Film Flash: Minions and Monsters

 

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

The best Minions movie.  A love letter to the pioneers of film-making and old Hollywood.

Film Flash: Young Washinton

 

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

A weak first act gives way to an engaging war drama, full of patriotism.

Sunday Best: 50 Most Beautiful Moments in Cinema - #50-41

 

A few months ago, a friend of mine asked me to make a list of the top ten most beautiful shots in movie history.  Because of my crazy brain, I was able to keep it to a tight fifty.

I also had a lot of trouble coming up with the list because a shot is a single, uncut moment from a film.  But there are so many moments that require the intercut between shots to accomplish its beauty.  So I decided that instead of most beautiful shots, it would the moment beautiful moments.

So there are a few ground rules for this list.

1. A moment can be only about 2 minutes.  

There are some scenes that are absolutely amazing.  But if the scene goes on long enough, I'm not sure you can call it a "moment."  So for this list, the moment had to be two minutes or less.  The exception is if it is a single shot.  There are a few on this list that last much longer than 2 minutes, because the entire moment is an unbroken shot, so there is no logical place to cut it.

2. Only one moment per movie.

This one was difficult, but it had to be that way.  Take a movie like The Sound of Music.  I recently rewatched it and nearly every scene is gorgeous.  If you said to me that it was the most beautifully filmed movie of all time, I would not object.  In fact, I would say that 90% of that movie is more beautifully shot than most films that have ever been made.  If I allowed multiple beautiful moments from the same movie, The Sound of Music would be too dominant.

3. All the context matters.

One of the other reasons I did not make this only about shots, is that a shot implies only the visual component.  But a movie is more than just the visual.  You have the convergence of story, music, performance, and editing that bring about the beautiful moment.  All of these things need to be taken into account.  Particularly, the context of the story gives a great deal of meaning and beauty to what is on the screen.  

4. The subjective element of beauty.

While I believe that there are some objective elements to what is beautiful, there is always a subjective element when it comes to any art.  I accept that there will be many who will disagree with me about what is on this list and what I have left off.  And it is possible that over time, my mind can change.  But I can only speak about that which affects me deeply.

5. Beauty only.

There are some moments in cinema that are deeply affective.  The show scene in Psycho is terrifying.  The moment Brody blows up the shark in Jaws is exhilarating.  Arthur's fight with the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail is hysterical.  But even though these moment provoke powerful emotions, it is not necessarily beautiful.  Something beautiful should touch the heart in a way that makes it ache for something deep and transcendent.  It should feel like it somehow touches something ethereal in some way.

So, with those in mind, I will now share #50-41 of the most beautiful moments in cinema.

I will provide Youtube links to the videos rather than embed them here.  I would imagine that because this is critical commentary it qualifies for fair use, but I'd rather not take that chance.

You can click any of the links below to see the clips (most of them should be timestamped to begin at the moment referred.

SPOILERS FOR ALL THE MOVIES BELOW

50. Gross Pointe Blank - "Under Pressure"

This is a strange black comedy from the '90's that I have great affection for.  Almost all of it is cynical, violent, and dark.  That's what makes this moment so strangely beautiful.  The main character is a hit man, but in this moment when he looks into the baby's eyes, you can feel the change come over him.  It is a moment where no words are needed.  The juxtaposition of the joy in the baby and the wonder in Martin's eyes is so affective that I am completley convinced about his change of heart in those few seconds.  And the use of "Under Pressure" creates the perfect emotional crescendo.  I have never forgotten this moment since the first time I saw it.

49. It's A Wonderful Life - "End of my rope"

This is a simple shot.  But I was fortunate to see a restored print of this movie on the big screen and the biggest takeaway I had was how beautiful the movie is, particularly this shot.  The happy music only seems to isolate George even more.  The slow push in and the use fo shadow and light highlight the drama.  On top of that it is one of the most affective performances I have ever seen in a movie.  When he says, "I'm at the end of my rope," I feel it deeply.  Normally, the moments on this list are this tense and sad.  But they do such an amazing job here I could keep it off the list.

48. Forrest Gump -"Peace with God"

There are so many things at work here.  This is really the culmination of Lt. Dan's character arc.  When he says, "I never thanked you for saving my life," he means that he didn't think his life was worth saving until this moment.  What is so visually striking about this is that they emphasize what he has lost.  His physical injury has not been healed.  But as he swims in the water, it is a beautiful baptism metaphor as he is washed in the this new life as he floats towards heaven.

47. Apollo 13 - Landing on the moon."

This is an amazing film.  But one of the things they do so well is emphasize how important landing on the moon is for Jim Lovell.  This fantasy sequence captures wordlessly the the awe, joy, and majesty of landing on another celestial body.  You feel the momentousness of leaving your permanent footprints on the moon.  But for me the shot that really captures it is Jim's hands raking through the lunar dust.  I can feel that moment in my own hand, in wonder at what that must be like and aching that this moment is snatched from Jim forever.

46. Lars and the Real Girl "Bowling with Margo"

This is such a delightful, small movie.  Lars is a crippling shy man who begins falling for his co-worker Margo.  I love the absolute simplicity of this scene: just going out and bowling.  Meanwhile there are all the little moments and longing looks so familiar to those who have crushes.  But the moment that puts it over the top for me is that shot towards the end where they use a very shallow focus so that from Lars' point-of-view, all he sees is Margo and you really begin to feel what Lars is feeling.

45. The Last of the Mohicans - "Final Scene"

This is one of the most under appreciated movies of the 1990's, in my opinion.  I always felt that this movie should be more popular than it is.  This final moment has Chingachcook mourning the death of his son Uncas.  This moment does something that few movies do so well: it makes the title of the movie the most powerful line of dialogue.  And as you see our survivors look out at the vast wilderness, there is sadness, despair, and hope all rolled into one.

44. The Untouchables - "The Strength of Righteousness"

The scene plays out like a very typical action scene.  But the one moment that makes it stand out is the shot of all four Untouchables as they ride along the river.  It is a powerful shot of heroes sallying for to do heroic things.  This is put over the top by Ennio Morricone's amazing score titled "The Strength of Righteousness."  I mention the title here, because the shot perfectly summarizes the song's title.

43. Jurassic Park - "Running with Dinosaurs"

There are a lot of shots from this movie to choose from.  I would imagine most people would choose the first time Grant and Ellie see the dinosaur or perhaps the sick triceratops.  But this incredibly short moment is the one.  Notice it doesn't even need any musical flourish to accompany it.  It is a dynamic shot, perfectly framed, with a paradisal backdrop.  If there is a single moment that encapsulates the thrill possibilities of what this park could hold, it is the moment when the humans and dinosaurs run together.  Even in the fear, there is a sense of joy and awe in their faces as they cannot believe that they are living out this moment.  It is the moment that I would imagine most people watching the movie wish they could experience themselves.

42.  Dances with Wolves - "Waves Goodbye"

(I could only find this shot in a montage on Youtube)

This small shot packs a big punch.  At the beginning of the movie, John Dunbar begins the movie in a suicidal state, but it is really only in this moment that we see that things have turned.  He has just spent the day with the Sioux and he has found his people.  You can see in the costuming that he is at this point still a man of two worlds, but that the change has been made.  As the sun sets the sky on fire behind him, there is an enlightenment that settles on him as this warrior raises his hand in friendship as the music swells behind him.

41.  Aliens - "Final Shot"

This is a very simple shot.  James Cameron does some amazing work with the camera in this movie.  But this is the shot that gets me.  This is the culmination of the journey of these two characters.  They have both been plagued by nightmares, but have now vanquished them.  Not only is it a shot showing how they have finally achieved peace through adversity, but the composition shows their emotional closeness.  They are now a family: mother and daughter.  Newt, the wild child, can now rest because hovering above her, protecting her like a guardian angel is Ripley.  

The Declaration of Independence: 250 Years Ago Today

 

The United States of America is 250-years-old today.

This is an amazing milestone for our nation.  But in many ways, it emphasizes how short a time our country has been around.

Recently Mel Brooks celebrated his 100th birthday.  I saw something on the internet that said that he has been around for 40% of our nation's existence.  I also saw something that said his birth was closer to the death of Thomas Jefferson than to today.

That is incredible to me how few generations we are from the 1776.  

Wiser and more poetic people than me have waxed eloquently about the virtues of America.  But please allow me a few humble words to express my love for my country.

My father is an immigrant.  He came here because America is the land of opportunity.  I asked him once why he didn't stay in his native nation.  He told me that if he stayed there was a very low ceiling to how far he could go.  But in America, there was no limit.

He also told me that the thing that surprised him the most was how big our country is.  Before coming here, he imagined you could drive from New York to Chicago in a few hours.  But the vastness of our land blew his mind.

When he got here, he started off staying with his brother who had also immigrated.  He then met and married my mom.  And together they had very little.  They saved and scraped just to get by, all the while my father worked himself constantly to provide.  Many years later when my parents got divorced my father told me that he would always take care of my mom because "she stayed with me when we had nothing." 

But they did not always have nothing.  He worked to provide a better life for his family.  He took in his mom and dad, who also became US citizens.  He loves this country and has always been grateful for all that it provided.

My love for America is rooted mostly in my father's story.  And it isn't about any simply about material success.  It's about what America meant to my father:

It is the land of opportunity, because it is the land of freedom.

A few years ago I was out after dark on a summer's night getting a late dinner for my wife and I.  And as I was walking through the parking lot, I took a moment to think about how through so much of human history and even in parts of the world today, people did not experience these kind of simple freedoms.  Not only was I able to earn a living to pay for that meal, but I have the freedom to choose where to go, where to live, where to work.  While there are always dangers around, I live in relative peace and security.  That is a blessing that I often take for granted because I have lived under it for so long.

In America, I have the freedom to become who I choose to be.  I think of my favorite patriotic song, "God Bless the USA" by Lee Greenwood.  His opening line says, "If tomorrow all the things were gone, I'd worked for all my life and I had to start again with just my children and my wife, I'd thank my lucky stars that I'm living here today, 'cause the flag still stands for freedom and they can't take that away."  My life has had ups and downs, same as everyone else.  But even at the lowest of times, I was grateful to be in America.  Because here, we have the freedom.

Today, I focus my gratitude to God for our country.  No nation is perfect.  There are still many areas where the fight for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness still rages on.  But it rages on because we are committed to the ideas given to us in our founding document: the Declaration of Independence.

When I taught World History, one of my mentors pointed out to me how unique the American Revolution was.  Most revolutions in history turn into horrific bloody reprisals of vengeance.  But America was built on ideas, philosophy.  Great thinkers like Locke and Montesquieu helped lay the rational foundation for our country.  Our revolution was not just one of arms but one of thought.

In America, we see the world in a different way.  We take very seriously the Christian principle that every single human life has value.  Because of this, it is the individual and not the state that is the bedrock of our nation.  It is one of the reasons we are not a pure democracy: our rights do not come from the majority.  Our rights do not come from a king.  We do not get our rights from the Constitution. Our rights do not come from the government at all.

They come from God.

I read somewhere that the Bill of Rights should not be read as a list of rights that the government gives the people.  Instead it should be read as a list of rights that all citizens have from nature that no government has the right to take away.  When I see how things like freedom of speech and freedom of religion are absent in so many countries of the world, it fills me with gratitude that I live in a country that enshrines those rights in our very nature.

Our founding fathers pledged everything, risked everything so that we could live in the freedom we have today.  They fought and sacrificed so we could have this beautifully simple thing called "normal life."  The family dinners, Sunday drives, drinks with friends, quiet walks, football tailgates, school plays, backyard gardening, reading books on the porch... all of these things are possible because we live in the greatest country in the world.

Today I will continue to pray for my country, that she may overcome all of the injustice that still plagues her and for her protection from all of our enemies.  I will also pray in thanksgiving for my country, for all that she provides for us.  I will pray for all those who have fought for us, those that have died for us, and those who have given to us so that we could live this life.

Below is the entire text of the Declaration of Independence.  

As I have written in years past, I encourage you to read the entire text below on this birthday of our nation.  Particularly, I am struck by the last line:

And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence,  we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Those who wrote their names on that document held up as collateral for the investment in our freedom:

1.  Their Lives.  I am humbled when I remember that so many gave much more than I will
ever give so that people like me could live free.  The only way we can hold onto our freedom is if men and women are willing to pay the ultimate price.  Too often tyrants, both fearsome and soft-spoken, try to snatch away our freedom.  They depend on us to lay down our resistance and give in.  We must never do so.  The Founding Fathers gave us that pledge.

2.  Their Fortunes.  I will likely never see combat.  But how do I spend my money to
ensure freedom?  Do I take care of our wounded warriors?  Do I support laws and
representatives I believe in with my capital?  And do I take payments from those who
would make me dependent?  This pervasive bribery must lead inexorably to subtle slavery.

3.  Their Sacred Honor.  Do we even believe in honor anymore today?  Does our name mean anything?  In A Man for All Seasons, when asked why he would not take an oath of

loyalty to Henry VIII, Thomas More said, "When a man takes an oath, 
he’s holding his own self in his hands. Like water.  And if he 
opens his fingers then — he needn’t hope to find himself again." 
 We are free and we must stand by our commitments. 
 Otherwise who we are, our name, means nothing.  

These great men signed their names to this document. 

For each of them it may have been a death sentence.

But they signed it nevertheless.  They their day they took a stand against tyranny and stood for freedom.

In their day they stood as men.

Today they stand as giants.

And the challenge of today is this: could we stand with them?

Do we have what it takes to be the patriots at Valley Forge or the resistance at Boston Harbor?  Does that same noble spirit of freedom stir in us?

Or do we stand with those who try to tear down their memory to only have us remember their faults and failings and not the fact that they gave us the greatest nation that the world has ever known?

Perhaps reading this document again will renew and refresh the spirit of liberty.

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

---

The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:

Column 1

Georgia:

   Button Gwinnett

   Lyman Hall

   George Walton

Column 2

North Carolina:

   William Hooper

   Joseph Hewes

   John Penn

South Carolina:

   Edward Rutledge

   Thomas Heyward, Jr.

   Thomas Lynch, Jr.

   Arthur Middleton

Column 3

Massachusetts:

John Hancock

Maryland:

Samuel Chase

William Paca

Thomas Stone

Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Virginia:

George Wythe

Richard Henry Lee

Thomas Jefferson

Benjamin Harrison

Thomas Nelson, Jr.

Francis Lightfoot Lee

Carter Braxton

Column 4

Pennsylvania:

   Robert Morris

   Benjamin Rush

   Benjamin Franklin

   John Morton

   George Clymer

   James Smith

   George Taylor

   James Wilson

   George Ross

Delaware:

   Caesar Rodney

   George Read

   Thomas McKean

Column 5

New York:

   William Floyd

   Philip Livingston

   Francis Lewis

   Lewis Morris

New Jersey:

   Richard Stockton

   John Witherspoon

   Francis Hopkinson

   John Hart

   Abraham Clark

Column 6

New Hampshire:

   Josiah Bartlett

   William Whipple

Massachusetts:

   Samuel Adams

   John Adams

   Robert Treat Paine

   Elbridge Gerry

Rhode Island:

   Stephen Hopkins

   William Ellery

Connecticut:

   Roger Sherman

   Samuel Huntington

   William Williams

   Oliver Wolcott

New Hampshire:

   Matthew Thornton

Film Review: Toy Story 5

 

Sexuality/Nudity No Objection

Violence No Objection

Vulgarity No Objection

Anti-Catholic Philosophy No Objection

Most people agree that Toy Story 3 was the perfect ending to the series and they are not wrong.  This latest entry in the series cannot top that fantastic conclusion. 

But it is better than Toy Story 4.

Toy Story 5 is once again centered on the toys living with Bonnie (Scarlett Spears).  Her main toy is Jessie (Joan Cusack) in the same way that Woody (Tom Hanks) was with Andy.  However, with more and more children becoming engrossed in technology, she has few playmates and friends.  So Bonnie's parents (Jay Hernandez and Lori Alan) buy here Lilypad (Greta Lee), a tablet so that she can connect with others her age.  But as she begins to fall down that rabbit hole, Lily conflicts with Jessie and the other toys.  Through a series of plot contrivances, Jessie gets separated from Bonnie and it is up to Woody and Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) to mount a rescue.

Oh, and there is an army of Buzz Lightyears that crash on a desert island trying to make their way to star command.

The first thing that you should know about this movie is that it is Jessie's movie.  Woody and Buzz are supporting characters to her character arc.  In the context of this point in the series, it makes sense.  Bonnie being a girl would naturally gravitate to Jessie as her main toy.  It is interesting that the writers/directors Andrew Stanton and McKenna Harris acknowledge that there are some natural differences between boys and girls reflected in the way they play.  Like Andy, Bonnie has heroes and villains and danger.  But unlike Andy, Bonnie's scenarios take place and weddings, balls, and honeymoons.  Also, Jessie would understand the feminine perspective of Bonnie's lonliness in a way that Woody and Buzz would not.  And in this way, the movie explores the lonilness of girls that I don't think it could with the original trilogy.

Another sad thing is that most of the original supporting characters are reduced to glorified cameos.  I know a number of the original voice actors have died, but it is still disappointing to not have them be a bigger part of the adventure.  We are introduced to some obsolete tech toys like Smarty Pants (Conan O'Brien), a toy that helps potty train kids.  And while they add some interesting dynamics, the others are missed.

The movie does two things very well.  The first is that it really gets the emotional beats right.  There is something very honest about Bonnie's pain and isolation.  I have seen this happen, where children who just want friends are too shy and isolated to feel like they fit in.  And often they either retreat further into themselves or they abandon who they are in order to fit in.  When Bonnie goes to a sleepover and proudly shows off Jessie, one of the girls asks in a tone dripping with disgust and judgment, "You still play with toys?"  And the look on Bonnie's face speaks volumes in a way that is crushing.  The emotional journey for Jessie is also powerful.  This movie helps resolve the trauma that we saw her endure when she was abandoned by her first owner, Emily.  Jessie has a kind of existential crisis regarding if her life has any meaning since she is doomed to be discarded at the end of her owner's childhood.

The second thing that the movie does really well is capture the change that technology, particularly screens, have brought to childhood.  The animation captures it like a spell is being cast on the children without being too over-the-top.  There is one moment towards the end where the toys run through a stranger's house but no on notices because everyone, including parents and children) are on some type of screen.  The constant dopamine hit creates a tangible addiction that you can see in Bonnie.  There is a fantastic scene shows Smarty Pants and the other tech toys the difference between being games and actually playing.  And that's what kids do: they vicariously give life to their toys.

The two big negatives that come through this tech are the killing of imagination and the problem of bullying.  Bonnie and another girl named Blaze (Mykal-Michelle Harris) have stronger imaginations because they are not constantly glued to the screen.  They are not passive receivers of entertainment.  They have to produce the entertainment to be lived out in their toys.  This may seem like a small thing, but playing with toys forces you to produce rather than receive; to make rather than consume.  Screens cause this imaginitave muscle to atrophy.  In regards to bullying, social media has made it unavoidable.  Before Bonnie gets Lilypad, she is isolated from others because she is missing out.  But once she is on social media, she is subject to mockery in a way that she is not expecting.  In one scene she is happily heading to a destination in the car when she sees girls in her social media group start dogpiling on her.  Her mom is completely baffled as to why Bonnie has had such a horrible mood swing, but it was because she was attacked out of nowhere by people who now have constant access to her via Lilypad.

But I have to give the movie credit in that it does not take a luddite view of technology.  While it heavily focuses on all of the dangers, Lily is not a villain the same way that Stinky Pete or Lotso were in previous films.  Lily genuinely wants what is best for Bonnie, and the movie is smart enough to realize that there is a place for technological advancements.  It just needs to be tempered with wisdom.  This wisdom is lacking in Bonnie's parents who simply unleash this world of tech onto Bonnie without any real guidance or supervision.  The message is clear: parents need to walk with their children regarding tech, not throw them into the deep end and let them drown.

The movie also also has some surprising things to say about natural law without meaning to.  In the Toy Story universe, toys are meant to be played with and to make a child happy.  For the most part, toys who reject this point of view are unhappy (again see Stinky Pete and Lotso).  The sadness in the toy comes from no longer playing with their child when they grow up.  But this joy cannot help but be present when real play occurs, as with Smarty Pants.  There is a wonderful scene where the army of Buzz Lightyears are marching through the woods and one of them is picked up by a family.  These Buzzes don't yet realize that they are toys and mount a rescue mission to rescue their fellow Buzz.  But later when they see their fellow Buzz being held and loved by a child, their eyes fill with awe and longing.  The "captured" Buzz sees them and smiles contendedly because he has found his happiness.

This captures so well the principles of natural law.  We are all made with an end or a purpose and our happiness consists in living in accord with that end.  This is true even if we are unaware of what our purpose is.  Smarty Pants and the Buzzes do not know what real play and childhood affection are.  But once they receive them, they are filled with happiness.  It is the same way with us human beings.  Even if we don't know God, we are made to be filled with the love of God and others.  When we find this, we find our happiness.

I was also pleasantly surprised that this movie showed traditional male/female romance as an important theme.  Buzz is in love with Jessie and wants to marry her.  Leaving aside the implications of how toys can make vows of fidelity, it presents this desire for lifelong married commitment as natural and beautiful.  This could be a reflection of how Bonnie plays with them, but it is refreshingly different from more recent Disney offerings.

And I should also say that the movie is a great deal of fun.  Message movies are usually not very good, so Stanton and McKenna understand that their first job is to make the movie fun.  While the story of the rogue Buzzes don't connect up to the main story for a while, they are some of the most enjoyable and entertaining sequences.  Watching Buzz and Woody bicker like old buddies has a familiar comfort to it, like (to paraphrase CS Lewis) putting on an old, comfortable pair of slippers.  The movie is also beautifully rendered with wonderful use of color and lighting.

This movie is a big improvement on Toy Story 4, which was a bit unfocused and didn't have a strong theme.  While the films in the original trilogy are still better, Toy Story 5 is a worth successor and worth your time.

Now if you will excuse me, I have to see my three favorite toys from my childhood who are sitting on a shelf in my family room and I am going to take a moment to recall all of the adventures we used to have when I was young.

Film Review: Supergirl (2026)

 

Sexuality/Nudity Acceptable

Violence Acceptable

Vulgarity Acceptable

Anti-Catholic Philosophy Mature

I think of the first three X-Men movies, the third one is the best.

I believe that Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice is an underrated masterpiece.

I am letting you know this upfront because based on the response from critics and the box office, Supergirl is a bomb.

But I disagree.

I think Supergirl is a very good movie, one that I enjoyed despite its flaws.  So I acknowledge that I am in the vast minority when it comes to this film.  My first two statements were for you, dear reader, so that you have a barometer for my taste in super hero films.

I don't mean to be a contrarian.  I was prepared to dislike this movie, but I found it way more charming than most people.

Supergirl is a sequel spin off to last year's Superman.  Supergirl/Kara (Milly Alcock) is different than her cousin Superman (David Corenswet).  Unlike Superman who has no memory of life before Earth, Kara lived for several years after the destruction of Krypton in a floating city of Argo.  For reasons that are explained throughout the film, she is forced to flee with only her dog Krypto.  Because of this, she does not feel at home on Earth and engages in self-destructive behavior.  For her 23rd birthday, she travels to a planet with a red sun so that she can lose her powers and get drunk and party.  It is there that she meets Ruthye (Eve Ridley), whose parents were killed by the leader of a group called the Brigands named Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts).  Ruthye is seeking revenge against Krem.  Kara does not want to get involved, but unfortunately crosses paths with Krem who poisons Krypto.  So Kara only has three days to find Krem and get the antidote.  Along the way they encounter dangers like Lobo (Jason Momoa), who is basically "Space Wolverine,"and other perils along the way.

Many people have criticized Ana Nogueira's script, but it has no more contrivances than most super-hero fare.  The story does go out of its way to seem rebellious in a very immature way.  The opening shot has Krypto urinating on a picture of Superman.  Speaking of urine, the movie also shows Kara sitting on a toilet and peeing.  Things like this seem like super-cheap ways of trying to give Kara some edge.  The set up to how Ruthye's family gets killed is also fairly stupid, but not a deal-breaker.  

The biggest deficit of this movie is that the villain is incredibly boring and bland.  He is basically a generic Russian mobster from a John Wick film but an alien.  He has no real personality to speak of or character.  He is really just there to facilitate Kara's character arc.  This isn't necessarily a knock on Schoenaerts' performance, since he is given very little to work with here.  If the screenwriter thinks that the villain isn't that interesting, why should we.  Contrast that with Lobo, who is really not on screen very much, but steals every scene.  DC has an incredibly stable of cosmic villains to choose from and they chose probably the most boring choice of them all.

Having said that, the movie is good in spite of these flaws.  The success or failure really comes down to whether or not you connect to Kara.  This is a challenge in the beginning, because the movie does not explain to you why she behaves like an irresponsible jerk. The movie has to let that story unfold.  When she first meets Ruthye, she continually talks herself out of helping.  But when Ruthye gets accosted and robbed by the patrons of the bar, Kara cannot help herself by assist.  This, rather than her conflict with Krem, is her main struggle: against herself.  She wants to lose herself in the oblivion of pleasure and self-pity, but her more noble nature nags at her conscience.  This is a movie about going from recklessness to responsibility.

My brother-in-law upon seeing the trailers called this movie Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 4.  And there is some good insight here.  Director Craig Gillespie's approach to alien cultures is very similar to how James Gunn approached them in GOTG: every culture was an analog to human culture.  This is not an uncommon approach, but Gunn did it in a way where the exotic was looked at as mundane in context and Gillespie does the same.  This isn't bad, but it feels very familiar.

One of the strengths of the script is that it knows how to power-scale Kara.  A struggle that many writers have with Superman is that he is so powerful that they cannot find an adequate challenge.  The script for Supergirl is able to avoid this problem by placing Kara into situations (e.g. the planet with the red sun) that puts her and Ruthye in real peril.  While some have criticized these as easy contrivances, I thought that they made sense in context.

I have seen a little bit of Alcock in the series House of the Dragon, but I didn't see a lot that impressed me.  However, I really liked her performance as Kara.  While many viewers found her cockiness off-putting, I saw it as her armor.  She has created a wall of stone around her heart because she has been hurt too much in the past.  I thought that Alcock was able to play the part well of the reluctant anti-hero who slowly comes to true heroism.  You can see why she avoids the responsibility because if she makes the wrong call or isn't good enough, people die.  Alcock lets this weight slowly sink onto her shoulders and the pressure forms her into something more heroic.

Ridley is an excellent balance for Alcock.  She is overly serious and precocious to counteract the world-weary protagonist.  She plays the part of the scared, naive, but determined true-believer.  Her relationship with Kara was what I was hoping would be found between Kamala Kahn and Carol Danvers in The Marvels.  Ridley has to go through various stages of admiration and disappointment with Kara as the layers are slowly peeled back.  Momoa seems to be having a grand ole time chewing the scenery and throwing out snarky comments in every scene.  Corenswet has a small, but important role here acting as a foil to everything that Kara is and standing there for every Kara could be.  He brings that same earnest virtue he did in his own movie.

I thought that Gillespie did a good job of making the action sequences interesting and exciting.  As I mentioned earlier, they script makes sure to put Kara in real peril and because of this the stakes are higher.  I found the scenes where she and/or Lobo let loose on the bad guys to be incredibly enjoyable sequences.  

There is some controversy about the ending, which I will not spoil here.  Kara makes a choice that many could say contradicts the entire heroic theme of the movie.  And I think there is room for debate.  In fact, I think that was the point.  Kara is placed in a situation the choice is not so much whether the action is right or wrong or whether you can take on someone else's sin for them.  It obvious answer to this question from a Catholic perspective is "no."  But the movie does a good job of placing you in Kara's shoes and making you at least see the dilemma that she is in.  I think the movie is fairly ambivalent regarding the morality of that choice and leaves it open to interpretation for the audience.

Last year's Superman was about an ideal hero trying to survive in a fallen world.  

Supergirl is about a fallen hero trying to strive back to the ideal.

I think both films have a lot to offer.

Sunday Best: 4th of July Movie

    (repost)

On this weekend before Independence Day, I thought we'd take a moment to look at movies that instill in us a sense of patriotism.

Right now, there is a great deal of strife that divides us.  But we are Americans and united we stand, divided we fall.  No nation is without sin.  But Independence Day should be a time to focus on what brings us all together and the ideals to which we strive.

These films are not necessarily about valor on the battlefield.  They are movies that remind us of American exceptionalism and how we live in the greatest country in the history of the world.


Captain America: The First Avenger

Some say that this movie is cheesy.  I say it captures a less cynical time in our culture.  Steve Rogers is the perfect embodiment of America.  He doesn't see himself as above anyone (I'm just a kid from Brooklyn), he always seeks to do more, and he lays down his life for the freedom of others.  I still get excited when I hear that Captain America theme as he and the soldiers he rescues come over the hill.


1776

Yes, there are a lot of fictionalized characterizations in this musical.  But you will be struck by the vision and genius of our founding fathers and how they put into words the necessity of a new nation.

Hamilton

While this story goes beyond our fight for Independence, the first act shows us how integral the ideals of freedom were to our founding fathers.  These men shaped not only their times, but ours as well.  Seen through the life of Alexander Hamilton, we can see so many facets of this flawed but brilliant man's life and how each our stories help shape history.

Glory

There are some movies that seem more patriotic than they are (Rocky IV) and there are others that are more patriotic than they seem.  Glory is the latter.  It seems like its about how horribly treated the first black regiment in the Union army was treated.  There is even a long dialogue about one of the main characters is so disgusted with America that he doesn't want to carry the flag.  But all of that is overwhelmed by watching the flag raised and rally the soldiers to battle.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

There is a lot of genius in this film.  Some look at it as too simplistic.  But watch it again and you will see the corruption and cynicism surrounding Jefferson Smith, even by his "friends."  And yet this movie is about standing up for what is right and making a difference and show what real statesmanship looks like.

American Sniper

Not only is this a harrowing account of war and valor, but it is a movie that will remind you that in the modern age, America is still a country worth fighting for.  Though we have our problems and our soldiers are not saints, there is an unsleeping evil in the world from which we are only protected by our soldiers.  It is a reminder that we have a debt to those who fight to keep us safe.

Apollo 13

I can understand people being cynical about the moon race in retrospect.  And just when that cynicism was sinking in, NASA had to deal with their greatest space crisis.  It is a movie about American ingenuity, determination, and ambition.  It will make you feel pride in what we are able to do.

Stripes
(TV version edited for content)

I dare anyone to listen to that theme and not feel more American.  Yes, in the post-Vietnam era there is a lot of humor directed at the military, but ultimately the movie is a love letter to our soldiers.  And I love Bill Murray's amazing performance as he delivers his "America" speech.

13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

This movie makes you appreciate the safety and freedom we enjoy in America and appreciate them those who put themselves into harm's way for

Hacksaw Ridge



One of the great things about this movie is the unquestioning patriotism of its characters.  Desmond Doss does not deny the righteousness of his country's cause.  And he wants to serve as best as his conscience will allow him.  Mel Gibson does a fantastic job of showing the horror of war without any romance or glamour while at the same time showing the soldiers with all of their righteousness and valor.  It also has a great intersection of faith an patriotism that doesn't equate the two but shows how each can benefit from the other.

Lincoln

I dare anyone to watch this movie and not be in awe of this great man.  Here we see the battle over slavery fought not only on the battlefield and in the political arena, but in the hearts and minds of men and women.  This is one of Spielberg's best movie in years with a performance by Daniel Day-Lewis that is for the ages.  There is something so quintessentially American about how Lincoln is portrayed.  There is no attempt to deconstruct him, but the is show with all of his flaws.  And through this, he pushes against seemingly impossible odds to remind us that in this land of freedom and opportunity, we are called to guarantee the same to all of its people.  That is the promise of America.

Thoughts?