Biking, Baseball And Joseph Gordon-Levitt: 4 Movies Worth Checking Out

A while ago my friend "Bear"* asked for some movie suggestions, so this is the first of many posts that will let you all in on some movies that are not quite as well known as say, Harry Potter, or

Avatar, but are pretty awesome in their own right none the less. So to start I thought I would give you two sports movies and two movies with one of the best young actors in the business, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. So first up is the true story, (Actually, they are both based on true stories, sweet) of a crazy Scot who challenged the cycling world authorities, (who are jerks, big fat jerks, well, ok, due to the fact that I am trying to lose weight I won't say they are big fat jerks, cause they seemed to be thin enough, but they are still jerks none the less) and changed the sport forever. I am talking about,

Flying Scotsman Trailer by clr16

Yeah, The Flying Scotsman is terrific, I remember seeing a trailer for it but then it disappeared out of theaters fast, as many of the really good movies do. Anyway, The Flying Scotsman is a very good movie about a man who is trying to overcome depression and

 disappointment to become the best cyclist in the world. The acting is quite good from the whole cast with Jonny Lee Miller, Billy Boyd, (minus the hairy feet**) and Brian Cox all putting in great performances, and it does a great job of letting you feel the movement of riding a bike incredibly fast, even one made with washing machine parts. So check out The Flying Scotsman, if you are looking for an inspiring movie or just really like weird shaped bikes. Next up is a movie about a small town that eats, sleeps and breaths baseball, (my buddy Joel would have loved growing up in this place) and they also play it a bunch too, well, at least they did before they had The Final Season.

The Final Season is a well put together small town small budget baseball movie that is predictable yet still good. It is fairly clean, family friendly and has a decent cast. Again as with the first movie, it is based on a true story, has a good message and oh, and it also has Rachael Leigh Cook, who looks really cute in a baseball hat. So if you likea da baseball, and you likea da movies, then you will probably like The Final Season.

Now, onto the awesomeness of Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

Now you may know JGL, (thats whats all his friends call him***, and since I have seen so many of his movies it's like we are practically brothers, so he is cool with me using it) from such movies as Angels In The Outfield, 500 Days Of Summer and the best movie of 2010, Inception, (where he was awesome) but JGL is an incredibly hard working actor, and has been in a lot films, and not all of them get the attention they deserve. So to start, do yourself a favor and keep a "LOOKOUT"**** for the movie Brick.

Brick is a fairly unique movie in that it is a teenage film noir that would have made Bogart***** proud, (for those of you who don't know what Film Noir is I stole the following description from Wiki

 for you, "Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations.", for those of you who already knew that, pat yourself on the back, cause you are in the know) it has good solid acting, interesting dialog that although seems very unrealistic, works amazingly well for some reason and a well put together mystery. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is great as the lead, looking for answers about his ex-girlfriends murder among the elite of the high school culture, taking a lot of punishment along the way. This movie is not for everyone, some will find it too slow or too self involved, but for me, it works pretty much perfectly, and it might work for you too.

To finish up I leave you with another Joseph Gordon-Levitt movie that rocks and doesn't get enough love, The Lookout.

Just like The Flying Scotsman, this is a movie that I remember seeing trailers for and then it seemed to just never come out, so when I finally got a chance to see it I was bummed, cause it rocked, and hardly anybody saw it. Jeff Daniels and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are great together, bickering back and forth, and then you get a cool mystery and heist kinda all thrown in there. JGL gives a stellar performance as he tries to keep his mind straight while being stuck with an injury that fights him at every turn, (it is a little bit like Memento, which is another awesome movie in its own right), and it has a very satisfying ending.

So there you go, four movies that deserve to be seen that you might have missed. Feel free to let me know what you think if you end up watching them, or are ultra cool and have seen them already, that would of course mean you would have to comment, which seems most people don't want to do, (with a few exceptions, you guys that do read and comment, you know who you are, and thank you very much for taking the time to give me your thoughts, what ever they may be). So until next time, stay safe, stay in school, and stay away from the KFC Double Stacker, it is pure evil******. Blog at you later.

*I named him that, cause I tend to give people nick names when it suits them, like my friend Stretch, who got named cause she is tall and thin, but also has the last name Armstrong, and there was an awesome toy from my youth called Stretch Armstrong, so it just fits her perfectly, boy am I awesome.
**He played a Hobbit incase you didn't get the follicle foot reference.
***I just made that up, I have no clue what his friends call him.
****Ha, JGL movie title joke, don't worry if you have no clue what I am talking about, I do, and that is all that matters.
*****Bogart is a reference to one of the coolest actors in movie history, Humphrey Bogart, who did a bunch of film noir movies, and it makes me very sad if you didn't know that.

******That is unless KFC wants to sponsor me, in which case it is the best thing ever! Yeah, I can be bought, at least in matters concerning fast food chicken.

Wands Or Lightsabers: May The Force Or Patronus Be With You!

So this weeks question is incredibly simple, with no big long explanations, (I actually asked my best friend and his beautiful wife this question and they answered in unison in about half a second*) so here it is.

Would you rather be a Wizard from the Harry Potter movies?

OR

Would you rather be a Jedi from the Star Wars movies?

There you have it, you all know what this entails for both choices, and if it sways your argument, yes you do get a wand if your a Wizard and a light saber if your a Jedi.

I have posted a poll at the side incase you just want to vote, but feel free to leave a really cool answer if you are up for it. So get answering, and until next time, stay good, no matter you be a magic or force user, and I will blog at you later.

*Just incase you were wondering, they both picked Jedi, and once I told them they would get light sabers it left no doubt to their choice.

Pixar Smackdown: Round Two

In the first round of Pixar Smackdown, Toy Story went up against Monsters Inc. and it all came down to one vote. And the winner is........

Yep, Sully and Mike Wazowski won, receiving 5 votes to Buzz and Woody's 4, which means that only 9 votes were cast in total, which is really sad, but no matter, now we move on to the next round, and hopefully you might feel guilty enough to actually take the 3 seconds to click your choice on the right hand side. Now, onto this weeks Smackdown.

First up in Round 2 is Pixar's second film, about a dreamer that just wants to make life better for himself and those around him, and because he is different minded then, well... everybody, is often shunned for it. Of course I am talking about Flick, the wacky ant in, A Bug's Life.

Now quite often, when I end up talking to people about Pixar movies, I hear it said that A Bug's Life is their least favorite. Now saying this, people don't say it is a bad movie, but just it is at the

 bottom of the list of Pixar movies. Now I for one do not feel this way. I have always had a soft spot for A Bug's Life. I think it has excellent voice work with Foley, Leary and Pierce all giving great and fun performances. It also has a kinda of Seven Samurai feel, (incase you have never seen Akira Kurosawa Seven Samurai or don't have a clue what I am talking about, feel free to click this link for the trailer once you have finished reading this post and voted) which makes it all the better. So since many find this to be the least of all Pixar movies, I decided that it should go up against the Pixar movie that I personally feel is their weakest, which is...

Yep, Ratatouille. Now I know some of you are probably shocked, cause a lot of people loved Ratatouille, but I didn't. Now, I am not saying it is a bad movie, in fact, I think it is a very good movie, but as far as I am concerned it is the least best of Pixar's efforts. Saying that, rats have never looked so good, or cute, and I really

liked the way that food and cooking is viewed, and as with most Pixar movies, it has a great message about following your dreams, and looks amazing. Now like I said, you may feel differently about which one you like better, and I will repeat, this whole Smackdown thing is not about picking your favorite Pixar movie, but the best. So, which is the better movie, A Bug's Life, or Ratatouille. Again as with last time, feel free to give an answer in the comment section, but in order for your vote to count you have to put it in the poll on the right hand side of the page. It will remain open until Round 3 is up, so get voting, and remember, only vote once, or Jesus will unleash a bunch of ants riding rats to chase you around your living room, and you don't want that. So until next time, stay lemon fresh, and blog at you later.

*Did you catch the pun that Sully makes in the picture, if you did your really smart, cause I didn't even mean to do it.

The Heart Of The Hangover

Have you ever found profoundly real biblical truths in places that you would never think to look for them? For example, in a movie, about four men, who are having a bachelor party weekend of drinking, drugs and debauchery..........twice. Yep, you guessed it, (at least, I am hoping you are getting good at guessing this kinda stuff by now) the movies I am talking about are The Hangover and its sequel, which is cleverly titled, The Hangover 2

.

Ok, so here it is in a nut shell, the real question that these two movies look at is, "Why do these men do the things they do?". Now most people would just look at the obvious answer, and say they did all those crazy things because of the drugs that they had taken, just to recap for those who might not remember, (or for those much more Godly people then me who skipped it all together) here is a quick list of some of the things that the Hangover boys did. They, stole a cop car, locked a man in a trunk, stole a Tiger from Mike Tyson and a Monkey from some drug dealers, make various bets including daring Stu the dentist to pull out his own tooth, cause a riot, marry an "escort" who leaves her baby with them, have sex with an anatomically incorrect prostitute, kidnap a monk who has taken a vow of silence, get a face tattoo and do a whack load of drugs. That is just a few things the guys do over the two movies, but was it the drugs that caused all this behavior?

Stu, the self tooth extracting dentist, comes to the conclusion at the end of the second movie that he is not what he always thought he was. Instead of being a normal middle class dentist, he is really a wild man, and he states, "There is a demon inside of me!". But on this point, I completely disagree with Stu. It is not demon possession that caused the boys to do all these crazy things, and it is not really even the drugs that they take, although I am sure that helped relieve them of some of the inhibitions, but why they really do launch head first in to so much sin and crime is simple, their hearts wanted them too.

Now here is where this movie gets really theological. All the guys bad behavior comes directly from their hearts, and there is this little book called, The Bible, that tells you why, and in two different places no less. First

in the book of Matthew, (which is the first book in the New Testament, in case you were going to go look it up and wanted a little help) Chapter 15, Verse 19* which says, "For from your heart come the evil ideas which lead you to kill, commit adultery, and do other immoral things; to rob, lie, and slander others.". The second is in the book of Mark, Chapter 7, Verses 21 to 23, (you can find that one yourself. What, do I have to do everything for you?) which says, "For from the inside, from your heart, come the evil ideas which lead you to do immoral things, to rob, kill, commit adultery, be greedy, and do all sorts of evil things; deceit, indecency, jealousy, slander, pride, and folly— all these evil things come from inside you and make you unclean.”. Now when Jesus** was saying these things, it was due to the fact that the Jews were constantly talking about all the things that can defile them, and Jesus pointed out that no matter what type of food a person ate, it could not be as bad as the evil and sin that lurks in the hearts of all mankind.

The heart is the key to it all. We all do bad things, adults, kids, and even teens***, and many times when we look back, we are not sure why we did them. Well, look at your heart and you will find the answer. It is funny, cause most often you hear people say to follow

you heart, but I am not actually sure that is good advice, cause as Jesus points out, I don't think your heart necessarily has your best interest at, well, heart, to use the expression. And this brings us back to the Hangover movies, where the guys do all those bad things, and like I said, everyone looks at the drugs, but the heart is the real culprit. Why would they do all that stuff? Cause their hearts told them too, and they listened, sure, the drugs maybe made them hear their hearts clearer, but it was their hearts none the less that did all the directing. So remember, you can find Jesus stuff in the most unlikely places, so keep your eyes open, cause biblical truths are like boxes of chocolates, you never know if you are going to bite into the good ones, or one of the cherry ones, or something like that anyway. So until next time, guard your hearts, especially in video games, and I'll blog at you later.

*I am using The Good News Translation for both passages, so I just saved you from having to guess, aren't I nice, don't you just want to send me some money, thanks.
**I would tell you who Jesus is, but I am going to give you some credit that since you are reading this on the internet that you should at least know who Jesus is, even if you don't know him personally.
***Yeah, even teens, if you can believe such a thing.

My Life Is A Lie: Entertainment or Energy

This is a question that I have been waiting to do for a while, and it involves finding out something about your life that would change it forever. So, lets get right to it. First off would you rather wake up one day to find that your whole life is fake, your friends are paid actors, same as your family, and pretty much everything you know is a fabrication. Well, then your name might turn out to be Truman, and your life might look something like this.

Yep, if you haven't seen it, The Truman Show is one of Jim Carreys best movies, and it is all about finding out who you really are.

Are you the way you are because it is in your genes, or because you have been made that way by the people who surround you, or both, and what would you do if you found out your whole existence is a lie, shown to the world for entertainment.

If I don't see you, Good afternoon, Good evening and Go away, or something like that.

But wait, there is another choice. Instead of finding out that you are in a world that revolves around you for the entertainment of others, you can find that your whole world is a lie, and that your real purpose in existing is as an energy source for a race of machines that keeps your mind a slave in a make believe world, or as you probably know it, The Matrix.

Oooowww, Its all green and sparkly,
I wonder if it is minty fresh too?

The Matrix has you, follow the white rabbit! These are the words that spark off the search for truth that leads Neo to find his world is just a virtual reality program that is used to keep human slaves happy while they are drained of their life.

Unlike Truman's world, were your life's purpose was to entertain, in the Matrix, you find that your life is a lie, but also that there is a war going on, and now you are a soldier on the front lines.

Ahh man, I hate being all sticky!

So here is the choice, find out your life was all fake and now that you know you have to figure it out what to do, and where you fit in, or find that everything was all in your head and there are machines that want you dead. Sure, Truman's world seems easier, you just have to move on, yet basically everyone on the planet knows who you are and have seen you do everything, but there is not a way to take any real revenge, or have any sense of justice. While in the Matrix, sure, your life was a lie, but now you have someone to fight against, a battle that whether you win or lose, you at least tried and took some control back about what happened to you.

I thought I would just give you a glimpse of what it would be like if Jim Carrey was Neo.

So, thats it, let me know which one you pick, and why, and remember, always aim for the head when fighting zombies, this really has nothing to do with this post, but is sound advice none the less. Stay cool and blog at you later.

Keep Your Shirt On: A Needless Nudity Rant

There are few things in the experience of film that bug me more then needless nudity. Now, before I can really get into this properly I have to be honest, I have always been a fan of, how do I say this, emmm........ok, breasts, there I said it, (please don't judge me). From my youth to my teenage years I was very breast obsessed, and loving boobs and movies as I do, seeing the words, "This movie has nudity"* always seemed to make it that much better. Cut to me being all growed up, I'm still a big fan of breasts, but now that I have matured a bit, (what, really, I have!) and I have a wife and daughters, I look at nudity in films much differently. Where once upon a time nudity in a film = awesome, now it is something that I am always happy to not have to see.

Now this is not to say that nudity in film is always wrong, (now hear me out) you can't possibly do certain films without showing naked people. For example, Porn, JUST KIDDING, ok, for example, Schindler's List, (If for some incredibly strange reason you have never heard of Schindler's List, first of all that is sad, and second of all check out my post here) . You may ask yourself**,why was nudity necessary in S.L., (I am just going to use the initials for Schindler's List, cause I am lazy, and I figure you are smart and can follow along) well, when making S.L., Spielberg was trying to capture a realistic portrait of what happened in concentration camps during

The doctors who decide who goes to the
showers are in the white coats on the left

 the holocaust, and in that, the Jewish people were often humiliated and degraded in many ways, one of which was to all jog around in a circle naked to see if any of them were sick so they would send them to the showers, (in case you are really clueless, when you were sent to the showers in the concentration camp, it is usually where they killed you) where again, it would make sense to show people naked there too. So in the case of S.L., and other movies like The Shawshank Redemption where they bring prisoners in to the cells naked, or movies set in Africa or Australia that have indigenous nudity, (that is just a fancy way of saying the people normally walk around naked, so it makes sense to have them naked in the movie) in these cases nudity is necessary to tell the story. But in truth, that is really not what this rant is about.

This is not what I am talking about.



What this rant is really about is needless nudity, now here is my problem, and let me set the stage for you so you fully understand what I am talking about. Ok, shut your eyes, and imagine that you're watching a movie, and while you are sitting there, watching this movie, you think to yourself, self, this is a good movie. I bet other people I know would like this movie, in fact, since I am a youth leader, I think that this would be a great movie to show to my teens, cause they would probably wait a minute, did that woman just take her top off. Why, WHY!*** Ok, so did that ever happen to you, cause it happens to me all the time. So just so you think I am not insane, let me give you an example.

K2 is a movie about the true story of 2 climbers that join a climbing expedition to reach the summit of, you guessed it, K2, (if you didn't guess it don't feel bad, Jesus and I still think your awesome, maybe not smart, but definitely awesome). So how could there be nudity in a movie about mountain climbing? Well, the one guy in order to go on the trip needs to ask his wife for permission, and he has trouble sleeping trying to figure out a way to ask her, which she picks up on and bugs him to tell her what is bothering him, so he finally does and she gets mad and storms off. So, here is the thing, the guys wife sleeps naked. So for about 4 seconds when she gets up you see her completely undressed. Now, in S.L. nudity has a reason for being there, but why was it in K2? Beats me. I know why boobs are shown in many films, and that is for one

I only did it for the sake of art!

simple reason, $$$$$, (I like to call this the Halle Berry Clause, cause she got paid a bunch of money in Swordfish to show her twins**** for a few seconds of screen time, $500,000 to be exact, and I will be honest, I think they over paid, but they actually did get their money's worth, cause a bunch of guys coughed up $8 to see Swordfish for just those few seconds of screen time). Men like seeing naked women***** and film makers know that, so although I would prefer there be no nudity in a

OK, I admit, it was funny, but still not necessary!



movie, at least you can see why they are putting it in, $$$$$, (I just watched Piranha the other night, Boobs in 3D, now that is art******) but why the heck did they put it in K2, or Forgetting Sarah Marshall, or one of the biggest movies of all time, Titanic, (which I refuse to ever watch, but come to think of it, why was there nudity in Titanic? AAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!!!)

Hey, do you want to pretend that you're flying
and then you can show me your boobs later?
FOR SURE! 

So, that's it, I hate needless, pointless nudity, ruining movies for me

This is good!

 and the people who I could have shown them to, but now I can't, all because some guy decided that a woman in the movie had to expose her Thelma and Louise******* for a few seconds of screen time. So, ladies, keep your girls under wraps, whether on film or in life, and guys, stop being such horn dogs. That's all I got for now, so until next time, stay dressed and rant at you later.

*Actually, if the words, "This movie has violence, nudity and course language" appearing at the front of it, I generally thought that no matter what it would be awesome.
**Bonus points if you actually did ask yourself.
***Now if you shut your eyes, how did you read the rest of my post?
****The twins is just one of the slang terms I have heard for breasts, here are some more, many of which I have heard from women. Balloons, Bert And Ernie, Bonnie And Clyde, Cha-Chas, Dairy Pillows, David And Goliath (not sure I understand this one unless they were particularly disproportionate in size to each other), God's Milk Bottles, Holmes And Watson, Hubcaps, Milk Wagons and my personal favorite from Leonard Cohen, The Upturned Bellies Of Fallen Sparrows, or Ta-Ta's, its kinda 50/50.
*****Some women do too, but I don't have time to go into that here.
******Please note the sarcasm, plus I saw it in 2D.
*******That is another name I have heard used.

Pixar Smackdown: Round One

Before I get into my normal brilliant as usual post, I just thought I would mention why I have yet to post anything for July, so here goes. Life happened. Ok, now, onto the post.

So in this edition of Question Of The Week, (which I should probably start calling Question Of The Whenever I Get Round To Posting It, but it is too late to change it now, no matter how often it comes out, plus I am lazy, so Nuff said) is the first step in discovering, (at least from the people who read this crazy little thing called Jesus Was A Browncoat So I Aim To Misbehave) what the best Pixar movie is. Now as before, when I was putting together my best movie of all time list, I am not looking for your or my "favorite" Pixar movie, but the actual best one of all time. This will be done in rounds with two movies going against each other every week until there is only one left standing.

Now, as of late some of you who have been reading and trying to comment, (in particular those of you who have red hair, or are bald) have not been able too due to some crazy Internet blogging conspiracy, so here is how I am going to do this. First, feel free to give me a great cool long answer in the comment section, (Davis, I am looking at you here) or you can post the same on my Facebook page, but, and here is the important part, in order for your vote to count you have to check off your selection in the poll on the right side of the page. The voting will remain open until I post the next Pixar Smackdown Round, and I will just ask that you only vote once* per round. So, with all that said, onto Round One, and as they say in one of my favorite 90's video games**, FIGHT!

So to start off I decided to go with two of Pixars most well known films, and what better film to go first then Toy Story.

The story of a boy and his toys is the movie that started it all for Pixar and made the characters of Buzz Lightyear and Sheriff

Pick me, or Buzz will drop me!

 Woody household names. Toy Story was an original, brilliantly animated full length feature spectacle of a movie that forever changed the animated movie landscape. It showcased awesome three dimensional animation, had incredible voice work and story telling and basically paved the way for all those that came after it, but does that make it the best?

So going up against the originator is a film that answered the age old question, why do monsters jump out and scare kids from the closet,

 and that movie is Monsters Inc.



Pick me, or I'll get angry,
And you won't like me when
I'm Angry



 3 films after Toy Story, Pixar brought Sully, Boo and Mike Wazowski to vivid life, in a humorous and fantastic story about love, friendship and what home really means, oh, and power shortages. It brings a world of monsters to life that is familiar yet unique, and gave a whole new perspective to how dangerous a sock can be. Just as in Toy Story, it has incredible everything, and the animation even looks better, if that is possible, but, is it the best?

So there you have it, round one, and remember, it is not the film that you like the most, of have the fondest memory of, but the one you think is made the best. So, get posting, and make sure to answer in the poll on the side. So until next time, watch some movies, eat some popcorn, if you get a chance go check out the indie film that just came out, you know, that low budget one about the boy wizard, it has a small following, but could always use some more fans, and remember, always use the internet for good, and not evil. Blog at you later.

*Now I am trusting you in this to only vote once per round, sure, you could cheat and I would not know, but baby Jesus would, hovering over his little cradle, and he wouldn't like it, so be nice and only vote once per round, ok.

**Bonus marks if you know what game I am talking about.