Faith & Film

This past summer when I was in CT, my brother and I watched The Raid: Redemption. I had never seen it before, and it had been a while since he had last seen it. Over the years I heard that it was one of the best action movies ever made, and was excited to finally have the chance to watch it! And who better to view it with than my brother, who enjoys movies about as much as I do! The Raid: Redemption is about a S.W.A.T. team that becomes trapped in a building run by a ruthless mobster and his army of killers and thugs. The movie is first and foremost an action flick, and is phenomenal at that! The fight choreography is some of the best I have ever seen! It is fast, intense, and at times brutally unforgiving. The director purposefully uses long takes and wide angle shots during the action sequences to show the audience as much of the action as possible. This is something that has become a lost art over the past 10-15 years with the popularity of shaky cam. Thankfully, movies like th

How I Met Your Mother is my all time favorite show! Though I did not start watching it until it's 8th season was released, I have seen the whole show (all 208 episodes) twice. Some of my favorite episodes I have seen 5 or 6 times! I never tire of the characters, story, or humor. When I talk about the show, you would think they are my friends in real life (because they are). One time when I was talking to someone about favorite shows, and they said they had never seen it. My wife Barbee overheard and said "Uh-oh. That's like a sin in Austin's book". For those who don't know (which is nobody here 😉), How I Met Your Mother is a love story told in reverse. A father tells his two teen kids the story of his life with his four best friends leading up to him meeting their mother. The story is told through flashbacks as he narrates from time to time. Season 1 starts with Ted (the father) being there to see his friends Marshall and Lily get engaged. Inspired by th

Ready Player One, there was a lot of excitement surrounding this movie! It is based on a book of the same name. I did not have the chance to see it until recently because I was reading the book and wanted to finish that first. As I finished the book, I became very eager to see how the movie would turn out. I heard overall good reviews for it, despite the fact that it was a book to movie adaptation. After watching it, I will say, the book is vastly more in-depth than the movie, but that is always expected. I highly recommend reading the book if you enjoyed the movie. The movie takes the essential plot points and details from the book and shapes them into a very entertaining film. Ready Player One's story takes place in a near future society where everyone is obsessed with a virtual reality video game called the OASIS. The game is so much a part of society that children go to school through it, and adults go to work through it. Life has become so dreary that the average pers

Hi everyone! Sorry I haven't posted a new review for a while; my summer has been packed. With going to Mexico, then having my sister visit back to back with going to CT for my other sister's wedding, life has been crazy! I have had the opportunity to watch a bunch of movies though during that time, so look forward to some new posts over the next few weeks! Mission Impossible Fallout is the latest entry in the Mission Impossible movie franchise! We're now six movies in and the franchise is one of the few that seems to get better with each new entry. Fallout is actually the first direct sequel in the movie franchise which is really cool, as we get to see the continuation of Rogue Nation's story. The story for this entry is similar to the others, which probably the only slightly weak part of the film. After a mission gone wrong, Ethan Hunt and his IMF team must race against time to save the world from the remnants of the Syndicate whom he took down in the last movi

Hola! While in Saltillo the past two weeks, I had the opportunity to go see the new Ant-man & The Wasp movie with my wife and many of our students that we are helping to tutor in English. We had about 15 people in our group and reserved a whole row of seats! It was definitely an experience to remember! Also, with the conversion from dollars to pesos, we can go see a movie here for like $2 a ticket, so it's hard to resist!! Ant-man & The Wasp is the follow-up to 2015's "Ant-Man" and takes place not long before the events of Avengers: Infinity War which was released earlier this year. Ant-man was the first Marvel movie released after Infinity War, and it much more light-hearted and fun adventure that I thought was refreshing after all of the seriousness revolving around the Avengers first encounter with Thanos. This movie starts after the events of Ant-Man and Captain America Civil War, where Scott Lang now tries to balance his life as both a father and a

The Incredibles 2 was finally released on June 15, 2018! It is the sequel that Disney fans have waited and desired for almost 15 years. Both the original and its sequel were written and directed by Brad Bird. Bird has a nearly perfect record and is known for making all around great films: including The Iron Giant, Ratatouille, and Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol. The Incredibles 2 has probably been one of the most looked forward to movies from Bird. He was asked many times over the years when we were going to get The Incredibles 2, and he always said he wanted to do the original justice and come up with the best story he could for the follow-up. The 14-year wait was completely worth it. The continuing story of the Parr family is everything I wanted it to be. Each character throughout the movie is both funny and relatable to watch. We pick up with each of the Parr's lives right where the first movie left off. The Underminer is attacking the city, and it's up to the Incr

In anticipation of going to see The Incredibles 2 this weekend, I thought it would be fun to talk about the first one! The Incredibles was the first movie I remember seeing in the movie theater and growing up was one of my families favorite movies to watch together. I'm pretty sure my dad still has his Mr. Increcible t-shirt! The movie is, in a word ... incredible 😛 The Incredibles was released in 2004 and is the story of the Parr family. Bob and Helen live with their 3 children doing their best to live a normal life. But Bob struggles with wanting to relive the glory days of saving the world. He is summoned to help a company stop an out of control robot, and gets in trouble. Now it's up to his family to save him. Even 14 years later, The Incredibles is still recognized as a great superhero film for all ages! It perfectly blends fun, action, and humor for all. The movie mostly focuses on what it means to be a hero, and how they can come in all sizes.  Each member of

Batman Begins released in theaters 13 years ago today (June 15, 2005), and in a superhero saturated market, is still one of my favorite superhero movies of all time. It is the first entry into what is known today as the Dark Knight trilogy and was directed by Christopher Nolan. For this interpretation of Batman, Nolan gave us the first big-screen origin story of the character, and it's nearly flawless. He made us care just as much about Batman as Bruce Wayne, and the movie has received almost universal praise from fans and critics alike. The story is both familiar and unique in how it is told. Nolan used his signature multiple timeline storytelling to show Bruce's childhood, his time seeking justice for his parent's murder, and presently as Batman. This creates a strong emotional investment that we as an audience feel for the character, giving us the ability to sympathize with him. After Bruce Wayne's parents are killed, he disappears, seeking a way to fight inju

Hi everyone! I may be a little behind on this one but I still wanted to share about Coco because this is a beautiful film in many many ways! I had the opportunity to watch it last weekend with my wife, as we've both been wanting to see this since it's initial release back around Thanksgiving. It finally came on Netflix this past week so we eagerly sat down to watch it together. This was a great movie in so many ways, and I can't wait to talk about it with you! So let's jump right in! Coco is the story of a boy named Miguel who lives in Mexico with his large family who owns and runs a shoemaking business. Miguel aspires to be a musician, but his family has banned music for generations. In an attempt to prove the importance of music to his family during the Day of the Dead celebrations, he unknowingly enters into the Land of the Dead, and while there, seeks to find his great-great-grandfather, who was a legendary singer. The Land of the Dead, though filled with s

Solo, the Star Wars movie no one asked for (lol) but is actually an exciting addition to the Star Wars universe! Fun fact for you, the movie released on the 41st anniversary of A New Hope back in 1977! Director Ron Howard has done an excellent job with Solo, giving us an engaging story about one of cinema's most beloved characters. When Disney first announced the titles for the new Star Wars movies after purchasing Lucasfilm, Solo was the only one I felt concerned about. I was excited with the idea of a trilogy expanding the Skywalker saga, and Rogue One in how the rebels got the Death Star Plans. But like many others, I didn't see it necessary to get a movie's worth of background info about Han. This all changed though when the first trailers came out for Solo. I wasn't on board quite yet with Han not portrayed by Harrison Ford. But I was now interested in the story and the characters they had presented. I looked forward to the movie, then, after its relea

I recently rewatched i, Robot last week, and wow I forgot how good the movie is! It's still one of my favorite sci-fi movies for many reasons. First, Will Smith is (of course) awesome in his role of Del Spooner. Second, the action, effects, and humor are exhilarating. And lastly, there are some really well-conveyed themes throughout the movie. i, Robot (released in 2004) takes place in the year 2035 in a futuristic version of Chicago. Del Spooner is a homicide detective for the city, and also superstitious about robots, which have become a norm in society. Robots are active in various roles throughout society including as delivery personnel, personal assistants, even house servants.  Due to a previous incident that Spooner was involved in with a robot, he believes that they are all just lights and clockwork, and nothing compared to what a human is capable of believing and accomplishing. As the movie begins, Spooner is referred to a case that is right up his alley (thou

Hey guys! I NEED to tell you about A Quiet Place because this movie is truly something special! Since back in November when the first trailer premiered, I knew without a doubt I wanted to see this movie. I am not a horror movie fan except for a short list of some that I enjoy, and this is by far at the very top of that list! A Quiet Place is the story of a family that is forced to live in silence while hiding from creatures that hunt solely by sound. (That sentence alone hooked me!) I went to go see this movie with a group of guys from my church. Most of us wanted to go because our wives thought the movie looked too scary for them (lol). I had heard nothing but praise for how excellent the film was, and I was ecstatic leading up to it. Even as we got to the theater and found our seats, the excitement still continued to rise. The trailers began, and we enjoyed a mix of previews for upcoming action, horror, and comedy movies. Then, as the last trailer ended, and the opening sequ

Wakanda forever! If you haven't had a chance to yet, I highly recommend going to see Marvel's new Black Panther! Until the past year or so, I was starting to worry that Marvel would continue to put out new movies with the same plot formula that they have succeeded well at, but also, in my opinion, played it safe with. I'm excited to say that I think Marvel has recognized this, and are changing the formula to allow new and fresh ideas into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). For Black Panther, Marvel brought in Ryan Coogler as director; who is known for taking something well known and respected, like the Rocky franchise, and giving us something different but just as good with 2015's Creed. It is because of his vision and direction, that Black Panther is not only an excellent Marvel film but also a high quality and in-depth piece of cinema. Black Panther is the story of T'Challa, the now king of Wakanda who we first met during Captain America Civil War. He has

Finally, we come to my favorite movie when I was growing up: Tarzan! I don't even know how many times I've seen this movie, but it has always been one that I loved. I can sing along (not well though) to all the songs by Phil Collins, and without even seeing a thing, just based on a line of dialog pick up on where someone is in the movie and what's on screen. There is so much from this movie that I love, that I had to watch it again to refresh my memory, and I still picked up on some new details and aspects I hadn't before that I am eager to share with you! I'll also note there will be some mild spoilers for the plot in this post. For those who haven't seen Tarzan, it came out in 1999 and is the story of a man who was orphaned as an infant in the jungles of Africa and raised by a group of gorillas, who he has come to believe is his family. That is until one day, on an expedition, a trio of explorers come to the area where Tarzan and the gorillas live. Tarzan

Treasure Planet was another one of my favorite movies as a child, and even today is still one of my favorites. The story itself is a futuristic twist on Robert Louis Stevenson's classic Treasure Island, and is set in outer space with various planets and alien races. Though I had not read the original growing up, I loved the science fiction spin on the tale. Science-fiction and fantasy have always been some of my favorite genres whether it be books, shows, video games, or movies. I admire the creativity it takes to create such worlds. In hindsight, I see this movie as a great coming of age story for any young/tween boy. Looking back, the main character Jim is someone I could relate to. I may not have been as rebellious as he was, but like him, I was adventurous and desired to be selfless, caring, and loyal towards others. Most of all though, I thought he had the coolest rocket board. I mean, look at this thing, it's awesome! The story of Treasure Planet starts off by i

Hi everyone, I hope your new year is off to a great start! I thought that since I'm still new to this blog, I would come up with a way to tell you guys more about myself. After some brainstorming, I realized what better way to do that than by talking about some of my favorite childhood movies and why I love them, since ultimately, movies are meant to shape and impact us, and these certainly did for me as a child! Starting off with a truly classic masterpiece, we have The Iron Giant! The Iron Giant takes place in 1957 and tells the story of 9-year-old Hogarth Hughes who lives in Rockwell Maine with his widowed mother. Hogarth is a brave and adventurous boy, and one night, while his mom is at work something from space crashes down near his house. While investigating, he discovers it is a giant robot. He sees the robot wander into a power plant and get electrocuted. Hogarth runs in and shuts off the power saving the robots life. From then on, Hogarth and the Giant begin to form