Like always, the book was better than the film, but the film did not disappoint.

The movie was able to retain the plot, purpose, and feel of the novel. It was beautifully done and gave a new depth to the already perfect book.

The book, and the movie, are about a man and his young son in a post-apocolyptic America trying to make it to the Southeastern shore to find possible warmer weather, food, and maybe even a bit of humanity. They have to fight hunger, sickness, thieves, and cannabilistic marauders in order to make their journey.

The essence of the story, without ruining it for anyone, was, “How far would you be willing to go to protect your child?”
And in the story, the dad, has to be willing to take his own son’s life with the mercy of a bullet through his brains in order to protect him from pediphiliac cannibals.

All along as I rea this book, I was the father, and my son was the boy.

It made me realize how much I love my family, the unique love I have for my children, and the horrific lengths I would go through to protect them from agonizing harm. What would I be willing to do? And whether it is right or wrong, I think I would be willing to do anything. But yet in order to protect my children’s future integrity and relationship with Christ, I would have to make sure that the lengths I would go to protect my children would be honoring to God and be in the best interest of not only them and my family, but my fellow man as well.

I pray to God I never have to make any gut-wrenching decisions like this, bit having to do so, and making the right ones, are often ‘The Road’ less traveled.

1. Epic

2. Romantic

3. Sexy

4. Redemtive

5. Crushing

Bella:

1. Life

2. Forgiven

3. Mistakes

4. Unconditional

5. Love

Last night we went with our friends the Stansberry’s to take our kids to see the movie Monsters vs Aliens. The movie was mildly entertaining and the kids loved it, however it was overall very lame!

I won’t bore you with a detailed review from the movie, but I will talk briefly about some things that bothered me- mainly the films inappropriate content. It belittled men, made the United States government seem evil, and blurred the lines of gender and sexuality.

The thing that bothered me the most though, the reason why I am even taking the time to write this, was a particular scene involving a young couple attempting to have a romantic trist in a car out on ‘lover’s lane’ only to be interupted by the landing of a gigantic alien robot.

As the camera panned in on this scene, we got a view of the cars license plate which said ‘GYM-NASTY’. We are soon shown that the boy who owns this car is a gymnist. We learn the his girlfriend talked him into coming out to this make-out spot even though he didn’t feel comfortable with it.

The film implies- very clearly to the adults- that this girl wants to have sex with her boyfriend, but the boyfriend is too scared to do so and is depicted as a loser for not taking advantage of this situation with the girl. The girl is furious that her boyfriend is not willing to have sex with her, and that’s when the alien robot shows up.

The boy is terrified of the robot- so much so that his girlfriend has to carry him like a baby to check out what has happened. So the unspoken moral in the story for our children viewing the movie? That as a boy, it is your responsibillity to take your girlfriend out to some isolated place to have your way with her. That as a girl if a boy doesn’t take advantage of you on some dark country road; then he is weak, unmanly, efeminate, and possibly even gay. That as a girl you are to give yourself up to your boyfriend who drives you out to some isoltated place in the woods. That guys who are gymnists are pansies. That as a girl, you should be forward with your boyfriends and make the move to have sex with them; that will make you a better girlfriend. Etc, etc, etc…….

Sometimes the greatest morals of a story are the ones that are not very direct. When we will we start to realize that the reason our children are getting progressivley more imoral with every passing generation is because each preceding generation sends them messages that they are to act certain ways as adults in order to be accepted- and that when the children recieve these messages they put them into practice at younger and younger ages because they want to immulate those who are older than them.

Disgusting! I should have watched this movie before allowing my children to see it and I will not allow them to see it again.

On the 5th day of our Disneyworld trip, we visited Animal Kingdom. This park is probably the most beautiful. It is basically a giant zoo with an incredible safari that makes you feel as if you are actually in Africa, and some really wonderful rides.

We arrived at this park a little too late though, and by the time we got there, it was time for an early lunch. Unfortunately when you have two small children with you, eating is not something that can be done quickly. So by the time we got to the park andf ate lunch, most of our day was already spent.

The maticulous detail that has gone in to the gardening and decorating at this park is breathtaking. It makes you feel as if you are in another world. The Disneyworld atmosphere is alive and well here. The Tree of Life in the middle of the park is amazingly beautiful and detailed! One cool addition was an African American woman who was dressed up as if she were a part of a vine system growing up a tree! Here face was painted beautifully to match the foilage and her arms and legs extended far into the branches and root system with green leaves covering every inch of her.

The last time I was at this park was the greatest for it was not busy by any means and we were able to walk on any attraction we chose to with no lines and had the abillity and time to do anything we wanted. This time, however, was insane. It was the busiest park that we visited on this trip. It was literally hard to even walk through the crowds.

Basically all we did was go on Expedition Everest- which took close to 2 hours, and ride on the raft ride with Zion. While Susan and I were on Expedition Everest, my mom took the kids into the Finding Nemo Musical. We were not able to make it there on time to see the show. My mom told us that during the show Zion helped himself by sitting in a teenage Asian girls lap whom he didn’t even know for the entire performance? He is a little too used to this at CCA I guess.

We tried to make it to the Safari, but the crowds from a parade literally made that impossible!

We left the park early to head over to the Polynesian Resort to have dinner at the Spirit of Aloha luau dinner show.

Zion was especially naughty by this point and becuase of his figitiness, he slammed his finger between his heavy rotating metal chair and the large table- which made the rest of the evening very stressful.

The food was great as was the entertainment, but the students that we brought with us hated it?? They kept trying to leave early. It was very annoying.

After dinner we roamed around the resort and did some shopping there. Once again, we had hotel envy.

Susan, my mom, and the children went back to the resort and I took the students to Downtown Disney. They went off on their own to do lots of shopping and I retreated to the back of Downtown Disney where a very large theater resides in order to see the much anticipated movie The Watchmen. I don’t care to take the time to give a detailed review of this film, however it was VERY weird, and very violently and sexually explicit. There were some violent and sexual scenes that I wish I did not allow my eyes to take in.

The Watchmen strangely made covert references over and over again to the September 11th terrorist attacks and showed the World Trade Center towers in every shot they could (since the movie was set in the eighties). They also explicitly implied that sometimes horrible things should be done to prevent the proliferation of even greater tragedies- as if they were saying that 9-11 was  orchestrated at a much higher level than it was in order to spearhead other projects (the Iraq war) or prevent greater otrosities? Afterall, and with no explaination, in a flashback sequence one of the films heroes is shown assasinating President JFK from a grassy nowel in Dallas.

One other strange message in the film was that it seemd to strongly condemn homosexuality: because a lesbian couple was murdered for their lifestyle, and the movies main character condoned that killing? This is strange for the world we live in today for a film to condemn homosexuality and almost condone hate crimes because of it?

I know this has become a rant and I will stop now.

Enough Said.

The Incredible Hulk wasn’t the only movie that I saw last Thursday. I also saw M. Night Shyamalan’s new film The Happening.
I’ve mentioned before my love for M. Night movies; so there is no need to go into that again.
The Happening was an interesting film. Like most Shyamalan’s movies it didn’t focus on the extraordinary circumstances taking place, but how a small group of real people reacted to them. Unlike most Shyamalan movies though; there was no surprise ending.
Instead, The Happening offered a sort of kaleidoscope-style of storytelling that brought the viewer into all sorts of scenarios that could take place in such a disaster, some that didn’t seem to fit in with the greater themes of the movie- I’ll get to that later.
But, before I do, what was this disaster anyways? Well, it’s a strange one: basically some sort of toxin is released into the air from within parks inside of large cities in the North Eastern United States. This toxin cause’s people to instantly become disoriented and mere moments later do whatever they can to…kill themselves (?!). The release of toxins eventually begin happening all over the NE regardless of the cities’ population. Although later in the film it is deducted by the protagonists that the probability of the toxin being released is directly related to the number of people within proximity to each other- that number is getting smaller and smaller as the toxin takes out larger groups of people.
The movie never gives an absolute reason for this disaster, but three reasons are suggested: 1] That this is a terrorist attack brought on by Islamic Extremists (although that idea is revealed as a preposterous one and is taken lightly by Shyamalan as a joke of sorts); 2] That this was caused accidentally by the US Government while they were doing some nerve gas protection experiments (which is given some credit as a valid possibility all the way up to the film’ closing scene); and 3] That this event is happening because our environment (particularly the plant life) is feeling threatened by the growing population of humanity and our disregard for the natural balance of nature, so the plants release an unknown toxin as a last resort defense to eradicate humanity from the planet (which is given the most credibility throughout the film).
All three of these possibilities prey on three of the US public’s biggest contemporary fears: Our fear of terrorism; our lack of trust towards our government; and our fear of pollution and resulting radical climate change.
Just the premise for this movie would have made it a disaster; but M. Night Shyamalan’s witty and insightful writing, his creative directing and production, the film’s epic musical score, it’s relevant and frightening themes, and especially its talented cast of actors make this film float- although it doesn’t come close to living up to Signs, The Village, or even The Lady in the Water.
Apparently Shyamalan wrote this script specifically for his personal choice of the lead actor: Mark Wahlberg, who plays Science Teacher Elliot Moore. Wahlberg is a great actor and can practically make any film- The Happening was no exception. Zooey Deschannel was intriguing in this film as Wahlberg’s distant wife Alma; and John Leguizamo is pleasantly quirky and paranoid as Wahlberg’s best friend and Math Teacher Julian. Ashlyn Sanchez, who played Leguizamo’s daughter was a little inexperienced and unbelievable, but she didn’t ruin the film or any scenes.
One interesting thing about this Night film is that it is his first that obtained an R-rating. This was a gimmick as most of the films TV adds touted it as such. There were really only two scenes that gave this film an R-rating: one in which two lions rip off a man’s arms; and another in which a man is run over by a large riding lawn mower; not to mention some gratuities blood added to some scenes that just didn’t need it. This film would have been just as good if not better if those scenes were left out and would have naturally attracted a much larger audience (and profit) if it would have stuck with a more user-friendly PG-13 rating.
The film deals with many relevant themes: fear, terrorism, anxiety, environmentalism, big-government, the media, communication, commercialism, global warming, parenting, and most predominantly love, loyalty, and trust within marriage.
One bizarre scene that occupied the majority of the film’s end involved Wahlberg, Deschannel, and Sanchez’s characters didn’t seem to gel with the film’s storyline or greater themes. Without giving two much away, Wahlberg and crew seek refuge at a very rural house that is occupied by a scary old widow. The widow has wants no contact with the outside world and doesn’t want to know what has caused the film’s protagonists to seek refuge at her house. Shyamalan tries almost too hard to fit in all sorts of horror genre into the scenes involving this woman and her secluded abode, but it doesn’t make sense, flow with the film, or pay off in the end; although it does set up an interesting final scene where some of Wahlberg and Deschannel marriage problems are solved.
I do have to say that this movie did have one of the best lines I have heard in a while. You’ll have to go see the film to find out what context it comes in, but the line came from Leguizamo’s character as he was speaking to Deschannel. It was, “Don’t you take my daughter’s hand unless you mean it!” I think I’ll use that line when my daughter Kylie starts dating.
In the end this movie is get, but a bit disappointing as it offers no solution to the film’s central crisis; only questions and the continuation of disaster before the final credits roll. Bottom line: 3 out of 5 stars from me (thanks to the cast, some good dialogue, and some original ideas).

I was told not to see Will Ferrell’s movie Semi-Pro, I should have listened.
There were a few funny parts, but that’s what the preview was for. This movie really sucked! Do not see it!
It was basically just an excuse for a bunch of funny actors to get together, wear 70′s clothes, and drop the F-Bomb about a million times.
I read the Wikepedia article for this lame movie and found an interesting fact: in the movie there was a scene where Will Ferrell’s character Jackie Moon wrestles a bear during a game’s half-time. In real life that same bear; Rocky- a 5 year old, 7.5 foot tall, 700 pound male Grizzly Bear, bit his trainer (Will Ferrell stunt double’s cousin: 39-year-old Stephan Miller) on the neck which killed him, only months after the release of Semi-Pro.
Despite that interesting fact; really don’t see this horrible excuse for a movie.
Bottom Line: .5 out of 5 stars.