A Saturday to Remember...
Well if you have known me long or haven't known me long it is pretty easy to figure out that I am a passionate person. No really the things I get excited for I really get excited for. I am still of the belief that the Lord of the Rings (although three of the greatest movies ever) should have been six movies of all the same length. This may not be the most practical idea but man that would have ruled. Anyway on Saturday I went to go see the first installment of the Chronicles of 
Narnia. I was really excited to see this movie but also pretty hesitant. I was read the books as a child, have re-read them as an adult, and generally love the writings of C.S. Lewis so I feel a pretty strong connection to these stories and characters
I was under the impression and still am that if the movie did not have the line that describes Aslan as "a wild lion" or "not safe" or "not tame" but "good" there would be no point in making the movie. This is such a great description of God and his relation to western culture. We can't control Him, tell Him what to do, contain Him, or make better plans than Him. Living your life by God's standards and following Him with all your heart is reckless and not safe. It will lead to the reckless love of others and to fearless joy we will make decisions that make no sense to our non-believing friends and family and sometimes even to our believing friends and family. God is not safe but He is good and His promises will endure forever. I love that... Our lives are so simple by faith, love God with all our hearts, and trust that His son Jesus died for your sins and cling to Him as your everything. The rest is well the rest... Thank God He is good, and we can trust Him above anything else *(I will be talking about the movie from here to the other asterisk so if you don't want to hear stuff skip ahead).
So the movie and my thoughts:
Cons - One thing the movie has going against it is that the four stars are all children and for children to have to convey the emotions sometime required in these stories is tuff. On top of that it is usually the youngest of the four that has to convey the most emotion. You have to believe that Lucy is crushed by Edmond's lie, you have to believe that Lucy and Susan have never seen anything worse then the death of the great lion. Overall I think they did a good job considering it was the first movie for all of them with the exception of Anna Popplewell (Susan). Another con is the CGI was average it was no Lord of the Rings but it was better then some of the Shots form the first Harry Potter or the second Matrix which both had parts that were horrible. So none of it was appalling but it could have been better. Third con and this is getting a little picky, there is so much explanation of Aslan and people's reaction to him in the books. It is arguable the best parts of the books and I could have done with more of that, talk and reaction to how amazing Aslan is.
Pros - They did a good job of holding to the books. The allegory of redemption through a savoir is very evident. The line(s) that had to be in there were. "He is not a tame lion but he's good." Yes!!! I almost cheered out loud. Especially since they made me wait the whole movie for it. The death and resurrection at the stone table was great. The professor who is not a major character was just right. I have the feeling that if you are not a lover of the books you might not enjoy the movie quite as much but even without them I still think it is a great kids movie. I just feel they got the right parts right. I would endorse it 100%.
* O.K. I'm done talking about the movie. The other cool thing about Saturday involved free trade coffee. I found out a while ago that Dunn Brothers sells free trade coffee. Even before that I had chosen Dunn Brothers as my coffee shop of choice (both Caribou and Starbucks are evil). So while we were having coffee and talking about the movie I thought I would check it out. The thing I was worried about was the price.
I want to try and buy more fair trade products but I've heard some of them get pretty expensive, but to my surprise and joy it was not a bad price. So anyway you should check out maketradefair.com and the next time you buy coffee you should at least check out Dunn Brothers fair trade stuff. It's worth looking at.
Anyway all in all it was a great weekend busy but fun thanks to everyone who planned cool stuff to do, I'm glad I got to have fun with you. Hooray for having friends...
Godspeed,
Caleb M. Saarela
P.S. Dunn Brothers website and the recipie for Turkish Delight bellow, man does that stuff looks gross...
http://www.dunnbros.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Delight
Narnia. I was really excited to see this movie but also pretty hesitant. I was read the books as a child, have re-read them as an adult, and generally love the writings of C.S. Lewis so I feel a pretty strong connection to these stories and charactersI was under the impression and still am that if the movie did not have the line that describes Aslan as "a wild lion" or "not safe" or "not tame" but "good" there would be no point in making the movie. This is such a great description of God and his relation to western culture. We can't control Him, tell Him what to do, contain Him, or make better plans than Him. Living your life by God's standards and following Him with all your heart is reckless and not safe. It will lead to the reckless love of others and to fearless joy we will make decisions that make no sense to our non-believing friends and family and sometimes even to our believing friends and family. God is not safe but He is good and His promises will endure forever. I love that... Our lives are so simple by faith, love God with all our hearts, and trust that His son Jesus died for your sins and cling to Him as your everything. The rest is well the rest... Thank God He is good, and we can trust Him above anything else *(I will be talking about the movie from here to the other asterisk so if you don't want to hear stuff skip ahead).
So the movie and my thoughts:
Cons - One thing the movie has going against it is that the four stars are all children and for children to have to convey the emotions sometime required in these stories is tuff. On top of that it is usually the youngest of the four that has to convey the most emotion. You have to believe that Lucy is crushed by Edmond's lie, you have to believe that Lucy and Susan have never seen anything worse then the death of the great lion. Overall I think they did a good job considering it was the first movie for all of them with the exception of Anna Popplewell (Susan). Another con is the CGI was average it was no Lord of the Rings but it was better then some of the Shots form the first Harry Potter or the second Matrix which both had parts that were horrible. So none of it was appalling but it could have been better. Third con and this is getting a little picky, there is so much explanation of Aslan and people's reaction to him in the books. It is arguable the best parts of the books and I could have done with more of that, talk and reaction to how amazing Aslan is.
Pros - They did a good job of holding to the books. The allegory of redemption through a savoir is very evident. The line(s) that had to be in there were. "He is not a tame lion but he's good." Yes!!! I almost cheered out loud. Especially since they made me wait the whole movie for it. The death and resurrection at the stone table was great. The professor who is not a major character was just right. I have the feeling that if you are not a lover of the books you might not enjoy the movie quite as much but even without them I still think it is a great kids movie. I just feel they got the right parts right. I would endorse it 100%.
* O.K. I'm done talking about the movie. The other cool thing about Saturday involved free trade coffee. I found out a while ago that Dunn Brothers sells free trade coffee. Even before that I had chosen Dunn Brothers as my coffee shop of choice (both Caribou and Starbucks are evil). So while we were having coffee and talking about the movie I thought I would check it out. The thing I was worried about was the price.
I want to try and buy more fair trade products but I've heard some of them get pretty expensive, but to my surprise and joy it was not a bad price. So anyway you should check out maketradefair.com and the next time you buy coffee you should at least check out Dunn Brothers fair trade stuff. It's worth looking at.Anyway all in all it was a great weekend busy but fun thanks to everyone who planned cool stuff to do, I'm glad I got to have fun with you. Hooray for having friends...
Godspeed,
Caleb M. Saarela
P.S. Dunn Brothers website and the recipie for Turkish Delight bellow, man does that stuff looks gross...
http://www.dunnbros.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_Delight
Labels: Just for fun., Movies, Rants and Raves
posted by Caleb M. Saarela at 3:30 PM
3 Comments:
THANKS FOR RUINING THE ENDING FOR ME YOU JERKFACE.
P.S. We need to get together again sometime. Email me
Caleb cried like a baby the WHOLE movie. I'm still not sure he actually was able to watch any of it. I sat next to him and couldn't hear the movie because of him (not really).
C-stud, two things:
1. Turkish delight rocks. It IS devilishly good and not as nasty as some other things I've eaten (i.e. bitter mellon).
2. I pretty much agree with your thoughts on the movie. I'll be honest though, I have a hard time envisioning the man who played Alfred Kinsey and Qui-gon as the voice of the son of God.
3. Ok, three things. You should check out the following website, because I think you'd like it: http://www.oneworld.net/
They also have a bunch of articles discussing Fair Trade this week. Haven't had a chance to read it all but it looks pretty good:
http://us.oneworld.net/section/us/perspectives/6/fairtrade
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