Movie villains and 'Cars 2'

No pitcher can go an entire season without a loss. In fact, some of the best pitchers during their best seasons will find themselves on the receiving end of an old-fashioned whoopin'.

It comes as no surprise that Pixar would finally have a weak outing. "Cars 2" has great visuals, all the usual suspects in the realm of vocal talents, and, as usual, none of the double entendres or innuendos that fill most "family-friendly" movies. As a story, I felt it fell far short of the compelling storylines that have been Pixar hallmarks. Easily the weakest film of the lot.

What really made the movie fizzle was Pixar's choice of villain, a corrupt oil company. As crushed as I was to see the finest movie company to rise in my lifetime genuflect to political correctness, I saw the handwriting when Woody of "Toy Story" fame appeared in a gay-pride commercial sponsored by Google Chrome. So, now, Pixar becomes yet another shill for the Hollywood machine churning out propaganda for leftist thought.

Think back across the movies you've seen in the last twenty years.  Who are Hollywood's TOP 5 villains?

5 - The church

4 - Our military

3 - Our government

2 - The rich

1 - Companies and corporations

Joe Stalin must be laughing himself silly as he burns in hell thinking that Americans are coughing up $8 a pop at the Cineplex to have their noses rubbed in their very way of life.

Now, folks, there is not a pristine organization on the planet because every organization is made up of flawed and fallen people, but look at those five groups. Villains? Really?

I just saw a video posted by a friend's daughter on Facebook of her week ministering to the folks of Joplin, Missouri.  They went in association with Samaritan's Purse, a Christian relief organization begun by a fellow named Franklin Graham. You might recognize the name. Billy's son. How many atheist organizations are pouring manpower and money into Joplin? For all that the church has done in the name of Christ for good over the centuries, she's known for Crusades, Inquisitions, Witch Trials, and pedophilia.  Charming.

On this July 4th do I really need to defend our military? Do we believe that it's made up of fascist zealots who delight in atrocity and rape? Really?

Same goes for our elected officials. WE VOTED THEM IN, PEOPLE!! If they are villainesque, they merely reflect their constituents.

The rich as a villain. Why? Because they've gots and we han't gots. Honestly, that's it. Most of us don't see the philanthropy carried out by those with wealth because they don't want it trumpeted. Yes, there are miserly cads and those who give for tax-break only, but oh so many more give because they have been richly blessed. They understand their God-given responsibility to give back. Most of us knuckleheads don't understand that without the wealthy, most of us don't have a job.  We're just dumb.

And that takes us to companies and corporations. Pixar picked "Big Oil" as its must-have villain for "Cars 2" (here). Would someone tell me the evil that oil companies have wrought upon the world? I say, "Thank you very much for the gasoline. Could you please pump some more?" Regarding an oil spill or a tanker run aground, it is great media.  Lots of pictures.  Considering the bajillion oil platforms and oil tankers that lap the globe, I remember two hiccups in my lifetime, the Exxon Valdez and the Gulf last year. Surgeons don't fare that well. Movie studios certainly don't. So oil is the villain? Really?

Here are a couple of villains for you:

1. Hugo Chavez

2. Mahmoud Ahmadinejahd

3. Vladamir Putin

4. Abortion doctors and those who fund this national sin

5. Islam - that brand where folks live out the Koran like Mohammed did

6. China

We could toss "atheism" into that pot considering the worldwide brutality that has been birthed from the philosophies of Nietzsche and those who hold to no higher authority to which man is accountable, but Hollywood prefers the atheistic hero and fundamentalist (Christian, of course) villain as seen in their upcoming release, "The Ledge." Considering I already had Hugo, Mahmoud, Vlad and China, I figured adding "atheism" would be redundant.

Despite spending forty years and billions of dollars to stem the military and geopolitical tide of godless socialism and communism, such diseased ideologies have infected our country through the university and through television and film with the drumbeat, "America and it's way of life is evil." Occasionally you find an individual to stand up and say, "No, foundational and fundamental America is VERY good." Until very recently, I thought Pixar was that go-to guy, but as with most major league aces, some weakness has been exposed.

Will there be any pleasant surprises at the box office this year? Movie-junkie that I am, I hope so.

And the winner is...

According to Wikipedia, the top grossing movies worldwide in 2010 were:

1.  Toy Story 3
2.  Alice in Wonderland
3.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt 1
4.  Inception
5.  Shrek Forever After
6.  Twilight Saga:  Eclipse
7.  Ironman 2
8.  Despicable Me
9.  How to Train Your Dragon
10.  Clash of the Titans

Here's the MPAA rating for each of those movies.

1.  Toy Story 3 - G
2.  Alice in Wonderland - PG-13
3.  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Pt 1 - PG-13
4.  Inception - PG-13
5.  Shrek Forever After - PG
6.  Twilight Saga:  Eclipse - PG-13
7.  Ironman 2 - PG-13
8.  Despicable Me - PG
9.  How to Train Your Dragon - PG
10.  Clash of the Titans - PG-13

First thing to note (and completely off the topic of this post), how did Toy Story 3 escape with a G-rating?!  Despite it being my favorite movie of the year, it is perhaps the darkest and scariest of the TS-Trilogy.  Perhaps a swap of ratings between TS-3 and Despicable Me.  Other than that, I can abide the ratings.

Second thing to note which will flow into the third note:  Four animated films.  Was a time when the animated fare was mediocre at best, just something to take your kids to to break up a monotonous month.  Not any more.  I think I enjoyed the three animated movies I saw, TS3, DM, and How to Train Your Dragon, more than my six- and eight-year old daughters, and would highly recommend all three.  Mature fair all in the classic sense of the word and not in the MPAA sense of the word (which has zilch to do with maturity).

Now to the meat.  Did you notice anything interesting about the Top 10 of 2010?  Not an R-rating to be seen.  Not an F-bomb dropped in the 24-hours of movies.  Not an exposed breast.  I've seen six of the top-10, and while I wouldn't recommend some of those for your pre-schoolers, each was a worthy night of movie watching.

Why does explicit sex, mostly of the extra-marital and non-standard variety, make a movie more arty (reference the Oscar contenders again this year)?  Why does profanity make a picture more profound?  I've watched HBO's outstanding work Band of Brothers three-times now through a TVG filter which removes the profanity.  I don't think I missed an iota of what Spielberg and Hanks intended for this saga.

I bring this up because I have heard great things about The King's Speech and 127 Hours.  Both have received acclaim in conservative circles, and both are laced with profanity.  But why?

Let's take The King's Speech as an example.  TKS is a movie about England's stuttering monarch, George VI, played by the superb Colin Firth (the outstanding Mr. Darcy in the BBC's Pride and Prejudice).  Why the profanity?  Meredith Whitmore on Focus on the Family's outstanding film review web-site, Plugged-In, explains.

This touching, masterfully acted and subtly comedic film could easily have been PG-rated, making its stirring message readily available for teens and families hungry for an inspiring life lesson devoted to clawing one's way past shortcomings and limitations. Instead, director Tom Hooper opted for a profanity-laden R rating. Several times Albert angrily blurts out long streams of curse words during speech therapy, since the only times he doesn't stutter are when he sings and when he swears.

Regarding the foul language and its resulting rating, star Colin Firth told The National Post, "This isn't a non-issue. I get that people don't want their small children hearing these strong words—I don't like them. … I don't want my kids thinking it's a good way to use language—language is more beautiful than that. It should be more thought about than that. It has more power than that. That's lazy and ugly—but that's not the case in this movie. [The foul language usage is] not vicious, it's not sexual, and it's not lazy—it's anything but. These are tools, these forbidden words have become momentary tools to get a guy to break out of extreme repression. Then he immediately gets rather sheepish and apologizes. There couldn't be a more harmless context. It doesn't teach your kids to sprinkle your language with these words or direct them against people. I would hate to deny kids in that age bracket, or discourage them from seeing a film which has so much to say to people that age."

Firth continues, "As far as the rest of public opinion is concerned, certainly in our industry, I'd be kicking in a door. Because everyone seems to be in harmony on the subject."

Were I to see the edited version on a plane or on TV, will the movie lack impact?  I doubt it.  The King's Speech, because of it's R-rating, will continue to earn lavish critical acclaim.  It will earn substantially less because millions of Americans would rather not subject themselves to the profanity-laced barrages that they have to endure in the workplace.  Same goes for 127 Hours.  Most R-rated films anymore aren't worth the assault on my soul.

So, a tip of the hat to America for a pretty reasonable Top-10 movies based upon overall sales.  Movies like those and the amazing films of yesterday that you'll find on Turner Classic Movies will be the ones that capture my imagination.

And my money.

NOTE:  A correction from a regular reader.  Apparently the f-bomb is detonated early on in Iron Man 2, the token one allowable to maintain PG-13.  Plugged-In noted that the f-bomb is "bleeped twice" during the movie in a scene where a television interview is being shown.

Dawn Treader lite

When the Lord of the Rings films buzzed the country, I remember hearing Christopher Lee, Peter Jackson's "Saruman," say that he read the entire trilogy every year.  Thus, if Mr. Lee said something about Tolkien's classics, you would do well to hear him.

Liam Neeson?  Not so much.

Mr. Neeson has had the honor of voicing Aslan, the central figure in C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia, in the saga's first three films (due to a weak opening weekend, there will likely be no others).  In the weeks before the opening of the newest film, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Mr. Neeson opined to salivating reporters that,

"Yes, Aslan symbolizes a Christ-like figure, but he also symbolizes for me Mohammed, Buddha and all the great spiritual leaders and prophets over the centuries."

Now, Mr. Neeson claims to have read these books and others by Lewis, but how does he get around the substitutionary death and resurrection of Aslan in The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe?  What about the constant and consistent representations of Aslan's deity?  Mohammed?  He's dead.  Buddha?  Dead.  Aslan in the stories, like Christ, is very much alive.

You don't see Aslan taking a harem of lionesses.  He doesn't lop off anyone's head or self-detonate.  He doesn't sit in the lotus and try to cleanse himself of the impurities of the physical world.  Seeing Mohammed or Buddha in Aslan is like seeing Mao or Lenin in Captain America.  You've completely missed the point.

But it's not just Mr. Neeson.  Georgia Henley, the young lady who plays Queen Lucy, comes to Mr. Neeson's defense.

"I can see where he is coming from...Aslan represents more than Jesus or God for a wide range of people...He can be the epitome of wisdom or the epitome of courage, for instance, and it is very important that people can have their own interpretation of what he represents rather than have something forced upon them."

I'll chalk that up to youth, but I can't get around producer Mark Johnson's ignorance. 

"...resurrection exists in so many different religions in one form or another, so it’s hardly exclusively Christian."

Wow.  I must have missed all those others where God condescended to become man, suffer the penalty for his creature's sin, and then be raised to life to guarantee their future hope.

**Spoiler Warning:  VDT's ending discussed below**

It is no wonder, then, that Hollywood has seen fit to neuter the most vivid depiction of Aslan as Christ in the book.  At the end, Edmond, Eustace, and Lucy come across a lamb, and the lamb is cooking fish upon a fire.  Hmmm.  I guess there must be lamb-figures in many different religions, too.  Lambs that cook up fish for their followers.  Oh, yes, and this lamb transforms in their presence into the great golden lion, Aslan.  Lion-lamb?  Lion-lamb?  Where have I heard that before?  Thus, when Aslan utters, "But in your world I am known by another name" in the book, the reader knows full well whom Lewis intends his lion to represent.

When Neeson voices that line in the movie, apart from the appearance of any lamb, one is free to insert the name of your choice.  Perhaps he represents Vishnu for you, and for you over there, he represents Imhotep.  That rube in the corner thinks he represents Jesus, but those enlightened folks over there think that he represents Oprah.

The story is that it is Christian allegory.  That's what makes Narnia so powerful on all levels.  When you snip out those uncomfortable scenes, you neuter the story.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader does a reasonable job of tying all the scenes together in a semi-coherent movie.  The characters are nicely developed while the acting remains as obvious as the first two films.  The true message of the film, penned in Lewis' final two pages of the book, was left on the cutting room floor leaving the door open for you to decide who Aslan is for you.

Alas.

Yankee Doodle

My bride and I watched James Cagney's Yankee Doodle Dandy last night, the biopic of American entertainer George M. Cohan. 

I wept.

My boys would say, "So what, Dad?  You weep during every film.  You wept watching The Incredibles."  Well, yeah, that's true.  Truth be told, novels do it, too.

It's not just the good telling of a good story that yanks the tears from my ducts.  It's the character who sets aside his dreams for another.  It's the group that sacrifices all for others or for some ideal.  It's love, extraordinary, difficult, pained, strained, sacrificial love.

Yankee Doodle Dandy was a great film.  If for no other reason, it's a renter to see James Cagney dance with an energy and beauty I'd seen from Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor in Singing in the Rain.  Typically, folks breaking spontaneously into dance seems hokey.  When folks do it with the flare that these gents do it, it's worth the price of admission.  Cagney's dancing bits come during Cohan's stage acts, so they blend in with the storyline.  Even if they didn't, they'd be worth including.  Wow.  Here's a brief scene near the end where he does spontaneously break into a bit of tap.  His feet testify to his joy.



I was set to sobbing, though, because "they don't make movies like that anymore."  Like what?  Patriotic movies about patriotic people.  Cohan wrote plays, skits, music, and musicals that testified to the beauty that was America.  "You're a Grand Old Flag."  Heard any soaring songs lately about our nation's banner?  Lots of laments about what it's become but few to make the heart soar and the pride to swell.

Bald, unashamed patriotism.  Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio?

Here's another point.  Never once during any of the dance numbers did James Cagney grab his crotch.  Never once did he thrust his pelvis in mock intercourse.  He did write a song for Mary, the woman he so adored.  And when he proposed to her, he offered her, for the first time, a kiss of sweetness to seal the deal.  I only saw his tongue, though, when he spoke.  It was unnecessary for the director to convey the depth of love they felt for one another by showing them clenched in a Captain Kirk-dinner-eating kiss or disrobe into some knot of humanity achievable by Cirque de Soleil but not by any of us.  The film depicted their love through character development.  Through the eyes.  Through the dialogue.  Through the story (which is why Pixar continues to win the homerun derby).

Another point.  I saw depths of sorrow, depths of concern, depths of anger, depths of frustration, and not once did I hear anything that I couldn't type without symbols.  Not one blurp of profanity.  It wasn't needed.  My five- and seven- year olds could be in the room, and I didn't have to fear what they might hear or see.  They might not sit through the whole movie, but they could without my fearing what might be vomitted from the screen.

Can you name a movie, a movie targeted to adults, that kids could watch (if they wanted to) that wouldn't make your average parent blush?  Anyone?  Me, either.  In all honesty, it broke my heart a bit in Toy Story 3, a film targeted more toward children though a very mature (in the good sense) movie, when they included Barbie's admiration for Ken's ascot.  Over the kids' heads?  Some, not all.  Necessary to convey their attraction?  Nope.

There are thousands of movies of amazing quality (acting, cinematography, story, and sometimes song and dance) out there.  You'll not find them on ABC, NBC, CBS or Fox.  You'll not find them at the local cineplex.  You might find them in a small corner on a single shelf at your local movie rental store titled "classics" or buried as needles in haystacks among the fields upon fields of other films.  You might stumble upon a couple at your local Redbox.  You will find them en masse at Netflix if you are willing to pay the fee.  The best place I have found such gems is on Turner Classic Movies, and it's almost worth the price of cable.  I have little to commend Mr. Turner's politics, but he has created a special thing with TCM.

As I went to bed last night, I pondered the mythical land that birthed the likes of George M. Cohan, a land reflected and honored in his artistry, and a land chest-deep in sacrificial nobility when the movie commemorating him was filmed (1942). 

What a great movie.  There are still films and stories out there that tell about this legendary place called America.  It just takes a little work to find them.

The Pixar juggernaut

Hollywood is stupid.

I'll grant that studios, producers and directors might have scoffed the success of Pixar's first picture (and first smash hit), Toy Story.  They might have considered it dumb luck when the Pixar artisans struck gold twice.  A Bug's Life lit up the screen a week after Antz, Dreamworks' attempt to match Pixar's charm, was released.  The head-to-head proved only that folks enjoy a feel-good flick over Woody Allen's neuroses and melancholia any day of the week and twice on Sunday.  Box office take, A Bug's Life $162 million, Antz $91 million.

Pixar double-dipped into the Toy Story well with the no-pretense title, Toy Story 2.  Come now, TS1 was great, Bug's Life amazing, surely, TS2 will bring us Pixar's first clunk.  Um, no.  Think Steve Austin, astronaut, a man barely alive.  Think better, stronger, faster. 

"Okay, okay, okay," thinks Hollywood, wringing it's miserly knuckles.  "There can't be that many stories to animate.  Pixar's had it's run."  Little did the jaded west coast realize that a group of real people had begun to tell stories that would resonate with real America, not a utopia in the addled minds of Paul McCartney and Lady Gaga.  Pixar mesmerized a nation with a tale about the monster in every child's closet, Monsters, Inc.

I think of the film industry as the man who keeps hitting himself in the head and complaining to the doctor that it hurts when he does so.  Not only that, the idiot looks upon a delighted child enjoying a playground and wonders why that child isn't in pain, too.  The masochistic man watches from the street as the child climbs upon the swings.  Surely, this time the child will find ruin and disaster!  Nope, more laughter and wonder got churned out when Finding Nemo turned it up a notch yet again.

Five for five.  What's the secret?  Big Hollywood's Cam Cameron summed it up nicely.

These are not cartoons, they’re real movies told through animation. They’re not kids’ movies and they’re not grown-up movies. They’re just fun, clean, well-crafted films with great stories that people want to see. They don’t talk down to kids and they don’t punch adults in the ribs with inside jokes.

Pixar's telling stories, timeless stories that resonate from age eight to eighteen to eighty-eight.  Good is rewarded.  Evil meets its demise.  You can relate to the characters the moment they appear on the screen.  Nobody feels like they've been morally assaulted from the entrance of the prancing lamp logo to the run of the always wondrous credits.

Last weekend's release of the third and final dip into the Toy Story well, Toy Story 3, points to a Pixar that hasn't lost its stride.  I don't think they're even breathing hard.  They haven't "matured."  They haven't come to terms with "the real world."  They just keep telling stories you and I can get our arms around and ignoring the crotchety old man outside the fence who keeps hitting himself in the head (no, it's not Mr. Fredricksen).

Here's the list of the magic Pixar has crafted.  What's your top 5 look like?  Do you have a "least favorite?"  Funny, my least favorite Pixar flick pretty much blows away the lion's share of the movies I've seen in the last five years.  Is there one you haven't seen in awhile?  Rent it and treat yourself to one of the best reruns you'll see.

1. Toy Story
2. A Bug's Life
3. Toy Story 2
4. Monster's Inc.
5. Finding Nemo
6. The Incredibles
7. Cars
8. Ratatouille
9. WALL*E
10. Up
11. Toy Story 3

You can't help but wonder what's next.  I'm aching for The Incredibles 2, but that's just me.

Where have you gone, Mrs. Miniver?

Names don't always tell the story.  Would Marion Morrison and Archibald Leach have gone on to cinematic excellence if they'd not changed their names to John Wayne and Cary Grant?  Would Alphonso d'Abruzzo have won the role of "Hawkeye Pierce"?  Alan Alda did.  For you ancients, remember Ted Knight of the Mary Tyler Moore Show?  Tadeus Wladyslaw Konopka.  Welcome to America.

Last night, my bride and I snuggled on the couch to watch "Mrs. Miniver."  The title alone sent my boys screaming.  Had I said we were watching "The Two Towers" for the bajillionth time, I'd have sons coming out of the woodwork.  In the minds of three-quarters of progeny, there is perhaps no greater testosterone neutralizer than to marry Netflix with "classic", black-and-white, and a title that smacks of "Little Women."  Son number three tagged along because I guilted him into it, I enticed him with with "It's a World War II movie," and perhaps most effective of all, he had nothing else to do.

Background for those who haven't seen it.  It is a World War II movie in the purest sense.  It takes place during WWII, but more than that, it was released during WWII (1942) and has a breath-taking, pro-WWII message.  Winston Churchill suggested it did more to aid the war effort than a flotilla of destroyers.  The sermon/speech at the end of the movie (included at the end of this post) by the vicar so stirred the soul that Time and Look reprinted it, and FDR had it copied and air-dropped over Europe as propoganda.  Director William Wyler, born in Germany, admits that he hoped that his movie would motivate the United States to enter the war against his homeland.

Cutting to the credits:  It was a GREAT movie!

Hey, Hollywood!  What have you done for me lately? 

I have heard that "The Hurt Locker" was reasonably pro-Iraq War film, but with lavish profanity, how accessible is that to middle America?  The only qualifications "Mrs. Miniver" needs is that two scenes get intense during air raids and alcohol and tobacco use is the norm if that bothers you.  Beyond that, it could not be more pro-family (of the husband-wife-multiple kid kind), pro-religion, and pro-freedom/pro-country.  Where are the films that show the hellish face of terrorist Islam?  Where are the films that show the salt of the American church-going family?  Where are the films that laud personal sacrifice, understanding the weight thereof, and of personal responsibility?  Where are the films that I can enjoy with my wife and sons without enduring gratuitous violence, sex, or language?

Yeah, "Mrs. Miniver" has a lot to be desired as a title.  Compare that with "Gladiator" or "Braveheart."  But getting past the cover to plumb the depths of a quality story with an soul-stirring message--ah, now that's entertainment.  I guess that's why it's a classic.
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Take a moment to savor the vicar's speech at the end of Mrs. Miniver.  It occurs within his bombed-out church during a mass funeral of parishoners:

We, in this quiet corner of England, have suffered the loss of friends very dear to us - some close to this church: George West, choir boy; James Bellard, station master and bell ringer and a proud winner, only one hour before his death, of the Belding Cup for his beautiful Miniver rose; and our hearts go out in sympathy to the two families who share the cruel loss of a young girl who was married at this altar only two weeks ago.

The homes of many of us have been destroyed, and the lives of young and old have been taken. There is scarcely a household that hasn't been struck to the heart. And why? Surely you must have asked yourself this question. Why in all conscience should these be the ones to suffer? Children, old people, a young girl at the height of her loveliness. Why these? Are these our soldiers? Are these our fighters? Why should they be sacrificed?

I shall tell you why. Because this is not only a war of soldiers in uniform. It is a war of the people, of all the people, and it must be fought not only on the battlefield, but in the cities and in the villages, in the factories and on the farms, in the home, and in the heart of every man, woman, and child who loves freedom!

Well, we have buried our dead, but we shall not forget them. Instead they will inspire us with an unbreakable determination to free ourselves and those who come after us from the tyranny and terror that threaten to strike us down. This is the people's war! It is our war! We are the fighters! Fight it then! Fight it with all that is in us, and may God defend the right.

Movie review: "Striped Pajamas"

No, I'm not Ebert or Rex Reed. I wouldn't give their critiques the time of day (nor would they mine). Regardless, Sunday night my wife, sons and I watched "The Boy in Striped Pajamas." An important film.

Parental stuff up front. No sex or foul language. Violence off screen and seen afterward in bruised faces. Nudity in the concentration camp at the end (men) and though nothing is seen.

Yes, it's another Holocaust movie (may God have mercy on us if we should ever become desensitized to them), but this film looks at the real horror that man unleashes upon man through the eyes of an eight-year old boy, the son of the camp commander. An extraordinary and compelling idea.

As the film progresses, this "normal" family comes to understand what their "normal" father does for a living. It's a microcosm of society. You have duty at all costs. You have duty for romance (or fill in your satisfier). You have moral repugnance. And you have confused innocence.

A well done, well filmed moral drama that does not assault the senses (what a relief). At the same time, it confronts you with the history that has been at a time when, once again, folks are playing loose and fast with morality and ethics. It also makes quite a statement, though most unintentional (perhaps), about state sponsored schooling.

A worthy rental for mid-teens and higher. The Boy in Striped Pajamas.