Thanks Spider-Man, the Movies are Back! The Top 10 Movies of 2022!

When I wrote my list for 2021 last December we were facing a much different environment. Movies changed their release dates or switched to streaming so often that I had no idea how many (if any) of the movies on my list would even make it to movie theaters at all. As it turned out, 9 of the 10 DID make it to theaters and so the only returning member on this list is Mission Impossible 7. Covid still exists and continues to affect our lives but even in the midst of variants and other threats, I'm hopeful that we will continue to get back to a world where the only reason a movie doesn't come out is because it turned out so badly that the movie studio tried to forget it existed.

Did the movies actually come back? I only took a break from the movie theater from March 2020 to September 2020 when they were closed and I didn't want them to report me for breaking inside so for me, the movies never really left. I will say that even though I've been thankful to be able to continue seeing movies in the theater, there were two experiences that made me feel like I had taken a time machine to the simple non-Covid days back in 2019: Dune and Spider-Man: No Way Home. Both featured plenty of clapping, responding to surprises in the screen and most importantly, full movie theaters.

There were many who thought that Covid would increase the switch from "going to the movies" to streaming them in your basement. That may still be the case. There is, however, no substitute to seeing a movie in a crowded theater full of strangers responding to the screen. Sure, are there times that I wish people next to me would stop talking but as the poet Linkin Park once said "You don't know what you've got until it's gone." 

However long we have movie theaters, I will always be thankful for that unique communal experience of laughing and reacting with strangers.

Now onto this year's list:

1. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (May 6)

The main feeling for me after watching Spider-man was "What comes next?" and so that's why Doctor Strange gets the top spot on my list. Through Wandavision, Loki and Spider-man, Marvel has been building the direction of their post-Endgame direction and it seems like the multiverse will come to a head in an intriguing way in this movie.

2. Mission Impossible 7 (September 30)

This is one of the last movies that has been suffering continued delays due to Covid and it was a high-ranking movie on my list last year and it's still one I'm really looking forward to. Tom Cruise might be a crazy person but he makes great spy movies.

3. Thor: Love and Thunder (July 8)

This one probably deserves to top this list and only doesn't because of the strength of Doctor Strange and Mission Impossible. You've got a great director (Taika Waititi), it's got Thor, the Guardians of the Galaxy and Christian Bale. If I had to guess one movie on the list that I'll see more than once, it'd be this one.

4. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (November 11)

Chadwick Boseman made the character of T'Challa/Black Panther something special. His passing is a blow to any follow up and the only reason I have confidence in it is that the original's director Ryan Coogler wrote and directed this movie with the purpose of honoring Boseman's legacy. 

5. Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (April 15)

Are the Fantastic Beasts movies as good as the Harry Potter movies that preceded them? No. Is it still fun to revisit the "Wizarding World"? Most definitely. The movies are strongest when they don't rely on nostalgia but I also understand that nostalgia sells tickets. Mads Mikkelsen replaces Johnny Depp as Grindelwald and Mikkelsen is great in whatever he shows up in (ex: Casino Royale, Rogue One) and I'm sure he'll elevate the role even further.

6. Avatar 2 (December 16)

A long time ago, in a movie theater far far away the first Avatar movie came out. Was the plot roughly the same as Pocahontas or FernGully? Sure. On the plus side, was it like an amusement park level attraction when seeing the movie in 3D? Absolutely. Director James Cameron is dedicated like George Lucas before him to pushing the limits of special effects in movies and so even if they decide to copy The Lion King this time, it'll still be a fun trip to the movies.

7. Jurassic World: Dominion (June 10)

I loved the original Jurassic Park movies. I think I've seen the original over 50 times at least. I still remember where I was when I saw the poster for Jurassic Park III, a movie that middle-school aged me didn't know was even coming out at the time. That being said, I'm not sure I could tell you what the plot of the first two Jurassic World movies was besides that I know Chris Pratt and Bryce Howard show up and run from dinosaurs. I'm not sure I'll remember the plot of this one either but it's the perfect "popcorn movie" to see during the summer.

8. Downton Abbey: A New Era (March 18)

I have no shame in admitting that I am a huge Downton Abbey fan. The show deals with things that don't seem like they should actually matter to someone who isn't a wealthy British person in the early 20th century but somehow they make you care about things like who is inheriting the house or what fork is used with the salad. The first movie felt like an extra long episode but I don't think that's a bad thing, if it isn't broke don't fix it! I'll be grabbing some tea and scones and seeing this as well.

9. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Part One (October 7)

I enjoyed the original movie even though I felt like I was betraying Tom Holland's Spider-man series by watching it. The animation style takes a bit to get used to (I must not be cool enough to appreciate it) but the story of the first one ended up being really interesting. There's so much than they can do with a Miles Morales Spider-man that they can't do with the main Spider-man series or live action in general. It might not be MCU but it still is a lot of fun.

10. Lightyear (June 17)

Finally, a movie I can't believe made it on this list. When Pixar announced that they were making a movie about the "real" Buzz Lightyear, I couldn't believe it wasn't something from The Onion or the Babylon Bee. When the trailer came out, however, I was hooked. This looks like a fun animated science fiction movie that wouldn't need to be connected to Buzz Lightyear to be good but will probably make a lot more money since it is.  I don't really understand the internet outrage over Tim Allen not voicing the character since this isn't about the toy but the "real" Buzz but I do hope that Michigan's most famous tourist voice still makes a cameo appearance at some point.

The Top 10 Movies of 2021. What's a movie?

 As expectation defying as 2020 has been, it was an interesting experiment to go back and look at my list of movies for this year and see how many of them were even released in any format at all. Five out of the ten were pushed to 2021 or later and out of the five that were released, I only saw one in the movie theater. (To be honest, I did see Tenet in the movie theater twice so I tried my best.) Putting together a list for 2021 seems like a fool's errand at this point. Looking back at this list in December 2021, how many of these movies might be moved on to 2022? How many will be released in movie theaters vs released exclusively on streaming services?

Based on the box office revenue for Tenet and even Wonder Woman, not everyone is ready to return to the movie theater. I can admit that for an introvert who doesn't like people talking over the movie, watching movies in my house instead of the theater has its draw. What the streaming experience can't offer, however, is the shared experience of laughing, cheering or crying together with a group of strangers all taking in a movie together. Earlier this year, a tweet went viral reminding people what it felt like to be in the crowd of people seeing Avengers Endgame for the first time together. So, while I won't push people to go back to the movie theaters before they feel ready, I'll be there as often as I can find something worth seeing so that I can enjoy a movie with a group of people, even if I have to shush a few people along the way.

Here's hoping that these 10 will be among those we can enjoy together this upcoming year:

1. Spider-man 3ish (December 17th)

Out of all of the non-Avengers Marvel Cinematic Universe films, the two Spider-man movies are my favorite. They do such a great job of portraying Peter Parker as a kid still figuring life out and the twist ending to Spider-man: Far from Home sets this movie up to be really interesting. Combine that with casting reports that I won't share here since it'd probably be nicer to be surprised, and this movie has the potential to top the first two! One final reason to look forward to this movie-- it might be impossible to remember back all the way to 2019 but there was a brief period of time where Marvel and Sony weren't going to make this until they came together on an agreement. 

2. No Time to Die (April 2nd)

This is one of those movies where it seems like it'll never actually come out. It was scheduled for Spring 2020, moved to Fall 2020 only to be moved again to April 2021. At one point it was being shopped to streaming services instead. James Bond is the type of movie that seems to demand a movie theater experience, however. 

3. Mission: Impossible 7 (November 19th)

If there's one thing I've learned about Tom Cruise, it's that he's real serious about wearing masks. If there's another thing I've learned it's that he takes the Mission: Impossible movies seriously and as a result ends up topping his death defying stunts every time. Mission: Impossible Fallout involved Tom Cruise actually sky diving out of an airplane so I can only imagine what he has planned next.

4. Black Widow (May 7th)

This is another movie that should have already come out a couple of times. Like I mentioned above, I miss the feeling of watching a Marvel movie together with a large crowd of people. I'm not sure where Marvel is heading next but this will feel almost like nostalgia to watch a character we haven't seen since... 2019.

5. In the Heights (June 18th)

One of the highlights of movies that were released in 2020 was that Hamilton got to be released early on Disney+ instead of waiting until 2021. While I'd still love to watch it on the big screen, I'll take Lin-Manuel Miranda's earlier musical as an acceptable substitute. I'm pretty sure we saw this trailer over 30 times in 2019 and it'll be nice to finally see the movie as well.

6. Raya and the Last Dragon (March 5th)

While it seems like we keep getting remakes and sequels as the majority of the movies being produced, original movies like this one stand out all the more. I'm not really sure what the movie is about but Disney has a pretty solid track record going and the cast is A+.

7. Jungle Cruise (July 30th)

The Rock had to let down all of the world early in the pandemic when he announced that this movie was being delayed until 2021. Little did we know then that almost all movies scheduled for 2020 would end up being delayed but this one looks like it'll be worth waiting for. It's like Mary Poppins and Jumanji came together for a mashup and I'll definitely be there to see the results.

8. Dune (October 1st)

When it seemed like movie theaters might be reopening in time for Christmas, Dune finally came out with a trailer that stuck out to even the non-Dune fan like myself. Having been described to me as Star Wars meets Tremors, I'm really not sure what the plot of this movie will be like but when it comes to big-budget sci-fi, if there's no Star Wars to see I'll give something as strange looking as this a try!

9. Encanto (November 24th)

I'll admit that I know even less about this movie than perhaps any other movie on the list. All Wikipedia has to offer is "A Colombian girl named Mariana grows up as the only non-magical member in her family." Well, it also offers that it's directed by the same duo that made Zootopia and that the music is by the previously mentioned in the list Lin-Manuel Miranda. Even if you somehow don't like Hamilton, the Moana soundtrack has to be one of the best that Disney has had in recent years, especially if you don't want to Let It Go!

10. The Matrix 4 (December 22nd)

Last, and hopefully not but possibly least, they're making another Matrix movie! This is on the list because The Matrix was such a fun movie and I was very excited for the sequels when I was in high school. Each one of those movies was worse than the last, however, so I'm not holding by breath that they've figured out what went wrong but I am at least interested to see where they plan on taking the story next after fairly clearly ending it in the last movie. 

The Top 10 Movies of Twenty Twenty!

It's finally happened: a year where there is not a Star Wars or Avengers movie coming out. All good things must come to an end (temporarily I'm sure) but the upside is that this year's list is a bit more diversified in genre. Ok, only a little bit more diversified- there are still plenty of superhero and Pixar movies coming out. I'm not sure that there are any that stand far and above the rest as there are in other years but I'm really looking forward to the list as a whole.

Without further ado:

1. Tenet (July 17)

Christopher Nolan has a reserved spot on any of my Top 10 lists. From The Dark Knight Trilogy to Inception to Interstellar to Dunkirk and even The Prestige, Christopher Nolan makes interesting movies. I can only guess from the trailer what this movie is even about but Nolan has earned the right to give it a look.

2. No Time to Die (April 8)

Daniel Craig and Sean Connery were in different eras so it isn't actually fair to compare their different James Bond portrayals. Daniel Craig has come as close as possible to being able to reinvent an almost 60 year old character as an actor can. He's had some good Bond movies (Casino Royale, Skyfall) and some bad Bond movies (Quantum of Solace, Spectre) so if the pattern follows this should be a good one!

3. Soul (June 19)

Almost all Pixar movies are good. All of the Pixar movies directed by Pete Docter are great. I think this trailer may be trying to throw the audience for a loop but like Christopher Nolan, Pete Docter has earned the right for me to judge him by his movie rather than the trailer alone. His movies have increasingly pushed past your average "being different is good" and into deeper truths and the fact that he is going into the realm of human souls tells me that this will follow that same path.

4. Black Widow (May 1)

Don't worry, Marvel is on the list! Fans have wondered why they waited so long to make a Black Widow movie and it looks like it was worth the wait. Hopper from Stranger Things as a Russian, Black Widow being able to do Black Widow-y things without any of the Avengers, back story into her character- it should be a fun ride.

5. Onward (March 6)

Almost all Pixar movies are good. All of the movies starring Chris Pratt and Tom Holland are great. If there is one thing that Pixar excels at in general it is world building and putting strange characters into worlds that look just enough like ours to recognize it but different enough to make it entertaining. The twist in the trailer makes this movie look just weird enough to rise above the average Pixar movie and be as memorable as some of the greats.

6. In the Heights (June 26)

Lin-Manuel Miranda is fantastic. He's the mind behind the Hamilton musical, which pre-2016 was acknowledged as being the musical that everyone could enjoy. I'm not a hip-hop fan and when I went to see the show I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to follow along. I was incredibly wrong. Miranda's skill as a song-writer and playwright makes any style of music interesting. Miranda's politics are different from my own but what I most appreciate about Lin is his contagious optimism. I hope the movie challenges, encourages and inspires me even more than I think it will now.

7. Wonder Woman 1984 (June 5)

The whole DC vs Marvel thing doesn't make any sense to me. My favorite superheroes as a kid were Batman, The Flash and Spider-man. My favorite superhero movies are The Dark Knight and Spider-man: Homecoming. Liking one thing doesn't mean that you need to hate another thing just to prove how much you like that thing. Wonder Woman is a great example. I loved the original movie even though I couldn't even finish Batman v Superman and skipped Justice League altogether. The reason that the original Wonder Woman movie works is that they made the character interesting. It was a fun movie and I hope it continues in that same vein.

8. Jungle Cruise (July 24)

It's been so long since the original Pirates of the Caribbean movie that it's possible to forget that a good movie can be based on a theme park attraction. The main draw of this movie, however, is The Rock. Dwayne Johnson is more than an action/comedy star, he's an action star who knows how to have fun in his roles. I think the pairing with Emily Blunt (Mary Poppins Returns) will bring a lot of that sense of fun and adventure to this one as well.

9. Mulan (March 27)

Let's get down to business... to defeat... the Huns! I keep going back and forth about this one because at a certain point, they have to take a break from making live-action versions of Disney animated classics. On the other hand, the original was great and I normally end up enjoying the live-action versions!

10. West Side Story (December 18)

No Trailer Yet

A 2nd musical on the list?? Yes! This one is directed by Steven Spielberg (hopefully his last movie before Indiana Jones 5) and is a remake of a classic. I'm interested to see how Spielberg puts his own spin on the movie but above that, I'm really just thankful that Steven Spielberg is still making movies. It seems like a solid choice to see on Christmas.


Honorable Mention: Artemis Fowl (May 29)- I've read  a few of the books and it'll either be really fun or really weird.

Well, that's it! I hope you have a Happy New Year and I look forward to being surprised by what movies I like in the next decade!

The Top Ten Movies of 2019!

I'll tell you upfront: the 11th edition of this list is Disney-heavy. I literally forced myself not to include Aladdin or Frozen 2 on the list because it would have just made it ridiculous how many spots they had on here and I don't get paid by Disney to give them every spot. (If anyone from Disney would like to pay me to include more of their movies on the list, I'll happily kick the 3 non-Disney movies off this list and start belting out "Let it Go" ASAP)

These lists are interesting to me because they don't always end up lining up with which movies were my favorite when the year is over. Emily is encouraging me to reorder last year's list with how I ended up feeling about them when it was all said and done but there are always a few surprises and sadly disappointments. (A great example: probably the best movie I've seen in 2018 was Paddington 2.)

The truth is that this year's list was one of the hardest lists to make because of how great these movies look. There are movies on the bottom of the list that could have easily been on the top of the list in other years. Without further ado, list #11:

1. Star Wars: Episode IX (December 20th)

To anyone who knows me, this shouldn't be a surprise. I loved The Force Awakens in 2015 and while I don't understand the irrational hatred from some of The Last Jedi, my immediate response to seeing it was: it'll depend on how they finish the series. I've written about this before but I think the biggest weakness that these Star Wars films have is a lack of overarching vision between the movies. Without a finale to put it in context, The Last Jedi kind of felt like a movie made by someone who didn't really enjoy The Force Awakens. At the very least, it did not feel like the continuation of a story-line but a new direction. I am hopeful that the return of JJ Abrams as director (he also directed The Force Awakens) will put some cohesion between the three movies. I'm also hopeful we'll get an answer to the question that's been on everyone's mind: is Chewbacca related to Luke Skywalker?

2. Avengers: Endgame (April 26th)

Star Wars is the only movie that could have possibly kept this from the top spot and even then it's my enthusiasm just short of obsession of Star Wars that is probably blinding me to the truth that this movie belongs there. Although the trailer of this movie would ruin Avengers: Infinity War, I'll avoid spoiling it and tell you to go watch it on Netflix before finishing this blog. I've never seen a movie where I immediately wanted to see its sequel. They did such a great set up with Infinity War that it's only the track record of Marvel films that leads me to believe they can deliver a follow-up that won't feel disappointing. Based on the trailer of Endgame, it looks like they just might do it.

3. Spider-Man: Far From Home (July 5th)

Spider-Man: Homecoming might be my favorite Marvel movie. Besides growing up as a Spider-Man fan (I had a single paperback, black and white copy of a story line between Spidey and Doc Ock that I read so many times that the front cover came off.) that movie just felt so pure in its storytelling and framing. Without going into spoilers for Infinity War, I'm not sure where they'll go with this story but Tom Holland is such a convincing high school Spider-Man that it'll be worth the ticket regardless of what they decide to do.

4. Toy Story 4 (June 21st)

Have you ever been to a concert where no one was asking for an encore but the performer came out and did one anyway? Meet Toy Story 4. I love the Toy Story movies. Tom Hanks and Tim Allen are perfect. Toy Story 3 was way better than it had any business being. It felt like they were bringing things to a close. And yet, we're getting Toy Story 4. The key to whether an encore is worth it is if it adds to what came before. Knowing Pixar, I think this will. Just for existing, this movie is a good reminder that just because a chapter comes to a close does not mean our story is over. I'm interested to see what they do and I'll try my best not to hold it up too much to Toy Story 3's near-perfect standards.

5. The Lion King (July 19th)

The first movie I can remember seeing in the movie theater was Home Alone 2 but the first movie I can clearly remember wanting to see and then being blown away by the experience of seeing it was The Lion King. Director Jon Favreau has already proven with The Jungle Book that he can take a classic and make a movie that adds value without being a shot for shot repeat of the animated version. Just the fact that they brought back James Earl Jones as Mufasa is enough to get me in to see this one!

6. Downton Abbey (September 20th)

I love America. I also have a very strong affection for the UK. (If they made a Great British Baking Show movie, it'd be on this list!) Downton Abbey was one of those shows that I assumed I wouldn't like so I avoided when it started gaining popularity. After flying through the first couple of seasons, this show was probably the one I would look forward to the most every year. The stories were just so well done and it was such an interesting setting (the upper-class in the WWI-1920's UK) that it felt like a book I couldn't put down. The show wrapped up neatly in 2015 but much like Toy Story, it is so good that you don't mind an encore that you weren't necessarily screaming for.

7. Captain Marvel (March 8th)

The way that Infinity War wrapped up was perfect marketing for the upcoming non-Avengers Marvel movies because it feels like you need every puzzle piece to how the story will resolve that you can get. I've only become acquainted with Captain Marvel in the past couple of years but the decision to set this movie in the 1990s with a CGI de-aged Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury is interesting enough that I think this will be worth the ticket regardless of how much it points to Avengers: Endgame.

8. Dumbo (March 29th)

The second animated-classic-live action- remake on this list, Dumbo was not one of my favorite movies as a kid. Oh, I watched it plenty of times but it scared me. (Those pink elephants!) This movie looks so interesting with it's art deco vibe that I'll overcome my fear of pink elephants to give it a try. You can't always judge a movie by its trailer but all of the trailers they've released for Dumbo make it seem exactly like the heart-warming, original take on the animated film that you'd hope it would be.

9. The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part (February 8th)

The first LEGO Movie was great. It was funny, it was original, it couldn't be topped. We live in a world were "couldn't be topped" is a challenge not a warning to movie studios (See Toy Story 4 and Downton Abbey) so here's a sequel. (Seriously, if you've seen the first one I'm not sure how you end the movie the way they did and still have a sequel?) Chris Pratt is at his Andy Dwyer finest as Emmett and I think that this will fall in that same category where it may not reach the greatness of the first movie but it'll be worth seeing anyway.


10. Godzilla: King of the Monsters (May 31st)

Finding the movie for the 10th spot on this list was harder than the other 9. First, I never watched the last Godzilla movie. Second, it's not a genre that I normally would be interested in. (I did see the 1998 Godzilla movie in the theaters though and it is not easy to rewatch now but I loved it as a kid.) The main draw to this one is that it seems to know that it's going way overboard (for an American Godzilla at least) with the number of monsters in the movie but it's gladly pushing that envelope. To top it off, you have Eleven from Stranger Things and Gary Hobson from Early Edition so that alone is worth rounding out this list.

Why I Deleted* Twitter and Subscribed to the Chicago Tribune

The age of life expectancy in the United States has declined for the third straight year. This is out of the ordinary. So out of the ordinary that the last time it happened was during World War I. They had an excuse when it happened that time (WWI and a flu pandemic) but experts are confused as they look at our relatively peaceful circumstances in 2018. Two of the largest factors in this decline are suicide and opioid addiction. Even if these are the main causes of this decline, we're still left to ask: why?

Ben Sasse argues strongly in his book Them: Why We Hate Each Other and How to Heal that the main contributor to our increasing despair and even why so many are turning to opioid abuse stemming from a single issue: chronic loneliness. As most people can recognize, loneliness is not just the lack of people around to whom you are connecting; it is a lack of connection to people even when there are people around you. Loneliness has been a problem since the Fall of Man but it seems to be getting worse at an increasing speed.

Why do Sasse and others believe that this loneliness is expanding so rapidly? It stems from our increasing lack of "rootedness" in our communities and the disappearance of  tribes that have traditionally given us our place of connection. This blog post could go in a thousand different directions from here: churches that are so large that people come in and leave without connecting with the people around them, a lack of connection to neighbors out of increasing fear of strangers and bad intentions, etc. The biggest impact that this idea had on my own life is the place I have allowed my iPhone to shape my news consumption and keep me from living in the present with the people around me.

Twitter can be an extremely impressive tool and one of the great things that it does is allow news to travel at speeds never seen before. While many once saw the advent of cable news as bringing the news to the world at instant speeds, we now can have "reporters" giving us accounts with handheld cameras and word processors in their back pockets in the form of their phones. I have prided myself in knowing more about the news than most other people, knowing more facts about an issue or debate and knowing it fast.

Unbeknownst to me, I was doing more than increasing my knowledge on the issues; I was overloading my brain with the need for instant facts, regardless of whether or not I understood their context. Before we started getting all of our Amazon packages within two days, we started to believe that actions needed to occur instantaneously.  If someone replies to a text 30 minutes later rather than 2 minutes later, were they trying to send a message of being upset? If an investigation into a sitting President's administration goes on for two years, does that mean that the investigator is being unfair rather than thorough? We expect instant results, and when we don't get them we are unsatisfied.

Constantly checking Twitter for the latest news was shaping the level of importance that an individual story deserved, and it was keeping me from placing my focus on the real people around me. Should we become hermits who stay away from news and just trust that the world will work itself out in our ignorance? I would say no. While there is a danger of being "overinformed" or rather "fast food informed" through overindulging in internet or cable news, being informed about the major issues in our country, state and local communities is a vital part of actually being connected to each other. I care about what's happening in my local community not because of whether it benefits or hurts "my team" but how it benefits or hurts my neighbor. I can't know what will benefit or hurt my neighbor unless I know what is going on, and unless I know my neighbor.

So how did I decide to be informed without constantly overindulging in internet/cable news? I'd like to reintroduce you to the local newspaper. I know the newspaper as an industry is going out of business. I know that people tend to trust sources of news that they agree with rather than the traditional news media. Yet, there is still value in hearing from people with whom you disagree and in keeping the structure of being in control of when the news comes to you. My news comes sometime before I wake up at 5am since the Chicago Tribune has not yet been missing from our front porch when I go check on it. Sometimes I have time to read the paper before heading to work while other times I don't get a chance to read it until I get home. The truth that the internet/cable news industry doesn't want you know: almost all news does not need to be known immediately and most news is clearer if you wait a little after it happens.

I don't imagine that everyone has the problem with Twitter that I do. Whether its Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Candy Crush, Fortnight or old-fashioned "web surfing," the temptation to get lost in our digital world is a constant one for almost everyone. Every day and increasingly, every minute is a choice of whether to be present and find our community with people or to settle for the false sense of community that we receive from our digital devices. I'm not advocating for chucking our phones and computers out the window but we must realize that they will either be a tool that we control for specific purposes or an oppressive master to which we subject ourselves.

Case in point: I still have a Twitter account. I like following Ben Sasse (although he tries to limit his Twitter usage as well), Lin-Manuel Miranda (we don't agree on politics but I almost always appreciate his perspective and attitude on life), Haley Byrd (the best/funniest congressional reporter on Twitter) as well as actual real-life friends. What I found while clearing out the number of people I follow on Twitter is that most of my actual real-life friends haven't tweeted in years or don't tweet very often. I deleted the Twitter app off my phone but still allow myself to check it occasionally (it's hard to go from 40-50 times a day to zero) but I'm hoping that by keeping myself from the draw of the constant news cycle that I can be more rooted in my community while keeping informed.

What to do now? Maybe I'll go see if I can find those real-life friends who haven't been tweeting...

(Right after I tweet about this blog post)




*Full disclosure: I deleted the app off my phone, but I still have a Twitter account.

Preparing Well for 2020

The 2018 election hasn't even happened yet and already the wheels of the 2020 Presidential election are beginning to churn. You could argue that they never stopped churning after 2016, but politicians will start campaigns, visit the early primary states, and people will start attaching themselves to a candidate. You could argue that 2016 was the ugliest campaign season in the last 100 years. I'm fairly certain that I was unfriended - or at the very least unfollowed - over politics, and I know that I'm not alone.

2020 has all of the signs of being even worse. While this sounds depressing, it can also be a chance for all of us to think about how to engage each other better before we get tied up in the mess of the election. If we think and plan ahead about "how" we speak to each other, when we get to the specific "what" we speak to each other, we can hopefully leave the election season less divided. Here are a few things that I hope we can remember that will make this possible:

1. Rudeness is not persuasion.

This is something that I thought most people understood, but I found out the hard way that wasn't always true. I would share a link to a story about a specific politician or a political issue and a couple of people would respond with personal insults or over the top accusations. Not only did this never cause me to consider adopting their position or politician, I doubt it encouraged anyone on the outside to do so either. 

I imagine it may have made those people who were rude feel better about themselves, but it hasn't been lost on me that I haven't heard from those people since the election of 2016 ended either. 

2. You're much more likely to influence someone over coffee than over the internet.

Even if you avoid being rude to other people on social media over politics, there's another issue that occurs: political overload. If you aren't the one running for office yourself, your Facebook wall, your Twitter feed, or your Snapchat snap, shouldn't be completely full of political memes or links to why you don't like the the other candidate. It isn't that you shouldn't advocate for your positions or candidates, but there is a point when the flow of memes causes people to stop paying attention. Comments are usually full of either people who already in agreement with you or the people from the previous section who just like arguing.

This doesn't mean that it isn't worth persuading people! Our form of government is founded on the idea of ideas being debated and considered. We've become so polarized that people rarely consider ideas that come from outside of their political tribe. It would help the health of our country if people tried to convince each other of their positions in a non-social media forum. This will help us build the depth of our ideas by having to defend them in more than a couple of sentences, and it will help us see something else important-- the next point:

3. People are more than their political beliefs.

People on either side of the political divide tend to define people by cut and dry labels: liberal, leftist, far-right, conservatives. Some labels we embrace as part of our identity while others we bestow on others without bothering to ask if they would consider that label for themselves or not. The truth is that while labels are easy and in some cases generally helpful, they can also have a harmful effect - causing us to forget that people are more than their political beliefs.

We're at the point where we politicize everything from the restaurants we do or don't eat at to which sports we watch. When we politicize people, we lose that there is a multitude of our personalities, talents, interests and virtues that have little to do with what political tribe we belong to. The harm, then, is to ourselves when we miss those things and don't allow ourselves to view people as people. As Christians, we believe that all people are created in the image of God, and so for a Christian to politicize a person, you are diminishing your ability to recognize that their identity is not rooted in politics but in their status as a being created by a loving God.

4. There is benefit to listening to opposing viewpoints without responding.

When we do listen to the viewpoints of others we often feel the need to respond quickly with our own point of view. Pastor John Piper recently explained why he doesn't share his political opinions on a specific issue, and it caused me to pause. His reason: he doesn't have the expertise or wide-ranging research to speak authoritatively about most political issues. This flies in the face of how I normally operate. Normally my process is: read something about an issue (or at least read the headline), think I know about that issue, tell other people what to think about that issue. The truth is that if I actually want to be responsible with my political viewpoints, I need to start with a lot more listening and understanding along with pushing myself to actually look into multiple viewpoints before deciding that I know everything there is to know.

The other option is this: I don't need to have an opinion on every political issue or politician! Sometimes it's enough to say: I'm not sure what to say about this and want to keep from speaking out of ignorance. Not speaking can actually be more helpful to other people than deciding that a half-baked political opinion needs to be shared.

5. This is NOT the most important election in your lifetime.

I love reading about history. The biggest thing I often walk away with after reading a historical biography is that as much as things have changed, there's so much that hasn't. Basically as soon as the country began, people were viewing issues through party lenses and using media sources to communicate their spin. Another thing that hasn't changed is that people almost always view the current election as the most important election in their lifetime. 

The number one perpetrator of this viewpoint: politicians. If they can convince people that this election will either cause the survival or destruction of the country, state, city, water reclamation district, etc. then they can get people to actually show up and vote. While this might seem like a simple political tactic, what it does is cause tribal identity to intensify. When you think that the other side is going to destroy your community, why wouldn't you huddle up with your "team" to protect yourself?

The truth is that this country tends to moderate itself over time. When one party has control of multiple branches, or when one of the parties becomes more liberal or conservative, balance sets in, and the other side gains in power to offset. That doesn't promise that this will always occur, because no country has the right to eternally exist (just ask the Roman Empire) but it should help us recognize that much of what seems like urgent life-or-death power struggles have been happening for 200 years and will probably keep happening as long as we have a two-party system.

In politics, winning isn't everything.
The 2004 election was the day after my 18th birthday so I didn't vote that year. Well over half of my primary or general election choices lost in the following 14 years. We can be fooled into seeing politics as a game to win or a battle to fight. What politics actually is, is an opportunity to bear the sword of government in a very small way ourselves. What this means is that we need to take our votes seriously as an action that has influence beyond our own interests, but also that the very action of voting carries meaning itself. I imagine that as long as I don't vote for a minor party or an independent (which I have!) that over time the balance of "winning" will be closer to 50%. Sometimes we "win" and sometimes we "lose," but we've only truly lost when we view our identity and the identity of others in their political views rather than viewing ourselves and others as full, complex, changing human beings.

The Top 10 Movies of 2018!

We're in the era where everyone makes lists (almost all of the ranking of Star Wars are Originals, New ones, then Prequels...) but I am proud to say that this is the 10th annual edition of this list. I'm not big into resolutions but this year seems like it might actually be the one where I finish editing and publishing the several blog posts I have in my drafts that I claim I "don't have time to finish." I'm finally done with school, I'm still waiting to see where God leads us job-wise so I'm probably out of good excuses not to write more often.

I do have thoughts other than what movies I'm looking forward to, I promise!

Until then, here are those movie thoughts:

1. Avengers: Infinity War (May 4)

I grew up as a fan of Batman and Spider-man so I'm not a Marvel-only sort of person but when it comes to the movies, Marvel has a huge advantage: patience. In a lot of ways this movie is the culmination of 10 years of movies all building into one major showdown. DC, on the other hand, tried to recreate this dynamic on the quick and ended up with Batman v Superman (aka one of the few movies I've ever had to force myself to finish.) This movie is overloaded with characters but they've characters that you've gotten a chance to know and so there's payoff when a character is put in danger: you actually care what happens.

2. The Incredibles 2 (June 15)

Pixar has made many great movies but arguably one of its best was The Incredibles. It's a superhero movie without relying on any knowledge of who the characters are coming into the story and ends up with a really interesting discussion about family and what the actual ramifications would be of the damage that superheros tend to leave while battling supervillians. Brad Bird hasn't made a bad movie (The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatouille, even Tomorrowland) so there's good reason fans have been clamoring for a sequel since the original debuted 14 years ago.

3. Solo: A Star Wars Story (May 25)



This movie has had more problems than most. Lucasfilm hired the directors of The Lego Movie but then fired them after they'd finished most of their filming. Enter Ron Howard. Ron Howard has made some great movies (Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man) and some bad movies (most of the Da Vinci Code movies.) I can't say that I particularly cared where Han Solo came from since the beauty of finding him in A New Hope is that he's an established scoundrel. What I am interested in is catching the joy and the wonder of the original trilogy. If Ron Howard has one thing going for him, it's that he's been a fan of Star Wars from the beginning, even going to the point of defending Jake Lloyd's performance in The Phantom Menace. (While Jake wasn't great, he didn't write the script of that movie.)

4. Mary Poppins Returns (December 25)

Mary Poppins is a classic. The story of how they made that movie (Saving Mr. Banks) was an intriguing movie on its own. While this movie will have the difficult task of trying to hold up to that classic without Julie Andrews in the role, it will have the fantastic talent of Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton, Moana) taking the Dick Van Dyke-type role in this sequel as well as contributing to the music. I love going to the movies on Christmas Day and I have a strong feeling that this will be a great trip to the movies next year.

5. Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-it Ralph 2 (November 21)

Wreck-it Ralph is probably underrated when it comes to animated classics from the past few years. It's heart-warming, funny and original. It's not surprising that they decided to make a sequel that takes Ralph out of the arcade and into the internet. The jokes of the original movie felt fresh without being gimmicky and I'm hopeful that the same can be said after watching this one.

6. Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindlewald (November 16)



After 8 movies, it seemed like there would always be a Harry Potter movie coming out every few years. The first Fantastic Beasts movie did a good job of feeling like it was part of that world without feeling like a Harry Potter movie. It felt much darker, actually. I'm actually hoping that they take a move toward the tone of the Potter series as they introduce Jude Law as a young Dumbledore and a strange looking Johnny Depp as the main non-Voldemort foe of the wizard world: Grindlewald.

7. Black Panther (February 16)

Thor: Ragnarok paid off this year by letting itself be something different from the majority of the Marvel films and I think that Black Panther might be able to do the same with its own tone and vision. Black Panther was one of the highlights of Captain America: Civil War and it'll be fun to see him take center stage as well as see the return of Martin Freeman and Andy Serkis from CA: CW as well.

8. Ant-Man and the Wasp (July 6)



I waited for the Redbox release of the original Ant-man movie as I wanted to keep up with the overall story of the Marvel films but did not have a strong interest in a movie about a hero who could shrink to the size of ants and ride them around. What I found after watching the movie was that it was hilarious and that Paul Rudd was the superhero I never knew I needed to see. As a fan of LOST, it was great to see Evangeline Lilly in that film and I'm looking forward to her getting her chance to join the world of superheroes herself.

9. Christopher Robin (August 3)


This is a live-action movie starring Ewan McGregor as an adult Christopher Robin who is confronted by his friends from the Hundred Acre Woods to reconnect to the magic of his childhood. I love Winnie-the-Pooh and think that the series of animated films are some of the wittiest that Disney has produced. I'm not sure how this will translate to a live-action movie but I was skeptical of the live-action adaptations of The Jungle Book and Beauty and the Beast and those were fairly entertaining. It seems like they're taking a risk with the story line so there's a chance they could produce something that rises above being "another live-action remake" of a Disney classic.

10. Ready Player One (March 30)

I read this book awhile back and didn't really like it. If you enjoy movies from the 1980s (I do) then you'll find plenty of references and callbacks. The main problem with the book is that it felt like there wasn't much left besides the references and callbacks. What this movie does have going for it is the king of the 1980s movies himself: Steven Spielberg. The trailers haven't made me feel like there is much there besides what was in the books but if anyone can elevate this above the book, it's Spielberg. Finally, they have the DeLorean from Back to the Future so it'll always have that going for it.

Thanks for reading!