The-Corbetts.Org

Many movies treating the subject of Exorcism inevitably draw from the well of “The Exorcist” in repetitive and uncreative ways, adding only new special effects and visuals to an already established status quo. “The Last Exorcism” certainly revisits some established concepts, but also carves a new path into the genre with its unique premise.

The movie is filmed in a documentary style, following a southern preacher who admits that his own belief in God is not genuine and that the many exorcisms he has performed were fake. He decides that exorcism should be exposed as fake and takes a camera crew with him to an exorcism in service to that end. The only problem is that this time he gets much more than he bargained for.

With a cast of unknowns, this movie is a great example of the wonderful kinds of performances that can come to life in film when a studio doesn’t limit themselves to established Hollywood faces. I found every character in this movie to be believable and fascinating to watch. Of particular note is the actress who played Nell, the 15 year old girl who is the subject of the Exorcism. Her sweetness and innocence is almost moving in and of itself and contrasts incredibly with her demon persona later in the film.

As one would expect with this style of filming, there are not a lot of special effects. Effort is made to ground things in realism and suspense is created more by what you don’t see than what you do. Those who have a fear of the unknown and like to sit on the edge of their seat may find a rewarding experience here.

That’s not to say that the film doesn’t have special effects. At least, I think it does. That, or the actress playing Nell is also an amazing contortionist! Some creepy and realistic looking body bending provides a few good spine tingles the last third of the movie.

There is plenty to talk about after seeing this movie, and I wish I could sit down with the writer and director to hear some of their thoughts about specific issues.

First off, there is no positive representation of genuine Christianity in this movie. One of the first lines out of the main character’s mouth is about how he learned from his dad how to “hook” people into his preaching and get their money. In this movie, Christianity is represented only by those who are not what they appear to be or are ignorant and superstitious.

A brief all-inclusive statement is made near the beginning of the film that “religions all over the world perform exorcisms”. And the foundational truths of Christianity are given no unique ability to combat evil. If anything, Christianity comes out of this movie looking pretty weak.

Having said that, this is not a movie that will line up with an Atheistic worldview, either. This flick provides great opportunity to talk about demons and whether or not they exist during the drive home. The main character also makes it clear near the beginning that if you are a Christian and if you believe in Jesus, you have to believe in demons, because Jesus taught that they existed and performed exorcisms. So in this respect, the movie does uphold the basic value of logical faith, as opposed to picking and choosing what we want to believe from the Bible.

During an attempted Exorcism, the preacher spouts off scripture in an attempt to ward off the demon, to which the demon mockingly replies “Words, words ,words!” Though some may see this as an invalidation of the power of God’s words, I saw it as a validation of Christ’s power and not our own. The Bible is not a magic spell-book that we can recite “incantations” from to defeat evil. It is Christ himself who defeats evil or keeps it at bay.

An odd cliché the film does fall into is the upholding of Latin as a "spiritual" language. Given that the Bible was written primarily in Hebrew and Greek, this felt like Catholic traditional baggage more than anything else. I’d love to see a movie of this kind where the demons speak in Greek or Hebrew, rather than Latin.

The preacher also uses an old Latin tome, not the Bible, as his primary informational resource about demons. He doesn’t believe in demons, but it seems to be established in the film that real Christian exorcists would validate this mysterious Latin “demon encyclopedia”. Though it is never explained why this book is considered authoritative.

Like much religious superstition, this book is given authority not because it has been tested for historical authenticity, but simply because it is old, religious, and written in a dead language. Frankly, I’m ready for Hollywood and everyone else to get over using this kind of thinking. It just doesn’t make any sense.

If you like scary/supernatural movies and don’t mind the documentary style, this is a really enjoyable flick. You’ll also likely have lots to talk and think about afterward.

Rated PG-13 for disturbing violent content and terror, some sexual references and thematic material.


Quality: 9.0/10

Relevance: 9.5/10


www.spiritblade.net/paeter

www.spiritblade.net/podcast

Normally, I stick strictly to reviewing movies that fit in the sci-fi, fantasy, superhero or horror genre. But I made an exception for “The Losers” because of its origins in DC comics.

The plot(which draws from the re-vamped Vertigo version of the comic) centers on a group of soldiers who are framed and presumed dead, and must now clear their names while taking revenge on the man who framed them. Sounds a lot like the recent A-Team movie, doesn’t it? The parallels don’t end there. The tone and even a couple of the characters have analogs in the A-Team movie. Although this one came out first. This movie even has a climax at a shipyard surrounded by massive cargo containers. Not sure WHAT was going on behind the scenes in Hollywood to make that kind of repetition happen.

Putting all of this aside, including the original comic book, how does the movie stand on its own? Reasonably well, though not wonderfully.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Chris Evans are the only “names” in this movie, though it doesn’t represent their best work. Morgan doesn’t have quite enough good material to work with and Evans’ cocky humor only fires on all cylinders a couple of times.

There are some cool action shots in this movie including great use of slow motion. I found the visual experience to be more enjoyable than A-Team.

Although the movie is a decent way to pass the time and worth the dollar at Red Box, it doesn’t take enough chances to stand out. The humor shoots for quirky at times, especially in the scenes featuring the villain, “Max”. But it mostly just ends up feeling forced. The bad guys have opportunity to be presented as REALLY bad, but in the end just aren’t threatening enough in their personalities to create the tension this movie needs.

The lack of tension isn’t helped at all by an ending which strongly suggests a sequel rather than giving us the payoff we should have had.

The movie is unlikely to spark any meaningful conversation, though revenge is obviously a motivating plot element.

If you need an action flick fix, you could do worse, but don’t pay more than a buck.

Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action and violence, a scene of sensuality and language.


Quality: 7.0/10

Relevance: 5.0/10

www.spiritblade.net/paeter
www.spiritblade.net/podcast

Had the chance to watch The Omen for free last night. The remake, not the original(which I still haven't seen). Not a bad way to pass the time. Had some good intense moments, solid performances and built tension well. But crap, this movie had some serious logical holes in it.


Set aside for a second the reckless handling of Biblical prophecy. That comes with the territory in these kinds of flicks. But consider this for a moment. All the “religious folk” are pointing to the Bible as proof, saying “this kid is the devil, we gotta kill him!” But if they’re using the Bible to validate the truth of their claim regarding the kid’s identity, they have to believe that the Bible is always accurate, right? And if the Bible is always accurate, then what it says is gonna happen is gonna happen, right? And if something is definitely gonna happen, they can’t do anything to stop it.


In other words, if they think they can REALLY kill this kid, then he might not ACTUALLY be the devil-child they think he is!


My advice to these guys would be to relax, stop trying to kill the kid and just send him and the psycho nanny off to live in the woods. Then read the rest of Revelation and be sure not to skip the part that says how God is gonna wipe out the bad guys without our help. You can put your “magical mystical church knives” away now.

Well, Stella Deus didn't work out, so I'll be returning it today and starting my search for a copy of Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 with their expansions. These games were made by Bioware, who has made all of my very favorite video games in recent years. So even though the graphics will be dated, I've heard the game play is amazing and I've learned through experience that Bioware has to try really hard to screw things up.

Just hope I can get my hands on Baldur's Gate in time for my vacation in a week!

The clock is ticking. I bought a used copy of Stella Deus for PS2 on Monday and I have until Sunday to figure out whether or not I want to return it for a refund. (I LOVE Gamestop's return policy!)

There are several elements I love about this game. Great graphics for PS2 with a really cool artistic look. Despite being steeped in an anime style, it's a very serious tone. The strategy is also very fulfilling, but at times a bit too challenging. So challenging, in fact, that you are required to level grind at a place called "The Catacomb Of Trials" on a regular basis. (So far, about one trip to the catacombs for every battle in the main story.) There are 50 levels to these "catacombs", but so far they all look the same. A sterile, stone block platform. As near as I can tell, the only thing that changes is the enemies you fight. Very disappointing.

The level grind might not be such a bad thing if I felt like I was actually exploring catacombs. Instead, it feels like Atlus didn't want to take the time to balance the game properly and so inserted this boring level grind location(I can't even call it a dungeon) to solve the problem for them.

Currently, I'm trying to work around this issue with some Codebreaker cheat codes. I may have found the solution, but a side effect of this particular code is that it might make the game a little too easy, so more testing is required. Also, it may have been a fluke or a result of a pretty scratched up disc, but last night when I was using codes, I noticed that on two separate occasions the music cut out, leaving just sound effects playing during combat. Weird.

After work tonight I'll give it one more shot and see if I can find the balance I'm looking for. If that fails, the game goes back and I pick up the Final Fantasy Tactics game I started. (I can always put that six bucks toward Baldur's Gate.)

I've felt the need for a change of pace in gaming lately. Literally. As much as I dig on Dragon Age and Mass Effect, sometimes i still need some good turn-based goodness.

I've also been in a bit of a board game mood lately, but with a real shortage of people to play with.

So I'm turning my gaze on strategy rpgs like Final Fantasy Tactics, which I own and have played already, and a game I never bought but always wanted to check out, Stella Deus.

Something about moving figures on a grid satisfies my need to strategically move peices on a game board, and the turn-based strategy and inventory management feels like a hand full of cards.

Started FF Tactics last night, but then remembered that I'd seen a cheap copy of Stella Deus at a used gamestore nearby a few months ago (when I was steeped in other games and didn't need it). I'm going to run by today and see if it's still there. It was buried behind a number of other games, so if I'm lucky no one has bought it, but we'll see!

Well, it's been almost a year since I posted...the kids want me to start up again. I think I will, but maybe not until after vacation...once the school year is underway. We're going to be very busy the next 3 weeks...

(Sorry For No Picture. Blogspot is being lame today.)

If you grew up playing video games in the late 80’s and 90’s and you still have a good measure of nerd in you, then you owe it to yourself to go see Scott Pilgrim vs The World.



This movie is fun, quirky and filled with action that is bound to please full-blooded and closet nerds the world over.



Scott Pilgrim is a 22 year old bass player in a wanna be band. He is hopelessly uncool and is getting over a bad relationship by “dating” a 17 year old girl. (Don’t worry, the execution of this concept is not near as creepy as the premise.) Then suddenly the literal girl of his dreams begins showing up in the real world and he takes that as his cue to pursue her affections relentlessly… even though it means he has to fight his way through her seven evil exes.



The movie is pure fantasy from beginning to end, told through the interpretive lens of video game stereotypes, with a few more from anime and comic books thrown in for good measure. Meters and pop-ups repeatedly appear on screen giving status reports on Scott’s essentials. (Such as a “pee meter” when he goes to the bathroom.) The spectacular fight scenes also include 16-bit graphic enhancements. Essentially, this movie attempts to present everyday life as a video game and it does so in very inventive and fun ways.



Performances are fine across the board and the characters are fairly likeable. Michael Cera is still playing the same character he does in all of his films, but if Jeff Goldbloom can have a great career of delightful roles doing it, Cera can too.



Only one spot in this movie jumps out as providing a springboard for meaningful discussion. (SPOILER WARNING) Near the end of the film, Scott is given a special weapon to help him defeat the “final boss” that is made available because he discovers the “power of love”. At first it helps him kick serious butt, but in the end doesn’t work out. Then he has an out of body experience in which he learns the “valuable lesson” that what he really needs to fight for is not love, but for himself. So the next time he fights the boss he uses the weapon of “self respect”. Ultimately, that doesn’t work out either.



The way the “life lesson” scene is handled pokes fun of itself almost enough to conclude that the filmmakers really don’t hold up “self-esteem” as much as is typical in pop culture. But the “joke”, if one is intended, does not come across strongly enough to indicate that self-esteem is not the most important thing for a person’s well-being.



This movie isn’t trying to make any points. But philosophy still bleeds through art unintentionally and we can soak it up even when we weren’t intended to. So what do the filmmakers think? Is self-esteem more valuable than love? Do you have to “learn to love yourself before you can love others?” From a biblical standpoint, we love ourselves just fine. We don’t need training in that. Low self-esteem and depression not caused by chemical imbalance is often the result of being too self-absorbed, not of loving oneself too little.



In the end, this movie is a love letter to geeks that they will greatly enjoy reading and includes a potential moment for pondering that is not stated conclusively or strongly enough to merit much if any discussion unless you really want to wax philosophical.

Rated PG-13 for stylized violence, sexual content, language and drug references.


Quality: 9.5/10



Relevance: 6.5/10



www.spiritblade.net/paeter

www.spiritblade.net/blog

I'm about the least athletic person I know. So imagine my surprise when I realize that I've been getting on our treadmill 5 days a week, almost every week this summer, for 30 minutes! Woohoo!

I never thought I would actually enjoy pushing myself physically, but it's something I've come to enjoy taking on as a challenge.

Right now I jog for two songs of my workout (near the beginning and end) and walk fast the rest of the time. I also use 5 pound weights to give my arms something to worry about.

My goal is to be jogging for a third song of my workout music by this fall and eventually jog the entire 30 minutes!

Baby number two will be arriving in late October and subbing starts up again next week, but I'm determined to movie forward, so here goes!