Archive | January 2013
January 31, 2013  

Trying Something New

Kaizoku Sentai GokaigerI didn’t mean for it to happen. I thought I’d just check it out once. Take a quick look, strike it off my “Things I’ve Never Done” list, and walk away. I never thought I’d become one of them. I never planned on this becoming part of who I was.

About six months ago I became a Tokusatsu fan.

Read More…

January 24, 2013  

The Impossible (2012)

the-impossible-poster06The Impossible 
Rated M
Starring Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor
Boxing Day, 2004. A massive tsunami swept through South Asia, leaving devastation in its path  It’s one of those big events. The kind that you remember exactly where you were when it happened. For me, I was sitting in my cousin’s living room. We sat and watched the news in silence as the chaos unfolded. Hundreds of thousands dead. Even more injured and left homeless. To say it was a traumatic event for many is an understatement.
There are many stories that can be told from the Boxing Day Tsunami. The Impossible is the true story of separation and reunion of the Alvarez family, caught unawares by the tsunami as they holiday at their Thai resort. The story of this family is an emotional roller coaster. If you’re after that kind of movie, there’s a lot to like in The Impossible. However, just below the surface, there is something troubling going on. Something that is unintentional by the film makers but says something quite troubling about us as a movie going public.
January 10, 2013  

Paranorman (2012)

paranorman_poster_2Paranorman

Rated PG

A kid who can see dead people. But it’s not The Sixth Sense. The dead rising from their graves to terrorise a small town. But it’s not Night of The Living Dead. A stop-motion feature length film. But it’s not from Aardman. Paranorman is certainly packed full of influences. In telling the story of 10 year old Norman who can see ghosts and is the only one who can save the day from a witches curse, directors Chris Butler and Sam Fell are attempting something ambitious. They’re attempting to take some well known trappings of the horror genre, invert the expectations, change the medium to stop-motion animation, as well as repackage the whole thing for a pre-teen audience. That’s right, it’s a horror movie for kids. The ambition is there, however, the end result is something that left me scratching my head.

Read More…

January 6, 2013  

Sermon: A New Year

853432_54317146What do a priest, a tent, and two goats have to do with celebrating New Years? Find out in this sermon I preached at St Luke’s on January 6th 2013, looking at Leviticus 16.

Read More…

January 2, 2013  

Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

126635CM15.inddWreck-It Ralph
Rated PG
Voices by John C. Reilly, Jane Lynch, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer

I can’t remember a time when there wasn’t a computer game in my house. I was playing Space Invaders before I was enrolled in pre-school. I engaged in passionate Nintendo vs Sega debates with my friends. I even watched the Super Mario Bros movie in cinemas and lived to tell the tale. As soon as I heard about Wreck-It Ralph, my response was “shut up and take my money”. Sure, me and Disney haven’t always been on the best of terms. We’ve had our differences in the past. But if the animated film Wreck-It Ralph is any indication of where Disney is headed, then all is forgiven. Because this movie hits me in all the right spots and makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Read More…