Kung Fu Panda - June 6

Po the Panda is the laziest animals in all of the Valley of Peace, but unwittingly becomes the chosen one when enemies threaten their way of life.

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Get Smart - June 20

Maxwell Smart, Agent 86 for CONTROL, battles the forces of KAOS with the more-competent Agent 99 at his side.

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Wall-E - June 27

The year is 2700. WALL*E, a robot, spends every day doing what he was made for. But soon, he will discover what he was meant for.

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Wanted - June 27

Wanted tells the tale of one apathetic nobody's transformation into an unparalleled enforcer of justice.

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Hancock - July 2

A hard-living superhero who has fallen out of favor with the public enters into a questionable relationship with the wife of the public relations professional who's trying to repair his image.

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Hellboy II: The Golden Army - July 11

The mythical world starts a rebellion against humanity in order to rule the Earth, so Hellboy and his team must save the world from the rebellious creatures.

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Journey the the Center of the Earth - 3D - July 11

On a quest to find out what happened to his missing brother, a scientist, his nephew and their mountain guide discover a fantastic and dangerous lost world in the center of the earth.

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Meet Dave - July 11

A crew of miniature aliens operate a spaceship that has a human form. While trying to save their planet, the aliens encounter a new problem, as their ship becomes smitten with an Earth woman.

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The Dark Knight - July 18

Batman and James Gordon join forces with Gotham's new District Attorney, Harvey Dent, to take on a psychotic bank robber known as The Joker, whilst other forces plot against them, and Joker's crimes grow more and more deadly.

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Mamma Mia! - July 18

The story of a bride-to-be trying to find her real father told using hit songs by the popular '70s group ABBA.

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Space Chimps - July 18

Ham III, the grandson of the first chimp astronaut, is blasted off into space by an opportunity-seeking senator. Soon, the fun-loving chimp has to get serious about the mission at hand: Rid a far-away planet of their nefarious leader.

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The Mummy III: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor - August 1

In the Far East, trouble-seeking father-and-son duo Rick and Alex O'Connell unearth the mummy of the first Emperor of Qin -- a shape-shifting entity who was cursed by a wizard centuries ago.

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Star Wars: The Clone Wars - August 15

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Babylon A.D. - August 29

Veteran-turned-mercenary Thoorop takes the high-risk job of escorting a woman from Russia to China. Little does he know that she is host to an organism that a cult wants to harvest in order to produce a genetically modified Messiah.

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Traitor - August 29

A special operative working with a terrorist group becomes the target of the CIA.

Cynicism is one of the most striking of all the Hellenistic philosophies. It offered people the possibility of happiness and freedom from suffering in an age of uncertainty. Although there was never an official Cynic doctrine, the fundamental principles of Cynicism can be summarized as follows:

1. The goal of life is happiness which is to live in agreement with Nature.
2. Happiness depends on being self-sufficient, and a master of mental attitude.
3. Self-sufficiency is achieved by living a life of Virtue.
4. The road to Virtue is to free oneself from any influence such as wealth, fame, or power, which have no value in Nature.
5. Suffering is caused by false judgments of value, which cause negative emotions and a vicious character.

The ideal Cynic would evangelize; as the watchdog of humanity, it was their job to hound people about the error of their ways. The example of the Cynic's life (and the use of the Cynic's biting satire) would dig-up and expose the pretensions which lay at the root of everyday conventions.

By following this kind of philosophy within my own faith, I find myself questioning many things that the modern church is doing. I am constantly speaking about it and interjecting it into conversations. This seems to make people very uncomfortable. I don't want people to misunderstand me and think that I am searching for mistakes or ills, or that my goal in life is to point out the error of other's ways. But I am not doing anything that Jesus didn't do, meaning pointing out the social ills brought about by the Pharisees and the temple of his day.

For example: One of my biggest issues would be the way that churches "go into all the world and preach the gospel".

As I see it, here’s how “make disciples of all nations” tends to play out in the modern Church:

1. Get as many people as we can to show up regularly at Sunday morning worship through advertising, commercials, and word of mouth. No need to leave the safety of the church. 
2. Once they’re in the doors, get them to be “born again”.
3. Once they’re born again, get them to conform to the sub-cultural model of what “Christian” is.
4. Once they’ve conformed to the model (e.g. they listen to all the “right” music, read all the “right” books, drink all the “right” drinks, can speak using the “right” lingo, and appear to be “into” worship on Sunday morning), we can then say they’ve been made into disciples.
5. Once they’re disciples, they’ve been completely self-actualized and can engage in the work of “making disciples” and the whole grand order starts all over again.

I know this is a shocker, but I’m not entirely comfortable with this mechanism for a number of reasons.

The first reason is that it leads into the notion that if a church is “big” it’s somehow doing a better job at making disciples. I would argue that this is crap. Big churches make clones, not disciples. Dander up yet? Here’s what I mean: By virtue of their size, big churches can’t really know their constituency. Sorry, it’s true. Say what you like about small groups, but I’ve yet to experience a big church small group that was doing anything but trying to make me into a “better” big churchgoer.

But, you know better don’t you? YOUR small group is different. I can hear you constructing your apologies to my argument already. But, before you dot your “i”’s and cross your “t”’s, think about these questions. Does your small group meet regularly? How regularly? Is it regularly enough that you REALLY get to know your fellow small groupers…like, say, 1 or 2 times a week? What do you study in small group? Do you use a devotional, a guide? What does that guide seek to shape you into? Are there predetermined answers to that devotional that you really should be able to get? Is your group even meeting to study the word of God or is it based on an activity that you all enjoy doing? If it is an activity, can that actually be considered a small group or is it more of a bunch of friends getting together to bike, hike, talk, or do crafts? If the people in your small group quit coming to small groups would they be missed? Would you hang out with them even though they no longer see you once a week or less?

Another reason I’m not comfortable with the big church mechanism is that “making disciples” is seen as a linear process with a predetermined endpoint. I’m not sure that this critique can be so roundly asserted at only big churches, though. Small churches seem pretty good at this one too. If the making of a disciple is a linear process with a specific end goal (i.e. a picture of the perfect disciple), then it seems plausible that we should emulate that character. The linear model has a fatal flaw, however. It assumes that a “perfect disciple” is a static construct–in fact, most Christians hold this “end target person” to be Jesus. The thing is, Jesus doesn’t tell us to become Jesus. (at least I can't find it anywhere in the Bible) Jesus doesn’t tell us to become divine. Jesus tells us to be disciples, followers, dynamic creatures whose hearts’ desire is the kingdom of God.

Jesus tells us to be people of direction, people of pursuit.

This is a pretty uncomfortable thing for the church entrenched, sub-culture worshiping, Christian music listening, drug-free, rich, Christian. Here’s why: Being a disciple doesn’t require you to find a place of peace, it requires you to find a place of war and be peaceful. Being a disciple doesn't mean you will be financially stable, it requires you to be giving in order to see the works of heaven fulfilled on earth. It requires you to find a place of of hurt and be comforting. It requires you to find a place of darkness and be light. Disciples aren’t necessarily the ones who’ve “achieved holiness”; disciples are the ones who PURSUE holiness. A disciple is a traveler. A disciple seeks answers rather than bears answers.

Disciples are people who are hurt and broken and imperfect and seek God within that.

That’s uncomfortable. I don't know if I even have it all figured out in my head yet. Frankly, I’d love nothing more than to sit around in an upper-middle class haven and just, you know, be holy and crap. But, it doesn’t work that way. I’m not sure they’re telling us that in big churches. And now that I think about it, I’m not so convinced I’m hearing it in little churches either. Now, I do use the terms modern church as a large mass and I know there are churches out there not teaching this and I know that it is possible to build relationships within a large church (harder but possible) but this is just one of the issues that concerns me. 

So I am a cynic. I think it is important to think about things like this and point them out. I am naturally inclined to ask questions, it's the logical person within me, but I am also taught that a good Christian shouldn't questions things like this. That a cynic is a 'negative Nancy' who only delights in tearing people down. This is where my heart and all the things that I have been taught, collide. Should we not questions our churches, call pastors into accountability, call our brothers and sisters in Christ into accountability, search for better ways to do things, find ways to serve others in an unselfish way, call churches to serve the world?

But I am not all negative. There are some amazing men and women and churches that are doing these things. Who do question these things too and act on them. I admire those people. They see the negative and turn it into a positive.

So my hope is that by talking about this stuff and putting it out in the open, perhaps people will look closer at the things they are doing and make any neccesary changes. I know that questioning these things has definitely changed me for the better and has put into focus the things that really matter, like my family, giving, and missions. 

It isn't really a secret that when it comes to martial arts films, I know almost nothing. Sure, I know the big names and I have seen the more famous films, but they have never been my thing. The biggest reason is this new (or is it old?) thing where everyone is attached to wires and it is completely obvious. They might as well not even remove the wires because nobody is fooled.

That said, I actually liked this movie. It's mystical and has beautiful scenery and it's nothing like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.

It was very fascinating to see Jet Li and Jackie Chan in the same film because their fighting techniques are so different. Jet Li is always serious and Jackie Chan is always goofy. The fighting scene between the two men was probably the best 15 minutes of the film. It was really exhilarating to see two great actors and martial arts legends come together. The best part about the film is the fight seemed very real - no fake flying. The choreography for the fighting scene between Jet Li and Jackie Chan was beautiful. It was almost like a dance just with a lot of kicking. It was intense and it was hard to say who was going to win because they were both so good. They also used cool techniques that I recognized from playing too much Mortal Kombat.

The film is about a geeky kid named Jason, played by Michael Angarano (Sky High, Lords of Dogtown), who gets picked on by a bully. I suspect his role was created purely to appeal to all the white kids out there and to the masses of course. Jason is a fanatic of kung fu. He watches kung fu movies, has a room filled with posters of Bruce Lee and he even dreams about kung fu. In the opening credits we roll around Jason's room, getting to see all the old kung fu movie posters. Jason often goes to a pawn shop where he buys his kung fu movies. Now this is in Boston's Chinatown, but it doesn't look like it. In fact it reminded me more of LA than Boston. But that is such a small part of the film so perhaps I shouldn't be so nitpicky. One day he discovers a staff in the back room of the pawn shop. It's the staff that he's been seeing in his dreams. The owner tells Jason the staff has been there for many years and that he is waiting for the rightful owner to pick it up.

Jason is given the staff after getting into some trouble and is transported into a different era of China. This is where he meets Lu Yan (Jackie Chan) and The Silent Monk. (Jet Li)

There is a myth in China that there was once a monkey king who no one could defeat as long as he had his staff. However, he was tricked by the Jade Warlord and his staff was lost. The prophecy said that it would be returned by a man who would help save the people of China from the warlord's torment. The man happened to be Jason, a white boy. It was funny when The Silent Monk first meets Jason and realizes he is the key to getting the staff back to the monkey king. The first thing he says is, "He's not even Chinese." Nice powers of observation.

Michael Angarano was the perfect person for this role. He looked geeky, acted geeky but fought wonderfully. I can't imagine signing onto that film, knowing what he would have to learn and who he would be working with.

Jet Li does a wonderful job and luckily didn't have to wear a wig. Jackie Chan looked ridiculous with long hair but he was as funny as ever. The film was remiscent of Warriors of Virtue meets The Karate Kid with a spattering of The Neverending Story. Some of the villains are over the top, the effects are formidable, and fight scenes frequently disobey the laws of physics, but it’s all part of the fun. 7/10

Recommendation: A lot of fun but probably even more so for the martial arts enthusiast.