The Secret of Kells

Don't let the beautiful, charming animation fool you. This is not a movie for young kids. People die.

This engaging movie draws you in with fascinating characters and edge-of-your-seat drama. One of the most interesting things about this film is the importance it gives to the written word. Our greatest achievement, it would seem, is what we write. The most important thing we can do and the biggest contribution we can make is to keep and preserve our "journal." As long as our records survive, we survive.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Galadriel: Why the Hafling?
Gandalf: Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay... small acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? Perhaps it's because I am afraid and he gives me courage. 

Yeah, okay, I'm not a huge LOTR nut, but I loved seeing and exploring more of Tolkien's world, and I loved Gandalf in this movie.

The Secret of NIMH

Justin: It's wrong to take electricity from the farmer.
Nicodemus: My child, we can no longer live as rats. We know too much.

A while ago, I got an ominous and isolated tweet that from Adam Young that said, "Johnathan Brisby was killed today while helping with the plan." I didn't know what that meant, but it sounded very intriguing, so I followed the link on the tweet to the hauntingly beautiful music of this video:

This is a seriously freaky movie. It scared me as a child. I didn't remember very much about it except the feeling of prevailing gloominess and the terror and helplessness I felt as the frightened animals fled in panic as the tractor destroyed their homes. That is, until I watched it again tonight for the first time in maybe ... 20 years? As I immersed myself in the movie, I felt like I was facing my fears. My heart was pounding for the first half hour, until I finally got a hold of myself. I was utterly horrified when Mrs. Brisby lost Timmy's medicine, and I was moved by how much she missed her husband.
You can tell that the team of animators (who left Disney in the early 80's because they didn't like the way the studio was cutting corners on the animation quality) painstakingly crafted every detail of the gorgeous hand-drawn images.
In a world where motherhood is too often mocked, it's refreshing to see a film that exalts the role of a mother. Mrs. Brisby has guts! She's much braver than I think I ever could be. She loves her kids and fights to protect them.
Do we live in a way that reflects how much we know?

Cowboys & Aliens

Woodrow Dolarhyde: What are you all choked up about?

Emmett Taggart: I'm worried about my grandpa.

Woodrow Dolarhyde: Look. When I was just a little bit older than you are now, all this was Mexico. Word came that the Apaches was riding towards a settlement called Arivaca. My father wanted me to be a man, so made me ride out with the garrison, banging on a drum. Boy, was I scared. Well, we got there, it was too late. They were all dead and the whole place was burnt down. This settler fella came crawling out of a burning cabin. He was bad. He knew he was gonna die. Burnt bad. He rolled over, looked up into my eyes, and he said "Kill me."

Emmett Taggart: What did you do?

[takes the knife from Emmett's belt buckle]

Woodrow Dolarhyde: I took this knife off his belt and I slit his throat. Take it.

[Emmett takes the knife back]

Woodrow Dolarhyde: Be a man.

I think Harrison Ford plays a character in this film that can match pretty much any John Wayne persona in terms of true grit. And let's face it, Quorra is pretty cute, too:

Thor

Thor: The Jotuns must pay for what they have done!
Odin: They have paid, with their lives. The Destroyer did its work, the Casket is safe, and all is well.
Thor: All is well? They broke into the weapons vault! If the Frost Giants have stolen even one of these relics...
Odin: They didn't.
Thor: Well I want to know why!
Odin: I have a truce with Laufey, king of the Jotuns.
Thor: He just broke your truce! They know you are vulnerable!
Odin: What action would you take?
Thor: March into Jotunheim as you once did! Teach them a lesson! Break their spirits, so they would never dare try to cross our borders again!
Odin: You're thinking only as a warrior.
Thor: This was an act of war!
Odin: It was the act of but a few, doomed to fail.
Thor: Look how far they got!
Odin: We will find the breach in our defenses and it will be sealed.
Thor: As king of Asgard...!
Odin: BUT YOU'RE NOT KING! Not yet.

"A wise king never seeks out war. But - he must always be ready for it." I like the antiwar message of this movie and the way that Thor has to learn humility and compassion. He has to learn to be grateful for what he has and to treat other people with dignity. He shows as much when he offers to sacrifice himself to save his friends:

Thor: Brother, however I have wronged you, whatever I have done that has led you to do this, I am truly sorry. But these people are innocent, taking their lives will gain you nothing. So take mine, and end this.

No, it's not OK to kill frost giants just because they're different from you. It's not OK to kill innocent people because of the actions of a few radicals. The arrogant Thor from the beginning of the film reminds me of the the wicked Nephites who gloried in their own strength and craved battle. They got it in their heads that they could take the fight to the Lamanites. Big mistake.
Directed by Kenneth Branagh and written by J. Michael Straczynski? Sweet. Also got me interested in Norse mythology.

The Adventures of Tintin

Ridiculous?  Yes.  But definitely a lot more entertaining that all the weird random nonsense in that Christmas Carol movie.

The Last Starfighter

Ambassador Enduran: "Eons ago, our ancestors created our great frontier, a barrier of energy encircling the peaceful systems of the universe and forever shutting out the scourge that lurks beyond.  Fellow Rylons, because of a dark betrayal, our frontier will soon collapse.  So we turn to you, starfighters, and to navigators.  For of all the billions of creatures in the Star League, only you few have been found to possess the ... gift.  You, and you alone, stand between us and the black terror of the Kodan.  Victory or death!"

I wanna be a starfighter.

The Secret World of Arrietty

An uncommon movie - watching it is actually a pleasure.  So many movies resort to extremes to hold our attention: extreme emotions, extreme violence, extreme over-the-top humor, ridiculous explosions and nonstop action, extremely strained relationships, extreme tension and angst, grit, drugs, sex.  Ok, I admit, a little reality isn't always a bad thing, but how about a movie that is just beautiful?  Don't you just love those?

Take The Secret World of Arrietty, for instance.  For starters, it's rated G.  You fall in love with the characters immediately, especially Arrietty and Sean.  The animation is gorgeous.  You wouldn't believe the music, either.  The sounds are breathtaking.  When Arrietty explores the inside of the house for the first time, we sense her feelings of wonderment and uneasiness through the heightened, eerie sounds of the dark kitchen.  Throughout the movie, we are sucked into her world as we hear the sounds of people, animals, rain, and wind as she would hear them. 

I loved it.  I was swept away by the sights and sounds, the stories of lost paradises and lost dreams.  We never see Sean's mother, but I thought her story was one of the most interesting.  I love the way Arrietty's father does everything he can to help his family.  I like the way that Arrietty respects her mother and helps her whenever she can.  An adolescent female character who doesn't whine, complain, or resent everyone around her?  Perish the thought!  That's not the kind of drama people are looking for in a movie!  I love the part when the mother comes outside to find Arrietty hanging the laundry out to dry in the recently arrived sunlight after the rainstorm.  Paraphrased:

"That's so good of you to hang the clothes out in the sun," she says to Arrietty.

"Or maybe I just had a smart mama who taught me well!" Arrietty responds.

I'd love to have the Blu-ray of this.

Contact

"An atheist has to know a lot more than I know. An atheist is someone who knows there is no god. By some definitions atheism is very stupid."

- Carl Sagan

Michael Kitz: [standing, angrily] Then why don't you simply withdraw your testimony, and concede that this "journey to the center of the galaxy," in fact, never took place!

Ellie Arroway: Because I can't. I... had an experience... I can't prove it, I can't even explain it, but everything that I know as a human being, everything that I am tells me that it was real! I was given something wonderful, something that changed me forever... A vision... of the universe, that tells us, undeniably, how tiny, and insignificant and how... rare, and precious we all are! A vision that tells us that we belong to something that is greater then ourselves, that we are *not*, that none of us are alone! I wish... I... could share that... I wish, that everyone, if only for one... moment, could feel... that awe, and humility, and hope. But... That continues to be my wish.

Does God fulfill a basic human need that we have?  To feel like there's someone in control, someone watching over us?  And does that mean He can't be real if we need to believe in Him to feel safe and comforted?