filmtheology

Tonight I am particularly in the mood to discuss a the theme of sacrifice, but not simply any sacrifice. I am interested now in worthwhile or necessary sacrifices. I am going to be using the film ONCE, an Irish Independent film whose soundtrack won an Academy Award. The film itself is beautiful and moving particularly because of the music which often competes with the characters themselves for the viewers attention. This will be brief. How many times do we sacrifice the wrong things. Or how often do we give things up for the wrong reasons, i.e. to appear more spiritual or to attempt to make God love us more, which is impossible. This kind of sacrifice is ridiculous. As ridiculous as giving up something that is easy for us to give up. For some it is easy to give a tithe bc their financial situation is solid. It does not cost them. Some people give up cable or secular music as I have at one time or another bc it was an easy thing to do. Others this is not possible or completely unne...

This is part of an old movie review I did on The Green Mile directed by Frank Darabont. Enjoy. The visual imagery and powerful filmic aesthetics experienced when watching The Green Mile, amplify the arresting quality which Stephen King’s literary descriptions provided the reader. Therefore, unlike many adaptations, the film does not ruin or distort the novel’s value, and rather than forcing a sharp competition, the two complement each other. Frank Darabont may as well receive the full credit for this occurrence, but as most critics have commented, The Green Mile is the second King prison adaptation he directed; the first being The Shawshank Redemption, a film which could have been more adequately titles as, “The Shawshank Revenge”; but this is simply speculative. These films are almost antithetical. The latter tells a story about escape and outsmarting the system, while the former film pictures the system’s triumph and the individual’s accepting a “spiritual” rather than physical...

For those of you who like the movie Groundhogs Day with Bill Murray have I got a treat for you. This is a short paper I did a few years ago comparing the film with the book of Ecclesiastes in a discussion of Existentialism. It is a bit longer than usual so please read it if you like the film. Otherwise please come back another time to see what I have posted. Thanks. Existentialism is a worldview first formulated by Soren Kierkegaard, whose theories formed Christian existentialism, while later thinkers founded atheistic and agnostic veins, all sharing some precepts. A freedom to make choices is stressed, and any impetus to obey rules or moral codes is rejected. Ideas like fate and destiny are also rejected, due to the belief that the universe is absurd. Coincidence and chance govern our reality if we do not take the responsibility ourselves via our personal choices. Therefore truth is subjective, and our own experiences and relative perspectives are more important than any imposed moral...

We have been watching BBC's television series Robin Hood, and have found it absolutely a wonderfully fun take on the legend. There are some complex themes they are dealing with especially war and peace, law and justice, faith and the faith of the "other." I hope to have time to dwell more on this latter topic when I have seen more of the series and have more to expound upon...A good Sabbath to all

I have chosen Vanity Fair (2004) directed by Mira Nair, as my first piece for no reason other than I have seen it very recently and afterwards I spent several hours contemplating some of the themes I was able to pick out. It is based on the novel by William Makepiece Thackeray, a contemporary of Charles Dickens. Now before I proceed I want to make it quite clear that this in not a movie review blog. I will be delving into the stories and using major parts of the plot to yank out meaning....i.e. Spoiler Alert !!! on every film selected. If you have not seen Vanity Fair, and if you enjoy historical fiction period pieces, or if you enjoy dramas dealing with social class struggles especially "high society" and those who would like to one day enter it, such as The Age of Innocence do not read this post. That being said, this film surprised me by its beauty, and left me dwelling on the plot instead of taking my nap as I was supposed to be doing. The cinematography was great, the ...

So here I am, just one year after completing my undergraduate in Film and Media Studies, living in NYC, but with no desire to pursue a career in my field. I have been watching plenty of movies. I do want to complete my screenplay which has been 1/4 finished for 2.5 years now. I cannot afford grad school; I am a newlywed, poor, broke, in debt.....you get the picture. And I do not feel like chasing a job as a PA or personal assistant to a producer, my only options. I would, though, like to apply my knowledge toward an unusual quest...looking at film through the lens of the Bible. This of course also means looking at film through the lens that is myself, and I don't even know the full repercussions of that kind of a journey...but I promise it will be fun. So here we go.