Idiocracy

This film is hilarious and scary. Hilarious because it is a Mike Judge film. Scary because it is actually coming true in some parts of America.

Death Proof and Planet Terror

I have been a fan of Rodriguez and Tarantino's films for some time now and these two grindhouse flicks are superb as homage's to the old slasher/zombie movies. They are extremely violent and gory but in a way so dissimilar to current Hostel-like movies. The violence and blood is almost comical in its presentation and I am left wondering if this is good or bad.

Both flicks adhere to the Rodriguez/Tarantino standard of incredible dialogue and very strong female characters.

Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher

I was amazed at the connection between this 60's era Jesus freak preacher and two prominent churches today. It is a sad story about a time in America when experimentation moved between all facets of life. How people were to make sense of all they discovered during this time led to some being ostracized and others denying their own histories.

Days of Glory

I'm watching more films during this Christmas break than any other time before and I've been meaning to watch this one for some time now.

Promoted as the French "Saving Private Ryan", it is ultimately an indictment of the French government and the prevalence of racism no matter what the context.

To End All Wars

I just finished this film so I might still be a bit moved from the emotions that it brought up. Though I am a theology student I cannot stand "Christian" films. I find them over-preachy and just generally bad films. I do not think this film is placed in that genre but there certainly is a message of forgiveness stemming from Christian protagonists. One of the great things about the way this film brought forward the Christian message was in conjunction with other forms of education. The prisoners studied Plato's Republic (probably one of the best books to have in that situation), music and Shakespeare. 

I highly recommend this film for a more personal account of those POW's that were forced to build The Bridge on the River Kwai.

And yet...

And yet I do nothing about it.

Wow

I forgot that I had a blog.

After Innocence

This film will pretty much make you lose what hopefully was a little bit of faith you had in the U.S. Justice System. The experiences of the men in this film are almost impossible to imagine, especially the guy who spent almost 22 years in solitary confinement and was not allowed to talk for the first two years of his wrongful incarceration.

The Lives Of Others

I have watched a film that has changed the way in which I viewed the progression from just living to actual life. It is beautifully shot with colors where life is being experienced and as drained as a corpse where the mundane and pragmatic reign. I was moved to tears of joy at the end and felt the increase of beauty in my own life.

Candles

If on your grandmother's birthday you burn a candle
To honor her memory, you might think of burning an extra
To honor the memory of someone who never met her,
A man who may have come to the town she lived in
Looking for work and never found it.
Picture him taking a stroll one morning,
After a month of grief with the want ads,
To refresh himself in the park before moving on.
Suppose he notices on the gravel path the shards
Of a green glass bottle that your grandmother,
Then still a girl, will be destined to step on
When she wanders barefoot away from her school picnic
If he doesn't stoop down and scoop the mess up
With the want-ad section and carry it to a trash can.
For you to burn a candle for him
You needn't suppose the cut would be a deep one,
Just deep enough to keep her at home
The night of the hay ride when she meets Helen,
Who is soon to become her dearest friend,
Whose brother George, thirty years later,
Helps your grandfather with a loan so his shoe store
Doesn't go under in the Great Depression
And his son, your father, is able to stay in school
Where his love of learning is fanned into flames,
A love he labors, later, to kindle in you.
How grateful you are for your father's efforts
Is shown by the candles you've burned for him.
But today, for a change, why not a candle
For the man whose name is unknown to you?
Take a moment to wonder whether he died at home
With friends and family or alone on the road,
On the look-out for no one to sit at his bedside
And hold his hand, the very hand
It's time for you to imagine holding.

Carl Dennis