He is the LORD Almighty. He is deity. He is the all knowing, all powerful, creator of the universe. He is not a good human being. He is beyond our imaginations. When the situation seems tough, remember there is someone who can handle it.
Christmas can become a circle-cycle for you. You do certain things at a certain. For instance some are last minute gift buyers. Other people tend to have a certain routine like “we always eat at noon.” This year, hopefully you broke those routines and started new traditions.
There are so many Christmas movies and so little time. I mean there are country Christmases, urban Christmases, California Christmases, Alien Christmases. It goes on and on.
For me, this season the winner is Last Christmas on HBO.
This is the best, most fun movie I watched all the way through and only stopped once. Child of the 1980s that I am, it won me immediately with the George Michael music throughout the movie. And this cute little film from the UK reminded me why I love his music which set a certain type of mood for the film.
The well written script tells me the story in a manner that keeps my interest by making me wonder where it is going. Our main character is Kate, a young woman living in the UK with her parents and sister, all of which have immigrated from Yugoslavia during the critical time of Brexit. She is living the life of a normal twentysomething.
Emilia Clarke is so good as Kate, she is annoying. The first 40 minutes of this movie, I wanted to punch her myself. I was yelling “Girl, get a life!” Then the very charming Henry Golding shows up at Tom and starts me to wondering. First of all, why would someone like him be interested in a girl who wears an elf costume? I didn’t find this to be one of those ordinary Christmas stories.
The Emma Thompson plays Kate’s mother which gives you a glimpse into why Kate is so crazy. Thompson’s character is this older woman who has immigrated to the UK has lots of fears about it. She is a doting mother, but none make you hate her. Michelle Yeoh plays Kate’s boss who goes by the name of Santa and also gives you moments to giggle. Both women characters have that thing that happens after you turn 50 when you say whatever you think to the twentysomething in the room, like “that’s stupid.”
The screenplay was written by Thompson and Bryony Kimmings who were inspired by George Michael’s song Last Christmas. I enjoyed how they chose to tell the story. It was cheeky, funny, corny and endearing.
I like the story because of the set up. It doesn’t do anything that I don’t expect. It slides a few things in, like the Christmas shop that sells odd Christmas ornaments like the baby Jesus with a full set of teeth and a smiling donkey or a Christmas tree made from baby cabbages.
The thing I love is that it takes me one step deeper than most movies like it. It explains why. Life is full of people who do dumb stuff. Once you know why they do it, it changes everything. For that, this movie will go on my list of movies I will watch over and over. And Henry Golding is hot.
Adoration and Light
He came that we may have peace. As a pastor reminded me this week, peace means well being.
If you don’t have snow, maybe have a white tree with white lights.
Adornment and Light
I feel this every time I run into a major moment in history about people of African descent. As I watched Mangrove, part of the Small Axe on Netflix I felt my history teachers had bamboozled me. It is one of a collection of films by Steve McQueen originally on BBC One.
This movie tells the story of a West Indian community in the Notting Hill section of London in the 1970s. Nine members of the community were arrested after their peaceful demonstration turned violent. They faced prison sentences in a system that didn’t want to see them as equals. It reminded me of the Chicago Seven, but apparently Americans were not the only ones stuck on stupid.
I was drawn to the story, but the telling of it put me off sometime. It tended to linger over elements too long. If I notice a scene is too long, it is way too long. I tried to resist the urge to fast forward (which is why I don’t go to theaters anymore.) Good stories can tell themselves, we artist just need to get out the way.
This movie stars Letitia Wright from Black Panther, Shaun Parkes from Lost in Space and Malachi Kirby from Roots. Wright is Althea Jones, a strong female urging the community to organize, while Parkes is Frank Crichlow, the owner of the Mangrove restaurant which takes the brunt of the harassment. Kirby’s character, Darcy’s Howe, is a bit vague to me until the end when he absolutely nails it in his closing argument.
McQueen did very interesting things with sound that helped me relate to the West Indian community in his film. It also added depth to the story for me because I had never imagined the 1970s in that way. Although the story didn’t need any help. There were difficult moments when oppression impacts the community. I found myself wanting to fight with them.
The real folks who fought this fight battle, did so for a while. This movie shows one battle, in a much longer war. Which brings me back to my history teachers. What I hate most about not knowing this struggle is that my brothers and sisters across the pond didn’t have the support they needed to stay in the fight. I mean they stayed in the fight, but did so alone.
It is much easier to stay in the fight if you know you have been seen. If you know others are in this fight with you, even if it is just spiritually. But I love that we tell these stories now and hope others find the courage to continue the march for justice. I hope you find encouragement here. I did.
He is an Everlasting Father. He chose the role of father so that we would be his children. He has promised to guard and guide us into eternity.
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