03-20-2005

222) Saved!. Okay, I've been wanting to see this for awhile but always shyed away because I figured the fundamentalist Christian in me would probably be terribly offended, but Robin brought it with her and I always try to keep an open mind about such things so I decided to take the plunge. As I suspected, I did wind up kind of offended. Not because the movie was blasphemous or anything because I don't think that it was, but I was offended in that way you get when someone writes/talks about something that's very important to you and you can tell they obviously have no idea what they are talking about and are totally misrepresenting it. At first I was hoping it would turn out to be a smart indictment of the modern trend in youth ministry culture to try to "trick" kids into being Christians by trying to make it seem hip and rebellious (skating for God, can't tell the difference between secular and Christian rock, etc.) and scripture and biblical teachings are all lost in the style of presentation. For example, anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of biblical teachings would understand the following: God's will and sin are diametrically opposed, therefore God would not instruct you to sin in order to fulfill his will. Jena Malone's character should have been able to come to that conclusion and realize that nailing her gay boyfriend is not God's will since adultery is sin. That's just basic Sunday School teaching, so for someone to have gone to a Christian high school all of her life you'd think she would have known such things. Of course, I never actually saw a Bible at the school or it being used for teaching purposes and the only Bible I saw in the whole movie was being used as a weapon (what subtle symbolism!) so I had hoped maybe it would play in heavily in the denouement but those hopes were dashed by the whole whiny secular moralizing at the end about "the Bible is big and we're different and it's so hard" and Jesus loves us all without the ugly truth of what that really means and the subsequent responsibilities of someone who does accept Christ. More than that, though, I thought it was just weak story telling. All of the characters (even the "heros") were shallow stereotypes and the few scattered attempts to bring them depth were weak at best. I mean, even the Jewish girl isn't a woman of faith, she's a secular Jew. Apparently faith of any type is wrong in this movie unless it's a warm-fuzzy kind of "God, or whatever it is that's up there, loves us and that's all we need to know and no matter what we do we're not bad cause it's hard to be good" kind of faith. I really got the feeling this was nothing more than a predictable opportunity to judge and ridicule a safe and easy target and it seemed like a big waste. Whatever.

223) The Big Bounce. Elmore Leonard lite. Forgettable.

224) You Only Live Once. A little more moralizing on my plate for the day. You got fired because you were out looking at houses with your wife while you were supposed to be on the job! Unless being an ex-con somehow compelled you to be an hour and half late you can't really blame your boss's prejudice towards convicts for it. Stark, tragic, blah, blah, blah. Whatever.

225) Moonfleet. Pretty good adventure picture, like a Dickensian Huckleberry Finn. Kind of weird, but I enjoyed it.

226) Clash By Night. I've always thought Barbara Stanwyck was kind of funny looking and putting her next to Marylin didn't really help. This is the last of the Fritz Lang thing from TCM and I almost skipped it cause I'm kind of Langed out but finding a Monroe movie I haven't seen was like finding buried treasure. I've only seen parts of M, so these 6 are the only Lang I've watched and I can't say I'm crazy impressed or anything, but for the most part they've all been good. I wasn't very pleased to see Bob Ryan playing such a scumbag loser in this. He absolutely annoyed the crap out of me, which I guess is a testament to his acting, but still. Anyway, out of the six, this is probably my second favorite behind Ministry of Fear.

227) Spring Break Shart Attack. It might be a made for TV movie, but it's still a movie. Plus, LINDSAY! I am so in love with her.

227 down, 773 to go.

Well, Bama and UAB are out, my obligatory "pick a weird team and root for them" choice is gone, and my bracket is all shot to hell, so basketball is over for me again. Come on, football.