(Just missing out: Never Let Me Go, The King’s Speech, Rango, The Green Hornet, Source Code, An Education, True Grit)

10. KILL LIST: The first of two late entries. Current society can leave many with a pervading sense of nihilism; this film explores that with ingenuity and a cold stare. The ending will polarise the audience, but the clues are there. If you’re not left breathless and stunned when the credits roll, you’re not human. And then you start thinking over the following days: those foreshadowing parallels, the bizarre thank-you’s, Kiev, the Hunchback…

9. TROLLJEGEREN (TROLL-HUNTER): Heralded by word-of-mouth much like its eponymous creatures are by their distant foot-stomps, this Norwegian entry delights in its fresh take on the found-footage genre. Even their REAL Prime Minister gets in on the fun. Wonderful stuff.

8. X-MEN: FIRST CLASS: Adding a period flavour to the Marvel franchise, this exhilarates and delights in fresh ways. And that moment in the Argentinian bar with the pistol? Michael Fassbender for the next Bond. For sure.

7. FAST AND FURIOUS 5: Yes, you read that right. I loved everything about this film. It even sucked Jennie in from her book during my second view. Utterly bonkers, utterly brilliant. Look at the cast list, look at the plot. What’s not to like?

6. THOR: One of Marvel’s hardest characters to translate well today (a Norse “god” with a magic club-hammer?), Kenneth Branagh took us by surprise. I’d expected him to nail the god-politics but even the action was top notch. And Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston are on top form.

5. I SAW THE DEVIL: Korea prove once again they’re ahead of the game in global cinema, mixing unflinching brutality with almost farcical humour and surprising profundity. A grieving special agent makes an uncaught serial killer’s life hell and leads us to question, “Would you? Where would YOU draw the line?”

4. ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: I’m a fan of the books and was hesitant, but Spielberg is on top form here (The crane swordfight! Haddock’s breath as fuel!) and still reverent to the source material. And the 3D (I’m not generally a fan) worked well.

3. HANNA: Another late entry. Joe Wright’s eye is masterful, and I found his tale of a child assassin mesmerising and beautiful. Some found it too weird, but I find that works through Hanna’s own naive eyes. And the back-story is convincing too. Tremendous.

2. CAPTAIN AMERICA: A Marvel film that cares more about character than spectacle. That’s not to say it has little of the latter, nor that its kin are superficial (there’s two more in this very list!), but the fact it’s content to have Chris Evans in a puny body for its first third proves where its heart lies. A good old-fashioned romp.

1. BLACK SWAN: Each time Jennie and I watch this we just want to watch it again. Natalie is nothing short of astonishing and Aronofsky holds it all together perfectly. Not for all tastes (like most on this list!), but for us it’s a thing of freakish beauty. A remarkable tale of obsession, fully deserving of its accolades.

(*Films I’ve yet to see but have a feeling could be serious contenders: Animal Kingdom, Tyrannosaur, Submarine, The Skin I Live In, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, Hugo, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Monsters, Drive, Warrior, The Fighter, Tree Of Life, The Artist, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo [Fincher]… See? Not enough time…)

If you want the chord/lyrics sheet, you can find it here. Feel free to use it in your own church, but please let me know. It’s just nice to know how it’s doing

In the meantime, I’ll continue seeking for a *different* edge to my next batch of songs. I hope. And yes, that’s our funky little Amy co-starring here… she’s a cool chick.

God loves you when you are happy (I’m over the moon!)

God loves you when you are sad (Now I’m feeling blue…)

God loves you when you’re relaxing (I’m taking a break!)

God loves you when you go mad (I’m a total fruitcake!)

He loves you in the sunshine; He loves you in the rain.

He thinks you’re great no matter what,

‘Cos Christ the Son has paid for all our shame!

He is outstanding, unchanging, in control and so amazing;

The best Father a child could ever dream.

He is outstanding, unchanging, in control and so amazing;

The best Father a child could ever dream… in your wildest dreams.

God loves you when you are happy (I’m pleased as punch!)

God loves you when you are sad (Now I’m down in the dumps…)

God loves you when you’re relaxing (I’m loosening up!)

God loves you when you go mad (Now I’m off my nut!)

Steve Dunn & Hellen Jeans © 2011

Nicolas Cage must get terrible splinters in his tongue. I’m serious. The amount of scenery he’s chewed over the past 30 years, it’s bound to have happened. Some of his movies less so, of course, but with such a vast swathe of them providing jaw-dropping freak-outs from Francis Ford Coppola’s nephew, you’re left wondering if there’s something of Apocalypse Now actually absorbed into his DNA.

In Werner Herzog’s Bad Lieutenant remake/sequel/episode, Lieutenant Terence McDonagh is a role that begs for Cage to play him; his descent into a drug-addled abyss is both eye-opening and with tongue placed firmly in cheek. It almost makes you wonder how “method” he went for some of the scenes. You know you shouldn’t – this is life-destroying addiction after all – but you can’t help but grin at how McDonagh’s mind works. It’s an astonishing performance… but that’s part of the problem with Herzog’s film. Cage’s countenance, gaze and speech all de-volve brilliantly as his addiction grows and his situation catches up on him, but at times the film is still frustratingly uninvolving. So thank goodness for Eva Mendes.

One of a handful of current actresses who can light up a screen, Mendes brings emotion and weight to an otherwise light-weight story. This is a tale that should be anything but, and yet it takes McDonagh’s love interest (and fellow addict) to ground things. Frankie makes you yearn for a happy ending. Except that’s for her sake, not McDonagh’s.

And yet, on reflection, all this gives pause to what Herzog may have been up to all along. Or perhaps stumbled upon inadvertently. The biggest step in getting help with an addiction? Admitting you have one. Not truly accepting its existence – it can be acknowledged whilst still believing “I can stop it when I want” – lets the demon get a deeper grip. And so here, as we “enjoy” McDonagh’s ridiculous escapades and Teflon-coated perspective, we fail to admit he has something that is already destroying him. Only Frankie is willing to accept the truth and do something about it.

So, as Cage gets more splinters in his tongue, and McDonagh bulldozes his way through bags of coke and nefarious characters, we must ask: what are we blind to in our own lives?

One of the best quotes on this subject is a classic trope called “Chekhov’s Gun“. The Russian writer Anton Chekhov once wrote, “One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it.” For a most obvious example, think of the Winchester rifle in Shaun of the Dead. It’s classic foreshadowing, and is found in all good stories. I’d heard and used this myself many times before, but it was just this past week when I realised how much God had got there first. The Old Testament (written approx 1200-100BC) is God’s “loaded rifle”, which He fires so conclusively in the New Testament (written approx 51-95AD):

[Old Testament → New Testament]

Israel: His chosen people, set apart and rescued → The church: His chosen people, set apart and rescued…

The law → fulfilled by Christ, the impossible made possible…

The lamb(s), taking our place  → Christ, the “Lamb”, taking our place once and for all

The temple → God dwells within His body of people

Original creation → A renewed creation

Old Covenant/marriage between God and His people → New Covenant/marriage between Christ and His bride (the church)

… these are just a few examples, the list goes on and on the more you look. And this is without mentioning the hundreds of prophecies, written hundreds of years before Christ arrived, that He actually fulfils!

The Old Testament is God’s “Loaded Rifle”. Go read the Bible and watch Him pull the trigger…

I thought you’d like a listen, so here it is. It’s in D, but C can be a little easier on the vocal cords, especially on capo 5 for a decent “G” voicing… Anyway: words are below. Comments welcome!

The majesty of “God with us”,
The miracle of Christ on earth:
So wonderful!
This man Who holds the universe,
Eternal God stepped down to us:
So powerful!

This mystery abounds with love,
Encapsulates the Father’s heart;
So bountiful!
The glories of a holy God
Who stooped to save the likes of us;
So beautiful!

There is my God, there is my King,
Bringing His hope to those whose lives will sing
Of His love, His glory and power,
Saving from darkness into grace unbound;
At the cross, where mercy and wrath
Meet satisfied judgement and unending love…
Oh my soul, there is your hope, there is your God!

Piercing the fabric of our space and time,
Living life on earth.
Humbly surrendering to give it all,
Dying on the cross.
Nailing my sins upon that curséd tree
To rise in victory…
Awake, my soul: there is your God!

Steve Dunn ©2011

To kick this series off, here’s a review I did for another site some time ago regarding “Surrogates” (2009):

Who would want to live a life by proxy? According to Jonathan Mostow’s “Surrogates”, the majority of us would.

Bruce Willis plays Tom Greer, an FBI agent living in a future where robot surrogates have become the accepted way of life for most of the population. The real Tom stays at home in his Stim Chair, allowing him to operate his Plastic Tom (an unnerving Bruce Willis with smooth face and nylon hair) and commune with the outside world. Society is bustling with a synthetic community, while the real-life flesh-and-blood (referred to as “meatbags”) hide behind closed doors. Tom and his wife – both grieving over the loss of their son in an accident years before – only communicate through their Surrogates, never face to face. His marriage has become an online relationship.

When Tom investigates a series of murders – where both Surrogate and Operator are killed simultaneously – he is finally forced into venturing outside on his own for the first time in years, squinting and stumbling in the bright streets and corridors as he struggles to uncover the dawning conspiracy. As he does so, he confronts his own battle: as much as he wants his name cleared and the killer brought to justice, he just wants his wife back.

“Surrogates” has fun with the world that Mostow has created – rudimentary courtesy models while your Surrogate is in for repair, a rebel band of humans who decry the use of Surrogates, sexy blonde Barbie dolls operated by male slobs, salons for your Plastic self – and allowing a stiffness to the Surrogates’ performances to contrast neatly with their rougher-edged “meatbag” counterparts.

With a strong supporting cast (including Radha Mitchell, James Cromwell, Ving Rhames and Rosamund Pike), and threads of “Demolition Man”, “Minority Report” and “I, Robot” running through, “Surrogates” doesn’t try to be anything other than it is – a fun ride but nothing new. While the mystery may not be as complex as other films of its ilk, and the action sequences aren’t ground-breaking, it is in the way it speaks to the viewer’s own world that it scores. Online anonymity, the hunger for physical beauty, Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, Japanese Hikikimori who live their lives online and never venture from their rooms for years… these are not the concerns of science-fiction, but of our world right NOW. Is this what it means to really live?

As Tom’s investigation reveals the inevitable secrets, it’s not that surprising when you see where it arrives. However, the film is brave enough to dwell tantalisingly on Tom’s final dilemma in the race-against-time climax. And it is in that moment that the film begs one of the big questions of modern life: in our pursuit of living vicariously and seeking bodily perfection, at what point do we realise we’re MISSING the point?

Your Betrayal (Fever) – Bullet for my Valentine

Star (Saudades de Rock) – Extreme

Warning (Union Black) – Skindred

No World for Tomorrow (Good Apollo, I’m Burning Star IV, Volume Two: No World for Tomorrow) – Coheed and Cambria

Ghost (Slash) – Slash and Ian Astbury

Bleed American/Salt Sweat Sugar (Bleed American) – Jimmy Eat World

Smash and Grab (Four On The Floor) – Juliette and the Licks

What are yours?

(By the way, this site will now consolidate my old two: Every Day’s An Adventure and Notes On A Scandal)