Movie and Book Reviews

The Horse and His Boy by CS Lewis
Probably my favorite Narnia book thus far. I have dubbed it 'the chick flick' among the books thus far. My favorite part of the book was the snarky horse and his attitude. Loved it!! I can't wait to see this one as a movie. I have now moved on to The Magician's Nephew. (I am reading them in the order that Lewis wrote them, not in the order they appear in the anthology.)

More Ready Than You Realize by Brian McLaren
I think I'm the last person I know to read this book. It's really good. I read so many evangelical and Christian books for Seminary and work that I tend to gloss over them, if I finish them at all. Not this one. It follows an email conversation between Brian and a young woman he calls Alice. The emails and their story are real, but her name has been changed. It's a refreshing look at evangelism and discipleship from the eyes of Alice, who wasn't a Christian and was distrusting of people who were Christian. The book revolves around the idea of spiritual friendship. I highly recommend it.

Marie Antoinette, directed by Sophia Coppola
Great costumes (was so not surprised when they won best costume design at the Oscars) and decent acting. The cinematography kept my attention, but there are these dark screens between scenes that are much too lengthy. More than once I hit fast forward bc I thought something was wrong with the disc or the DVD player. They could have easily cut out five minutes by taking those dark screens out - I didn't see how they added to the movie. Sophia's cinematography always sticks out at me, and I thought it was brilliant in The Virgin Suicides. The thing that was bothering me was that she took liberties with the script, historically. I'm wanting to do some research and see if I can find historical support for some of the things she portrayed in the film. I'm glad I didn't spend $10 to see it in the theatre.

Running With Scissors
When I saw who was in this cast, I immediately bumped it up to the top of Netflix. I love independent films that are quirky comedies. This one's seriousness took me by surprise. Joseph Cross, the actor who played the main character, was phenomenal. I think we're going to see him in several movies, and I hope he makes wise choices about his roles. He has great versatility in him. Be prepared to be shocked, and somewhat uncomfortable, as you watch this one. It's fairly unbelievable in a lot of ways, but many of the things the main character has to deal with are very, very real. The action was a little slow in the first half hour, but then it picked up and I had to finish it. I particularly loved Gwyneth Paltrow's character in this movie.