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I hope you enjoy this months Monthly Movies! Be sure to comment or message me your own thoughts on these great stories.
TV:
· Bodyguard (Season 1)
o Story: This is an action packed crime drama that follows David Budd (Richard Madden), a Afghanistan war veteran and Principle Protection Officer charged with protecting a controversial conservative party member of parliament. The show has slow moments, but it also has moments of great suspense. It will keep you asking questions until the very end, when it all comes to a close in a way that is surprising yet predictable and entirely satisfying.
o Year: 2018
o Rating: R (violence, drinking, suspense, sexual content)
o Gospel Moments: I don’t want to give too much away. This show keeps you in the dark until the end, making you wonder whether the hero is really the villain of the story. What I can say is that this series shows that there are some things about us that will never change, no matter what struggles we may face. The same is true for those in Christ. No matter what comes against us there is nothing that can separate us from His love, not even the darkness within us.
o Where to Watch: Netflix
Movies:
· Lars and the Real Girl
o Story: Lars and the Real Girl is an old flick, but a great romantic comedy starring Ryan Gosling, a recluse who finds love in a manikin that he seems to believe is a real person. It’s well acted and full of funny situations as it addresses questions of loss and what it means to face the dangers of real intimacy.
o Year: 2007
o Rating: PG-13 (sexual related content)
o Gospel Moments: While Lars and the Real Girl is an all around fun romantic comedy, dishing up everything one looks for in these sweetheart films, it also deals with the realities of loss and the need we all have to intimately connect with those around us. This film challenges the individualism of our time, making it clear that it’s always better to have a friend in the craziness that we call life. The people around us on this journey with God are gifts to help us along the way, avenues of His grace, but if we don’t take a risk and open ourselves up to the relationships in our lives we’ll miss out on the richness they have to offer.
o Where to Watch: Amazon Prime
· Beautiful Boy
o Story: Beautiful Boy is based on a pair of memoirs by father and son David and Nic Sheff. It follows Nic’s fall into drug addiction and the Sheff family has they struggle to bring him back to the light.
o Year: 2018
o Rating: (drug use throughout, some sexual content)
o Gospel Moments: Nic’s struggle with addiction reveals a darkness within all of us, a shadow self that runs after the very things that destroy us. The various people in Nic’s life (his father, mother, mentors) act as a loving presence that will not settle for pat answers or quick fixes. Nic’s support system is in this struggle for the long haul and their relentless love is only a dim expression of the love and faithfulness of God who stands with us in our greatest failures and forgives us are every sin. He will never let us go.
o Where to Watch: Amazon Prime
If you like these kinds of stories you should also check out my book The Bright Abyss. You can find a copy at the link here.