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Sharpening Iron to Live Second

“Risen” Gives the Resurrection a Roman Perspective

Risen is a Biblical tale seen through the eyes of an unbeliever. Clavius is a tribune of Julius Caesar, who follows the story of Jesus’ rising from the dead. The story unfolds as the Romans seek to silence the disciples and all those that are spreading the good news. Clavius searches high and low for the remaining disciples. To his chagrin when he encounters them, they are not afraid of Pilate’s wrath. Not only does Pilate order Clavius to find the disciples, but he also ordered him to locate the body of Jesus. He wanted proof that would silence Jesus’ followers once and for all. Clavius struggles to find the evidence that Pilate is looking for. In turn, he finds the proof he never thought existed. Instead of finding a crucified body to return to Pilate as evidence, he encounters Jesus himself. This encounter changes everything for him, as it would anyone. He finds himself in the dilemma of knowing that he watched him die. Now days later he sees the same man alive again. What else could he believe? The radical followers that he had been chasing, perhaps they were not so radical? #RisenMovie Click To Tweet Maybe they did not steal the body as originally thought? What did this all mean? Clavius does what any good soldier would do. He ran. That does not sound right, yet it was. He ran with the Apostles; he helped them escape the Roman soldiers that hunted them. His doubts began to fade as he witnessed more […]

SouthPaw Packs a Big Punch

From acclaimed director Antoine Fuqua (TRAINING DAY) comes the underdog movie of the year SouthPaw.

A champion boxer (Jake Gyllenhaal) Billy Hope loses everything after his life tragically unravels and falls apart. The once great champ is humbled as he tumbles from the pinnacle of his career into obscurity. Billy must fight back in order to save not only his career but his family.
As Billy loses everything he discovers, like many do who his real friends are. His manager (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson) and friends leave him behind as soon as he has nothing to offer. Billy finally hits rock bottom when he loses his house, cars and everything in it including his daughter.

Seeking redemption he seeks out the trainer of the only fighter that had ever beat him. He finds Tick Willis (Forest Whitaker) is a rundown gym teaching inner city youth how to box.

From the orphanage in hell’s kitchen to a professional career fighting in Madison Square Garden is a distance of only a few blocks.

With Tick in Billy’s corner he begins the biggest fight of his career. He fights his own demons and past as he begins the journey back to redemption. Tick becomes Billy’s mentor and trainer, exposing his greatest weakness, his temper, and instructs him how to fight with his brain, rather than his usual method of “stopping punches with your face.”
The scenes in the movie are perfectly sculptured by Fugua as the grit and drama is felt with every punch. It has been awhile that a movie has the whole audience ducking and jiving as the fights proceed.

10 Ant-sized Lessons Learned From the Ant-Man Movie

The highly anticipated Marvel movie Ant-Man movie finally hit theaters this past weekend, and it packed a powerful ant-sized punch.

Like many Marvel movies of late, Ant-Man was full of special effects, one-liners and Marvel Universe references galore. At times it was actually difficult to keep up with the movie with all the references and quotes from other movies and characters. However small the Ant-Man sized character he packed a powerful punch. Ants of course are known for their extreme strength and once Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) harnessed that power he became Ant-Man.

There is quite a bit of clean humor throughout the movie as well as some great action scenes. One of the best scenes was when Ant-Man broke into the Avengers facility and went to battle with none other than Falcon. Ant sized or not he was able to hold his own with the Avenger. Ant-Man’s nemesis in the film was Darren Cross as Yellow-Jacket played by Corey Stoll. Ant-Man’s creator Dr. Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) brought in Scott to try to stop Darren from unleashing the technology into the world.

The film is full of action and adventure and although at times seems a bit confusing in the story lines blend create a bit of nonsensical humor. There are some great one-liners and inspiration, although ant-sized pack a huge punch.

Ant-Man Movie Quips and Quotes:
1. Second chances don’t come around all that often.
2. It’s not about saving our world. It’s about saving THEIRS.
3. You’re different. Now, don’t let anyone tell you that you have nothing to offer.