James Harleman's Blog, page 10
May 14, 2014
Never LEGO of hope for reconciliation
“Nobody ever said I was special!” – President Business In our last look at The LEGO Movie(soon to be on Blu-ray/DVD) there will be *a lot of spoilers*(you’ve been warned) because the ending was amazing and I – for one – didn’t see it coming. When the film broke the fourth wall (literally, as LEGO […]
March 11, 2014
Learning to LEGO of toxic lordship
The LEGO Moviemight wind up on my short list for movie of the year, despite all the tantalizing offerings from Godzilla to Dinobots and myriad Marvel movies on the horizon. A lot of children’s films likeToy Story,Wreck-It Ralphand evenFrozentend to make solid points, butLEGOmay be one of the more insightful all-ages films I’ve seen in […]
February 19, 2014
LEGO and let God.
by guest reviewer Andrew Thompson Does “the man upstairs” desire us to simply follow instructions, going about our days and routines, thinking “everything is awesome”? Or is he indeed a master-builder who has given us limitless creativity to create new and different narratives in life?The Lego Movie takes us into the stop-motion animated world of […]
February 14, 2014
Frozen’s Water Part 3: Where it MELTS
In Batman Begins, Rutger Hauer’s character leans over a young Bruce Wayne and tells the boy he’ll keep the company safe until the lad is old enough to run it. It’s a nice touch – a cameo – that establishes pivotal credibility to time between flashbacks in the life of a fictional character. It helps […]
February 13, 2014
FROZEN’s Water Part 2: Where it’s SOLID.
“Can I say something crazy?” Disney’s Frozen isn’t just funny (we lauded the humor in our first post) and while we can enjoy great moments (like an excited Anna meeting the regal Hans by the boat dock) there’s something very important being set up in that scene… in fact, something is intentionally being set up […]
February 11, 2014
FROZEN’s Water Part 1: Where it’s a GAS!
“Oh, look at that. I’ve been impaled.” When the first previews came out for Frozen, I confess: it didn’t impress me. It looked more like a silly Ice Age sort of movie, which may be funny in its own right but not on it’s way to being the next Disney epic. I blame the marketing […]
FROZEN’s Water Part 1: It’s a GAS!
“Oh, look at that. I’ve been impaled.” When the first previews came out for Frozen, I confess: it didn’t impress me. It looked more like a silly Ice Age sort of movie, which may be funny in its own right but not on it’s way to being the next Disney epic. I blame the marketing […]
January 21, 2014
LONE SURVIVOR’s Best Kept Secret
“If I die I need you to make sure that Cindy knows how much I love her… And that I died with my brothers – with a full f—ing heart.” In Sleepless in Seattle, the guys have a humorous scene where they talk about how – unlike women and their tear-jerking romantic comedies – men […]
January 19, 2014
Film and Apologetics? Or: What We’re All About
I was recently asked to speak at an apologetics conference in Alabama, and my first thought was “why”? I talk about movies and God as storyteller. After some thought, I realize that another way of looking at Cinemagogue is that, in many ways, how we examine cinema often takes a slice of the teleological argument […]
January 14, 2014
CATCHING FIRE Like Katniss Everdeen
“He could have killed me, but instead he showed me mercy. That’s a debt I’ll never be able to repay.” The Hunger Games trilogy is not the story of a hero. Katniss Everdeen mentions in the first act that Thresh’s act of kindness was one of several things that enabled her to win in the […]
