If push came to shove…how far would you go?  To what lengths would you travel to protect a loved one?  I realize that your initial thought may be, “I would go to whatever lengths necessary!”  And that would be a noble and worthy answer - BUT - would you?  In the 1993 Halloween movie Hocus Pocus the viewer is presented with this uncomfortable proposition - not once but twice!  The movie opens with a young boy trying to rescue his little sister from the clutches of three witches (Winifred, Sarah, and Mary) who are bent on taking the girl’s life force and making it their own.  The young boy, or should I say young man, is willing to jump into the middle of harms way in order to protect and rescue his little sister.  There is nothing he will not do - risking life and limb - in order to protect her.  And, alas, he fails.  His sister dies and the witches capture poor Thackery in a spell turning him into a black cat forever…and forever is a lo...

 I’m not one to question what motivates, inspires, or prods an artist to create art.  Every painting, sculpture, song, or movie has a story all its own.  But sometimes if you do a little digging and investigating, you can find the source of inspiration.  Maybe you don’t have all of the puzzle pieces, but at least you have the one piece that gives you a glimpse into the mind of the artist.   And what, exactly, is that puzzle piece?  According to Burton, “Anytime there was Christmas or Halloween, it was great.  It gave you some sort of texture all of a sudden that wasn’t there before” (Blaise Simpson, October 1993).  Seasons…Calendars…holidays.  Therein is the puzzle piece, the inspiration, the spark of the creative flame that flickered for this stop-action, painstakingly slow and meticulous creation of cinematic art.  109,440 individual frames created over 3 years by a crew of over 120 workers under the direction of Henry Selick (and of c...

 “Thor is done loving…but not done fighting.  He has given up his search for love” - Korg To say that my breath was taken away by the latest Marvel Cinematic Universe offering, Thor:  Love and Thunder is an understatement!  Oh sure, I expected the usual amount of off-beat Taika Waititi humor mixed with a heavy does of CGI (and the movie doesn’t disappoint on either count).  But this movie offers a deep, profound, and heart-warming dive into the topic of loss and love. From the moment the movie begins the viewer is confronted with love - love between a father and daughter…dying in the desert.  As his daughter closes his eyes in death this father, Gorr, is consumed with his loss.  Survival is no longer his driving force in life.  Gorr wants to vanquish those responsible for not hearing his pleas on his daughter’s behalf.  His drive isn’t vengeance.  His driving force is love - misguided, misdirected love to be sure.  But love nonethel...

Christ, Culture, and Cinema:   What does it look like when these three things converge at one point?  Following the urging of my son Jarod, my daughter Madelyn and I went to the movies (October 2019) to see the movie Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix.  The Joker is rated “R.”  This movie received media criticism, stirred up the law enforcement, frightened theater owners,  and created an air of potential violence that might ensue by those embracing chaos and disorder.  I have to admit that when I sat down in the darkened theater I looked around at my fellow movie-goers - mostly younger people (younger than me), chomping on chips and popcorn waiting for the experience of this duly hyped movie. What unfolded before my eyes was not anything I had expected.  The movie was dark...and it kept getting darker...right up to the very end.  I wasn’t bombarded with violence, bloodshed, and gore (although there was some of that).  Rather, I was confronted wi...