Invictus movie review

Question: What's more impressive than a former freedom fighter being elected President after being released from prison? Answer: That same man being willing to forgive the people who imprisoned him. Welcome to "Invictus," the story of President Nelson Mandela and the South African Rugby team's momentous victory in the (Rugby) World Cup. The movie begins with the Rugby team witnessing Mandela's release. "Remember this day, boys," the racist coach says. "This is the day our country went to the dogs." His sentiments reflect the views of many white people living in South Africa, especially those government employees who were employed by President DeClerk, who supported "apartheid." President Mandela, however, is quick to assure them that he wishes for them to work for him. He even hires DeClerk's former bodyguards to bolster security, much to the chagrin of his three native security guards. Meanwhile, Francois Pienaar, the captain of the South African Rugby team, faces the challenge of leading the South Africa Springboks to victory in the midst of the change in government. Then, one night, he receives a phone call inviting him to have tea with President Mandela the following day. During his visit, Pienaar gets the impression that President Mandela wants the Springboks to win the World Cup. So begins the attempt to win while facing heavy odds. "Invictus" is a story of forgiveness and learning to forgive. It takes the African security guards a while to forgive the men they are working with. "Not long ago, these men tried to kill us," one of them tells Nelson Mandela, wondering why he had hired them. "Forgiveness starts here," the president answers. It takes a while for the rugby players, with the exception of Peinaar, to accept the change in government. "Our country is changing," the captain says. "And we need to change as well. "Invictus" is rated PG-13 for brief strong language. "f---" is used. A player complains that a can of beer tastes like "sh--," and Peinaar says the same thing when he tastes the beer. There is a scene where people are drinking in a bar. There is some sports violence, which is to be expected in a rugby match. There are a couple of scary scenes: one at the beginning initially looks like there's going to be an assassination attempt, but it turns out to be two men delivering a stack of newspapers, and one near the end in which an airplane pilot looks like he's going to crash into a rugby stadium, but he pulls up at the last minute.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets movie review

For those of you who have "National Treasure" on DVD, you may have seen the alternate ending. In it, producer Jerry Bruckheimer says that this ending was cut from the movie because the staff didn't want to give the impression that a sequal was coming. Indeed, a sequal wasn't planned. But, as with all successful movies based on fiction, a sequal was inevitable. After finding the Templar Treasure in the first movie, Ben Gates has restored honor to the family name. His father, Patrick, once skeptical of the treasure's existence, has had his faith restored. When we first see them in "National Treasure: Book of Secrets," the father/son team is finishing a presentation about Patrick's great-grandfather Thomas' heroism in preventing a slave-state extremist group called Knights of the Golden Circle (KGC) from finding a vast amount of gold, and dying while doing it. The group included John Wilkes Booth, whose diary is missing some pages. After the presentation, a man in the audience holds up one of the missing pages from Booth's diary and claims that Thomas was, in fact, the mastermind behind the Lincoln Assassination. When the page fits in the diary, Ben and Patrick are compelled to find the treasure that Thomas died to protect, in order to clear his name. The sequal to "National Treasure" is entertaining and it provides some historical information that people may find fascinating. However, there are some points that people will find a bit unethical (breaking into the Queen's office, stealing a car, and abducting the President come to mind). These are done by the heroes. But if you watch the movie, you will see that the third unethical thing is not as bad as it sounds. "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" is rated PG for some violence and action. Four characters are forced to work together to balance on a very unstable platform. A man drowns (offscreen). We see John Wilkes Booth shoot Lincoln in Ford Theater. We see Thomas Gates get shot after burning some of Booth's diary pages.

The Blind Side movie review

Sometime's it is nearly impossible to see what God has planned when a career-ending injury is dealt to somebody. Case in point: What did God have in mind when He planned the end of Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann's career. A clip of that infamous play is shown at the beginning of The Blind Side, the movie adaptation of the book "The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game." Michael "Big Mike" Oher (pronounced "Oar") is a homeless African-American teenager who usually stays at friends' houses. But there comes a time when those friends' wives want him to leave (Benjamin Franklin was correct in saying "Fish and visitors stink in three days."). One day, according to the movie, one friend gets his son and Michael into Wingate Christian Academy. Michael is almost rejected because of his extremely low GPA (0.6), but the football coach, Burt Cotten, intervenes. "Look at [our emblem]," he says. "'Christian.' We either take that seriously or we paint over it." His motives are revealed to be questionable later in the film, though. Enter the Touhys, a wealthy family whose head, Sean, runs a chain of Taco Bells. They give Michael shelter and later become his legal guardians. Based on a true story, The Blind Side focuses on Michael Oher's relationship with the Touhy family. Although it isn't considered a "Christian" film (such as Facing the Giants), The Blind Side is loaded with Christianity. There is a scene where the Touhy family prays before eating. There is also a Bible verse inscribed on the gate of Wingate, although it is slightly wrong ("With man, this is possible, but with God, all things are possible). It should be "With man, this is impossible." There are also signs of grace under peer pressure shown with Leigh Anne Touhy and her daughter Collins, as they face disapproval from their respective friends due to their taking Michael into their home. The Blind Side is rated PG-13 for one scene involving brief violence, and drug and sexual references. One of Michael's old buddies in an area of town called Hurt Village is part of a drug ring. He provokes Michael into a fight, which proves to be an easy win for Michael. Sexual scenes are not explicit. The most sexual you'll see is a husband and wife beginning to get it on.

Hero movie review

"Hero" is a fictional movie based on semi-actual events. Allow me to explain. There was a time when China was divided into warring states. During that time, the king of the state of Chin, Chin Shi, made it his divine mission to conquer all the other states and unite the country. During that mission, there was an attempt on his life by an assassin who failed. However, that assassin was not from the state of Zhou, as this movie tells us. Therefore, using this movie for learning history is not a good choice. Using the movie for entertainment, however, is a very good choice. The movie begins with a brief written dialogue about what is happening in Warring States-era China. It ends with "In every war, there are heroes on both sides." Then we see a man who introduces himself to us as "Nameless" (because he was never given a name due to orphanage) being escorted into the presence of Chin Shi. He is being honored for slaying three people who previously tried to assassinate Chin Shi. The king tells Nameless to give an account of his battles with these three. However, is his account really what happened? In order to find out, you'll have to watch the movie. This movie is purely for entertainment. However, there are some discussion questions you can consider: Chin Shi plans to unite the warring states by conquering them. Is his method acceptable? Why or why not? Near the end of the movie, one of the characters says that Chin Shi must not be assassinated. He later explains that having the states united would save many more lives than if the states kept fighting. Nameless shamelessly admits that his motive is revenge for his family's death. Is either character right?