Movies in General

Let me talk about movies in general. Some movies really have a message to tell, and they provoke a lot of thought. Examples: I Am Legend, Empire of the Sun, The Dark Knight. Other movies are mostly fun, but have a shallow message: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Star Wars. And finally, there are movies that are simply plain, mindless fun: Transformers, Independence Day, and the Pirates of the Carribean movies. So those are movies in a nutshell.

The Patriot

Well, the first post of the new Daily Fedora. I’ve gone through and looked at several different layouts, and I chose Monotone. Not sure it works, so I may change it again. But anyway, to post my review of The Patriot. Let me start and say I loved the movie. It was the first movie I’ve seen with Heath Ledger besides The Dark Knight. And Mel Gibson did a fantastic job as a concerned parent. But let’s get into the themes of the movie. There was definitely a respect for parents. Unlike some movies, where parents are shown to be annoying, dumb, uncool, and indecisive, Mel Gibson’s Benjamin Martin was portrayed as smart and decisive. Heath Ledger’s Gabriel Martin is also a good example of how a young man might mature. Many 14-16 year olds (and younger and maybe older) don’t think much of their parents. At first, Gabriel considers his father to make terrible decisions. But as the movie goes on, you can see the respect in his eyes. Now for the theological themes. In one scene, a church service is interrupted by Gabriel, who is recruiting for the army. The scene gives you the feeling that worshipping God is good, but doesn’t mean anything if you aren’t willing to back it up. I think that this is an excellent scene. I’m not saying in any way that churchgoers are lazy and cowardly. No, instead I think that this is a great way to say that Christians shouldn’t hide behind the Scripture. Christians should be prepared to back up what they say, whether it be fighting for our independence (which I doubt any of us will be doing soon) or evangelizing at county fairs.

I would recommend The Patriot for any one 14 or older. The movie has an R rating, but it’s for violence. I think most 14 year olds would be able to handle the violence in te movie, although some scenes are pretty graphic (a hatchet being embedded into a man’s head, a cannonball taking off a man’s leg).

Next review: 3:10 to Yuma.

Apologies and Changes

I sincerely apologize for not updating my blog for so long. It’s been said that my blog is “not daily anymore.” I apologize for that. But here’s some changes I’m going to make: due to a recent suggestion from one of ym friends/mentors, I’m going to change this blog into a genuine movie review website. There are plenty of movie review websites, but very few of them actually give genuine, non-biased reviews that don’t only tell you about any inappropriate material, but also underlying themes and messages in movies. Thus I’ll probably re-review some movies. Coming up though: The Patriot.

The Dark Knight: Review

Chilling. Spectacular. Masterpiece. 10/10. These are all words or phrases to describe the excellent movie that is The Dark Knight, written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Heath Ledger absolutely deserves an Oscar nomination, at the very least, for his near-perfect performance as The Joker. He’s my absolutel favorite villain. Ever. Bale doesn’t disappoint either, as Bruce Wayne. His Batman, although excellent, I found to be a little unbelievable. I loved the movie, but Bale overacts somewhat in some scenes. I also found Harvey Dent’s (aka Two-Face) demise to be premature and disappointing. Two-Face deserved a much better role than just an injured man out for revenge. Although Aaron Eckhart’s portrayal was superb. All the cast were excellent. Only one other movie have I lauded in this manner: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Movie Review: Indiana Jones Still Wins the Day

Although it’s been probably about two months since I saw the movie, I still haven’t written a review of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. (WARNING! EXTREME SPOILERS AHEAD!) The movie begins with Indy and his sidekick, Mac, after being captured by Russians, being taken to a warehouse in the middle of Nevada. The Russians want Indy (Now Colonel Indy, after having served in World War II) to help them find the mummified remains of some object that Indy helped to study ten years ago. Truns out to be an alien. The opening to this movie is excellent, especially with the cameo of the Ark of the Covenant, the MacGuffin of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indy ends up finding his son, Mutt Williams (played by Shia LaBeouf, a potential legend of an actor) and he is reunited with old love interest Marion Ravenwood, the mother of Mutt. Now, before I go on, I must say that Crystal Skull is not better than Temple of Doom or Raiders of the Lost Ark (perfect movies, in my book) but it surpasses The Last Crusade. The alien theme was appropriate in this movie for the 1957 setting, which was an era of great public interest in extra-terrestrial visitations. The 50s were the decade of science fiction, with some of the most notable movies ever made having come out of that era (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Invasion of the Body Snatchers) and the alien itself was well-designed. The movie did, of course, have its cringeworthy moments, but the ant scene is a worthy addition to the creature features of the previous three films. All in all, I give this movie an 8/10.

PETA, Once Again

Wow. I have been gone from here far too long. I leave for a while, and everything’s gone to pot! Haha, that’s a Jack Sparrow quote. Anyway, what with all the stuff I’ve been doing during the summer, I’ve had plenty of time to post, but sitting around doing nothing is too much fun. Anyways, I apologize from having stayed away so long. So now here’s the story. At Wimbledon (it’s a tennis tournament, if you don’t know) pigeons have a bad habit of swooping down and distracting the players and disrupting patrons at the open-air restaurant nearby. Wimbledon uses two live hawks to scare away pigeons, and it usually works. But the pigeons got out of hand, and the hawks couldn’t take care of them all. So what did Wimbledon do? They employed marksmen, I assume with pellet guns or the like, since using anything more powerful than a .22 is overdoing it for pigeons. The Wimbledon spokesman says that pigeon droppings on the restaurant table were deemed to be a health hazard, which they very much are. But PETA has to completely come in and do their thing. (In case you didn;t know, PETA’s thing is trying to get humans in jail and trying to get animals glorified. It is a very good example of mankind’s most common trait: stupidity.) Wimbledon employd the marksmen after the hawks failed to do their work. But PETA says “Since the use of marksmen to kill pigeons appears to have been carried out as a first, rather than a last resort, and not out of concern for public health, but rather because the animals were deemed inconvenient by players, you appear to be in violation of the law.” PETA needs, to put it bluntly, to shut up. PETA is simply ridiculous. They’re pigeons, for gosh sakes! The most undesirable birds on the planet besides crows and ravens! PETA doesn;t care about public health or the law, unless it has to do something with animals. Now, had Wimbledon been killing the pigeons because they were disrupting matches, I would call that a drastic measure, but they were doing it because of health hazards. (That probably is an excuse, but still.) PETA has no right to even exist.

My Favorite Characters: Cinema and Literary

As I’ve said before, I’m a movie buff and I love reading. If you love movies and books, you’re also going to have some favorite characters. These are my all-time favorites.

The Joker Why do I love this guy? I’m simply obsessed with him. It’s probably his devil-may-care attitude. Nothing fazes him. There’s one Batman comic in which he and the Scarecrow team up to rob a bank. After they succeed in robbing the bank, Scarecrow turns his fear toxin and unleashes it on Joker. The toxin does nothing, however, and the Joker proceeds to bash Scarecrow over the head with a chair. I simply love the Joker’s method-in-the-madness way of doing things.

Indiana Jones This one is easy. Indiana Jones is a character that just about everyone can identify with, as opposed to James Bond, who has the expensive gadgets and expensive cars. Indy is the kind of guy that messes up, but always finds a way to get out of it. And who doesn’t want to risk their lives for priceless treasure?

Captain Nemo This is a tragic character, of sorts. Bordering on insane, Captain Nemo rules the seas in his submarine, the Nautilus. The terror of all surface boats, Captain Nemo left land after losing his family and suffering the injustices of mankind. He’s a character we all pity, yet oppose.

Ian Malcolm Even though this guy is a mathematician, he’s still a likeable character. After going to Jurassic Park twice, and getting injured both times, Ian Malcolm stil holds that cynical outlook on life and everything about it. “See, now I’m uh, in the car talking to myself. That-that’s chaos theory.”

Words of Wednesday: Kentucky Derby Blues

I’m sure that by now, most people in Kentucky know how the Kentucky Derby ended. Big Brown won the race, with filly Eight Belles making a glorious second. However. Eight Belles broke both front ankles and had to be euthanized. It’s a very sad ending. However, pestering animal rights group PETA won’t let it rest. This article tells it all. The poor jockey that rode Eight Belles is under PETA suspicion. This poor guy probably considers it his fault that Eight Belles died. The matter under questioning is the fact that the jockey applied the whip at the last minute. The trainer of the horse however (who is the best authority on the subject at hand, by the way) justifies the jockey’s actions by saying that Eight Belles had a habit of riding near to the rail. The jockey simply applied the whip to keep her from crashing into the side. No sane person would apply the whip to try to make the horse go faster! Big Brown won the race by a landslide! There is no horse that was going to catch up to him in that time. And Eight Belles obviously had second place. There was no reason whatsoever for the jockey to try to get the horse to go faster. But PETA, idiots that they are, want the jockey suspended. PETA has no concern for their fellow human beings. Their campaign for animals is blatantly anti-human. PETA is nothing more than a massive bullying group.

Here’s another article that “illustrates the brutal side of horse-racing.” There is no brutal side to horse racing. You want to know what would really be brutal? Keeping racehorses from racing. They’re bred to do this! Any racehorse would fall into depression if they were kept from racing.

Movie Review Monday: Lord of the Rings, Pt. 1

As promised on Tuesday or whenever it was, I begin the changes. For today’s Movie Review, I shall summarize, critique, and otherwise talk about The Fellowship of the Ring, the first installment in the legendary film series The Lord of the Rings. The movie begins with a telling of how the evil lord Sauron lost the One Ring to mortal man, passed from their to Gollum, and then from there to Hobbits. And so we begin the tale. Frodo Baggins, a hobbit of the Shire is given the Ring by his uncle Bilbo. Gandalf the wizard then tells Frodo he must get rid of it because Sauron is actually alive and searching for it via the Black Riders. So Frodo departs on a quest, is joined by some of his hobbit friends and the Ranger Aragorn. Frodo is then wounded by the Black Riders and taken to Rivendell, the House of Elrond the elf. From there, Frodo is joined by 5 other beings (including Gandalf and Legolas an elf, my personal favorite of the series.) In a long journey, the Fellowship loses Gandalf and one other comrade, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli the dwarf set off to find two of the hobbits that were captured, and Frodo and his ever faithful pal Sam set off to Mordor alone, to destroy the Ring. No language, high action and scary images make this an enjoyable movie.
An actual plot/storyline is a plus.

American Swiss Cheese

Our country is in need of some serious security. If there’s anything I have to complain about the Bush administration, that’s it. We just don’t have security. Some who claim to work for national security should have their jobs taken away. In this article the daily life of an illegal immigrant is described. She goes to El Paso, Texas, with a group of immigrants, and they stand outside of businesses and simply beg. And when the day is out, they simply wait to be picked up by the “Border Patrol.” I’ve gotta say, this “Border Patrol” doesn’t deserve the name. This is simply ridiculous. The Border Patrol is to keep illegal immigrants out! To make sure they stay out! These border patrol agents are seriously neglecting their duties to America. “They do qualify for jail and prosecution. However, we’ve got to look at the humanitarian factor first if we are going to have to separate the family.” These are the words of a pure idiot. The humanitarian factor is important, sure, but you are dealing with people who break the law! Law-breakers aren’t due  humanitarian respect. In the very words of the border patrol agent, “they do qualify for jail and prosecution.” Well by all means, jail and prosecute them! It’s these kind of idiotic people that get us into the mess of 9/11 and things of that sort. Listen up, Border Patrol! These immigrants are using you! They do their work and then wait for you to bring ‘em home! This is astoundingly ridiculous.

I simply can’t voice my frustration enough. What America really needs to invest in is a real wall. Not like the Great Wall of China, of course; no, we need a wall of Border Patrol outposts. Outposts that are within sight of each other and anything in between them. Our security is not that at all. We have no national security. We need some. It’s hard though, when stupid people say and think things like this: “It’s good to see that the Border Patrol is showing some common sense in dealing with the reality that is life on the border.” This isn’t common sense. This is, as one of my friends says it best, “Human stupidity at its finest.”