A comedy about achieving goals by believing so, the threat of world domination when power gets into the wrong hands, good versus evil, creativity and actualisation versus the importance of a creating force are just a start to the themes the movie covered. This film provided much fodder for discussion. I liked how it allowed me laugh honestly and regard with fresh innocence the identity of our Creator as writer/ illustrator and the power of integrity in that role.
Category: Movies
200% Wolf
This poodle is the runt of the pack and wants to make things better so calls on the ancient spirits to help out. A journey into out of space and explores good/ bad and the spirit world. Can be a little scary at times. I’m glad I had company at the cinema!
Inside Out 2
Fantastic insight into how the mind works around puberty. The mechanics of thought are so amazing to behold here. It makes one think objectively about what forces shape the teenage thought processes.
(From YouTube Inside Out 2 official trailer)
Dune 1
This movie was heralded by a music score with siren-like urgently persistent horn. This was a high tech sci-fi movie that spoke issues of war, displaced persons, bloodlines, leadership requiring strength of mind and body and the futuristic war concept of immortality shields to protect to leaders from alien attack and wearing of oxygen therapy nasal tubes on the planet of Arrakis. T’was a tear jerker but showed the protagonist (Timothée Chalamet) excelling in finding safe ground and in so doing finding his love interest (Zendaya) who was a reflective and strong personality and whom he had vivid dreams of the future. The movie however was quite bloodthirsty & violent and had a growing sense of fear. The couple of focus (Timothée Chalamet & Zendaya) were nonchalant characters under pressure which was beguiling and a redeeming feature.
&Juliet
Great musical theatre, about Juliet not fretting when Romeo apparently dies but buoyed up by her friends and nurse’s goading she gains confidence, dates and a new lease on life! Well a happy ending after about 30 pop songs sung thanks to ‘Anne & William Shakespeare’.
https://www.sydneylyric.com.au/and-juliet/
Barbie (2023)
The Movie
Margot Robbie & Ryan Gosling are far from vainglorious as Barbie & Ken in recent movie Barbie. I admit I managed to watch 1/2 of it on video (due to not having hired it myself). They outline a Mattel endorsed lifestyle that is walking a tightrope and is destined to change due to Barbie’s discovering existencey of a real life beyond the materialistic confines of the present known doll’s life. The elements of ’real life’ suggest danger and disarray compared with the predictability of a doll’s life. It provokes discussion of thé clash between dolls’s or their imagined ‘perfect’ lifestyles and reallife and the problems each situation brings mechanistically.
Miracle Club (2023)
Great ‘doco’ type movie, with Dame Maggie Smith’s humour stripe. It showed the different stories of a group of women who knew eachother a little who went to Lourdes France for their cure, hailing from Dublin Ireland – whether their malady was obvious or not, and they grew in warmth and understanding of each of their true characters and what it took to be them.
Emily (2023)
In 2023 I watched the movie Emily, about Romantic period author Emily Brontë (1840s) who wrote the novel Wuthering Heights. The movie was awesome. I liked how Emily and brother Branwell yelled out on the Moors “Freedom of Thought”! This reminded me of John Henry Newman’s book (1852) The Idea of a University.
I also liked how she spoke French at home and spoke her mind with her sister when using it ( it sounded so delicate in the French tongue) and I liked how there was a twist in the tale at the end. The movie brought tears to my eyes, even in the nonchalant parts, I suppose as a precursor, i could sense the movie’s building of heaviness and the sense of gloom near the end. I like Emily’s sense of adventure and the theme of “ the greatest joy in life is love and be loved”.
What I loved about the movie was the fact that the father (the mother had died) and sisters and brother encouraged eachother to best their best person and to write! What a roller coaster ride of emotions in this movie! Worth seeing.
Elvis – Directed by Baz Luhrmann (2022)
Watched this recently with a friend and it was great. Who to blame for Elvis’ (played by Austin Butler) death at 42 to be up to the audience to decide, but it was expertly narrated by the manager Colonel Tom Parker (Tom Hanks) and he was made to pay fines to court in real life for squandering Elvis’ money on gambling. It was acted inspiringly by Austin Butler who really brought out the human Elvis who struggled with the misgivings of fame along with provocative direction by Baz Luhrmann. I was moved by supporting actress Olivia De Jonge for her excellent role as wife of Elvis – there were such strong scenes that brought tears. I really liked the spirit of Elvis and his “love” of the audience. Great soundtrack too.
Spiritual books and Jesuit public lectures
I enjoy reading spirituality books and attending lectures on spirituality. God’s Spirit has moved me. I did learn some education subjects at uni (up to year 3 at Sydney Uni) before I started full time work and it taught me some philosophy, psychology, sociology and history. It was good fun. Books such as ‘The God Who Won’t Let Go’ by Peter Van Breeman shape my home life. Also my sister recommends John Henry Newman’s (1852) The Idea of a University.