Saturday, January 26, 2013
Jay Maurer Bio
Jay Maurer is a long-term film buff and former college teacher of The Film as Literature. He wrote movie reviews for The Good News, a publication of West Side Presbyterian Church in Seattle, WA, from 2002 to 2010 and has continued writing reviews on his website since then.
Ratings are expressed in increments of ¼ star. A rating of 2 ½ stars or higher is generally meant to be a recommendation.
1 star=poor. 2 stars=average. 3 stars=quite good. 4 stars=superb.
Criteria for determining the ratings:
• Reflection, either explicit or implicit, of Christian values, including suitability of language and lack of gratuitous violence.
• Quality of the acting.
• Originality.
• Unity of the entire picture.
• Substance, or in the words of C.S. Lewis, weight.
To read his reviews, go to maurermoviereviews.blogspot.com. To comment on them, you will need to have a Google account, which is free. Other accounts that will allow you to comment are LiveJournal, WordPress, TypePad, AIM, and OpenID. Most of these are free as well. Add your comment in the "Post a Comment" box; then click "Publish."
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
2012 Retrospective: Movies Seen in 2012
2012 Retrospective
One Man's Opinion: Movies Seen in 2012
| Silliest | Men in Black 3 |
| Most Disturbing | Seven Pounds |
| Hardest to Follow | Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy |
| Best Animal Movie | War Horse |
| Best Animal Actors | The horses in War Horse |
| Best Reflection of the Gospel | October Baby |
| Most Original | The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel; Life of Pi |
| Best Characterizations | Pi in Life of Pi; Abraham Lincoln in Lincoln |
| Best Revisited Classic | A Christmas Story |
| Most Exciting | Argo; the Bourne Legacy |
| Best Sports Movie | Trouble with the Curve |
| Best Movie with Music | Les Miserables |
| Best Acting Performances | Suraj Sharma in Life of Pi; Meryl Streep in Iron Lady |
| Also Worthwhile | Hitchcock; The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey; The Hunger Games; Skyfall; Snow White and the Huntsman |
| Most Impressive Movies | Argo; Life of Pi; Lincoln; Les Miserables |
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
The Hobbit -- An Unexpected Journey -- December 2012
HOBBITS AND THEIR FRIENDS
Bilbo Baggins, an inhabitant of the Shire, leads a comfortable, well-ordered life. He loves his food, his drink, and his garden. He's relatively well-off and, at least at the beginning of the story, well-respected. Imagine his surprise and chagrin, then, when one day a famous wizard named Gandalf knocks on his big round door and informs Bilbo that he's recruiting people for an adventure and would like him to join up. Bilbo is having none of it, though. He regards adventures as "nasty, disturbing, uncomfortable things. Make you late for dinner." He refuses Gandalf and shows him out, whereupon Gandalf carves a symbol on the door. Not long afterward, the dwarves begin to arrive. Soon there are 13 of them and, aided by Gandalf, they commandeer his house, eat up his food and drink, and stay up most of the night singing. They assume that Bilbo will accept their job offer of "burglar," but Bilbo continues to refuse. When he awakes the next morning, however, and discovers the wizard and the dwarves gone, Bilbo finds that he has undergone a change of heart. He runs out the door and soon catches up with them on the road, ready and willing to aid the dwarves in their quest to challenge the dragon Smaug and regain their lost power.
Thus the stage is set for director Peter Jackson's new picture, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. For a couple of weeks before seeing the movie I was wondering whether or not I'd really like it. I'd loved all three installments of his The Lord of the Rings trilogy (aka LOTR), and J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is (along with LOTR) one of my absolute favorite books. The film review I read, however, wasn't all that positive, taking the view that the movie is much too long and not that compelling. Well, I needn't have worried. It held my attention throughout and turned out to be highly enjoyable. If you're any kind of Tolkien (or Peter Jackson) fan, you won't go wrong by seeing it.
Just to make sure that we're all on the same page, let me say a few words about how The Hobbit is related to The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit as a "prequel" to LOTR, his great life work, and this introductory story introduces most of the main characters and sets in motion the events that are carried through in the trilogy. We might ask this question about Tolkien: Are The Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy Christian works? The answer is yes, as evidenced by the existence of such books as Kurt Bruner and Jim Ware's Finding God in the Lord of the Rings. (In this connection, also see the reviews of The Two Towers and The Return of the King.) However, Tolkien's strategy for revealing Christian thought is much different from that of his close friend and colleague C. S. Lewis. Tolkien, a Catholic, was instrumental in Lewis's conversion to Christianity in the 1920s. But unlike Lewis, Tolkien felt that Christian thoughts and values should be rather well hidden in literary efforts, while Lewis's methods, once he came to faith, showed Christian ideals as much more obvious and transparent. The result is that in Tolkien's work we see a very strong focus on the struggle between good and evil, on the need for heroism, sacrifice, and loyalty, and these themes are well borne out in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. However, we don't see any obvious Christian symbols.
The film is certainly well acted, with Martin Freeman (Dr. Watson in PBS Masterpiece productions of Sherlock Holmes) as Bilbo Baggins, Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Christopher Lee as chief wizard Saruman, Cate Blanchett as the elf-queen Galadriel, and Andy Serkis as (the prototype of) the quasi-animated Gollum. The actors who play the 13 dwarves are most impressive. The production is stunning overall, though purists will note that director Jackson has added two battle scenes not present in the novel, presumably in an attempt to make The Hobbit darker and more like The Lord of the Rings. The picture is rated PG-13; we don't see much blood, but we do see a lot of battle violence.
This one question remains: Why should adults see this film, particularly those who don't much care for fantasy? The answer lies in the character of Bilbo Baggins, who is perhaps a type of everyman. Most of us don't like our comfortable lives or routines to be disturbed or, for that matter, for discomfort to play any part in our lives at all. Gandalf the wizard, in one of the quintessential statements in the film, says this about Bilbo's admirable character: "I've found it's the small things, everyday deeds of ordinary folk, that keep the darkness at bay." Most of us, everyday folk like Bilbo, can rise to the occasion if we have to – and do potentially great things in the process.
My Rating: 3 ¼ stars
Bilbo Baggins, an inhabitant of the Shire, leads a comfortable, well-ordered life. He loves his food, his drink, and his garden. He's relatively well-off and, at least at the beginning of the story, well-respected. Imagine his surprise and chagrin, then, when one day a famous wizard named Gandalf knocks on his big round door and informs Bilbo that he's recruiting people for an adventure and would like him to join up. Bilbo is having none of it, though. He regards adventures as "nasty, disturbing, uncomfortable things. Make you late for dinner." He refuses Gandalf and shows him out, whereupon Gandalf carves a symbol on the door. Not long afterward, the dwarves begin to arrive. Soon there are 13 of them and, aided by Gandalf, they commandeer his house, eat up his food and drink, and stay up most of the night singing. They assume that Bilbo will accept their job offer of "burglar," but Bilbo continues to refuse. When he awakes the next morning, however, and discovers the wizard and the dwarves gone, Bilbo finds that he has undergone a change of heart. He runs out the door and soon catches up with them on the road, ready and willing to aid the dwarves in their quest to challenge the dragon Smaug and regain their lost power.
Thus the stage is set for director Peter Jackson's new picture, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. For a couple of weeks before seeing the movie I was wondering whether or not I'd really like it. I'd loved all three installments of his The Lord of the Rings trilogy (aka LOTR), and J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit is (along with LOTR) one of my absolute favorite books. The film review I read, however, wasn't all that positive, taking the view that the movie is much too long and not that compelling. Well, I needn't have worried. It held my attention throughout and turned out to be highly enjoyable. If you're any kind of Tolkien (or Peter Jackson) fan, you won't go wrong by seeing it.
Just to make sure that we're all on the same page, let me say a few words about how The Hobbit is related to The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit as a "prequel" to LOTR, his great life work, and this introductory story introduces most of the main characters and sets in motion the events that are carried through in the trilogy. We might ask this question about Tolkien: Are The Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy Christian works? The answer is yes, as evidenced by the existence of such books as Kurt Bruner and Jim Ware's Finding God in the Lord of the Rings. (In this connection, also see the reviews of The Two Towers and The Return of the King.) However, Tolkien's strategy for revealing Christian thought is much different from that of his close friend and colleague C. S. Lewis. Tolkien, a Catholic, was instrumental in Lewis's conversion to Christianity in the 1920s. But unlike Lewis, Tolkien felt that Christian thoughts and values should be rather well hidden in literary efforts, while Lewis's methods, once he came to faith, showed Christian ideals as much more obvious and transparent. The result is that in Tolkien's work we see a very strong focus on the struggle between good and evil, on the need for heroism, sacrifice, and loyalty, and these themes are well borne out in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. However, we don't see any obvious Christian symbols.
The film is certainly well acted, with Martin Freeman (Dr. Watson in PBS Masterpiece productions of Sherlock Holmes) as Bilbo Baggins, Ian McKellen as Gandalf, Christopher Lee as chief wizard Saruman, Cate Blanchett as the elf-queen Galadriel, and Andy Serkis as (the prototype of) the quasi-animated Gollum. The actors who play the 13 dwarves are most impressive. The production is stunning overall, though purists will note that director Jackson has added two battle scenes not present in the novel, presumably in an attempt to make The Hobbit darker and more like The Lord of the Rings. The picture is rated PG-13; we don't see much blood, but we do see a lot of battle violence.
This one question remains: Why should adults see this film, particularly those who don't much care for fantasy? The answer lies in the character of Bilbo Baggins, who is perhaps a type of everyman. Most of us don't like our comfortable lives or routines to be disturbed or, for that matter, for discomfort to play any part in our lives at all. Gandalf the wizard, in one of the quintessential statements in the film, says this about Bilbo's admirable character: "I've found it's the small things, everyday deeds of ordinary folk, that keep the darkness at bay." Most of us, everyday folk like Bilbo, can rise to the occasion if we have to – and do potentially great things in the process.
My Rating: 3 ¼ stars
Friday, January 4, 2013
Invictus -- February 2010
TRULY AN INSPIRATION
I must admit I was puzzled by the title Invictus, a new movie about Nelson Mandela. What does this word mean, I wondered, and why was it chosen as the picture’s name? I did some research and learned that Invictus is the name of a short poem written by English poet William Earnest Henley in 1875 from his hospital bed. The word means “unconquerable.” Here are the poem’s concluding lines:
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
So why this title? Nelson Mandela had copied the poem on a scrap of paper he referred to again and again during his 27 years of imprisonment in a South African jail for opposing apartheid. It fortified him and kept him from bitterness. Just as Mandela refused to be conquered while in prison, he refused to be conquered when he became president of South Africa.
As the film opens it is 1995, and Mandela has just taken control of the South African government. A newspaper headline says, “He can win an election, but can he govern a nation?” “A legitimate question,” Mandela responds. Realizing that he must be president of all South Africans and that both blacks and whites must let bygones be bygones, he takes a controversial step: he insists that the mostly white, ineffective (and disliked by blacks) national rugby team continue to represent the country. Not only that, South Africa must win the bid to host the 1995 World Cup of Rugby. Opposed by many in his own party, Mandela reaches out to Franҫois Pienaar, the captain of the South African team, developing a personal relationship with him. He takes Pienaar to visit the prison where he spent 27 years and gives him a copy of
the poem Invictus to use as his own inspiration in team leading. After that a minor miracle takes place: All of South Africa unites behind the rugby team, and the team becomes strong.
Invictus might sound like a sports movie, but rugby is only the backdrop. What the picture is really about is forgiveness. Jesus told us that if we do not forgive our debtors, our Heavenly Father will not forgive us. Mandela exemplifies this idea, asserting that black South Africans must forgive the whites who maintained the deplorable system of apartheid. Watching this film, we see what a truly inspirational figure Mandela is.
Invictus was directed by Clint Eastwood and is certainly one of Eastwood’s best efforts. It stars Morgan Freeman as Mandela and Matt Damon as Franҫois Pienaar, both of whom play their rules to near perfection. Eastwood, describing himself as non-religious, is nonetheless impressed by Mandela, particularly his ability to forgive. One can only hope that Eastwood might come to understand salvation.
Film Rating: PG-13
My rating: 3 ¼ stars.
Caution: The film includes a few examples of unfortunate language and misuses of the Lord’s name. Not for younger children.
I must admit I was puzzled by the title Invictus, a new movie about Nelson Mandela. What does this word mean, I wondered, and why was it chosen as the picture’s name? I did some research and learned that Invictus is the name of a short poem written by English poet William Earnest Henley in 1875 from his hospital bed. The word means “unconquerable.” Here are the poem’s concluding lines:
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.
So why this title? Nelson Mandela had copied the poem on a scrap of paper he referred to again and again during his 27 years of imprisonment in a South African jail for opposing apartheid. It fortified him and kept him from bitterness. Just as Mandela refused to be conquered while in prison, he refused to be conquered when he became president of South Africa.
As the film opens it is 1995, and Mandela has just taken control of the South African government. A newspaper headline says, “He can win an election, but can he govern a nation?” “A legitimate question,” Mandela responds. Realizing that he must be president of all South Africans and that both blacks and whites must let bygones be bygones, he takes a controversial step: he insists that the mostly white, ineffective (and disliked by blacks) national rugby team continue to represent the country. Not only that, South Africa must win the bid to host the 1995 World Cup of Rugby. Opposed by many in his own party, Mandela reaches out to Franҫois Pienaar, the captain of the South African team, developing a personal relationship with him. He takes Pienaar to visit the prison where he spent 27 years and gives him a copy of
the poem Invictus to use as his own inspiration in team leading. After that a minor miracle takes place: All of South Africa unites behind the rugby team, and the team becomes strong.
Invictus might sound like a sports movie, but rugby is only the backdrop. What the picture is really about is forgiveness. Jesus told us that if we do not forgive our debtors, our Heavenly Father will not forgive us. Mandela exemplifies this idea, asserting that black South Africans must forgive the whites who maintained the deplorable system of apartheid. Watching this film, we see what a truly inspirational figure Mandela is.
Invictus was directed by Clint Eastwood and is certainly one of Eastwood’s best efforts. It stars Morgan Freeman as Mandela and Matt Damon as Franҫois Pienaar, both of whom play their rules to near perfection. Eastwood, describing himself as non-religious, is nonetheless impressed by Mandela, particularly his ability to forgive. One can only hope that Eastwood might come to understand salvation.
Film Rating: PG-13
My rating: 3 ¼ stars.
Caution: The film includes a few examples of unfortunate language and misuses of the Lord’s name. Not for younger children.
Life of Pi -- December 2012
WHAT IS THE VALUE OF PI?
OR: A STORY THAT WILL MAKE YOU BELIEVE IN GOD
Is there some sort of trend going on? A year ago we had Hugo, a 3D movie released late in the year for Academy Award consideration. The main character of Hugo was a nine-year-old boy. This year we have Life of Pi, a 3D movie again released late in the year for Academy Award consideration. This time the protagonist is a teenager. Are we going to have more and more films with child heroes? That might not be bad, actually, for just as last year's Hugo was a gem, this year's Life of Pi is also a high-quality picture.
The vast majority of us probably encountered the concept of pi in high school math classes. We may remember that pi expresses the ratio between the circumference of a circle and its diameter and is a transcendental number: It has the value of 3.1415926 to seven decimal places, but the digits repeat ad infinitum. It could be said that, just as the value of pi is infinite, God is infinite and transcendent. And somewhere therein lies this story of first a boy, then a teenager, and then a man named Piscine Molitor Patel, or Pi for short.
As the story opens, the grown-up Pi is seated in his living room talking with a British writer who has come all the way to Canada because he has heard that Pi has a story that will make him believe in God. It seems that when Pi was quite young his family lived in France and Pi was given the name Piscine Molitor ("piscine" is French for "swimming pool"), a moniker which caused him considerable grief because his classmates deliberately mispronounced the word. This forced the boy to assert that his real and proper name was "pi," as in the mathematical concept. The family eventually returns to India, and when Pi is a teenager they decide to emigrate to Canada. Pi's father owns and administers a zoo and, wanting to sell the animals, engages ship passage across the Pacific. Shortly after the voyage is under way, however, a colossal storm destroys the ship, and everyone is lost except Pi and four of the zoo animals: a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena, and (most significantly) a tiger named Richard Parker. The hyena kills the zebra and the orangutan, and then Richard Parker dispatches the hyena. Only Pi and the tiger are left on a lifeboat to survive the Pacific Ocean.
Thus the stage is set for the meat of Life of Pi: Pi's voyage with Richard Parker across the vast ocean. And what a voyage it is. Pi the teenager must become constantly vigilant and resourceful. Discovering a manual that instructs him about survival in the lifeboat, he manages to cobble together all manner of devices to keep himself and the tiger alive. He constructs a raft that he attaches to the lifeboat since it is not safe for him to be in close proximity to the ferocious Richard Parker. He finds ways to collect fresh water and to capture flying fish that sustain both himself and his feline companion. As the days and nights wear on, Pi slowly begins to succeed in his quest to love and to tame the tiger, who would no doubt devour the boy if he got too close. Eventually, though, the available food supply dwindles, and Pi and Richard Parker become weakened by their desperate need for nourishment. In one near-heartbreaking scene, Pi sits with Richard Parker and lovingly caresses and comforts him. Miraculously, they run aground on an unknown but mysterious island populated by hundreds of meerkats and containing plenty of fresh water. They are saved, at least for the present.
But now we return to the central question of this film: how is it that this story will make the British writer (and by extension any nonbeliever) believe in God? Pi had begun his spiritual life as a practitioner of Hinduism. One day when he was a young child, however, his brother dared him to drink some holy water in a Catholic church. Pi did so and was immediately confronted by the priest of the church, who didn't punish him but instead told him of the love of Jesus Christ. Pi came to believe in Christianity and eventually to describe himself as a "Catholic Hindu." Later in his childhood he embraced Islam for a time. But here's a potential problem: Could we say that, since Pi's spirituality is "all over the place," the film really espouses the heretical idea that "in their different ways, all religions lead to God"? I don't think so. The story seems fundamentally Christian, as we see played out in Pi's personal relationship with God and his surrender to Him. In one quintessential scene, Pi, seemingly at the end of his rope, stands on the lifeboat and screams out to God, "What more do you want of me?"
Life of Pi, directed by Ang Lee and based on the novel of the same name by Yann Martel, cost about $120 million to make. Director Lee was involved in the project for almost four years. Much of the filming was done in Taiwan at an abandoned airport where a gigantic wave tank was constructed in which to film the ocean scenes. The majority of the scenes involving animals are computer-generated but nonetheless look completely real. The acting is superb, particularly the roles of the adult Pi, played by Irrfan Khan, and that of the 16-year-old Pi, played by newcomer Suraj Sharma, who was selected from about 3,000 applicants in India. Sharma had not acted professionally before and wasn't even going to try out but was only accompanying his brother to the audition. Nevertheless, he got the part.
Life of Pi is unlike any other movie and is a real credit to cinema. You owe it to yourself to see it.
Film Rating: PG-13
My Rating: 3 ½ stars Highly Recommended
OR: A STORY THAT WILL MAKE YOU BELIEVE IN GOD
Is there some sort of trend going on? A year ago we had Hugo, a 3D movie released late in the year for Academy Award consideration. The main character of Hugo was a nine-year-old boy. This year we have Life of Pi, a 3D movie again released late in the year for Academy Award consideration. This time the protagonist is a teenager. Are we going to have more and more films with child heroes? That might not be bad, actually, for just as last year's Hugo was a gem, this year's Life of Pi is also a high-quality picture.
The vast majority of us probably encountered the concept of pi in high school math classes. We may remember that pi expresses the ratio between the circumference of a circle and its diameter and is a transcendental number: It has the value of 3.1415926 to seven decimal places, but the digits repeat ad infinitum. It could be said that, just as the value of pi is infinite, God is infinite and transcendent. And somewhere therein lies this story of first a boy, then a teenager, and then a man named Piscine Molitor Patel, or Pi for short.
As the story opens, the grown-up Pi is seated in his living room talking with a British writer who has come all the way to Canada because he has heard that Pi has a story that will make him believe in God. It seems that when Pi was quite young his family lived in France and Pi was given the name Piscine Molitor ("piscine" is French for "swimming pool"), a moniker which caused him considerable grief because his classmates deliberately mispronounced the word. This forced the boy to assert that his real and proper name was "pi," as in the mathematical concept. The family eventually returns to India, and when Pi is a teenager they decide to emigrate to Canada. Pi's father owns and administers a zoo and, wanting to sell the animals, engages ship passage across the Pacific. Shortly after the voyage is under way, however, a colossal storm destroys the ship, and everyone is lost except Pi and four of the zoo animals: a zebra, an orangutan, a hyena, and (most significantly) a tiger named Richard Parker. The hyena kills the zebra and the orangutan, and then Richard Parker dispatches the hyena. Only Pi and the tiger are left on a lifeboat to survive the Pacific Ocean.
Thus the stage is set for the meat of Life of Pi: Pi's voyage with Richard Parker across the vast ocean. And what a voyage it is. Pi the teenager must become constantly vigilant and resourceful. Discovering a manual that instructs him about survival in the lifeboat, he manages to cobble together all manner of devices to keep himself and the tiger alive. He constructs a raft that he attaches to the lifeboat since it is not safe for him to be in close proximity to the ferocious Richard Parker. He finds ways to collect fresh water and to capture flying fish that sustain both himself and his feline companion. As the days and nights wear on, Pi slowly begins to succeed in his quest to love and to tame the tiger, who would no doubt devour the boy if he got too close. Eventually, though, the available food supply dwindles, and Pi and Richard Parker become weakened by their desperate need for nourishment. In one near-heartbreaking scene, Pi sits with Richard Parker and lovingly caresses and comforts him. Miraculously, they run aground on an unknown but mysterious island populated by hundreds of meerkats and containing plenty of fresh water. They are saved, at least for the present.
But now we return to the central question of this film: how is it that this story will make the British writer (and by extension any nonbeliever) believe in God? Pi had begun his spiritual life as a practitioner of Hinduism. One day when he was a young child, however, his brother dared him to drink some holy water in a Catholic church. Pi did so and was immediately confronted by the priest of the church, who didn't punish him but instead told him of the love of Jesus Christ. Pi came to believe in Christianity and eventually to describe himself as a "Catholic Hindu." Later in his childhood he embraced Islam for a time. But here's a potential problem: Could we say that, since Pi's spirituality is "all over the place," the film really espouses the heretical idea that "in their different ways, all religions lead to God"? I don't think so. The story seems fundamentally Christian, as we see played out in Pi's personal relationship with God and his surrender to Him. In one quintessential scene, Pi, seemingly at the end of his rope, stands on the lifeboat and screams out to God, "What more do you want of me?"
Life of Pi, directed by Ang Lee and based on the novel of the same name by Yann Martel, cost about $120 million to make. Director Lee was involved in the project for almost four years. Much of the filming was done in Taiwan at an abandoned airport where a gigantic wave tank was constructed in which to film the ocean scenes. The majority of the scenes involving animals are computer-generated but nonetheless look completely real. The acting is superb, particularly the roles of the adult Pi, played by Irrfan Khan, and that of the 16-year-old Pi, played by newcomer Suraj Sharma, who was selected from about 3,000 applicants in India. Sharma had not acted professionally before and wasn't even going to try out but was only accompanying his brother to the audition. Nevertheless, he got the part.
Life of Pi is unlike any other movie and is a real credit to cinema. You owe it to yourself to see it.
Film Rating: PG-13
My Rating: 3 ½ stars Highly Recommended
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