Every life is a story. Blue Like Jazz is the new movie based on Donald Miller’s book, Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality. It opens in theaters this weekend.
The movie, Blue Like Jazz has taken considerable license to fictionalize the series of essay and reflections that make up the book Blue Like Jazz, in order to create a narrative story based on the book’s basic ideas. In fact, the movie Blue Like Jazz emphasizes the aspects of storytelling using the acronym SCCR which stand for setting, conflict, climax, and resolution, a device that links nicely to Don Miller’s more recent projects. Blue Like Jazz is an honest, funny journey through conflict towards resolution.Continue reading
What happened with Invisible Children may have left some of you feeling disillusioned. Some of you may feel manipulated and disappointed and maybe a little foolish. I don’t want to see you discard your idealism and enthusiasm at the altar of discernment. Learning to give is as important as learning to think. My prayer for all of us is in I Cor. 13. May we be able “to bear all things, to believe all things, to hope all things, and to endure all things.” Continue reading
CONTAINS SPOILERS: Downton Abbey appeals to me the way Jane Austin does. It’s thoughtful reflection on the human condition and relationships makes the setting somewhat irrelevant. Nobles and servants alike deal with love, pride, fear, and the longing for significance and belonging. Yet the setting is what creates the tension in the story. Downton Abbey takes place in a time of tremendous social change. The characters are products of the social expectations and traditions associated with British peerage. The modern era is pushing against the way of life they’ve always known. Downton manages to weave social and historical perspective into its storytelling but story and characters are its heart.
Robert Crawley takes his responsibility as a member of the British peerage seriously. He feels an obligation to his servants, to the people in the community, and to the traditions of the nobility to which he was born. He is willing to lose his house to preserve the integrity of that system. His personal desires are second to his sense of honor. The butler Carson represents this same commitment to tradition on the other side of the house. Carson treasures his role and is fiercely loyal to the Crawley family. They both find significance in their roles, as does his mother Violet and housekeeper Mrs. Hughes.
Downton’s heir Matthew has made a place for himself in the modern world as a lawyer. He comes to Downton with prejudices toward the lifestyle of nobility. As he spends time learning about Downton from Robert, Matthew comes to appreciate Robert’s perspective. He is not won over by the philosophy of the peerage but by Robert’s grace and honor. Continue reading
Dickens’ A Christmas Carol is one of those stories that bears retelling. I remember watching the 1951 version starring Alistair Sim on TV as a child and being terrified of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. When the Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge Marley’s deathbed scene I think I learned the meaning of mortality before I ever heard the word. It was my first sobering visit with one of Dickens’ ghosts.
I think the Muppets might tell it best, though Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse both do credible jobs. The most recent Disney offering starring Jim Carrey is pretty good as is the BBC version. And I sort of liked Bill Murray’s modern version, Scrooged. With each viewing one of the ghosts has had something different to show me. Continue reading
STINGER ALERT – When you do see the movie stay until after the credits!
In Super 8 Abrams manages to tell an emotionally engaging story about his characters’ journeys without compromising on mystery, plot, or action. The mystery begins when a group of middle school students witness a train crash and find their science teacher in the wreckage with mysterious instructions for the group. It builds as two of the kids, Charles and Joe, actually watch what their dropped camera has caught on film.
Joe’s father, Deputy Jack Lamb wrestles with his own set of puzzling clues. There are mysterious power outages, all the town’s dogs run away, and then townspeople start disappearing. Meanwhile Jack and Joe are grieving the death of wife and mother and trying to establish some sort of working relationship without her. Continue reading
