Category Archives: Film

Gatsby: Now That You’ve Read the Novel…

Posted by Caleb Coy on

I had the rare opportunity to teach a novel right before the movie version of the novel is released.  I became totally immersed in the novel for the first time since I was in high school. And then I saw the movie.  If you haven’t done either yet, here’s why you might be interested:

F. Scott Fizgerald wanted to write a great novel about his time, about the 1920s, about an era that could be summarized by the symbol of a champagne bottle exploding into the night emptying itself hollow with intoxication.  You like that?  Well, he didn’t use that, but what he did use was a giant, haunting billboard for a long-forgotten oculist (aka eye doctor).
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“My Week at the Full Armor Lectures” by Jeremy Marshall Day 2 (pt.2)

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“My Week at the Full Armor Lectures” by Jeremy Marshall
 Day 2 part 2:

“After a wholesome and patently uninteresting luch at a nearby Picadilly cafeteria, I arrived back at the Doogood Ave. building about half an hour before Brother Mack Snipes’ lecture, “Hell is ETERNAL,” was slated to begin. I checked the lectureship schedule, and saw that the session was to be held in room 17 of the children’s wing. It turned out to be a classroom for five-and-six-year-olds.”

The Oscars are a Joke, but Some Awards Weren’t Deserved Anyway

Posted by Caleb Coy on

Why Zero Dark Thirty Got What It Deserved (nothing but an award in sound editing)

Why Argo Should Not Have Deserved Best Picture, but why it was typical that it did.
I haven’t seen Argo, but have heard all about it and it looks like a relatively enjoyable political thriller very loosely based on a true story. From the looks of it the “best picture” award was given so Hollywood could pat itself on the back for the time it may or may not have been a pivotal factor in rescuing hostages.

_Blue Like Jazz_: the Book, the Film, the Thoughts

Posted by Caleb Coy on

“I used to not like God because God didn’t resolve. But that was before any of this happened…Jazz is like life because it doesn’t resolve. But what if we’re not alone? What if all these stars are notes on a page of music swirling in the blue like jazz?”

I came across Donald Miller as a group at my church were studying his memoir, and then as my brother introduced me to him.  Donald Miller’s memoir of reflective essays, Blue Like Jazz: Non-Religious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality, is a book that is refreshingly honest, complexly painful, and creatively provocative.  It successfully reaches both Christians and non-Christians as an audience.
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Part the only of my review of _Hobbit: Unexpected Journey_

Posted by Caleb Coy on

“All the good stories deserve embellishment,” says Gandalf.  In Jackson’s case, embellishment means lots of CGI and plot tangents not in the core source material, but a great story is still told.  If you go see The Hobbit: A Fun Expected Journey, I cannot promise that you will come back fully happy.  But if you do, you will not be the same.
HAUJ_Bus_Dwarves_DOM

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What the Next 007 Movie Should Be

Posted by Caleb Coy on

My last post was a review of Skyfall.

Since I was a huge 007 fan as an adolescent, every 007 movie revives that in me.  So I couldn’t resist thinking of what the next 007 movie should be and why.

We know Casino Royale with Daniel Craig rebooted the entire franchise with a fresh take that is actually more true to Ian Fleming’s novels than any of the previous twenty-one.  Casino itself was based off the first novel and was pretty true to the story.   With Quantum they wrote an original story as a sequel to Casino named after the title of another Bond story.  Skyfall is yet another original, and forms somewhat of a trilogy, since (I won’t give it away) the movie brings a sort of closure to a certain character’s storyline, and embarks a new era for Bond.
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Skyfall—Review

Posted by Caleb Coy on

“We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are,
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.”
-Tennyson

When I was thirteen, I become obsessed with 007.  I had the movies all on VHS.  I even wrote amy own spy novel in the 7th grade.  Then I grew up.

[I’ll warn you about the spoilers when they come]

But these recent Bond movies have rekindled my fondness of the franchise in a new way.  It’s no longer about gadgets and freaky bad guys and exotic locations—well, it’s still sort of like that.  But it’s also about the relevance the rebooted franchise brings.  It used to be all fun and games about spy games and the cold war.  Now it’s a serious look at the measures people take in the shadows to secure the interests of empires.  And I think this film struck a very deep chord with the fears of people in great nations and their “small” mistakes.


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