mattbian.co

Movie Review: Silver Linings Playbook

// January 19th, 2013 // Comments // Funny, Movies

Last night, I watched Silver Linings Playbook with my wife and some friends. Bradley Cooper plays Pat, a man who has been ripped from his community (friends, family, wife, job, etc.) because of an emotional outburst where he beat another man. Eight months later, he finds himself released from the mental hospital that was rehabilitating him. Upon returning to his parents home, you find that everyone in his life is crazy enough to have been in the same mental hospital, but for a little luck they aren’t.

Pat meets Tiffany. Another “crazy” person whose craziness stems from the loss of her husband. They team up to help each other with their problems–he wants to win back his wife, she wants to compete in a team dance competition. From there, it is a typical romantic comedy. Does he really love Tiffany or his wife? Who will get together with whom? Will anyone get together with anyone?

*SPOILER*

*SPOILER*

The movie ends well, because–from the romantic comedy perspective–you want Pat to end up with the right girl, and he does.

The movie ends well, because Pat overcomes his craziness with the help of his restoration to community–his father acts like a dad, his mother loves him through it all, his friends gather round to support him, and Tiffany encourages him in all the right ways.

The movie ends well, because Pat isn’t cured by sex or love alone, but by learning to live life guided by principles and commitments–not by following his passions and appetites. In fact, it was living life by the seat of his pants, by his passions and appetites, that ended him up in the loony bin.

It was a fun film: several laugh-out-loud moments, some sweet moments, some dark, serious moments.

It was a film that is for mature audiences. Much more use of expletives and taking the Lord’s name in vain than I expected–although I chalk that up to the directors trying to make it seem more “real” for a Philadelphia family. There was some nudity in Pat’s flashbacks, disturbing, but reflected the disturbing reality of the event that drove him nuts.

And, finally, Bradley Cooper was an amazing actor in this film. He seemed legit in the role. Jennifer Lawrence was good, too, which might explain her Golden Globe for best actress. But I haven’t seen Lawrence in any other film, so I don’t have anything to compare her performance to. Golden Globe good? I don’t know. But good. And DeNiro? Yeah, he was good.

Movie Review: The Wave

// March 17th, 2012 // Comments // Movies, State

The Wave is a German movie about a high school teacher who has to teach a ‘project week’ class on autocracy. His students are asked to identify an example of an autocracy and respond with, “The Third Reich”. This leads to a discussion of whether or not something like that could ever happen again. The students resoundingly conclude that it couldn’t.

The teacher then sets out to show them that not only could it, but it could happen to them. By the end of project week, the students have their own uniforms, their own slogan/name, their own logo, and their own salute. They become very protective of their club and very hostile toward outsiders. These reactions are not encouraged or even promoted by the teacher, their dictator. They are the results of the superiority complex they’ve developed from their ‘club’.

On day six, he convenes a special meeting where he reveals to them what has happened.

This is a thrilling film showing the sociological effects of a group mentality–the good and the bad. The film is even more thrilling because it is in German, you can hear the “Third Reich-ness” coming from the students and teachers as you hear the German-ness of their tongue.

You can view this film on Netflix Instant Streaming. Highly Recommended.

Mubi Review: The Adjustment Bureau

// April 11th, 2011 // Comments // Movies, Scripture

The Adjustment Bureau purposes to wrestle with the question of free will. In doing so, it also set out to consider the will in opposition to either fate or the sovereign providence of God, in this case choosing to wrestle with divine providence. This review will take on these questions from a theological perspective, since the question is one of theological import.

The movie presents the discussion in this way (simplified, of course for the review): Man has free will and lives his life accordingly. However, the Chairman (God?) has a plan that man cannot deviate from. He uses adjusters whose job it is to ensure that individual people stick to His overall plan. They do things like trip us, spill our coffee, distract us, make us late, etc. to accomplish these goals. In the case of the movie, Matt Damon’s character, David Norris, is a candidate for U.S. Senate for N.Y. So long as he is making decisions that are in line with that goal, he is free to decide for himself. When he decides to pursue a relationship with a woman, Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt), that would change his desires to run for Senate, he has stepped outside of the Chairman’s plan. That means he is not allowed to proceed in pursuing this relationship.

(more…)

Mubi Review: Tangled

// April 7th, 2011 // Comments // Family

I can see this film being given poor reviews because it is the story of a bad guy who is turned into a good guy by a girl’s love. That type of story is rather cliché and some might argue overdone, but this movie does it well.

Rapunzel is a girl whose been locked away by her mean mother (actually a witch who has kidnapped her). She has but one dream, to see the release of the lanterns that are released (unknown to her) by her real parents to commemorate her birth and subsequent kidnapping. She is happens across a rascal by the name of Flynn who is forced to escort her safely into the city for the release of the lanterns, then back home in exchange for the crown (her crown) he had previously stolen from the castle but is now in her possession.

(more…)

A Shakespeare Birthday

// February 13th, 2011 // Comments // Family

Our family has moved so much we’ve never really been a big birthday party family, doing the whole Chuck E Cheese thing. Our tradition is to let the birthday person pick the restaurant we eat at and the movie we see.

So, after dinner at Chili’s, we are watching the Shakespeare classic, Gnomeo and Juliet. I hope its fun! (It can’t be worse than watching Justin Bieber!)

Happy Birthday, Andrew!