Trailer Time: Supergirl - Official Teaser

I have to say that of all the Supergirl storylines from the comic books, the one that interested me the least was Tom King's Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.  Here she is drunk and cynical, something that has not been a part of her lore.  So I was not very happy when it was announced that this story would be the basis for the upcoming Supergirl movie.

But I have to say... I kind of dig it.

I could be totally misreading the movie, but it looks less like she's an insufferable Mary Sue and more that she is a broken person on a character arc.  Last summer's Superman portrayed a person who was morally righteous from the beginning and remained in that goodness, like Steve Rogers.  Supergirl looks like someone who is a great deal of pain and is numbing it with alcohol and violence, like Tony Stark.  If they balance this out correctly, they could satisfyingly foil one off of the other.

The thing that struck me is that Milly Alcock actually looks cool.  A lot of the overpowered female protagonists in recent sci-fi (Rey Skywalker, Carol Danvers) may have some good qualities, but they did not come off as cool.  I like the way Supergirl struts in her trench coat and smirks at the hordes who are surrounding her.

And even though James Gunn is not directing it, Supergirl feels like it was filmed in the same universe as Guardians of the Galaxy.

Now, I am not completely sold on the movie.  Like I said, the source material is very cynical.  The line "Gods are not that kind," is fine in the context of her pain, but it could hint at a larger anti-religious bent.  Also, I hate the tag line about Superman: "He sees the good in everyone.  I see the truth."  This would imply that we are not all good and redeemable at our core, which is a very anti-Christian way to look at the world.  My hope is that this is a statement from earlier in her character arc where she moves slowly from cynicism to sincerity.  

I also like the tease of Lobo on screen.

Like I said, I wasn't expecting to really like Alcock's Supergirl, but I am more open to this movie now than before seeing the teaser.

Thoughts?

Film Flash: Eternity

    

15 words or less film review (full review to follow soon)

Great performances cannot save this thematically ugly piece of cinema

Film Flash: Fackham Hall

   

 

15 words or less film review (full review to follow soon)

Good effort at trying to do an Airplane!-style Downton Abbey parody  that is sporadically funny.

Film Flash: Rental Family

  

15 words or less film review (full review to follow soon)

Heartfelt film that almost makes sin seem virtuous (but it's more complicated than that)

Film Review: Predator - Badlands

 

Sexuality/Nudity Acceptable

Violence Acceptable

Vulgarity Acceptable

Anti-Catholic Philosophy Acceptable

The original Predator is one of the greatest action movies of all time.  It is pure masculine mayhem in the best possible way.  It is unlikely that any movie will be able to come close to capture that lightning in a bottle.

In the years since, there have been several sequels that have attempted to recapture that magic, with varying degrees of success.  The latest attempt, Predator: Badlands, decides to do something radical: make the Predator the hero of the story.  As the sage once said: "It's a bold strategy, Cotton, let's see if pays off for 'em."

The movie centers around a Predator named Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatanji) who is the runt of the clan.  Because of this, he needs to prove himself by going to the most dangerous planet known as Genna and kill the unkillable creature known as the Kalisk.  Dek crash lands on the planet and soon discovers that everything here is deadly from the animals to the flora and fauna.  Along the way he encounters Thia (Elle Fanning) a Weyland-Yutani android who is is missing everything below her torso.  She makes a deal with Dek to help him find the Kalisk if he gets her back to her people.  What follows is the standard reluctant partnership that slowly turns into friendship as the journey changes both of them.

If that plot summary sounds like this is a kinder, gentler Predator movie, that's because it is.  This looks and feels a lot more like a Marvel movie than a standard Predator film.  The tone, the humor, the action, the characters, and the violence feel like the could have come out of Guardians of the Galaxy spin-off.  

And here is the catch: if that is a deal-breaker for you, then this movie is not for you.

If, however, you are like me and can accept this change in tone, then Predator: Badlands is fairly enjoyable.  There is something lost when you remove the mystery and mystique of the Predators.  But what you get instead is a fairly straightforward reluctant friendship adventure.  Some people I have read found Thia cloying and off-putting.  However, I found her to be the right counterbalance to Bek.  Her constant chattiness and optimism are foiled against Bek's stoic silence.  

Plot-wise, the film is fairly standard with no real depth.  But that doesn't mean that it is bad.  The chemistry between the characters is fairly decent.  And the movie does one of the things I really like which is that it has good payoffs in the 3rd act that are set up in the 1st act without you realizing that they are being set up.  The movie rewards you for paying closer attention to how this world operates.  And it is fun to see Bek adapt to the surroundings, going from barely surviving to thriving.  It echoes Dutch from the original Predator, but the callback works.

The special effects work nicely in this film.  You get a strong sense of the ever-present danger of the planet.  The overall look of the Predator suffers by bringing it directly into the light and not keeping him in the dark shadows.  The action is very competently executed, with excitement and flair.  Bek can't rely on the normal bag of tricks that we've seen in other Predator films, but has to get creative, which adds to the enjoyment.

As I mentioned, the story's simplicity is reflected in its themes.  But those themes are still pleasing to see play out.  Bek's clan hates weakness and sees mercy as poison.  But in finding friendship and cooperation, Bek becomes stronger and better.  Again, it isn't revolutionary stuff, but the writers understand what their assignment is and they hit the correct thematic notes throughout.

No Predator film has lived up to the original.  But Predator: Badlands is not a bad way to spend a couple of hours of sci-fi adventure.

New Evangelizers Post: The Purpose of Penance

                                 

I have a new article up at NewEvangelizers.com.  

This post might seem more appropriate for the Lent. However, Advent is also a penitential season in the Church. We tend to forget that because of all the gifts, shopping, parties, and food during this time. But just like Lent, Advent should be a time of penance in preparation for the holy day of Christmas.

Here in this article by “penance,” I do not mean the Sacrament of Penance, also known as the Sacrament of Reconciliation. By “penance,” I mean those spiritual works we do after we repent of sin.

I have often puzzled about the true meaning of penance. For many years, it felt like it was some kind of spiritual punishment. After we receive absolution in Reconciliation, we do our penance. For many people this feels like the spiritual debt that we pay for our sins. Sadly, that is how I treated penance for many years of my life.

But the idea of penance being spiritual punishment doesn’t quite jibe with our faith. Christ paid the debt of sin on the cross. We therefore do not earn our salvation by contributing to the payment of that debt. That isn’t to say there isn’t a need for reparation. All sin causes damage to the community. That damage, even if forgiven, needs to be repaired. If I break old Mrs. Krestel’s window while playing stickball in the street, I have an obligation to repair the damage done, even if she forgives me.

This is partly the meaning of penance. When sin has been done, there must be something done to repair in the world that which is damaged. I was speaking with a priest recently about one of his mission trips. While he was there, someone had desecrated the Blessed Sacrament at one of his churches. When Rome reached out to them regarding what needed to be done, one of the things that was required was that the entire community do penance. To be clear, the person who desecrated the Eucharist was apparently outside of this community. Nevertheless, the Vatican said that the community was required to do penance for the outrage. The penance was partial done because the community had failed to properly evangelize or witness to the perpetrator.

But the main purpose of penance is to live out your holiness.

In penance, I live out the life of Christ in me. When I do this, I voluntarily take up the cross. I don’t do this so that I can “earn” credit towards my salvation. Instead, by doing this I am uniting myself to Jesus, my Savior. And in doing so, I make my life more like His.

A penance can be passive. For example, fasting during Lent is a way to passively not partake in our desire for food. We can also passively accept some trouble or misfortune that comes our way and offer it up in union with the cross.

But you can also have an active penance. In this way, you can take on an activity like feeding the hungry or visiting the sick. The missionary priest I mentioned earlier asked his community what penance they wanted to do. They chose to perform an ancient tradition where each person picked the heaviest stone they could carry and bring it up the nearby mountain. He said that this penance was done as a community and the event was actually quite joyous. In carrying the penance together, the whole community drew closer to the joy of God.

And key to penance is that it should be done for God. This means that if you take up a penance of cleaning, it should be done as if you are doing it for God. This particular penance would be difficult for me, because my method of cleaning is basically to shove everything in a closet or cover it with a blanket. If I did it as a penance, I wouldn’t do it in such a slip-shod manner. Instead, I put all of my best efforts because I am not cleaning for myself, but for God.

A penance can be many things: it can be fasting, writing letters to the homebound, gardening, giving an hour of your expertise to help anohter, working a food bank, going to mass at a shrine, attending a funeral mass for someone, memorizing a new prayer, studying a book of the Bible, wake up at an early hour to prayer, a technology fast, domestic cleaning, going out of your way to help someone feel special, going on pilgrimage, etc. As you can see, there are many varied ways to live out your holiness so you can find one that is best at bringing your closer to God.

There are three things a penance should have:

You can read the whole article here.

Sunday Best: 100 Funniest Movies Of All Time

 

Recently, Variety published their 100 Greatest Comedies of All Time.  I saw a lot of websites comment on the list on how right or wrong they were.

This made me think of what would put on my own list.  However my mine is different.  Instead of "The 100 Greatest Comedies of All Time,"  these are the "100 Funniest Movies of All Time."  A comedy movie can be great without being the funniest.  For example, Life is Beautiful is one of the greatest films I have ever seen and it is at times very funny.  But the reason it is so great is that it uses the humor tell a story that is beautifully heartbreaking.  In the same way, Wag the Dog is a brilliant movie that uses comedy to make incisive commentary about modern politics.  But I usually don't watch specifically for the laughs.

So my list consists of the 100 movies that make me laugh the most.

A few notes:

1. Comedy is SUBJECTIVE.  You may not find my list of movies funny.  That is fine with me.  There are several movies that are comedy classics that didn't make my list (like Dr. Strangelove) that others think are hysterical, but really don't make me laugh.

2. This is indifferent to the MORAL CONTENT.  I know a number of devout Catholics who cannot help but laugh at movies like Blazing Saddles.  This does not mean that the movie is morally good.  It just means that the jokes are funny, even if they are inappropriate.  You will find some raunchy comedies on my list, only for the simple reason that they honestly make me laugh.

3. This list is in FLUX.  Because comedy is subjective, there are times when some of these movies make laugh a lot more than they do now.  This isn't just a matter of age, but it could be a simple matter of mood.  There are times when the old timey comedy wit really hits my funny bone and sometimes I just want some insane slapstick.  I don't imagine that if I make this same list in 5 years that it would be exactly the same.

So below is my list.  Anything highlighted in yellow are films that are also found on Variety's list.  

1	Monty Python and the Holy Grail
2	Airplane!
3	Noises Off...
4	UHF
5	A Night at the Opera
6	The 40-Year-Old-Virgin
7	Without a Clue
8	Ted
9	Ed Wood
10	The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad
11	Clue
12	The Court Jester
13	Top Secret
14	Animal Crackers
15	Duck Soup
16	Brain Donors
17	Ghostbusters
18	Spies Like Us
19	A Fish Called Wanda
20	Spaceballs
21	What's Up Doc?
22	Shaun of the Dead
23	Dodgeball
24	Game Night
25	Airplane 2: The Sequel
26	The Naked Gun 2 and 1/2
27	Stripes
28	Three Amigos
29	Foul Play
30	Dragnet
31	Couples Retreat
32	See No Evil, Hear No Evil
33	Real Genius
34	Sleepless in Seattle
35	Swingers
36	Much Ado About Nothing (1993)
37	Black Dynamite
38	When Harry Met Sally
39	Coming to America
40	Better Off Dead
41	One Crazy Summer
42	The Simpsons Movie
43	Ghostbusters 2
44	Shaolin Soccer
45	The Gold Rush
46	Hot Shots Part Deux
47	About and Costello Meet Frankenstein
48	The Big Store
49	A Day at the Races
50	Deadpool and Wolverine
51	Scrooged
52	Beverly Hills Cop
53	Beverly Hills Cop 2
54	3 Idiots
55	Kung Fu Panda
56	Groundhog Day
57	What Women Want
58	Grown Ups
59	Twins
60	Kung Fu Hustle
61	Galaxy Quest
62	Wayne's World
63	Billy Madison
64	Get Smart
65	Father of the Bride
66	Weird: The Al Yankovic Story
67	The Golden Child
68	Back to School
69	History of the World Part I
70	The Odd Couple
71	Seems Like Old Times
72	Father of the Bride 2
73	Sopadish
74	Arthur 2: On the Rocks
75	Bad Medicine
76	Room Service
77	Deadpool
78	Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
79	Hot Fuzz
80	Kindergarten Cop
81	This is Spinal Tap
82	Blended
83	Grumpy Old Men
84	Harlem Nights
85	Fletch Lives
86	Who's Harry Crumb
87	Men at Work
88	Horse Feathers
89	The Cocoanuts
90	Happy Gilmore
91	Liar, Liar
92	Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
93	Office Space
94	Young Frankenstein
95	Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
96	Good Morning Vietnam
97	Tommy Boy
98	While You Were Sleeping
99	The Great Muppet Caper
100	The Hangover