The Jade Giant Returns

Believe it or not I do actually like other things besides movies. But since I think we are on the verge of a great summer movie season, I can't help myself. Especially now that we'll start getting flooded with all the previews for the movies that will be coming out. Anyway, last night the preview for "The Incredible Hulk" premiered on the internet. What I liked about it was that it has the feel that the Hulk should have: Banner on the run, trying to keep himself under control, being chased by the military, etc. It also reminded me of the 70's t.v. show that I loved as a kid. I'm glad to see that the Abomination is in this as well, not some goofy thing that was in Ang Lee's "Hulk" of a few years ago. My only bone to pick is that the Hulk should look bigger & more powerful. I know that the cgi guys work on the effects until the last possible minute, so there's hope that his look will improve. But overall, this will be a good one. I am excited to see thw Hulk as he is meant to be seen......smashing stuff.

Spring Break Reading

I always look forward to breaks because it gives me a chance to break out of the routine and actually get some reading done. I have been wanting to read Atlas Shrugged for awhile now, but especially after reading Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. I'm sure that I'll never watch The Incredibles the same way ever again. Hopefully I'll plow through it and can write a review soon, although I doubt I'll bring anything new to the discussion of Objectivism. Keller's The Reason for God is the next book that my small group is reading together. I only have to read a chapter a week, but the book is so engaging that I may have to read the whole thing and then re-read each chapter week by week. This is actually the first book by Keller that I will have read, but I am familiar with his work at Redeemer Presbyterian in New York. I am disappointed that there is no fiction that has caught my eye. Hopefully George R.R. Martin will get his next book out soon.

Movie Posters

I have always enjoyed the posters that go with the movies that I'm excited about. Here are two that I found that I think do a great job at capturing what these films will be about. If only I had not run out of wall space!

Grab Your Whip & Fedora

Unless you have been living under a rock, then you know that the trailer to Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull came out on Valentines Day. While Spider-Man will always have the #1 spot in my childhood heart, Indiana Jones will forever be a very close second. It seemed to be easier to predend that I was Indy than Spidey, because all I needed was an old hat of my dad's and a broken fan belt from the car. I don't know how many time I recreated the truck chase from Raiders of the Lost Ark in our front yard. I will never forget our summer trip to Montana and finding a real whip in a gift shop! My #1 Christmas present of all time was getting the 12 inch Indy figure when I was told before Christmas that mom was having trouble finding one. I still kick myself for getting rid of that one by the way. Trying for weeks to convince my mom to let me see this, only to have success when she learns that it's rated PG and not R. Ah memories. Anyway this trailer brought tingles to my spine and a tear to my eye. May 22 cannot get here soon enough. You can check it out for yourself at Yahoo Movies.

Summer Movies!!!!!

I love summer because I get to go inside a nice cool theater and enjoy movies. January to May can be a wasteland for a movie lover like me, but Cloverfield was a notable exception, so I anticipate the summer movie season a lot. Here are the handful of movies that I will be sure to see this summer:

1. Iron Man- May 2
2. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull- May 22
3. The Incredible Hulk- June 13
4. The Happening- June 13
5. Hellboy 2- July 11
6. The Dark Knight- July 18
7. Star Wars: The Clone Wars- August 15th

I'm sure there may be a few more that I'll go see, but these are the ones on my radar right now.

Truth Made Simple

The Elders at Westminster Presbyterian are going through this book as part of our training. What I really like about this book is that Sproul does a great job of making the complex understandable and accesable to everyone. I can appreciate it because it takes our doctrinal standards found in the Westminster Confession of Faith and explains them in words that anyone could understand and appreciate. It's deep enough to take your time reading and contemplating, but also easy for anyone to read and understand, even without going to seminary!

Cloverfield: A Monster To Believe In

Let me say from the beginning that I was not a fan of "The Blair Witch Project." I thought it was not very scary or worth my time for that matter. Cloverfield will inevitably be compared to that film because they are both from the new genre of "found footage" films. I have to say that I was expecting a fun monster movie, but got much more. Cloverfield may in fact be the sign of new life in this new genre because it did what Blair Witch could not. Let me let you in on a little secret, Cloverfield is not about the monster. Cloverfield is about the people who try to survive. I was surprised that I found myself caring about the people who were on the screen. They were real people trying to understand and deal with what was happening. What made this so powerful was the 20 or so minutes of the goodbye party for the main character, which was taping over a day at Coney Island with the girl he finally got together with. You get some of this throughout the movie as well. Why this works is that the same story would have worked if it was a natural disaster rather than a monster. The main character wants to correct a mistake that he made with the woman that he loves, and puts himself and his friends in danger to find her. As much as I rail against the "Hollywood Ending," I wanted these people to get that ending because I cared about them. That is what makes the movie work so well. Another thing that makes it work so well is that the viewer is left with so many questions about the monster. But the movie does not answer them because we see the story through those experiencing what is happening. They don't get any answers, so neither do we. We're left wanting more. We're left sad for what happened to those people whom we came to care about. So what about the monster? What is it? Where did it come from? I'm sure that there are so many theories that will drive conversation for years to come, or until we get a sequel. I liked that we did not get a full view of the creature until near the end. I liked how much like the creatures in the work of H. P. Lovecraft, this monster defies easy description. And it was genuinely scary at times. I jumped, which his hard for a movie to get me to do. And I'll admit that the little things that crawl off the monster made my skin crawl, and led to one of the most creepy moments in the film.
This movie gives me some hope for movies in the future. You can have big monsters or events. You could have a well known comic figure. But if the audience does not care about who is on the screen, the movie will fail. Cloverfied is not a failure. I can't wait to take a walk through it again.

Cloverfield gets 10/10