The Adjustment Bureau (2011)

Entertainment Rating: 5 of 5

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a while. It was every bit as good as Minority Report and quite a bit better than Blade Runner (all three based on stories by science fiction writer Phillip K. Dick). I was told this was more of a romance than a thriller/action movie, and so I was expecting a slower paced film that possibly wasn’t great. I was pleasantly surprised that it was much more than a romance, but a look at the value of our ability to choose our own destinies and exercise our free will.

Moral Rating: 4 of 5

[Spoiler Alert]

In contrast to Mao’s Last Dancer, the two main characters here actually decide to sacrifice their career goals because they really love the other person more than their careers. This love is what allows them to become more free and ultimately use their free will to the fullest.

Green Lantern (2011)

Entertainment Rating: 4 of 5

I really enjoyed seeing this in the theater. I was hoping that the critics negative reviews of the movie would not be true, and I was very glad they weren’t. We get a good introduction to the Green Lantern mythos and are well entertained at the same time. Part of why I enjoyed this may have been because I read Green Lantern: Rebirth a few months ago, and while I was a little overwhelmed by the numerous characters and strange setting, I really enjoyed the message of will power and overcoming fear. I also haven’t been spoiled by watching any of the not-so-good Ryan Reynolds comedies, and actually thought he did a good job here - not too much goofiness and no crassness, but enough humor to balance out the rest of the story.

Moral Rating: 4 of 5

I honestly thought Hal Jordan was going to be a really strong moral character at the start, and that that was his reason for being selected to join the Green Lantern Corps; but that wasn’t the case. It was nice to see his humanity - weakness - but also his resolve and will power to realize his full potential that others saw in him and become the person/hero that he needed to be. I really enjoy movies that allow me to relate to a character that I admire, it sparks hope and helps me remember that I have great potential and need to figure out what I need to do, where I can exercise my will power and resolve to overcome fear and self-pity.

We see that Hal Jordan isn’t the most moral character at first (apparently sleeping around with quite a few women), but we aren’t bombarded with inappropriate, awkward scenes that have to spell out every type of immorality Hal’s involved with. Vulgar language is also kept to a minimum. The main reason for the PG-13 rating is for the fighting scenes.

This one is worth your time to check out.

Slumdog Millionaire

Entertainment Value

Rating: A

Amazingly well-done movie. The cinematography was beautiful, the music was awesome, and the story was cool (even if some people complain of it being a bit gimmicky). I wasn't sure how "Who wants to be a millionaire?" and a love story would be all that compelling of a movie, but being set in India makes all the difference. If you can get a hold of someone with an edited version, this is a great film, otherwise it's probably on the milder end of R-Rated movies.

Moral Value - Failure to Communicate?

Rating: 4

There was a strong message of destiny throughout the film (there is a difference between destiny and fate). The brothers, Salim and Jamal, both grew up in the same environment and suffered the same hardships, but each chose to take a different route. They both were little con-men up to a certain point, but Jamal chose to change and became 100% honest in all that he did. His honesty didn't make his life any easier, but in the long run we see that his honesty enabled him to be one of the happiest characters in the story (the 20 million rupees probably didn't have anything to do with it).

Watchmen

Entertainment Value

Rating: B

I've really come to enjoy this story. I read the graphic novel and was quite impressed by it, even though it does present very mature themes. I don't know that I'd recommend the movie to anyone, if you're interested in the story go for the graphic novel first. The movie doesn't integrate the sub-story "Tale of the Black Freighter" which adds a lot to the meaning of the main story; for this reason it's not as good as it could be.  If you were to watch the edited version of the film (like we did) you will miss out on a lot of information.  The novel is less explicit than the movie (as far as I can tell by reading the reasons why this is R) - the swearing is not as heavy, there isn't any explicit sex, but it is still rather violent/disturbing.

Moral Value - Failure to Communicate?

Rating: 4

Overall message: Don't leave the saving of society to the "heroes." We may not have super heroes in our society today, but we do have politicians who believe they are super heroes. If we leave the correcting of society to those in power and do nothing ourselves, our society will end up like that in the Watchmen, quite terrifying. The saying came up quite frequently in the movie, and even more so in the graphic novel, if the Watchmen are keeping society in check, then who watches the Watchmen?

Minority Report

Synopsis

Society has made some important leaps in criminal technology. They have the means whereby they can detect a crime and stop it before it occurs. Those who are caught are imprisoned as if they had already committed the crime. It seems like a great solution until one of the top law enforcers is predicted to commit murder. He must try to prove his innocence and along the way make a decision as to whether this technology really is good for society.

Entertainment Value

Rating: A

From the previews we were expecting an action packed movie and also had some doubts that it could be as good as some of the critics have said. It was better than we expected! I even checked out the short story from the library in hopes of getting more of the same experience (I was rather disappointed, the movie was loads better.)

Moral Value - Failure to Communicate?

Rating: 4

There was a strong theme of agency exhibited throughout the film seeing how it revolves around capturing and imprisoning people before they actually have a chance to commit their premeditated crime. Tom Cruise is presented with the opportunity to fulfill his fate (and actually commit the crime as foretold by the precogs) or make his own destiny by making the right choice.

The story mentions that sometimes we have to "go through darkness to get to light". This is an important part of agency. There is an opposition to all things; we must endure some pain and misery in order to fully appreciate God's love and the blessings he has to offer to his faithful sons and daughters.

Bedtime Stories

Synopsis

A long-time hotel employee gets the chance to fight for a chance to run the hotel chain. During the process he learns what things in life bring him true happiness.

Entertainment Value - B

This was a great family film with original humor and a pretty good story line (the end was as ridiculous as Paul Blart's ending, you'd be better off cutting it off beforehand). Surprisingly a quality Adam Sandler show that you can watch without any editing.

Moral Value - Failure to Communicate? - 4

[Spoiler Alert]

The show provided a positive message on realizing that happy endings don't just belong in fairy tales. Happy endings tend to come to those who actually take charge of their lives and do good things of their own free will.

Throughout the whole story Skeeter (Adam Sandler) was waiting for others to tell him what to do (his father being the one telling the story, the kids being the ones that actually end up controlling his life to some extent, etc.). When Skeeter realizes that he has power to act himself instead of just being acted upon, he finds true happiness.

Hellboy

Rating: 4

This was a cool sci-fi movie.  It had a really good message, but it doesn't really become apparent until the climax of the movie (almost at the end).  [Spoiler Alert] While Rasputin waits for Hellboy to unlock the gates of Hell, John Myer shouts to Hellboy, "You have a choice, your father gave you that choice!"  Pointing to the fact that though he was a monster brought out of Hell, he was given the freedom to choose good.  And because he was brought up and taught the difference between good and evil, understanding his accountability and freedom to choose, he breaks free of his "destiny" by tearing off his newly formed horns, exclaiming that he has made his choice to serve good, and destroys the evil that sought to destroy him.  John Myers asks us at the end of the story, "What makes a man a man? A friend of mine once wondered. Is it his origins? The way he comes to life? I don't think so. It's the choices he makes. Not how he starts things, but how he decides to end them."

Tarantino does a good job of depicting evil and shows how even someone whose past was dark can still have the power to choose righteously.  I really liked the emphasis it placed on the importance of our God-given gift of agency.

It's hard to say, and can even be considered cheesy for a movie (particularly one of this nature) to be inspirational, but I was made more aware of how I need to better value or act on the agency I've been given.  Too many times it seems like I have to make a certain decision only because I've made that decision in the past or because of the situations I've found myself.  When our divine potential is recognized, our destiny changes.

The dry humor helped make all the sci-fi action bearable and even enjoyable at times.  I wouldn't recommend this to the mediocre comic book movie fan, unless you like sci-fi (monsters, creatures, etc.), of which Carr doesn't seem to be much a fan.

--

Carr here.  Just wanted to say that I acknowledge the moral messages apparent in the film, but it's not a see-again for me.  I felt like I was missing a lot of the story and it was never explained.  I found myself scoffing at the lines and characters, which thing I don't do too often.  I can handle cheesy; this was simply bizarre.  Not really appealing to me.