Tag: Movies

Morning Musing: Psalm 127:3

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“Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord, offspring, a reward.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

As the old saying goes, a broken clock is still right twice a day. For the better part of a generation, Disney has been one of, if not the, primary entertainment-producing companies in the world. But in recent years, they seem to have forgotten that they are in the business of making money, not pushing a particular cultural agenda. As a result, they haven’t been making money quite like they once were. But for all of their cultural tone-deafness, there are some signs they are starting to turn a corner and remember that one of their primary audiences is families. One of the latest such signs came in the recently completed and final season of What If?…

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Digging in Deeper: Proverbs 17:17

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“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a difficult time.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

When the apostle Paul was describing how the church works best, he chose more than once to use the illustration of a human body. A human body is healthiest when all the parts properly play their part. No two parts are the same, and all of them are necessary for the fullest and best functioning. This is the case with the body, it is the case in the church, and, as we are going to see, it is the case in a movie. The best movies feature a team of different actors all playing unique parts. If everyone plays their part well, the movie works. I was reminded of this fact this week as I finally got to watch Deadpool & Wolverine when it made its streaming debut on Disney+. Let’s talk about what worked, what didn’t, and how even in an excessively gory, foul-mouthed, irreverent, and sacrilegious movie, the Gospel is still present.

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Morning Musing: Psalm 19:1

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“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the things our Internet-addicted age has suffered is a loss of wonder. We see so many wild and incredible things online that it’s hard for us to be impressed by anything. Unless it is simply a spectacle, we hardly look up. This is really too bad because the world is wonderful. I mean that literally. It is filled with things that are wonders of the first order. This is because it is created by a wonderful God. We are created in the image of this God and are wonderful ourselves. We are capable of wonders. But this is so easy to forget when we get caught in a rut of the mundane and cease to see even the wonder in the mundane. This can become a pretty hopeless situation, but sometimes a story comes along that reminds us to see the wonder in life once again. Let’s talk today about one of these stories that took the form of a movie released just before Christmas about the world’s most famous chocolate maker. Let’s talk about Wonka.

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Digging in Deeper: James 1:19-20

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“My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever experienced the letdown of unmet expectations? I’m sure you have. We all do from time to time. Sometimes that’s our own fault because we placed too much hope in the wrong things. Sometimes it is the fault of someone else who sold us more than was available to buy. Oftentimes it’s a mixture of both. I recently experienced a theatrical letdown. My hopes were high for a great film, but it just didn’t deliver. This morning, we’re going to talk about the latest offering from Marvel Studios: Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and why it just wasn’t what I expected. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, proceed with caution because I will include spoilers.

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Digging in Deeper: Philippians 2:4

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“Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

In a famous children’s story whose original form and meaning makes absolutely no sense in our modern culture, Peter Pan and the Lost Boys lived their lives in the blissful world of Neverland where they had an endless stream of adventures uniquely suited to tickle the fancies of young boys which worked out just fine because they never grew up. In Neverland you remained locked in childhood forever. The whole thing is made to sound terribly fun and romantic; something that everyone should want for themselves. By the time you reach the end of the story, though, you are left with the sense that in spite of Peter’s seemingly unending bliss, there is something he’s missing out on that would be an even grander adventure than he’s known before: growing up. In the culture of its day, the story was a reminder that while childhood is a wonderful time, it was not only necessary but good to grow up and experience the wonders of the world waiting on us there. Somewhere along the way, though, that final moral was lost from the story, and we embraced the supposed virtue of youth with gusto and have made living in a perpetual state of adolescence a goal worth achieving. I say all of that to make sense of the observation that the dream of Peter Pan is alive and well. We are living in a day when a great many of the movies being made are an attempt by filmmakers and moviegoers alike to relive their childhood adventures. Along the way, the younger members of Gen X and the older Millennials are inviting their kids into their adventures. I got to experience a taste of this last night as I watched the latest Sonic the Hedgehog movie with my boys. Let’s talk for a few minutes this morning about what I saw and heard.

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