Christians???? Movie Review

Christian congregations always amaze me in the way they profess to love one another, love God and Jesus even, but then go contrary to what the good book teaches in their relations with each other. To illustrate my point there are a couple of things that come to mind. In the 6,000 population town that I was raised in the Church of Christ congregations got mad at each other every few years and then split and formed a new church. The last count I had they had created 7 Church of Christ congregations in this small town. Seemed strange to me since I was raised in the Presbyterian Church and we never split, guess we must have taken the teaching in the Bible a little more serious. But I always wondered what the deal was here and why they just can’t get along. But from a business stand point I also noted that this created jobs for 6 more ministers, choir directors, business managers, and required building another building, furnishing it, and buying all the hymnals for the choir and congregation Guess that is not all bad!! Yesterday I came in from my bicycle ride and as I entered the main entrance to Ransom Canyon I noticed that the new chapel was being completed for another Christian congregation for Ransom Canyon (population 1,000), Now I know the full story on why it was created so I know it is not because of growth in the original chapel but simply because they got mad at each other and it basically divided in half and they had to have a place to meet, so they built a new chapel. It is also built on a location that it is the first or second thing you notice when turning in to the main road. That had to be done to spite the original chapel since it is located within the population of the town. I also noticed where the building is built like a gasoline service station and I wondered if they were going to sell Chevron or Shell gasoline in the drive up over hang. Then I noticed that they had added a cross to the front of the build so this must sanctify the building into some kind of official worship service. It really seems so stupid to me since they are Christians, and the Bible is the bible and it doesn’t call for anything like this. I am sure that God sits up there somewhere and really enjoys watching all of this ridiculous hypocrisy. When they first divided I went to one of their meetings and walked away shaking my heads wondering how grown adults could call themselves Christians with all of the name calling and negative conversation that was going on. Instead of joining either of the dividing factions I chose to stay home on Sunday morning and enjoy a good run, or even do a blog article on the subject. While I realize we must have things to disagree over and even fight over it seems to me that this is not what God intended. But who really knows until we meet the maker in a more formal atmosphere, i.e. we all hope in that place called heaven.

Movie Review: “Shutter Island”, *, this movie had great acting in it but it was probably one of the most mind twisting, depressing movies I have even seen. I gave it a one star for the acting and Leonardo DiCaprio will probably be nominated for his acting. The setting for the story was in an institute for the extremely hard core criminally insane, the worst of the worst type of criminal. The story was hard to follow and was as gruesome as you can imagine. It all revolved around the search and investigation of one of the inmates who had brutally killed her three children, but as the story unfolds you will find that this is not really the story at all. It twists around like a pretzel and finally has a conclusion nearly 2 hours later. Supporting roles by Ben Kingsley, and Mark Ruffalo are excellent but still not worth the mental misery we are subjected to. We also had to sit on the 3rd row and I think it hit harder that close in. Bottom line, if you go after reading all of this you are one sick puppy! Rated R for disturbing violent content (understatement), language and some nudity (I missed that)!!

greerman

To Ramble, Movie Reviews

Since it has been nearly a month without posting on this site I am going to blame it on just being real busy; however, I could just say that I didn’t have anything to say or maybe had some writer block. Nothing could be further from the truth since I always have something to say. But the kicker is I want to say something that is close to being worthwhile so maybe I was just hanging in there for that light bulb of worthy subjects to happen. The fact is I have been traveling a lot and the computer I took with me just didn’t do the job for me. Now I am back from a very successful business trip to Colorado and now I am ready to write. My meetings in Colorado Springs included the USA Triathlon annual race director’s conference and it was very good. I was voted the oldest race director at the conference and probably the world since people my age have a different life than what I do. They spend time with their grand kids, work in the garden, play checkers or go to the senior clubs to compare the latest surgeries, etc. While I am not criticizing this activity at all it is just not what I want to do in life. So it is fun to go into a meeting at least 20 years older than most, but the cool thing is that there is always something to talk about, yep, my age. Since I have no intention of “retiring” or “quitting” I guess my unique topic of discuss will continue to be my age. From what I have gathered most people will retire and these people that are now 20 years younger than me will be retiring right before my eyes and then I will be dealing with people who are 40 years younger than me. Now I am having to work my way through this technological society who sit around and twitter their face book till their fingers are numb then they consult their e-mails and do that irritating texting and then lo and behold they might actually carry on a conversation at some point. In another 40 years I suppose we will just walk in a room to talk and we will have some kind of computer on our chest that you just touch for communication, so then we will not have to make any effort. Since I just completed my annual physical and my doctor declared me a freak of nature (the only surgery I have ever had was my tonsils out at age 8) and he would gladly trade the blood tests results for his. Excuse me doc but I am not in the trading mood, especially for my blood test results. He declared me very fit and said my ekg showed that my heart was doing the same thing it did last year during the test; it was beating at a reasonable rate and was healthy. Glad to hear that since I swim, bike, run, ride my motorcycle, and bowl. Please take your annual physical as soon as possible. The good news if you have nothing wrong, you will know it and feel good about it, but if you have something wrong you can catch it early and then do something about it. My simple solutions for staying healthy are not just exercising, since you must also exercise the brain and eat the right kind of food, no matter what. One of the things that I did a lot of during this nearly one month of not writing is go to the most current movies, so now I must get to the movie reviews. A record number, of seven will be reviewed.

Movie Reviews: “Tooth Fairy”, ***, actually a cute movie but really for those aged kids that still believe in the tooth fairy. Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has the title role, introduced as a minor league hockey player who discourages a youngster and is sentenced to one week’s hard labor as the real Tooth Fairy. Kind of stupid really but again the kids will really enjoy it. It is still playing in Lubbock so that means people are going to see it. Rated PG for mild language, some rude humor and sports action.

“Crazy Heart”, *****, This is a real good one starring Jeff Bridges as richly comic, semi-tragic, romantic anti-hero country and western singer Bad Blake. He has had way too many marriages, far too many years on the road and one too many drinks too many times. He finally reaches for salvation after a near disaster with the help from Jean played by Maggie Gyllenhall, a journalist who discovers the man behind the musician. Bridges has been nominated for best actor; he deserves to win in my opinion. Rated R for language and brief sexuality.

“The Lovely Bones”, **, For once I agree with the local critic on this one. Kind of a weird story where a teen age girl is murdered and then looks down on her family from heaven. Some of the scenes are repetitive, long and boring. Not even good acting makes this worth the high priced ticket. Good popcorn didn’t save it either. Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material involving disturbing violent content and images, and some language.

“The Edge of Darkness”, ****, This is a very good movie with lots of brutality and stars Mel Gibson as a veteran Boston police detective, whose adult daughter dies from a shotgun blast on his front porch. Convinced that he was not the target, Gibson delivers a character fueled by his own grief to find out the real story and why this happened. He is perfect for the part and does a great job of acting. The ending is worth waiting for since it is a 2 hours long. Rated R for strong bloody violence, language (to say the least).

“From Paris With Love”, ***, This movie is okay but I wouldn’t spend prime time bucks on it. It is a story of a low-ranking intelligence officer, working in the office of the U.S. ambassador in France. To spice the movie up he is assigned with a partner that is a wisecracking, rule breaking, fast-shooting, high-ranking American agent played by John Travolta. Sometimes the movie script is overwhelmed by the Travolta dominance of the scenes. Go see on bargain ticket. Rated R for strong bloody violence throughout, drug content, pervasive language and brief sexuality.

“When In Rome”, ***, Kristen Bell stars as an ambitious New Yorker who, disillusioned with romance, takes a whirlwind trip to Rome, where she defiantly plucks magic coins from a foolish fountain of love. She inexplicably ignites the passion of an odd group of suitors: a sausage magnate, a street magician, an adoring painter, and a self-admiring model. Makes for a cute story and Kristen is very easy on the eyes. Go see during prime time just to see her!! Rated PG-13 for some suggestive content.

“The Wolfman”, ***, Funny how there are movies galore about vampires, then it goes to werewolves. The acting is beyond reproach with Benicio Del Toro, Gwen Conlifffe, and Anthony Hopkins. Of course the story is about the monster that is killing everyone in grand bloody style, and then passing on the bad blood that makes this killing a requirement to wear the hairy armor of a werewolf. A remake of the original classic and very well done. Rated R for bloody horror, violence and gore.

greerman