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		Tasty morsels of cultural delight
		I don't know how a film could be any more blatantly Christian without mentioning the name of Christ than the new Spiderman. At the climax, Spiderman (aka Peter Parker) says to Sandman, the man who killed his uncle, "It's the choices that make us who we are, and we can always choose to do what's right." MORE
		How are Christians like molasses? We are really, really slow on the uptake - especially when it comes to new technology, changing culture and influencing people's thinking. Specifically, why do we initially think that any new technology is from the devil? Why does it take us so long to accept new technology and use it for good? And why, once we finally do adopt and start using new technology, do we end up using it so ineffectively and in such a mediocre way? What is wrong with us? MORE
		Take Braveheart, End Of The Spear and Last Of The Mohicans; mix them together with the Yucatek Mayan language, and what do you get? Apocalypto - an over-the-top chase through the jungles of the Yucatan in Central America before its discovery by the Spanish. This is not for everyone. I would go so far as to say that one third of all men, two thirds of women, and all children under age 13 should not see this film. It is brutally real, disturbingly graphic, relentlessly intense. It is not a pretty film or a feel-good movie. Plus, it's got subtitles. MORE
		I love films with moral dilemmas because they deal with issues we all deal with every day. For example, when is is right to lie? Most of us would give the knee-jerk answer, "Never;" but the circumstances of life don't bear that out. MORE
		Eric Till (Bonhoeffer: Agent Of Grace) does a good job directing this bio pic of Martin Luther from a script by Camille Thomasson and Bart Gavigan. It is solid filmmaking with no sensational effects. It is acting - period. The time and place are Germany at the beginning of the 16th century, when the Catholic Church was selling indulgences like they were candy. It is also the eve of the Protestant Reformation, a period when it was dangerous to speak one's own mind. But Martin Luther had no problem with that, so his character is enthralling. MORE
		When I listened to Geoff Botkin's "Hollywood's Most Despised Villain," I was not convinced that Hollywood had ever been a target of Communist strategists. I had been studying Hollywood for almost thirty years, and knew of very few films besides Warren Beatty's Reds that I would say was sympathetic to Communism. I felt Mr. Bodkin was preaching from fanaticism due to his own conversion from Communism, much as my dad used to preach relentlessly against the evils of smoking after he had given up cigarettes. People who have been converted from something tend to be the biggest opponents to it, even to the point of fanaticism, sometimes even to the point of going on a witch hunt against those who still practice it. So, I was skeptical. MORE
		The Sting is unquestionably one of the great films of cinema and one of the most entertaining. Winning seven Academy Awards in 1973 (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Original Song Score, Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design), it was the second great Newman and Redford pairing (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid being the first in 1969). Both films start out with top notch scripts, both were directed by George Roy Hill, and both did well at the box office (Butch Cassidy being top grosser in '69). MORE
		The climax of a story is the point at which the outcome becomes certain. It is the turning point in a narrative plot - typically occurring in the third act of a three-act drama, or about three quarters of the way through a non-dramatic work - that marks the highest level of tension, where the rising action that has been building throughout the story ends, and the falling action that brings resolution and ties up all loose ends begins. MORE
		One Night With The King is a pretty film, and a romantic film, but it is not a Christian film. The production design team has gone overboard trying to make the film appeal to girls. I can't remember the last time I saw so many flowers on screen, unless it was Doctor Zhivago. And the writer, basing his script on the novel by Mark Andrew Olsen, has gone overboard to make the story as romantic as possible, also appealing to girls. It is a romantic extravaganza. MORE
		It doesn't matter how a sheep becomes lost; what's important is that the Good Shepherd focuses all His attention on finding him. He doesn't seem too concerned over the safe sheep. MORE
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