PUBLISHING MY BOOK

I am getting my book Reel Transformation: Your Life Now Playing ready for publication and I am over the moon excited!

I had the idea for this book over a decade ago. I started noticing a pattern in many movies. It seemed many of the protagonists would leave home…either physically or metaphorically and then go through lots of challenges that I call wilderness experiences. At some point they go through an awakening and return home transformed. It is the quintessential Hero’s Journey.

Inspired by Moody and Carroll’s book The Five Stages of the Soul, I condensed the stages of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey to the Five Stages of Transformation: 1) Home in the Ordinary World, 2) The Call, 3) The Wilderness, 4) The Awakening and the 5) Return Home.

We see this Hero’s Journey in films of all genres. Films like The Wizard of Oz, The Lion King, Harry Potter and Star Wars. George Lucas wrote Star Wars deliberately using the template of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, but many other film makers simply set out to create a good story and end up using this template unwittingly. It is easy to see this journey in adventure films, yet it can be found in comedies, animated films, romance and science fiction as well.

The story that came to my mind as a minister was of the Prodigal Son. Compare this parable to the classic film The Wizard of Oz.

The Prodigal Son felt dissatisfied with his life at home and demanded his inheritance. His loving and generous father gave it to him and the son left home. Dorothy was dissatisfied with her life on the farm in Kansas. She longed for a life over the rainbow and a tornado swept her to Oz. Both Dorothy and the Prodigal son felt a sense of dissatisfaction with their life and longed to be somewhere else. Dissatisfaction or ‘Divine Discontent’ is often what calls us out of our Ordinary World.

The Prodigal Son ends up squandering his inheritance and finds himself cleaning the pig pens, homeless and without friends or a home. For a Jew who believed pigs to be the ultimate symbol of loathing this was truly a wilderness experience. While Dorothy had friends who helped her in Oz, she had numerous wilderness experiences. She was attacked by flying monkeys and had a wicked witch out to kill her.

The Prodigal Son had an awakening when we ‘came to himself’ and realized that he was the son of a loving Father. He made the decision to go back and ask his father if he could be a servant in his home. Dorothy wanted to return home almost as soon as she arrived in Oz, and she needed to go through some life lessons so she could figure out that she’d always had the power to go home.

Both the Prodigal Son and Dorothy return home transformed people.

All of us go through these stages of transformation at some point in our life and usually we go through them over and over again. My book, using examples from movies, talks about these stages and shows you how to use something you love to do—watching movies—to assist you in your own growth and transformation.

So keep an eye out on Amazon for Reel Transformation: Your Life Now Playing.

TRANSCENDENCE

Raymond "Ray" Kurzweil is an American author, scientist, inventor, and futurist who has said that by 2029 computers will have consciousness. Bill Gates has called Kurzweil the best predictor of the future, and it’s also been said that he has predicted the future with more accuracy than anyone else in history. A documentary called Transcendent Man: Prepare to Evolve came out in 2010 that shares the life and ideas of Ray Kurzweil.

A new movie called Transcendence, starring Johnny Depp, Morgan Freeman and Rebecca Hall has brought Ray’s idea to the Hollywood screen. The main character is Dr. Will Caster (Depp) a leading scientist and researcher in the field of Artificial Intelligence. Like Ray, his life’s work has been centered on the idea of mastering the singularity, or as he calls it ‘transcendence’.  We are introduced to PINN (Physically Independent Neural Network) who can identify someone who walks into the room and when asked ‘can you prove you are self-aware?’ counters with ‘can you prove you are self-aware?’ I tried asking SIRI that question and got ‘no comment’ and ‘I don’t really like these arbitrary questions’. Both PINN and SIRI dodged the question, although PINN’s answer was a bit more probing. While SIRI said she didn’t ‘like’ my question, she does not really experience emotions or even preferences.

While creating an AI that exhibits emotions is the task Will set out to accomplish, I don’t believe he was successful. What he was successful at, with the help of his partner in life Evelyn (Rebecca Hall), was uploading his consciousness into PINN as his body was dying. While it certainly looked and sounded like the Will Caster we had briefly viewed at the beginning of the film, this cyber Will seemed devoid of all emotions.

Once Will is connected to the Internet there is no stopping his power. While some of what he begins doing, like healing and restoring the sick and disabled, seems philanthropic, it begs the question: just because the power is available should it be used at all cost? Would you be happy you’d been healed if it changed who you were fundamentally without your choice or knowledge?

Throughout this film I couldn’t help but think of Ray Kurzweil and his desire to recreate his father who died when he was a young man. Is Ray correct in saying that computers will have consciousness in my lifetime? It certainly seems possible, but I think we have a ways to go before we can make sure that this new evolutionary ‘being’ also has a conscience, a value system and a soul.

OSCAR PREDICTIONS FOR 2014

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to write here, but I’m retiring from ministry this weekend, so I’m anticipating I will have much more time to dedicate to writing about what I love: Movies!

It seems fitting that I’m retiring on the Sunday the Academy Awards will be shown. It will be a full day with church, my retirement party and then the Oscars in the evening, but I’m ready!

I always make it a point to see every film nominated for Best Picture and as many others as I can manage. I am blessed to have married a wonderful man who also loves the movies and together we’ve seen all 9 nominated films. So here are my predictions for the top six Academy Awards.

BEST PICTURE: I find it amazing that out of the nine films nominated five of them are based on a true story. I have to say that I was a bit disappointed that The Book Thief wasn’t included in any of the nominations. I found it an incredibly touching film that moved me at my core. Also, I missed out on seeing Inside Llewyn Davis so I can’t comment on whether or not that film should have been included. All of the films nominated were good for different reasons, but I believe the film that will win the prize will be 12 Years a Slave. American Hustle has received quite a bit of buzz, but I don’t think it will take home many, if any Oscars. 12 Years a Slave is a film that was extremely difficult to watch and left me feeling ashamed of my race, but it is totally deserving of Best Picture and seems to have the momentum.

BEST DIRECTOR: It isn’t often that Best Picture and Best Director Awards are split, but I believe that will happen this year. Alfonso Cuaron deserves the statue for Gravity. The film was mesmerizing and left me asking myself ‘how’d they do that?’ This film will take home quite a few more Oscars. I predict Oscars for Gravity for Best Film Editing, Cinematography, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing and Visual Effects.

BEST ACTOR: Chiwetel Ejiofor could possibly win for 12 Years a Slave, but I believe it will and should go to Matthew McConaughey. First of all, Hollywood often rewards actors/actresses who go to great physical extremes for their character, and McConaughey lost about 45 pounds for this role. As someone who is presently working on losing a few pounds, I admire his tenacity. He was also quite riveting and believable in the role.

BEST ACTRESS: This one is tough. Meryl Streep was awesome in August: Osage County, but she’s already won 3 Academy Awards and most people think she’s won even more than that as she’s been nominated 18 times. There has been a lot of talk about Amy Adams, and while she was good, I don’t believe she will win. When I saw Sandra Bullock in Gravity I knew she would be nominated. It has to be difficult to act in a film basically alone and against a green screen much of the time. However, the actress whose has been raking in all the awards (very deservedly) is Cate Blanchett for her role in Blue Jasmine and I believe she will take home the Oscar as well.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: This one feels like a slam dunk. It will be Jared Leto from Dallas Buyer’s Club….no contest. All of the other actors were great. Barkhad Abdi in Captain Phillips, Michael Fessbender in 12 Years a Slave, Bradley Cooper in American Hustle and Jonah Hill of The Wolf of Wall Street are all great actors, they just picked the wrong year to compete.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS:  I know there is a lot of buzz about Jennifer Lawrence in American Hustle and she just won last year, so there is some momentum for her to win two years in a row. There is also some sentiment for June Squibb to finally win an Oscar for her role in Nebraska. However, I believe the statue will go to Lupita Nyong’o for 12 Years a Slave. She has certainly won the hearts of the world with her heart-wrenching performance and I, for one, can’t wait to see what she wears on the Red Carpet.

I did not see any of the films nominated for BEST ANIMATED FEATURE, although I intend to see Frozen soon and the word among critics seems to be predicting it to win.

The Academy Awards is only a few days away and I’m looking forward to Ellen DeGeneres as host once again. My husband and I will each fill out our ballots and sit down in our living room on Sunday night to enjoy the show. I almost hope some of my predictions don’t come true as it seems like the Awards show has become way too predictable. I miss the days when strange and unpredictable things happened….like someone streaking out across the stage. Also, is it too much to ask for some interesting acceptance speeches…. forget the long list of people to thank and please tell us something unique and memorable!

It won’t matter to me how late the show runs as I’ll be retired. Unfortunately my husband will have to get up early to walk the dog and go to work….ah well. Life is Sweet. See you at the movies!

THE HOST

 

THE HOST

Imagine a world that is peaceful, illness is instantly cured, and there is no war or discord.  It sounds like a beautiful existence, and it is for the aliens, called Souls, who have occupied Earth and taken on earthling bodies as hosts. Not so much for the humans whose bodies have been inhabited. Most of the humans disappear into oblivion when the Souls are inserted into their bodies. But Melanie is a strong personality and refuses to disappear. This creates a challenge for the Soul named Wanderer living inside her body and together they embark on a journey complete with angst, danger and love.

 

This is the premise for the movie The Host based on the novel by Stephanie Meyers. Stephanie had great success with her Twilight trilogy about other worldly beings and a girl in love. This film has much the same idea, but with aliens and humans rather than werewolves and vampires. This new film is also about a woman torn between two different men, and yet it is also about so much more.

 

The Souls came to Earth, because they felt it was a violent world full of people who were not only quick to go to war and kill each other, but also slow to notice the harm they were doing to their own planet. The Souls figured they could improve the planet and bring peace and harmony; and they did, but at what cost? That is just one of the questions posed in this film. Another is…what exactly is it that we love when we love another? Is it their personality? Is it their body? Is it their soul? And what if the essence of who we loved were in another body? What then?

 

I read the book (twice) before seeing the film and I highly recommend it. It is 620 pages and I suppose that was difficult to squash into a 2 hour movie, and some of the character development was lost. They did the best they could, and while I really enjoyed the film, I was happy that I had read the book. Whether you see the film or read the book, this is a very interesting subject full of thought provoking questions.

 

 

Cloud Atlas

I went with 7 other people to see this movie and I was the only one who LOVED it. Yes, there is some violence and there were numerous times when I needed to cover my eyes. Violence doesn't keep me from seeing a film. There was violence in Avatar and The Matrix, but both of those films had powerful messages worth seeing, as does Cloud Atlas.

I have just gotten the book and plan on reading it and I also plan on going to see this film again and may write a more in-depth review after seeing it a second time. This is a long film (almost 3 hours) and the first third of the film leaves one a bit lost, but as the movie continues it all begins to fall into place...so keep that in mind as you watch it. This film is about 'connection'. We are all connected and the choices we make today affect the future....not only ours but others. It is visually beautiful and the actors do an incredible job of playing numerous roles. You will want to sit through the credits to see all the different roles each actor played, because some you won't have recognized.

I highly recommend this film!

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

It seems really great movies seem to be harder and harder to find. I had to travel to the next town to see this film. Then I had to laugh because the theater was filled with OLD people. I am considered a Senior Citizen, but I felt like a babe in that packed theater. When the film was over the theater erupted with applause and I immediately turned to the person next to me and said, "I want to see it again." This film is definitely worth traveling to wherever you need to go to see this film.

The movie is filled with wonderful lines. One of my favorites is, "Everything always turns out all right in the end; so if it's not all right it isn't yet the end."

This is a short entry as I'm very busy, but just wanted to make sure this movie recommendation got out there...if you can...go see this film!

I Am, the Documentary

I saw this film a few months ago and saw the film maker again today on Oprah. It will be available to watch online 11/1 and available in DVD after the first of next year. It may still be playing in a theater near you. It is definitely worth watching.