Love Truth Blog

Superman dies! A few months back I went to see this way over-due production, and the scene was visually shocking, yet expected. This was the way things ended in the comic bout with Doomsday. Batman Vs. Superman: Dawn of Justice ’s twist was the foe was something created by arch-nemesis Lex Luthor. This is all part of “ a mythological journey for Superman,” according to film director Zach Snyder , which includes “the birth, death and resurrection.” Accordingly, the final frame includes a faint heartbeat and soil levitating from the casket. Hope of resurrection, victory over the enemy of death, is the yearning within the hearts of many. The very idea makes a fine fixture to incorporate into our Superman mythology. Perhaps we can get a foretaste of this victory in present, like in recovering from a brush with death; yet, the human experience is the reign of death. What if this enemy could be destroyed? For the Christian, the victory over death is rooted in the resurrection of Je...

Sometime after the New Year, I had a chance to check out Interstellar and I have to say it was some good sci-fi storytelling. I enjoyed the way the visual effects artist put into the film their concept of what theories from astrophysics, which were woven into the storyline (wormholes, black holes, time dilation, etc.). But, what I think captures the attention the way a family would be affected being immersed into the films grand narrative. Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) is a former pilot for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), who lives out his retirement as a farmer growing corn. He struggles to make it as Earth undergoes an ecological meltdown, the land is unable to produce, and certain crops go extinct. Murphy (Mackenzie Foy/Jessica Chastain/Ellen Burstyn) is Cooper’s 10 year-old daughter. She is named after Murphy ’s Law, but not in the sense that “anything that can go wrong, will go wrong,” but in a positive sense that “whatever can happen, will happen.” ...

Big Hero 6 is a very hilarious animated film about a boy named Hiro Hamada and his robotic healthcare companion named Baymax. Self-sacrifice, redemption, and compassion are virtues explored in the storyline as well. It is certainly good family entertainment. Hiro is a young tech savvy adolescent from San Fransokyo grieving the untimely death of his brother Tadashi. More than just an older brother, Tadashi took on the role of Hiro’s moral compass, guide and inspiration to use his skills to invent future robotics’ technologies at the local university lab. Hiro is also bequeathed his brother’s invention—the person healthcare companion Baymax. Baymax is programmed to diagnose and offer treatment advice for the physically injured, but soon learns Hiro’s pain is of a different sort. When Hiro discovers the truth that Tadashi’s death was homicide, the grieving boy seeks vengeance, and attempts to modify Baymax into a battle droid. Baymax is unable to compute why be is being weaponize...

Yes, I must say that Guardians of the Galaxy is a summer great and arguably the best one out. I really enjoy the story, the action, and the effects. I can never count myself as one of the longtime fans of the comic, neither have I ever owned an issue, but I those who are could say it met all expectations for something that went from print to the big screen. Something that really grabbed me about the Guardians story is it tells of misfits who came together and did something great in saving the galaxy from evil. Starlord (Chris Pratt), a happa alien human kid growing up in1980s but taken from earth to some distant galaxy to be raised as a thief. His solace is the ever so awesome mix tape given to him by his mother. Gamora (Zoe Saldana), a female assassin working for the story’s nemesis Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace). Gamora seeks to find a way to get out of the business and make up for all the wrongs done in the past. Rocket Raccoon (Bradley Cooper), the byproduct of some crazy gen...

Recently I had a chance to catch the current reboot of Godzilla, and I really enjoyed the whole story. Loved the roar and nuclear breath effects! I say it made amends for any shortcomings in the1998 movie. One of the interesting twists in the 2014 plot is the exploration of irony, particularly human attempts to destroy the very thing that would save them from their own destruction. In the current reboot, Godzilla is awakened by man in 1950s, and man tries to exterminate the behemoth with nuclear weapons. Man’s attempts fail and Godzilla goes into hiding. Man is unable to control this massive force of nature. Two other Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism (MUTO) are also awakened—one male and one female with the impulse to reproduce. They feast on nuclear radiation, attack with electromagnetic pulse bursts, and threaten the existence of man. It is Godzilla who come out of hiding to battle and destroy the two MUTOs, which brings balance back to nature. The irony is that man...

Last month I had the opportunity to check out Paramount Pictures’ Noah directed by Darren Aronofsky, who also co-wrote the screenplay along with Ari Handel. I thought it was quite the fantasy epic without a dull moment. There was, as anyone could predict, a hefty amount of artistic licensing going on, but the two storytellers crafted something that keeps the attention. Aronofsky and Handel pit the biblical characters Noah (Russell Crowe) against Tubal Cain (Ray Winstone). Noah is a sort of radical environmentalist, who tries to care for the earth. He only uses from the earth what is necessary for survival. He eats only vegetables. He believes animals are innocent but humans are sinful, and the creation would be better off without mankind. He even chides his own son for picking a flower to admire its beauty, indicating they need to be left in the ground to grow. Tubal Cain, on the other hand, is an extreme humanist. He thinks animals exist only to benefit humans. He eats animals raw....

Heaven is for Real , a movie about four-year old Colton Burpo’s near death experience (NDE), has hit the theaters, but I just cannot bring myself seeing it. I would even advise against others seeing it. The reason is that I am convinced that Colton’s story offers nothing of value for Christian faith and practice. I say this because a few years back I had reviewed the book the movie was based, which bears the same title, and was written by Colton’s father Todd along with Lynn Vincent [1]. I found there were some peculiar elements to Colton’s NDE, like Jesus’ rainbow colored horse. There were also some unbiblical elements. For example, Colton says everyone in heaven’s got wings save Jesus, but the Bible says the believer’s resurrection is patterned after Christ (Rom. 5:12-21; Cor. 15:20-28). Colton says the resurrection is only for believers but Jesus says all will experience either the resurrection to life or the resurrection to judgment (John 5:28-29). Colton sees the heavenly th...

The Dark Knight Rises is one well-done action adventure movie to cap off Christopher Nolan’s rebooted Batman trilogy. I certainly anticipated seeing the movie, and after seeing it, I can say that my expectations were sated. *** Spoiler Alert *** The movie presents an apocalyptic like battle in Gotham City between Batman (Christian Bale) and nemesis Bane (Tom Hardy), the presumed leader of the League of Shadows, and successor to Ra’s al Ghul. I find that one of the resounding themes in The Dark Knight Rises , which makes the movie work, is the redemption of people. It is about being rescued out of darkness into the light. The very idea is a yearning within the depths of a person’s soul, it is something that connects and engages viewers in the story. In Dark Knight Rises Bane initially battles and breaks the Batman’s back, and imprisons the injured Bruce Wayne in a pit far away from Gotham. From inside the pit, the only contact with the external world is a video monitor displ...

Recently I had a chance to catch Snow White and the Huntsman and it was an enjoyable reimagination of the fairy tale. It’s a wonderful story about the way goodness brings restoration in a world mired by a corrupted force, a theme which is rooted in a biblical worldview. Ravenna (Charlize Theron) is the evil queen step-mother who murders the King Magnus, ruler of the land of Tabor and father to Snow White. Ravenna then uses her own outward beauty to as well as dark magic to maintain control over the land. Her powers are self-consuming, and using her magic mirror, she finds fair young maidens in order to magically suck their youthful essence to regenerate her aging body. The very land of Tabor also loses its life force, and is riddled with dead plants and trees. The magic mirror informs Ravenna that she can only maintain power so long as she is the fairest in the land, but the late king’s daughter Snow White (Kristen Stewart) is coming of age and will one day be the faires...

Last weekend I had a chance to check out X-Men: First Class , and this blockbuster did not disappoint. It was a good story with lots of great epic battle scenes. The whole younger versions of Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lehnsherr / Magneto (Michael Fassbender) recruiting the first team of X-Men to battle against Sebastian Shaw (Kevin Bacon), a mutant set on world domination was wonderful. One of the themes explored in the movie is how the advent of the nuclear age increased the number of genetic mutations giving rise to a number of mutant people with extraordinary abilities, which would be the next stage in evolutionary development of life on earth. Darwinian Evolution is the story’s explanatory power for mutants and why it is unnecessary to consider their powers as a condition that needs to be “fixed.” In this instance, the story villain Magneto gets it, in so far as he understands the implications of evolutionary theory—the more fit species will survive with the less fit...

Inception (Warner Brothers) 1 is great mind bending science fiction thrill ride that came about at the last minute when I began to wonder “are there any good movies coming out this summer?” It is about a team of thieves led by Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) whom use technology to enter into the minds of others to steal their secrets all the while navigating around the target’s subconscious, which manifests itself as various people within the dream world intent on killing the dream invaders. As the story goes, Cobb is hired to do a special kind of job, which involves “inception,” or the implanting of an idea into the target’s subconscious that would determine a future action delivered via a dream within a dream within another dream. There is a definite critique against the basic reliability of sense perception woven into the storyline of Inception. For instance, the downside of those continually entering into the dream world is they become unable to determine whether or not they are aw...

The mysterious Long Count Mayan Calendar completion date of its 5125.36 year cycle on December 21, 2012, along with a few promotional Web sites ( http://www.thisistheend.com/ and http://www.theinstituteforhumancontinuity.org/ ), has for Roland Emmerich's 2012 (Sony Motion Pictures) paid off. Released November 15, 2009, the movie “opened at No. 1 domestically with $65 million and pulled in $225 million worldwide.” [1] The 2012 movie actually navigates around any deep exposition on Mesoamerican mythology; rather, it centers on the drama of average people in the midst of a worldwide catastrophe, which brings out humanities greatest virtues and vices. 2012 begins with Dr. Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor) discovering that solar flairs have caused increased amounts of neutrinos to bombard the earth, thus heating up the earth core to the point where an inevitable near future apocalyptic event would occur, which would include a gravitational pole shift, earthquakes, volcanic erupti...