One Minute Review: Black Swan

So, you want to go see "Black Swan." Maybe you should check out the One Minute Review first. Just sayin'.

One Minute Review: Black Swan from Thomas McKenzie on Vimeo.

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One Minute Review: The Fighter

Did someone say Oscar? Add this one to your short list, but watch out for the body blows.

One Minute Review: The Fighter from Thomas McKenzie on Vimeo.

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One Minute Review: True Grit

Hey, I thought Unforgiven was the "last American Western." 

Hey, didn't John Wayne already make this movie?
Hey, Jeff Bridges looks like he's going to slaughter some dudes in a vicious, dark No Country style film. 
Hey, just watch the One Minute Review.


One Minute Review: True Grit from Thomas McKenzie on Vimeo.



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One Minute Review: Tron Legacy

A sequel starring a woman who wasn't even born when the first movie came out?  Jeff Bridges digitally reverse-aged?  Light Cycles?  What's not to love?  Or, is there anything to love?  Find out!


One Minute Review: Tron Legacy from Thomas McKenzie on Vimeo.


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One Minute Review: 127 Hours

In 2003, Aron Rolston found himself physically pinned under a rock in the desert for 127 hours.  In order to free himself and save his own life, he had to remove his arm.  In 2010, director Danny Boyle made a movie about it.  Is this something anyone would actually want to watch?  The One Minute Review has been to the desert, and now returns with this review. 


One Minute Review: 127 Hours from Thomas McKenzie on Vimeo.

One Minute Review: The Tourist

Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp star in a new-fangled old-fashioned fantasy/spy romance.  Do we love them in their first film together?  Watch the One Minute Review and find out!


One Minute Review: The Tourist from Thomas McKenzie on Vimeo.

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One Minute Review: Tangled

A Disney Princess film for boys? An olive-skinned over-protective mother as the bad guy? Has the world gone mad? Or has it just gone so-so? Find out.


One Minute Review: Tangled from Thomas McKenzie on Vimeo.

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One Minute Review: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Oh, C.S. Lewis, your books are yet being adapted for modern film audiences.  They look great, but do they have any soul?  Let the One Minute Review scratch the surface of that conversation.  And perhaps you the reader will add your own thoughts in our comment section?


One Minute Review: Voyage of the Dawn Treader from Thomas McKenzie on Vimeo.


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Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra

There is an episode of Star Trek The Next Generation entitled "Darmok."  The set up is that the Enterprise meets an alien race with which humanity has never been able to communicate.  The humans have a "universal translator," which means that they can understand the words that the aliens say.  But they can't comprehend their meaning.

Why not?  Because the aliens only communicate through allusion.  Instead of saying something directly, they use metaphors based in the common narratives of their culture.  So, instead of saying "I am having romantic feelings" they would say something like "Juliet on the balcony."

The captain of the alien ship teaches Captain Picard how to communicate by forcing him to have a shared experience, a fight together against a common enemy.  While working together, Picard comes to understand how the other captain communicates.  Of course, the biggest problem that the humans are going to have in talking to these aliens is that they don't have common stories.  So, when the alien says "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra," he means that two heroes must fight for a common goal.  Unfortunately, the humans don't know that story, so they have no reference point for what the aliens are trying to say.

I recognize how increasingly like these aliens I am.  I was sitting in a meeting a few weeks ago.  The person leading the meeting was talking about "spiritual formation."  That's kind of a buzz word in the church world right now.  He had lots to say about this topic, and what he had to say was very well thought out.  I, however, had a hard time understanding what he was saying.  Why?  Because he didn't use any stories.  There were not examples, no parables, no narrative.  Because there was no narrative, no "Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra," no "Juliet on her Balcony," I couldn't grasp the material.  I understood every word he was saying, but the words were like vapor in a disembodied haze. 

I find the same thing to be true when I watch movies.  I love movies, but one of the things that makes me hate certain movies is their lack of narrative structure.  Take "Babies," a sort of documentary that follows the first year in the life of four newborns.  It is cute, it is sometimes beautiful to look at, and it gave me an appreciation of some of the different ways people raise babies around the world.  However, I hated the movie and was ready for it to be over 15 minutes in.  Why?  Because the narrative was so weak, really non-existent.  Clint Eastwood's latest "Hereafter" also struggled to have a real narrative structure, putting it on my "bad list."  Then there was Transformers 2 which, apart from terrible acting, had a maddening lack of narrative continuity.  Therefore it sucked. 

All of this leads me to a greater point.  I think about the people who are outside of the Church, those who don't know the great stories of the Bible or of Church History.  They come into our church, and we might as well be talking about Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra.   We have common narratives within Christianity, but for those outside I would assume that these can be hard to connect with.

If I were a "seeker sensitive" guy, I would say that the solution to this is to stop using Biblical narratives.  Instead, I would rely on movie clips and pop songs.  Another way I could respond would be to just not worry about those people.  I'll just use my church language, my "Christianese," and they can just figure it out or not.

I don't wish to accept either of those options.  I believe it is essential to maintain our stories, we just have to do a better job of teaching the Grand Narrative to those on the outside.  We have to be careful to use language that invites them in, while recognizing that there simply is no slang word that can substitute for "propitiation." 


I think the best way to do this is to tell the Grand Narrative each and every Sunday, which is in fact what we do in the Anglican tradition.  Through our Eucharistic liturgy (two Church words to be sure!), we tell the story of the God who took on flesh, was born, lived, taught, suffered, died, rose, ascended, sent the Spirit, and promised to return.  I'm not talking about what we say in the sermon, I'm talking about the entire movement of worship. 


I am a person who loves good stories.  I love to read them, hear them, watch them, and tell them.  Most of all, I love the story of Jesus and I long to tell that story over and over again until the whole world has heard. 


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Behold the Lamb

I was asked to write a guest blog post about Andrew Peterson's Behold the Lamb record and tour.  So, here is what I wrote.  Enjoy.

Having lived in Nashville for over a decade, I sometimes find myself saddened by the Christian music industry.  Cynical musicians, vapid song lyrics, and a laundry list of poor business practices are easy to find in my beloved city.  What isn’t so easy to find are committed Christians (who are also excellent artists) telling the story of the Gospel in a compelling way.  That is one of the reasons Behold the Lamb of God is so special.

Recorded over ten years ago and led by singer-songwriter Andrew Peterson, Behold the Lamb of God is an album and a tour that should not be missed.  First, the album itself.  On Behold the Lamb, Andrew tells the “true tall tale” of the coming of Christ.  But unlike most Christmas records, he begins with Creation, with Philippians 2, and with Passover.  Rather than snowmen and chestnuts, you have a beautiful retelling of the greatest hero story every told. 

Musically, Behold the Lamb is God is on one hand deeply personal but also a lot of fun.  Andrew has gathered around himself a great community of musicians, and their excellence as well as their love for the Gospel comes through. 

While I enjoy listening to the record in the car, I dearly love to hear them play it live.  Each year, the tour goes forth around the country.  Of course, I would say that the best place to hear Behold the Lamb is here in Nashville at the historic Ryman.  The show begins with an in-the-round, a sharing of current songs, followed by the entire record played live.  Like every Andrew Peterson show, the evening ends with a congregational singing of the Doxology while the musicians quietly walk off, leaving God alone the glory. 

Let me encourage you visit http://www.andrew-peterson.com/behold/index where you can listen to the songs, check out the tour schedule, and purchase the album if you’d like.  You will not find a more worshipful, contemporary retelling of the Good News of our Saviors birth.


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