Spider-Man Brand New Day A Review

 

So, I just saw the new Spider-Man movie, and I thought it was a blast. It was actually excellent. Not a perfect movie, but still excellent. This will be a partial spoiler review, so if you have not seen the movie, you might want to watch it first before reading through to the end. I will let you know when spoilers are about to come up.

 Spider-Man Brand New Day gives us something we all want from a superhero movie: A simple story about a guy just trying to do the right thing, and not necessarily getting rewarded for it. This strikes at the heart of the superhero genre; these heroes are not in it for glory, or accolades, or prestige, but because they just want to do the right thing. At least generally speaking they are, and Peter Parker is the archetype of the selfless guy who just wants to make his neighbourhood a safer place for the ordinary folk.

We don’t always need there to be a world-ending threat in these movies. We don’t need every superhero movie to be a mini-avengers movie where the entire Avengers team plays a role (though a couple do turn up in this movie). Sometimes we just want to see a decent hearted bloke kicking bad guys arses straight into prison. Brand-New Day gives us that, and we need more simple movies like that.

Even though this movie is simple, it is not without heart. Now, before I address that, I should note that there are many reviews going around online, especially on YouTube that are saying that this movie has too much in it. I even heard many of the reviewers I trusted the most make this accusation. But I just simply think they are wrong. Every plot device in the movie intersected, neatly. The various threads may seem to clash early on, but the director sowed them up very nicely as the movie goes on. By the end none of them are left hanging.

I think sometimes people just make criticisms of movies based on the reputation of their wider franchises. A lot of Marvel and D.C. movies are incredibly bloated, and a little chaotic. I feel like the later Thor movies and Guardian’s of the Galaxy movies suffered from that problem. But this one does not. It has a lot of slower moments that focus on character, and show us what Peter is going through, after having sacrificed everything he loved in the previous movie.

For contrast, I watched Lethal Weapon 4 not long after watching Spider-Man, and that movie was like the film equivalent of ADD on steroids. I was actually shocked how over-the-top it was. It was relentless, in your face, and filled with too much. It gave you no down moments to catch your breath. It has a fun pay off, but a lot of the characters in the movie are just obnoxious. It was actually interesting to see a Marvel movie, which is a type of movie known for being over-the-top hyperactive entertainment, actually have more down time and serious character moments compared to an action movie from the 90’s. In fact, in many ways the Marvel movie format that people have come to criticize, really models itself off the buddy cop movies of the 90’s. But some went even further with it.

Also, this movie let’s serious moments land, without feeling like it needs to instantly tell a joke afterwards, which is good.

As I said this movie has heart.

Firstly, it had a meaningful primary theme: That a man or woman who isolates themself cannot be fully human. Or will even become inhuman. This is a necessary message in this day and age. Following people on social media is not replacement for true human connection. I have a feeling this movie is doing so well, especially amongst, Zoomers, because many of them can relate to feeling like many of their relationships just exist via online spaces. Us millennials can remember a world without the internet being a part of everyone’s everyday life. Many of us did not have computers till we were in high school. But in many ways the younger generations have been robbed of that world. Having Peter seeking connection through the online space, because he feels alone, is something a lot of people would relate to today.

(If you do, go to church, at least you will meet people).

The movie also highlights how people who feel like they carry a heavy burden can choose to isolate themselves in an unhealthy way. The longer they carry that burden alone, the more it can isolate them, and actually diminish their humanity. People were created to flourish in true community. It smooths off our edges and helps us handle our burdens. Pastor’s, teachers, and other leaders could do well to meditate on this, and not seek to do everything on their own, or carry their burdens alone. It can lead you to an unhealthy place.

(Again, join a good church, and build community, there are less and less places you can still do that today).

Prior to watching the movie, I thought it was a shame they did not move on from Zendaya's MJ and Peter’s friend Ned. I found most of their scenes in the previous movies at best neutral, and sometimes annoying. But after seeing the movie, I have to say it was clever how they used them both to add emotional weight to Peter’s story line. Well, clever and a bit lazy.

What I mean by that is that if they moved on to other love interests and other side-kick friends, they would have had to do some extra leg work to create that emotional depth. Whereas, by relying on everybody’s knowledge of Peter’s history with MJ and Ned, they can get you invested in what he is going through much easier. It also helps keep the fans happy who loved the interactions of all three of those characters in the previous movies. So, it was clever.  

In fact, I think Spider-Man does so well, precisely because people care about Holland’s Peter Parker, and Zendaya’s MJ, and they want to see what happens next in their adventures. Whatever you think of Henry Cavill or David Corenswet as Superman, it was obviously a mistake for Gunn to just end the Cavill era and start again. People like legacy characters played by legacy actors for a reason, they have come to identify with them over time. Marvel has used this nostalgia well with Spider-Man, Wolverine and other characters. The way this movie went, it naturally sets up a new possible trilogy where Spider-Man has to get back some of his old life. Almost like a soft reboot, which is clever serial storytelling. The exact sort of thing they do in a 7 season T.V. to keep people coming back.

It needs to be said that Tom Holland nailed it as Spider-Man and Peter Parker. He captured the honour and struggle of the delta's hero journey well. What I mean by delta, is the ordinary guy. Not the Alpha, but a guy who just wants to do his job and do it well. Guys like this don’t necessarily get all the accolades in society, but they are the kinds of guys who make everybody else’s lives easier, because they make sure things are done well. Peter Parker is the ultimate delta superhero, who just wants to be with the one love of his life, but also wants her to be safe. And he doesn’t seek glory for himself.

Ok, time to bring in some spoilers.

The Punisher is a big part of this movie, played by Jon Bernthal. He played well off Spider-Man in every scene he is in. I would say that we need more PG - 13 Punisher buddy cop style movies with Spider-Man. Their chemistry is great. And who needs any other filth fests like the Deadpool movies? No, thanks. Don’t get me wrong, I would like to see The Punisher do a proper punisher movie, but having him play of Spider-Man reminded me of some of the best buddy cop movies of the 90’s, and I miss that sort of movie, at least when it is done well.

The scenes with the new Black Widow were just awkward and not really necessary. They could have written them out and the movie would not have missed them, or her.

The Hulk was actually the Hulk again, for a moment. Watching the Punisher come at him with a machine gun pretty funny. But it works in the scene.

The villain, Jean Gray, in this movie was pretty good. She even managed to emulate the demon from Denzel Washington’s Fallen at points in this movie, which was both creepy, and done very well to show what Pete was up against. But there needed to be more accountability. She kills heaps of people throughout the movie, and then the movie just ends with her being let off scot-free because she did it all to try and find her sister. Marvel clearly has an accountability problem with female villains, because this same sort of thing has happened in some of their other female villain story-lines. Sure, Jean Gray saves Peter’s life, but that does not bring back the people she murdered. Also, why did she not just stake out the person she was after and go straight through him to achieve her goal? Probably, because then the movie would have taken 20 minutes.

So, as I said, the movie is not perfect, but it is good. We can overlook some imperfect plot points. After all, without Indiana Jones the Nazis would not have found the Ark of the Covenant, but we overlooked that element of the movie and still had fun watching it. Right?

The CG was good. The acting was good. And I would say that this is the best Spider-Man movie since Spider-Man 2 with Toby McGuire. You can’t beat that train scene in that movie. No scene in any comic book movie comes close, in my opinion. However, this movie still did a very good job. In fact, this movie was clearly in part inspired by that movie, but instead of losing his powers, Peter’s powers are enhanced, because he is losing himself because of his isolation. Toby McGuire’s Spider-Man even gets a mention. Hence, this movie does have some of the same beats at Spider-Man’s best outing so far.

All round; this was a good time. And it is good to see a string of great male led hero movies doing well this year. Maybe Hollywood is learning its lessons.

I will be doing a video review on my YouTube channel tonight, as well. Here. 

An Ancient Problem – King Edwy

 

I have been reading the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle on and off for a bit, and I found this benediction for one of the kings who passed away interesting, because of how it speaks to some of the issues of our own day. We read,

“A.D. 959. This year died King Edwy, on the calends of October; and Edgar his brother took to the government of the West-Saxons, Mercians, and Northumbrians. He was then sixteen years old. It was in this year he sent after St. Dunstan, and gave him the bishopric of Worcester; and afterwards the bishopric of London.

In his days it prosper'd well;

and God him gave,

that he dwelt in peace

the while that he lived.

Whate'er he did,

whate'er he plan'd,

he earn'd his thrift.

He also rear'd God's glory wide,

and God's law lov'd,

with peace to man,

above the kings that went before

in man's remembrance.

God so him sped,

that kings and earls

to all his claims submissive bow'd;

and to his will without a blow

he wielded all as pleased himself.

Esteem'd he was

 both far and wide in distant lands;

because he prized

the name of God,

and God's law traced,

God's glory rear'd,

both far and wide,

on every side.

Wisely he sought in council

oft his people's good,

before his God,

before the world.

One misdeed he did,

too much however,

that foreign tastes

he loved too much;

and heathen modes

into this land he brought too fast;

outlandish men hither enticed;

and to this earth attracted

crowds of vicious men.

But God him grant,

that his good deeds be

weightier far than his misdeeds,

to his soul's redemption

on the judgment-day.[1]

Well, isn’t that interesting?

Firstly, observe how important honouring God was to the ancient English people. Many Australians and Englishmen have forgotten how bound up in Christianity our culture has been for well over a thousand years. They commend this king for loving God, loving justice, and seeking to honour God’s ways in his kingdom. Give us a king who would do this. Give us leaders who would do this.

But they have a serious issue with one of his tendencies.

“One misdeed he did,

too much however,

that foreign tastes

he loved too much;

and heathen modes

into this land he brought too fast;…”

Now isn’t this familiar? 

This is like so many of our leaders today in our nation. I have had this conversation with many people, and I think a big part of our country's problem, and the problem with our nation’s leadership, is that they scorn the Australian way, the Australian lifestyle, and the Australian population. Many of our leaders wished we were more like Europe, more like Asia, or more like America, just as long as we were less like our heritage. It is like they are embarrassed to be Australians.

They submit our laws to foreign agreements. They submit our car standards to European standards that have nothing to do with the  Australian climate and needs. They  in every way, appear to favour the ways of foreign nations, foreign identities and foreign ways of doing things.

I suspect King Edwy did this to a much smaller degree than our modern leaders. But it is interesting to see this problem brought up in the book about the heritage of our kings and to see how ancient people’s chafed under this same sort of behaviour.

If only we had leaders who were proud to be Australian, and did not think that Australia needed to be changed beyond all recognition. After all, if we are such a terrible people, why do so many others want to live here? 

List of References

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[1] Anonymous. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (p. 41). Neeland Media LLC. Kindle Edition.

Feminism and the Odyssey

 

Feminism

Tonight, on my YouTube Livestream at Based Christian History I am going to be watching and reacting to Jonathan Pageau’s interview with Rachel Wilson on Feminism. I mentioned that video last week on my blog and on my Substack, but I think what they talk about can be greatly expanded on. You can watch that video at 8pm AEST live, or you can catch up with it at another time. The advantages of modern streaming and the internet are incredible. Remember having to catch your favourite shows on T.V. and then not knowing if you would ever get to see that episode again?

It is especially fitting to discuss the subject as I sent my new book on feminism to my publisher just this past weekend. This book is a collection of many of my past articles and discussions of the subject, edited and improved for book publications. They also allow people to have these arguments as a resource for discussing these issues with friends and family.

On this Sunday just passed, I preached on how only qualified men should teach in church, and why all men should step up and set an example in the faith. Afterwards, an godly, older gentleman came up to me and suggested I should write a book on the subject. I was pleased to tell him that I had just done it. He was really encouraged to see that old school biblical standard still being taught.

There is a thirst for traditional Christianity in our modern world.

Many Protestants are turning to the Roman Catholic and Orthodox traditions, and one of the core reasons they are doing this is because modern evangelicalism has become a hotbed of radical feminism. There are other reasons, of course, like the evangelical church’s attempt to reframe the whole of Christianity as subservient to one particular nation in the Middle East. But feminism is a core problem many young men and young women have with the church. So, it is vital that we Protestants take this seriously. In fact, we should be taking it seriously just because the Bible does.

For a long time now the consensus in evangelical churches is that we have to move with the culture to help our churches stay relevant. But what happens when the culture cannot answer this question: “What is a woman?” Or “Can a man bear a child?” as Jeremiah asks in Jeremiah 30:6. It becomes patently obvious at this point that the church is foolish to continue following the culture. In fact, it was always foolish to do this, but it has just become more obvious to a log of Christians, and especially young men and women, that this is case.

In fact, just in the last few years, we have seen some prominent cases where Australian women have been severely sanctioned by the courts for simply publicly stating the reality that men cannot be women, and should not be allowed to compete against women. Kirralie Smith is one example. If you want to hear more about her situation and her attempt to change Australian law so that it reflects the reality of the difference between men and women, you can look that up here. She lost her case recently, precisely because our own country’s law is confused on this issue, and is therefore unjust.

The Odyssey

On the Odyssey, my recorded readings of the book continue. I am up to book 4.

You can watch the readings of the first two books here, book three here, and book four here. I will aim to get a couple of those readings out every week, and hopefully more.

It is a classic story and it has been fun reading it.

If it goes well, I might choose another classic to go through in the future.

Keep an eye out for tonight’s livestream, and don’t forget to subscribe to my channel if you have not already. God bless.

 

 

Unnecessary Wars, or Very Deliberate Wars?

 

There are many reasons for the unnecessary wars going on around the world right now. Money, greed, power, looting, etc, etc. Watching how powerful people are raking it in big in the US financial markets every time President Trump makes statements about attacks or ceasefires, illustrates this.

But there are other reasons. Ukraine right now is being depopulated. Russia, though it is winning, is being drained of its best men. War always drains societies of its best men, and then everyone else is affected to. The destruction of Ukrainian grain production has put stress of food markets around the world. This will increase starvation in poor countries.

The war in Iran is doing the same. Neither Israel, Iran or the US is being drained of men, as this is more of a high-end missile and low-end drone war, but the bottleneck in the straight of Hormuz, has stopped a lot of resources going where they are needed, including fertilizers. Reports have been flowing in now that farmers around the world are reporting delayed crops, increased prices for planting, and this is because of the lack of fertilizers, a lot of which are produced with resources from the region around the straight of Hormuz.

In other words, both these wars are creating the conditions for increasing famines across the world. Especially in poor countries that cannot afford to compete for the higher prices of grain, fertilizers and fuels.

This is not an accident. The elites who rule our world are de-populationists. They want to see the human population decrease across the world. This has long been a demonic justification for war. According to Greek mythology this is why Zeus incited the Trojan War,

"Zeus believed that the earth was overpopulated by people, so he thought that the Trojan War could be used to depopulate the Earth, especially of his demigod children. Zeus would later come to learn from either Prometheus or Themis that he would someday be overthrown, much like his father."

The flood epics of Babylon state that the gods flooded the earth because there were too many people.

This idea comes up again and again in the pagan legends and mythologies.

The idea that the earth is over-populated is not some newfangled idea. It is an ancient demonic view that has been held by various different elite ruling classes throughout history.

So, we see these unnecessary wars happening, and wonder how can all these people be so stupid as to prolong them. But they do it very deliberately, they profit from the arms sales, from the stolen resources, and they drop the earth's population a bit. All of which are among their plans.

The Racket Goes On

 

Everyday the war in Iran looks more and more like an effort between various powers and nations to manipulate energy markets, resource markets, and allow those with access to power to make a killing in profit, while we ordinary people pay the bill.

Looks like Smedley Butler (War is a Racket) was proven right again.

As many people predicted and saw at the start of this. Many of my readers of this blog would have seen this coming as well.

All the prophecy propaganda, the liberating Iranians propaganda, WMD propaganda, establishing trade in a seaway that was already open propaganda, unseating the bank of London propaganda, standing with the only democracy in the ME propaganda, and more is simply more of the same nonsense to cover over the fact that very powerful stand to profit a lot from this war. And Trump's pattern of declarations of war and negotiations allow for a predictable pattern of gambling on the financial markets.

Study the history of war, almost all wars in history were about stealing loot from others. Whether gold, land, or women, etc. Indeed, James sums up war as precisely about this in his wise little letter,

"1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not." (James 4).

The elite profit, the ordinary pay the bill in blood and money, and the propaganda machine roles on as usual, making its believers feel like they are serving some cause of justice. When in reality, they were once again manipulated into helping the elites line their pockets.

Maybe this war again being revealed as a looting campaign will cause people to reject the end times prophecy pushers who have twisted the bible into a crystal ball to understand ME trends. One can hope. But I am not holding my breath.

The Odyssey – A Reading

 

Christopher Nolan’s new Odyssey movie is storming home at the box office. It set phenomenal first and second weekend box office numbers and is already one of the highest grossing movies of the year, and is likely on track to take in over a billion dollars.

And yet…we know that Nolan subverted it at many points. Which might be why the movie is succeeding in our society today. Nolan is one of the most successful directors of our age, he knows what audiences want, he knows how to get people to buy tickets. His last movie was an incredible success, and brought in nearly 1 billion dollars and won him many awards and proclaim.

Even though he has subverted this story, I thought it would likely succeed for several reasons:

1)     It is a Nolan movie, he has a strong fan base.

2)     It has an all-star cast.

3)     It is not a superhero movie. Very few superheroes get people to the cinemas today, compared to years past.

4)     Hollywood have pulled out all stops in production, promotion, and publicity, to sell this movie for some time now. Nolan is one of their biggest selling directors, if he were not to succeed, Hollywood would be in even worse trouble than it currently is.

Personally, I don’t think Nolan has made a good movie since Interstellar, and even that some people will debate over. And I think some of the subversion in the movie is deplorable, and hence I have not intention of spending my money to go see it.

We live in an illiterate age. An age where reading a book, especially an ancient one like the Odyssey, is far from the mind of many people. To those of us who love the classics, and spend a fair chunk of our time reading as many great books as we can, we find this situation deplorable. But, I thought, rather than rail against that reality, I would seek to meet people halfway. I would create a series of videos where I read the Odyssey on my YouTube channel live.

I have already done my first episode, on Monday night, where I read books 1 and 2 of the Odyssey. It was a fun actually, and one of my boys had a great time listening along while I did it, watching his dad read live in YouTube. I will aim to read the whole book in upcoming videos, either one or two books at a time (the Odyssey has “books” instead of “chapters”). I will not be doing all the other videos on my Monday night livestreaming time, as I have other topics that I would prefer to cover on that night. So, mostly I will choose another time to record and livestream the other Odyssey videos during the week. So, look out for those upcoming videos.

For those of us who do not like what Nolan has done to the Odyssey, we can at least say that this has presented us with an opportunity get one of the great classics of the western literary canon out before more people than we could before. Nolan has drawn eyes to one of the greatest stories of all time. A definitional story in our historical lineage. The Odyssey is not just a story, it is a genre all of its own, one that even Tolkien drew from for the Fellowship of the Ring, which itself is an Odyssey story of sorts.

The translation I will be using is the Samuel Butler translation, from the late 19^th century, which takes the liberty of translating the poetic verse as prose. Which makes it a bit simpler for telling the story. You can pick up this stellar Barnes and Noble version, or probably a free or very cheap version of the same translation on Kindle, if you want to follow along with the book.

 

 

You can watch the first video here at this link: Based Christian History.

Feminism is Witchcraft

 

I have long written about the Satanic origins of feminism, and that includes so-called "evangelical" or first-wave feminism. You can read an example of this here. 

Many Christians today just do not realize how many of the beliefs they hold to be Christian that really originated with outspoken and self-identified Luciferians.

But some are aware.

It was refreshing to come across this interview.[i] I was not searching for it. When I first started listening to this interview with Rachel Wilson, she said so much that aligns with what I have written about, I thought at first that maybe she had read my blog or Substack. But that is not the case. As I listened, I realized she had just been as curious as I was about the origins of feminism. And that she had identified some evidence s for aspects of its Satanic origins that I had not myself.

I then went back to editing my upcoming book on feminism (keep an eye on Lockepress.com in coming months for more information) and noticed that I had referred to her husband, Andrew Wilson, in one of my articles.

Feminism is not harmless. Its origins show us why.

List of References

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[i] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKliIG90YDw