. FUNNY GAMES (1997)
81. OUT OF SIGHT
82. REAR WINDOW
83. THE WILD BUNCH
84. THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS
85. THE PROPOSITION
86. YOU CAN COUNT ON ME
87. THE MATRIX
88. THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962)
89. THE FRENCH CONNECTION
90. THE DESPERATE HOURS
91. THE CONVERSATION
92. THE QUIET AMERICAN (2002)
93. TOOTSIE
94. THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
95. SIDEWAYS
96. SCARFACE (1932)
97. GRAND ILLUSION
98. THREE KINGS
99. WERCKMEISTER HARMONIES
100. THE APARTMENT