Monday, October 27, 2008

Quarantine

I can't believe I watched this film. I was encouraged to see it by a friend and I should have known what kind of thing I was getting myself into when this friend is really into zombie movies.

But Quarantine isn't a zombie movie.

If you mixed 28 Days Later with The Blair Witch Project, you would get Quarantine.

It was compared to Cloverfield because of the camera work, but I'd say it's more like the Blair Witch because of how horrible the camera is. At least there was some steadiness to Cloverfield.

But enough of the comparisons.

This film is about a late night reporter (the girl you see in the photo) doing a story about firefighters. After the first 20 minutes of learning some stuff about what it's like for them, there's an alarm and they're sent off to an apartment complex.

They go inside and some of the tenets claim a woman was screaming in the upstairs. They go up to investigate and find this lady having trouble breathing and blood over her shirt.

Then the attack comes and they're trapped inside the building. The police believe there to be some kind of outbreak and seal the place up tight.


The plus side of the film is that the questions are answered. You find out what is going on and why. Another plus is how realistic everything is. Well, let me amend that. There are some recognizable faces in the cast so that puts a damper on the whole "it's real" thing going. You'll see people like Rade Serbedzija (of Batman Begins), Greg Germann (from Ally McBeal and other tv shows), and Dania Ramirez (from Heroes)

The negative side; I really got sick watching this film. I still have a headache from it. I didn't get sick by Cloverfield. There's alot of cussing, but that's to be expected when you're scared out of your mind, right? And the big negative is the lead - the reporter. She is incredibly annoying. Her cameraman does all he can to calm her down but she just gets more and more agitated which translates into the whimpering and crying.

I know defenders will say that's realistic, and maybe so. By the time we got near the end of the film, I was ready for the camera to be turned off.

Unless you're a zombie fan, don't bother with Quarantine.

House

Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker's novel, House finally makes it to the cinemas. It's been quite the journey for this film. This is Dekker's second book-to-film experience. His first was Thr3e and I must say that House is a better film.

You would expect that since they have a larger budget and updated equipment.

There aren't any big name actors in this film. They are, however actors that you may remember from other films.

We have Julie Ann Emery (from Hitch), Bill Moseley (from the Halloween remake), and Michael Madsen (from Free Willy) starring.

Two couples find themselves in a creepy house. There are three tenents who offer them a place to stay (it's kinda like an Inn). Things go from creepy to worse when one of them tries to leave and there's a man blocking their escape. He's the Tin Man and he wants one person to die tonight. All they have to do is decide which one.

But there's something deeper going on...and when they find a little girl who's been hiding in the basement, you'll never know who to trust.


The acting is much better in this film. The people who live in the house are just as creepy on screen as they were in the book.

With a run-time of just over 80 minutes, you don't get as much story as you did in the book. But that works just fine in a horror movie. The time spent down in the basement often got confusing in the book. Here, you follow each character and won't get lost.

House is rated R but there is no nudity, no sexual content, and I don't think there's even blood - I could be wrong though. There are a couple moments where people cuss but it's very minor. (Get Short this movie is not). I think one of the big reasons this film got an R rating is because someone points and shoots a little girl with a shot gun. If you have a film where kids are in danger/harm, the ratings will become PG-13 or R very quickly.

The ending was a little cheesy; this whole idea behind the "light" didn't quite work out as to be expected. But the film is another step in the right direction for artists like Ted Dekker.

The Hunt for Red October by Tom Clancy

As brief as I can be, the novel is not as good as the film. Perhaps that's because I've seen the movie so many times before reading the book.

The Russians have a submarine that can move under the water without using propellers; it runs by pushing water through it's system. They call it the caterpillar drive.

The captain of the sub decides to defect to the United States and take his sub with him.

The Russians aren't very happy about this, of course, so they send their fleet after him.

Jack Ryan, a CIA analyst, believes the Russian captain wants to defect instead of believing what the Russians tell them that he is going to attack America.

The book becomes a race game to who can get to the silent submarine first.

Not as good as the movie. You just can't beat Sean Connery doing a Russian accent...or actually NOT doing a Russian accent.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Jesus Wants To Save Christians by Rob Bell

This is the third book by Rob Bell. And I think it may be his weakest. In Jesus Wants to Save Christians, Bell draws comparisons to the current political activism of some Evangelical Christian circles and Rome, The United States and Rome.

Both Rome and The USA are "empires". Both use the expression peace through force. Both were occupying another country.

Whether you agree with Bell's accusations, his conclusions bring out some great thought and debate. Check out some of these stats:

Every 7 seconds, a child under age 5 dies of hunger. Americans throw away 14 % of their food.

More than half of the world lives on less than 2 dollars a day. The average American teenager spends $150 a week.

Most of the people in the world do not own a car. 1/3 of American families own 3 cars.

Americans spend more annually on trash bags than half the world does on all goods.

These stats are found on page 122 $ 123 of the book. And they're not meant to give you guilt. They aren't meant to give you reason to hate America. They are meant to get you off your seat and be passionate about the things Jesus is passionate about.

While not as good as Velvet Elvis or Sex God, Jesus Wants to Save Christians is a great read for any follower of Christ.

O2 by Richard Dahlstrom

O2: breathing new life into faith could almost be Richard Dahlstrom jumping on the Donald Miller band wagon.

The tag line is, "I see more passion for trees in the Sierra Club than I do for Jesus in the church."

Is that true? Have so many church-goers/Christians lost their passion for Jesus?

Dahlstrom compares our faith to breathing (O2) oxygen - we need to breathe in the teachings of Jesus and all the knowledgeable things from the Bible (and many of us do) but we also need to breathe out. We need to then participate in the work of Jesus.

You know, Jesus did give instructions about how to be a follower of Him. And Dahlstrom uses fresh ways to challenge people who are fed up with carbon copied Christianity.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Fuse of Armageddon by Sigmund Brouwer & Hank Hanegraaf

I read the majority of this novel while on vacation. And it went past that even. Fuse of Armageddon is a large/long novel.

In a nutshell, this the response to the Left Behind series. Where Left Behind talks about the biblical end times as if they were to happen on our lifetime, Fuse of Armageddon speaks on the idea that it has already happened a long time ago. And the people who believe Left Behind theology could actually cause much more destruction than they realize.

Mulvaney Quinn is a hostage negotiator whose wife and daughter were killed when a suicide bomber destroyed the bus they were on. He is called in to speak to the terrorist who kidnapped a group of Christians when they were touring Israel.

What Quinn doesn't know is that there are powerful men pulling the strings behind-the-scenes who want to see their vision for Israel and Palestine come true.

If their plan succeeds, life would forever change on this planet.

While not as pop culture as Left Behind was, this story does give the reader a different look on how religion plays a part in our dealings with the Middle East.

If you can get past the length, Fuse of Armageddon is a nice "beach" read.

Breach

I'm getting extremely lucky with my local library. They're starting to get more recent films like Breach.

Starring Chris Cooper as FBI agent Robert Hanssen, Ryan Phillippe as FBI operative Eric O'Neil, and Laura Linney as agent Kate Burroughs; Breach tells the true story of how the greatest espionage breach was captured.

Agent Burroughs brings in O'Neil to spy on a fellow FBI agent Hanssen. They believe Hanssen is giving information to America's enemies.

It's a cat-and-mouse game to see if O'Neil can out fox Hanssen.

What makes this movie even better is the fact that it's based on a true story - one that happened 7 years ago.

Hanssen seems to be a great family man. His family is very Catholic (he goes to Mass whenever he can and every Sunday), his grandchildren love him and his involved in his community. But there's another side to this man; one you'll have to see for yourself if you choose to see this movie.

O'Neil is trying to become an FBI agent and thinks this assignment may be his chance. But things get very confusing for him once he and Hanssen become friends...who do you trust?

There is some language and a scene of sexual conduct that, frankly, I thought didn't need to be part of the story at all. No body parts are shown, but it just didn't seem to fit with the story.

But having said that, I think Breach was a great film and an amazing true story.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Murder on the Orient Express

I found this film at the library. I remember watching it a long time ago and wanted to watch it again.

Murder on the Orient Express is based on an Agatha Christie novel and full of colorful characters. As with most of her stories, there's a murder than someone needs to solve and find out "Whodunit".

For this film, the tasks falls to Detective Poirot; played by Albert Finney (Daddy Warbucks). Poirot is traveling on the Orient Express with a number of passengers and one of them ends up murdered! The suspect list includes:

Lauren Bacall as Harriet Belinda Hubbard
Ingrid Bergman as Greta Ohlsson
Sean Connery as Colonel Arbuthnot
Anthony Perkins as Hector Willard MacQueen
Michael York as the Count Andrenyi
plus many many more.

The beginning of the movie is rather boring until one of the characters pulls Detective Poirot aside as asks if he would be his body guard because his life is in danger. Poirot refuses and, sure enough, the next morning the man is found dead.

Which one of these characters was the murderer?

4 out of 5 stars.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn

Dark Force Rising is the second volume of Timothy Zahn's Star Wars trilogy. The title refers to a fleet of ships that both the Empire and the New Republic would like to get their hands on.

The Empire, led by Grand Admiral Thrawn (big meany), are on the heels of Han Solo and his band of merry friends as they zip around the galaxy.

Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker visits a mysterious jedi in order to receive more training. But this jedi isn't your typical Yoda or Obi-Wan. Will Luke be seduced to the Dark Side yet?

And Leia finds out that she has some interesting body guards that are connected to her through her father, Darth Vader.

Book two in any trilogy have the trouble of bridging great intros and, hopefully, exciting climaxes. Dark Force Rising (along with this trilogy so far) hasn't given me any excitement for Star Wars other than it deals with the characters I loved as a kid.

One thing I really don't like about these books is how Zahn takes lines from the movies and has the characters repeat them over and over again as if we'll enjoy the book more because we recognize and remember the films. "Bah" to you Zahn! You've yet to give me hope.