Hollywood and Violence

I created this movie poster to sum up Hollywood's handling of the tragic shootings in 2012. After the shooting at the elementary school in Newtown, I saw several articles about movie producers and actors who were talking about being more responsible with the content that goes into their movies, but it turned out to be nothing but hot air. The images used in this poster are each taken from a film that came out in January of 2013.

Top 10 Movies of 2010

According to Boxofficemojo.com, these are the top movies in North America for 2010.

1. Toy Story 3

2. Alice In Wonderland

3. Iron Man 2

4. Twilight Saga: Eclipse

5. Inception

6. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

7. Despicable Me

8. Shrek Forever After

9. How To Train Your Dragon

10. The Karate Kid

This was a strong year for computer animation. The fact that so many were box office favorites is a tribute to how much the quality of animation has improved over the last fifteen years. I'm talking more about well written scripts and strong characters than the computer technology, although that's also very impressive. We can all thank Pixar for raising the bar for everyone by putting out a string of near perfect movies, beginning with Toy Story in 1995 and continuing to this year with Toy Story 3. The other animation studios are definitely upping their game with better and better movies. How To Train Your Dragon is possibly the best thing Dreamworks has ever put out. Despicable Me is also extremely good and a favorite of my family. It was put out by Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures.

Family movies also did very well this year. All but Inception has appeal to families (Eclipse, HP and Iron Man 2 barely make the cut, but they do appeal to families). I hope Hollywood takes note. Why waste money on trash like Love and Other Drugs, Skyline, The Expendables, or any title with the word Saw in it.

Surprised by Tangled

I had low expectations for Tangled. The trailer made it look like a computer animated B-movie. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The movie was fun and charming with well defined characters that you either love or hate. The story was far more intricate than I expected with lots of action, touching moments and laughs a-plenty. In fact, I will go as far as to say, it's the best thing Disney has put out since Lion King, of course taking all Pixar movies out of the equation (Disney just owns Pixar. They are really two separate production houses, although the head of Pixar, John Lasseter, is now overseeing Disney movies too and it shows.) I believe, with Tangled, Disney is back on their A-game. We even have our first CGI princess. Rapunzel is everything and more that a Princess should be; beautiful, sweet, naive and longing for the life she never had.
One of the many things I liked about Tangled was the relationship between Rapunzel and the leading male, Flynn Rider. Their friendship/romance was more developed than in previous princess movies. Normally, the handsome prince, or love interest character is one-dimensional and exists only as an object for the princess to desire. He becomes a motivation factor to get her to break out of her safe and lackluster existence. The difference in Tangled is that we learn as much about Rider as we do about Rapunzel. He also has a back story, and goals, and weaknesses just like Rapunzel. It makes for an interesting push and pull between the two leads that isn't usually seen in a Disney movie.
Everything else about Tangled was perhaps what you would expect from a Disney movie, but all done with perfection. The villain was just evil enough to make the plot believable but she was never over-the-top like so many kids movie villains today. There were great songs, but not too many. And, one scene involving floating luminaries that was touching and beautiful.
I watched it with my wife and my younger kids. All 4 of us commented afterwards on how good the movie was. I always count it as a plus when a movie is good enough for all ages to enjoy. I'll rate it 235 for entertainment value and 240 for moral character. The total Watcher500 score is 475 (out of a possible 500 points).

Lars and the Real Girl

I watched this movie over the weekend after a friend's recommendation. I was pleasantly surprised at how good this movie is. The premise is strange and will probably turn most people off, especially conservative viewers like myself who try to avoid the weird stuff. But, this is a case where a weird premise is played out in such a sweet and thoughtful way that it's actually one of the most moral stories of the last few years.
Lars and the Real Girl is about a guy who is extremely shy to the point that he has difficulty interacting with humans, especially women. He ends up ordering a life-size anatomically correct female doll to be his companion. The guy, Lars, believes his new friend is real. With his new companion at his side, he begins to come out of his shell. Much of the movie's humor comes as Lars' family and friends try to accept his girlfriend and pretend that she's real too, all for the sake of Lars.
From a Christian stand point, this movie has a great message about what would Jesus really do. The cast is excellent, especially Ryan Gosling as Lars. The movie was beautifully written and directed. It never went for the obvious sexual jokes that you normally expect from Hollywood, and the story was low key and thoughtful all the way through.
On my two scales of 1 to 250, I'll give it 235 for entertainment value. and another 235 for moral character. There were a few minor sexual jokes about the doll, but it's hardly worth mentioning. My total score is 470.
It is worth mentioning that Lars made a point of not living in the same house with his girl friend until they were married. Good job Lars, and great job Hollywood for this one.

Eclipse - For Men and Women

I saw Eclipse last week with my wife, part 3 in the Twilight saga. The first movie came out around 2 years ago. The books, a few years before that. It went through my family like the plaque about 2 and a half years ago. At first it was the books, consumed by my wife, my older kids and my mother-in-law in the span of 3 or 4 months. I resisted, not being much of a fan of romance novels. That's what I thought it was at the time. Then the movies started. I'm up for just about any kind of movie, so I gladly took my wife to see Twilight. I liked it, especially the vampire stuff and hint of werewolves. For me, the romance was tolerable since it was wrapped in all of that monster lore stuff. Later, when I saw part 2, New Moon, I liked it even more. I officially became a fan with that movie because it delved deeper into the wolves side of the story than the first one. Now we had lots of vampires and wolves in the same movie. That's much more like a movie I can get into. Oh, and by the way, the love story kicked into high geer too which kept my wife and oldest daughter enthralled. And now, here we are at part 3, Eclipse. I'll sum it up by saying it has more of the same love story and more of the same monster story, but both cranked up couple more notches. The love triangle gets really intense with Edward and Jacob almost coming to blows several times over Bella. At the same time, theres more action in this one than the last. Great stuff all around.
I have not read the books, but as far as the movies go, they have an appeal that few movies can achieve. They offer something for both sexes. I don't mean to over-generalize and sound sexist, but generally speaking, women like their romance and men like to see some action enhanced by special effects. The Twilight series delivers on both accounts.
Now, I must pause for a moment and say that there are definite spiritual problems with the series that many Christians may have a problem with. For one, the vampires are all souless dead creatures, even the "good" vampires. The biggest problem for me is Bella's spiritual apathy. All talk of God or heaven and hell is just a nuisance to her. However, we've obviously decided to go ahead and enjoy the series even with it's flaws. For Christians who are secure in the truth, and who aren't easily confused by such Hollywood twisted spiritualism, the Twilght series has much to offer. It's given my wife and I something fun to do together that we both enjoy. I can't wait to see what happens in the 4th and last movie. In the mean time, Eclipse will be playing in my living room soon when it comes out on DVD, over and over and over.

My scores for Eclipse are 199 for sheer entertainment value, and 97 on the moral scale. That makes a totla score of 296.

The Bright Spots

First, a little bit about myself. I'm a family man with a beautiful wife and four wonderful kids. I'm also a born again Christian. These two factors will have much bearing on my writing. My topic is things relating to entertainment. But, have no fear kind reader. I don't plan to tire my fingers writing about how horrible entertainment is. On the contrary. I plan to point out the bright spots. Those works of digital art that are doing it right. The ones that entertain us with great writing, solid production, and an emotional connection that I can walk away feeling good about for days and weeks later. You see, I love movies. I love television,and I love music. I grew up watching and listening to great stuff, and there's still great stuff out there today. It's just harder to find. I'm always on the watch for that gem of a show or song. When I find it, I'd like to share it with you. I'll tell you why it's good, and where it falls short.
I hope to reach two kinds of entertainment fans. The first is parents of kids who are old enough to understand what's on t.v. That's something like 3 and up. Adults without kids can't really appreciate how much it matters what your kids are watching until they have kids of their own. I can't tell you how many times I've asked adult friends who either don't have kids or their kids are grown and married, about a movie. I'll ask them if it's appropriate for kids and they'll say, "Oh, yeah. There was hardly any bad stuff in it." Then I get it home and the family are watching it and we have to turn it off 15 minutes into it. Those adults just don't see it with the eyes of a parent. I'd like to help you adults out there who need a review from the eyes of a parent.
The 2nd group is Christian adults who love movies or t.v. or music like I do, and want to be careful what you allow into your head. Even though I'm a parent, I do watch different movies when I'm alone or with my wife that I wouldn't watch with my little ones. I think that's a normal distinction for Christian parents. But, even when the kids aren't around, I still want to be careful. I think there are plenty of other Christian adults out there who are in the same situation.