Tag: Film

Jan201030

Culture, Society & Mission, Current Issues, Film

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AVATAR: 4 Perspectives on the Top Grossing Film Ever

Avatar is now officially the top grossing film of all-time worldwide, making (so far) $1,849,317,325 at the box office – that’s 1.85 billion dollars. I saw it a couple of weeks ago and was captivated simply by the sheer epic proportions of the film, let alone the wealth of meaning and metaphor behind it.

Avatar film 430x248 AVATAR: 4 Perspectives on the Top Grossing Film Ever

Since Avatar’s release bloggers, journalists and critics have attempted to analyse and reflect on the meaning behind the film. Here are four very different perspectives I’ve read recently, which all bring a different insight into the film’s setting and storyline:

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Jan201009

Community Stories, Links

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Need design-work/web design/film production?

Three friends – Matt, Stef and Tom – have been hard at work launching their design business: The House That Love Built.

tumblr kvxoyx0nuc1qapbeuo1 400 Need design work/web design/film production?

These guys are seriously three of the most talented people that I’ve ever met, each in their own media/design fields. Check out their growing portfolio of work on the THTLB website.

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Dec200928

Film

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My Top 10 Films of 2009

This year has been another year of avid cinema going, although perhaps not so much as 2008. So, since its that time of the year, let me present my top ten films I’ve seen this year.

benjamin 150x150 My Top 10 Films of 2009fantastic 150x150 My Top 10 Films of 2009up 150x150 My Top 10 Films of 2009startrek 150x150 My Top 10 Films of 2009soloist 150x150 My Top 10 Films of 2009
slumdog 150x150 My Top 10 Films of 2009publicenemies 150x150 My Top 10 Films of 2009Gran Torino poster 150x150 My Top 10 Films of 2009frost nixon 150x150 My Top 10 Films of 2009christmas carol 150x150 My Top 10 Films of 2009

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Dec200912

Church & Ecclesiology, Culture, Society & Mission

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An open letter to Fresh Expressions

fe logo An open letter to Fresh Expressions

Dear Fresh Expressions and leaders of Fresh Expressions of church,

Thank you so much for the space you have created within the established church for mission, and growing new forms of church which are new and fresh and cater to a whole wealth of different people. However, I have a problem, and the more I read about other Fresh Expressions (my own community is a registered Fresh Expression) the more I am becoming worried about this movement as a whole, and the intrinsic problem which seems to be built into it.

I hope you’ll humour me a moment to explain my very real problem.

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Oct200910

Biblical Studies, Church & Ecclesiology, Culture, Society & Mission, Missional Viewpoints

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Missional Viewpoints 2: Mission as Salvation

Caught up in the Christian understanding of mission and particularly evangelism, is this concept of salvation and what it means. In recent times, the Church’s understanding of salvation has been fairly straightforward and in some ways quite a shallow image. Will a deeper image of salvation help to propel us towards a deeper understanding of the mission of God?

Salvation Mountain in Niland, CA (USA)

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Jan200926

Reflection & Contemplation

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The Struggle for Satisfaction

Satisfaction Guarantee

One of my big personal struggles has always been to juggle future plans with being content and satisfied in the present. From being very young, I’ve always wanted to make dreams and plans way ahead of myself – so it wasn’t surprising to me really that I was a Dreamer on the Myers-Briggs test. And constantly being about two or three steps ahead of myself has proved a great advantage in terms of leadership and long term planning.

But the struggle that this means I’ve always faced is being able to execute my plans, and to deal with it when they ultimately work less than perfectly – which is life. And I’m not suicidal or anything, but this gap in my mind between the present and the future has always left me feeling a bit unsatisfied. It’s not that I’m trying to live up to being more than I can be (although I am) so much as that I’m impatient for the future to come now. I want to skip the hard stuff and get onto to the point where everything has come together.

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Jan200914

Film

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Frost/Nixon


Frost/Nixon Poster

Last Saturday, we managed to get to an advance screening of Frost/Nixon – out in the UK on January 23rd (I think it’s already out in the states). It’s written by Peter Morgan who wrote “The Queen” and directed by the incredible Ron Howard (director of Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind among others).

This film was incredible – very simple and yet incredibly powerful. The story was brought together really well, and Frank Langella was brilliant as Nixon. I think already this is going to be one of the best films of the year.

Get a look at the trailer here.

Dec200930

Books, Film, Links, Resources & Media

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Best of 2008: Stuff that’s changed me

Its usual around this time to bloggers to start putting lists together to sum up the previous year – so I thought I’d provide my own. Here’s my list of a few films, albums, books, people, videos – whatever – that have left their mark on me this year. In no particular order…

Film: Changeling

changeling 2 Best of 2008: Stuff thats changed meIn the second half of this year, Changeling was the film that hit me the hardest (Trailer here). What hit me was just how easy it was for these people who really thought they were doing the right thing to get it so wrong. Angelina Jolie played a very different role really well.

Blog: The Forgotten Ways – Alan Hirsch

Throughout this year, Alan has managed to regularly turn out thought-provoking posts about missional, liminality and communitas on his blog. This is one of the few blogs in my reader that has no unread posts.

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Dec200820

Community Stories, Reflection & Contemplation

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Video: Passion – films and spirituality

This was made by one of the guys from the Lab, Danny, as part of his degree – featuring my housemate, Dan. I think it's a really good re-framing of Christian community and spirituality. Maybe a useful youth work resource?

Dec200816

Culture, Society & Mission

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Hyperreality and the Church

I’m currently working my way through Mark Sayers‘ book The Trouble about Paris (well worth reading), which has been causing me to think a lot about this concept of hyperreality and the effect it has on our lives and our spirituality.

Hyper-reality is this idea that our culture is constantly causing us to buy into a “larger than” life – the dream life which we see epitomised by our images of celebrity and success, and ultimately happiness. This hyperreality claims to provide us with happiness and fulfilment, but leaves us living in a kind-of denial of the actual reality we live in.

The main, most obvious way we can see the effects of this “larger than” life is in consumerism and the effect it has had on our culture and our spirituality. The hyperreal myth that “just one more” will bring happiness leads us to become both material and spiritual consumers. Hence the Church finds itself having to attract and cater for a generation of Christian consumers – who are after maximum result (perceived value) for minimum investment (cost), and are always looking for the best deal.

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