More Than One Lesson

THE MAN WHO WASN’T THERE (2001)
Written and Directed by: Joel & Ethan Coen
Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand, James Gandolfini

The work of vintage mystery writers has long been an influence on Joel and Ethan Coen. Upon reading Dashiell Hammett’s “The Glass Key” and “Red Harvest,” it’s almost surprising that he didn’t get a credit on the Coens’ Miller’s Crossing. In The Man Who Wasn’t There, they are inspired by the work of James M. Cain, the writer of “Double Indemnity” and “The Postman Always Rings Twice.” Those books, and subsequent films, are all about ordinary guys drawn into a murderous plot, usually by a beautiful woman and the promise of wealth. Invariably, their crimes catch up with them, and we are left shaking our heads, knowing that these guys never had a chance.

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THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1920)
Directed by: Robert Wiene
Written by: Carl Mayer and Hans Janowitz
Starring: Conrad Veidt, Werner Krauss

My senior year of college, I took a critical studies class on German Expressionism. For those that don’t know, Expressionism refers to the themes of a film being expressed in the visuals. For example, Gotham City is a cauldron of sin, violence, and corruption. We don’t need to be told this by the characters, because we already know this, because the city itself looks like no other city in the world. The buildings, the darkness, it’s not meant to reflect reality; it’s meant to let us see what can’t be seen.

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PULP FICTION (1994)
Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Written by: Quentin Tarantino and Lawrence Bender
Starring: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis

It’s frustrating writing about movies like Pulp Fiction, because everybody has an opinion on it, so why are they going to listen to what I have to say?

With Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, I can be confident that very few, if any, of the readers have seen it, so it frees me up. Hell, I can just make stuff up, if I wanted, and no one would be the wiser.

Not possible with this one, though.

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BLADE RUNNER (1982)
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Written by: Hampton Fancher and David Webb Peoples
Starring: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young

I recently compiled a list of some of my favorite screen villains. Usually, I find myself drawn to the villains who are not obvious caricatures, but are complex characters, whose motives are not always bad. I tend to like characters who, like those of us who live in real life, are just trying to life their lives according to what they think is right. The complexity comes into play when someone or something gets in the villain’s way, and he must decide how to deal with it. It’s usually around this time that this character is established as a villain.

Which brings me to one of my favorite movie villains: Roy Batty, from Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner.

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In this minisode, Tyler and Josh kick off their “Best of Pictures” series with a discussion of Ben Affleck’s Argo.

Several years ago (on my Myspace blog, if you’re looking for a time stamp), I started what would become a yearly tradition for me.  At the beginning of every new year, I look back at movies that were released ten years prior.  At first, it was a way to get nostalgic and make myself feel old.  However, as time has gone on, I’ve really come to enjoy looking back at some of the more notable movies that have been around- either in the pop culture or in my head- for a full decade.  Just thinking about these movies in relation to one another makes me think back fondly to who I was as a person and as a movie watcher ten years ago.  Some movies that I only kind of liked have grown significantly in my head, while others that I really enjoyed have faded from my memory.  I saw a good number of these films with my girlfriend, who I asked to marry me ten years ago, shortly before I graduated from college.  It was ten years ago that I got a job at Blockbuster, right around the time that it made the official change from VHS to DVD and tried to implement its “No More Late Fees” policy to try to keep up with Netflix; of course, we now know how that turned out.

Indeed, 2004 was a significant year in my life and thinking back on the films that were important to me provides a nice framework with which to reflect on how far I have come in that time.  I would welcome you all to do the same.

Happy New Year!

The following movies are now ten years old:

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST
DAWN OF THE DEAD
ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND
HELLBOY
SHAUN OF THE DEAD
KILL BILL VOL. 2
MEAN GIRLS
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
NAPOLEON DYNAMITE
DODGEBALL
FAHRENHEIT 9/11
THE NOTEBOOK
SPIDER-MAN 2
ANCHORMAN
THE BOURNE SUPREMACY
GARDEN STATE
COLLATERAL
ALIEN VS. PREDATOR
SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW
SAW
I HEART HUCKABEES
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE
SIDEWAYS
FINDING NEVERLAND
RAY
THE INCREDIBLES
THE POLAR EXPRESS
MILLION DOLLAR BABY
THE AVIATOR
THE LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU

In this episode, Tyler and Josh discuss the film content that Christians avoid.

EPISODE BREAKDOWN
00:00:44- Intro
00:06:10- Jim’s Top Ten
00:11:30- MTOL Store
00:23:55- The R rating, drug use
00:39:25- Violence
01:02:45- Language
01:13:25- Sex/Nudity
01:39:15- Episode wrap-up

9. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

“Therefore what God has joined together, let no man put asunder.”
Mark 10:9

The ninth verse of the tenth chapter or Mark’s gospel is the go-to citation for anyone trying to Biblically justify the forbidding of divorce.  At its heart the verse makes a lot of sense.  As Christians we believe, to one extent or the other, that many of the significant turning points in our lives – choice of college, career path, marriage, etc. – are willed by God, individual breaks deliberately constructed into a path that is meant to lead to the fruition of His will for us.  But removed from context, this verse has also been cited to induce shame, to bully weak minds and weaker hearts into submission and to ultimately justify greater evils, such as the acceptance of emotional and/or physical abuse, over lesser.

So, what happens when the words in that verse are flipped – “Therefore what God has put asunder, let no man put together”?

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If you’ve heard about Jarod O’Flaherty’s new film My Son, it’s probably for one reason. The film is making headlines because it’s a Christian film produced by a church in Burleston, TX; a film the Motion Picture Association of America slapped with an “R” rating. The stir over such an anomaly has spread as far as the major news networks. The situation raises lots of questions. Should a Christian film be rated “R?” How should Christians respond to ratings? Is it a publicity stunt? Is the church that produced the film being persecuted? Is the film even worth seeing, and does it stand out from other Christian films? Or from other films at all?

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10. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

First and foremost allow me to apologize for the incongruity between my introduction, with its implications of a list soon to follow, and the disappointing realization of what turned out to be a long delay. A recent move across state lines has occupied both my physical and mental energies for an extended period that has only recently come to cessation, but luckily the dust has settled just in time for Halloween, which makes for an unintended but serendipitous segue into the first entry into my Top Ten Favorite Films list, Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

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