MOVIES OF THE SUMMER

Here's a list of my favorite movies of the summer, so far...

The Dark Knight
Why so serious?

This may be the best movie I've seen since "No Country For Old Men." This is a summer blockbuster infused with profound questions about the nature of evil, our propensity for sin and compromise, the importance of character and our desperate need for a Savior.

Make no mistake about it. This is a serious movie. Heath Ledger's performance as "The Joker" is mesmerizing. Much like Anton Chigurh, the psychopathic killer in "No Country," "The Joker" is the embodiment of evil. He thrives on chaos. He could care less about money, sex or power. His desire is to reveal the hypocrisy in humanity and our inclination for depravity. We are all capable of unbelievable evil, all we require, he says, "is a little push."

Ledger's performance as "The Joker" is the stuff of which legends are made. He is amazing. Ledger's Joker is right up there with the most terrifying villains in movie history: Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs and Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh in No Country. This performance is that good. It is unsettling and terrifying.

Batman, Harvey Dent, Gotham's new District Attorney, and Lt. James Gordon form a "trinity" of sorts to wage war on Gotham's crime lords. At first, this alliance prevails. But evil doesn't take a right hook to the chin and go down for the count. it fights back. BIG TIME.

As "The Joker" rises to power and establishes his rule as Gotham's ultimate crime boss by not only evading Batman, but turning every apparent breakthrough into a huge setback or complete disaster, Batman struggles with how to take a stand against such relentless evil without losing his moral center - without becoming the very thing he hates. This internal struggle is fascinating and meaningful.

Ultimately, Batman assumes the blame and guilt of another individual. He takes that individual's shame upon himself, so that the guilty could be declared innocent. In this selfless act, there are echoes of what Christ accomplished for us on the cross. And in The Joker's defeat, there are reminders that even though evil is relentless, ultimately everything will be set right.

There's so much more I want to write, but I don't want to spoil the movie for those who haven't seen it.

Batman is not simply a graphic novel or comic book movie put on the big screen. We've had that before. This film is a work of art. It is dark. It is beautiful. It is moving. It is scary. It is redemptive.

Warning: this movie is NOT for children. But it is well worth seeing. In fact, the movie is so well written, artful and complex, it's worth seeing more than once.


Wall-E
Beautiful. Hope-filled. Touching. Meaningful. Timeless. Redemptive.

For very different reasons, this movie stands right along side "The Dark Knight" as one of the best movies of the year. I loved it.

Here are a few other movies I really enjoyed:

Kung Fu Panda
Jack Black as an over weight, martial arts fighting panda. It's funny and it works.

Iron Man
I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this movie. Robert Downey, Jr. does a great job as wealthy industrialist, Tony Stark. The story is interesting, smart and redemptive.

Hancock
Will Smith is "the man." This movie has more language than we are used to in a "Will Smith" movie, but the story is good. Will Smith is great. The movie is ultimately redemptive.


What movies have you really enjoyed this summer? I would love to read your list of summer favorites.