Sandler’s New Low: ‘Funny People’

I attempted a viewing of Adam Sandler’s Funny People today but had to leave the theatre within the first 30 minutes because it was an assault on my values. I had hoped to get a proper review of this new release that just came out at the box office on July 31st, but staying in my seat voluntarily watch

ing and hearing the kind of filth spewing from the screen wasn’t an option for me.

The basic premise answers this question: If you get a second chance on life, would you be a better person? I think it’s a sensational concept, all about changing for the better. Sandler plays a famous comedian (hmm…is this autobiographical?) called George Simmons who finds out he has a very aggressive form of leukemia. He handles the news by deciding to do even more crude stand-up comedy and enlist a fan and budding comedian, Ira Wright (Seth Rogen), to help write funny, crass material. Ira and George become friends who eventually help each other out: George helps Ira step into the career of stand-up comedy; Ira helps George deal with his terminal illness. But when George’s illness goes into remission and he gets a second chance on life and love, George begins to evaluate how he has been living.

Perhaps this Judd Apatow film does get better and even cleaner if you stay for the rest. I truly hope so, but honestly I doubt it. I heard more references to male body parts, sexual acts, and potty-mouthed cursing in the first quarter of the film than I cared to ever hear.

I left the movie feeling really depressed. Ironic when the title of this comedy is about people that are supposed to make me laugh.

— Laura J. Bagby

‘Harry Potter’: Spells and the Spoken Word

Proverbs 18:21 says that there is the power of life and death in the tongue. We can bless and curse with the words we say. Words that are said with authority also have creative power to call things into being. We know this because God said, “Let there be light” and light came into existence. We know that Jesus was the “Word made flesh” and that the Bible is also called the “Word of God.”

So how does this relate to the latest box office release of the PG-rated fantasy film Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince?

The power of words in Potter is not Holy Spirit-driven. They are coming from the opposite spirit in the form of spells and incantations – things which the Bible considers detestable.

I discuss more about the power of words in Potter in this edited radio commentary from a discussion I had on the air with radio personality Liz Lane of The Current FM on Thursday, July 3o. Hope this discussion helps you weigh this film in the light of faith.

Radio Commentary:

— Laura J. Bagby

‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’: Overall Spiritual Concerns

I was really concerned about seeing this latest Harry Potter film at the box office for two reasons: one, I hadn’t read any of the books by J.K. Rowling or seen any of the previous films so I wasn’t sure I would get the gist of it, and two, I wasn’t sure if I would feel like my Christian beliefs just got assaulted. Would I feel like I had dishonored God by seeing this film? That was my main question.

Radio personality Liz Lane and I talked about the spiritual undertones of the PG fantasy film on The Current FM yesterday. Here is an edited version of our radio commentary abut the film:

Radio Commentary:

— Laura J. Bagby

‘Transformers 2’: Thin on Plot, Cool on Visual Effects

Autobot Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen) and the military, headed by Major Lennox (Josh Duhamel) have been successfully working side by side to defend Earth from enemy attacks from the Decepticons for years. But there are once again sinister stirrings from Decepticon forces, headed by The Fallen, who aren’t about to give up their infiltration and destruction of Earth. And now one government official is trying to rid the planet of Autobot defenses just at the time when those Autobot forces will be needed most.

Now the Decepticons are after college-bound Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), who happens to possess the remaining sliver of the cube, the ultimate object of robotic power force.  

Dissecting Deeper Themes in ‘Pelham 123’

I really enjoyed discussing the deeper themes in the new Denzel Washington and John Travolta, about two men who face off and stand divided on what is right and wrong in one crazy train ride.

I shared my own ‘train’ of thought with Positive Hit Radio The Current. My buddy, radio personality Liz Lane, and I talked in particular about the issues of sin and redemption that are heavily prevalent in this Columbia/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer release from director Tony Scott.

Audio Commentary:

The above audio clip is not the original on-air version from The Current FM. It has been edited for this blog.

— Laura J. Bagby

‘The Taking of Pelham 123’: A Train Car Called Conspire

In this Columbia Pictures/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer update to the 1974 cheesy cult classic starring Robert Shaw and Walter Matthau, director Tony Scott teams up for a fourth time with talented leading man Denzel Washington. (The pair previously worked together on suspense thrillers Déjà Vu, Man on Fire, and Crimson Tide.)

Washington plays New York City subway dispatcher Walter Garber, who is given exactly one hour to deliver a million-dollar ransom to a crazed subway train hijacker called Ryder (the tattoo-branded John Travolta) before the madman blows his stack and claims the lives of 17 innocent hostages trapped on train car Pelham 123.

‘Star Trek’: Beaming Up This Generation

Star Trek

We haven’t seen a Trek film since 2002’s Star Trek: Nemesis. This film marks the 11th Trek film to hit the silver screen.

It’s another sci-fi flick that is returning to origins. We saw it years ago in Star Wars Episode I, then Batman Begins, and even in last week’s opening of Wolverine. And now J. J. Abrams is doing the same thing by getting back to the beginning of Trek lore.

‘Angels & Demons’: A Better Dan Brown Adaptation

Angels & Demons

The newly released Angels & Demons effectively beat out Star Trek, bringing in 48 million in box office revenue its first weekend. The film marks the second of Dan Brown’s novels to make it to the silver screen. The first was 2006’s smash hit the Da Vinci Code.

Now, with Angels & Demons, we see Tom Hanks again in his role as Harvard symbolist Robert Langdon. This time he is headed to the Vatican. The pope has died and the Cardinals must prepare a conclave to choose the next successor. When the Illuminati capture the top four potential candidates – or Preferatti – and threaten to kill each man at a certain time and locale across Rome, Dr. Langdon teams up with physicist Vittoria Vetra from Switzerland to solve the clues and end the violence, effectively saving all of Rome from destruction and allowing the Vatican to pick the right man to lead the Catholic church at large.