Movies from Spring Break

Saw a couple of movies over Spring Break ...

The Passion (3.5/5)
This was a movie I watched on two levels ... as a movie, and as a spiritual educational tool. As a movie, it was decent. There was a huge amount of violence. It was true to itself and didn't make any apologies for that. The effects were a little cheesy (bad body suit on Jesus), but it was solid. Spiritually, I didn't really feel I learned anything new, or derived any new insights from the experience. In fact, I felt like the brutality involved make me recoil a bit from the story, and also didn't allow the movie to show the love and compassion that Jesus had for his fellow humans, be they the Pharisees, the Roman guards, or the criminals executed with him.

All in all, I'd give this a qualified recommendation to others ... watch it if you won't be overwhelmed by the violence. If nothing else, the experience prompts some very good discussion ... which it did for the folks I watched with.

Slumdog Millionaire (4.6/5)
An excellent movie, one of the best I can remember watching. The storyline was tight, and definitely carried me along with it. The acting was very good. The concept/premise was unique. Just a very, very good movie. And one that has likely now spawned a new term that may be used for quite some time around my house ... Jamal juice.

Movies I've seen this year (in the theater/a few video):
Slumdog Millionaire - 4.6/5
Iron Man - 4.2/5
Wall-E - 4.0/5
Traitor - 4.0/5
The Dark Knight - 3.9/5
Kung Fu Panda - 3.5/5
The Passion - 3.5/5
Valkyrie - 3.5/5
The Incredible Hulk - 3.4/5
Horton Hears a Who - 3.0/5
Jonah, a VeggieTales Movie - 2.4/5
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - 1.9/5
Burn After Reading - 1.5/5