Tim Burton has made a movie based on my (second) favorite book! Is it worth seeing? Find out here on the One Minute Review of "Alice in Wonderland."
OMR: Alice in Wonderland from Thomas McKenzie on Vimeo.
I am pleased to present a brand new webcast from my favorite 10 year old. Ella's Reliable Reviews, your only source for reliable reviews, premiers with her take on Tommy Donbavand's Scream Street (book one). Enjoy!
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I love the Oscars for the way they remind me that we are Americans. We aren’t content to create art and let it stand on its own. We aren’t even happy to pass judgment on it for its individual merit. We have to compare our works of art to one another and crown a single winner.
All of those actors, directors, costume designers and the like, they were the kids who didn’t play sports in high school. They didn’t spend one second in the locker room. They hung out at the theater, the band hall, the art room. But now, at the apex of their careers, they find themselves in this bow-tie and sequined Super Bowl. Competition, like death, comes for us all.
I watch the Oscars every year. I root for my favorite teams, I boo my villains. I’m always looking for that pure moment, those ten seconds in one of those acceptance speeches in which a man or woman, truly humbled, speaks from the heart and reveals their humanity. Unfortunately, we’ll probably have to sit through James Cameron instead.
In the spirit of true Oscar watching competitive excitement, I hear bestow my thoughts on the awards this year. To be honest, I haven’t seen all of the films. I’m just an amateur critic, after all. I have seen eight of the ten nominated for best picture, as well dozens of other movies over the past year, so I’m not totally making stuff up. My list is alphabetical by category, and I skip things I have no comment upon.
Best Picture
Someone is going to be upset by my saying it, but Inglourious Basterds was the best film of 2009. And, frankly, it wasn’t even close. Now, I did not see Precious or the Blind Side. I do think that the eight I did see were all good films, some were great. But Basterds was the film I still think about, wonder about, and worry about all these months later.
Of the films I saw, Avatar is the least deserving to be on this list and the most likely to win. Since my favorite has no real hope, I will be pulling for the Hurt Locker. Here is my prediction. Avatar will win, and ten years from now we will look back and say “seriously, did that really happen?”
Actor in a Leading Role
Since Sam Rockwell was not nominated for Moon, I choose Colin Firth from A Single Man. A remarkable, subtle, and genuine piece of acting that should be studied for years to come. I saw all five of these performances, and I can assure you that Morgan Freeman did not deserve to be nominated, and no one else compared with Colin Firth or Sam Rockwell this year. But Jeff Bridges will win. Good for him.
Actor in a Supporting Role
Christoph Waltz will win, and he should win. In the past two years, this category has gone to men who play psychopaths incredibly well, and Waltz will prove that evil comes in threes.
Actress in a Leading Role
Carey Mulligan is my favorite here. If you haven’t seen “An Education,” you don’t know what you are missing. She is truly splendid in this film. I hope we see a great deal more from this actress. As for who will actually win, I think this one is wide open. Your guess is better than mine.
Actress in a Supporting Role
All the buzz is for Mo'Nique, but I didn’t see Precious so I have no comment on that at all. Maggie Gyllenhaal, who I usually love as an actress, was medicore in Crazy Heart, so don’t ask me how she got nominated. If I were choosing, I would give it to Anna Kendrick. I completely believed her in Up in the Air. For me, acting rises or falls on one thing: believability. I didn’t doubt her for a second.
Animated Film
Up should win, and Up will win. One of my top five films of the year, and the only one that made me weep uncontrollably in front of my children.
Art Direction
Avatar will win, and I only saw two of these films so I don’t know nuthin’ bout it.
Cinematography
I’m pulling for Basterds, though I’d be happy with the Hurt Locker. Avatar will win.
Costume Design
Will go to Young Victoria or Nine, because those are the Periods that always win.
Directing
The real “Best Picture” decision this year, with the official category bloated with 10 nominations. You know what I’m going to say: Tarantino would get my vote, but I’ll be rooting for Bigelow over her ex-husband.
Music: Original Score
Many people didn’t like it, but I loved the score to Sherlock Holmes. Whether it should win or not? I’m not a musician, so you should probably ask someone else.
Music: Original Song
I’m pulling for Down in New Orleans from Disney. Unfortunately, it is running against another song from the same film, and no one actually saw this jewel in the theaters. So, I’m guessing Crazy Heart takes it.
Visual Effects
Seriously, I really didn’t hate Avatar. The visuals really were amazing. But District 9 blew me away. They made it look like they took regular hand-held cameras to Africa and filmed aliens walking around. Seamless and never cartoony, I’m pulling for the District.
Writing: Adapted Screenplay
This is a tough one. I’m going to pull for An Education, though I think all of them seem deserving.
Writing: Original Screenplay
Frankly, all of these were terrific screenplays (well, maybe not the Messenger which was almost all improvised from what I am told). I’m going to give my Oscar vote to the Coen brothers for a truly original piece of writing.
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Wow, that movie looks creepy, weird, and scary. But is it any good? Let the OMR be your guide!
OMR: Shutter Island from Thomas McKenzie on Vimeo.
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This is the One Minute Review of "The Lightning Thief." Percy Jackson and the Olympians: the Lightning Thief is a book my kids love. Now it has been made into a movie. I saw it, and now I’m reviewing it. If your kids loved the book, it is pretty well a done deal that you are going to see this film. But otherwise, is it worth plopping down your hard earned drachma on? Better find out.
OMR: The Lightning Thief from Thomas McKenzie on Vimeo.
Want to hear me howl at the moon? You know you do! Watch the OMR of Wolfman, and all your wishes will be fulfilled!
OMR: Wolfman from Thomas McKenzie on Vimeo.
A very funny, if a little out of tune, song about Lent. Based on Sting's King of Pain. It probably won't last long on YouTube before someone yanks it, so watch it while it lasts.
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The One Minute Reviews of Moon. Definitely my type of movies; and I am ashamed that I had to catch it on DVD instead of seeing it surrounded by the stoned employees, sticky floors, and stained seats of the Regal Hollywood 27. Assuming it even played there, which I doubt.
OMR: Moon from Thomas McKenzie on Vimeo.
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The long-delayed one minute review of the multiple-Oscar nominated film, the Hurt Locker (now on DVD). Take a look.
OMR: The Hurt Locker from Thomas McKenzie on Vimeo.
Several days ago, I was in Greensboro NC attending the annual Anglican Mission in the Americas' Winter Conference. The thing I like most about Winter Conference is hanging out with my friends and making new friends. The thing I like least is the Mumbo Jumbo.
I am really happy to be a part of the AMiA. I love my bishop and the clergy in my network. I love that the AMiA focuses on the mission of the Church. Unlike any other American form of Anglicanism I have ever experienced, it is solidly committed to proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Most folks in the AMiA, including myself, are evangelical. By “evangelical” I mean that we believe in the uniqueness of Christ, his atoning death, this resurrection and return, and the necessity of personally putting your faith in him. There are also folks in the AMiA who are Evangelical. By Evangelical, I mean part of the American Evangelical movement. They are theological committed to the Good News (“evangel” in Greek), but they are also part of the Evangelical Christian subculture.
The Evangelical subculture is the source of some good things and some bad things. Some of the bad things I would describe as “the Mumbo Jumbo.” Part of the Mumbo Jumbo is the idea that church congregations should use marketing tactics to increase the size of their Sunday attendance. This is sometimes called “Church Growth.” It is a very important part of the Evangelical subculture.
There are things which are marketing ideas that are helpful. For instance, I think churches should have good looking and helpful websites. We should use communication tools, like e-mail and facebook. We should have decent signs pointing to our church buildings. These sort of things are, I think, good and proper.
There are, however, problems with some marketing tactics. Sometimes these tactics are actually antithetical to the Good News. They are dehumanizing and manipulative. They come from a worldview that sees the Gospel as a product and human beings as buyers. While the way of Jesus is love, the way of the marketer is control. Those two things just don't seem to go together.
Another major problem is that most church people don’t have the slightest understanding of what good marketing is. It is one thing when a church uses some awesome marketing tools to sell itself. It is another thing when a church misuses marketing and therefore harms itself as well as its “customers.” This happens when churches fudge on Word and Sacrament in order to become more hip and cool.
If you had been in some of the sessions at this conference, you would have heard some speakers say, in effect, "the bigger the church is the better." If you had been in the hallways, you would have heard people talk about the methods they us to make their churches bigger. Sure, bigger churches mean more people know Jesus (supposedly, but that has been shown to be a whole lot less true than your megachurch would like to believe). But there is a certain devaluing of the Holy Spirit that happens when conversion stops being a miracle and becomes the end result of a "good close."
Enough for now. In part two, I will give you two examples of the Mumbo Jumbo; first one that made me angry, and then one that made just shake my head.
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