geebob
May 9th 2003, 10:28 PM
I saw two pretty good movies today. Holes and Identity. I thought I'd give holes a recomendation as i assume it will be underated.
It's a great movie inspite of the fact that Disney made it. Of course it was based on a book. James Berardinelli says that it was almost as good as the harry potter stories (he compares them as they are movies based on good children's literature). But I don't recall if he was talking about the book or movies. But If he was talking about the movies, he was clearly wrong.
Holes had a strength over the harry potter movies in character developlement. A complaint that I've heard about the HP movies was that they didn't really develope the characters as well as in the books, or well at all. In holes, I think you get a better sense of who the main characters were and what they were like. You get a sense of their hopes and fears.
It's basically about this kid, Stanley Yelnats (who's name is a palindrome!) who has a curse of bad luck on his family and his luck results in a sentence to a camp for troubled kids as he was caught with stolen goods that he did not steal. At this camp, the inmates are to go out and dig holes during the day as the camp philosophy is that by digging wholes, bad children would develope character but there's a mystery about an alterior motive behind the digging.
The movie jumps around from Stanley's activity in camp to Stanley's family history and the history of the area surrounding the camp. Some heavy themes are broached at this junture as there is an interracial romance which is a cause for trouble and subsequent injustice.
The movie works it's way towards unraveling the curse and the injustice that works towards a cleansing of the land.
I thought this was a really good movie that Christians can appreciate and although there is a bit of credit given to the curse of a gypsie, the events that transpire are too broad suggesting divine guidance. Also at certain points in the movie, some of the characters find refuge at the top of "God's thumb" With that, I would say that when viewing this movie and it's conclusion, keep in mind a verse from acts 14, "Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons."
I don't know if i'd recomend this for small children. There's a suicide involved and some murders. There's a little bit of situational eithics involved and that should be corrected. But that's not something to protect your kids from but provides an excellent opportunity to use the movie as a teaching tool. below are more details on this:
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW.
In the forbidden romance, A black onion farmer falls in love with the school teacher. He gives her a forbidden kiss and as one of the townsfolk spot this, they plot to burn down the school and murder her love as it was against the law for a black man to kiss a white woman. She got her vengence by shooting the sherif who idle allowed this all to take place and she became a bandit, known as Kissing Kate Blanchett and all the men she killed, she gave a big smooch smeared with lipstick as her calling card. There isn't a real sense that this was justified, but at the same time, she is portrayed overall as a hero. Of course we as christians believe in turning the other cheek and leaving vengence to the Lord, but I don't fault a movie for not consistently promoting the best of Christian ethics and vengence is a biblical ethic, but Kate's vengence arguably took innocent lives with it. That is not something that is really dealt with in the movie, and pointing such a thing out would make for an excellent teaching opportunity for children.
It's a great movie inspite of the fact that Disney made it. Of course it was based on a book. James Berardinelli says that it was almost as good as the harry potter stories (he compares them as they are movies based on good children's literature). But I don't recall if he was talking about the book or movies. But If he was talking about the movies, he was clearly wrong.
Holes had a strength over the harry potter movies in character developlement. A complaint that I've heard about the HP movies was that they didn't really develope the characters as well as in the books, or well at all. In holes, I think you get a better sense of who the main characters were and what they were like. You get a sense of their hopes and fears.
It's basically about this kid, Stanley Yelnats (who's name is a palindrome!) who has a curse of bad luck on his family and his luck results in a sentence to a camp for troubled kids as he was caught with stolen goods that he did not steal. At this camp, the inmates are to go out and dig holes during the day as the camp philosophy is that by digging wholes, bad children would develope character but there's a mystery about an alterior motive behind the digging.
The movie jumps around from Stanley's activity in camp to Stanley's family history and the history of the area surrounding the camp. Some heavy themes are broached at this junture as there is an interracial romance which is a cause for trouble and subsequent injustice.
The movie works it's way towards unraveling the curse and the injustice that works towards a cleansing of the land.
I thought this was a really good movie that Christians can appreciate and although there is a bit of credit given to the curse of a gypsie, the events that transpire are too broad suggesting divine guidance. Also at certain points in the movie, some of the characters find refuge at the top of "God's thumb" With that, I would say that when viewing this movie and it's conclusion, keep in mind a verse from acts 14, "Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons."
I don't know if i'd recomend this for small children. There's a suicide involved and some murders. There's a little bit of situational eithics involved and that should be corrected. But that's not something to protect your kids from but provides an excellent opportunity to use the movie as a teaching tool. below are more details on this:
WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW.
In the forbidden romance, A black onion farmer falls in love with the school teacher. He gives her a forbidden kiss and as one of the townsfolk spot this, they plot to burn down the school and murder her love as it was against the law for a black man to kiss a white woman. She got her vengence by shooting the sherif who idle allowed this all to take place and she became a bandit, known as Kissing Kate Blanchett and all the men she killed, she gave a big smooch smeared with lipstick as her calling card. There isn't a real sense that this was justified, but at the same time, she is portrayed overall as a hero. Of course we as christians believe in turning the other cheek and leaving vengence to the Lord, but I don't fault a movie for not consistently promoting the best of Christian ethics and vengence is a biblical ethic, but Kate's vengence arguably took innocent lives with it. That is not something that is really dealt with in the movie, and pointing such a thing out would make for an excellent teaching opportunity for children.