The AVENGERS: Red in Your Ledger

May 14th, 2012

“I’ve got red in my ledger; I’d like to wipe it out.”

 We can’t call our musing about The Avengers‘ narrative themes “fully assembled” without addressing the most obvious line stated by Natasha Romanoff, admitting that she’s done some bad things in her past and wants to “settle her accounts”. We’ve dealt primarily with Loki–how he’s right, how he’s wrong, and how we’re a lot like him– but Natasha has a standout moment in the film as well.

While most of us probably don’t have her super-spy past– using her skills for the highest bidder without regard for right or wrong–and our deeds might not be considered by most to be as heinous, her conundrum is a common thread in our existence: we know we’ve done wrong, and we have some vague hope that we can add weight to some kind of cosmic scale and tip it once more on the favorable side. Call it balance, call it karma, but as Loki points out: call it elusive:

“Can you? Can you wipe out that much red? Drakoff’s daughter? Sao Paulo? The hospital fire? Barton told me everything. Your ledger is DRIPPING– it’s gushing red…

The AVENGERS: where we are Loki

May 10th, 2012

A friend of mine challenged my assertion that Loki was the best of the Marvel movie villains. As we debated (imagine the verbal equivalent of hammers, shields, and repulsor rays) it became clear he thought my comment of “best” meant I regarded Loki as the most formidable. Therein resided the misunderstanding. I enjoyed Loki as the villain for two reasons:

1. Tom Hiddleston’s nuanced acting provides one of the best performances in all the films, period.
2. The character of Loki, albeit flawed and perhaps not as formidable, is simply the most interesting.

One of the reasons I believe it’s most interesting is because it most closely resembles each of us at one time or another…

The AVENGERS: where Loki is wrong!

May 9th, 2012

Were we made to be ruled?

In our last post, we looked at Loki’s challenging assertion in The Avengers film: the idea that we were born to kneel, that we crave subjugation, and that we scramble madly for identity. We were made to bow before our God and Maker, yet we shackle ourselves to lesser “gods” – created people and things. We race around “freely” putting our identity in things that ultimately rule us. It’s obvious that in many ways, Loki is absolutely right. However, there IS one worldview that offers perfect relationship held in tension, that offers both freedom and servitude. The creator and God we obey humbly and bow before utters this unique command:

The AVENGERS: where Loki is right?

May 8th, 2012

“Kneel before me. I said… KNEEL! Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It’s the unspoken truth of humanity that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life’s joy in a mad scramble for power. For identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel.” - Loki

Were we made to kneel?

Let’s examine this, shall we? It’s not a particularly American sentiment, certainly. Even Optimus Prime would argue that “Freedom is the right of all sentient beings”. We don’t generally think of bowing to an Emperor or pledging our subservience to be in line with freedom (whereas other cultures have and do). Our first response to Loki’s statement is one that looks less like bended knee and more like a particularly raised finger. I suspect there will be rowdy cries of “hell, no!” in the theaters in response to Loki’s assertion.

The problem is, there’s truth in his words…

Out of the heart comes CAPTAIN AMERICA

May 2nd, 2012

While it’s not my favorite Marvel movie, I believe it’s the best-made of the Marvel movies thus far (we’ll see what Avengers does this Friday). From pacing to editing, story to cinematography, Captain America capitalizes on all the lessons learned from Iron Man to Thor and provides us a smooth, consistent narrative from start to finish. On top of that, it gives us some intriguing lessons about the heart.

I love the first Iron Man – it may still be my favorite in many ways – but the forced story progression of the third act (Jeff Bridges SMASH!) is a narrative weakness. I loved the scenes on Asgard in Thor, and think Tom Hiddleston’s Loki has been the strongest antagonist in the Marvel films, but felt the earth-side characters were skinny on authenticity and depth. Director Joe Johnston seems to know where potential weaknesses might be in his story and characters, but like Steve Rogers takes all those potential weaknesses and channels them into newfound strength. Taking the cheesy costume and war bond propoganda aspects of the Captain and turning them into the character’s struggle in the second act is genius, and the World War II setting provides ample ground to make us appreciate the scope and impact of this iconic character.

“Why someone weak? Because a weak man knows the value of strength, the value of power…”

Katniss’ Hunger and Peeta’s Bread

April 9th, 2012

I promised a *spoiler-filled follow-up to the video review for The Hunger Games, as the ideas of identity and substitution can’t be fully discussed without wrestling key elements of the plot for the first film and entire trilogy. So, for those who are already fully vested (or those who don’t mind knowing how things end up after things start Catching Fire and the Mockingjay sings) count down from 10 and enter the arena below.

Someone noted on our Youtube post that I shouldn’t take the idea of Katniss’ substitution as completely paralleling Christ’s ultimate proxy, since Jesus substituted himself for the unworthy. Prim is presented as weak, but rather innocent, not a stranger or a sinner. The question, “would Katniss have offered herself in her sister’s place had her sister committed some crime worthy of death?” is thought provoking, but obviously not the focus of Suzanne Collin’s narrative arc for Katniss. (Maybe if she’d substituted herself for the mangy cat, Buttercup…)

However, someone else in the series does sacrifice quite a bit, for a character whose worthiness is questionable.

Fast & Furryous, Film & Theology

February 29th, 2012

I grew up on Looney Tunes, but my favorite – by far – were the ones featuring the Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. Now that several decades have passed, having witnessed the 575th anvil fall on the head of poor Carnivorous Vulgarus and the 963rd rock crush his emaciated canine body, I had to ask myself: why do we like these Looney Tunes – and particularly this one – so much? Why has he endured (particularly with so many concussions and bodily trauma)?

If you’ve never seen an episode, you can check out the classic “Fast and Furryous” (NOT a film with Vin Diesel) HERE.

Radcliffe is Back in (The Woman in) BLACK

February 22nd, 2012

“You don’t believe in ghosts, do you?”

The Woman in Black has been a book, a play, and a 1989 film prior to the most recent incarnation in the 2012 film starring Daniel Radcliffe. Each time the query and frightening prospect remain the same: what if we linger after death, our unresolved issues lingering in our ghostly soul, creating ghastly results for those left behind? This notion, of the spectral spirit that brings death, is what Arthur Kipps (Radcliffe) encounters when he visits a remote village on business.

Dealing with Loss

A young man, in an understated yet appropriate performance for a post-Potter Radcliffe, Kipps is haunted already by the death of his wife and with mixed feelings for the son she left behind. Adding more loss, with a dead woman and endangered children, the situation makes him confront his own feelings and fears about death and coping with loss. People who have suffered the death of loved ones show the viewer the range of human emotions, from stoic to withdrawn, from irritable to irrational.

As You Wish: THE PRINCESS BRIDE

February 16th, 2012

I asked our readers what I should watch (and review) for Valentine’s Day, and The Princess Bride was suggested. Some people in my college dorm watched the film back in 1991 ad nauseum and put a bad taste in my mouth for this 1987 Rob Reiner movie, but the reality remains that the fanciful film is an enduring classic for men and women, boys and girls of all ages in all ages. Examining the narrative, is it any wonder why?

“It was the book my father used to read to me when I was sick, and I used to read it to your father. And today I’m gonna read it to you.”

As the story opens with a jaded, video-game playing grandson irritated by his grandpa’s visit, the romantic notion that there is a story told by father to son, generation to generation, one being passed down that is about “true love” either makes us roll our eyes or warms our heart. Would that there might be a story worth teaching “diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise” - Deuteronomy 6. Maybe it might even be a story that, as the grandfather promises, contains “fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, chases, escapes, true love, miracles…”

A Few Reasons Why Life Goes HAYWIRE

January 27th, 2012

It’s no secret that Steven Soderbergh essentially just built a movie around MMA fighter Gina Carano because he caught one of her fights. While the backdrop of Haywire is seemingly a web of international intrigue, it’s actually pretty simple, and the director seems less interested in making a film so much as toying with action movie conventions, improvising like a jazz musician. It’s appropriate that the score employs various jazz tunes set during the non-fighting sequences (which have no music, and no enhanced fisticuff effects) and the music, like the movie, has moments that gel and moments that don’t.

While not a great film, it’s intriguing to watch Soderbergh riff, see the surprisingly all-star cast that surrounds Carano (Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, Bill Paxton, Michael Douglas) and realize that she stands her own in screen presence and acting chops. I’m certain we’ll see more from her.

As a black ops soldier seeking payback after being betrayed and set up, Carano plays Mallory, a woman so enigmatic she’s effectively a force of nature (albeit very human and fallible in Soderbergh’s steady hands). It’s hard to glean a lot from her stiff-lipped character in the narrative, but as we see a string of men get their comeuppance at the hands of this relentless woman, I realized there are very human reasons why they fall under her strong will, which make it intriguing as a character study less of Mallory and more of the men who misjudge her.

“You shouldn’t think of her as being a woman. That would be your first mistake.”