Kris Rasmussen: December 2006 Archives

While I am still on a movie-watching spree so I can finish my list of Top Ten Films of 2006, I thought I would share with Idol Chatter readers the books and music that are some of the best of this past year, but which, in my estimation, are also the most overlooked. So it's not too late to return that "Left Behind" videogame or that "Purpose Driven Life" coffee mug that you found under the tree and pick up one of these titles instead to start the new year off right.

Books:
"Secrets In The Dark" by Frederick Buechner: No one reflects on the mysteries of the Christian journey more eloquently than Buechner. He is perhaps the first author I have ever read who seems more comfortable with questions about faith than he does with answers. This book is a compilation of some of his sermons from years past on a variety of topics and makes for a great devotional for the new year.

"Accompanied by Angels" by Luci Shaw: Shaw has always been adept at combining the earthbound and the sacred in unusual ways, and in this latest anthology, the focus is on man's relationship with angels. Specifically, many of the poems are related to Christmas and the birth of Jesus. If you haven't read any of her work, this is a great place to start

Who's Afraid of Postmodernism? By James K.A. Smith: Calvin College philosophy professor James Smith takes a sharp, insightful look at some of the tenets of postmodern philosophy and various Christian responses to it. In particular, I appreciate that he articulates some of the flaws in certain factions of the emergent church movement, as they adhere to postmodern thought in an attempt to be "culturally relevant." What's impressive is that he does all that in a very accessible, reader-friendly way.

Music:
Ashley Cleveland "Before the Daylight's Shot": Mix Bonnie Raitt, Diane Krall, and a tiny bit of Aretha Franklin together, and you will come close to describing the talent of Ashley Cleveland. She's always been too raw for the contemporary Christian music crowd, and she's never been a commercial sell-out, so mainstream success has eluded her, but the smoky, soulful-voiced Cleveland has been my favorite female singer/songwriter for years. She finally has a new recording out this month--available only on her website--with more songs about her passionate longing to grow deeper in her faith in spite of her failings. Her song "The Blessing" is probably going to become my anthem for 2007.

T-Bone Burnett: "The True False Identity": As a little girl I just knew T-Bone as the guy who married contemporary Christian singer Leslie--now Sam--Phillips. Most music buffs know him as the award-winning producer of numerous soundtracks ( "O Brother, Where Art Thou?") and many other hits. But his latest solo recording is a reminder that he is a genius as a singer/songwriter who mixes so many different but awesome spiritual metaphors together it just might make your head hurt.

Along with many other critics and fans, I winced when I first heard the news that Sylvester Stallone was going to add one more chapter to the "Rocky" franchise. And the cynic in me became even more nervous when I began reading on the web about how Stallone was recruiting the church audience to rally support for the film. But "Rocky Balboa," while not a great film, brings both Stallone and Rocky a little redemption for the cinematic embarrassments that were "Rocky III" through "Rocky V"("Rocky II" wasn't an embarrassment, just not as good as the original).

Almost as an acknowledgment that he sold-out one of the most beloved characters in American film history through the creation of the too many lame sequels to "Rocky," Stallone makes almost no reference to anything that happened to Balboa in any of the films except the original. But when it comes to paying homage to the original movie, Stallone does it early and often. Balboa has returned to living in the old neighborhood, where he runs a small restaurant that draws people in because of his status as a local legend. He lives in a tiny, run-down home with two turtles and hangs with Adrian's brother Pauley. Stallone even finds a clever way to bring a minor character from the first film back and turn that character into a major role in this story.

The one important person who is missing from this particular sequel, however, is the love of Rocky's life, Adrian. Adrian died a few years prior to the opening action of this story, and it is that loss that spurs the rest of the movie. A grief-stricken and lonely Rocky is sleepwalkng through life feeling like a dinosaur, not only because of his age, but also because he is still trying to live his life by a value system those around him consider archaic. Rocky tries to find solace in his relationship with his son, who is uncomfortable with dad's legacy, and he tries to find meaning in helping a single mom and her teenage son, but in both cases he is only moderately successful. But just as Rocky is becoming convinced once again that he still ain't nuthin' but a bum, he is persuaded to appear in an exhibition against the current boxing champ, the obnoxious and greedy Mason Dixon.

Does all of this sound familiar? Well, I think that is Stallone's intention. He is not trying to reinvent Rocky this time around, but simply revisit his world to remind us that "it doesn't matter how hard you hit, but how hard you can get hit and still move forward." Yes, "Rocky Balboa's" premise is slightly ridiculous, and the constant flashbacks to the original "Rocky" feel a little heavy-handed and overwrought, but Stallone gives a sweet, restrained performance, and hits all the right notes one more time as the underdog with the heart of gold.

And because I know readers are wondering, trust me when I tell you that Stallone ended the movie in such a way that there is no doubt that there will be no more Rocky movies in the future. In fact, it would have been nice if Stallone would have taken more time with the little twist at the end of the flick to give us more time to say good-bye to one of the most inspirational big-screen heroes of all time.

In one of the most subtle yet daring movies of the year, director Stephen Frears ("Dangerous Liasons," 'The Grifters") examines the death of Princess Diana with a unique and thoughtful prespective in his drama "The Queen." There's no conspiracy theories and no move-of-the-week, soap-opera treatment of the iconic Diana here, just a razor-sharp reflection on the the institution of the royal family--particularly Queen Elizabeth II--the power of the media, and the need for idol worship in our celebrity-obsessed society.

The entire movie takes place during the week after Princess Diana's untimely death in a car crash in Paris and before her public funeral several days later. Queen Elizabeth's initial instinct is to have the family retreat to Balmoral Castle so they can deal with her death privately. The only problem is that her subjects--the distraught citizens of Great Britain--want the Queen (played superbly by Helen Mirren) to honor Diana publicly. As global media coverage of the public grief over Diana's death intensifies, the newly appointed Prime Minister Tony Blair becomes involved, helping to persuade the Windsor dynasty to change public preceptions that the royals are unfeeling, out-of-touch, and perhaps unnecessary to the future of the United Kingdom.

Such plot details may not sound fit for anything other than an average History Channel documentary, but what Frears does so brilliantly is dissect events to show how people in power deserve to be judged--and also that they deserve to be granted a moment of grace now and then. Over and over again, he cleverly illustrates that everyone who knew Diana was in some way complicit in the way Diana was revered in society as well in the way that she tragically died.

It is not without a touch of prophetic irony that Tony Blair is portrayed as somewhat of a hero in this tale--someone with huge public popularity and a talent for speaking to the "commoners." In fact, Frears shows Blair foreshadowing his own current unpopularity in Britain (in part because of his support of President Bush and the Iraq war) when he tells the Queen that what is happening to her in the press will undoubtedly happen to him one day as well.

And then there is the cinematic imagery of the stag that the Windsor family stalks while staying at Balomoral Castle. The way they ruthlessly hunt this animal as a distraction--only to have it killed by a stranger instead--smacks of a huge metaphor for the way they treated Diana while the papparazzi ruthlessly tracked her every move and played a hand in her demise.

Even the weeping throngs of people keeping vigil outside of Buckingham Palace seem to be eyed with a bit of disdain through the lens of Frears' camera, because they are blind to Diana's faults, and blind to the fact that their idol worship of Diana created the demand for the constant media coverage of her every move.

"The Queen" will surely rack up some Oscar and Golden Globe Awards during the upcomng red carpet season, and it has now firmly landed as one of the leading candidates for my Top Ten List for 2006.

A pig and a spider were no match for the charisma of Will Smith, as his inspirational movie "The Pursuit of Happyness" topped the weekend box office. Based on the life of rags-to-riches stock broker Chris Gardner, the movie is not simply about chasing the almighty dollar, but it is about breaking the cycle of bad parenting and bad choices by breaking the cycle of poverty. And while the movie takes a long time to set up the story, for the most part the payoff is enjoyable.

Gardner is a down-on-his-luck salesman in an unhappy marriage when the audience first meets him, but he sees his ticket to a better life when he has a random encounter with a stock broker, which then leads to the opportunity of an internship with a prestigous brokerage firm. It's a huge risk, because there is no money involved in the internship, but it also an opportunity that could change his family's life forever. Even those straight-laced suits at Dean Witter can't resist Gardner's sales pitch, and before you know it, Gardner has entered the world of high finance.

My problem with this film is mainly in the pacing of it. The first half drags, as it takes way too long giving us too much of the same information about Gardner's life over and over again. The best moments are clearly in the second half of the film, when Gardner finally begins the internship and continues to persevere against unbelievable odds without once asking "Why me?".

And perhaps the biggest reason that "Happyness" is a well-intended and worthwhile diversion this holiday season is that I believe there is a very subtle commentary about race woven throughout the film. In a culture where there is much lip service paid to the subject of diversity, we still see it in very small amounts on the big screen, but "Happyness" finds a way to approach the topic with both humor and heart.

For example,very little is said about the fact that Gardner is an African-American man tying to achieve something in a corporation that is, in the movie, at least, all white. Yet, there is no mention of anyone playing a "race card" or of affirmative action in the story. Hard work and earning respect are the keys to Gardner's success, and yet the audience is not beaten over the head with this point.

Then there is Gardner's insistence on keeping his son and raising him even when he could not afford to put a roof over their heads. Instead of taking the easy way out, Gardner refuses to become a sterotype of an African-American father who is absent from his son's life.

While "Happyness" is probably not going to make my Top Ten list for 2006, this is still a movie that offers some hope to those who may be facing some less-than-happy times this holiday season. It is a pleasant reminder that no matter how bad things are, our circumstances can change for the better with a little hope and faith.

Only two months after 20th Century Fox announced plans to aggressively target the Christian market with a new FoxFaith label, the Weinstein Company--whose predecessor, Miramax, produced such edgy fare as “Fargo”--has announced that they will also create a faith-based movie label. The Weinstein Company is not, at this time anyway, creating their own faith-themed entertainment, but they will be working with Christian entertainment companies such as Impact Productions to distribute their products to movie theaters as well as direct-to- DVD projects. Adaptations of work by two popular Christian authors--Joyce Meyer and Max Lucado--will be the first two projects The Weinstein Company will release.

Many Christian film critics are noting--with more than a little sense of irony and a great deal of disappointment--that while Contemporary Christian Music has finally earned mainstream respectability and has worked its way out of the spiritual ghetto, Hollywood is now creating a Christian film subculture--with the church’s enthusiastic help.

I certainly echo the frustrated sentiments of talented critic and author Jeffrey Overstreet, who has posted these comments about the growth of Christian cinema over at his blog: "Walls and boundaries. That's what we want. Neat and easy labels and categories. All the better for judging other people, for staying where we are, for complimenting ourselves on our choices."

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