Reviews

Avatar - Way of Water

So, we rented and watched it yesterday. Entertaining, but a questionable message. My comments after the first Avatar movie were: "Ferngully meets Dances with Wolves". The current iteration is not much different.

Humans are the bad guys. Aliens who live simple, humble, and close to the earth (so to speak) lives are the heroes. I'm just gonna say it: The GREEN lifestyle (back to nature, close to nature) is pushed on you so hard in these movies that you can't help but wonder how humans ever got to be where we are today?

So, it begs the question, is James Cameron analyzing history and giving us what he THINKS is a "Historical perspective" here, or is he projecting based on his opinion that our "Present course" of destroying nature and running out of living (and breathing) room in the next century or so?

I hate to be so cynical on these movies, because they really are entertaining, but that underlying message is simply DANGEROUS!

Humans are:

1. The mean guys 2. The wasteful guys 3. The destructive guys 4. The ones who use their technology to dominate and enslave / oppress "Lesser" (or indigenous) races.

Now, don't get me wrong, there are EXAMPLES of these happening all through human history. But they are NOT the rule! There have been and always will be people who will do WHATEVER IT TAKES to make $$$ and so on, but by FAR, human civilization is so much different from how it's portrayed in these movies.

Humans are:

1. Problem solvers 2. Compassionate and kind 3. Generally happy and productive, and not mean towards others 4. Mainly tolerant (look at the U. S. A. With immigrants from over 100 different countries!)

Movies that either distort history or use a warped view of it to present a political agenda are in my mind - BAD.

I can't rate Avatar - The Way of Water - any higher than 5/10, and that's simply because it's entertaining and visually pleasing. It loses FIVE SOLID points for being a political statement.

As we have Disney+, we also have National Geographic. Some of their stuff, I cannot watch anymore, as it's literally FILLED with propaganda, and other stuff not worth viewing. But, we watched this the other night and found it excellent, for what it covered. The episode deals with a recent restoration of the "Tomb of Christ", in the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. I have been there, I saw it in 1999. My mom and I went in an knelt at the tomb, where Jesus was buried. It has been a Holy Site for Christians for 2,000 years, and the evidence found during this restoration should strengthen your faith!

What they don't cover at all, is the fact that the Holy Sepulcher also encloses what the early Christians believed (and there's ample evidence for as well) was the site of Golgatha (or Calvary), where Christ was crucified / killed, i.e., where he actually died for our sins.

The video also doesn't deal very much with the various churches / denominations charged with protection of the site of the Holy Sepulcher, nor do they go into very much detail as to the history through the crusades and such (the Holy Sepulcher was razed to the ground by the muslims when they conquered Jerusalem, thus sparking the crusades). They do show the conflict between the groups, and talk a lot about how they continually disagree, but they fail to really show how the groups have actually protected the site well in the past 500-600 years (or so).

But, it's still very worthwhile to watch, the details revealed are astounding!

I watched this one cold yesterday. I didn't read anything about it before hand, so I was not sure what to expect. I knew that Sarah was back is all.

I was VERY disappointed. It's a silly idea to promote female heroes by killing off your male heroes. Is that some kind of plot gimmick that we're supposed to believe? And then, to top that off, the Terminator feels guilt and remorse over having killed John Connor and proceeds to help Sarah kill more Terminators.

The "Augmented" female sent back from the future in the opening sequences falls off a 35' overpass in Mexico City and slams into the ground, and we're supposed to believe she's OK? Are you serious? The augments are to the various body parts, even if armor is built into the skull, do you believe a fall like that wouldn't scramble your brains?

That defines the problem I have with all the comic book movies anymore, they are just too unbelievable to be worth watching anymore. If they're gonna be fun, then have fun, and make people laugh. They just made this one to promote an alternative, a female hero. Hmmm...

Action - OK. Acting - OK. SciFi plot, ridiculous and effects overall unbelievable. Sad, because T-2 and T-3 are definitely some of my favorite movies.

After all the hype, I was excited to finally rent and watch this movie on Vudu recently. But, we were sorely disappointed. First, it's "Pseudo-documentary" nature is spoiled by the filmmaker's choices of what to put in, and what to leave out. I can only say, this leaves us with only the filmmaker's perspective on reality. There is no "Balanced" view as to who these people are, why they are out there and so on. We only see scattered segments from REAL PEOPLE, but we have no idea if they're acting or reading script.

Second, I paid money to watch a film of an Oscar winning actress take a dump in a bucket in the back of her van? Are you kidding? That's just gross, and completely unnecessary. After the short segment of the woman teaching "Bucket etiquette" you'd have thought we wouldn't have had to deal with that.

Third, there is a poetic sequence from one of the real people where she describes a scene on some river where she comes upon tens of thousands of nesting Swallows, with their nests on the cliffs overlooking the river and the river being so still, that she feels like she's flying amongst the birds as their reflections are in the water seemingly under and all around (as well as over) the folks in the kayak. Like I said, very poetic. Then, later in the film, the filmmaker attempts to capture this in film and does one of the most miserable jobs of it I saw in near the entire film. I actually saw no good cinematography in this movie at all.

If you've ever traveled the desert, and seen a sunrise, you'd know the colors that you see are UNBELIEVABLE, and they did an entirely lousy job of capturing that as well.

Since, in this movie, we don't know what's acting and what's real, I have to give it an overall score of 3/10. My wife and I both hated it and were sorely disappointed with the ending. The actress achieves "Closure" without redemption. All too important these days is the satisfaction of our own ego without achieving any real answers as to the meaning of our overall existence. If you set out to find meaning (what I thought this film might be about) but only find some satisfaction for your bruised ego (healing of your wounds), then you have sadly missed the entire point of telling a story.

Just my opinion.

1917 is very intense, pretty much nonstop action. It has elements of Private Ryan with very realistic and horrifying special effects during the battle sequences, as well it has the "First person" POV (Point of View) made popular in such recent films as "Dunkirk" (as well as many video games).

There's a bit more to the story than it seems at first, as the desire to fulfill the "Mission" becomes an all-consuming drive for both the protagonist and the audience. It drives hard to the finish and never stops making the point as so many have pointed out in history: "War is hell".

We gave it a 9/10 and feel it is a likely contender for several Oscars.

To address the silly critics who say that it "Looks like a video game". Silly people - video games were given the "First person" POV so they could simulate REAL war! If you've not been in combat, you might not know that, but don't pretend you know something when you don't!

Other critics I've seen have said "There's so little character development". My goodness! Do you want to double the length of the film and see his birth and childhood too? It's not necessary for the plot of the movie. The movie presents us with REALISM and ACTION, as well as the fact that in war, there's no time to grieve, you simply gotta keep moving, or you're dead.

Even if you do keep moving, you may wind up dead. Ask the guys who stormed the beaches of Normandy, they'll tell you: "The guy on my left was killed. The guy on my right was killed. I didn't get a scratch." That's called "Survivor's guilt" and is quite common.

This movie grips you, and puts you in the trenches with the men who were there. That should make anyone shudder!

So, our Christmas present this year is Disney+. I signed up last night for our "Free week's trial membership". The first movie we watched? A Christmas movie of course! It was one of the Disney folks' first attempts at custom content, but it wasn't very good. The acting was OK.

Cheryl said: "That gal is a singer, why isn't she singing in this movie?" Then (spoilers below) it turned out to be a propaganda film for modern radical feminists who want to overthrow every single masculine image in the world, and replace it with a woman (who can do better presumably, or at least as good). And the men in the movie are mostly girly men, exploring their "Feelings", or they are nerds, incapable of feeling anything at all (like joy at Christmas, when we celebrate the birth of our Savior).

Ignore the fact that Santa is legend, and derives from Northern European roots, and comes from a place and time where strong masculine men had to work hard to simply survive the elements, let alone try to do good in their world.

Lastly, they tried to coopt Christmas and turn it into a "Non-religious" holiday by having Buddhists and folks at the North Pole into yoga and eastern mysticism, of all things.

We rated it 2/5 stars overall.

NOT recommended.

They kept a contestant on there for purely political reasons and then they GAVE her the win at the end. Thus, the competition was hijacked by political motivations when one of the two finalists was clearly the better artist and glass blower.

It was sickening to listen to that woman episode after episode always running down the other artists and arrogantly claiming she was better than the rest.

I was kind to give it two stars because we really did like and appreciate all the other artists.

We watched this movie on Vudu last night, never even heard of it before. Great movie! Check it out, it was on the weekend "Sale" list on Vudu,. We bought it and loved it! Has it all too, ups, downs, humor, triumphs and tragedy, and the question of how faith intersects all of the above.

And it has lots of football action, what man can resist that? Neal McDonough deserves a lot of credit for taking and producing a quality movie like this. He's been high on our list since Band of Brothers and Captain America.

Yeah, everything I write probably has spoilers in it, so I checked the box.

Let me cut to the chase though: It all boils down to the Resurrection: Either it happened or it didn't. If it didn't, as the Apostle Paul says in the Book of 1 Corinthians (First Corinthians, for those who don't read the Bible normally):

"If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied."

1 Corinthians 15:19

What he's saying, is what's pointed out to Lee Strobel by a Christian who he works with in his office. This is the insight that provides the impetus for Lee's entire struggle and search to debunk Christianity. He figures if he can succeed, where so many have tried and failed, then he will have proved Christians to be the most pitied of all people, since they are worshiping a dead god.

However, try as he will, he cannot find the evidence to dispute either the biblical accounts, or the extra-biblical sources he consults to try to weaken the Bible's eye-witness testimony. Josh McDowell set out similarly to disprove Christianity, and found that the evidence is not only irrefutable, but that it is sufficient, in a court of law to prove that Jesus is who He says He is - the Son of God (Evidence That Demands A Verdict)!

So, contrary to all the atheists who post garbage on here, and probably most of whom never even went to see the movie, I found myself intrigued, and my faith strengthened.

Remember, faith is not, as Google says based on "Spiritual apprehension or feelings" rather it is a certainty, based on evidence presented that we can believe something to be true, even without knowing or seeing the power at work within it, or having been there at some previous historical moment to see something happen with our own eyes.

We stand on the earth, yet we (most of us) have no idea how gravity works, nor do we care that it is invisible and we cannot see it. We KNOW it's there, and we have faith it will hold us down. I know that's not quite the same thing in this example, since we are talking about spiritual realities, but remember, Jesus came - to prove to us that He is real, and that He is God. He, Himself, told Pontius Pilate that He came "To testify to the truth". And that is the truth.

My wife and I were very impressed at the beginning of this movie, and through the middle. We grew a bit uncomfortable when the young girl finds out the fellow in the wheelchair has decided to kill himself (through assisted suicide). At the end of the movie we both felt very let down. Not only did she not succeed in changing his mind, she actually becomes happy about it as if life is only lived for moments when you can really experience something.

Sad, sad, commentary on life, and very narrow minded. First, I know a couple people who have been injured and confined to wheelchair, quadriplegic or otherwise. They took the time to adjust, and one has been that way for near 40 years and has a wonderful life. He did not quit or give up on life, just because his life before the accident was so "Tremendous" or whatever it was the wimpy dude said in this movie.

If you want to make a movie about someone with redemption or about overcoming adversity, then you had best not have the person quit at the end, like a whiny cry-baby and try to convince everyone out there that "The world is better off without me because I hate my life now, but loved it before..." That's a cop out, totally and completely. It's not an ad for assisted suicide, it's just a dramatic interpretation of a dude who gave up, and let everyone down.

We gave it 8/10 for acting. But, the overall movie is a 2 since the premise and the interpretation are so wrong. So, it gets a total score of 4/10 compromise from us.

We liked the movie tremendously. It didn't move nearly as quickly in the middle of the movie as it did at the beginning and the end. But we thought it was quite good, better than the typical comic book movie (action flicks) Hollywood puts out these days. We gave it 8/10. Joseph Fiennes does a very credible job of acting, and portraying the lead character, a Roman Tribune named Clavius who is perplexed by the events surrounding the resurrection.

Great point of view, very original, we gave them top marks for that! The middle part is essential to the story line, but is limited by the somewhat non-action oriented nature as described above. Not that movies have to have lots of action to be interesting, we are spoiled these days since that is what we feed on mostly from Hollywood. But the good old movies where they had minimal special effects and relied upon acting, with witty dialog and snappy come backs were better IMO than the stuff they "Act" in front of green screens these days.

These types of movies, with minimal special effects (Risen being one) rely more on set decoration and acting skills. This film deserves a lot of credit for that. It was a wonderful way to see parts of the Bible come to life, and to feel "Immersed" in those events.

You know, what bothered me the most when I saw this movie was I just kept feeling that "Deja vu" like I'd seen all this before. I had! In 1977 with Episode IV! It's simply a reboot, told with a few new characters, and a few ... geriatric ones, who probably shouldn't have been in it at all, except perhaps in cameo roles or some such.

I was very disappointed in JJ Abrams efforts, given that he did such a wonderful job on the Star Trek reboot. Anyhow, the plot is nearly identical to Ep. IV, and the plot holes are even larger! The bad guy was so poor quality as to be cartoonish. In fact, I walked out initially giving the movie a 7/10 for being a decent Comic Book adaptation, but that's all. I went back later and downgraded it for being so doggoned disappointing.

Technically, the movie is pretty good, with good action scenes, and decent aerobatics with the various spacecraft involved whether they're flying in space or in atmosphere. But there were just too many "Impossible" things to reconcile for me, like how does a garbage man have intimate knowledge of a station that complex, and how does his "Captain" have intimate knowledge of the shield around the station, and how come if he/she is actually able to turn it off, nobody else can't simply turn it back on?

Like I said, too many plot holes to be anything but a Comic Book, and not enough on the decent acting side to merit any real comment. The whole movie is spent looking for Luke, then at the end it's like we've achieved some state of nirvana in that we've actually found him! We found him! Visually stunning, that final landscape lacks depth because it's like some proverbial vision quest that ends in a speechless moment of awe and inspiration, but the movie as a whole lacks both.

Sorry guys. I hate to say this movie was a HUGE disappointment, but it was (disappointing).

My wife and I saw this movie Friday night and we were very encouraged by it. My best advice is to pay no attention whatsoever to any of the negative reviewers on this movie.

First, the acting was solid. Second, the dialog is crisp, and clear. The intent and the message come through solid. I've seen many reviewers claim that this entire thing is a "Setup." Believe me, I've seen many events like this happen in real life, and know that God indeed does move exactly the way the film describes. In fact, I could tell you stories that would make your hair stand up. But I won't, since this review is about this movie.

Suffice it to say, it is all completely within the realm of possibility in God's economy as we like to say in Christian circles. I'm ashamed of all those on here claiming to be Christians, even some claiming to be Pastors who negatively reviewed this movie. It's extremely well scripted, well thought out and well executed in my opinion.

We all of us know that College campuses across America have become havens for liberal thought, taking their god-less message to those who are most vulnerable, the young and impressionable. That type of thinking has invaded our primary and secondary schools as well, to the point where the liberals think they have won the victory over the hearts and minds of our children.

What do we reap as a benefit of all that you might ask? Teen drug and alcohol use that is out of control. Teen pregnancies that have crept upwards in both numbers and percentages for many years, only to be knocked down in the past couple years by "Morning after" pills that kill the baby in the girl's womb before it ever gets a chance to start growing. We have teen suicide rates that are among the highest in the world. And we have an entire generation of young people enslaved by both the entitlement mentality as well as the "I must be entertained" philosophy. These kids growing up haven't a clue what life is really all about, and they sure aren't encouraged by a liberal philosophy that claims we came from nothing and return to nothing when we die.

Christianity defends itself, as this movie so aptly points out. Those who won't listen or can't hear the truth of Christ's message, the Gospel (good news), are blinded by their own desires and lusts and they choose to try to poke holes in it rather than investigate it and find out for themselves whether or not the claims of the Bible are true.

I grew up in the liberal school system. In Los Angeles, in the 1960's. I was a drug user and an alcoholic. I have lived the hedonistic pleasure-centered life-style where I myself was god, and the only choices in life were how best to fill my needs on any particular day. I am here to tell you that life is a lie. The biggest lie in history is that you can live for yourself and not care anything about anyone else! That life is meaningless, and shallow and will lead only to the one place that all the liberals don't want you to hear about: Hell.

So, to all those who scoff and doubt, I can only repeat the title of this movie, that says it all: "God's Not Dead!"

Well, I tell you, it's Earthquake season here in CA. Last night, Cheryl and I went to see Noah and we were startled when about 1/2 way through the movie the building started to shake. At first, you want to think that the movie next door is having a particularly violent scene or maybe some stuff is blowing up and the building is shaking a bit. But then, it kind of started rolling and moving back and forth (as CA buildings are designed to do in these quakes). Lots of folks were exclaiming "I'm getting scared!" Nobody freaked out, thankfully, nobody bolted for the exits. But some did leave afterwards, in the middle of the movie.

They missed the end of Noah. Which really wasn't much better than the beginning I suppose. It was about a 7/10 on my scale. Decent, but nothing outstanding. About the level of the typical animated movie, a comic book version of something ripped off from the Bible. It was a lot less biblical than the last movie we saw (Son of God). I was surprised by the lack of Biblical structure, and then at the end, they throw in this one obscure event involving Noah getting drunk, and I just had to almost laugh.

It's entertaining, that's about all. They used evil as a key element, and original sin was prominent. But there was just too much fantastic outside stuff to even believe. The script line strays far from the Bible in some very key areas, leading me to believe the script writers may have glanced at the Bible maybe once or twice. Not that it's that familiar to many people, but there was just so much weirdness I found myself just sitting there saying "Is the Bible really that hard to believe or understand that they had to make up so much of the rest of this?"

The Earthquake in the middle made it really memorable. Kudos to God for bringing off a total mind-blowing experience in the middle of a movie about His book!

Since so many so-called "Christians" are reviewing this movie and ripping it to shreds, I thought I should write a review to give a more balanced opinion. There will be spoilers in my review, so let me just start by saying that it was entertaining and it had its moments. If you are the kind of Christian who thinks that "Only the King James Version" of the Bible is correct, or anybody else who doggedly clings to their own "Traditions" then do not go see it, this movie is not for you.

The movie is, however, for the masses of people who have never heard of Jesus, or who have only heard about Jesus, but they've never read the Bible. About half the material in the movie comes from quotes from the Bible, sometimes juxtaposed around so they are not correct in a strict temporal sense (as most of us would put things in some timeline sense anyway) but it's alright, I won't fault the movie makers for that. The point is they put all that material in there and tried to get quotes accurate, whether they be from King James, or other translations is somewhat beside the point. Some are a bit liberal, and there a few minor issues with other claims made in the movie.

What else they threw in, generally, is the historical struggle between the Jews of Judea with the Romans at the time of the historical Jesus. My opinion is they did a credible job of adding drama and historical fiction (extrapolated dialog) between the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin (the Jewish ruling Council) and the Romans, as well as the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot. They also threw in another shady character which at least adds another dimension to the story, again based on a historical person named Barabbas.

While the movie was not "Epic" in scope or proportion, and certainly not in cinematography, I gave it a relatively high score (8/10) for its effective acting and tender moments. If you are a Christian, you better ask yourself: "Could I act and play Jesus?" Any Christian certainly had better answer "No!" first, and then say, well I could try. And I'm here to tell you that the fellow in the movie did a credible job. The book of Isaiah tells us that "We esteemed him not" and the meaning is that Jesus had nothing to distinguish Him as God. We could look at Him and see a perfectly ordinary person. It's only once you have met Him and gotten to know who He is that you worship Him.

So, in that sense, I believe this movie will introduce a lot of folks to the real Jesus, the Jesus of the Bible. I believe it will make them thirsty for more, which will make them want to read the Bible and get to know Him for who He really is. He is not dead, He is alive, and any person on this earth today can come to know Him.

My wife and I went to see this on a very difficult day. We had found out just that day that her niece had passed away. Our grief was very palpable as we watched this movie, and though we had many tears and wept along with the various parts of the movie that dealt with death and dying, we did hear the message that Kirk was laying out for the audience.

The "Journey" starts at the beginning, because that's simply what all who become Christians come to understand at some point in their walk with the Lord: That the beginning of the Bible, God's letter to us, lays out the groundwork for everything else that comes after it. The Book of Genesis is indeed a book about beginnings, and has as much relevance today as it did 3500 years ago when it was first written down.

This is the "Spoiler" part for those of you who have not seen the movie. If you're a Christian then you'll forgive me for going into it and "Giving away" the ending. But the answer to why bad things happen to good people, or the reason why if God is good, why bad stuff happens is simply the fact that there is sin in this world. There was originally no sin, and humans, specifically Adam and Eve lived in perfect communion with God. It was evil that crept in, and tempted Eve to eat from the forbidden fruit, after which all of creation was messed up and subject to the ravages of sin and death ever since.

What the non-Christian can never understand is why God would write down this silly sounding story about it if he didn't intend to do something about it. And that, again, is entirely the point. God _did_ something about the failure, and ultimately He considered it His failure so He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross at Calvary to take the penalty for all our sin - on Himself - so that we could be restored to perfect relationship with Him. We won't be perfect of course until after we die and live eternally with Him. But Hallelujah - the message of the gospel does explain why bad things happen, as well as provides the answer to all that bad stuff that we can have now, here, today.

That is not a complete gospel message, and the film does not claim to make anything like a gospel presentation, nor does it. If you wish to hear the full gospel, may I suggest you head on down and talk with a Bible believing Pastor at any Evangelical church and find out for yourself if this amazing story could be true.

I liked the movie very much, and I give Kirk Cameron a lot of credit for the work he did on this movie. It is not perfect by any means, but it is far better than average in terms of good Christian messages in any movies out there. The subject matter is difficult - even for Christians - to deal with. Most folks would rather pretend sin didn't exist, and that it's not really a problem. Well, for those of us in the U.S. it may not be, we have so much wealth and prosperity already. It's difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God Jesus told us.

The reason why is because the wealthy have no need of a "Savior" they already have all they need. Most of those out there who thumb their noses at God and desire to live their own life-style pretending that God doesn't exist are essentially telling everyone they have no use for God either, they're happy to self-medicate and keep pretending that judgement isn't coming. I hope that works well for those of you out there living in your dreams.

I could go on, but I will leave you with some curiosity so you can explore these ideas on your own.

It's very sad that when a group decides to take on the number one most divisive issue in our culture, that they get ripped by some reviewers for no reason at all. The acting: superb. The story line, based on true events. The drama: Heart-touching, inspiring, more emotional than most of us males feel comfortable with, but with a touch of the "Kendrick brothers whimsy" to make us smile on occasion, and even laugh out loud.

Abortion - there is no way around it, you are either for it or against it. There is no middle ground on this issue. Many claim to be neutral, but there is no such thing when it comes to this issue, either you believe the lie and you call it "Choice" or "Convenience" or you believe the Bible, and you call it murder. Very clear, no room for maneuver on that one.

This movie puts it in your face, it's undeniable in fact, that the movie presents a subject so clearly that those who are uncomfortable with it will go write a negative review simply because otherwise their whole life would be a lie, based on a false belief that condemns them, makes their hearts sick, and worse, would make them murderers.

I am a murderer. I had a girlfriend who had an abortion, I drove her to the clinic. I paid for the abortion. The movie hit me in the heart too, but I was able to take away the healing and the cleansing touch offered by Jesus Christ. His blood paid for my sin. The movie for me was therefore very real. And not just because of the subject matter. You can tell from the actors that they are not acting much of the time, it was real for them too. At the end, the woman who plays Hannah's birth mother tells about her abortion, and how the healing happened right there - on film!

Make no mistake, this film is real, and the acting is for the most part, not acting. You will be either shaken to the core and made to feel more uncomfortable than you've ever been by any movie, or you will walk away with a renewed love for our Savior Jesus Christ and His unending love for us. This movie also gives us a new tool in the fight against the lie of "Choice." How many millions have been sacrificed on the altar of choice? On the altar of convenience?

If you're seeking solace from the guilt of an abortion, even many years ago, then go to this movie. It will break your heart, but then you will come away feeling the healing and the love that are possible in no other way than from the power of Jesus Christ.

My wife and I both rated this movie a solid 8. While it may not be the most exciting movie in the world, it had its moments, both of action and great human drama. The acting was not particularly noteworthy either, in the sense that nobody's role stood out in our minds more than anyone else's. I think that the team decided to do it that way, figuring the story that needed telling was too important to get "right" and avoid having anybody be a glory hog on the screen.

The Red Tails themselves will tell you (probably based on what I've read about them) that they were not in it for glory either, rather, this story tells it basically as it happened: They fought to save lives of their fellow flyers, in this case, bomber pilots and crews. They had a job to do, and they did it to the best of their ability while still helping to shoot down enemy pilots and inflict as much damage as possible to the Luftwaffe. But, they followed orders, for the most part.

In all units in WWII there were breaches of military command and discipline, sometimes warranted by circumstances, and sometimes not. My "feeling" about this movie was that in spite of the fact they used some Hollywood license with the story-telling, it still painted a pretty accurate picture of how things were for the African American pilots of the Red Tail (332nd Fighter Group or Tuskegee Airmen) outfit.

I've seen numerous other depictions on screen of their struggle to gain acceptance in the "All white" army of pre-WWII. You'd have thought that after the episode in the Civil War at the battle of Charleston engaged by the first all African American Infantry Regiment (the 54th Maine) would have proved that black soldiers were just as brave (if not braver) than their white fellow soldiers. Sad, but it was not to be the case. In fact, the army did not fully integrate until Korea (in effect). I saw an interview on Huckabee last night with Cuba Gooding Jr. and I just kept thinking that if we were over this racial nonsense then we wouldn't even be having to talk about it anymore.

We still have a long ways to go as a people. I am proud of my African American brothers who fought and died for our country in WWII in the skies over Europe. They saved many bomber crews to come home to their families and loved ones after the war, and the debt of gratitude can never be fully repaid.

Aside from the badly stereotyped characters, and the overly ridiculous action sequences, I liked the movie, and thought it was OK. But, I just came away feeling like somebody had put me on a thrill ride and told me I was supposed to have fun and that I would come away feeling exhilarated but instead I came away feeling set up.

I just couldn't shake the feeling. My wife loved it, thought it was every bit the thrill ride. Well, I have to give it those moments. Visually it was very appealing. But then, I started wondering if I'd ever seen any of the original comics that this was based upon. Turns out I haven't seen those either. So, I won't downgrade it on the fact that apparently, it was not very true to the author's original intent.

Instead, it felt like Indiana Jones on steroids. It seemed to me they did things just because they could. You know what I mean, they took the type of silly Raider's stunts and had them move to the next level of ... difficulty. That's a poor word to describe action shots, but you get my drift. They just stretched it a bit too far I thought. Then, there's the plethora of silly characters who add nothing to the story but give us some bizarre attempt at comedy.

I liked the dog Snowy the best. As he had to be mainly a dog and be subject to some limitations, his portrayal in the movie was at least mostly believable. Not that a comic book should be believable or anything - it's just that I think I wanted to like Tintin and even to think he was a hero, but I couldn't because of all the far-fetched stuff happening around him and to him. Dueling cranes ... what next Mr. Spielberg, dancing hippos? Oh, no, Mr. Disney already did that.

There is a rare gift in film-making that can take you beyond the ordinary, beyond what most films portray as the "Human element." What has come to pass these last few years in Hollywood and elsewhere as "Movies" is largely the big budget blockbuster that delves into the gut-wrenching emotions of love, hatred and other primitive feelings as they attempt to make us feel a part of the life and death struggle.

Those are fine as far as they go, and I like a good bang-bang shoot 'em up as much as the next guy. They've evolved as I said to use more technology and more "So called" magic to do what they do. It's all still smoke and mirrors unfortunately. None of them comes close to telling the sensitive tale that is Hugo.

We first meet the young boy where he lives, carrying on his meager, miserable existence in a train station. And yet, you have the sense that to him, it's not miserable, he's not lonely, but rather that he's fascinated by the world around him: The life, the hustle, the bustle, the activity, the people, and then you realize it, this is a child, and he's innocent! And yet, Hugo has suffered much in his young life.

The tragedy that he is becomes part of all of us. That is real screen magic. The audience begins to empathize with him, even to feel his pain. The pain is real, it's inside each of us, it's the longing for connection, to be part of the story, to make a difference! Those who were in our theater that didn't fall asleep (there were a few, I must be honest, and they snored - how rude!) were touched by the magic of the film-making and given a fresh glimpse of hope, of a new life. We made a connection with the past and learned how that makes us better in our present. We learned that relationships really do matter and they are worth fighting for, even if it means we might lose everything.

Hugo is a winner! The magic is not in the film-making per se, rather it's in our hearts as we learn that we are all Hugo.