MOVIE REVIEW — Star Wars IX —The Rise of Skywalker

I have seen RISE OF SKYWALKER twice and I liked it just as much the second time.  That tells me a lot about a film.

I like movie reviews.  It is interesting to see the movies that fans and critics like.  There’s not a lot of movies that please both.  THE LAST JEDI didn’t cut it for a lot of Star Wars fans.  The critics liked it.  Generally, fans didn’t.  

THE RISE OF SKYWALKER is the reverse.  The critics don’t like it and a lot of fans do.  Who wins?  Well—for the fun of it I offer the opinion that JJ ABRAMS did a great job.  

If DISNEY wasn’t in such a stupid hurry to crank out these Star Wars movie, and gave JJ another 18 months, the film would have been much better.  The guy only had  about 22 months to get the job done while he had over three years to put together THE FORCE AWAKENS.  My opinion is that the guy did a stellar job.  DEREK CONNOLLY and COLIN TREVORROW wrote a solid story.  Considering that big baddie SNOKE was toasted by JOHNSON in only the second movie of this trilogy, where the story writers went with PALPATINE was the only place they could go.  I think the story and screenplay was the best it could be given the situation.  

The first half of the film was a little too frenetic and fast paced for me—I think it reflected the hurry everybody was in to get it done.  But the movie settled in.  I think the writers introduced a couple of characters they didn’t need to introduce and there was no chance to develop them.  Having said that there is a good chance those characters will get fleshed out in the next trilogy.   

I think that what JJ ABRAMS has done is put the joy back in STAR WARS—joy that was missing in THE LAST JEDI.  

I was thrilled with JOHN WILLIAMS being able to finish the series as its composer.  I delighted in his classic style and picked up how his music has evolved to fit into a 2019 film.  Well done, Maestro—we are forever in your debt.  

The VFX, as we call them now, are amazing.  JJ ABRAMS knows how to direct certain scenes with great emotion and not a lot of words and show the intense love and loyalty between these new characters.  I love CHEWIE.   It was nice to see R2 D2 have more to do in this film.  I loved seeing ANTHONY DANIELS get a more prominent role as C3PO.  I dig the way THREEPIO annoys POE DAMARAN the way he drove HAN SOLO nuts.  DAISY RIDLEY, you’re great.  your heart comes out in all your acting.  I marvel at how they could still have CARRIE FISHER in the film and made it work with what they had and used their VFX wizardry to do the rest.  

       

The themes of redemption and love are prominent.  The surprises are there are well.  RISE also warns us of the evil that can lurk in our hearts and reminds us to be vigilant.  The story also tells us that normal people make a difference when they band together for a good cause.         

My favourite movie of this trilogy is THE FORCE AWAKENS but RISE is a pretty close second.  My favourite movie of all the new films since 2015 is ROGUE ONE.  

I love the way JJ ABRAMS uses practical effects, rather than digital effects, to bring to life a couple of certain characters that will make ya smile.   

I don’t see why they couldn’t have brought the cool new character ROSE TICO along on the whole adventure.  She was cool.  It would have worked.  I think JJ was being a little too anti Last Jedi on that front.  I would still like to know where MAZ got LUKE’S LIGHTSABRE and how they still have LUKE’S sabre after REN and REY blew it up in LAST JEDI.  I am glad we get to know who REY’S parents are.  And one little spoilers—could we not have heard what FINN wanted to tell REY.  I think we know.  Still...             

But for me the biggest evidence that they pulled it off with RISE is that my daughter was thrilled by it and absolutely loved it—she was engaged and moved and excited and she didn’t like THE LAST JEDI.  The fact that her new favourite is RISE tells me that we need to be careful not to be middle aged adults who are secretly bitter that we are never going to see a STAR WARS movie that measures up the original trilogy of STAR WARS, EMPIRE AND JEDI.  But through the eyes of the young we can still get a lot of joy out of the STAR WARS universe.  This is a new generation and JJ ABRAMS has made film that successfully bridges the old and the new—where RIAN JOHNSON simply tried to blow up everything that was old and make everything new—and it didn’t work.  

Well done, Cast and Crew.  I am giving this film 8.5 out of 10.

‘NUFF SAID.

The New Dictator

DICTATOR
A person exercising absolute power, especially a ruler who has absolute, unrestricted control.
A person who authoritatively prescribes conduct, usage, etc.:
A Dictator of fashion.

The world has a Dictator. The Dictator tells you how to think. The Dictator does not allow an alternative opinion other than his.  He tells you that you have to think like him to be a reasonable human being.  The new Dictator of western culture tells you that you cannot have a traditional opinion on ethics or moral behaviour or sexuality.  The “Iron Curtain” that used to keep people and their beliefs boxed in was torn down around 1989 and freedom of choice came to millions for the first time in their lifetime. People could openly practice their faith and make their own choices about their lives without fear of being arrested or fired from their jobs.

In the year 2019 the new Dictator has hung a newly fashioned iron curtain on the hooks of liberalism and is now blocking out the sunlight of free choice and conviction. No longer is it permitted to say that you believe that God’s plan for human flourishing is found in the pages of the Bible. The Dictator’s bible is the media and his creeds set forth on Netflix, YouTube and the evening news. Actors are his henchmen and musicians sing the hymns of post-modern man.

Whatever famous people say is now the standard for truth. There is no longer a certain set of principles to live by except that “every person does what is right in his own eyes.”

And now the dictator of moral relativism has decreed that if I dare disagree with what you I have to go for “sensitivity training” so that I not descend any further into the savage ways of a Judeo-Christian ethic. Is this not an attempt to brainwash me?

The new Dictator has said that the ancient wisdom is passé and that to propose that there is a real and objective truth is flat out wrong.

Humans were never made to be robots. We are not automatons, programmed to only be allowed to think one way. What happened to the freedom we to have of having discussions with various opinions. The new Dictator has said that there are now only some opinions that are allowed to be offered. Are you and I on board with a system that limits human freedom of expression and opinion? Can you have a civil conversation with someone who has a different opinion than you and do just as much listening as talking? Can you simply say, “Good talk—thanks for the conversation and the coffee”? Or do you have to be part of the rage that is blazing through our culture? You don’t have to be angry all the time towards people who are different than you.

We westerners live in a culture where Orwell’s “thought police” are now a reality. In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the Thought Police are the secret police who discover and punish anyone who has personal or political thoughts unapproved by the Party. Well, the Dictator of the Liberal media has his thought police out in force.

I always tell people that a “cult” is any group of people who try to control your behaviour and tell you how to think. So, by that Definition, people that try to control your behaviour by limiting what you are allowed to say or by stopping you from offering an opinion that is different than theirs are, in essence, being a cult.

Remember your rights. Remember that the Canadian Charter of Rights states that everyone has the following fundamental freedoms:

(a) freedom of conscience and religion;

(b) freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press v.

and other media of communication;

(c) freedom of peaceful assembly; and

(d) freedom of association.

I want to respect the freedom that hundreds of thousands of our soldiers died for. We want to be able to have our opinions and convictions but we need to be mindful of the fact that in this current climate it is important to remember the rights of others in the charter.

I am 51 years old. And in my half century of life I have met thousands of people with varied opinions. I have seen many fads come and go. I have seen public opinion swing from east to west and north to south. I don’t get too excited when I see someone who has a different opinion than me getting the spotlight. That is because I believe in God and that He is sovereign and that anything that is out of line will be set right one day. I love that old and awesome old Christmas hymn that states, “the wrong shall fail, the right prevail—peace on earth, good will to man.” We can be proponents of peace on earth and good will to all men and women. I have Christian, Athiest, Liberal, Conservative, Gay and Straight people who are my friends and family. We all get along because we are all able to sit down and have a cup of coffee and accept each other, love each other, listen to each other and talk. We refuse to let the Dictator build a wall between us. We refuse to let his thought police tell us what to think.

Calm down. Love the people around you. Listen to them. Don’t rebuke them for having a different opinion than you. Don’t talk about divisive things online. Discuss these things face to face. It isn’t worth it to argue on social media. It doesn’t do any good. One speaker I was listening to said, “Don’t cut someone’s nose off and then offer them a rose to smell”. That means don’t be rude and then hope the person can grasp the “beauty” of your opinion.

Love God—Love people. All people. Love your enemies. Love those who disagree with you. Be quick to listen and slow to speak and slow to get angry.  All those things are in then Someone much wiser than I said all those things. I agree with Him.

‘Nuff said.

He Controls the Course of World Events

He controls the course of world events;
    he removes kings and sets up other kings. DANIEL 2:21

Even old Nebuchadnezzar was put there by God and when he acted up God put him in his place again, reminding the puny king that he wasn’t in charge.  

These little pawns called presidents and prime ministers are not there by the will of us people but by the will of God.  If God has certain people in power that we perhaps don't agree with then it is to teach us something.  We won't know what that lesson is until it is in the rear view mirror but we must remember that "HE" and  not "he" is in charge.  History is His Story and we are simple bit players in a supporting role of what the true King, JESUS, is up to.  

To walk by faith and not by sight in these situations is to remember that GOD is always working behind the scenes to accomplish a plan that is far greater than human schemes.  There is nothing to worry about.  Jesus reminded us that the Kingdom that we are to seek first is the Kingdom of God and and He will take care of all these little things that we are worried about.  Also remember that sometimes God gives people what they want so they will see what a mess they are without Him.  The Book of Job in the Bible informs me that Jesus tells every lightning bolt where it should go.  If there is a King in charge of the universe who holds molecules and gravity in place and keeps the billions of suns out there burning, including our own, without trying then I can trust Him.  

One friend I was having coffee with was very distressed at the results of the last three elections.  He was very worried about the world and where it is going.  I reminded him of the verse from Daniel that tells us that God put Kings like Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar in place so I think that He can handle Trump and Trudeau and Boris and Vladimir across the pond.  My job is to be a person who lives like Jesus where I live and work and to love the people around me and to pray for those who are in authority.  My prayers do not fall on deaf ears.  God is in charge.  Make yourself a coffee and read Matthew chapter 6.  

You will feel much better about life.  

Onesiphorus

May the Lord show special kindness to Onesiphorus and all his family because he often visited and encouraged me. He was never ashamed of me because I was in chains. When he came to Rome, he searched everywhere until he found me.
2 Timothy 1:16-17

I wanna be like this guy.  Onesiphorus was obliviously a man who was serious about taking care of people.  He searched the prisons in Rome to find Paul, who was in chains there.  Paul was in prison because he dared tell people that Jesus was the way to God.  Paul wrote:

“Christ Jesus, our Savior broke the power of death and illuminated the way to life and immortality through the Good News. That is why I am suffering here in prison. But I am not ashamed of it...”
2 Timothy 1:10,12

So Paul would be in prison in Rome for the rest of his life and eventually be beheaded for his missionary work there.  Paul mentions that most Christians abandoned him and gave up on him and would not visit him.  They were probably afraid that if they visited Paul in prison Rome would arrest them because they too were Christ followers.  But not Onesiphorus.  This guy had the love of Christ for Paul to fuel his courage and he went to Rome looking for Paul.  Who knows how many holding cells he had to search for Paul.  But he did until he found Paul.

That “going-out-of-your-way” and willingness to risk your own reputation and your own life is the kind of love that Jesus had for us and once Onesiphorus had experienced that love he had the same love for his brother Paul—and risked it all to find him.  And that kind of love is what kept Paul going.   And here, immortalized in the words of scripture, we see the power of that kind of friendship.

LORD, give us that kind of love.  The love of Christ shown in the love of Onesiphorus.

‘Nuff Said.

Searching

Billy Graham tells the story of one girl who came home from college.  When she got home she told her wealthy father, “Dad, I want something, but I don’t know what it is.”  Isn’t that true of yourself?  There is an aching emptiness inside of you that is something like that feeling when you’re really hungry.  Or you are just plain restless and flit from one high searching for the next.

The Dawn Wall is an excellent documentary on Netflix right now.  It is about Tommy Caldwell and his amazing free climb up El Capitan—as Tommy neared the end of his record breaking climb up the massive 3,000 foot high cliff he mentioned that it was bittersweet.  Here he had finished such an amazing feat and still there was an emptiness inside.

I have friends with so much money that they can literally do anything they want—but after every purchase and every holiday they are online searching for the next purchase on Amazon and the next cruise because all the exotic trips in the world cannot fill the God-shaped hole in the human heart.

In Psalm 23 David wrote, “I have found it!  I am lacking nothing.”  Paul wrote, “I have learned in whatever state I am in to be content.”  What did these people have that satisfied their souls?

It was Jesus.

He is the perpetual novelty.  As you get to know him you will find that He is endless in his soul-satisfying love and power. His Spirit will give you peace and once you know He is enough your soul will be content.  I have to go to Him and the Good News about Him every day.  When I do I find that I am at peace.  When I do not go to the well that never runs dry I too find myself lacking.  He is enough.  The truth about Him in the Bible is life to my soul.  “You can have God’s peace, God’s joy, God’s security and once you’ve made His life your own you can be satisfied” (Billy Graham).

Read these lyrics from a song by Casting Crowns called Come to the Well:

I have what you need
But you keep on searching
I’ve done all the work
But you keep on working
When you’re running on empty
And you can’t find the remedy
Just come to the well
You can spend your whole life
Chasin’ What’s missing
But that empty inside

It just ain’t gonna listen
When nothing can satisfy
And the world leaves you high and dry
Just come to the well

And all who thirst will thirst no more
And all who search will find what their souls long for
The world will try,  but it will never fill
Leave it all behind, and come to the well

So bring me your heart
No matter how broken
Just come as you are
When your last prayer is spoken
Just rest in my arms awhile
You’ll feel the change my child
When you come to the well.

And now that you’re full
Of Love beyond measure
Your joy’s gonna flow
Like a stream in the desert
Soon all the world will see that living weather is found in me
‘Cause you came to the well

And all who thirst will thirst no more
And all who search will find what their souls long for
The world will try,  but it will never fill
Leave it all behind, and come to the well

Leave it all behind, and come to the well

1. 
   

1. 
   

   
   

   Leave it all behind

   
   

   I have what you need
   But you keep on searchin'
   I've done all the work
   But you keep on workin'
   When you're runnin' on empty
   And you can't find the remedy
   Just come to the well

   You can spend your whole life
   Chasin' what's missing
   But that empty inside
   It just ain't gonna listen
   When nothing can satisfy
   And the world leaves you high and dry
   Just come to the well

   
   

1. 
   

   
   

   When nothing can satisfy

   
   

   And the world leaves you high and dry
   Just come to the well

   
   

   And all who thirst will thirst no more
   And all who search will find what their souls long for
   The world will try, but it can never fill
   Leave it all behind, and come to the well

   
   

   So bring me your heart
   No matter how broken
   Just come as you are
   When your last prayer is spoken
   Just rest in my arms a while
   You'll feel the change my child
   When you come to the well

   And all who thirst will thirst no more
   And all who search will find what their souls long for
   The world will try, but it can never fill
   So leave it all behind, and come to the well

   Yeah
   Leave it all behind

   The world will try, but it can never fill, leave it all behind

   And now that you're full
   Of love beyond measure
   Your joy's gonna flow
   Like a stream in the desert
   Soon all the world will see that living water is found in me
   'Cause you came to the well

   And all who thirst will thirst no more
   And all who search will find what their souls long for
   The world will try, but it can never fill
   So leave it all behind, and come to the well

   Leave it all behind, leave it all behind
   Leave it all behind, leave it all behind, and come to the well

Getting Off Track

Paul says that sometimes we can get off track.

"Don’t let them waste their time in endless discussion of myths and spiritual pedigrees. These things only lead to meaningless speculations, which don’t help people live a life of faith in God. The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith. But some people have missed this whole point. They have turned away from these things and spend their time in meaningless discussions." Paul from 1 Timothy 1:4-6

There is an academic bent to some folks that is healthy in almost every way except when they approach faith on a merely academic basis. Getting to know God personally is a heart or soul level matter not a dissection of spiritual things in a way that turns the study into merely a cold, mechanical theology. There is a true saying that's good theology leads to good doxology or worship--and good worship is connecting with God and loving Him back for the things that He has done for us. Coming up with a merely academic approach to Him usually ends up in meaningless discussion about some finer points that we actually can't fully know this side of heaven. 

If Paul's instruction to believers was to "help them be filled with love coming from a pure heart and a clear conscience and a genuine faith" then that means we love the people around us the way Jesus did. That is when we really know Him. That is good theology lived out in the real world. 

But some people have missed the whole point and instead try to put God in a box and try to cram other people into their box of their brand of theology and therefore spend their time debating in meaningless discussions that "don't help people live a life of faith in God" but instead turn them off. 

Let's not get stuck in an academic, cold analysis of theology and God. Let's remember that it is about believers in Jesus being filled with His love that comes from a pure heart which comes from faith in our God and Saviour Jesus-- who died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins and then rose from the grave and ascended to heaven and is coming back again to be our King! The Gospel of His grace is what matters and equally important is the commission He left us in the mean time to tell as many people as we can of His love and salvation. 

'Nuff Said