I, Frankenstein

Frankenstein is a classic monster story. Originally a book published anonymously in 1818 written by Mary Shelley, it was first adapted for the movie screen in 1910 and in the hundred years following it was adapted again and again for stage, TV, and film. It has been parodied, animated, and dramatized. Now in 2013 a new adaption hit theaters stylizing Frankenstein in a battle between gargoyles and demons from the producers of Underworld. Perhaps this monster would be better if it never came to life....


It's a familiar story: In 1795 a mad scientist, Victor Frankenstein, creates life in the form of a disfigured man/monster consisting of six different corpses. Said monster is abandoned by Victor, monster kills Victors wife, Victor hunts monster deep into the wilderness to kill it and instead freezes to death. Now fast forward two hundred years. Here's the story we didn't know: Demons and gargoyles have warred on the earth for hundreds of years and Frankenstein's monster (now called Adam) changes that war. The gargoyles want him because he is the only being other than a gargoyle or angel to kill a demon and the demons want him because as he was not created by God, he is soulless, thereby he is also able to be possessed. If the demons get a hold of him and understand how to reanimate the hundreds of human corpses on hand, they can bring an astoundingly amount of demons banished to hell back to earth in the possessed human vessels. But Adam doesn't get taken easily by anybody.

I love the original book Frankenstein so maybe I'm a little prejudiced but when it comes to re-imagining this tale, my motto is better left alone. I still when into the theater a little excited because, common, its Frankenstein. Some of the movie actually was fun. The action scenes are sometimes awesome and I almost let out a squeal worthy of a One Direction fan girl when they named the monster Adam. (As anyone who really pays attention when reading Frankenstein would know, the monsters name is Adam) But, the plot is convoluted, the dialogue occasionally laughable, and Aaron Eckhart's look as Frankenstein's monster is honestly just flat out terrible. If you want to enjoy this movie, check your brains at the door and pray Mary Shelley isn't reanimated somewhere, hunting down people who gave this movie the time of day.

Her

The future is both a scary and promising prospect. And Hollywood has all kinds of ideas of what it might look like, most of them not so promising. Just in 2013 we had Oblivion, After Earth, The Purge, World War Z, and Elysium: none of which had a very positive outlook toward the future of life on planet Earth. Now we have Her, a certainly more realistic imagining of what the future might look like...but it also is certainly no less a bleak imagining.


Theodore Twombly is a very romantic man. He's so romantic he spends his days professionally writing love letters for people who are unable to do so themselves. Unfortunately this very romantic man has a harder time with personal relationships: he is a divorcee who spends his time at home playing video games instead of out interacting with people. During his day to day activities he sees an ad for the first ever artificial intelligent Operating System. His purchase of this OS may change his life as he starts to look at life in a new way. He is experiencing things he hasn't felt in a long time: happiness, fun, and possibly....love?

Her is a strange sort of love story. It's also a strangely touching and sweet love story. Her makes us think about what we really think love to be and the possibilities for love that surround us. But here is where Her started to disturb me: It was an all too real possibility for what the future in this very technological minded world could be. One where the only interaction is between the earpieces in our ears and the phones in our hands. One where the fake people in our ears are the people we care about most in life... and that life doesn't sound very much like living to me.

Dallas Buyers Club

In the 1970s and 80s Ron Woodroof led the dream life of a modern cowboy: hanging with his buddies drinking beer, going to rodeos, and having a different cowgirl every night. But every action has a reaction and the price that has to be payed for his lifestyle is a high one: the price is a disease that was not understood in the early days of diagnosis, the disease of AIDS.

After Ron is diagnosed and given 30 days to live, he does extensive research and tries to get into an experimental program to test a new drug to treat AIDS that the FDA is trying to get approved. After getting cut off and trying to smuggle the drug out the hospital Ron is out of help and at the end of his 30 days. So he takes a trip down to Mexico to get more and in Mexico he is told the truth of the 'miracle' drug: it will kill him. The good news is that there is other drugs that will help, the bad news is that they are all illegal in the U.S. Ron starts to smuggle the drugs in to the U.S. and they help him, so he begins reaching out to other AIDS victims including the transgender prostitute Rayon who will later become his friend. This is the story of a man fighting a disease, his prejudices, and the all powerful FDA.

The Dallas Buyers club is a sad story. A powerful story with incredible performances from Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto. It's also a very controversial story. But aside from the controversy this true story is really a human story, about one man standing against big drug corporations to get people the help they really need. But beside even the David-and-Goliath part of this story is the lesson that if you learn to look past prejudices and predispositions to try to understand people maybe you can really help them.

Gimme Shelter: A look at Christian Films, Hollywood, and the Hard Issues

When I began writing my review for the new movie Gimme Shelter I started thinking about Christian films and how they approach hard issues. How they balance realism and family friendly entertainment. Quite a while ago a film stirred up quite a lot of controversy in Christian circles and secular circles alike. It was one of the most popular movies of 2004 and a 2006 article in Entertainment Weekly named it the most controversial movie of all time. The movie was The Passion of The Christ. The Catholicism split some Protestants. The violence split everyone. Some saw it as a tragic, powerful interpretation of Jesus’ sacrifice. Others saw it as “a two hour and six minute snuff movie – The Jesus Chainsaw Massacre.”[i]Regardless of what I think (I like it) or even what you think (sound off in comments) neither of us can deny the powerful affect it had on the world. The Passion of The Christ was an extreme precursor to the modern Christian Film movement. Thanks to this and Sherwood Pictures, Christian films has had a surge of popularity and support. This has caused Hollywood some frustration as no one welcomes competition, especially when the competition has a worldview that you reject. This has also caused many questions and debate among Christians: Should Christians be involved in Hollywood? How much realism (read, potentially offensive content) can Christians include in their movies?

 Amazing Grace, Facing the Giants, and Fireproof were three films that were released after The Passion and all were good to great. But one difference showed through: The Passion and Amazing Grace were both technically Hollywood movies and while the quality was outstanding more than a few Christians could see problems with content. Facing the Giants and Fireproof were explicitly Christian movies and suffered from poor quality. All four were very successful. In 2010 a movie was released that was generally ignored by critics but caused shock waves in Christian circles: To Save a Life. To Save a Life was written by a youth pastor in California and was one of the first, if not the first, Christian movie that takes a true, gritty look at the world the way it is. It addressed and showed hard and controversial topics like teen depression, suicide, school shootings, teen drinking, teen sex, cutting, and cussing. This was the first implication of what Christian movies could be: hard hitting drama with a positive message that actually reaches the masses. I can’t deny that movies like Facing the Giants, Fireproof, and Courageous are relevant and have helped many people. But, and that But is what motivate me to make films, I also feel like they look at the world through rose colored glasses. That they tend to preach to the choir and alienate secular crowds by making Christianity look like an easy answer to life’s problems. That once you become a Christian, you have all the answers. Now while many people disagree with me, I think we can all agree that not many Christian films take an honest look at the hard problems of being a teenager in today’s world the way that To Save a Life did. Now teenage pregnancy is an increasingly popular subject in secular Hollywood and Christian Media. Hollywood has preferred to address this very serious issue in a comedic way with titles like Knocked Up and Juno. Christian Media has addressed it in movies like Come What May, Sophie's Choice, and October Baby. Hollywood apparently likes to laugh about this subject. Christian movies seem to be uncomfortable looking directly into the people faced with this choice and seem to skim quickly over it or have visions make the decision easy (Sophie's Choice) But now we have Gimme Shelter and what Gimme Shelter presents as a production I find extremely hopeful. We have a Hollywood production, professional actors, a Christian message, and realism that restrains from being offensive. 2014 is a year when we have Gimme Shelter, Son of God, Noah, and Exodus all being released. Never before has Hollywood and secular society been this accepting of Christian media and never before has Christian media had this chance to be so relevant. But if we want to make a difference and be relevant, Christians cannot shift away from the hard issues and tough topics. Like the home in Gimme Shelter we have to be a shelter to the broken and questioning people: welcoming, warm, and most importantly…real.

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[i] http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/movies/2004/02/jesus_h_christ.html

Gimme Shelter

Vanessa Hudgens has been on a campaign to prove she's an adult... this is a trend among Disney stars like Hudgens, Miley Cyrus, and Selena Gomez. After her High School Musical career, Hudgens developed her acting career choosing increasingly mature projects like Beastly, Sucker Punch, Spring Breaker (for which she released a song to go along with called $$$ex), The Frozen Ground, and now Gimme Shelter... The last two projects, she started showing something about herself that had been missing before and is still missing from her Disney channel counterparts: Maturity.

Apple Bailey tells herself she is not afraid again and again. She has suffered from foster home to foster home, being subjected to abuse, humiliation, and selfishness. She ran away from it all but thanks to the system was returned to her drug addicted, abusive mother. Now 16 and still sick of it, she runs away again, seeking a father she never met...looking for love and help during on of the hardest things a 16 year old can go through: a pregnancy. She doesn't even want to consider terminating the pregnancy...despite all the hardships ahead, Apple has had enough of people not accepting responsibility and turning their back on their children. Maybe if she keeps telling herself that she isn't afraid she'll eventually convince herself.

Vanessa Hudgens isn't the greatest of role models. Hollywood isn't known for releasing the most family friendly movies while dealing with serious issues (see Precious or 12 Years A Slave) Abortion, addiction, teenage pregnancy, and abuse are a part of our world. Growing up in a world surrounded by tough issues can be hard. Picking good entertainment in this world can also be tough. Gimme Shelter is a movie that addresses hard issues head on, in a mature, tasteful, and compelling way. It's a movie that every teen in America should see.

Ride Along

Kevin Hart has been around for a while (he had his film debut back in 2002) but never really on anyone's radar... Then in 2009 his comedy tour kicked off and people started noticing this "little man." Now after several box office success's and a very popular comedy routine, Kevin Hart has reinvented himself as a hilarious actor that demands to be taken seriously.....sorry had to do it...

Ben Barber has an easy time getting respect... all of his online friends knows he is a stone cold killer...in video games...and as a high school security guard he rules the cafeteria with his iron thumb. Ok, so in real life he has a harder time, especially when it comes to his girlfriends brother James Payton who is a hard-nose police detective. To prove that Ben has what it takes to become a cop and become Payton's brother-in-law, Ben agrees to accompany Payton on a tour of duty... a Ride Along...

Buddy Cop films are usually pretty great whether they reach for comedy like 2013's The Heat or a more serious tone like 2001's Training Day... Ride Along is great because it knows what it is the entire time and the characters seem in on the joke... Kevin Hart reminds me of a young, black Robin Williams: they both started off in small roles and comedy clubs and while Robin Williams went on to prove he has the range for dramatic roles as well, Kevin Hart is just getting started....and its a pretty darn funny start at that...

Lone Survivor

War movies are always welcome in Hollywood. Some are true, some are fiction, some are good, and some are bad. Lone Survivor is both true and good...not good, great....and as you may have guessed from the title: its pretty heartbreaking.


 In 2005, four Navy SEALs went deep into Afghanistan to capture or kill a notorious Taliban leader. They were discovered by some goat herders in the middle of there mission. Without communication to their base and Superior Officers, they had a decision to make. A question of war ethics, personal morality, and human rights. They make the honorable decision to release the goat herders even though it means certain failure of the mission. Unfortunately when communication is unable to be set up, this decision also means they have to fight for their lives. It's not about 9/11 or a political statement or a moral decision: It's about fighting for the man next to you.

Lone Survivor is a visceral experience. Director/Writer Peter Berg was the first civilian to be embedded in a real SEAL team and lived with them in Iraq for a month, the lone survivor referenced in the title Marcus Luttrell moved in with Berg for a month, and the US Navy gave Berg unprecedented access to battle reports and autopsy reports to preserve authenticity and it is authenticity that permeates this film. Its realism is tangible. The several minutes of opening scenes are actual Navy SEALs stock footage of real SEAL training is the first glimpse of this realism and its brutal truths of war are felt for the next two hours. Lone Survivor is a war classic for the modern age and its depictions of heroic men and brave actions will ensure its referenced when listing the greatest war movies of all time: Saving Private Ryan....Black Hawk Down....Lone Survivor...