Pieces of Pop: June 2006
06-08-2006
by Aaron Dicer

Pieces of Pop
Bite sized morsels of a hard to swallow culture

I'm not a big fan of hot. Warm I like, maybe even cool, I can even stand the cold, but the whole 94 with 95% humidity thing really has to stop. Fortunately, I live in Michigan so we only have a month or two of this stuff, but when those days hit, there's only one place you'll find me; the climate controlled paradise that is the local Cineplex. With kids out of school, and holiday weekends coming fast and furious (apologies to Vin Diesel) studios know that the summer movies will make or break them. Just in May I've already hit up 5 of the early blockbusters to see what's going on. My thoughts follow (in the order I saw them) as well as a quick look at Summer TV (which should be officially renamed "The Reality Zone").

United 93 - Possibly the most powerful movie I've seen since "The Passion". And really that's the best comparison to what is going on here. The movie is hard to sit through, yet immeasurably life affirming and redemptive. It's going on 5 years since 911, yet the emotion and impact of that day still hits as hard as ever. I never got into the whole "too soon" conversation, mostly because truth doesn't change with time. United 93 isn't devastating because it only happened five years ago, it's devastating because it happened at all. Paul Greengrass does a spectacular job in directing this, every choice made seems to be the right choice. Not focusing on any one individual (names were irrelevant on that plane), painting the terrorists as human not caricatures, burying Todd Beamer's "Let's Roll" line, letting the real life air traffic controllers and staff play themselves; not casting any known or recognizable actors; it all adds up to a movie that is more documentary than commentary and allows the truth of how honorable, brave, and heroic the passengers of Flight 93 really were to shine through without embellishment. This isn't a movie you want to see, it's a movie you need to see.

M/C/Q (Message/Content/Quality) - A+/B/A+
Overall - 96%

MI:3 - After the excruciating depth of United 93 it was nice to get back to some "popcorn" fare. That isn't to say that Mission Impossible is all fluff, JJ Abrams (of Alias and Lost fame) does a great job at bringing depth and intricacy to this movie as he has with his TV work. In fact, those who say that this is really "Alias: the movie" aren't too far off, then again, I loved Alias. I have to be honest, I absolutely hated MI:2, John Woo is all style and no substance and I thought the franchise suffered immensely at his hands. It was so nice to see Ethan Hunt get back to the truth of what it means to be in IMF. The spectacular missions were a blast, but what really held this film together was the genuine relationships and character development. By the end, I felt truly invested in Mr. Hunt (despite Mr. Cruise's real life antics). By the way, the film critic police will lock me up and throw away the key if I don't mention Phillip Seymore Hoffman's performance pretty soon, so let me just say the rumors are true. He will own every second you see him on screen and was a complete joy to watch. I also have to mention Kerri Russel, whose limited screen time was also spectacular, making the most out of what could have been a throw away role. Overall, this movie is a ton of fun, the best of the three so far, and from the very opening shot JJ locks you in for a wonderful experience.

M/C/Q - A-/B-/A-
Overall - 90%

Poseidon - Bleh. Not even sure what that means, but it seems to sum up Poseidon. If the action in MI:3 was enhanced by the relationships, the action in this movie is stifled by the lack of them. The truth is that the set pieces here are just as big, death defying, and spectacular it's just that you never really get a chance to care. There isn't a fully realized character among this group as they all just seem to be playing prototypes; the protective dad, the daughter, the boyfriend, the depressed loner, the down on her luck stow away, and the over the top throw you off the boat to save himself jerk, named, are you ready for this, Lucky Larry. Actually Lucky Larry may be the best thing about this movie. He's the only character who embraces the over the top cheese that made watching the original Poseidon Adventure such fun. His difference from the rest of the cast is another thing that made this movie forgettable (or memorable for all the wrong reasons), the lack of tone consistency. It's like some actors thought they were doing Shakespeare and others thought they were doing parody, which is certainly a problem that comes down to direction (surprising because director Wolfgang Peterson has had such luck with water in the past in Das Boot, and The Perfect Storm). Still, watching people scramble to get out of an upside down sinking luxury liner is still a lot of fun just on it's own so I can't say it's a total waste. The point being it is what it is, or as stated earlier, bleh.

M/C/Q - B/B/C
Overall - 79%

X3 - Your enjoyment of X Men 3: The Last Stand will depend largely on whether you are an X Men fan from the comic books, or from the movies alone. If you are a fan of the comic books you will likely be so distracted by changes in X Men mythology and reference that you will miss what a powerful and great movie lurks underneath. Honestly, for me, it's hard to see how an X Men film can miss. This is probably the greatest single franchise property in existence because the possibilities are endless; you could make an X movie every other year 'til the trumpet sounds and not run out of ideas or stories. Which is why it is so interesting that this is being billed as the final X film. It makes no sense. Fox has a never-ending bank vault here and I can't imagine they would lock it up and throw away the combination. I know the big Wolverine movie will be coming out, but it just won't be the same without a full cast of mutants. Back to this specific film, it is as good as the first two, and stand-in director, Brett Ratner, has done a great job at continuing Singer's palette and vision with his own touches. And yes, this is the third straight summer movie that ends with the number 3 that I really liked. Weird.

M/C/Q - A-/B-/B+
Overall - 88%

Da Vinci Code - One of the worst movies I've ever seen, and it has almost nothing to do with the supposed controversy. Certainly the whole revisionist idea of who Jesus was is important to deny. Christ's deity is central to Christian theology. I'm not one to get all up in arms about it, but I also think it's important not just to dismiss it as "only fiction". Of course it's fiction, but the greatest ideas and philosophies are often presented in fiction. Jesus himself used parables, remember? So don't just give it the whatever sign and move along, make sure you know truth and compare it with what is going on here. Beyond the philosophical/theological controversy though this movie has one giant problem, it stinks. Thirty miles past Dullsville sits the town of Boringopolis, well, to get to this movie you need to keep driving on monotonous boulevard until you fall asleep and end up snoring loudly in a ditch somewhere. Ok, maybe that's a bit harsh, but I was seriously bored out of my mind for most of this movie. It takes itself way too seriously, takes way too much time explaining things and not enough time enjoying the journey. The only thing that saves this movie from a complete failure is that Tom Hanks manages to be sort of likeable and a scene towards the end where there is a discussion about whether Jesus being married or having kids would be a hindrance to Christianity and faith. It's a great question, because there is no sin involved in marriage or making babies (at least my wife and I and our four little boys hope not). All in all, save yourself the theater prices and rent National Treasure instead.

M/C/Q - D/B/D+
Overall - 66.6% (sorry, couldn't resist)

Summer of Reality - 7 summers ago CBS decided to try a little summer experiment called "Survivor" and by the time Richard Hatch claimed his million dollar check that August a new TV genre had been born. Since then, networks have made Summer the home for Reality Shows both good and bad. If you don't believe the summer of 99 had an impact on TV programming check out this list: So You Think You Can Dance 2, My Fair Brady, Fear Factor, Criss Angel: Mindfreak, The Contender 2, The One: Making A Music Star, Star Tomorrow, Looking For Stars, One Ocean View, How To Get The Guy, Buy It Now, Tuesday Night Book Club, Solitary, Kathy Griffin: My Life On The D-List, America's Got Talent, Big Brother All Stars, Treasure Hunters, Rock Star Supernova, and Last Comic Standing. Every last one debuts this summer. Casting aside the chaff I'm completely ready for more Contender, So You think You Can Dance, Rock Star, Last Comic, and Big Brothers All Stars sounds fun especially if Jason gets back on (The most solid Christian to ever appear on reality TV, as far as you can tell from an edited show that is). I'll be keeping my eyes on new shows America's Got Talent and Treasure Hunters as well. Seriously, if I'm gonna watch this much TV even through the summer, I really need an HD set, at least that's what I've been telling my wife.

(Aaron Dicer is Program Director and does the morning show at 101.7 "The Fuse", in Saginaw, Michigan. He has also spoken around the country at youth events and seminars on how a Christian can interact with culture in a positive way. Every other week he takes a look at what's going on in the world of Movies, TV, and more. You can hear him at wprj.org, read more articles at hookedonsiphonics.com, or be his friend at myspace.com/aarondicer. Questions, comments, opinions, ideas? Email him at dice@cmcentral.com)