Showing posts with label film. Show all posts
Showing posts with label film. Show all posts

Friday, September 21, 2007

return to blogging

Life has gotten the better of me, but I'm back, at least for now. Deacon's big B-day #1 is this Saturday, so maybe I'll have some pics to post after that.

I saw a film last night [the last of our Netflix experience...we had to cancel it] called Danielson: A Family Movie. It is a documentary film that follows the musical/spiritual journey of Danielson and his family band. Basically Daniel and all his brothers and sisters, and their spouses, created this band. It started as a research project for his Rutger's thesis. They are technically a band made up of Christians, although they struggle for recognition in the mainstream Christian music market. They are labeled as oddities, and play lots of shows in bars [as well as the occassional church].

Daniel's voice sounds like a cross between Jack White, the guy from Modest Mouse, and Alvin and the ChipMunks.

One of the cool things about the film is it follows them on their European tour, which featured Sufjan Stevens on percussion, filling in for the youngest brother in the band who was still in school.

Why are all the best films now documentarys? Is it just the natural bi-product of the Reality TV culture we live in? Does documentary = reality movie?

Saturday, September 15, 2007

Thursday, August 09, 2007

3 months w/Deacon


It is amazing being a father! My favorite things are:

  • seeing his reaction when he sees me first thing in the morning

  • picking him up, and feeling him pat me on the shoulder

  • watching him smile and crawl toward me when I get home from work

  • feeling his fingers wrap around one of my fingers when I'm giving him a bottle
  • Thursday, June 28, 2007

    new deacon video


    There are some great faces in this one. I may not have time to blog as much now, but I make sure I have time to play with Deacon. And occassionally make a video.

    Sunday, June 17, 2007

    anyone want to babysit Friday night?

    cause Evan Almighty is opening.



    It's a green movie. And they've got a neat campaign to donate money, plant trees, and get your name on the DVD.

    We saw the set when we were at Universal Studios last summer

    Tuesday, April 17, 2007

    Jesus of Montreal

    Tonight's movie was Jesus of Montreal.

    What was annoying:

  • subtitles [Canadian movie, dialogue in French]

  • came out in 89, so tons of 80s culture. Jesus looked like a skinny Don Johnson and transition scenes were accompanied by metal ballads


  • What was good:
  • the whole movie mimicked the life of Jesus

  • the story is about a group of actors hired to spice up a church Passion play...and life ends up imitating art [the Passion narrative] in a very interesting way


  • ***** [5 out of 5 stars]

    Thursday, March 29, 2007

    Jesus Camp

    We just saw Jesus Camp. If Deneise or Shellee reads this, you MUST WATCH THIS.


    This film was more disturbing than any horror movie. The scary part to me is that this is how ALL Evangelicals will be labeled/viewed because of a small minority. The funniest part to me is the interview/filming done of Ted Haggard [obviously before the truth was exposed]. It puts a whole new depth on the film.

    My favorite part is when the kid tells the camp lady that he was saved at the age of 5 because he "just wanted more out of life." You know he is just regurgitating something he heard an adult say. How can you possibly even have experienced enough of life at age 5 to know you want more?

    Also highly disturbing: kids praying for the end of abortion, and being shown toy fetuses, and being told that a 1/3 of their friends would have been at camp with them but they were killed by abortion.

    I don't think most of those kids even knew where babies come from.

    Margo thinks what happens to these kids in this film is borderline child abuse. She made the statement she would rather watch a movie about kids being kicked and beaten.

    Friday, March 16, 2007

    worst movie ever

    Margo is watching Marie Antoinette and it has to be one of the worst movie's ever. I can't stand it anymore, so I had to get away from it.

    You know what isn't a bad movie though [well not so much a movie, more a concert video], Heart of Gold by Neil Young. It's a concert Neil Young did at the Ryman in Nashville with music from his album "Prarie Wind" which is very good. Anything that involves Emmylou Harris singing bgvs has got something going for it. The instrumental performances are all beautifully understated, which is the perfect accompaniment to Neil's airy, raspy voice.

    The strings and choir are a nice addition also.

    We painted the nursery this afternoon. Baby blue [literally, blue, for a baby]. It will eventually get some brown geometric shapes on one wall, says Margo.

    Wednesday, March 14, 2007

    300


    We saw 300 last night. Very good. I'd like to see it at an Imax. If you're not afraid of gore, it's good. It's a bloody good film [literally].

    Xerxes had a cheek ring, which I thought was pretty cool. For a more truthful/historical account check out what wikipedia has to say about the Battle of Thermopylae.

    Thursday, February 22, 2007

    Chick-fil-A interview

    This is a video I made that will be used as part of our weekend services. We are talking about Sabbath, and the need for balance in our lives compared to the 24/7 culture we live in. We thought it would be interesting to get Chick-fil-A's take on it from the business world.



    The video was made on my imac. I composed the background music in Garage Band.

    Saturday, February 17, 2007

    saturday conclusion

    A rather bizzare day. This might be a little lengthy.

    About noon we left the house to begin our day out and about. First stop, mailbox to return Netflix movie "The Constant Gardener." I watched it by myself, because it's my kind of movie, not Margo's. 5 stars.

    Second stop, drop off tax paperwork at CPA. No rush, we'll be paying taxes again this year. I've forgotten what it feels like to get one of those returns.

    Third stop, drop off books/CDs/DVDs at the library and pick up some new stuff...including Entourage season 1, and the new Vince Gill album.

    Lunch time, Margo wanted to try something new. Oohhh, there was also a stop at Babies R Us in there. I've already blocked that out. Just kidding. We didn't buy anything, but we looked at EVERYTHING. By the way, they don't just make simple audio baby monitors any more. They are all video or motion detectors now.

    Back to lunch. Margo was hankering for something outside the box...so we went to Razoos. You know, that cajun place. Here is where the fun began. I should have known something was up when I got the feeling that the menus were racialy charged. We ordered drinks, a starter: fried pickels...and our lunch: split the seafood sampler thing...all at the same time. The fried pickels never made it. They were served with our lunch, which was unacceptable. We refused to pay for food we ordered as a starter. We're picky that way. But that all didn't matter too much. Here is why. I was sitting there the whole time staring at this:

















    That's right. Captain Jack is watching me eat my crawfish. Not the real John Depp. But someone that looked/dressed exactly like him. A little too much like him if you ask me. I mean, he had the captain hat, the little bandana, the boots, the braided beard/goatee thing, the dangly thing off his hair, the coat, the shirt, the eyeliner, the glove thing, even the little box thing that was the coveted prize in one of those movies.

    Bizzare indeed.

    So then we start trying to figure out why he is dressed like that. Here is what we came up with:

  • he is a modern day "clown" that goes to kids parties dressed up as Capt. Jack

  • he is like the guy in Dodgeball who literally lives his life as though he were a pirate

  • he works at a restaurant like Magic Time Machine where he is required to dress up like someone famous

  • he's getting ready for Mardi Gras??? [long shot]

  • he's on his way to a costume party


  • Even stranger, he was having lunch with 2 young ladies, and an infant. That's it!!! He's a polygamist pirate!

    Needless to say the lunch was entertaining. Then off to the movies. We saw Norbit. Very funny! When you see the trailer, you're expecting Eddie Murphy to be hilarious as the overweight black woman, and the nerdy guy. But what you don't see is the old Asian guy he plays, who is the funniest character in the movie.

    Thursday, February 01, 2007

    snakes on a plane


    I have a review for the movie "Snakes on a Plane":
    -the worst idea for a movie ever
    -the most rediculous premise for a movie ever
    -the worst storyline of a movie ever
    -if you don't take it too seriously, the movie is quite funny

    Thursday, January 18, 2007

    Wednesday, January 17, 2007

    snow day

    Today it got snowy, and the whole world shut down. So I shot some video, and made this, because I didn't have to go to work!

    Tuesday, January 16, 2007

    catholic night

    I didn't plan it this way, but this is how it turned out. While Margo was out, I watched The Mission. It was a very good movie. I really liked the imagery of Robert DeNiro's character carrying his penance up the waterfall. The movie is a story about Jesuit missionaries in South America.

    Then I watched a documentary film on PBS called Hand of God. You can actually watch the whole program on the website. "A moving, and frankly told story of a family's confrontation with the church that betrayed them, and how they survived it all with their humanity and humor intact." The Catholic church are major bad guys in this one.

    The irony is, in order to pay the large settlements after the abuse scandal, the archdiocese closed the family's church and sold the property in order to finance the legal settlements.