Category: A Spiritual Look At All Forms Of Entertainment…

My high school memories aren’t ones I’m particularly fond of and I normally don’t ever dwell on them primarily for that reason. While I have come to terms with that period of my life and been able to let all the pain go I experienced back then, there are movies and television shows I still occasionally watch that clearly remind me of a time of my life that was extremely difficult. One such movie that did just that to me recently was “Me And Earl And The Dying Girl”.

The film is about a senior named Greg (Thomas Mann), who considers himself quite the loner. He has only one friend named Earl (RJ Cyler) yet has never been able to call him that because of the seriously low opinion he has of himself. Sadly, this has led him to do whatever he can for years to keep a low profile and stay invisible everywhere, especially at school. One such way has been to avoid eating his lunch in the cafeteria where the dozens of cliques run rampant, none of which he feels a part of. Instead, he eats with Earl everyday in one of his teacher’s office and there usually talks of nothing more than the hobby he and Earl have done for years. Both have actually been making home movies that are parodies of real life cinema since childhood. One day though, a wrench is thrown in Greg’s boxed-in world when his neurotic mother (Connie Britton) tells him that one of his classmates (someone he barely knows), Rachel (Olivia Cooke), was diagnosed with cancer. She first guilts him into contacting her by phone to offer his company, and then a second time to actually go over to her house, when Rachel refuses his initial offer. From the time he steps foot in her home and meets both her and her mother Denise (played by a very funny Molly Shannon), it’s obvious that the whole situation is very awkward for both. But after Earl tells her the truth about his mother’s guilty coercion, a very sweet and occasionally sorrowful story begins to unfold, as the two become the oddest of friends.

While “Me And Earl And The Dying Girl” was mostly about Rachel’s unraveling of Greg’s rather lonely and depressing view of the world, I related more strongly to the life he had before she began to play such a big role within it. Back in my own high school days, until I became a chameleon and did a full adaptation into the coolest clique, I had only one friend myself, and his name was Jason. I mostly played basketball and Nintendo with him and never quite felt like I fit in anywhere. I thought I was ugly, felt no one cared about me, and absolutely despised the cafeteria where I was either totally ignored or bullied. Watching Greg in this film loathe himself in so many ways distinctly reminded me of how I once was. Thankfully though, I don’t feel that way anymore and was able to find an immense amount of gratitude in how much I’ve grown, all by watching Greg in the movie.

But regardless of having to relive some of my own high school drama, I would definitely recommend seeing “Me And Earl And The Dying Girl” and give it four out of five stars. Its bittersweet story, the depth of acting, the well-placed humor and the creative imagery used throughout it shows why it’s already garnered top honors from the Sundance Film Festival and probably more later in the awards season. And oh, by the way, if you wondering why I didn’t give the movie the full five stars, it’s only because I’m not a fan of sad endings. 🙂

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

If you were given a task to prove that God is not dead, could you do it? That’s precisely the premise of a movie I just watched, appropriately titled exactly that, “God’s Not Dead.”

The movie is about a college philosophy professor named Jeffrey Radisson (Kevin Sorbo) who’s a very devout atheist. Each and every semester he asks his students to write the words, “God is dead” on a piece of paper and then to sign their name below it, solely to prevent them from having to go through the age-old debate of whether God exists or does not. He makes a very strong case as to how difficult it will be for his class to discuss this topic if they choose to not sign the waiver and further indicates it will be 30% of their grade. In contrast though, he promises everyone an “A” for that portion of the class if they do sign it, of which everyone promptly does except one individual, a freshman named Josh Wheaton (Shane Harper) who’s a very devout Christian. Radisson attempts to strong-arm Josh into signing it but to no avail, leading him no choice but to assign him the arduous task of proving to him and the class that God is not dead, thus creating the primary context of this movie.

While I don’t want to spoil the interconnectivity of all of the subplots that go on throughout the film, there’s one specific thing I’d still like to comment on. Professor Radisson argues a point that almost every atheist I’ve ever met has done with me as well. He asks Josh that if God exists, then why does God let bad things happen? His answer is one that I’ve come to know myself from my own spiritual journey and that’s the fact that if I were given an easy and constantly rewarding life, why would I ever have the desire to seek God? There’s great truth to those words because I never did seek God much at all during all those years I had hoards of money and close to perfect health. But through the major financial losses I’ve incurred and the health struggles I continue to endure, I’ve sought God in every way possible. But have I received proof of God’s existence through any of it? Well I’m going to take a page in Josh’s book here and say this instead of answering the question directly. While I may not have received any irrefutable proof yet that God exists, I haven’t at the same time received any that God doesn’t exist either. But what I do know is that it ultimately comes down to a choice. I can live a life of free will or I can live a life of faith.

Nevertheless, I must say that this movie did have an overly religious tone to itself, one that I might normally balk at. But ironically, overall I was extremely moved by it, so much so that I chose to pray and reaffirm my devotion to God and the unconditional love of Christ by the time it ended.

So I’m sure some will continue to take me or my review of this film the wrong way, believing I’m really just turning into another religious nut, but the truth is, I’m actually quite far from becoming that at all. In all honesty, what I am becoming is a firm believer that I can connect to God and the unconditional love of Christ through any number of ways, one of which was something as simple as watching “God’s Not Dead”, which I wholeheartedly recommend you do as well…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

 

I’ve been a big fan of many of Disney’s Pixar movies over the years including all three of the Toy Story’s, A Bug’s Life, Finding Nemo, Up, The Incredibles, and Cars. The realistic animation and uplifting story lines of each even moved me enough to purchase them for my home DVD collection. But now I know I’ll need to add another one to that collection when it eventually arrives on DVD and that’s Pixar’s latest film, which is titled Inside Out.

Inside Out is an interesting tale about a girl named Riley (Kaitlyn Dias) and the emotions that live within her, where each has their own unique personality: Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Bill Hader), Anger (Lewis Black), and Disgust (Mindy Kaling). Residing in the headquarters of Riley’s mind, it is they who are responsible for handling every situation in her life and helping her to form her memories, of which are all stored in small spheres that produce a certain color depending on the emotion attached to the memory itself.

Joy’s sole duty is to make her happy, while Fear’s is to keep her safe. Anger’s main job is to help her stand up for herself, while Disgust’s is to steer her away from things she doesn’t like. And last, but definitely not least is Sadness, who’s actually totally unsure of her primary responsibility and instead feels the only thing she really does is make a mess of everything. But how each handles all the circumstances of Riley’s life becomes far more evident when her parents uproot her from their hometown of Minneapolis and move to San Francisco due to her father’s job. As it is there in San Francisco that Riley faces many of the pains we all face when growing up, including loneliness, rejection, embarrassment, and despair. Unfortunately, Joy does everything she can to take control of Riley’s life, trying to constantly keep her happy, which only leads to a mishap with core memories when Sadness touches one of them. The adventure the two emotions take deep into Riley’s inner world to correct the calamity they created is what makes this movie truly original and refreshing.

What I found most fascinating and ironic about Inside Out is how my own emotions ran the entire gamut alongside Riley’s. I found myself feeling her joy, sadness, anger, disgust, and fear and honestly, that’s precisely why I loved this film as much as I did. What’s funny is how my partner and I kept pointing the fingers at each other during the entire movie at some of the specific ways each individual emotion acted, because we clearly saw ourselves in so many of them.

The fact is I laughed, I cried, was occasionally irritated, at times nervous, and even became a little repulsed while watching Inside Out. But it wasn’t until afterwards did I realize that’s pretty much how my own life ultimately is, so maybe that’s why I absolutely treasured this priceless gem of a movie like I did.

Pixar truly outdid themselves this time and I without a doubt give this film my best rating of 5 stars. When an animated picture about emotions can produce the exact same ones within me that ranged from explosive laughter to profuse tears, it’s relatively easy for me to say there’s definitely a lot of that Disney magic imbedded within Inside Out…

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

PS – And don’t forget to stay for the credits, as I’m sure you’ll be laughing out of your seat then too! My personal favorite was the final scene with the cat…