The Way Matt Sees It

THE BOOK OF EZRA I’m reading through the Book of Ezra and I came across an interesting passage.   The nation of Israel had been living in exile away from their home country for 50+ years, but a guy named Zerubbabel got special permission from Cyrus the King of Persia to go back to their country to rebuild the Temple (Ezra 1:1-4; 3:8).   As Zerubbabel is leading the Temple construction, we come to this passage: The enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were rebuilding a Temple to the Lord, the God of Israel. So they approached Zerubbabel and the other leaders and said, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God just as you do. We have sacrificed to him ever since King Esarhaddon of Assyria brought us here.” But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the other leaders of Israel replied, “You may have no part in this work. We alone will build the Temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, just as King Cyrus of Persia commanded us.”   (Ezra 4:1-3) The peop...

I’m talking about the best live-action film version of Batman.   If we had to go to the greatest portrayal of Batman across all forms of media, hands down it would be Kevin Conroy as Batman in the Arkham games.   I firmly believe this series (specifically Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City) are the absolutely the best version of Batman, his villains, and the overall mythos. As far as live-action films, it’s clearly between three actors: Michael Keaton, Christian Bale, and Ben Affleck.   While they all have pros and cons to their performances, here’s what I think they are each able to do really well: MICHAEL KEATON No matter how you might feel about Michael Keaton’s performance, no one can argue that it defined how Batman would be portrayed for decades to come.   Before this, Batman was campy and not taken seriously.   When I look back and watch this late 80’s movie, I’m not particularly impressed (being born a few years after its t...

Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith was the first Star Wars movie I had ever seen in theaters.   And Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens will be the second. I’m not really sure which Star Wars movie I saw first.   I remember watching bits and pieces as a kid, but eventually watching the entire Original Trilogy in order.   Being that I was so young and it was common knowledge, I don’t really remember being shocked by Darth Vader revealing he was Luke’s father.   But either way, by the time I was in middle school, I loved Star Wars. What really did it in for me was when Attack of the Clones was in theaters.   I was in third grade, and everyone was talking about it.   I wasn’t super into Star Wars yet, but even the girls I was friends with were talking about the movie.   My best friend promised that we would go see it together, and he kept talking it up.   We never actually went, but the more he talked about it, the more I ...