This Blog Has Finally Moved

This Blog has finally moved to a new location over at http://landanland.com/. This is more for personal reasons than anything, because it’ll give me a chance to mess with some web programming. The site has some little quirks and bugs that need to be wrinkled out.  I went in and modified the code of a preexisting template rather than start from scratch. I still have a lot of work to do to get the site to where I want it. But it’s up, so head on over there. Also feel free to give me feedback on my About page.

Film Review: The Hurt Locker

The Hurt Locker is a war movie, but not in the same way that Saving Private Ryan is a war movie. This film has an episodic structure rather than a large overarching plot, which places the emphasis on character. This is a very good thing. This isn’t to say that you won’t be left gripping your seat, because you will. The moments of heart stopping tension just pass by more quickly and come more frequently than in your typical war thriller drama.

The film follows a squad of soldiers in Iraq who are in charge of eliminating ordinances (explosives) by carefully diffusing them or bluntly blowing them up. The job is dangerous and survival isn’t guaranteed. The film isn’t afraid to make examples of some of its characters to prove this point.

Staff Seargent Williams (played by Jeremy Renner) is a fearless tech team leader, who’s approach to eliminating bombs is unorthodox and reckless to say the least. Although Williams’ character comprises the focus of the film, he comes onto the scene later after the viewer has been acquainted with the secondary characters first. This is a smart move on the filmmaker’s part because it demonstrates to the audience the senselessness of the man’s actions in comparison to those of his predecessor.

Williams could have easily been portrayed as a two dimensional superhero who’s courage and skill allow him to do no wrong. Thankfully, both the script and Renner’s solid performance prevent this from being the case. The Staff Sergeant makes mistakes, lots of mistakes. Even when he emerges from a situation victorious or alive, you can’t help but wonder if his actions were the best way to go about things. At times we get glimpses into a deeply buried emotional core. Behind his cocky exterior is a man who feels fear and uncertainty.

The supporting cast puts in excellent performances as well. There’s a good amount of chemistry that establishes a believable love/hate relationship between the team members and Williams. It is through them that the audience is able to relate to the often times alien Staff Sergent.

The cinematography is well done. As this is a war movie, a good portion of it is shot using hand held cameras. Still, there are some beautifully shot gratuitous slow motion explosions peppered throughout the film.

This had a limited release, so it can be hard or near impossible to find showings. Check local art house cinemas or wait for this to show up on DVD. This is an excellent and thought provoking piece that should be seen.

I don’t like to brag but…

I just found out that I am a blood type O neg. Which means that any blood I donate can be used by anyone. Conversely if I get in trouble and need a transfusion, it’s going to be harder to find blood for me. Just thought it was cool that I have that capability.

Changes Hopefully Coming Soon

I’m trying to teach myself html, CSS, and PHP to hopefully get a nicer and more professional layout to this blog. Hopefully those changes will be coming soon. Unfortunately that means that my blogging won’t be as regular as I’d hoped to have it at this point. I’m going to try and start hammering out a quality post everyday. Feedback from my readers (assuming any of you guys are still around) is much appreciated. Tell me what you like and what you don’t like. Are you guys interested in film reviews?

Speaking of film reviews, I’ll hopefully have one for the Hurt Locker written up soon, so be on the lookout for that.

Christianity and Evolution Make Strange Bedfellows

Christianity currently finds itself in the midst of an interesting transition. Young people have shown a greater willingness to leave behind their parents’ religious traditions than they have in the past. This is due in large part to the growing minority of the non-religious and an increased social acceptance of atheism (source 1, 2 ). Still, the majority of children who grow up in evangelical households will maintain their Christian identity, although often in a form that looks significantly different than that of their parents’.

In order to deal with the conflict between growing social pressures and keeping their faith, many Christians have responded by claiming a belief in both evolutionary theory and Christianity. This approach has been especially popular among Christian intellectuals and scientists such as Kenneth R. Miller and Francis Collins. The Catholic church itself has taken a stance that permits if not welcomes those who are staunch believers of evolutionary theory (source).

Science and Religion: Complementary or Opposites?

I’d like to do a series on religion and it’s relation to scientific findings/reasoning. I know that many consider this topic long dead, but I feel that there’s some new perspectives and questions I can bring to the discussion.

There’s questions that I’ve wanted to ask for a long time, but have been afraid to ask. I want to explore these questions head on. I have so many great resources available from both sides of the theistic spectrum and I hope to use those to come to a better understanding of this issue.

This is a topic I’m very passionate about. Ever since I first encountered this site (warning: this site may be disturbing to your beliefs) during my junior year of high school, I’ve come to realize that this issue is not as simple as I was led to believe by Sunday school teachers or my parents.

I have an inclination towards religious belief and that’s a good part why I’ve continue to identify myself as a Christian. However, I’ve found that my ability to participate in religious activities such as prayer and the reading of scripture has begun to decay over the years. There’s been several periods where I’ve gained some respite and been able to participate in religious disciplines with some amount of fervor (just look at some of my earliest posts on this blog). However, at this point in my life I feel that if I must stop an make a careful examination of my beliefs, the beliefs of the people around me, and ask the questions that have been buried in the back of my mind.

I hope this discussion will be enlightening and constructive for everyone who reads this as well.

Film Review: Rachel Getting Married

In a recent interview concerning his upcoming documentary (Meeting Andrei Tarkovsky), Dmitry Trakovsky (not related) talks about the difference in approaches between contemporary films and the films of Tarkovsky. One of the most defining characteristic of a Tarkovsky film is its use of extended shots, which places an emphasis on the moment. In his interview Dmitry speaks of how he feels that many of today’s contemporary films force the viewer to only be concerned with what happens next.

While Rachel Getting Married does not come close to approaching the look and feel of a Tarkovsky film, it does frequently possess a delightful sense of being in the moment. It is within these seemingly organic slivers of time that the wide range of human emotion is portrayed in a disarmingly authentic manner. Grief, anger, jealousy, joy, and love make their presence felt within the context of the celebration of a marriage and all without the taint of manipulation. Several times throughout the film I couldn’t help but wince or crack a smile as I recognized parallels between my own loved ones and the characters on the screen.

Movie Review: Patton

I saw this based on the recommendation of my favorite movie critic, James Berardinelli, over at his reelviews site. This is listed as his number one favorite film. Since he and I have similar tastes, I thought I’d give the film a chance. The film was well received when it came out. It won seven Academy Awards in 1970, including best picture.

While I can perhaps understand why the film is so well loved by people like Berardinelli, I feel that the film’s flaws ultimately mar the viewing experience from being either entertaining or intellectually stimulating. This film has not aged well.

George C. Scott does a fine job as the general, but his performance is weighed down by self-conscious dialog. Rather than organic, the dialog feels sterile and contrived. Much of the time it was obvious that the purpose of much of the dialog was to put in a humorous quip attributed to the famous general, rather than to reach any sort of understanding of the man’s complex character.

Because of this general feeling of separation between the film and its subject matter, very little sympathy is generated for the General and his problems. This shouldn’t be the case in a dramatic biopic such as this.

Despite the problems of the film, it does succeed in several instances. The opening sequence, where Patton gives his speech before a giant star spangled banner is perhaps one of the most iconic images in American film (not to mention having been parodied a countless number of times). The scene in the medical tent where Patton slaps a scared soldier senseless was also well done in that it helped to show a perspective of the event not often shared by history books or the public.

Patton isn’t a bad movie, it’s just not a great one. Certainly if you have an interest in the general then this film may interest you, but I’d be hard pressed to recommend it to anyone else.

Authenticity Redux

I’ve written on Authenticity before.

I feel that the church is missing that a lot of times. This isn’t a pointing of fingers either, I’m part of the problem as well. There’s something about Church and being around other religious people that makes me afraid to open up. It’s as if my salvation depends on the validation of the people around me rather than on God.

My Dad was talking to me recently about how he had visited one of the older people’s Sunday morning classes. I guess he was expecting little drops of wisdom from them. His thinking was that they’d lived life longer, had more experience, so they must be wiser. Unfortunately, all he heard throughout the whole class was canned responses. There may have been correct doctrine, but it was separated from feeling and experience.

The Bag Chase

This is a film I did Junior year of high school. My dad’s been hounding me to get him a copy of it, so here it is. I really enjoyed making it.