Category Archives: Film

Badly Broken: Walter White and the Corrosive Effects of Sin

Posted by Caleb Coy on

Badly Broken: Walter White and the Corrosive Effects of Sin

Badly Broken: Walter White and the Corrosive Effects of Sin
by Chris McCirney and Daniel Lee

A great article about a televised story of how sin starts small and eats away at us.  Also, spoilers alert.

“With each calcified deposit, what starts off as an instinct to provide for his family mutates into a monstrous obsession to preserve the empire that Walt has established with his own two hands. Walt has been so engulfed by the darkness that he is no longer fully human. And that’s because sin is a force that refuses to let up; like gravity, it relentlessly pulls us inward into itself. As Walt himself says, ‘If you believe that there’s a hell . . . we’re already pretty much going there. But I’m not gonna lie down until I get there” (from episode 5.07, “Say My Name”).'”

Why We Like Duck Dynasty, and Why We Need More TV Like It

Posted by Caleb Coy on

It’s a family reality show that should not have happened, according to probability.  It would be hard sell, you see: A show about a duck call warehouse—no.  A show about a family that wears camo and beards all the time—no.  A show about a family that celebrates their faith and eats good food—no.  Producers might give such a family a 20-minute spot on some show about America’s unique families.  They look like Tolkien characters given rifles and Southern accents.  And yet someone saw the potential in giving the Robertson clan their own show.


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Why Liam Neeson Should Make a “Taken 3”

Posted by Caleb Coy on

It’s not because the acting, dialogue, or script were astounding.  Because none of them were.

It’s not because the film fills a gap in our need for vigilantes to do what we feel we can’t to make a difference in the world.  Because if films like that make us feel better, they can also make us feel complacent, and maybe a little blood thirsty.  These movies do end up being a little “torture porn the family can enjoy” in some scenes.

It’s not because if there’s a sequel there also has to be a trilogy.

There’s only one reason there needs to be a Taken 3, and the reason is because it should go like this:
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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)

Posted by Caleb Coy on

“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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