The Iron Lady

Watching “The Iron Lady”, the film about Margaret Thatcher, had one, most curious effect on me. It really made me want to watch a film about, Margaret Thatcher, “The Iron Lady”. It whet my appetite, with tantelizingly short interesting clips of history. To hear Neil Kinnock (9 years leader of labour, in opposition to Margaret Thatcher) for at most 2 seconds and then not to see him, let alone hear his name even mentioned.

To see snippets of her resignation, but them to miss out the famous scene of Bernard Ingham trying to push John Sergeant out of the way (in between the first ballot and the resignation)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11812509 just made me feel this was (as it was) for an audience that never knew the real history.

. To see Douglas Hurd and John Major without their names even mentioned. Spitting Image would have done a more complete job!! They did the Brighton Bombings but nothing about Norman Tebbit!

I have heard people criticise “the Iron Lady” for either the acting or the script. I critcize it for neither. It was simply the content and also the misleading name of the film that bothered me.

It was more about Margaret Thatcher “The Dementia Years” and a lot of guesswork as to whether she imagined Denis Thatcher walking around the house, rather than some good political research about her life in power. It skirted over the edges of all the interesting bits, gave teasingly interesting, but too short clips about some major events and left me with a huge desire to see a film about Margaret Thatcher, the Iron Lady.

Paul

I watched the film written and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. It was amusing, but it was also annoying.

Why can’t I watch a film without having some dig at either my faith or some attack on morals. Just once, just once!

There is a particularly stupid fundamentalist Christian who believes that the existence of an alien disproves Christianity. The film then catalogues her conversion to swearing, fornication and Simon Pegg. Simon Pegg wrote this you will note.

Any how, that aside, the film was amusing. Just sometimes I want to watch a film without feeling something is being attacked that needs to be defended.

CS Lewis wrote interesting articles about aliens which i cannot find on google. There is also someone posing a question about whether an alien would need to be baptised.

The Robe (1953)

Directed by
Henry Koster

Writing credits
(WGA)
Albert Maltz (screenplay) originally uncredited and
Philip Dunne (screenplay)

Gina Kaus (adaptation)
Lloyd C. Douglas (novel)
Richard Burton … Marcellus Gallio
Jean Simmons … Diana
Victor Mature … Demetrius

Great adaptation of the book.

The Family Man (22 Dec 2000)

Director:Brett Ratner
Writers (WGA):David Diamond (written by) &
David Weissman (written by)

Nicolas Cage … Jack Campbell

Téa Leoni … Kate Reynolds

Don Cheadle … Cash

Nicholas Cage is great in this wonderful heartwarming film which turns “it’s a wonderful life” on it’s head. A ruthless business man finds out what might have been if he had not turned his back on his college girlfirend…

How to Win the Culture War, A Christian Battle for a Society in Crisis by Peter Kreeft

I can’t recommend this little book enough.

As an aside, I really feel many of my blog posts are very very amateur compared with some others I have read.

All my little puny complaints about media… compare with this “Our enemies are not even the canker worm within pur own culture of death: Larry Flynt and Ted Turner and Howard Stern and AOL Time Warner and Disneu who make missionary movies for the Antchrist.” and

“But we are not free to stop our ears to the educational and media blitz that assaults us everywhere, the buzzing flies of Beelzebub that hover around the garbage dumps of the minds who make the movies and the TV shows”p54

There’s hardly a single movie any more that doesn’t have some subtle propaganda in it, usually a gratuitous sex scene.p75

This review of Peter Kreeft’s book no less an amateur attempt.

Some notes:
Intro: You can’t stop progress is like saying “You can’t stop regress”
Dr. Laura banned for “hate speech” in Canada. You cannot win a war if you don’t know you are fighting one, who the enemy is and what weopons to use.

Chapter 1: We are at War
A Wake Up Call
-if you don’t know we are in one, you must have been in vacation on the moon.
- Sex and money. Economy ok => People are happy…. Two answers AIDs and Suicide show these don’t make us happy

Chesterton wrote: “the next great heresy is going to be an attack on morality, especially sexual morality”.

Kreef’s forsees the need for the pruning of the Church.
Chapter 2: The Identity of Our Enemy
Principalities and Powers
-Our real enemy. Pope Leo’s vision and why he created the “Holy Michael Archangel. When this prayer stopped being said… 1960′s

-Horror of sin- destroying Christ’s face within us.
Chapter 3: The Kind of War We are in.
True and False Spiritual Warfare

- problem of lumping “goodness” with Spirituality and not sanctity or holiness.

20th century was the devil’s? Pol Pot Stalin Hitler abortion etc

Chapter 4: The Fundamental Principle of All Culture Wars

Colson’s Law less moral a society is, the greater need for police. Democracy designed for moral people.

NB Longest lasting societies religious. Athiesy ones dont last as long- 72 USSR. Longeivity proportional to morality.

Chapter 5: Our Enemy’s Battle Plan

destroy family by
destroying family stability
destroying sexual fidelity
by sexual revolution
sexual revolution propagated by media There’s hardly a single movie any more that doesn’t have some subtle propaganda in it, usually a gratuitous sex scene. And they don’t quesion it. They just lap it up.

Church of Henry’s hormones!

Sins of flesh given nice names and

Practice always low- but principles high.

Machiavellian… lower your principles to your practice.

-sex central- originating factor of life – image of inner life of trinity -image of God’s plan. Prime sin unfaithfulness to him.
-evangeliun vitae

Chapter 6: The Fiercest Battle:
Sex Wars
- sex new religion
- if you were a victimimised and confused by sexual perversion- how would you want to be delivered Chapter 7: The secret Weapon that will win the war:
Saints

Chapter 8: Basic Training
How to be a Saint

why arent a saint?

because I don’t wholly want to be.

But i want to be a saint?

but I dont wholy want to want to be a saint etc
Chapter 9: The Prognosis for Victory
Why We must win

The Bounty Hunter (2010)

Directed by Andy Tennant with Jennifer Anniston and Gerard Butler

IMDB doesn’t seem particularly impressed with this film, but I found it an enjoyable watch. Maybe Gerard Butler had something to do with it, but this is something I will neither confirm nor deny.

It has a humour element, as Milo Boyd (GB) is a bounty hunter for his ex-wife Nicole Hurley (JA), as Nicole skipped bail. However, Nicole skipped bail because she was trying to solve a murder cover-up. So, as well as being fun, the movie has a thriller element

The One (2001)

The One is a 2001 action film, directed by James Wong, director of Final Destination, and starring Jet Li, Delroy Lindo (wikipedia).

I was attracted to it because of its theme. A guy is trying to kill all the other versions of himself in various parallel universes, believing it will make him like a god.

A recording accident meant I missed a huge chunk in the middle, but in the end I did not feel I missed out. The film does not show much parallel universe jumping. It starts with the last other version of himself he needs to kill (I’d like to have seen more about various ||’s). I missed a chunk of the film then there was some action shots of them fighting which I put on fast forward.

Guess it is worth a watch if you have nothing better to do, but if you want to see more about the parallel universes it does not do enough.

Poseidon Adventure (1972)

Directors:
Ronald Neame
Irwin Allen

Based on a Novel by Paul Gallico

A couple of the stars:

Gene Hackman … Reverend Frank Scott

Ernest Borgnine … Det. Lt. Mike Rogo

At the moment I am considering revisiting 1970s movies. It seemed that they had the toughness and the script and what was shocking then has been overtaken long ago now. Maybe due to no CGI they could not swap technology for script.

It was a thriller. A disaster movie…. this time the whole world is not at threat… but if the ship is your whole world and it has capsized, then what’s the difference.

Gene Hackman plays a somewhat irreverent Reverand who is descibed on wikipedia as believing “God helps those who help themselves”. I had to say, this is true, but it does not describe the negativity with which he believes it. It is almost as if he believes this and is a bit angry with God that this is the case. Actually, it seems truer to say, he thinks God doesn’t help at all and leaves you to do everything yourself. This means he is a great force in looking for a way out of the ship. He has no notion of sitting back and waiting.

Considering the CL question… what is this film proposing? I am not sure. It proposes something magnificent in terms of human self sacrifice and determination to survive. Reverend Frank Scott is a maverick in terms of faith, but when it comes down to it- he puts himself last and those he tries to save first. Certainly, it speaks against sitting back and waiting to be helped… arguably pelagian.

At any rate it was a great movie a real thriller.

Cloverfield (2008)

Directed by Matt Reeves, produced by J.J. Abrams.

Got this for £2 in BB’s. Was worth that. An okish Sci-Fi Movie. Starts off with scenes young people with casual sex lives. Soon after they are running away from monsters who are attacking New York.

Akeelah and the Bee (2006)

Directed by Doug Atchison. Akeelah Anderson is played by Keke Palmer.

I really liked this low budget heartwarming film about a black girl from a poor school with a natural flair for spelling. Her teachers encourage her to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee contest. Her coach is Laurence Fishburne from the Matrix. It took a while for me to figure that out… I knew I had heard the voice before and then it clicked… the Matrix!

It interested me also to find out that it took Atchison ten years to make the film, it was eventually sponsored by Starbucks. He also made another film, Spellbound in 2002, a parallel idea which helped to fund the film.

Although a spelling contest does not sound like a promising topic for a movie, it works. Lovely film.