Lucky '13

I am not one to believe in old wives' tales or superstitions, but I'm not sure about this year: '13.

I've never had surgery until this past January.  And I just had my second emergency surgery this morning. Don't worry, it was once again nothing life-threatening, just painful.

So please be patient with my delay of blog posts as I recuperate.

Any prayers that can be spared, would be appreciated.

Honest Trailers: Star Trek

I meant to post this before the premiere of Star Trek Into Darkness, but I figure this is still timely and funny.

Enjoy!

Found After the Tornado

Please keep praying for the people of Oklahoma.  I cannot imagine the devastation, loss, and terror of going through that.

There is so much terrible loss, but this following video touched me.

A woman was being interviewed live on the site of where her home and been obliterated.  She lived alone with her dog, but came out of it alone, but with nothing.

You can watch the whole thing, or you can skip to about 1:30.

Sunday Best: Star Trek Movies

In recognition of this weekend's premiere of the latest Star Trek movie, this Sunday Best article is a ranking of that film and the the previous 11 from worst to best.

I've had to leave Star Trek Insurrection off of the list, because I have not yet seen it.

11.  Star Trek The Motion Picture

 From the director of The Sound of Music comes a science fiction movie that is so preposterously boring and pretentious that it could be the second cousin of 2001: A Space Oddessy.

10.  Star Trek Nemesis

 This movie feels like they dusted off an old Next Generation script and inflated it into a full length feature.  Plus there is such a horrible cheat at the end that it loses all of its emotional weight.

9.  Star Trek Generations

I wanted to like this movie so much.  And the parts with Kirk are awesome, but it always leaves me a little flat.

8.  Star Trek: First Contact

This was one of the most action-packed in the series.  It was taught and tense.  Probably the best of the Next Generation movies.

7.  Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

William Shatner's vanity project fails on nearly every level, except when he focuses his scenes on the complex friendship of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.  Moreso than any of the films, do you see the archetypal space that each character inhabits.

6.  Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

This used to be my favorite, but the time travel story now feels dated.  It's environmental message also feels a bit too preachy.  But once you get past that, it is one of the funniest and enjoyable of the Star Trek movies.

5.  Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

 This might be the darkest of all the Trek films.  It takes the characters to places that are not always comfortable.  Watching the Enterprise fall or seeing Kirk fall out of his captain's chair with grief always get me.  This one has actually gotten better with time.

4.  Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

 You would think that the last film with the entire original cast would be one of the worst.  Instead, it is one of the best.  It is a mystery.  It is a thriller.  It is epic space opera.  It hearkens back to the past movie and breaks new territory.  No Star Trek fan should miss this.

3.  Star Trek: Into Darkness - (full review to come)

2.  Star Trek (2009)

 I've probably watched this one more than any of the others.  JJ Abrams made a sleek, exciting, and epic film full of fun and adventure.

1.  Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

 I don't think I truly appreciated this film until years of watching.  It's story structure is perfect.  It's villain is one of the best I've seen onscreen.  It's themes are rich and multi-layered.  It reminds us that science fiction takes us to strange new worlds only to use them as a mirror to examine the unexplored depths of the human heart.  It has the most moving moment in the entire series that always stops me in my tracks.  It has the best performances of the entire cast.  People often mock Shatner's shouting of "Kahhhnnnn!" or Montalban's scenery chewing performance.  But that is only because in any other setting done by any other actors, it would not have worked.  But here it is pure movie magic.  

Film Flash: Star Trek - Into Darkness

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

Not as good as the first, with nostalgic baggage.  But still thrilling, funny, and action-packed.

4 out of 5 stars

New Evangelizers Post: St. Peter - One of Us

I have a new post up at NewEvangelizers.com.

ST. PETER - ONE OF US

I sometimes imagine a dialogue between God and Humanity where we complain to Him.

HUMANITY: God, you are too far above us!  How can we ever hope to be perfect as You are perfect?

GOD:  I understand.  So I shall become one of you.  I will be the Man Jesus and I will show you how you are to live a perfect human life.

HUMANITY: But that isn’t fair!  Jesus is a Divine Person!  We are mere creatures.  How could we, your creation, possible imitate someone so perfect?

GOD: I understand.  So I shall give you the Blessed Virgin.  She is no God.  She is a creature.  And she shall be your model of human holiness.

HUMANITY: But that isn’t fair!  She has no Original Sin.  We are fallen creatures!  How can we base our lives on her-

GOD: FINE!  You can’t deal with perfection!  Then I’ll send to you the biggest screw-up I can find, and HE will be your leader and role model.  Now you have no more excuses.

...

You can read the whole thing here

Sunday Best: Directors of All Time - Who Didn't Make the List

When I started this list of best directors of all time I had a hard time cutting some people.  And as I published the different lists, I received feedback that was at times surprising or stunned.

There are a number of directors that are praised for their ability that did not make the list.  And there are others that I very much enjoy but also did not make it.  Here are a list of famous directors who did not make the list and why.

ALMOST MADE THE LIST

Jon Favrau:  The first Iron Man is a great deal of fun.  And Made is a great mobster comedy.  And Elf was the best Christmas movie to be made since Scrooged.  But none of these were able to bring put him on the list.

Sam Raimi:  He is a unique talent that always makes things visually intersting.  Even his underrated movies like The Quick and the Dead have got great personality.  He even showed some real subtle restraint in A Simple Plan.  He was just edged out.

IGNORANCE

I can only comment on the directing of those whose movies I have seen.  Even though I have watched over 2200 movies, there are still far more movies that I have not seen.  Some acclaimed directors who did not make the list are:

Cecil B. DeMille: I have only seen his amazing classic The Ten Commandments.

Orson Wells: The only one of his movies I've seen all the way through was Citizen Kane (and it is overrated)

John Ford: Not being the biggest Western fan, I haven't seen any of his movies.

David Lynch:  While The Elephant Man is an excellent movie, I couldn't bring myself to watching any of his other strange concoctions.

Elia Kazan: He is a director I would like to become more acquainted with, but I've not seen his classics like A Streetcar Named Desire, Gentlemen's Agreement, or On the Waterfront.

NOT ENOUGH GREAT MOVIES

I said that to qualify for best director, they needed multiple great movies to show that they could summon their skill at will and that a single success was not a fluke.

George Lucas:  Since Star Wars Episodes 1-IV are all part of the same franchise, I consider them one movie.  And while the directing of especially Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope are excellent, Lucas's other movies don't make the grade.  THX-1138 is awful.  And American Graffiti is a great movie, but it has more to do with the writing than the directing.

Ridley Scott: I am not as impressed with Ridley Scott as everyone else.  Alien is excellent and so is Gladiator, but his other films leave me lukewarm at best.

Frank Capra: It's a Wonderful Life is in my top 10 movies of all time.  But the only other movie of his I have seen, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, is only truly significant because of Jimmy Stewart's amazing performance

Jeannot Szwarc:  Somewhere in Time is also in my top 10. And Jaws 2 is a worth successor to Jaws, but his other movies are sub par.

Oliver Stone: JFK is a fabrication from Stone's bungled read of history, but it is also a fantastic movie.  All of his other ones, though, are bloated, boring affairs.

Brian de Palma:  The Untouchables is brilliance.  Mission:Impossible is fun.  Beyond that, he's nothing too special.

OVER-RATED DIRECTORS

There are some directors who are generally admired, but I have a different take on them.

Woody Allen:  I still have no idea why people see his movies.  They are humorless comedies about horrible people.

Stanley Kubrick:  I'm sorry, but he is a TERRIBLE director.  I know I am in the minority here, but Kubrick chooses not to tell stories but blind you with his cinematography.  All style and no substance.

The Cohen Brothers:  They came close to perfection with No Country for Old Men, but then spiked the ball with 20 minutes to go.  Their humor eludes me.  Their dramas bore me.

Ang Lee:  He's experimental, I'll give him that.  But his movies don't quite hit the right emotional note.

Quentin Tarantino:  I'm sorry, but he is just not a very good director.  His writing is also over-rated.  His movies are too long and lose too much focus.  Even his greatest movie, Reservoir Dogs, finds little of its success from it directing.

Clint Eastwood:  I don't understand why he's won so many Oscars for directing.  He is a great actor, but his directing style is minimalist with long, dark, boring scenes.