Category: cinema reviews
Riddick: “Would you die for them?” Fry: “I would try for them!” Riddick: “You didn’t answer me.” Fry: “Yes, Riddick. I would. I would die for them.” Riddick: “How interesting…” Since Vin Diesel can only…
“I have to believe in a world outside my own mind. I have to believe that my actions still have meaning, even if I can’t remember them. I have to believe that when my eyes…
I must confess: I took up the flag and waved it like everyone else, criticizing several plot points of Prometheus. Sometimes we all watch a film and think we could have written it better. There…
Taking the familiar backdrop of the ALIEN universe he helped create in 1979 and the themes of creature confronting creator in Blade Runner, director Ridley Scott stylishly revisits these basic human questions in the gripping film Prometheus. In our last post,…
What do YOU fear? 33 years ago, ALIEN brought about an incredible combination of science fiction and horror that burned through multiple decks of our psyche and ultimately hatched a franchise and phenomenon that stands…
As we’re preparing a book based on the theory, application, challenges and practice of what we do here with Cinemagogue (hoping to inspire more replication, transformation, edification and even evangelism) I tried to choose some…
“There’s something wrong with Andrew.” Chronicle (now available on Blu-Ray and DVD) takes the best of found footage films like Cloverfield, the original heart of the quality-sagging series Heroes, and gives us a more intimate look…
Muppets’ creator Jim Henson passed away on May 15, 1990 but his legacy lives on. I think a lot of people were initially skeptical when The Muppets trailer debuted, uncertain if the franchise could –…
“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…
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…
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…
“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…