Little Talks

Perhaps I don't remember much of the movie after all this time, or perhaps there really was not as much of a deep and impactful message to be gleaned. It was good, but it was nothing to special. Yes, there is the obvious underlying idea that "just because it's what is done does not mean it's what should be done", but I think this is something about which our society has become particularly aware. I do not think that we should still have to be explaining that a few years down the road, but when the film came out this certainly served as a good reminder about all of the less-than-preferable elements engrained in our society. What I have always found most interesting about this movie is the key place it holds in the development of Disney's live-action reboot efforts. Beginning with Maleficent (a retelling more than a reboot) and extending to Beauty and the Beast , the current lineup of reboots follows a progression from recreation to replication. When Maleficent ...

[Warning: if you have not seen this movie, this post contains spoilers] About Time  is a unique time travel movie because it conceives of and understands time travelling in a new way, at least compared to most other things I've seen. For starters, these men can't go to any time and place whether it be past, present, or future. Instead they can only go back and relive events in their own lives. Following the classic time travel rules, changing key events can alter things dramatically in the future, and this frequently leaves the main character at a crossroads between preventing tragedies in his own life and changing his children. Births are important events, and we learn that travelling beyond that will inevitably cause a different child to be born. But otherwise, small changes don't always have to have big consequences. Time tends to work itself out. Time travel ends up being used, not for altering the past, but for reliving it. The main character, Tim, uses his powers to v...

I want to start with a little disclaimer. If you have read my blog before, you may be expecting a review. But I'd like to do more than just tell you what the movie is about and what I thought (the same goes for books). So let's see how this goes this summer. When discussing the movie  The Shack , it is hard to ignore the negative feedback that the book has received. Some people are quite concerned with the depiction of God. They say it is too casual, too familiar, perhaps even too loving (as in not as focussed on justice, sin, right and wrong). But these people are forgetting a few important things. One, this is a work of fiction. While it feels like it could (or should) be a true story, and resonates with certain real incidents, it is in fact a fictional story that is meant to demonstrate how God can work in the lives of individuals. Are we to believe that God will manifest himself as a black woman who cooks for us, a young carpenter, or an Asian girl who likes to garden? ...