Last Samurai

[Captain Algren (Tom Cruise) has been taken care of by Katsumoto's sister.  Katsumoto (Ken Watanabe) now regards Captain Algren as his friend, but originally they were enemies.]

This is a fantastic movie from start to finish.  It is violent, but I highly suggest watching the whole movie.  

To the clip at hand, in this we learn that soldiers lead a tough life.  They lead a life that torments their mind because to kill on a regular basis changes the person.  This is true for our warriors, as much as theirs.  Violence is not something inherently good, but is something that exists in our fallen world, and it can be used for good.  This is Katsumoto's comment about only those who are ashamed of what they have done.  

Katsumoto then says though that then he comes to this place, the place of his ancestors, and he remembers that we are all dying.  This is true, the cold hard fact that we are all dying.  It is an inescapable reality that we as humans must face.  Some face death and despair, or meet it with impassivity, but Katsumoto suggests meeting it with peace. There is a great quote from Fr. Dujarie, "While we have yet time, let us do good."

"Life in every breath."  This is the way of Bushido, the code of the Samurai.  This is also what Christians seek as well, to come to meet the face of Christ, life, in every moment.  "I am the way, the truth, and the life." (Jn. 14:6) We seek to find Him in every action that we do, in every thought we have.  We want to be more His, than anything else before.  

The Blindside

[Michael is learning how to play football for his high school.  His new mom Leigh Anne Tuohy(Sandra Bullock) goes out to help him out]

This is another fantastic movie that I highly encourage you to watch the whole story.  

The way Leigh Anne came on the scene and knew exactly what to do is pretty amazing.  Why is that she knew how to handle the situation and yet the coach did not?  Mrs. Tuohy knew something about Michael that the coach didn't, that Michael is somebody who wants to protect people, not hurt people, or be rough like most men are.  The coach thought that Michael was a lost cause, a gentle giant.  The thing that people forget about gentle giants is that they are not always gentle, you just have to find the cause that their heart unlocks for.  

How often do we approach evangelization, or even life this way?  We think we know how the world works, or we write somebody off on a first impression.  People in the Church can think that atheists are cold, or that they don't want anything out of life.  Or how many people have treated people with same-sex attraction terribly because we believe we already know them.  All people can be a great asset to the Church, to God, to society in general if only we can take the time to get know them.  

Leigh Anne knows that you cant begin to coach somebody unless you know what motivates them, why do they come out on to the field to begin with?  The question posed to us then is if we are faced with a reality that we don't like, will  we stand on the sidelines and gossip, or will we actually do something to respond to the person before us?  So I challenge you this day, love somebody by taking the time to get to know who they are before you make an assumption of their abilities.  Love somebody today!

a Knight's Tale

[William Thatcher, Sir Ulric, (Heath Ledger) has returned home to his father.  When he was a small boy his father gave him over to the training of a knight.  Before his father left William was worried he would not know the way home...so his father told him to just follow his feet.]

We see a beautiful reunion of father and son.  This shows the kind of love that ought to exist between our family.  It can be years between seeing each other, but we should be happy to hold and see one another.  I mentioned up above that William's father had put him into the training of a real knight grouping up.  This is what father's ought to be, father's are supposed to want more for their children than themselves.  So often today we have fathers who don't care about their children, or tell them not to reach for the stars.  Some fathers also trying to live through their kids, and not let the kid reach and change his stars, the stars he is looking for, not his father's. 

This is not an easy thing to do, but as we learned from Scripture "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." (Jn. 15:13)  True love is sacrificial.  Which is one of the reason why I think we can pull a parallel to the relationship of God the Father and God the Son.  Father gives His Son over to the world for the good of the world, to change the stars, and the Son is so sent.  The Son goes to accomplish that which He set out to do, and returns victorious to His Father.  William returns to his father having accomplished the goal he set out to do.  

You've Got Mail

[Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) gets stuck in a elevator with his current girlfriend Patricia (Parker Posey) and other passengers.]

This is a simple enough scene that reminds us of those peculiar events where we are asked to pause and reflect.  Almost every stuck elevator scene I have seen is reminding the watcher to sit back and think about what is going on in their life.  It is a retreat, time think about the things that matter in life.  Out of the four characters in the elevator only one fails to do this.

The woman with the dog recognizes that her relationship with her mother is important and that she should spend more time and energy on it.  The bellhop recognizes that he should marry the woman he loves, that procrastination is not a good thing.  Then Patricia thinks about getting her eyes laser-ed, whatever that means, and then freaking out about her tic-tacs. Patricia just like the Pharisees of Jesus' time fail to take the time to really look at their life and take stock of things.  The people who were rich and famous back then would miss out on the things that are really important just like Patricia.  

Joe Fox actually takes the time to think about what he would like to be doing with his life, and who he wants to be with.  The movie is a love story between two very unlikely people, but both go through changes.  Joe Fox is at the final turning point in his change in this scene, he is now clear on what he wants.  Joe wants the good things out of life, things that matter, not fame, or riches.  So the question I leave you with is what are you missing out on?  Where is God asking you to pause in the busyness of your life?  

Man of Steel

[General Zod an alien like Superman turned demanded that Superman, Kal-el, (Henry Cavill) be turned over to him.  This is the conversation before he is turned over.]

This clip is extremely Christian.  This is the very nature of what Christ did for us.  There was a tyrant, General Zod demanding the life of us for his purposes.  It was Christ, or Superman, who gave himself over for the good of the many.  

Superman states that he is surrendering to mankind not to Zod, just as Christ surrendered Himself, took on humanity, taking the form of a slave, so that He might save the many. Lois Lane asks about the S on his chest, and he responds that it is not an S, but rather a symbol for hope.  It is kind of cool how Christ himself transformed a symbol of ours as well.  Imagine that Christ came to change what the cross should mean.  This was an equivalent to an electric chair.  The cross was not a simple of hope, but rather despair.  It is something you stayed away from, yet Christ came and changed its meaning.  Why is it a symbol of hope?  Because it is through this action that HE saved us. 

Another thing to point out from the clip is that Superman gets up, and easily breaks the handcuffs and "puts his cards on the table."  The room filled with the general, and doctor are worried that they cannot control Superman.  We freak out when we recognize we have to surrender power.  They recognize that they need Superman, and he is a liability.  How often do we see Christ the same way?  We look at Him and are afraid of Him because we cannot control Him. We have to trust in the good will of who He is, and what He says.  Superman states it well..."but that doesn't mean I am your enemy."  We will never be able to control Christ, to bend Him to our will, but that doesn't mean He is our enemy.  

Lastly, Superman states "do what you have to do general."  It reminds me of how Christ willingly accepted being led to the crucifixion.  Notice that he never blamed Judas, or said how dare you.  He stated "What you are going to do, do quickly." (Jn. 13:27)

The Proposal

[Originally the couple (Ryan Reynolds and Sandra Bullock) had done this to trick the system (laws and governments) otherwise Margaret Tate(Sandra Bullock) would be deported.]

So it is time for another sappy romance up here.  Even thought it has some of the classic blunders that I dislike in romantic comedies, it does highlight some really great things.

Notice that Andrew (Ryan Reynolds) has something he needs to say for the good of them both.  He is uncompromising in his statement of the truth.  She is free to reject him at any point along his speech.  Andrew realized that love is not something that you plan, it happens.  Yet it requires choice.  This is a big point to this clip.  Love is a sacrifice, a chose to be made.  It does not mean that everything is going to be fine, or that the fairy tales happen.  It is a choice made for the good of the other.  Andrew is talking about the love that he has for Margaret, that it is worth struggling for, and embarrassing himself if she says no, worth being scared.

Notice that Margaret said she enjoyed being alone, it was more comfortable.  We were not made to be comfortable..."our hearts our restless until they rest in you, O Lord." -St. Augustine.  Love is a risky business though as C. S. Lewis states, "To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable."  It is this fact that makes the act of Andrew, and the acceptance of Margaret so powerful.  Love moves us, it changes us, it is scares, we have to make the leap of faith.  

Patch Adams

[Patch Adams (Robin Williams) is on trial for unlawfully practicing medicine at a ranch (hospital). He has the knowledge.]

Patch Adams brings a wonderful observation that so often we forget in world.  Patch talks about the point of medicine, or being doctors, which is to help people.  Throughout the whole movie actually you can see this is his point, they are people not a condition, or a disease.  It is all well and good to treat the disease, and I believe doctors should do that, but not at the cost of the person.  Think about it for a second, what if you put the person through so many tests, procedures, and drugs only to find out that the person wanted to die in the first place, or at least that they were ready to die.  

So often in our jobs we start working on the task at hand, what we think the real problem is, and all the while we forget why we are doing it in the first place.  Step back and think for a second, why is it that a person works at a restaurant?  Is it simply to serve, or cook food well.  Yes, but only if there are people to serve or cook it for.  If we forget that the end task is people we always lose in the big picture.  

This happens in our faith too.  We start practicing the Faith well, going to Mass, or a Church service, Temple, or any place of worship.  We help out at the parish, we do volunteer work, we are a good citizen, I give money every Sunday.  But I ask you to what avail?  All those actions lose there clout if it is not borne from our relationship with God.  So often we get caught up in external aspects of our faith, and it makes sense, we can control those.  If we have done this at the cost of the relationship with God, then what have we lost?  So often we are Christian, but have forgotten Christ.  

So I encourage you, today take the time to pray!  Prayer, in its true form, is always about remembering, and living that relationship with God.  It reminds me that without Him, all the tasks in the world won't mean anything. 

Kindergarten Cop

[John Kimble (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is an undercover cop posing as a teacher.  He has just hit a father of a student when he recognized that the kid had bruises, given by the father.]

I bet you never expected to get a movie like this up here on the blog.  I wanted to take the time to show you that you can learn things from all sorts of places, which is actually part of my point about this clip.

So often we think we know exactly what it is to do a job, or to be good at it.  This is especially true of the older generation.  "I have been doing this since before you were born."  This is true, there is a point to doing what has already been done, "if it ain't broke don't fix it."  But we also need to be open to what comes up in life, since life is rarely predictable.  As the principal lectures on she points out something that we all need to be aware of, that good things can come from all sorts of unlikely places.

She tells him that she has no clue what type of cop he is, but the things he is doing as a teacher are working.  She can recognize when things are working, even though they do not fall in the conventional approach.  These are the types of bosses we need to have out there.  Ones that are open to something new, that things don't always have to go as they have always been.

Overall it is a fun movie, and references what I am sure many a teacher has thought about.  But what we should take from the clip, above all is to be open to things that are different from us, you never know it might work.

Shaun of the Dead

[the zombie apocalypse has happened Shaun goes to get some goodies from the store just down the block from him.]

So this comedy speaks to the younger generations for us out there.  So the apocalypse has happened, or at least massive amounts of people have turned into Zombies.  Shaun wakes up and walks to the store oblivious to the world around him.  Think about it for a second, he walked about countless signs of destruction: the car window broken in, things turned over in the street, trash strewn about, blood prints on the door, even slipping on the blood on the floor.  He didn't ever look up to see people were out and about on the street.  Shaun was tuned in only to his world.  Even the guy towards the end of the scene who Shaun thought was asking for spare change.

It was not until he got home and turned on the television that he was beginning to open his eyes to the world around him.  Even then he was flipping through channels not really paying attention.  The next part in the movie is he realizes that something has happened.

How many people spend there life like this staring into their phones oblivious to the world around them.  Even when they are looking at their phones, or iPads they are constantly bored it seems like.  I remember when I taught at a high school the kids just wanted to play games on their phones and iPads, but to what avail?  They were completely zoned out to the world around them.  The question that I leave to you is how aware of your surroundings are you?  Would you notice if the Apocalypse happened?  Would you notice the quite, or the noise?  Would you be like Shaun and walk 2ish blocks and not recognize anything was amiss?  Are we so comfortable with our life that we cannot see beyond our meanings, and purposes?

Put down the phone, the iPad, computer and look at the world around you.  Notice something beautiful, amazing, something unusual, anything.  Spend some time in the real world, I promise you it is far more exciting than the world of your phone.  The phone is a tool, only that, it is not meant to be more than that.

The Holiday

[Iris (Kate Winslet) had traded places with a person on home exchange to get away from her guy problems aka Jasper (Rufus Sewell)]

So Iris responds wonderfully to Jasper.  It is a good thing that she finally gets rid of a person that is not good for her life.  She takes a stand and reminds herself that she should be happy not wallowing in misery over a guy that claims that he loves her.

Besides that point, the one to think about is how this is an analogy of our love for sin.  We often times fall in love with sin just as Iris fell in love with Jasper.  We want to be with sin, we think our particular sin loves us back, yet it is committed to something else.  The only thing that sin has ever truly brought us is pain.  I know pleasure in the beginning and even the promise of pleasure later, but ultimately pain.  We often punish ourselves thinking that because we did not do sin the right way that it is the reason we are in pain, and that reality is not the way we want.  We forget that the wages of sin is death, death to who we are.  We end up being a shriveled shell of our former selves, who we were made to be.

Instead of being hopelessly lost and caught up in the trappings of our sins, we need to recognize our relationship for what it is.  We need to take the gumption to be able to cease our relationship with sin, to proclaim as Iris did " ITS OVER."  We need to say that sin has no place in our life, we need to eradicate it completely and not listen to any of its tempting messages.  Iris says "shhh" when Jasper tries to speak to interrupt her declaration.  We cannot give any ground for sin to stay rooted in our life.  We need to respond with the gumption Iris did.

If we do chose to eliminate sin from our life as Iris does in this case, then we will respond with the euphoria that she does at the end of this clip.  There is so much more to life then this stupid relationship with sin that we continue to have.  If  only we accept that we are the "lead" in our own story.  Christ gave you a light not to be hid under a bushel basket.