Movie Review: Hunger Games

Holy cow, the Hunger Games was a great movie!  At least, I thought so.  Allow me to say right up front that I have not read the book and am not going to dig around for all the ways it was “better than the movie” or something like that.  This is a movie review, people!  As such, we’ll just treat the movie and the themes I noticed in it.  But, I’m very interested in interacting with you who read the book and/or watched the movie and saw things different than me or picked up on things I don’t address.

 

Every movie is a sermon.  So is every song, TV show, and book.  They are written by a person or a team of people, and as such they do not exist in a vacuum – they present some view of reality, of whom we are as humans and what human life means, who God is (or is not!), what constitutes right and wrong, and so on.  Don’t be fooled into just enjoying a good movie or work of fiction and fail to realize you are reading or viewing a world view in narrative form.  This is important.

 

That being said, what are

The Gospel Of… Oprah?

That’s a wrap folks.  After 25 years Oprah is hanging up her heels and walking away from the stage.  Her show has aired in 150 countries to millions of people, five times a week for over two decades.  Her influence is literally hard to fathom… as is her wealth.

Having paid little attention to Oprah over the years, I thought it would make sense to watch her final show.  Why, you ask?  I’ll tell you why: 

My Take On The Adjustment Bureau

The Adjustment Bureau had some insightful ways of describing the relationship of God and humanity to the ideas of fate and free will.  While much of the theology (and trust me, this was a primarily theological movie) falls short of the truth, it is still worth watching – if nothing else to know the impact it may have on many people.  Here I give my perspective some of my own questions…

How does the character of the Chairperson differ from the character of God as he is revealed in the Bible?

Did You See The Adjustment Bureau? If So, Please Answer A Few Questions For Me

The Adjustment Bureau was, in my opinion, an excellent and interesting movie. It powerfully raises some questions many people either have had or will have at some point about the amount of pre-determination (or fate) in our lives verses the amount of power we have over our future. From a Christian perspective there are many

On Humanity, Stories, and Pride

Reading Augustine’s Confessions is akin to reading a complex and brilliant man’s soul.  The fervor with which he recounts his life experiences, the sin he was caught up in and leading others into, and the profound understanding of God’s grace make me wish I could search myself with such clarity and passion.

In Book 3, Augustine prayerfully (this book is essentially written in prayer form to God) recounts the days of his youth and the false version of spirituality he was caught up in known as

Thoughts on “Hello World” by Lady Antebellum

Having done a few song reviews in the last month, I thought I would continue with a very popular song, albeit in a category of music that usually falls in the “I love it” camp or “I hate it camp”.  That category?  Country music of course!  Few people remain without an opinion about country music.  Oddly enough, I started

Faith’s Great Enemy: Cynicism Part 2

As I stated in part 1, cynicism is something each of us deals with personally and is a pandemic in both church and society as a whole.  One thing to add to all that has been said already is that cynicism is more than a feeling:  cynicism is the result of believing lies from Satan.  By creating a cynical spirit all around us, Satan is able to get us to believe God can’t be as good as the Bible says he is, he can’t love me since bad things have happened to me, and he won’t act on my behalf with what I am struggling with.  Cynicism is

Faith’s Great Enemy: Cynicism part 1

Cynicism.  Suspicion.  Doubt.  These are the kinds of words that betray faith and hope.  In large part, they are the “spirit of the age” in America.  In less than 50 years, for example, the role of “pastor” or church leader has gone from one of the most respected positions in society to one of the most despised and disdained.  It is no longer seen in a largely positive light.  In fact, I’ve found that one of the quickest ways to kill a budding conversation with a stranger at a party was to answer the common question

Thoughts on Linkin Park’s “Waiting For The End”

Unlike the last couple song/video reviews I’ve done, this song pales in comparison in terms of number of video watches or ranking in the Billboard 100.  It’s been viewed a little over 9,000,000 times – which is nothing to scoff at considering I’ve never had a video I’ve published watched even 200 times!  But this is not the time for comparisons, because what this song may lack in sheer volume of audience, it definitely makes up for in substance of lyrics.

Thoughts on the movie “Eat Pray Love”

Recently Noelle and I watched the book-turned-movie “Eat Pray Love.”  From what I understand, the movie accurately portrayed the book’s overall objectives and message, although I have not read the book (and don’t believe I’ll have time to).  After scanning several reviews, it appears many who loved the book also loved the movie – which is a difficult thing to do no matter the genre.  I want to