re: The Cabin in the Woods. TulaneLSU's 2011-12 movie review thread

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Everything Must Go Everything that Larry Crowne is not, Everything Must Go is. Here is a man many on TD can relate to: an alcoholic; accused of sexual harassment; left by wife for being a cheater; wandering aimlessly through this life. I picture several OT members specifically, though I will not name them. But you know who you are. The gravitas and soul searching left out by Hanks is filled, surprisingly, by Will Ferrell. Many have said this is Ferrell's Bill Murray breakthrough, showing that he can act more than dufus roles. I'm proud of Ferrell because behind his comic appearances, I think there is a Nick Halsey there. The most warming relationship in the movie is the one he shares with the young kid on the bike. Moments of levity spice the movie when the sadness of loss and despondence weigh heavily. 8/10

The Fighter A really enjoyable movie that grows on you the more you think about the performances. It is entirely character driven and the two leads are exceptional. The movie isn't about boxing - it's about family, brothers, conflicting allegiances, and triumph over weakness. The boxing scenes are bad and a waste of time. 9/10

Footloose An adequate remake of a classic about the dangers of parental protection and adolescent rebellion. It tries too hard to make a moral point, even worse than the original. It is, nonetheless, a fun, sing-a-long, tap-your-feet-in-the-aisles romping good time. 5/10

Glee the 3D Movie Concert Earlier this month, three Mandeville teenagers planned an attack on their schoolmates and teachers. The plan was to murder others and then murder themselves. While it is an extreme case, it illustrates a major social problem we face: exclusion which pushes people to do anything for acceptance. Some people act with meanness to gain acceptance by the group, as we saw in socialites in The Help; others turn to vice, such as doing illegal drugs and posting threads that debase women like WOWHI threads. Everyone in this world yearns for acceptance. The Christian doctrine of justification is essentially a description of this deep desire within us to be accepted, not just by others but by God.

Glee 3D is essentially a cheesy pop-culture retelling of that doctrine: a movie of acceptance despite, and perhaps, because of our flaws. In that sense, it was, in this world of such high standards of beauty and talent, quite a refreshing surprise to watch. I had never seen the show before, so I went into the film only knowing it was a concert movie about a TV show about singers. Unlike the J.B. Never Say Never movie where I walked out a full-fledged Belieber, I don't know if I'm ready to count myself part of the Gleek membership. It might be because the producers of Glee 3D essentially stole the Never Say Never movie format and put in their cast instead of J.B.

Although the movie is an emotional high from start to finish, I felt that the stories, while strangely beautiful, were also contrived and manipulative with the audience's emotions. Speaking of manipulative, the guy in the wheelchair doesn't need a wheelchair? What? I just didn't get that sequence or why he was in a wheelchair in the first place. For me, the highlight of the movie was the opening scene: Don't Stop Believe In. From there, the songs were good, but did not match the intensity and fervor of that first song. The 3D was rather unnecessary, with the majority of the 3D being scenes of the crowd to make you feel like there were fans in front of you. I must say, however, that at times I forgot I was in a theater and thought I was at a concert.

The overall message of the movie is positive, if not a little pop-culture, self-help preachy. Essentially it tells us that it's okay to be a loser. We'll love you anyway, indeed, because you are a loser. Very similar to the idea of God accepting us while we are still sinners, and the Church being a collection of sinners. Glee replaces the idea of sinner with the idea of a loser. The Christian understanding is much more realistic because it teaches people that there's something we must do after we realize our sin. Glee teaches that we should be happy to accept being a loser. We are accepted and nothing else matters. There we find the version of hyper-justification: being accepted is all that matters. Life stops with acceptance. In a society of laziness, it's a very tempting alternative to the notion of justification/acceptance giving us meaning and energy to become better. Just because we have flaws, IMO, does not mean we should be content to live with them. Perhaps, though, due to our society that is so exclusionary and turns normal people into monsters who seek acceptance, this hyper-justification has a place. 6/10

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