'Abstinence Never Felt So Good'

Christian sex comedy, 'The Waiting Game,' even features Ted Haggard in a cameo

by Mark Moring

Saying that Christians are "just starving for anything comedy," faith-based filmmakers are making a movie called The Waiting Game, a pro-abstinence film -- featuring a cameo from disgraced pastor Ted Haggard -- which writer-producer Emilio Martinez says is a response to crass comedies like The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up.

“I love all the Judd Apatow movies," adds Rich Praytor, another writer-producer on the film. “So we wanted to take something like that into the Christian arena.”

The Colorado Springs Gazette describes the film as "basically a sexless comedy about sex. In it, a lovable loser gets dumped by his bride at their wedding. Heartbroken, he dives back into the dating scene with a vengeance, determined to lose his virginity before he walks down that aisle again."

Ha ha, yuk yuk. Seriously? The laughs are cringe-worthy -- including the one involving Haggard. After the film's protagonist says he's sexually frustrated and that he's "just going to do what I want. It's not like it's going to wind up on the front page of the newspaper," Haggard, crippled by his own sex scandal, overhears the conversation from nearby and says, "Hey buddy, I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Are we ROTFL yet?

At least a blogger at Friendly Atheist thinks it might be funny -- though not necessarily as intended. "The trailer makes it seem like the guy is getting married for the sole purpose of getting laid," writes Hemant Mehta. "Great moral lesson, right?" And then: "If they really intend for this to be a movie with the moral lesson that everyone should wait until they’re married to have sex, then I predict it’ll be unintentionally hilarious and atheists will have viewing parties just to mock it."

Judge for yourself here, and watch the trailer below:

'Blue Like Jazz' Teaser Trailer Released

Catch some glimpses from the Steve Taylor film, based on the Donald Miller book

by Mark Moring

Can Rapists and Murderers Be Forgiven?

That's the question behind the amazing true-story of 'Heaven's Rain'

by Russ Breimeier

Heaven’s Rain recreates an amazing true story of forgiveness with a so-so movie treatment. For sure, this independent film—now available on DVD—has some strong qualities and is far better than most you’ll see from the faith-based market. I just can’t help thinking such a powerful tale deserves an equally powerful production.

At the age of 27, Brooks Douglass, the son of a missionary pastor, was the youngest state senator ever elected to office in Oklahoma. But eleven years earlier in 1979, his family suffered a horrific tragedy. Two drifters arrived at their home, bound 16-year-old Brooks and his parents hand and foot, then led 12-year-old sister Leslie upstairs and raped her. Afterward, the men shot the four family members before escaping, leaving them all for dead. Brooks and Leslie survived and drove to a neighbor’s home for medical attention.

The story doesn’t end there, of course. Brooks and Leslie both dealt with deep emotional scars in the years that followed (and to this day, undoubtedly). If Heaven’s Rain focused more on that, it might have yielded deeper resonance. What helped these siblings along in the ’80s? Faith? Friendship? There’s reference to Brooks working his way through college and then joining Special Forces before eventually taking office, and Leslie surely found psychological care to aid in emotional recovery over time. But Heaven’s Rain skirts most of that, breaking the cardinal rule of “Show, Don’t Tell” in a film that needed to better share these details.

Instead the movie relies on heavy—and disjointed—use of flashbacks to detail Brooks’ life in the Amazon rainforest bonding with his father (played by none other than the real-life Brooks, who also co-wrote). These scenes are sometimes touching, but the flashbacks are too frequent without always justifying their relevance to the present day scenes surrounding them.

Muddled storytelling and pokey pacing aside, the filmmaking is still strong, on par with most independent productions seen in art house theaters today. Director and co-writer Paul Brown has a strong TV resume that ranges from The X-Files and Quantum Leap to Pacific Blue and the recent Camp Rock movies. It also helps that the film relies on experienced unknowns for actors rather than amateurs. And the filmmakers handle the difficult subject matter with great sensitivity. Though rated R for some disturbing violent content, there are only brief flashes to the night of the murder—it’s not much worse than what is shown in TV crime procedurals these days.

Without giving too much away, Heaven’s Rain is strongest in the final thirty minutes when Leslie recollects her side of the ordeal to a reporter and Brooks makes a brave confrontation. These scenes are positively electrifying in content and acting. If only the rest of the movie was equal to the task, but Heaven’s Rain still serves as a loving testament from son to father, and an impactful testimony about loving our enemies while forgiving ourselves.

Here's the trailer:

Farewell, David Crowder Band

DCB, one of CCM's brightest spots for the last decade, to call it quits after fall tour

by Mark Moring

The David Crowder Band announced on its website that its next album, due in September, will be its last, and that the group will go out with a bang with a farewell tour this fall.

"This is why we've so cleverly named it The 7 Tour," DCB explained in the online statement. "The number 7 has often been used to represent completion, and that feels exactly where we are as a band."

The statement went on to imply that they might have known for a long time that their next album -- their sixth -- would be their last one. They say they thought from the beginning (the band formed in 2000) that they would do a 6-album set, with the second three albums "loosely associated with the first three. . . . The problem, or the beauty, is that we've never been able to see past album 6."

The final album will follow 2005's Collision, their last full-length, and will likely be called Mass -- a play on words as another physics term and as a religious service. "Fittingly enough," the statement said, "it seems our little Mass has turned into a Requiem. We'd love your prayers as we endeavor to put at period at the end of this sentence."

Read the whole statement here.

'Abstinence Never Felt So Good'

'Blue Like Jazz' Teaser Trailer Released

Can Rapists and Murderers Be Forgiven?

Farewell, David Crowder Band