GadgetVicar

Romantic

I saw two movies on Friday, both of which are essentially love stories.

In the first, Monsters, a photographer is commanded by his publisher boss to get his daughter safely home from a Mexico infested with giant octopus-like aliens. The creatures got there when a space probe crash-landed six years before. The US government has built a massive wall on the border to try and contain the infection, and are regularly bombing the Mexican poulation with chemical weapons, causing massive collateral damage. Sounds like a familiar story? Though it sounds like pure science fiction, the focus throughout is on the couple, who quickly fall in love, and they see that love reflected in the events around them. Its cheaply but beautifully shot, and is quite possibly my favourite film this year. At the British Independent Film Awards yesterday it won Best Director for Gareth Edwards.

The other film was Megamind 3D. Love features again as Megamind (a blue-skinned evil alien who is made that way by the prison environment he literally lands in as baby - Will Ferrell does the voice) defeats his arch-enemy, Metroman (voiced by Brad Pitt), but quickly realises that an evil genius needs a nemesis or it's no fun. Megamind has to win the heart of the Lois Lane-like reporter in order to save the day when he inadvertently creates a hero who turns to evil. Great animation, lots of stuff that adults will get (Superman fans will love the person that Megamind morphs into in order to mentor the hero he has created) and plentiful humour make for an entertaining movie.

My romantic weekend continued with the real life adventure that was the wedding of JJ and John on Saturday afternoon. The most excited bride and groom I have ever seen and all that snow made for great fun. In the immortal words of Billy Idol, "Nice day for a white wedding".

Inception

I saw Inception at a midnight showing on Friday, which is something I haven't done for a long time.

It's a little tricky and you have to keep your wits about you. You have to accept that it might be possible through some combination of chemistry and learned ability to enter someone's dreams and both steal and inplant ideas (I always want someone to explain the genesis of such technology, but that's my problem). 

Some people left part way through, it seemed to me because they were struggling to keep up with the dream-within-a-dream-within-a-dream layering. The CGI is clever and visually arresting, the characters interesting (though their back stories need fleshing out beyond their functions in the plot), and the acting good, especially the comic turn which Tom Hardy gives as Eames.

The themes of dealing with grief, hope, and the nature of love and reality all resonate as things Christians wonder about. If all you like is big explosions in your movies, there are plenty of those, but this film is about so much more than that, and I think it will stand a second watching. The two young people I was with chattered excitedly about what it all meant as we took the long journey down the many escalators at Cineworld. In my book, that's a sign of a worthwhile movie: people talk and think about what it means.

Tears

Toy Story 3 has been inducing tears in middle-aged men. I confess to being a bit of a weeper at the movies, usually trying to cover it up by rubbing my eyes and saying,  'Phew, that was a long film!'. 

Do you cry at films and, if so, which ones have made you cry the most?

Avatar - Mark Driscoll's Critique

"The Road", Back to Work and The Election (for a new bishop)

A belated Happy New Year to all! I've been having a quiet week post-Christmas break, ignoring email, mostly pottering about the rectory and walking in the snow.

I've seen a few movies this week, including the excellent, though ultra-bleak, "The Road". This realisation of Cormac McCarthy's book features a post-apocalyptic world devoid of plants and animals, where everything is cold and gray - it could have been filmed in Glasgow, judging by the vista from the top of the Cineworld complex! The grimness of the book and film is mitigated by the deep love of father and son for one another and the sense of them "carrying the fire" for a better future. It's in no way a feel good movie, but it is a thoughtful reflection on humanity, nature and love.

Back in the saddle today with some admin, taking down the Christmas decorations in the church and way too much time on the phone. The good news is that, following the heating problems of last weekend, the heating in the church is on full blast, and will remain on over the weekend. I'd still wrap up well if you are coming - more artic temperatures are forecast for the next few days.

Tomorrow brings the meeting of the Electoral Synod of Glasgow and Galloway, which is part of our quest for a new bishop. It's the "beauty pageant" part of the process tomorrow when we get to see the three candidates in person. Please pray for Alison Peden, Gregor Duncan and John Applegate. It's not an easy process for them. Pray too for the electors, including Simon Johnson and myself from St Silas', as we try and discern which, if any, of these people is called by God to serve as bishop. We'll meet again on the 16th January to pray and vote.

Harry Brown

I got a freebie the other night to see a preview of Harry Brown, which stars Michael Caine.

A man loses the people he loves and is set on a course of action to bring justice to some very nasty characters who live on the same estate. Drugs, guns, and violence all feature, so it's not one for the faint-of--heart. If Jack Carter had survived and reformed, maybe Caine's Harry Brown would have been the result.  When the police prove ineffectual, he is pushed into being the judge, jury and executioner, which perhaps lends the film a ring of Death Wish or perhaps Gran Torino about it.

Caine and many of the other actors give very good performances. Caine portrays beautifully an elderly person struggling with grief but wanting to effect change. The actors playing some of the villains managed to do so in a way that ensures no sympathy whatsoever for their characters. The pot-growing handgun salesmen come to mind - they were scary.

It's a dark morality tale, structured like an old-fashioned western (a reluctant and unexpected hero is forced into confronting evil and finally overcomes, to the enrichment of his community).

It's worth seeing.

Valkyrie

Lunch with GV Boy today, followed by the rather excellent Valkyrie, which chronicles the July 20th 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler. Tom Cruise plays Colonel Claus Von Stauffenberg, the severely wounded veteran who pulls together the plotters and takes action.

For me, there were many reminders of how little events can change history - if only the meeting was held in the usual concrete bunker rather the wooden commmand hut; if only the briefcase containing the bomb had not been moved behind the thick wooden leg of the conference table; if only the second bomb had been planted too; if only General Olbricht had moved to take over Berlin sooner following the assassination attempt.

It was in the wake of this failed attempt that Dietrich Bonhoeffer was executed in April 1945 along with several leading conspirators. Many senior figures in the resistance movement as well as their families suffered humiliating and cruel deaths as Hitler took revenge.

Faith plays a part in the movie. Stauffenberg, a devout Catholic, meets a colleague in what turns out to be a bombed out Catholic church. The cross around his neck is entwined with his wedding ring, which he can no longer wear on his hand because of his wounds. Loyalty and fidelity lie at the heart of this story. Should oaths to a person take precedence over a greater loyalty to the people or even to God?

The acting is superb with an ensemble cast of English actors including a nervous General Olbricht played by Bill Nighy and the vacillating Erich Fromm played by Tom Wilkinson. Cruise is actually very good too.

Of course, the outcome is never in doubt. But this film reminds us that not all Germans were Nazis and that some resisted. Indeed some resisted Hitler from the outset of his regime. By war's end most of this resistance had been destroyed. We should never forget the sacrifices they made.

Many questions are raised by the film. What kind of regime would have been established if Hitler had perished? Goerdeler, who would have been made Chancellor, favoured a return to a right-wing monarchy. Assuming this new government would have attempted to surrender to the Western allies (in the hope of forestalling a Soviet invasion), would the have US/British accepted it and if so, what then? Would Germany and much of Eastern Europe have survived in tact? Would the Western allies have joined the Wehrmacht in fighting the Russians?

How world history might have been changed by the events of that July in 1944.

The Dark Side Procession

Hat tip to Beat Attitude.

Quantum of Solace

Car chase; chase on foot, boat chase: plane chase. Eco-nomic/logical villains;  military coup; major power collaboration. Innocent bystanders killed or injured - a lorry driver; policemen; tourists; a nice foreign office woman. Revenge; angst; little humour.

Verdict: The bad guys get judged (of course they do!). Suspend belief for a few hours. I prefer Spooks.

Paul Newman & Joanne Woodward

Paul Newman's long marriage to Joanne Woodward seems to have been overlooked by many commentators. They were a couple for over fifty years, and through all the storms and temptations, they remained faithful. Their dear friend, prominent writer A.E. Hotchner sums it up best:

"Thinking back, in all the years they were together, I never saw a time when it looked like there was trouble, that it was all coming apart, I never felt that. At the end, they were in the same kind of loving relationship they had from the beginning. They stayed the course. They were very quiet, very respectful, very nurturing and very fond of each other. They always had that kind of tender relationship. As they got older, it aged, but it was still beautiful".