Wednesday, July 23, 2008

The 10 Dumbest Things Christians Do by Mark Atteberry

Would you be offended by this book's, title? Mark Atteberry gives us a top 10 list that is meant to check our attitudes at the door.

Dumb Things Christians do:

#1 - Slinging Mud on the Bride of Christ.
#2 - Winning People to the Church Rather than to the Lord.
#3 - Living Below the Level of Our Beliefs.
#4 - Speaking Above the Level of Our Knowledge.
#5 - Hopping from Church to Church.
#6 - Fighting Among Ourselves.
#7 - Missing Golden Opportunities.
#8 - Settling for Mediocrity.
#9 - Allowing Wolves to Live Among the Sheep.
#10 - Accepting the Unacceptable.

Some of the "dumb things" may seem a bit harsh, but Atteberry fleshes them out in a way that causes you to look inward instead of playing the blame game. And I think we have become very efficient at blaming others.

The 10 Dumbest Things Christians Do might seem like another post-modern, hand slap against Christians, and it probably is. That may turn a lot of people off. There are times, though, when people need some correction.

It's not a bad thing to honestly look at how you live and make changes if/when necessary.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Space Chimps

I have to come right out and say this; I don't know why this came out in theaters. Was it because of the "kid factor"? Was it really an alternate to The Dark Knight?

Space Chimps is about a probe that gets sucked into a black hole and the chimpanzees who are assigned to retrieve it.

The main character is named Ham III. His grandfather, Ham I, was the first chimp in space. The grandson Ham follows in his grandfather's footsteps by joining a circus and getting shot out of a canon and landing on a drum set.

When the probe is lost, the space program decides to send the chimps after it because it may be too dangerous for humans and they want Ham III to go to add some "spice" to the marketing.

Meanwhile, the probe has landed on a distant planet where the bully gains control and terrorizes the other creatures. It's up to the chimps to rescue the probe and get home.

So it's a cartoon right? A computer generated cartoon. The jokes are quite lame. There were times where I allowed myself to give some polite laughter, maybe a subtle chuckle; but I cannot believe this was not a direct-to-DVD film.

Space Chimps stars the voices of Andy Samberg as Ham III, Cheryl Hines as Luna, Patrick Warburton as Titan and Jeff Daniels as the evil Zartog.

Friday, July 18, 2008

The Dark Knight

The follow-up/sequel to Batman Begins came out this morning. I woke up for the 9:30 AM show. Before we get into the review, you need to know that this movie is long. It clocks in at 2 hours and 30 minutes and there are times where you might feel it. I think I checked my cell phone twice to see what time it was. I came out of the theater feeling like I had been watching Batman all night. But I felt that way because of the early hour.

I was excited to see the early reviews for this monster - Rotten Tomatoes had 100% positives. I was anticipating this movie like a 10 year old waiting for his birthday!

Having said that, this movie is dark. I would not recommend taking small children to see this movie. It isn't promoted like Spider-man and is nothing close to Spider-man. While mainly bloodless, there are countless deaths.

You feel despair from the first bank robbery.

Christian Bale does a fine job as Bruce Wayne and The Batman. The problem comes with his "Batman voice". We heard a small amount of it in Begins while he yelled and gave us one word phrases, but with Knight, Batman is giving longer speeches and his hoarse/gruff "be afraid of me" voice comes across as a bit silly.

The other actors, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman and Aaron Eckhart do fantastic jobs in their roles. The issue continues to be the Rachel Dawes character played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. For some reason I just don't enjoy any screen time with her - for both movies. For The Dark Knight, she's dating Harvey Dent (Eckhart) while waiting for Wayne to quit being Batman.

Wayne sees his chance in Harvey Dent. Dent is the new District Attorney for Gotham and is cracking down on the mob. The citizens have a "hero with a face" and cheer him on in his quest.

Enter The Joker. Heath Ledger is the master of this movie. Any time he isn't on screen, you're wishing he was. And when he is on screen, his performance is so disturbing you never want it to end...Makes one feel a little dark for enjoying the crazy antics of the psychotic killer.

Because The Joker has no deep, hidden reason for what he does, anyone can be killed in this movie at any time...anyone. Christopher Nolan and his brother have written a script that holds nothing back.

Even with the small flaws (I'm thinking of the policeman constantly saying "This is not good") The Dark Knight is the best Summer movie I have seen...Ever.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Sex God


Rob Bell
's second book tackles the idea of spirituality in our lives. The title is a little misleading.

What if we are living life incorrectly? What if God had set up a way of life but we went off track? We became disconnected to what God created and so we end up going further and further from His plan.

We begin to wonder why we can't "hear" Him in our prayers. We find that we no longer have the respect for others and we have such ugly, hateful images in our minds. We start treating people as objects.

I don't think this book is as controversial as his first book titled, Velvet Elvis. The only down side I have for this book is the title - I think it's called Sex God so it will cause a stir in the Christian Community.

Monday, July 7, 2008

Hancock

I believe it's a universal fact that Will Smith owns the July 4th weekend. And with Hancock, Smith continues his domination at the box office.

Smith plays Hancock, a drunk with superpowers: he can fly, he has super strength and is indestructible. Every time he "saves" someone, he ends up costing more in damages. He crushes highway signs, destroys trains, throws whales onto sailboats and tears up the roads.

When he saves PR man Ray Embrey, (Jason Bateman) he gains an ally and friend. Embrey wants to turn his image around from the horrible super freak to the superhero the city needs. However, Ray's wife, Mary (Charlize Theron) is not happy that her husband has teamed up with the no-good disaster.

There are some funny moments in this summer blockbuster. Everything you laughed at in the trailer is in this film. And there are a few funny, Will Smith, moments. There is no doubt that he is a terrific actor.

The problem with this movie comes in a sudden twist that many critics have said comes out of nowhere, and they're pretty much correct. Nobody saw this one coming. And it takes a while for everyone to get back into the mood of the film.

The biggest disappointment was the language. Do you remember Get Shorty? Remember all the swearing in the first five minutes of that movie alone? The writers of Hancock seemed to want to write the dialogue along those lines. And it really turned me off of the plot. They try to use a swear word as a running joke. Stick around for the credits and there is it again. They just can't let it go.

I don't think this was Smith's better movies, and it had too much cussing in it, but it's still a summer-blockbuster-eye-candy-trip. And the box office numbers proclaim Will Smith reigning king.

Until July 18th...

Vantage Point

During a rainy July fourth, I watched Vantage Point. Starring Dennis Quaid and Matthew Fox as Secret Service agents, Sigourney Weaver as a cable news director, and Forrest Witaker as a tourist with a video camera, Vantage Point gives you a look at the same fifteen minutes of an event from multiple, you guessed it, vantage points.

The President of the United States has gathered with many of the world's leaders in Spain to initiate a new task force to battle terrorism. As he steps up to the podium, with arms outstretched, a sniper shoots him. The place goes into chaos with people running around, screaming; and then the bomb goes off.

Dennis Quaid is the seasoned agent who had taken a bullet for the President earlier in his term and is just now returning to active duty because his partner (Fox) believes in him. He does a great job with that sour face of his. I think in almost every movie he's in, he wears that scowl. That could be because his smile is very goofy.

Matthew Fox comes across as your typical American hero. I haven't seen Speed Racer or We Are Marshall, but this man will have a future in films.

Sigourney Weaver starts the movie off, but you really don't see much of her. I guess that's alright. We see her point of view first and then that's it.

There are twists as you would expect in this film. It is a good action-thriller. The run time is only one hour and thirty minutes so it's a very quick movie.

I think the point of the movie, outside of being a good action film, is to show that there are always reasons or back stories. Even if you think you understand what's going on, you may be surprised.

I give this film a 4 out of 5.


Thursday, July 3, 2008

Velocity by Dean Koontz

Dean Koontz seems to be a hit and miss for me. I have really enjoyed his, Sole Survivor, The Taking, Phantoms, Watchers, and the Frankenstein novels; but I couldn't even finish his works such as: The Vision, The Bad Place, Intensity, Odd Thomas, or The Husband.

So I go into his books with strong hesitation. I'm never sure of what I'm going to get. Some of his novels are great; with strong characters and a driving story. Others are lame-brained with horrid graphic detail.

I actually only read Velocity because it was given to me.

This tale follows Billy Wiles - bartender and seemingly innocent man until a serial killer decides to use him as the decider. Billy finds a note beneath his car's windshield wipers that reads,

If you don't take this note to the police and get them involved, I will kill a lovely blond schoolteacher. If you do take this note to the police, I will instead kill an elderly woman active in charity work. You have four hours to decide. The choice is yours.

What would you do? Would you think it a terrible joke? When the first death is reported, Billy knows it's for real and he is thrust into one choice after another. Leaving us with the question: "Why?"

This was one of Koontz's better stories. I kept turning the pages to find out what was going to happen next. The chapters were very short which helped in the speed in which I read this book. And by the time I realized the identity of the killer; it was one of those "I should have saw that coming" moments.

The negative comments I have for Velocity is that there are some graphic parts near the end of the novel. But I think they were needed to create how you would feel for a character.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women

My always-thinking father passed on a DVD set of Sci-Fi movies. I began watching them last night. The first film was called, Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women.

It begins with a summary of what kind of ships and vehicles we could see in the future:


From there, we see a ship going to Venus. Of course, it crashes and another team is sent to rescue them.

Once on the planet, they encounter giant lizards. Luckily they have a robot named John to protect them...that's right, a robot named John.

There are also a group of women on Venus (thus the prehistoric women) and they worship some sort of flying lizard. When the astronauts kill the lizard, the girls get angry.

The funniest part may be the voice dubbing but even that gets old in this 78 minute space show.