In the second installment of this spy comedy, the film opens with Austin and his new wife Vanessa enjoying their honeymoon. Turns out however that Vanessa was a fembot, a cyborg assassin, sent from Dr. Evil to kill Austin. When the attempt is unsuccessful, Dr. Evil devises another plan. Armed with a clone 1/8th his size who he dubs Mini-Me, Dr. Evil goes back in time to 1969 while Austin is still cryogenically frozen in an attempt to steal his "Mojo," defined as "The life force, the libido. Something the French call a certain... I don't know what." Dr. Evil's henchman, who we will call Big Jerk, infiltrates and is successful in stealing Austin's mojo.
Meanwhile, in 1999, Austin loses his mojo right when it would've come in handy. Now he is on a mission to stop Dr. Evil from destroying the world with a giant "Laser" as well as getting his mojo back. He is joined by Felicity Shagwell. The two become an item, because it's a traditional spy movie, but Austin can't go as far as he would like, because he's lost his mojo. He can't bring himself to tell Felicity, but she finds out eventually.
In the final showdown between Dr. Evil, Austin Powers, and Austin Powers from 10 minutes from now, the vial of Austin's mojo is destroyed. Both Austins are devastated, but Felicity reassures them both, "You don't need it! You've had your mojo all along!"
Armed with this knowledge, Austin thwarts Dr. Evil's plans again. Roll credits.
The idea of Austin's mojo always being there even when he didn't know, is much like how one can view God.
At times God might seem distant, or even impossible to see. I like to explain it to the Jr. Highers I work with like this: You're on a hike with God. God has a backpack with everything you need in it. You can do 1 of 2 things. 1. Start hiking, stopping every now and then, "God, can I use the rope? God, let's pitch the tent." or 2. You can let God lead the way. He has the best intentions for you, so might as well let Him lead your life.
When God seems distant in my life, I like to think of the footprints poem. Quick summary, someone is walking on the beach with God, seeing their entire life, and seeing 2 sets of footprints in the sand during their life. During the hardest times in their life there is only one set of footprints. Thinking that God had left them during that time, the narrator turns to God and asks, "Why when I needed you most is there only 1 set of footprints?" God replies, "It was in those moments when I carried you."
I like to view God as always surrounding me. He is leading my life the way it should go, and he is also behind me, ready to catch me whenever I fall.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Tired, so this one will be quick.
There's a part of the movie where Vanessa, Austin's lady, learns that he did horrible things with the Italian girl. Vanessa is a jealous person. God is jealous for us: God wants all of us, and he won't allow us to be half His and half someone else's or something else's. We can only serve onoe master.
Next week: Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
There's a part of the movie where Vanessa, Austin's lady, learns that he did horrible things with the Italian girl. Vanessa is a jealous person. God is jealous for us: God wants all of us, and he won't allow us to be half His and half someone else's or something else's. We can only serve onoe master.
Next week: Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Armageddon
Another space movie, this one, however, much more fictional. A who's who of guy movie actors and chick flick actors at the same time. The movie depicts a situation where there is a massive asteroid headed for Earth. It's the size of Texas and would destroy all life on earth. There's only one solution, proposed by Jason Isaacs: Drill a hole into the asteroid and drop a warhead down in it, thus exploding it from the inside out.
2 Problems: 1. There's 18 days until the asteroid hits earth, and 2. There's only one crew able to do the job, and they're a bunch of loose cannon hill billies.
Harry (Bruce Willis), leader of the drillers, owns his own oil rig company. His daughter, Grace, (Liv Tyler) is in love with AJ (Ben Affleck) one of Harry's workers who has a problem with authority, thinking he knows best in basically every situation. Harry and AJ do not have a very strong relationship. Mainly because at the beginning of the movie Harry finds AJ and Grace in AJ's bed, which leads to a hide and go die game between Harry, AJ, and a shot gun... on an oil rig... man, I love guy movies!
The men are prepped, their requests taken into account, and they're ready to launch.
2 Rockets are sent up to the asteroid, each with an Armadillo, a drilling little dune buggy, and each with a crew of drillers and astronauts. The Independence, one of the rockets, gets blown off course upon landing, and all but 3 of the astronauts are killed. The Russian Cosmonaut, Bear, and AJ. They get together and get their Armadillo free and start the long drive over to where the other rocket landed.
Meanwhile, The Freedom, the other rocket, begins drilling. But, NASA set their landing point, unknowingly, on a mound of iron ore, so the drilling is going much slower than is allowable. They start drilling, break 2 drill heads, one transmission, but still keep going. At Mission Control, the President's right hand man, much to Billy Bob Thorton's dismay, calls the order to manually detonate the warhead, to be sure of detonation.
Commander Sharpe has to think quick as he and one of the other astronauts work inside the warhead in an attempt to stop the timer from ticking. They end up cutting the right cord and the timer stops at 2 seconds. They keep on drilling until their armadillo eventually breaks down completely. All hope seems lost until AJ and his crew drive over the ridge and drive their Armadillo down and finish the drilling. They get to the necessary depth and are getting ready to drop the warhead when Sharpe notices something: The remote detonator isn't working.
Somehow the remote detonator got disconnected when they were unhooking the timer. This leaves only one possibility: manual detonation. One of the astronauts has to stay behind and press a button to make sure the bomb goes off in time before zero impact (the time when it would be too late to blow it up).
They decide to draw straws. AJ draws the short straw, and it looks like it's up to him to detonate the bomb. Harry volunteers to take him down to the asteroid. They get to the surface, share a few moments, AJ asks Harry to tell Grace he loves her. Harry grabs AJ by the oxygen hose, rips it from his suit, and pushes AJ back in the airlock and seals it. From the surface of the asteroid, Harry looks at AJ through the glass, "Take care of my little girl now. That's your job. You've always been like a son to me." he says, and all the women watching cry a little bit, and all the men hide their sniffles. Harry uplinks a conversation with Grace as The Freedom takes off for Earth, Harry detonates the Warhead just before it crosses zero barrier, and he saves the world. And the credits roll.
This movie obviously shows a huge deal of sacrifice. Not only did Harry sacrifice his life to save mankind, but he also sacrifices his own feelings of AJ. Harry doesn't really like AJ, because they have differing views, but Harry knows Grace loves him. Harry wants what's best for Grace, and knows that she wouldn't be in love with AJ, if he wasn't good for her. He chooses to put away his emotions and trust in the wisdom of his daughter. We should all be like Harry in putting others' views in front of our own, and take off our blinders to the rest of the world.
Next Week: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
2 Problems: 1. There's 18 days until the asteroid hits earth, and 2. There's only one crew able to do the job, and they're a bunch of loose cannon hill billies.
Harry (Bruce Willis), leader of the drillers, owns his own oil rig company. His daughter, Grace, (Liv Tyler) is in love with AJ (Ben Affleck) one of Harry's workers who has a problem with authority, thinking he knows best in basically every situation. Harry and AJ do not have a very strong relationship. Mainly because at the beginning of the movie Harry finds AJ and Grace in AJ's bed, which leads to a hide and go die game between Harry, AJ, and a shot gun... on an oil rig... man, I love guy movies!
The men are prepped, their requests taken into account, and they're ready to launch.
2 Rockets are sent up to the asteroid, each with an Armadillo, a drilling little dune buggy, and each with a crew of drillers and astronauts. The Independence, one of the rockets, gets blown off course upon landing, and all but 3 of the astronauts are killed. The Russian Cosmonaut, Bear, and AJ. They get together and get their Armadillo free and start the long drive over to where the other rocket landed.
Meanwhile, The Freedom, the other rocket, begins drilling. But, NASA set their landing point, unknowingly, on a mound of iron ore, so the drilling is going much slower than is allowable. They start drilling, break 2 drill heads, one transmission, but still keep going. At Mission Control, the President's right hand man, much to Billy Bob Thorton's dismay, calls the order to manually detonate the warhead, to be sure of detonation.
Commander Sharpe has to think quick as he and one of the other astronauts work inside the warhead in an attempt to stop the timer from ticking. They end up cutting the right cord and the timer stops at 2 seconds. They keep on drilling until their armadillo eventually breaks down completely. All hope seems lost until AJ and his crew drive over the ridge and drive their Armadillo down and finish the drilling. They get to the necessary depth and are getting ready to drop the warhead when Sharpe notices something: The remote detonator isn't working.
Somehow the remote detonator got disconnected when they were unhooking the timer. This leaves only one possibility: manual detonation. One of the astronauts has to stay behind and press a button to make sure the bomb goes off in time before zero impact (the time when it would be too late to blow it up).
They decide to draw straws. AJ draws the short straw, and it looks like it's up to him to detonate the bomb. Harry volunteers to take him down to the asteroid. They get to the surface, share a few moments, AJ asks Harry to tell Grace he loves her. Harry grabs AJ by the oxygen hose, rips it from his suit, and pushes AJ back in the airlock and seals it. From the surface of the asteroid, Harry looks at AJ through the glass, "Take care of my little girl now. That's your job. You've always been like a son to me." he says, and all the women watching cry a little bit, and all the men hide their sniffles. Harry uplinks a conversation with Grace as The Freedom takes off for Earth, Harry detonates the Warhead just before it crosses zero barrier, and he saves the world. And the credits roll.
This movie obviously shows a huge deal of sacrifice. Not only did Harry sacrifice his life to save mankind, but he also sacrifices his own feelings of AJ. Harry doesn't really like AJ, because they have differing views, but Harry knows Grace loves him. Harry wants what's best for Grace, and knows that she wouldn't be in love with AJ, if he wasn't good for her. He chooses to put away his emotions and trust in the wisdom of his daughter. We should all be like Harry in putting others' views in front of our own, and take off our blinders to the rest of the world.
Next Week: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Apollo 13
Based on the true story of Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise (also Ken Mattingly and Gene Kranz). This is definitely a piece of cinematic history. One of the best movies ever made. I LOVE true stories. Let me take a second to count the number of true story movies I have... counting... please wait... I have 19 movies that are true stories or are based on actual events.
Anyway, back to Apollo 13. The story is that of the aforementioned astronauts. The group of Lovell, Haise and Mattingly were scheduled to be on the Apollo 14 project, but they got bumped up and had the opportunity to go much sooner than they anticipated, on the Apollo 13 launch. They trained tirelessly to get everything perfectly right, and were crazy excited about going into space and getting to walk on the moon. Three days before launch, Mattingly is exposed to German Measles and the doctors advise Lovell to take him off the flight crew as to keep the other astronauts well while in space. He makes the difficult decision to leave Mattingly behind, and calls upon his replacement on the back up team, Jack Swigert. He has 2 days to get trained up to the level Lovell and Haise are at. He has been practicing, but not as hard as the Prime team.
The rocket launches, and under an hour after take off, the middle of 5 engines goes off 2 minutes earlier than it was supposed to. This problem is easily remedied by simply firing the other 4 engines for longer. Tom Hanks, playing Lovell, turns to his crew, and laughingly says, "Guess we just had our glitch of this mission."
The rocket has now joined the Landing Module or LM, and the crew has done a broadcast down to earth from inside the Module. Shortly after finishing the broadcast, flight control, led by Gene Kranz, has Swigert go over a few "housekeeping" items. They ask him to roll the rocket a little this way and that, to do this thing and that thing, and then they ask him to stir the O2 canisters to equalize the pressure. He does so, but when he does, the crew hears a loud bang, and debris flies off the rocket into the vacuum of space. Initially the astronauts think they've been struck by a meteor, but upon further examination, they find that one of their O2 tanks has exploded, and was now expelling half of their supply of oxygen into space.
Mission control decides to abort the mission and have them turn around and come back. Due to damage from the explosion they have limited power and, one would assume they had limited oxygen. This was not the case however. They had plenty of oxygen, but the more they breathed, the more Carbon Dioxide they exhaled into the rocket, slowly poisoning each other and themselves. Mission control commands the astronauts to go into the LM, since it's smaller, they can use their body heat to keep themselves a little warmer when they need to turn the heat off. However, they need to come up with a few plans to make filters so they're breathing oxygen, and they need to come up with some ways to conserve the remaining power to make the trip back home safely.
Mission control calls upon Mattingly, who, measle free, comes in and hops into the flight simulator and does all he can think of to do what needs to be done to get them home without exceeding the remaining power. He can't go over 20 amps, so it's a challenge. But he eventually comes up with a plan for the power saving and power using. People from NASA also come up with a way to convert they crew's square filter to fit into the round casing, thus allowing them to breathe oxygen again.
The crew makes it home safely, and the movie is over.
There were 2 big ideas that I took from this movie.
1. It reminded me once again how in control of everything God is. If Mattingly hadn't been exposed to measles, then he would've been up on the Odyssey, and would not have been able to experiment with the power plans. And had he actually come down with the measles, he would not have been in the right mind to come up with such ingenious plans. God knows what he's doing, even if it doesn't seem like it at the time.
2. At one point in the movie the news is showing some old footage of each member of the crew. During an interview of Lovell, he tells of how one night when he was in war, all the power in his plane's cockpit went out. He wasn't able to use his radio either, because enemy ships were using the same frequency and they would be able to pick it up. But because it was so dark outside and so dark in the cabin, Jim was able to look down at the water and see bio-luminescent algae, glowing green in the total darkness. Lovell knew that that kind of algae glowed when it was churned up by large ships. All he had to do was follow the trail of glowing green to the aircraft carrier. He said it was like lights pointing him home. Sometimes things in our lives make it seem like it's pitch black in the middle of enemy territory. We can't see anything or any way out of it. We begin to panic! What we need to do is remember where we're going, and to look to God, as he will always be there, shining through our darkest times, leading us home. And sometimes it takes the darkest night to see the brightest light.
Next week: Armageddon. Another space movie, much less true =P
Anyway, back to Apollo 13. The story is that of the aforementioned astronauts. The group of Lovell, Haise and Mattingly were scheduled to be on the Apollo 14 project, but they got bumped up and had the opportunity to go much sooner than they anticipated, on the Apollo 13 launch. They trained tirelessly to get everything perfectly right, and were crazy excited about going into space and getting to walk on the moon. Three days before launch, Mattingly is exposed to German Measles and the doctors advise Lovell to take him off the flight crew as to keep the other astronauts well while in space. He makes the difficult decision to leave Mattingly behind, and calls upon his replacement on the back up team, Jack Swigert. He has 2 days to get trained up to the level Lovell and Haise are at. He has been practicing, but not as hard as the Prime team.
The rocket launches, and under an hour after take off, the middle of 5 engines goes off 2 minutes earlier than it was supposed to. This problem is easily remedied by simply firing the other 4 engines for longer. Tom Hanks, playing Lovell, turns to his crew, and laughingly says, "Guess we just had our glitch of this mission."
The rocket has now joined the Landing Module or LM, and the crew has done a broadcast down to earth from inside the Module. Shortly after finishing the broadcast, flight control, led by Gene Kranz, has Swigert go over a few "housekeeping" items. They ask him to roll the rocket a little this way and that, to do this thing and that thing, and then they ask him to stir the O2 canisters to equalize the pressure. He does so, but when he does, the crew hears a loud bang, and debris flies off the rocket into the vacuum of space. Initially the astronauts think they've been struck by a meteor, but upon further examination, they find that one of their O2 tanks has exploded, and was now expelling half of their supply of oxygen into space.
Mission control decides to abort the mission and have them turn around and come back. Due to damage from the explosion they have limited power and, one would assume they had limited oxygen. This was not the case however. They had plenty of oxygen, but the more they breathed, the more Carbon Dioxide they exhaled into the rocket, slowly poisoning each other and themselves. Mission control commands the astronauts to go into the LM, since it's smaller, they can use their body heat to keep themselves a little warmer when they need to turn the heat off. However, they need to come up with a few plans to make filters so they're breathing oxygen, and they need to come up with some ways to conserve the remaining power to make the trip back home safely.
Mission control calls upon Mattingly, who, measle free, comes in and hops into the flight simulator and does all he can think of to do what needs to be done to get them home without exceeding the remaining power. He can't go over 20 amps, so it's a challenge. But he eventually comes up with a plan for the power saving and power using. People from NASA also come up with a way to convert they crew's square filter to fit into the round casing, thus allowing them to breathe oxygen again.
The crew makes it home safely, and the movie is over.
There were 2 big ideas that I took from this movie.
1. It reminded me once again how in control of everything God is. If Mattingly hadn't been exposed to measles, then he would've been up on the Odyssey, and would not have been able to experiment with the power plans. And had he actually come down with the measles, he would not have been in the right mind to come up with such ingenious plans. God knows what he's doing, even if it doesn't seem like it at the time.
2. At one point in the movie the news is showing some old footage of each member of the crew. During an interview of Lovell, he tells of how one night when he was in war, all the power in his plane's cockpit went out. He wasn't able to use his radio either, because enemy ships were using the same frequency and they would be able to pick it up. But because it was so dark outside and so dark in the cabin, Jim was able to look down at the water and see bio-luminescent algae, glowing green in the total darkness. Lovell knew that that kind of algae glowed when it was churned up by large ships. All he had to do was follow the trail of glowing green to the aircraft carrier. He said it was like lights pointing him home. Sometimes things in our lives make it seem like it's pitch black in the middle of enemy territory. We can't see anything or any way out of it. We begin to panic! What we need to do is remember where we're going, and to look to God, as he will always be there, shining through our darkest times, leading us home. And sometimes it takes the darkest night to see the brightest light.
Next week: Armageddon. Another space movie, much less true =P
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