Superb Scenes With Seanc

Godzilla was major disappointment.

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Director: Martin Scorsese

Writer: Nikos Kazantzakis, Paul Schrader

Cast: Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Barbara Hershey

"If I could touch every stone, if I could breathe on every branch, they'd get up and follow me. So what's wrong with you?"

"Today and tomorrow I cast out demons and work cures. On the third day, I will be perfected."

"You think God belongs only to you? He doesn't. God is an immortal spirit who belongs to everybody, to the whole world. You think you're special? God is not an Israelite."

The Last Temptation Of Christ came out when I was twelve years old. This was well before the internet when information and multiple opinions were available at your fingertips. The Pope and any Christian leaders that I can remember all came out in opposition to this film. I would say I was a movie fan at this point but I was still enamored with the films of my youth. Back To The Future, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones were the movies that were filling up my Saturday afternoons. A love for directors had certainly not developed yet so someone like Scorsese, who would become one of my favorites, was certainly not on my radar. Watching this movie never occurred to me. As far as I was concerned it was just another example of the world persecuting us. I put the film from my mind and never considered it for years and years. By the time I was entering adulthood and my film tastes were changing drastically this film was far from my mind. Nobody was talking about it anymore. If someone had asked me I am sure that I would have called the movie a novelty, something that created a lot of controversy years ago but that nobody cared about one way or the other anymore. About a year ago one of my favorite film critics talked about The Last Temptation Of Christ on his podcast. He is a Christian and it is one of his ten favorite movies of all time. I was intrigued. I thought that there must be something that I missed out on. There had to be more to this movie than just the controversy of Christ being tempted by a women. There is more to this movie. Not only that but I think that it could be a film whose message Christians embrace if they would give it the opportunity which is something I am willing to bet few have.

I was not impressed with the movie throughout. We get a scene between Jesus and Mary Magdalene early on but it is mostly uneventful. Jesus is about to go into his ministry and Mary wants him to stay. She tells Jesus he does not need to walk down this path, that he can have a normal life with her. He resists and my first chance at outrage as a Christian is averted. Things go down the normal Jesus biopic road for quite a bit after this. We see the temptation in the desert, the wedding where Jesus performs his first miracle, and his raising of Lazarus from the dead. There are a couple of scenes where I could see where there might be some controversy. On a couple of occasions Jesus says some things that I could see some considering Un-Christ like. He talks of being afraid, of being jealous. Feelings that most Christians probably don't think that Christ would entertain. Did he though? Most of these conversations revolved around Jesus wishing that he could lead a normal life. That the burden that he was called upon to carry was too much for him. He wanted to leave it all behind for a normal existence. Luke 22:42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Jesus says these words soon before his crucifixion. I think it is very reasonable to assume that this would have been on his mind most of his life. I also think it is very reasonable to assume then that fear and jealousy are emotions that he had to deal with for most of his life. It is not something that most Christians like to think about. Jesus was God in the flesh and led a perfect life. So what does a perfect life look like? I think this film does a good job of showing us that vulnerability can still exist in a perfect life. This should not be something that Christians turn away form but rather something we embrace.

As we enter the last third of the film we also enter Christ's crucifixion. Soon after we enter the part of the film that if I had to guess caused the most outrage. We see the crucifixion play out as those of us that know the story have watched it play out many, many times. Pontius Pilate, the enraged crowds, the horrific whippings. They are all here and lead to Christ on the cross. A young girl appears before Christ on the cross. Immediately I know we are going somewhere I have never gone before. She tells Christ she is from God and that his burden has been lifted, he is free to remove himself from the Cross. Jesus is bewildered and so am I, this is it, this is where my journey ends and I become outraged but I have already made up my mind that I am in this for the duration. As Christ begins to walk with this girl he asks questions. You are going to your wedding day she tells him, it is time for you to have the life that you wanted, God has taken your burden of all of humanity's sin away. We see Jesus's marriage to Mary. He has children and things seem to be the way he has always longed for. My favorite scene comes as Jesus is walking along a road with his family one day. We hear a man preaching to a crowd and Jesus takes notice. He sends his family home and goes in closer to hear what the man is saying. Christians will immediately realize that this man is Paul and he is preaching about the crucifixion as if it transpired the way it should have. He is speaking of the resurrection, and of forgiveness through Christ. Jesus is bewildered and a bit enraged. He confronts Paul, played wonderfully by Harry Dean Stanton, about the the false things he is teaching the crowd. He tells Paul that he is Jesus so the things he is saying are lies and that he should stop. Paul tells him that the crucifixion was a necessary thing for humanity. That without it we would be lost, there would be no unconditional love and forgiveness. Paul tells Jesus that he was always going to preach Christ crucified no matter what happened. I love this scene because it is a perfect picture of what the foundation of Christianity is. It is well written and well acted. I am still hesitant however, because while it is a picture of Christianity it doesn't exist without the crucifixion.

We know that Jesus understands this as well because he immediately is in torment. We see him old and on his death bed. No comfort will come to him as a result of not fulfilling what he was sent here to do. As he is about to die we are sent back to Jesus on the cross. Everything that has transpired is a dream, he is fulfilling his promise to God and to us. Instead of of being hesitant about where this story is going I become bewildered at how anyone can think this movie is sacrilegious. The Last Temptation Of Christ is of course a movie. People are going to bring a lot of different things into their viewing of any film. Just because I see this as a really good picture of the things that Jesus must of went through does not mean others will. A non believer probably would see a completely different message or more likely would probably be bored by the film. I don't see how anyone can think that this film wants to diminish Christ's life in any way though. The end is a clear picture of the world's need for a savior, and that savior was Jesus. Although it is not a perfect film I am glad that I got around to seeing Scorsese's "controversial" film The Last Temptation Of Christ.

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Letterboxd

Director: Brian Singer

Cast: Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence

X-Men has been an interesting franchise for me. I have never hated any of the films, aided by the fact that I skipped Origins I presume. I also never have loved any. I do think First Class has been the best of the bunch. I really like origin stories, plus the actors that they got to come out for First Class were top notch. Days Of Future Past has an interesting concept but I wondered if it would end up being too convoluted. I was very pleased when the movie ended up not being that way at all. Despite the huge amount of characters and time travel element, Days Of Future Past is coherent and entertaining. This is because once the initial conflict of the plot is laid out we basically spend our time with just a few characters.

It certainly didn't hurt my viewing experience that it was the characters that I have enjoyed the most in past films. McAvoy and Fassbender have been terrific additions to this world. I enjoyed them immensely together in First Class and that continues here. I believe this is what attracts me to X-Men the most. The featured villain always becomes incidental and that is fine by me. I have little interest in whatever super villain has decided to destroy the universe this month. With X-Men the central conflict continues to be between Professor X and Magneto. Magneto is a fascinating character because at heart he simply wants what the other mutants want. For civilization to accept them for who they are without fear or scorn. He of course always has extreme reactions to whatever is transpiring which essentially makes him the constant villain of this universe. That is no different here and I love every minute that Fassbender is on screen as the imposing Magneto.

Unfortunately Magneto is also my biggest issue with this film. While I enjoy watching him at his worst it is very hard to understand what his motivations are because of the a fore mentioned extreme reactions. At their basest Magneto and Professor X want the exact same things. Magneto can never see the forest for the trees however and always sees ultimate destruction of everyone who opposes him as the only way out. Maybe I have answered my own question concerning motivations, but it is hard for me to make the stretch of someone as intelligent as Magneto seeing no other form of resolution. I also have an issue in these films with Magneto and Professor X and the way they flow in and out of friendship. They seem to be either best friends or mortal enemies depending on what is needed in that moment. I enjoy them together so suspend disbelief but I don't know how much longer I am going to be willing to do that for.

Raven (Lawerence) and Wolverine (Jackman) are the other major players this go around. Both are very good, although we do not see a whole lot of actual Lawrence in this movie. Wolverine is always a lot of fun and that continues. This is probably the most I have liked the super macho, cigar chomping mutant. A lot of the plot hinges on Raven and I think everything involving her is done very well. She is similar to Magneto but seems to be able to put on the breaks a little more than him which is for the better. We see a whole lot of other mutants but their time is limited. That is for the better as well, Singer is not trying to do too much which is good. The action here is very good as well. There are two extended scenes that take place in the future and involve a lot of portals. This is usually the type of thing that takes me out of a movie but here I felt I knew what was going on the entire time and enjoyed the sequences. There is a jail break scene involving Quicksilver which is fantastic. It got the biggest reaction from the audience as is being talked about a lot for good reason. It is very well done and more importantly super entertaining.

Days Of Future Past is not the greatest thing to happen to the genre. In fact when the next film is made it may even become a little bit obsolete. It doesn't seem to move the characters forward a whole lot or change the universe at all. What it is though is a very well made action movie that is a lot of fun to spend your time with. In a period where that is becoming more and more rare for me with films of this type, I was very pleased.

Nice review, and some interesting observations, especially about the relationship between Magneto and Professor X. That's been a trend in almost all of the X-Men films, but I thought the schizophrenic nature felt a little too forced in this one. Surely the movies could strike a better balance instead of going from "Hey, nice to see you again" to "Please stop trying to kill everybody!" in a matter of minutes.

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It becomes a bit much. I thought they even had an opportunity to not make them such hard corp enemies at the beginning of this one. They were on opposite ends of the spectrum for sure but at the end of First Class Professor X tells Raven to go with Magneto. Not how you would behave if you think the man is Satan like he does at the start of this one.

Great review. I just got out of the movie, and I gave it the same rating.

At the risk of setting people off...

Jennifer Lawrence sucks as Mystique.

Why do you say that? I've never read the comics and I barely remember the cartoon, so I don't know how fair of a representation it is for the character, but I think she's good in the part. Or maybe I'm just distracted by all the blue half-nakedness.

I swear, between her and Zoe Saldana in Avatar, I'm developing a fetish for blue people.

Maybe it's just me, but her acting didn't seem that great. She just didn't fit the character to me. I must be crazy.

I thought Jennifer Lawrence was fine as Mystique, for playing the younger version at least. The young, inexperienced, not quite hardened villain. But I do prefer Rebecca Romijn as the cold heartless bitch.

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Fear and Loathing in MoFo... The Gunslinger 45's Top 50 Favorite Films

In the 10 Ring: Gunslinger45's reviews

I'm pretty psyched to see Days of Future Past because First Class is the movie that got me into superheroes.

I still need to see The Last Temptation of Christ, after my 70's binge.

Great X-Men review. I think we got a lot of the same impressions from this one!

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Enjoyed yours as well. A lot of us on the same page for this one which is unusual.

To be clear this documentary is not for everyone. If you have never read Calvin And Hobbes or hate the strip, God forbid, then you will have no interest. The narrator starts the film by talking about his relationship with Calvin And Hobbes. He talks about not being able to remember life without the comic but also having a hard time nailing down exactly when he started reading it. I can relate to this feeling so much. I have loved Calvin And Hobbes ever since I can remember but know in reality I must not have read it regularly until I was at least 12. I believe that I have all the strips that have been printed in book form and read through them once every couple of years. The strip is delightful on so many levels and this film relates to anyone who has that feeling about it. It takes us to Watterson's hometown and we get interviews with many other strip creators who were influenced by Watterson. What we don't get is Watterson himself.

We soon find out that this is because Watterson is a deeply private man and has never shared very much of himself with the world. I never knew this as I have never looked into any other aspect of Calvin And Hobbes. I knew I loved the strip and that has always been enough. The film made me wonder how many of the other things in my life that I have always loved I would feel this way about. If Lucas had just made Star Wars and left the universe alone would I care that I knew nothing of him or about books and video games and all the other things that came along with it. I always wondered why there was not more Calvin And Hobbes things around. You never saw mugs or stuffed animals. There was never any talk of a movie or Saturday morning cartoon. I always chalked it up to the comic not being as popular as others like Peanuts or Garfield. I was just grateful it was around for so long and that I got to enjoy it as much as I did. Turns out this is not the case at all. Calvin And Hobbes is probably as influential and popular as almost any comic strip that was ever created. Watterson simply made a decision to not let it become commercial and stuck to it. The documentary does an interesting job of exploring whether this was out of artistic integrity or simply that Watterson did not want to be bothered with the hassles that would come with licensing. I tend to think the answer lies somewhere in the middle but only Watterson knows for sure. He is not telling and that is fine by me. My feeling about this comic tends to make me think that probably most art would be better off to be made, enjoyed, and left alone. In our culture that will never be the case for most things. We must consume and if we love it we must consume more, until at the end we have scraps of the thing that we once loved.

This documentary does a great job of fan service. Most of the graphics that are used are from the strip, of course. This makes viewing for a fan very enjoyable. We see many of the images that we loved with quotes from both the strip and the author. It brings back memories of aspects of Calvin And Hobbes I had forgot about. I have read through all these strips at least ten times but still my memory was jogged about aspects I had not thought about for a long time. It also brought many spontaneous smiles to my face just like I get when reading Calvin And Hobbes.

If you have not read Calvin And Hobbes I would not bother with this film. It is for fans only which is why I gave it the rating I did. I would also encourage you to maybe give the strip a try despite its age. I am not a comic lover by any means. This is the only comic I truly love and will never stop reading. Like with most comics, I suspect, you can not simply read one or two strips and make a decision about whether you like it or not. You have to read quite a few and become involved with the characters and style. I don't know how I came upon Calvin And Hobbes and grew to love it so much but I sure am glad I did. It is funny, insightful, engaging, and beautiful to look at. Truly one of the great treasures of my life. This documentary reinforced that and made me realize that I have some kindred spirits in this world.

Director: Doug Liman

Cast: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt

"Come find me when you wake up."

I almost didn't go see Edge Of Tomorrow in the theater. I had trailer burn out from the number of times I was subjected to the trailer for this movie. The first time I saw it I thought it could be good, then came the next dozen times. I heard the "Sci-fi Groundhog Day" talk and I was about as disinterested as I could get. Thankfully the tomato meter and some twitter buzz brought me back around. I was able to avoid spoilers which was great because usually I don't care about them. This is a movie you want to go into fresh as I think it will enhance the experience. Edge Of Tomorrow is my favorite summer flick thus far for quite a few reasons.

It has a lot of levity which is nice. The humor is never over the top and hits you at the right moments. The action is also quite good. Nothing earth shattering or ground breaking but not dull or overwrought. Cruise and Blunt are both more than capable and it never hurts to have compelling characters to play. Paxton is good in a supporting role as well. As was the case with X-Men, I enjoy the way the villain is used as part of the narrative. The aliens are there and are the whole reason for the conflict but ultimately they don't matter. We care about the protagonists journey. The main characters matter and that makes the narrative compelling.

What sets Edge Of Tomorrow apart from other blockbusters is the story telling. I don't think I can easily convey how impressed I was at how tight they kept a story arc that could have easily been a complete mess. The premise is well known so I will not spell it out. What I will say is that Liman does an amazing job of showing us just the right amount at the right time. It would be so easy to show us the same thing way too much or to hold too much back till the end. Liman never does instead everything feels extremely relevant. The number of times that the day is reset is conveyed without ever exhausting the audience. Liman also easily conveys when something is new to us but not the characters. It is a hard line to walk and the way that the film does was the most impressive aspect for me.

Edge Of Tomorrow is not perfect. These types of films are easy to tear to shreds if you start pulling at threads. Whether we do that or not is usually a direct result of how much we enjoy the movie. I enjoyed this quite a bit so I am not going to pull at any of those threads. What I will say is the ending was most certainly my least favorite part of the movie. I get bothered not when these types of films are unrealistic but when they disobey their own rules that they have laid out for the viewer. I don't feel that Edge Of Tomorrow does this until the very end which left me dissatisfied ever so slightly. As I found out after starting to listen to spoilers many have had the same issue. All these people are much smarter than me so if you desire to know what I am talking about seek out these opinions. My recommendation is to to skip the op-ed pieces and go see how you feel for yourself. It will be a satisfying couple of hours for most movie lovers.

Thanks for the review; I was on the fence with this but it sounds like it's worth watching.

Nice review. I look forward to watching it eventually, but I'm not going to pay to see it in the theater. The positive buzz has surprised me a bit. Judging by the premise, I worried that, much like Source Code, the movie would become very repetitive.

I love Steve Carell too and am so disappointed that this film disappointed you...I think Carell was the best thing about Crazy Stupid Love.

Director: Clint Eastwood

I feel like besides my mother I was the only person in the world excited for Jersey Boys. It had two things going for it in my opinion. It is a welcome break from the loud tent pole movies that I grow tired of this time of year and it was directed by Eastwood. Admittedly Eastwood has as many misses for my taste as he does hits, but when he hits for me he hits big. I wasn't really expecting this to be one of my favorites like Million Dollar Baby or Mystic River. I was expecting a Broadway interpretation to the big screen. Good music, some humor, and probably an unexpected great performance. I think it did all of this with the possible exception of the great performance. No one was bad in this movie, but no one blew me away either.

I have not read any reviews of this movie yet and there does not seem to be any real internet buzz. If I had to guess what the critics are disliking I would say this that the film is not gritty enough for them. It lacks the world weariness that seems to come with all of our dramas now. These characters are hoodlums throughout this film with a couple of exceptions. What we get are thugs who are closer to characters you would see in Happy Days as opposed to Goodfellas. For the most part that works for me and is exactly what I was expecting. Admittedly some of the more poignant scenes did lack the emotional resonance that would elevate the film for someone like me who responds very well to those types of scenes. Overall I loved the tone though. I smiled and laughed quite a bit. The music was fantastic. There is only one song in this movie that I don't care for, Big Girls Don't Cry, and it does not get a lot of screen time. The writing of that song also gets one of the more lighthearted moments of the movie that involves a Billy Wilder film.

Also of note for me was the look of the film and the breaking of the fourth wall, or rather the total dismissal that the fourth wall even exists. The film has what I would call a matted look. All the colors look very saturated. It is stark when compared to most of the films we see now and I really liked it. It gave the film a real feel for the time period as well as making it appear more like a stage show. I also think this was Eastwood's point in having the characters talk directly to the camera. This method is not constant but it is throughout. Depending on whose POV we are seeing at the moment, that is the character who is talking to the camera. It is not a technique that I would want to see used all the time but when used right it is very effective. It helps us to know the characters a little better and also makes us understand that everything in the narrative is a matter of perspective. What we are seeing play out at any particular time could change slightly depending on whose POV it is coming from.

I would recommend this movie to anyone looking for a little break from "the norm". Especially if you enjoy music from this era on any level. There are a couple of songs from this film I am still singing in my head a couple of days later. If you have no interest in The Four Seasons or musicals in general, there is probably nothing for you here.

Thanks for the review sean. I do like The Four Seasons and usually anything involving Clint Eastwood, so I'll definitely be giving this a shot. My father saw the show a couple of years back and loved it. I don't know if it's anything like that.

Director: Wes Anderson

Cast: Ralph Fiennes, F. Murray Abraham, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe

"The plot thickens as they say. Why? By the way. Is it a soup metaphor?"

"You're looking so well darling, you really are. I don't know what sort of cream they put on you down at the morgue but, I want some."


If you have payed any attention to my babbling lately, and I have to assume if your reading this then you have, you know I am becoming a Wes Anderson fanatic. The other thing you know is that I think the rewatchability of his films is off the charts. This is my second viewing of The Grand Budapest Hotel and I am glad I revisited so soon. I loved this movie the first time around but just like his others it went next level the second time. When you know where the the story is headed you can glean so much more from Anderson's dialogue and his visuals. I don't think there is anyone better at both those aspects making movies right now. I also find Anderson hard to write about because those are the best part of his films. It would almost be more effective to post a bunch of stills and quotes as examples of what I love about Grand Budapest.

The visuals here may be my favorite of any of Anderson's thus far. The hotel itself is beautiful. Anderson is a genius at giving you a sense of scale despite his use of miniatures. The hotel looks old but clean at the points it needs to but then new and modern at the times when necessary. We also continue to get glimpses of more and more of the hotel as the film moves along. There is a shot towards the end of the movie where we are given a shot of the hotel ceiling and it looks amazing. I can't help but think another director would have given us this shot much earlier as a way to show off the hotel. Anderson holds some of those money shots back till the end which gave that scene more weight and scale in my opinion.I love Anderson's use of miniatures. It is not something I would want in every single movie I watch but it feels very refreshing in his films. Anderson's films are pure fantasy and the miniatures add to that very effectively. We always know we are being told a story, Grand Budapest plays like a modern fairy tale. A great example of this is the prison break sequence. There is no reality in this scene what so ever. Four men chisel at a window for a minute and they are out. Then they are caught and one man kills multiple guards. They go through a guard bunk house across rafters, their feet dangling in the guards faces as they sleep. The ladder they hang from the window is hundreds of feet long and put together with all sorts of odd things these men would have no access to. It is a wonderful and funny sequence. A perfect example of Anderson being whimsical while tackling serious subjects at the same time.

The characters in this film are also fantastic down the line. Jopling (Defoe) is a fun villain. Ominous and bearing vampire like fangs he seems to appear from nowhere. There is a scene involving him and a cat that must be the hardest I laughed both times watching the movie. Brody continues his string of me only liking him in Anderson movies as Dmitri. His personal introduction to Gustave H (Fiennes) is one of the better scenes. Gustave H and Zero (Abraham) are to be added to the long line of impeccable Anderson characters. This is without a doubt my favorite Fiennes performance and I have no doubt that Anderson's character creation has much to do with that. Zero and Gustave are together for most of the film and play off each other perfectly. The world wise and chatty Gustave constantly giving his insights to the quiet and unassuming Zero is at the center of the story and every second of it is enthralling. Zero holds his own when need be, especially when it comes to his girlfriend, "don't flirt with her".

I obviously love this film and don't feel like I am doing it anywhere near the lip service it deserves. Watch it, love it, and share your thoughts. Anderson continues to be a director whose films I just want to be consumed by.