Dirty Harry Review

A classic Clint Eastwood film that I had not seen until tonight. Harry is a normal cop in San Francisco except that he doesn't always play by the rules. He tends to shoot first and ask questions later, but he does help justice to be done so the police force continues to work with him. In this movie (one of several they made) he is tracking down a psycho killer who is killing at random and is pretty disturbed (to say the least). Although Harry isn't a very friendly guy, he does help out people and has a gruff manner that seems to help things get resolved. He was able to talk a suicide jumper out of jumping by making him so mad he wanted to punch him rather than jump. Part of me can understand why this movie became so popular. A macho guy who doesn't always like things the legal way so he goes his own way. Maybe he isn't the nicest guy, but he helps justice to get done, right? Well, not quite - as a movie it is entertaining to watch a guy like this bring the bad guy to justice, but his attitude is very proud and self-assured and those traits are made to look admirable in a movie like this. Not only that, Dirty Harry's way of being merciless and torturing the bad guy until he gets what he wants may work when Harry is right, but that is assuming Dirty Harry is never wrong - a very dangerous assumption to make. Maybe I am over-analyzing this movie, but throughout the movie the character Dirty Harry decides that playing by the rules in law enforcement doesn't pay off. Those that do in this movie, end up allowing a murderer walk free due to all the laws that protect the rights of the suspect. Those are laws that are in place to protect the innocent, yet this powerful movie almost seems to imply they just help the criminal to go free. More importantly, movies like this show that when no one else will help, you should do things your way. Hmmm. Sounds like rebellion and leads to vengence, and many times murder. I was glad that Dirty Harry doesn't shoot unless usually in self-defense, but due to the overall messages and some inappropriate scenes I can not recommend this movie. This movie made me think about a verse found in Proverbs 14:12

"There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death."

Serendipity - Does it Exist?

This movie was great! First of all - for those of you who haven't seen Serendipity it is defined as the cause of all events in the world. Christians would term it the sovereignty of God making things happen for a purpose. This movie is based completely around the theme that all things really do happen for a purpose. Although this movie is a romantic comedy, it deals with some really deep issues about human free will and serendipity (or the sovereignty of God if you will). That's what made this movie so appealing for me (Paul). It wasn't some stupid run-of-the-mill romantic comedy. It addresses many different philosophies and ideas about what part "human will" plays into the course of our lives and what part God allows things to sovereignly happen to us for His greater purposes. In this sense it is similar to Stranger than Fiction in the depth of issues covered, yet the similarity probably ends there. Since some commenter's think my comparisons of movies are not accurate (i.e. Road House and Walking Tall) I will refrain from drawing too many parallels between this movie and Stranger than Fiction. However, I am a firm believer that things happen for a reason and that I'm not a subject of random chance. For me that really adds hope to my life and increases my trust in God to know that whatever happens to me is allowed by Someone with a special purpose for my life. One scripture of many that I base this belief on is found in Romans 8:28 (New Living Translation)

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

For me that is pretty clear teaching that all things happen for the purposes of God to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. All that being said, I don't believe 100% in what this movie teaches. The characters begin to almost go crazy trying to interpret random events as "signs" that will inform them of something (in this case - who they should fall in love with). Granted, it is a movie, but this is just plain unhealthy trust in circumstances, rather than trust in the God who allowed the circumstances to happen. I don't believe anyone should allow circumstances to be the sole basis of our human choices (as this movie seems to imply). I won't reveal too much more of this movie, but I found the acting top-notch, the premise - very interesting and well presented, and the overall value of the movie high. Two thumbs up.

Chrystal's Review: Serendipity - ONE TRUE LOVE

I haven't written my own review in a while and since the website is Paul and Chrystal, I thought this movie deserved my two cents. This was my rental pick. As a believer in Jesus Christ, I like that it talks about the idea that random things happen for a reason. I'm going to give a lot away about the plot - so don't read this if you still want to watch it.

We start out meeting both of the main characters a few days before Christmas trying to buy a present for their significant other. They do not go into much detail about the other relationships, but we learn that they are not in love with their girlfriend/boyfriend. Have you ever been in a dating relationship where you know the person is great, but not right for you, but in an effort to be "nice" you do not say anything and hope for the best? This is where they are in their dating relationships. As a result, they wait right before the Holiday to pick out a generic gift. That is when they bump into another person that they feel more connected to and they have the most magical night getting to know this person!

Fast forward a few years, and they get engaged to the other people in their lives. Anyhow, during engagement, they both start to think about this other person and want to meet up with them one last time just to see what would happen. In a romantic gesture, John Cusack, pursues his mystery girl going to extreme lengths to track her down. The mystery girl also decides to track down the mystery guy. Through this process of searching, John Cusack he discovers that while his fiance is a great package (attractive, intelligent), he does not feel his true self around her. He's not truly committed enough to really go forward with the wedding. He calls off the wedding not knowing what will happen, but knowing that he needs to come clean and not marry someone thinking all along that they are 2ND best. Also, his best friend, who is currently separated realizes from watching him go to crazy lengths to track this woman down, that he needs to pursue his wife more - that they got lazy in having fun and getting to know one another. So, we see his friend with a huge bouquet of flowers and a dopey smile running off to pursue his wife.

This movie is such a great picture of how marriage is meant to be - an ongoing pursue to get to know the ONE person God planned for you to be with for life. It is a reminder to take your dating life seriously and not allowing yourself to drift into engagement without discernment!! We should be in awe at how we supernaturally met our spouses in this big universe! The Bible says marriage is a covenant between you, your spouse, and Him. He designed your spouse to fit you perfectly. It takes a lot of work, time, and money to sacrificially invest in another person. It also requires working at honest communication and not just being "nice" all the time - you have to be transparent (real). Your spouse may not be perfect, but the ONE God has for you is a true and perfect gift from Him.

"Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow." James 1:17 (NASB)

Walking Tall Review

I didn't rent this movie, but saw that it was on one of my cable channels and thought I would DVR it and see how it was. Surprisingly I liked it! Granted it is a typical movie where the good guy comes in and cleans house, but overall I found it pretty enjoyable and thought the acting was a lot better than I expected. "The Rock" (from WWF) is the main character as an ex-military guy that returns home from the service and finds that his town is majorly corrupted by drugs and gambling thanks to a rich guy that is bent on making money and completely corrupting the town. After they try to be friends, "The Rock" realizes that friendship isn't going to happen between the casino owner and himself and decides it is time to stand up to corruption and clean his little town up. If you have ever seen the movie Road House (which I don't recommend unless edited on TV), you may be surprised to how similar the movie plots and characters are to each another. I was really amazed to see scenes that were so similar to Road House it almost could pass as a 2004 remake of it (without Patrick Swayze). All in all though, this movie is a triumphant story of how good characters can help clean up the bad influences of evil men. Don't expect an unpredictable story, but overall expect a redemptive one. Recommended.

Major League Review

Interesting... some movies I have such high hopes for end up dismal wastes of time for me. The movie on the right is one example. To be honest, I only could stand watching this movie for 1 hour (half of the length) before I just decided to turn it off as too stupid and pointless to continue. That may sound surprising coming from a guy who loved The Naked Gun movie, but this movie really disappointed me. Maybe it is due to the fact that I'm not into baseball that much. Or just found that a bunch of strange players acting stupid and swearing like sailors was just not hilarious... I'm not sure. Part of the movie is a dead serious storyline of one of the players trying to prevent his ex-wife (whom he still loves) from remarrying someone. You would expect this part to be kind of cheesy and have some funny lines mixed in as he tries to convince his wife not to remarry - but NO - the part was almost a drama in the midst of a weird comedy. I thought they should have made the whole movie crazy or just delete the subplot of the player trying to win his wife back - it just didn't fit into the movie framework (even though it was a noble thing to try). Plus this movie seemed to poke fun of Christianity in general. Let me explain.... there is one player who practices the Voodoo religion throughout the movie (including burning incense candles), and another player who almost prides himself of not being a "heathen" and praying to God rather than idols. Both the players are taking a dangerous airplane ride in stormy weather, and the Voodoo practicer is so scarred he makes the sign of the cross for safety. The "so-called" Christian player notices that, and looking above his porno magazine says something to the effect of "I saw that... don't think you can be fooling Him [referring to God] up there. He [again referring to God] knows everything." This line was obviously a total shot at hypocrisy in the Christian church and sadly this sort of thing exists. It wasn't funny to me because it didn't really convey the message that the Christian will be held accountable before God for committing adultry in his heart from reading a dirty magazine as much as the voodoo worshiper will be held accountable for worshipping idols. It also failed to show a Christian that really has a personal relationship with Christ and has turned from his sins (whether they are porno magazines or idolatry). It just made all Christians look like hypocrites. Sin is sin in God's eyes. Unfortunately, movies like this just seem to mock at the problems of hypocrisy without truly showing how stupid other sins are, or showing a redemptive way through faith in Christ how a person can be transformed and stop sinning. Due to messages like these - I have to say Major League is still in the minors in my book.

Three Men and a Baby Review

A classic piece of 80s material yet again. I really am a big fan of the The Three Amigos which came out around the same time as this movie, yet I hadn't seen this one even though quite a stir was made over it when it came out. I thought it was a cute movie, but not very laugh-out-loud funny. Mainly it gives an accurate picture of how total bachelors would babysit should they be stuck with the job of doing so. There wasn't too much to this movie other than showing the tender side of three guys that are living the party lifestyle. I would have to say Tom Sellect was probably the best in the movie. Steve Guttenberg seemed to have a "B" grade performance, and Ted Danson doesn't really get involved with the movie until it is half-way over. However, overall the movie is cute and has its funny moments. Whoever wrote it decided to put a subplot line in of the baby getting mixed up with drug dealers, and while it added some content to the movie, it really seemed more like filler to make the movie longer more than really contributing to the story. Also, the ending was kind of strange. I won't give it away, in case anyone HASN'T seen this movie yet (after 20 years), but I thought the living arrangement of the end was just plain weird. But then again, this movie isn't meant to be taken completely literally. For what it sets out to do, I would say it succeeds.

Deja Vu Review (it rhymes!)

I rented this movie after hearing it was pretty good from a friend of mine. I believe my friend was right. This was a little bit of a lighter sci-fi movie than Terminator or Blade Runner regarding time travel. Denzel Washington is an investigator for some law enforcement agency and has to investigate a tragic terrorist act that happened when someone set a bomb off a boat full of people. As he continues to investigate, he finds out that there are some people who have tapped into time travel and can recreate events after they happened with video from all angles. This - as you can imagine - makes solving crimes much easier and leads Denzel Washington to believe that he may be able to change history by observing the past. Of course everyone's dream is to do this, so it makes for an interesting story that one of the victims of the terrorist, happens to be an attractive girl that Denzel begins to fall for as he learns more about her. I won't give you anymore than that, but it turns out it is a fun flick that has its share of suspenseful moments. Maybe not as deep as Blade Runner or Stranger Than Fiction, but still worth the time to finish. Good action/sci-fi movie as long as you don't try to cross-check every detail of the story for accuracy.

Afterwards Music Review by Collective Soul

I decided to switch gears and mention a new CD that just came out that is noteworthy and well done. The Afterwards CD by Collective Soul is a CD that is worth buying. The music isn't poppy, yet it is interesting to listen to as well as fun. I ended up spotting it on Itunes (due to liking some of their previous work), and as I sampled some of their tracks I decided to buy one. Then I sampled some more of the tracks on this album and decided the whole album sounded very well done and was worth a purchase - so I completed the entire album on iTunes and am looking forward to listening to it on the commute into work. You may not like the sound, but I encourage you to at least try the samples on iTunes and see if it is a sound you may like. I look forward to listening to it over and over as I enjoy listening to the creative talent of these guys.

Blade Runner Review

Another movie you may have heard about that is pretty dated yet hailed as a classic in the science fiction realm. Harrison Ford plays in this movie about cops of the future that have to discern whether robots (who look identical to humans yet can not feel emotions) have invaded earth (illegally). Ford played his part well and reminded me of Hans Solo without as much sarcasm and wisecracks. Throughout the movie, the police officers usually test people to discern if they are robots by using a machine that watches their eyes, and then asking them several questions that would provoke an emotional response in a normal human. The robots obviously answer logically but not emotionally and that tips the police off to their identity. Although dated, it was definitely an interesting movie to watch and very well acted. It is kind of dark as the robots get murderous (similar to the Terminator movies), but not so much that the basic plot is lost in the action and violence. Unfortunately, Ridley Scott who directed this movie (also directed Gladiator), put a scene in this movie that was entirely inappropriate and therefore I don't recommend anyone watch this unless they are watching a TV edited version. It raised some interesting questions about artificial life yet the indecent scene just ruins the movie (in my opinion). Not recommend unless edited.

Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind review

After hearing about this movie with Jim Carrey I decided to see what it was all about. It was a very interesting, artistic movie that I think many people may like but others just won't get it. Jim Carrey has asked to have his entire memory erased of this one girlfriend he has had in his life. As the professionals are erasing his memory, he realizes that he really doesn't want to lose all traces of memory of her, and begins to try to store memories of her in different parts of his mind that weren't originally connected with memories of her. Elijah Wood (affectionately remembered as Frodo from Lord of the Rings) and Kirsten Dunst (MJ from Spiderman) are also in this movie. While slightly confusing - the movie still seems to make sense when it is all over. Don't watch this movie expecting a normal movie watching experience. It is very artistic, and kind of strange. Some people may welcome a movie that doesn't fit the normal experience, and others may walk away wondering why they just spent over an hour trying to make sense of a movie like this. I felt a little like watching a very artistic writer/director paint a unique movie style and found it intriguing, but not good enough to re-watch.