This Classical Life

The way goodreads labels their five star system is

* i didn’t like it
** it was okay
*** liked it
**** really liked it
***** it was amazing

It’s simple and intuitive, but it leaves much to be desired. There are great books that I don’t necessarily like, but I still find worth reading for some reason or another. For example, I don’t know that I “really liked” Lolita. But it is marked four stars on my goodreads account. I think Nabov set out to show us a warped mind, a thoroughly unlikeable narrator, a child we want to care for and can’t always bring ourselves to. He portrayed coercion and tyranny in dark, messy, and very human ways. It was a novel the world didn’t know we needed, and for that, I think the book has a rightful place among the classics.

Sometimes books are written or movies are made with a purpose in mind other than leaving the audience with a warm and fuzzy feeling. And then they need to be evaluated by whether that purpose is worth pursuing, and how well they fulfilled their purpose. Criticism larger than just plain gut reaction. In that way, a movie with an ending you aren’t happy with can still be something that you believe is an amazing film.

I am not sure how we fix the stars of goodreads, just know that likability is not my only concern as I rate.

Just watched this with a free rental credit from Amazon (AVODGIFT - good until 1/3!) - what a great film. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel were perfect choices for the main characters. The non-linear storytelling works really well, as our memories aren’t fixed chronologically and remembering a relationship is like the movie, in fits and spurts, with one memory spurring another. It’s a film where beauty is up front, with an excellent soundtrack, beautiful cinematography, even hip and interesting wardrobe choices. I loved listening to Tom talk about buildings. Architecture is such a key element of the movie, and it’s integrated excellently.

There are some romantic comedy cliches (I am not entirely sure why the long-haired friend is even in the film) but the little sister character was pretty awesome, as cliches go. I loved her saying over wii tennis early in the movie “just because some girl likes the same bizarro crap you do, doesn’t make her your soul mate.” Even though, as the narrator says, it is not a love story, it’s true and real, and not without hope. See it!

This is pretty momentous. Going to the movies as a couple is typically more or less a non-option between the cost of tickets and the cost of babysitting. Dates are scarce enough, movies are just over the top. (Especially with our HBO included rental, the library, and redbox.)

Not only did we see a movie in the actual theatre… we saw TWO in two days. I am not a movie critic, and don’t feel as comfortable reviewing a film as I do a book, but I’ll do it anyway.

Michael’s choice was Sherlock Holmes. We both loved it. He’d see it again tonight if I would let him. It’s really well done, the acting is great, the colors and conception are both excellent, it’s one I envision we will end up owning.

My choice was Up in the Air. I loved Thank You for Smoking and Juno and think Jason Reitman may just be the go-to guy making real movies about life in our generation and I wanted to support it. It was a fantastic film. You ought to see it. It’s a thoughtful film that explores community, why we need it, how we figure out that we do… in a smart and beautiful way with characters that are real and deeply flawed. Even the editing stood out to me for how well it captured different aspects of the film. I am looking forward to digesting it more over days and viewings to come.

Happy St Crispin’s Day!

In anticipation of the upcoming movie, “The Nativity Story”, Taylor Marshall brings up the question of whether or not Mary suffered in her labor. Marshall, quoting Thomas Aquinas, writes that Catholic tradition teaches that Mary “did NOT experience birth pains when giving birth to Christ our Savior.” (emphasis his) Apparently the movie, which will premiere at the Vatican, shows Mary suffering through child birth.

Has anyone read anything about this from a Reformed perspective? My first thought is to lean in the other direction. The writer of Hebrews seems to go at length to show how Christ was ‘just like us’ in our humanity. God did not deliver Christ from the natural suffering coming from crucification, why would we suppose that he spared Mary from the natural suffering that accompanies child birth? Taylor makes the point that Mary could have been delivered from the curse of Eve as was being used to bring the new Adam into the world.

What do you think?

We don’t typically rent movies, we just borrow them from the public library, which means we usually wait a while for new or popular releases or end up getting really random things from the racks. Here’s what we’ve seen lately, rated out of four stars.

Hitch (2005) with Will Smith and Kevin James was funny enough to warrant renting if you haven’t seen it. Not the world’s best comedy, but pretty solid nonetheless. ***

Evelyn (2002) with Pierce Brosnan was okay. An interesting story, but a little too sappy, even for this pregnant momma. **

Ocean’s Twelve (2004) was a disappointment. They tried way too hard with this one. *

I watched Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban the other night with some friends, after re-reading the book a few days earlier. I am shocked at how much was changed. The movie was fine. I never really noticed the changes a year earlier in the theatres and thoroughly enjoyed it. Watching it right after reading it, however, the differences stick out. Sometimes they’re petty — Hermione slaps Malfoy in the book, punches in the movie — and sometimes they’re more substantial. JKR tells an elaborate story of how — for a few people — Sirius is finally proved innocent; the movie took too many short cuts.

All of this made me wonder: I know this story already. I know the background to something that happens for only a few seconds or is in the background of the shot. How much sense did the movie make to someone who hadn’t read the book? How much more (if any) would someone get from watching it again after having finally read the book?

Final thought: if they did all this editing for POA, what will they do to GOF or OOTP? There is too much to cut in GOF/OOTP. I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.