Sunday Best: Rest in Peace, James Earl Jones

 His was perhaps the most iconic voice in all of cinema.

On Monday, September 9th, James Earl Jones passed away.

Born in 1931, Jones came from a poor family in Mississippi, where his father abandoned them to become an actor when James was only 5.  Although they eventually reconciled, James had to move to live with his grandparents in Michigan.  He became so nervous that he developed a stutter that was severe enough to render him almost mute.  But one day a teacher noticed his talent for writing poetry and nurtured him into finding his voice.  If that teacher had not done that, the world would be robbed of that irreplaceable voice.

Jones went to the University of Michigan and joined the army, but was not called up until after the end of the Korean War.  After his time there, he went to New York to become an actor.  His reputation grew as he performed Shakespeare to much acclaim.  He won awards for portraying boxer Jack Johnson in the play The Great White Hope, which he then played on screen.

While he is remembered so much for his voice, he was a powerful presence on the screen.  He could be a farmidable villain in Thusla Doom or a stabilizing presence with his James Greer in the Jack Ryan movies.  He was also one of the few actors that could pull off comedy as well as drama.  His supporting turn in Coming to America is incredibly funny.  And his lampoon of himself on The Big Bang Theory is one of my favorite episodes.  

I think that the movie that best shows his range is one of his best known: Field of Dreams.  In that movie he is dramatic, mysterious, funny, and sage.  All of these mixing qualities never feel false.  You believe he could beat Kevin Costner with a crowbar one moment and then giggle like a child at the idea of leaving this mortal plain.  His "People Will Come" speech might be one of the finest in movie history and it is not simply because of the writing.  His absolute commitment to that monologue makes it move from good to timeless.

But once again, we must return to that voice.  He gave Star Wars such a great villain in his voice for Darth Vader.  For my generation, Darth Vader was the embodiment of evil.  That voice gave him a power that was terrifying.  The look itself was scary, but that voice left an indelible mark on all of us.  There was no mistaking it, there was no replacing it.  It was often imitated, but could never be replaced.  

And I don't think people give him enough credit for the nuance he put into that role.  Go back and listen to his performances.  In the first movie, there is a youthful arrogance in his inflections.  In our memories we hear the weight of that heavy voice.  But listen to how he talks to Obi-Wan with little taunts like "Your powers are weak old man."  He says this like an immature youth.  By the time you get to Return of the Jedi, you hear the wear and tear in his voice.  The long loneliness of the the dark side is keeping him from his son and that is reflected in that voice with his final line, "Just for once, let me look on you with my own eyes."

His regal voice gave such emotional weight to the story of The Lion King.  His classic line "Remember who you are," feels like it carries with it the wisdom of the ages.  He carried that power and dignity through an amazing career on stage and screen, helping him to be one of the rare EGOT achievers.  

Jones was married twice.  He met each of his wives when he was playing Othello and she played opposite him as Desdemono.  He and his first wife divorced after 8 years.  His second wife in 1982 and they were together until her death 35 years later in 2016.  They are survived by their one son, Flynn.

Many people may not know that, like Star Wars co-star Sir Alec Guiness, Jones was a convert to the Catholic faith.  Also like Guiness, he did not speak about it much publicly.  He converted while he was in the military and briefly discerned a call to the priesthood.  He said of that time, "The only thing that I had that was not geared toward the art of killing was the Catholic Church... and the complete works of Shakespeare."  

And with that in mind, I think it fitting that we end with words from his beloved Shakespeare:

"He was a man, take him for all in all, I shall not look upon his like again."

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him.  May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.  Amen.

Rest in Peace, James Earl Jones

Film Review: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

 

Sexuality/Nudity Mature

Violence Mature

Vulgarity Mature

Anti-Catholic Philosophy Mature

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is a good movie once it gets going.  The problem is that it takes about an hour for it to get going.

The movie takes place several decades after the original.  Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) hosts a paranormal tv show and is engaged to her smarmy producer Rory (Justin Theroux).  She is haunted by visions of ghosts, particularly of Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton).  But then her step-mother Delia (Catherine O'Hara) lets her know that her father died.  So they get Lydia's estranged daughter Astrid (Jenna Ortega) and brings them back to the town from the original movie to have the funeral.  Astrid thinks her mother's supernatural desire is a fraud and she yearns to get away.  She finds a bit of reprieve with a local boy, Jeremy (Arthur Conti).  Meanwhile in the afterlife, a soul-sucking ghost named Delores (Monica Belluci) is on a hunt for Beetlejuice, who is also under the scrutiny of a ghost cop Wolf Jackson (Willem DaFoe), who was an actor in his former life.  Eventually all of these stories converge when Lydia reaches out the Beetlejuice again in desperation.

If that plot sounds a bit convoluted, it is.  It feels like the writers came up with three different scripts and couldn't decide which one to use, so they smashed them together.  As a result, the various storylines don't gell together the way that feels organic.  A number of the supporting characters get way too much screen time.  I understand why they spend so much time on Delia, because the filmmakers think that she would be good comic relief.  The problem is that she comes off more annoying than funny.  Beetlejuice Beetlejuice forgets that in the original, Delia was more of an antagonist and we don't really have a transfer of good will to her.  This is where we really miss the Maitlins (Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis), who were the stand in for the normal audience thrust into a weird world.  But in the sequel there are no normies.  Rory is also deeply unfunny.  He reminds me of Otho from the original, but Otho had way less screen time.

Because of the time spent on characters like this, other characters get less development.  Delores is very interesting, but she does very, very little in the movie.  Most of her scenes involve her entering into a room, asking for Beetlejuice, and then killing a ghost.  On top of this, most of her scenes don't actually move the story forward.  They serve only to remind us that she is there as a looming threat.  The same is true of Jeremy.  With a little more breathing room, his story would have a much bigger impact.  But instead it all feels rushed.

Ironically, the first half feels rushed, but it also drags.  That's because these each of the individual stories are truncated so that they can all be pushed together.  And if this was what the entire movie was, then it would not work at all.

But Michael Keaton saves this movie.

Every scene with him pops off the screen.  He ha not lost a beat when it comes to playing this character.  It feels like he just played him a few years, not a few decades ago.  He still has the mad twinkle in his eye of a complete and irredeemable louse who enjoys the chaos he creates.  He would be completely hateful except for the fact that has crazy charisma and makes you laugh constantly.  And the humor is wonderfully inappropriate.  One of the reason we like Beetlejuice is that he is the rebel who sticks it to the stuffed shirts who make things unbearably boring.  The problem with him is that he is a force of nature that cannot be tamed.

Ryder plays Lydia much differently than she did in the original.  She is much more neurotic and nervous.  But this works because Astrid is the cynical and sardonic voice that Lydia was in the first.  But Ortega is not merely mimicking Ryder in the first movie, nor is she rehashing her title character from the Netflix show Wednesday.  Her Astrid is actually very idealistic and emotional, but she hides it behind a wall of coolness.  Some of her best moments are when Jeremy says something that really touches her and she cannot help but let a genuine smile of delight break through.

Visually, the movie is wonderfully quirky.  You have Tim Burton's specific other-worldly aesthetic that combines the macabre, the weird, and the mundane.  The afterlife is both a stifling bureaucracy and a funky nightmare.  Burton is able to balance both of those very well.  There are even a few more new flourishes.  There is a fantastic black and white sequence and another claymation scene that fits right in with the overall look of the movie.  Every time Beetlejuice is on screen, they are able to squeeze out the maximum amount of humor that the movie can give.  I have to admit I laughed out load in the theater more than I thought I would.

Unfortunately, Burton's disdain for Christianity is clear once again.  He isn't openly hostile the way you find in other of his movies like Sleepy Hollow and Edward Scissorhands.  But there is a prominent supporting character that is a priest and Burton made sure to make him as creepy as possible, lacking any kind of compassion or charm.  This, along with its generally dour view of life-after-death, is slightly depressing.

Can I recommend Beetlejuice Beetlejuice?  I think that there is enough fun in this movie to make it worht watching.  But be prepared to slog through long patches of time until the scenes where the 'Juice is loose.

Film Flash: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

  

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

Fun movie when it gets started, but it doesn't get started until an hour in.

New Evangelizers Post: Man Was Made For The Sabbath

  

I have a new article up at NewEvangelizers.com.  

In the Gospels, the Pharisees complain about Jesus performing miracles on the Sabbath. Our Lord famously turns to them and says “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.” (Mark 2:27).

Jesus says this to refute the excessive legalism of the Pharisees. The Sabbath is to be a day dedicated to the Lord, but the Pharisees have lost sight of this. They have missed the spirit of the law because they focus completely on the letter of the law. Sometimes we Catholics fall into the same trap. Perhaps we become obsessive about the number of prayers we pray in a day, but we lose site of the fact that prayer is meant to bring us into intimate connection with God. What good is to pray 50 rosaries a day if it doesn’t make me a more loving person?

In this passage, Jesus is trying to explain to them that people are more important than the rules. The rules are there to help us love and take care of each other. If the rules don’t help us do this, then perhaps they are unnecessary.

This is what Jesus meant when He said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.”

But, there is another sense where the opposite is true.

There is a sense where man was made for the Sabbath.

Pope Benedict XVI, before he was elected pope and was simply known as Cardinal Ratzinger, wrote a homily about the Sabbath. He was speaking about the account of creation given in Genesis. And he noted something odd about the fact that God rested on the seventh day. “Creation is oriented to the sabbath, which is the sign of the covenant between God and humankind.” (Ratzinger, The Meaning of the Biblical Creation Accounts, in the Beginning…” pg 40) God had finished making all of creation on the sixth day. But He was not done with His project. He has nothing more to create. But then on the seventh day, He rests.

Obviously, God has no need of rest since He is all-powerful. So what is going on here?

God is showing us that creation points to our worship. God gave us a Sabbath day so that we could focus on a day to worship Him. There are actually ancient accounts of other cultures thinking that the Israelites were lazy because they did no work on the Sabbath. To engage in a Sabbath is to be counter-cultural. The history of humanity has been one of constant toil. People needed to work with heavy toil in order to earn their daily bread. But God insists that man cease his labors for one day so that he can focus on God.

God did not make us out of loneliness or boredom. “We can say that God created the universe in order to enter into a history of love with humankind. He created it so that love could exist.” (Ratzinger, pg 43) We are not mere products of God’s creativity. We are His children and He brought us into the world because of love. The Sabbath is a day where we remember why we were made. Throughout the work week, we focus on many practical matters, but like the Pharisees we can lose sight of the main reason we do our work in the first place. The Sabbath gives us a palate cleanser. “It means to return to the source and to sweep away all the defilement that our work has brought with it. It also means going forth into a new world in which there will no longer be slaves and masters but only free children of God.” (Ratzinger, pg 44)

Slaves work without reward or rest. We are not slaves. We are His children. He is our reward. And we take time to enjoy our reward by spending time with Him on the Sabbath. And this time is for all people in God’s family. It does not matter if you are rich or poor, man or woman, or any other station in life. Ratzinger writes that “the sabbath brings about universal equality.” (Ratzinger, pg. 44) We must all come before the Lord and give Him our worship.

But modern humans have become slaves to their work. Ratzinger cites a philosopher named Ernst Bloch who said that human beings were so focused on their worldly labors that “people will no longer need to distinguish between Sundays and workdays. There will no longer be any need for the sabbath, since the human being is his own creator in every respect. And he will also cease to concern himself with merely dominating or shaping nature; now he will transform nature itself.” (Ratzinger, pg 51) What he means by this is that human beings want to be the ones who decide how the world should be. That is the Original Sin of our parents: deciding for ourselves what is right and wrong. And so we give ourselves over to the things that we place as more important than God. On Sundays, do you focus on God and His works? Time with family? Cultivating peace? Or do we make it about other things? Is it just another day where we try to cram in all our pre-Monday work?

You can read the whole article here.

Sunday Best: Fall/Winter Movie Preview

  Now that the Summer movie season has ended, it is time to look ahead to Fall and Winter.

Last year was very unusual for movies because of the actors and writers striking.  Most of the big blockbusters were finished before the actors strike so that they could go and promote them.  Perhaps this year will be a a return to form, with more prestige and Oscar-bait movies coming out.  We will see.

Here is a list, with a few brief thoughts of my own, including on a scale of 1-5 stars my likelihood of seeing it in theaters (1 being “Not at all” 5 being “Cannot wait!”).

SEPTEMBER

September 13th

Speak No Evil

This looks like a well-made, creepy thriller, but it just doesn't seem to be my taste. (**)

The Killer's Game

I think that Dave Bautista has actually developed into a very decent actor.  This movie looks like it could be a fun, violent time, but I don't know if I want to see it in the theater.  I may wait for streaming. (**)

The 4:30 Movie

This semi-autobigraphical Kevin Smith movie has a lot of resonence with me.  Growing up, I loved going to the movies with my friends and then arguing about them afterwards.  I still do that.  I would be a lot more interested if I didn't get the feeling that this was going to devolve into typical Kevin Smith fare where the heart is lost in the vulgarity. (**)

September 20th

Transformers One

I think I am the only person on the interent who actually enjoyed the trailer for this movie.  I have no problem with a comedic take on these character.  This movie actually looks like it could be a lot of fun (***)

Never Let Go

There is something about this movie that reminds me of Birdbox: a creepy thriller abotu an unseen evil.  However, this is another one that looks intriguing enough only for streaming.  (**)

Super/Man

As I wrote in my post on the trailer, this movie looks like it could break my heart.  Christopher Reeve looms large in my childhood memory and imagination.  To see his real-life struggle and the battle he fought every day is something that I want to experience in the theater.  (*****)

September 27th

Megalopolis

Everything about this movie looks terrible.  It looks like it is overly pretentious and showy, with an over-the-top style that seems silly.  And yet I want to see it for those reasons.  It looks like this could be one of those movies that is so overly terrible that it crosses the line into enjoyable.  Maybe I'm wrong, but I am curious.  (***)

The Wild Robot

This movie has been lavished with praise, but the more I see of it, the more mediocre it seems.  But the premise has me interested enough that I may go see it when it opens.  (***)

Saw XI

No thank you (*)

Lee

It looks like Kate Winslet is trying for another Oscar.  This movie about a WWII photographer looks reasonably entertaining and it has a good cast.  I'll wait on word-of-mouth for this one. (**)

OCTOBER

October 4th

Joker: Folie a Deux

The first one was so much better than I thought that it would be.  For a while I was very skeptical of a sequel, but the more I see of it, the more I can see that director Todd Philips has more to say about our society and the cult of celebrity.  In addition, I'm looking forward to really seeing the character's madness from the inside.  (*****)

The Outrun

This looks like a super-depressing melodrama that will only be good because of the performances. (*)

Monster Summer

I really enjoyed the trailer for this movie.  It has the potential to a cross between It and The Goonies.  I don't know if it could live up to that potential, but have Mel Gibson in the cast certainly does help (****)

October 11th

Saturday Night

I am fascinated with the history of Saturday Night Live and I think that Jason Reitman is an incredibly talented director.  The idea that he is shoot a real-time account of the 90 minutes leading up to the first episode is very intriguing both from a story and artistic perspective.  This is definitely high on my list to see. (****)

We Live in Time

This looks like it could be much too depressing to see in the theaters. (**)

October 18th

Anora

This movie has won all kinds of critical acclaim, but the subject matter looks incredibly off-putting and none of the trailers have made me want to see it.  (*)

October 25th

Venom: The Last Dance

This movie just looks bad.  Of course I said the same thing about the first Venom, and that turned out to be a pretty decent film.  The sequel was mediocre and I don't think that this one is going to be much better. (**)

NOVEMBER

November 1st

Here

As I wrote in my article about the trailer, this single-camera angle gimmick could either be horrible or genius.  I really don't think there will be an in-between.  But with Robert Zemeckis, I am curious enough to find out (***)

November 8th

Conclave

This looks like another attack on the Church in the Da Vinci Code style.  No thank you (*)

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Dallas Jenkins has earned a lot of good will because of The Chosen, where he showed he can make faith-inspiring productions that are also highly artistic and entertaining.  This looks like it could be a fun family film for the holiday. (***)

November 15th

Red One

This premise looks completely silly, but it just might be silly enough to work.  I have a feeling that if you give yourself over to the silliness, there will be an enjoyable film to watch  (***)

Heretic

Watching Hugh Grant transform from bumbling comedic lead to horror movie villain is fascinating.  But horror just isn't my genre.  Also, I can't tell yet if this movie is an attack on religous faith or not (*)

November 22nd

Gladiator II

I wish that this movie wasn't tied to the original classic Gladiator because the story seems intriguing enough, but it will probably suffer by comparrison.  I like the idea (which I am getting from the trailer) that the main hero has a vendetta against a Roman general, but that neither are necessarily evil like the Emperior.  This could lead to some interesting character-driven moments if the movie allows.  And the action looks pretty good.  (****)

Wicked

There are a lot of things about the trailer that look lame, corny, and cringy.  The top of that list is Ariana Grande, whose dead-behind-the-eyes performance looks to be torturous to watch.  But the every time I see the trailer, the music gives me chills.  I'm conflicted but leaning on seeing it in the theater.  (***)

November 27th

Moana 2

I'll be honest: the original Moana was mediocre at best, so I'm not that excited for a sequel.  I missed seeing it, it wouldn't be the end of the world.  (**)

DECEMBER

December 6th

Y2K

I like the idea of a retro horror comedy about the turn of the century.  But the trailer didn't make me laugh once, so I think movie will be a slog to sit through (*)

December 13th

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

I'm not a big fan of the anime style and after Rings of Power, I'm skeptical of exploring more of Middle-Earth on film (even though I know that this from the producers of the LOTR Trilogy) (**)

Kraven the Hunter

This movie was supposed to come out a year ago and nothing since then, especially the release of Madame Web has convinced me that this is going to be good (*)

December 20th

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

I've never been the biggest Sonic fan, but his movies have been goofy-fun aimed at little kids.  When taken on those terms, the films are very enjoyable.  I am more likely than not going to see this movie, I just don't know if it will be in the theaters.  (***)

Mufasa: The Lion King

For whatver reason, I have no desire to see this.  Nothing about it makes me want to watch the origin of the doomed father of Simba (*)

December 25th

Nosferatu

Again, another artistic-looking film that is in a genre I don't enjoy (*)

A Complete Unknown

Director James Mangold and star Timothee Chalamet REALLY want that Oscar.  The trailer looks like it could be transportive to the time and the performances look pretty good.  I'm curious (***)

Thoughts?

Labor Day Prayer to St. Joseph 2024

   

Happy Labor Day!

I remember during the early days of the pandemic, I was so worried that the school where I teach was going to lose enrollment and shut down.  As often as I complain about the toil of work, I am reminded how ungrateful I am for the privilidge of working in a Catholic school (or to have a job at all for that matter).  It is truly a blessing to be given labor to help build up the Kingdom of God.

As I have written before, I credit St. Joseph for all of my jobs.  I pray that, like him, I can be a good worker and provider for my family and work the best that I can to be a model of moral manhood.

I pray that St. Joseph bless all the work of our hands that we all build up the Kingdom of God together.

Oh, St. Joseph, whose protection is so great, so strong, so prompt before the throne of God. I place in you all my interests and desires. Oh, St. Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession, and obtain for me from your divine Son all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So that, having engaged here below your heavenly power, I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of Fathers.

Oh, St. Joseph, I never weary of contemplating you, and Jesus asleep in your arms; I dare not approach while He reposes near your heart. Press Him in my name and kiss His fine head for me and ask him to return the Kiss when I draw my dying breath. St. Joseph, Patron of departing souls - Pray for me.

Sunday Best: Summer Box Office Review 2024

I'm fond of beginning this post-summer report by citing Michael Crichton who once said that no one can actually predict a movie's box office, even though studios pay millions of dollars for people to do exactly that.  In the end, there is always an X-Factor that cannot be seen in advance.

And this is especially true for me predicting this past summer's box office.  

In terms of box office success, the numbers were a mixed bag.  Last year, six of the Top Ten made over $300 million dollars.  This year, only two movies did that (Inside/Out 2 and Deadpool and Wolverine).  There is also a WIDE gulf between number one ($651 million) and number 10 (around $92 million). 

Below are my predictions along with the actual box office numbers:

MY PREDICTION	ACTUAL BOX OFFICE
Deadpool & Wolverine	Inside Out 2
Despicable Me 4	Deadpool & Wolverine
Inside Out 2	Despicable Me 4
IF	Twisters
Twisters	Bad Boys: Ride or Die
The Fall Guy	Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
The Garfield Movie	A Quiet Place: Day One
Bad Boys: Ride or Die	It Ends with Us
A Quiet Place: Day One	IF
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga	Alien: Romulus

So as you can see, I was way off this year.  

-I did not correctly guess the position of any of the Top Ten movies this year

-I predicted 7 out of the Top Ten, as I did last year.  

So here are my conclusions.

WINNERS

1. Franchise Movies

7 of the Top 10 movies, including the number 1, were movies that were sequels or part of an existing franchise.  This is different than last year, when 4 of the Top 10, including the top movie itself, were non-franchise properties.

2. Disney Studios

4 out of the Top Ten films are produced by Disney (Alien:Romulus is made by Fox which is owned by Disney).  With some high profile flops, Disney did very well.  Their total domestic take for this summer is around $1.5 billion at least. 

3.  Crowd-pleasers

It sounds like a no-brainer, but crowd-pleasing movies make a great deal of money.  I think was particularly the case with Inside/Out 2.  This movie surpassed almost all expectations because Disney/PIXAR has aquired a reputation of putting content in their movies that turned families away.  If word had gotten out that Inside/Out 2 had the same agenda as Onward, Strange World, Lightyear, and Turning Red, then I think families would have stayed away from this one as well.  But I was relieved to see a return to form of universal story-telling

Deadpool and Wolverine also is a big win that the MCU needed right now.  But poking fun at the recent downturn in the franchise, Disney indicated that they were interested in laughs rather than lectures.

LOSERS

1.  The Mad Max universe

I enjoyed Furiosa as much, if not more than, Fury Road.  But audience did not seem interested in this prequel for whatever reason.  This does not bode well for George Miller's dystopian fantasy franchise going forward.

2.  Kevin Costner

It pains me to say this, but Costner took a gigantic gamble with Horizon and it looks like it did not pay off.  Originally, Chapter 1 was to premiere in May and Chapter 2 in August.  But the returns on the first one were not what was hoped for, the second part has been postponed.  This is a real shame, because I think Horizon is one of the better movies to come out this year.

3. Borderlands

It is hard to describe how big of a disaster this movie is.  The studio spent probably close to $200 million total and it has brought in only $15 million.  To give you an idea of how big of a bomb this is, Borderlands is only 3 spots ahead of the 25th Anniversary re-release of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace.  

----

An observation also is the gap between the top 5 and the bottom 5.  Take a look at these numbers from Boxofficemojo.com

ACTUAL BOX OFFICE
Inside Out 2 Deadpool & Wolverine Despicable Me 4 Twisters Bad Boys: Ride or Die Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes A Quiet Place: Day One It Ends with Us IF Alien: Romulus	$651,254,541 $603,808,117 $355,640,490 $259,621,935 $193,544,246 $171,130,165 $138,930,553 $135,818,800 $111,149,917 $90,951,631+

There is a nearly $250 million gap between #2 and #3.

The total revenue for the top 5 is $2.06 billion.  The total revenue for the bottom 5 is $739 million.  So you can see that the top half made almost 3 times as much as the bottom half.  Last year, all the movies in the Top 10 made over $150 million.  This year, only the top 6 made at least that much each.  

Thoughts?