15 words or less film review (full review to follow soon)
15 words or less film review (full review to follow soon)
Dear Reader,
As is common at this time of the year, there may be a bit of a pause on the content of this blog. Several projects have been converging and my time demands continue to limit me.
So for the next few weeks, you may see only a one or two posts. But once this current workload passes, we shall return to our regularly scheduled program. With Summer Movie Season on the way, we will have a lot of films to review. We also will celebrate this month the 12th year of this blog.
Thank you again for your patience and we will be back soon.
God Bless,
Catholic Skywalker
We are now in a presidential election year after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The question of abortion will be on the ballot in a way that we have not seen in a long time.
As I’ve written about before, the pro-abortion side was preparing for the overturning of Roe in a way that the pro-life side was not. For many on the pro-life side, the end of Roe v. Wade was seen as the final victory in the struggle for life. But this could not be further from the truth.
The struggle is just starting.
The pro-abortion side was busy at work pushing their views through social media and mass media. Abortion, in many mediums, is celebrated and lauded. Any voice in defense of the unborn is seen as a horrible restriction on women’s rights. The Culture of Death wasted no time. This is nothing new, but the pro-abortion side hit the ground running while the pro-life side is playing catch up.
For example, in my home state of Ohio, last fall we passed a constitutional ammendment basically legalizing all forms of abortion. The winning side successfully convinced enough of the voters that Ohio’s laws restricting abortion were too broad. The average voter favors some abortion rights, but not an unlimited one. For example, the overwhelming majority of people believe abortion should be legal in cases of sexual assault.
Because of things that have happened in Ohio, some pro-life politicians have been moderating their political stances. Fearing that standing up for the life of the unborn will cost them votes, they have done the political calculus of saying that they believe abortion should be legal in some cases.
So how is a Catholic to respond to this?
To be fair, this can be an incredibly complex situation and I do not want to make the mistake of oversimplifying it.
However, we must begin with this as our bedrock foundation: killing unborn children is wrong.
Our ultimate goal needs to the the abolition of abortion and the recognition of the dignity of every life.
But how do we accomplish this goal? Can we compromise on our beliefs?
For example, let’s say that in the next election in Ohio, there is a proposed constitutional ammendment that would keep abortion legal except for in the third trimester. Could a Catholic vote for this in good conscience?
The answer is: it depends.
What it depends on is the interior intention of the voter.
If I vote for this hypothetical ammendment because I think that some human life has value and other human life does not, then my motivation is bad.
But if I vote for this ammendment because I see it is a way to mitigate the mass murder of the unborn and save some children, then yes I can vote for it. Oscar Schindler worked with Nazis and gave money to Nazis in order to bring Jewish people to safety away from the death camps. Schindler could not stop the entire Holocaust, but he saved as many people as he could. In the same way, voting for a law that limits abortion partially is a way to save some life.
The ultimate goal must still be to end abortion. Throughout the years before the Civil War, efforts were made to mitigate the spread of slavery. But the abolitionists always held that the ultimate goal was the end slavery forever. It is morally licit for a Catholic to vote for an imperfect law.
But the voting for that law must be done with the understanding that it is an imperfect compromise that is a temporary measure in pursuit of the perfect. Pro-lifers cannot accept a permanent moderation
After going over the movies that are coming out this summer, I always enjoy trying to predict the summer box office for the following year.
Michael Crichton once said that studios spend millions of dollars every year trying to predict box office. But in the end, it is all guess work. There is no magical formula and no one gets it right all the time.
It is now April, so it's time to look forward to one of my favorite seasons of the year: Summer movie season.
Sexuality/Nudity Acceptable
Violence Acceptable
Vulgarity Acceptable
Anti-Catholic Philosophy Acceptable
As I mentioned in my recent review for Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, I tend to be very easy to please. This is a movie that has lots giant monsters hitting each other.
That's enough to make the 7-year-old in me incredibly happy.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is the fifth film in Warner Bros. "Monsterverse." And it feels like they finally cracked the formula: More monsters, less humans.
The story takes place a few years after Godzilla vs. Kong. Godzilla is still keeping the surface world in balance by taking out other giant monsters. Meanwhile in the hollow earth, Kong has been living free, but lonely in the wilds. He still must survive against hostile forces, which he does by his strength and superior intelligence. Kong then accidentally discovers a subteranian world deeper than the hollow earth, where he encounters other giant apes, but they are immeadiately hostile. On the surface, Jia (Kaylee Hottle), the girl who speaks to Kong starts having visions. Her adopted mother Ilene (Rebecca Hall), doesn't know what to do, but thinks that it is related to disturbing signals from the hollow earth. Together with monster veternarian Trapper (Dan Stevens) and conspiracy podcaster Bernie (Brian Tyree Henry) they explore the source. This eventually leads them and Kong on a collision course with the dangers ape ruler the "Scar King," who could end up leading to the destruction of the surface world. It will take the combined forces of Kong and Godzilla to take them down.
It is amazing to me how different this movie is than Godzilla Minus One. Whereas that one was character-driven, terrifying, and thematically rich, Godzilla x Kong is bassically a live-action Saturday morning cartoon. There is a clear artificiality to the special effects in this movie that fits with the movie's cartoonish nature. For that reason, I wasn't bothered by how animated it looked. Director Adam Wingard seems to embrace this aesthetic and just completely rolls with it. Like all monster movies, we spend time with the humans, but it feels like less, which is a good thing. It isn't that they performances are bad, but they are not why we purchased our tickets.
To emphasize the cartoonish nature of the movie, I would contrast the emotional feel the city scenes here and in Godzilla Minus One. In Minus One, when Godzilla comes to the city, it is a time of fear and tragedy over all the lives lost. When the monsters fight in a populated city, they hurl pieces of skyscraper at each other and it is just fun. There are no thoughts of the innocent civilians on the ground and in the buildings dying. That's because this is a cartoon. It's just a big, bright brawl.
There are some nice themes here too about love and family that are nice and wholesome, but they get completely swallowed up by the monster mayhem.
I've heard some people complain that Godzilla is only in a few minutes of the movie whereas Kong is in a lot more. However, this is completely appropriate. Kong is a much more human character. He is the one that we are going to relate to emotionally. We actually go on his journey through lonlieness and pain. Godzilla is a force of nature. He is power-personified. You want to keep him on the edges and more mysterious. He should always be someone of complete danger, even when he is on your side. When Kong goes to make contact with Godzilla, the giant ape is taking his life into his hands because Godzilla is as likely to kill him upon sight.
Does a lot of the plot make sense? Not really. But it doens't need to for this movie to be enjoyable all the way through. Why do they happen to have a cybernetic hand for Kong in the hollow earth? Who knows, it just looks cool!
If you can accept this type of film making, then you will enjoy this movie.