This movie is hilarious. Hands down one of the funniest movies I've ever seen.
Ron Burgundy is the Lead Anchor of the Channel 4 News Team in San Diego, CA. Joined by a rough group of chauvinistic co-anchors, Champ Kind, sports, Brick Tamland, weather, and Brian Fantana, reporter in the field, Channel 4 holds the number 1 spot on the News boards. However, the affiliates are complaining about a lack of diversity in the news room. And no, diversity is not an old, old wooden ship used during the civil war era. So Ed, the manager, brings in Veronica Corningstone to be a new reporter. Ron begins courting her shortly after she arrives. After Ron throws a burrito out of his window at an unsuspecting biker, and gets his dog, Baxter punted off a bridge, Ron is unable to do the news for that day, so Veronica steps in and does it for him. This ruins their relationship as Ron now sees Veronica as a threat and tries to do whatever he can to get her to leave the station. After Veronica sabotages him, Ron is fired. He hits rock bottom until, during the biggest story of the century, Veronica is pushed into a pit of bears and Ron is called upon to do the story. He rescues Veronica and does the story, and the two end up together being the first mixed gendered anchors on the World News Station.
When I started thinking about this movie a little more I realized that it's sort of like the story of Saul and David. Saul was an awesome king. He was doing everything right until he began to step a little to far. Saul began thinking of himself as a god, and God could see that. He told the prophet Samuel to go find David and anoint him to be the King after Saul dies. At first when David is anointed, he and Saul are pretty ok together, but once people begin to think more about David than they do about Saul, he gets very upset. Spear-throwingly upset. However, in the story of Saul and David, at the end of the story Saul doesn't get to come back from his slump, and ends up killing himself. He should've just grown a beard and roamed around drinking milk out of a carton, but whatever...
I think one of the points we can take away from the story of Saul and David is that sometimes God has different plans for us than what we think. Saul was a good King for a while, but after a while David was the man for the job. It's our job as Christians to trust God's plan for our lives and understand that sometimes our work somewhere will be done, and we can't or shouldn't try to do it all on our own.
Next week: Apollo 13
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Analyze This
You... You my friend... You have a gift... for watching movies. Thanks. This movie stars Robert DiNiro as Paul Vitti, a mob boss and Billy Crystal as Dr. Ben Sobel, a psychiatrist. Paul starts to have panic attacks after his best friend and partner Dominic is assassinated in front of him. He seeks help from Dr. Sobel. After a while they come to the discovery that Paul's feeling guilty for his father's death. Paul and his father had been fighting, then one night at dinner at their favorite restaurant, Paul's father was gunned down by a rival gangster. He feels that it's his fault because he saw the gunmen coming, but couldn't react in time. Ben keeps trying to tell him there's nothing he could've done to prevent it.
This resonated with me for the spiritual point of the movie. Sort of.
God loves you, and there's nothing you can do to prevent it. I'm a little distracted right now, cuz i'm just trying to catch up from over Christmas Break. I promise my posts will be better after this.
This resonated with me for the spiritual point of the movie. Sort of.
God loves you, and there's nothing you can do to prevent it. I'm a little distracted right now, cuz i'm just trying to catch up from over Christmas Break. I promise my posts will be better after this.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
American Wedding
Jim and Michelle finally get married. Through many many many trials, mostly caused by Stifler, the ceremony goes of with on a few (dozen) hitches. This movie was pretty hard to think of spiritual connections for because it was so dirty and weird, but I was reminded of the Bible verse where it says to love your enemies and pray for the ones that persecute you. Stifler does cause the majority of the problems that happen during the wedding, but everyone is incredibly harsh on him. He then, feeling incredibly guilty, gets the flower lady and everyone to get everything back to the way Jim and Michelle wanted it to be.
I dunno, that's the only thing I could think of... Well, now that the wedding's over, we can put this trilogy to bed... I know.
Next time: Analyze This
I dunno, that's the only thing I could think of... Well, now that the wedding's over, we can put this trilogy to bed... I know.
Next time: Analyze This
Thursday, January 19, 2012
American Pie 2
Well, after an extended leave of absence during Christmas and New Years break, and after moving into a new place, it's time to get The Nexus back up and running!
The old inappropriate gang is back again in American Pie 2. In this sequel, after their first year in college, Jim, Kevin, Oz, Finch and Stifler spend the summer at the lake in a cabin. Their plan is to make their cabin the place to be (*) if you know what I mean. Kevin and Vicky have broken up, Heather is taking a summer semester in Spain leaving Oz unattached, Stifler remains single and lovin' it, and Stifler's mom continues to evade Finch. Jim is itching with anticipation of seeing Nadia at the end of the summer. Over a conversation with the guys Jim starts questioning his "abilities" and seeks the only person who has experienced him. Jim heads over to Tall Oaks band camp to see Michelle for the first time since their night after prom. See informs him that his performance was less than desirable, but she offers to help him practice for Nadia when she comes. After a glue accident, which heals just in time, Nadia comes into town earlier than planned. To avoid having to explain his glue injury, Jim and Michelle pretend to be dating, then Michelle will "dump" him once he heals so he can get with Nadia.
The plan seems to work fine, until it comes to the big show. With Jim and Nadia holed away together, Jim begins to think about Michelle. Nadia can tell he doesn't have the same feelings he once had for her, and insists he go and "get your girl!" Jim drives to Tall Oaks and interrupts the concert with his famous Petey impression, they fall in love, and the credits roll.
What did I take from this movie? Well, I basically took 2 things away: this is not a movie to watch with... well, anyone... and this movie showed the significance a planted seed can have (not that kind of seed!) When Jim and Michelle were practicing, a seed of a relationship was planted in their minds. It took effect when it was planted deep enough, and it will blossom to it's full flower in the next movie, which I think I might watch tomorrow and blog about on Saturday, or tomorrow night... We'll see
Next: American Wedding
The old inappropriate gang is back again in American Pie 2. In this sequel, after their first year in college, Jim, Kevin, Oz, Finch and Stifler spend the summer at the lake in a cabin. Their plan is to make their cabin the place to be (*) if you know what I mean. Kevin and Vicky have broken up, Heather is taking a summer semester in Spain leaving Oz unattached, Stifler remains single and lovin' it, and Stifler's mom continues to evade Finch. Jim is itching with anticipation of seeing Nadia at the end of the summer. Over a conversation with the guys Jim starts questioning his "abilities" and seeks the only person who has experienced him. Jim heads over to Tall Oaks band camp to see Michelle for the first time since their night after prom. See informs him that his performance was less than desirable, but she offers to help him practice for Nadia when she comes. After a glue accident, which heals just in time, Nadia comes into town earlier than planned. To avoid having to explain his glue injury, Jim and Michelle pretend to be dating, then Michelle will "dump" him once he heals so he can get with Nadia.
The plan seems to work fine, until it comes to the big show. With Jim and Nadia holed away together, Jim begins to think about Michelle. Nadia can tell he doesn't have the same feelings he once had for her, and insists he go and "get your girl!" Jim drives to Tall Oaks and interrupts the concert with his famous Petey impression, they fall in love, and the credits roll.
What did I take from this movie? Well, I basically took 2 things away: this is not a movie to watch with... well, anyone... and this movie showed the significance a planted seed can have (not that kind of seed!) When Jim and Michelle were practicing, a seed of a relationship was planted in their minds. It took effect when it was planted deep enough, and it will blossom to it's full flower in the next movie, which I think I might watch tomorrow and blog about on Saturday, or tomorrow night... We'll see
Next: American Wedding
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
American Pie
Ya'll ready for this? Wow... this is some sort of movie... I almost forgot how awful it was. Too bad it's funny too, because then it's hard to say I don't like it because of all the awfulness of it. I don't recommend it. It's entirely too sexual for its own good.
That being said, there was really only one thing that I could easy apply to our spiritual lives. After Stifler's party, when all the guys are feeling like failures because they failed to clear the bases with their respective dates, Kevin stands up and makes a pact with the guys. He says that alone they're all weak, but together they can all work toward their goal, challenge each other to keep working at it. Granted, the goal they set for themselves was to lose their virginity before graduating High School, and we should have much more honorable goals than that, but the message remains the same: If we want something to change, we need to band with our fellow believers.
Solomon writes, Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work:If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up”!
Proverbs 13:20 “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm”.
Prov 17:17 (NCV) “A friend loves you all the time, and a brother helps in time of trouble”.
James says, James 5:16 (NRSV) “Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective”.
And finally, Paul says, 1 Th 5:11 (NRSV) “Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing”.
Paul also talks a lot about the Body of Christ. We are all part of the body, and as such we need to be mindful of our fellow believers struggles. We need to come up on their sides and give them a helping hand when they need it. That is our duty as Christians.
This is the spiritual point I pulled out from American Pie. Next week... (sigh) American Pie 2
That being said, there was really only one thing that I could easy apply to our spiritual lives. After Stifler's party, when all the guys are feeling like failures because they failed to clear the bases with their respective dates, Kevin stands up and makes a pact with the guys. He says that alone they're all weak, but together they can all work toward their goal, challenge each other to keep working at it. Granted, the goal they set for themselves was to lose their virginity before graduating High School, and we should have much more honorable goals than that, but the message remains the same: If we want something to change, we need to band with our fellow believers.
Solomon writes, Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work:If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up”!
Proverbs 13:20 “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm”.
Prov 17:17 (NCV) “A friend loves you all the time, and a brother helps in time of trouble”.
James says, James 5:16 (NRSV) “Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective”.
And finally, Paul says, 1 Th 5:11 (NRSV) “Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing”.
Paul also talks a lot about the Body of Christ. We are all part of the body, and as such we need to be mindful of our fellow believers struggles. We need to come up on their sides and give them a helping hand when they need it. That is our duty as Christians.
This is the spiritual point I pulled out from American Pie. Next week... (sigh) American Pie 2
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
American Gangster
First, let me apologize to my wife. I watch the movies I blog about the Monday morning before, that way I have 2 days to think about it and what I'm going to write about. Well, this movie is 3 hours long (the extended edition) and she hates every minute of it. This made for a very long morning for poor, poor Amanda. Ize can has sorries?
For those who have never seen American Gangster, shame. It's a really well made film and it has a really good story line, but, not wanting to get a good rep, Director Ridley Scott couldn't help but put an F-Bomb in every 20 seconds of the movie. Seriously. I counted once. There's also gratuitous amounts of violence, as it is a mobster movie, as well as a gross amount of drug content and nudity. But, other than being rated R for every reason, it's a good movie because of the story.
The movie is based on the true story of Richie Roberts and how he brought down Frank Lucas, Drug Lord of Harlem, and how the two banded together while Lucas was in prison to arrest over 100 crooked cops who were in the drug scene as well.
The film opens (after a man is tied to a chair, set on fire, then shot in the head several times) with Frank and his old boss, Bumpy Johnson, walking down the street as Bumpy is telling Frank the hard truths of life, that America's turning into a giant middleman. Buying things from someone else, selling them to companies for more than they paid for it, then selling it to the customer for more than they paid for it. He says it's simply unAmerican. These words hit a cord with Frank, and he decides to adopt a new business strategy for his heroin business.
Frank's cousin's ex-husband is in the navy stationed in Bangkok, and he uses this connection to go over and meet with an Opium Lord, saying he'll pay if he can bring a huge amount of heroin over to America. Since Frank bought from the source he is able to charge half the price his competitors are charging, for a product that's twice as "good."
Being in the game for as long as Frank Lucas is, he starts getting to know everyone in every circle. He knows which cops are the ones that will confiscate your drugs, steal them from the evidence room, cut it down to 10% what it was, and sell it back to the dealers, making a huge profit. Frank knows that these cops are running his fellow drug dealers out of business, so he does what he can do to bring down those cops while he's still outside of prison.
There are a few things I need to say: Drugs are bad, (mmkay?) and I'm not saying anything that Frank Lucas did in the drug trade was good, I'm only saying some of the things I noticed in the movie could be applied to our spiritual lives.
Frank is devoted to his people, to his family, his country. We should be this committed to our own families, our church families, and our community. We are all one body with many parts, so if one of us is hurting the whole will be hurting.
The story of American Gangster is a giant story of redemption. Frank destroyed hundreds of lives, by continuing the drug trade. By giving someone who is already strung out on the cut down heroin someone twice as good for half the cost is just going to make them more and more dependent on it, and it's only a matter of time before they OD and then it's not just one life he's ended, but a family he's destroyed. There's a scene in the movie where it shows a bunch of people all shooting up, and one part of this montage has a baby sitting on a bed, with someone laying sprawled out on the bed next to them, possibly dead. The baby is crying and someone else comes in the room and takes the baby out as it screams its lungs out. Awful.
But Frank, after having taken a step back to look at the horrible things he'd done, was able to help Richie arrest more than 100 cops who weren't doing there job, because they wanted the drug trade to continue: it kept them in business. Frank did what he could to try and slow down the barreling train of drugs, and he took a pretty big dent out of the New York/New Jersey section when he chose to work with Richie instead of against him for once.
Next week... oh my... oh my... American Pie...
For those who have never seen American Gangster, shame. It's a really well made film and it has a really good story line, but, not wanting to get a good rep, Director Ridley Scott couldn't help but put an F-Bomb in every 20 seconds of the movie. Seriously. I counted once. There's also gratuitous amounts of violence, as it is a mobster movie, as well as a gross amount of drug content and nudity. But, other than being rated R for every reason, it's a good movie because of the story.
The movie is based on the true story of Richie Roberts and how he brought down Frank Lucas, Drug Lord of Harlem, and how the two banded together while Lucas was in prison to arrest over 100 crooked cops who were in the drug scene as well.
The film opens (after a man is tied to a chair, set on fire, then shot in the head several times) with Frank and his old boss, Bumpy Johnson, walking down the street as Bumpy is telling Frank the hard truths of life, that America's turning into a giant middleman. Buying things from someone else, selling them to companies for more than they paid for it, then selling it to the customer for more than they paid for it. He says it's simply unAmerican. These words hit a cord with Frank, and he decides to adopt a new business strategy for his heroin business.
Frank's cousin's ex-husband is in the navy stationed in Bangkok, and he uses this connection to go over and meet with an Opium Lord, saying he'll pay if he can bring a huge amount of heroin over to America. Since Frank bought from the source he is able to charge half the price his competitors are charging, for a product that's twice as "good."
Being in the game for as long as Frank Lucas is, he starts getting to know everyone in every circle. He knows which cops are the ones that will confiscate your drugs, steal them from the evidence room, cut it down to 10% what it was, and sell it back to the dealers, making a huge profit. Frank knows that these cops are running his fellow drug dealers out of business, so he does what he can do to bring down those cops while he's still outside of prison.
There are a few things I need to say: Drugs are bad, (mmkay?) and I'm not saying anything that Frank Lucas did in the drug trade was good, I'm only saying some of the things I noticed in the movie could be applied to our spiritual lives.
Frank is devoted to his people, to his family, his country. We should be this committed to our own families, our church families, and our community. We are all one body with many parts, so if one of us is hurting the whole will be hurting.
The story of American Gangster is a giant story of redemption. Frank destroyed hundreds of lives, by continuing the drug trade. By giving someone who is already strung out on the cut down heroin someone twice as good for half the cost is just going to make them more and more dependent on it, and it's only a matter of time before they OD and then it's not just one life he's ended, but a family he's destroyed. There's a scene in the movie where it shows a bunch of people all shooting up, and one part of this montage has a baby sitting on a bed, with someone laying sprawled out on the bed next to them, possibly dead. The baby is crying and someone else comes in the room and takes the baby out as it screams its lungs out. Awful.
But Frank, after having taken a step back to look at the horrible things he'd done, was able to help Richie arrest more than 100 cops who weren't doing there job, because they wanted the drug trade to continue: it kept them in business. Frank did what he could to try and slow down the barreling train of drugs, and he took a pretty big dent out of the New York/New Jersey section when he chose to work with Richie instead of against him for once.
Next week... oh my... oh my... American Pie...
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Amazing Grace
got my work cut out for me here.
The first time I heard of this movie I thought it was about John Newton, the man who wrote Amazing Grace. It is, however, the story of William Wilberforce, Newton's student, who fought for the abolition of the slave trade in England.
I'm feeling really tired right now, so it'll have to be a little short tonight.
This film shows how devoted we need to be to our beliefs. Wilberforce knows that all men are created equal, and he fights for this until it eventually passes in parliament.
God's love stretches to everyone, no matter their anything. The Bible says that in the eyes of God there is no Jew nor Gentile, and on and on and on. This is also a command as to how we must love one another. God loves everyone equally and he calls us to love everyone equally as well.
Rrrrreally tired right now... Next week: American Gangster
The first time I heard of this movie I thought it was about John Newton, the man who wrote Amazing Grace. It is, however, the story of William Wilberforce, Newton's student, who fought for the abolition of the slave trade in England.
I'm feeling really tired right now, so it'll have to be a little short tonight.
This film shows how devoted we need to be to our beliefs. Wilberforce knows that all men are created equal, and he fights for this until it eventually passes in parliament.
God's love stretches to everyone, no matter their anything. The Bible says that in the eyes of God there is no Jew nor Gentile, and on and on and on. This is also a command as to how we must love one another. God loves everyone equally and he calls us to love everyone equally as well.
Rrrrreally tired right now... Next week: American Gangster
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