That Blue People Movie

Posted on December 22, 2009 by rbirkey

Went to see this epic James Cameron sci-fi, fantasy film over the last weekend with my wife. Saw the 3D version which you wear the glasses for. Unfortunately the theater was so full we could only find seats in the back row or the front row, so we went with the back row. Had a HUGE guy with a BIG head sitting in front of me. My neck got tired.

Aside from that, I really enjoyed the incredible computer generated graphics and special effects that made the other world (Pandora), otherworldly. The story was interesting too… how these future earth humans could link up a human with a “genetically engineered” avatar version of themselves, one mixed with the DNA of the local world inhabitants. This genetic combo produced some pretty interesting “blue people” avatars (See Jake Sully below).

Neytiri and the Avatar of Jake Sully

The biggest problem I had with this movie was the worldview that the filmmaker “preached” to me during the whole thing. It went like this…

Humans are bad
They destroy the environment of their own world
They move on to other worlds and destroy those as well
They form evil capitalistic corporations that are only interested in the bottom line
Humans/corporations do bad things like kill innocent indigenous beings just to make a buck

On the other hand…

Native indigenous humanoids are pure and near perfect
The indigenous humanoids may be more technologically “primitive” but they are in tune with Nature
Native indigenous humanoids are “spiritual” and can connect with the “spirit” of all animate and inanimate things and are therefore superior to earth humans
They apparently can only do good
Only humans that understand the value of these indigenous humanoids and work with and for them are noble and worth anything
In the end the “good” guys (indigenous natives) win against the bad guys (earthlings) through the power of their superior spiritual networking with the planet.

I mean, I love a good “evil vs. good” sci-fi/fantasy epic thriller as much as the next guy… but this kind of overt anti-human, environment-worshipping, nature-spiritualizing preachiness was just too much.

It doesn’t even come close to Lord of the Rings – still the master standard in my book.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Posted on December 7, 2008 by rbirkey

Shmuel is the name of the boy in the striped pajamas. He is an eight year old Jewish boy in a Nazi concentration camp. Bruno, the eight-year old son of the camp commandant meets Shmuel across the electric barbed wire fence. The film, based upon the book by John Boyne, uses this powerful story to explore issues of innocence, friendship, good, evil and what it means to be human.

As Catherine Barsotti and Robert Johnston say in their helpful book, Finding God in the Movies: 33 Films of Reel Faith,“ Successful movies do not merely transplant us somewhere new; they inspire us to become one with one of the characters.” And this film certainly does that. We look at the Holocaust through the eyes of an 8-year-old whose country and family would have him believe that the Jews were enemies and were getting what they deserved. But Bruno’s childlike identification with Shmuel tells him otherwise. — Breakpoint.org

This is a very powerful, emotionally gripping story with implications for our current culture and world situation. I encourage any adult who reads this blog post to go see the film, or read the book (it is not for children!)… then sit down over coffee with some friends and have an open discussion about it. There is a discussion guide available below to help.

Watch the movie trailer (above)

Book: Boy In the Striped Pajamas (Movie Tie-in Edition)

Discussion Guide: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

May we never forget.

McDonalds Sweet Tea?

Posted on December 18, 2007 by rbirkey

A friend of mine named Steve Tanner heard a radio spot announcing “sweet tea” coming to McDonalds! He asked me to do a review of this new beverage for is website called Beverage Review.

You see, Steve knows that I am a “sweet tea” connoisseur given my birth and early years as a southern boy (South Carolina). My family adopted southern sweet tea as our family beverage and I grew up drinking it and making it. I have a secret sweet tea family recipe that I really like. We’ll have to see how the new McDonalds product stacks up to “Birkey Tea.”
Apparently McDonalds has already launched this product in the southeast states (including South Carolina). It is part of a new trend to offer more cold drink choices. See Article in Crain’s.

I visited the McDonalds on Lake Street in downtown Chicago today looking for the “sweet tea” – only to discover they don’t have it yet! Apparently it requires a new machine that has not been delivered yet… “Check back next week!”

So, as soon as I get my hands on this new product, I plan to consume it and write a review for Steve at Beverage Review.