Christian Rock Doc Can't Find Funding
'Bleed Into One,' a documentary on Christian rock, falls short of its fiscal goal
Last month, we noted that filmmaker Tim Hudson was hoping to secure funding to move forward with Bleed into One, his documentary on the history of Christian rock.
Unfortunately, the project is looking less like it's going to happen. Hudson had hoped to raise $60,000 on Kickstarter to finish the project, but fell far short of that goal, raising less than $5,000. Bummer, because it looks like Hudson had done a lot of good research on the project. Here's hoping that someday this film does see the light of day.
Dobermans Are People Too!
Scorsese's scorn earns Hugo's snubbed guard dog a nod for the Golden Collar Awards
Uggie is going to be facing some stiff competition after all.
Nominated for two Golden Collar Awards by Dog News Daily, the cute Jack Russell Terrier starred in both The Artist and Water for Elephants. Others nominated for Best Dog in a Theatrical Film included Arthur (who played Cosmo in Beginners), Denver (Skeletor in 50/50), and Hummer (Dolce in Young Adult).
Conspicuously missing from the list was Blackie, who played the Doberman guard dog in Martin Scorsese's Hugo -- and that was one oversight that the veteran director would not tolerate. In a Wednesday op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, Scorsese, who noted that he was grateful for the movie's 11 Oscar nominations, said "we've been severely slighted" with Blackie's omission from the Golden Collar Awards. "How could she not be nominated?" Scorsese wondered.
"Jack Russell terriers are small and cute," Scorsese continued, praising Uggie's nominations. "Dobermans are enormous and — handsome. More tellingly, Uggie plays a nice little mascot who does tricks and saves his master's life in one of the films, while Blackie gives an uncompromising performance as a ferocious guard dog who terrorizes children. I'm sure you can see what I'm driving at. We all have fond memories of Rin Tin Tin and Lassie, the big stars, the heroes, but what about the antiheroes? We have learned to accept the human antihero, but when it comes to dogs, I guess we still have a long way to go." Scorsese tongue-in-cheek accused the Dog News Daily folks of "prejudice" against Dobermans and Blackie.
Golden Collar Awards director Alan Siskind agreed to add Blackie to the list of nominees if he received more than 500 write-in votes on Facebook. Blackie reached that milestone in no time flat, and is now a sixth candidate for the award. Winners will be announced Feb. 13.
Justice served! Dobermans everywhere are reportedly quite pleased. So is Scorsese.
But not everyone is happy. Antonio Banderas says there's another kind of prejudice going on with the Golden Collar Awards: Why is it all dogs? Where are the feline nominations?
Writing his own op-ed yesterday for the Huffington Post, Banderas, who voices the title character in Puss in Boots, notes that "cats wear collars too."
Banderas argues that Puss brought "wit, adventure, dance, and soul to the big screen" and that "his name should become legend. Yes, the dogs have done well this year, but dogs will do anything for a sausage treat, cats do everything out of love." He concludes that "cats have feelings too. Please overcome this anti-feline-ism, Hollywood, and give my dear friend the recognition he deserves. Don't make the cat angry!"
Here's the announcement for the Golden Collar Awards -- prior to Blackie's later addition:
Spielberg Goes to the Mountaintop
Long circulated rumors now almost etched in stone: He'll direct a biopic about Moses.
Rumors have circulated for months that Steven Spielberg might direct a biopic about Moses. Those rumors are a lot closer to the truth now, according to an exclusive report from Deadline.com, which says the famed director is "near commitment" to helm the project for Warner Brothers.
Deadline.com also notes that Gods and Men is "the second high-profile film Warner Bros is developing on a seminal Jewish hero. Mel Gibson and Joe Eszterhas are collaborating on their pitch to tell the story of Jewish warrior Judah Maccabee. . . . Gibson has the first option to direct, and he will produce the film through his Icon Productions banner."
'I Loved You and I Hated You'
Ana Egge's haunting CD captures the feelings of those who have a mentally ill loved one
Your picture's fallin' like a figurine
Breaking branches in our family tree . . .
I loved you and I hated you
I prayed for you and stayed away from you
So sings Ana Egge on the title cut of her latest album, Bad Blood. Many of the songs were written about coping with mentally ill family members, and I, for one, can certainly relate to the lyrics above.
Our 20-year-old son has bipolar disorder and Asperger syndrome, and his family members have certainly felt all of those things and more. It really can be a love-hate relationship -- intense love for the person, but intense hatred for the illness and the ugly, often hurtful, ways it manifests itself. Kudos to Egge for capturing many of those feelings.
A press release says that the album "conveys compassion and hope for redemption," and while that's certainly true, Egge also noted in one interview that it also captures her raw emotions. "There is some anger on this record," she confesses. "When you have family members suffering, I'm not angry at them. I have had a lot of anger at the illness, wanting it to stop, go away. A lot of the writing freed up for me when I started writing about the illness itself as a character."
Like many of us who love someone with a mental illness, Egge is trying to find that balance between loving the person but loathing the condition. These lines from "Hole in Your Halo" kind of capture that vibe:
Your flowers are growin' wild in the west
They may be pretty but they're poisonous
Behind the bars you're falling apart
It's not the first time you went too far
There's a hole in your halo
Where the darkness don't shine
In the darkness I know
It's a thin line
Egge's country-fied folk tunes, produced by Steve Earle, sound more upbeat than the subject matter they're addressing, but the lyrics are spot on. Watch the music video for "Hole in Your Halo" here:
'Between Notes' Strikes the Right Chords
Indie film sort of a cross between 'Once' and '500 Days of Summer,' with lots of great music
A filmmaker named Christopher Grissom contacted me recently, saying he wanted us to check out his new movie. He said he was a Christian, and . . . Well, let's just say that we get a LOT of e-mails that start out like that, and the films themselves are often quite forgettable. But I asked him to send it along anyway.
I'm glad I did.
Between Notes, now available at Amazon.com, was a delightful surprise. Grissom accurately describes it as a "modern-day musical about two musicians who develop a relationship and have to decide whether they are falling in love with a person or an idea."
It's done reasonably well for an obviously very low-budget film. The lead actors, David Ramirez and Brandi Price, won't win any Oscars, but they bring enough life to their characters to make them interesting. But the biggest draw is the music itself. Ramirez is a professional musician whom Paste magazine calls "the best damn songwriter you don't know yet," and that's just the beginning. The terrific indie score is supplemented by great songs from Summer Ames and Becky Middleton.
The end result is something like a cross between Once (mainly for the music) and 500 Days of Summer (for the quirky romance). Grissom told me he wants to make films that are "not overtly Christian, but that point the direction to Christ." Mission accomplished.
Here's the trailer:
Was Elvis the Founder of Christian Rock?
That's one of many questions explored in an upcoming film on 'the story of Christian rock.'
If the list of interviewees for Bleed Into One, an upcoming documentary on the history of Christian rock, is an indication of filmmaker Tim Hudson's ability to piece together a good film, then he's off to a great start.
Bleed Into One: The Story of Christian Rock, Told by Those Who Survived, currently in the editing phase and aiming for a late 2012 release, includes interviews with CCM legends like Randy Stonehill, Steve Taylor, Phil Keaggy, John Schlitt, Glenn Kaiser, Charlie Peacock, and many more, including much more contemporary stars like Jeremy Camp, MercyMe's Bart Millard, Relient K's Matt Thiessen, and Skillet's John Cooper. Plus requisite interviews with experts like former GMA president John Styll, Raised by Wolves author John J. Thompson, HM magazine editor Doug Van Pelt, and P.O.D. manager Tim Cook.
It all adds up to what Hudson says (on a blog post) is an exploration of Christian rock's "secret history, one that people think they know but really have no idea, and it's all here, waiting to be put together, watched, and discussed. Hopefully your interested in piqued . . ."
Mine certainly is. But the film may never get finished -- or see the light of day -- if Hudson is unable to fund his closing costs, $30,000 for licenses to play all those great songs, and another $30,000 for post-production costs. That's why Hudson has launched a Kickstarter campaign, but he needs to raise that $60,000 by Feb. 4 -- just three weeks from now. (Heck, I even went to Kickstarter and made a small contribution.) Kickstarter has helped countless projects get off the ground, including the previously dead-in-the-water Blue Like Jazz film, which raised almost thrice its $125,000 goal and will now release to theaters in April.
As for the above title of this blog post, that comes from a video teaser that includes a clip from one of the interviewees -- Mike Roe of the 77s and the Lost Dogs, who says, "I don't like the term 'Christian rock,' but if it did begin somewhere, maybe it began with Elvis Presley." It'll be interesting to hear Roe elaborate on that in the final film.
A documentary on the history of Christian rock is long overdue. Here's hoping Hudson can complete the task and pull it off. That's a movie I'd like to see.
Here's the official website, and the Facebook site. Below, find the teaser, and below that, a longer trailer for the film:
Bleed Into One - Teaser from Eyecue Media on Vimeo.
Overcoming the Porn Problem
New documentary wisely shines a light on personal stories, rather than just the 'experts'
When filmmaker Sean Finnegan first considered doing a documentary on the problem of pornography, he knew he didn’t want to merely cite facts and figures interwoven with sound bites from experts. He thought the best way to tell this story was to, well, tell a story – and in the case of Out of the Darkness, now available on DVD, he found a powerful one in former porn actress Shelley Lubben, who now runs a ministry helping others to escape the sex industry and find hope and healing in Christ.
“Stories matter,” says Finnegan. “Most of the work done on pornography revolves around the issues of free speech and legislation, or the science behind addiction. But films are not essays or treatises. Films, like novels and poems and plays, are here to tell stories. And that is enough. If that is done well, we will, as Conrad said, gain a glimpse into the truth for which we forgot to ask.
“What stories can do for us is put faces on their topics. No matter how intense the debate around pornography becomes, the debate is really about human beings.”
Finnegan aims his camera at four such humans, including two who have come out of the darkness themselves, Lubben (don't worry; this website is safe) and recovered sex addict Mark Houck. Finnegan also interviews family therapist Dr. Richard Fitzgibbons and sexual revolution historian Dr. Judith Reisman, who are much more than mere “talking heads” here; Fitzgibbons and Reisman also tell stories, including one Reisman shares about a daughter who was raped. While Lubben and Houck focus more on their personal testimonies, the other two describe the culture and societal breakdown that got America into this mess – and yes, it’s presented as chiefly an American problem. After all, almost 90 percent of all porn sites originate in the U.S.
Reisman gives some fascinating background about how Dr. Albert Kinsey’s post-WWII sex research – including the infamous “Kinsey Reports” – sparked America’s sexual revolution. She disputes Kinsey’s “science” as fraudulent, but says academia, the media, and the general population accepted it as true, including the notion that we’re all just basically sexual animals, so why not just go for it? Fitzgibbons adds that many of us have embraced what he calls a “sexual utilitarian philosophy,” resulting in a breakdown of the family, a collapse of morality, and on a personal level, profound loneliness, sadness, and narcissism. It’s all a recipe for the porn industry to flourish.
But most compelling are the stories from Lubben and Houck. The latter tells how he grew up a “normal” guy, but how, shortly after his father died when he was just 11, he became a loner. He discovered his first Playboy as a pre-teen and got hooked on the magazines, and later on Internet porn, to the point where he was spending up to four hours a day on his habit. Houck struggled with his addiction for 16 years before finally realizing how destructive it was and making the decision to break free. He did so mainly by recommitting to his Christian faith, and while that story isn’t told in great detail here, Houck makes it clear that his disciplined pursuit of righteousness that made the difference – more than his decision to simply avoid the temptation. It was the pursuit of the good more than the mere fleeing of the bad that helped him win the battle.
The film’s most moving comments come, not surprisingly, from Lubben, but this one was perhaps the most powerful: “When people view porn, they are really watching mentally ill and physically diseased people having sex.” Puts quite a perspective on it.
Since Lubben has left the porn industry, she has founded the Pink Cross Foundation, a ministry to reach out to porn stars and sex workers. She has helped more than 50 people leave those fields and find hope and healing.
There’s a lot of hope and healing in this documentary too. While made from a Christian perspective, it’s not preachy. It’s matter-of-fact and story-driven, striking just the right tone. Highly recommended; buy it here. Here’s the trailer:
'Hobbit' Trailer Makes Critic Cry
Well, almost. Steven D. Greydanus says preview hints at a good movie. Maybe. Hopefully.
Critic extraordinaire Steven D. Greydanus, who reviews movies for CT, the National Catholic Register, and his own website, Decent Films, recently watched the new trailer for The Hobbit, which comes to theaters in December 2012. And Steven, not only a discerning critic but also a "don't-mess-with-my-beloved-Tolkien" fan who had some serious reservations about the Lord of the Rings movies, pretty much likes what he sees, thought with a few caveats.
Writing for the Register, Steven says, "I think it looks fantastic, for the most part. Of course it’s a trailer, and so the material has been carefully selected, but I love much of what we see here." He lauds the casting choice of Martin Freeman as Bilbo. He loves the re-casting of Ian McKellen as Gandalf, a choice which Steven says "is one of the most awesomely right and perfect performances of any literary character I’ve ever seen, and I’m so happy there’s more coming. I … I think I’ll cry now." And he digs the depiction of the dwarves' song about the lost gold.
But Steven also has some concerns. He begs Jackson to show some restraint: "Please, please, no skullvalanche-level tonal atrocities, no drinking-game bathos or video-game culture allusions, no staff-shattering sacrileges." And he thinks Thorin appears too young, because "in my mind is an older figure, stout as an oak tree, beard as imposing as a shield." And he beseeches Jackson to avoid "The Aragorn Effect": "I really hope Jackson’s Thorin doesn’t become in The Hobbit what Aragorn became in the later Rings movies, the all-inspiring hero whose greatness diminishes those around him. (I call this centralizing of awesomeness the Aragorn Effect.) If nothing else, the climax of Tolkien’s story should prevent that—but you never know."
Here's the trailer:
An Old Classic for the Occupy Movement
Leo McCarey's 'Make Way for Tomorrow' speaks volumes to today's 'entitled' generation
A couple years ago, we ran a "Filmmakers of Faith" feature about Leo McCarey, a practicing Catholic who directed such classics as An Affair to Remember and The Bells of St. Mary's.
I've just read another essay about the film that makes it even more relevant today, during the worst recession since the Depression, and an age of "entitlement" where many younger people feel they deserve the good life to the point that they'll launch an "occupy movement" to voice their complaints. (Personal side note: I'm all for complaining about how banks and Wall Street are the bad guys responsible for our economic woes, so occupy away. But when "occupy" becomes an "I deserve it" mentality, that's going too far.)
Anyway, David A. King, writing for The Georgia Bulletin, a Catholic newspaper in Atlanta, has penned a thoughtful essay about about McCarey's classic. King, associate professor of English and film studies at Kennesaw State University, where he teaches courses in Christianity and film and Flannery O’Connor, brings a fascinating perspective to this profoundly sad film: Students really like it.
King writes that McCarey "meant it for struggling young people then, and I think he’d be pleased to know that it resonates with the young today. When the film appeared in 2009 as a Criterion Collection DVD release, it became certifiably hip, and students who are today seeing the film for the first time find themselves wanting to see it again. It’s become a popular choice for college cinema society screenings; my own campus film group screened the film this week."
He continues, "The film is heartbreaking. But too many people have focused solely on the anguish, which is perhaps why it went unseen for so many decades after its initial release. Yet students anxious about their future don’t want to wallow in sadness; they want to find a way out. Make Way for Tomorrow has a message, I think, that must transcend pathos."
That message includes a command from Scripture itself: Honor thy father and thy mother. Writes King, "That’s how the film begins, literally, with the onscreen acknowledgment that there exists a gap between the young and the old and that one way to bridge that gap is through attention to the Fifth Commandment."
I've never seen Make Way for Tomorrow, but after reading King's essay, it's going onto my must-see list pronto. Meanwhile, here's an important scene from the film:
Upcoming Elvis Biopic to Focus on Faith
'The Identical' is one of four Presley pictures in the works, according to 'Hollywood Reporter'
Since the success of Ray and The Man in Black, biopics about Ray Charles and Johnny Cash, respectively, Hollywood execs -- not to mention millions of music fans -- have been clamoring for a major motion picture about the life of Elvis Presley.
The Identical will be produced by City of Peace films, which has a mission statement to create products with “redeeming value” and "bringing a message of hope, love and encouragement to this generation." Studio president Yochanan Marcellino said that he wasn't planning to say much about The Identical until THP broke its story, but now says, "It's clearly God's timing for word of this film to start getting out."
In a video on his website, Pelton said that he "can't give many details" about the film, but confirmed that it would shoot January through April 2012. "It's very exciting," he said, "and very uplifting. I'm humbled to be involved in the project. It's going to be something very special."
Presley, who died in 1977, was nominated 14 times for Grammy awards, but surprisingly won only three, all for gospel albums: 1967's How Great Thou Art, 1972's He Touched Me, and 1974's live recording of the song “How Great Thou Art.” Elvis recorded over 80 gospel songs during his career. Biographer Peter Ramsey wrote, "“Elvis started singing hymns as a child, attending church with his mother. There are many stories about Elvis’ respect for Christ. . . . One night at a concert fans unfurled a massive banner while Elvis was singing. The banner read: ‘Elvis is King!’ Elvis stopped in the middle of his song and clearly stated in the microphone: ‘There is only one king and He is Jesus Christ.’"
Presley was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2001.
Here's a video of Pelton, in Elvis mode, singing "Peace in the Valley" with The Imperials several years ago:
Inside the Mind (and Sweaty Suit) of Santa
'Becoming Santa' a delightful documentary about what it means to play St. Nick
Now that we're seeing Santas everywhere, you might wonder just what it would be like to grow a white beard, put on that iconic suit and spectacles, and play the part -- even if just for a day. Jack Sanderson wondered the same thing too, especially as Christmas rolled around again after his father's death. Somewhat depressed and disillusioned about facing the holidays for the first time without either parent, the 40-something Sanderson decided that the best way to get into the spirit was to get into the suit and play the role.
Becoming Santa, a delightful documentary recently released to DVD by Cinema Libre, tells Sanderson's story -- from making the decision, to plopping down 600 bucks for a custom Santa suit, to bleaching his hair and beard white, to going to "Santa school" to learn how to play the role, to travels across the nation for gigs ranging from walking down the narrow aisles of "The Polar Express" to quietly entering people's homes in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve (seriously!).
Sanderson makes for a wonderful Santa, and not just visually. He's got a great disposition, a load of patience (mandatory on this job!), a fine sense of humor, and an excellent manner with children -- not kids, but children. Sanderson learned that at Santa School, where the instructor -- an eccentric-but-amusing woman named Susen Mesco -- stressed that kids are "baby goats," and Santa has nothing to do with them. Real Santas, she insists, bring dignity to the process by addressing them as "children." (Every time a wannabe Santa says "kid," he must drop a dime into a jar as a fine. Sanderson ended up dropping quite a few in the jar before getting the hang of it.)
You'll also learn a lot about the history of Santa Claus in this well-made doc, including the true inspiration for the character, the real St. Nicholas. Mostly, the film is devoid of Christian content -- the real "reason for the season" -- opting instead for secular platitudes about the "spirit of Christmas" and "it's what's in the heart that matters" and such. But don't let that stop you from checking out this educational and entertaining 93-minute gem. If nothing else, it's fascinating to meet the men behind the Santa suits from all over the world.
The film can be purchased at Amazon.com. And here's the trailer:
To Hell and Back Again: That's a Wrap!
Filmmaker finishes shooting 'Hellbound,' a documentary on Hades, coming next fall
Writer/producer/director Kevin Miller recently announced that he's finished principal photography for his upcoming documentary Hellbound, coming to theaters in the fall of 2012.
The film, to examine the contentious debate over the concept of hell, was shot in over two dozen cities across the U.S., Canada and Denmark, starting with Copenhell, a death metal festival held annually in Copenhagen. The film features a wide variety of interview subjects, including authors, academics, pastors, social commentators, filmmakers and musicians.
“I couldn’t be happier with how production has turned out," says Miller, who also wrote the script for 2008's Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. "My team and I have had a fantastic time as we've traveled across North America and beyond seeking to get to the bottom of this debate. It's been a life-changing experience for all of us, and I can't wait to share what we've discovered.”
'Love Begins' . . . but Not All That Well
Prequel to 'Love Comes Softly' films, now on DVD, is a predictable Christian romance
Editor’s note: Love Begins, a prequel to the Love Comes Softly film series, releases to DVD today. We asked CT editorial resident Morgan Feddes for her thoughts on the movie.
Set in the American West, Love Begins is a stereotypical romantic film that describes how Clark Davis, one of the main characters in Janette Oke’s Love Comes Softly series, first meets Ellen Barlow. Ellen and her sister Cassie are trying to keep their family farm going after their father’s death the previous winter. They’re in need of a hired hand, but all the able-bodied young men have been hit with gold fever and have headed off to California, including Ellen’s childhood sweetheart.
Clark is a wanderer in both body and soul who’s passing through town on the way to California himself. When he gets involved in a fight at the local restaurant, he’s forced to stick around until he can pay off the damages. The sheriff convinces Ellen to hire Clark on as a way to pay his debt and give the Barlow farm some much-needed assistance. Clark gets along easily with Cassie, but his initial relationship with Ellen is much rockier.
The film, which originally aired as part of the Hallmark Channel's "Love Saga," has a number of weaknesses. Though this particular prequel isn’t based off a specific book, fans of the Love Comes Softly series—and most anyone who’s read more than a handful of romance novels—will be able to predict how the plot progresses. On top of that, the most interesting, tension-filled points of the plot happen in the last twenty minutes, making for a slow second act. The actors show signs of skill, but the weak dialogue hampers their performances. And though there are elements of faith woven in throughout, the subtle moments often prove to be stronger than outright mentions of God and church, which feel trite and forced.
Still, even with its weaknesses, Love Begins has a certain charm to it. Its Old West setting is largely responsible, I suspect (being a personal fan of westerns), but the quiet love story that unfolds, while predictable, is still enjoyable, particularly to fans of the Christian romance genre.
Love Begins is available for purchase at ChristianBook.com, and the trailer can be seen here:
Muppets! Music! Mayhem! Mirth!
Upcoming movie soundtrack will leave you warm and fuzzy -- sorta like a Muppet
As if I wasn't already excited enough about The Muppets, opening in theaters everywhere next week, I just received an advance copy of the movie soundtrack (releasing on Monday, Nov. 21, two days before the film), and after one listen, I'm wearing a smile as big as Fozzie Bear's.
Jam-packed with 30 tracks -- 15 songs and 15 brief bits of dialogue from the film -- this disc's a winner start to finish. Highlights include the dance-sequence opener (which reprises as a finale) "Life's a Happy Song," featuring co-stars Jason Segal, Amy Adams, and new Muppet Walter; "Me Party," a sublime disco duet between Adams and Missy Piggy; "Let's Talk About Me," a hilarious rap with Chris Cooper, who plays the villain (yes, Chris Cooper doing the hip-hop thang!); "Man or Muppet," a snicker-worthy duet with Segal and Walter; and "Smells Like Teen Spirit," not with Nirvana but with The Muppet Barbershop Quartet. Shear genius! Many of the new numbers were co-written by music supervisor Bret McKenzie from Flight of the Conchords.
A few old familiars show up, including "The Muppet Show Theme," "Rainbow Connection," and "Mah Na Mah Na," plus a handful from "real" musicians -- Paul Simon's "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard," Starship's "We Built This City," and Andrew Bird's "Whistling Caruso."
If you can't wait till next Wednesday when the movie opens, get a two-day head start on all the fun when the album releases next Monday. It'll be a great way to start off your Thanksgiving week.
Here's a little preview of "Life's a Happy Song" from the upcoming film:
An Unflinching, Compassionate Look at Homelessness
New documentary explores the lives, and complexities, of LA's homeless
The tagline to the new documentary Without a Home says it all: "She wanted to understand their lives. They changed her life forever." The tagline might have also added that she -- budding young filmmaker Rachel Fleischer -- also played a role in changing some of their lives too, at least a few of the 90,000 homeless in Los Angeles.
As a little girl from a well-to-do show-biz family (her father, Charles Fleischer voiced the lead character in the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit?), Rachel had a sensitive heart for the homeless. So when she grew up, she decided to buy a camera, go to Skid Row, and document their stories. And she found, as many documentarians do, that it was difficult to stay behind the camera and remain an objective observer. Watching Fleischer get to know these folks, and then wrestle with just how much she should (or shouldn't) get involved in their lives is part of this 74-minute film's draw. Any of us who have worked with homeless people have weighed those same things: How much should I get involved, and how do I help without enabling?
It's one thing to see Fleischer give one person a ride to a destination a few blocks away. It's another when one of her subjects asks for $50 to pay rent, or to spend the night at her house because he's out on the street. How will she respond? She wants to do the right thing, but doesn't always instantly know what that is. Fortunately, as Fleischer immerses herself into these lives, she's also meeting professionals in ministries and organizations that have worked with homeless people for years, and she learns the ropes quickly -- including the stark fact that some homeless folks might say they want help, but in the end, they really don't want to put forth the effort to change. Such stories are heartbreaking, and we see a few of them here. But we also see a few stories that are working their way toward a hopeful, redemptive ending.
Along the way, we meet heroin addicts who are high on the stuff, a guy who plays a homemade banjo on the street for a living, and a family that goes through eviction after eviction, just biding time till the dad can find steady work. And we watch Fleischer get involved in varying degrees, always asking herself, "Where do I draw the line?" It's easy to put yourself in her shoes and ask the same question.
Fleischer told The Jewish Journal that her faith definitely influenced the project and the way she went about it: “Tikkun olam, the idea of helping people and repairing the world, has always been, as far as I can remember, a big part of who I am. And one of the things that I really love about Judaism is that it’s so much a part of our culture to help other people and give back. I think it’s a very human idea, but I also think it’s a very Jewish idea to want to give back.”
At the end of the film, it sounds like she's got a pretty good grasp on the sociological and psychological complexities of homelessness:
"I wish it were as simple as putting a roof over everyone's head," Fleischer says in a voiceover. "But with or without a home, many of these people will continue to struggle. We have to be willing to examine the psychological wounds that brought so many of them to the streets in the first place, and then to respond accordingly. The feeling that initially drew me to document their lives ended up pulling me into their lives. And now I understand that as humans, we have a divine privilege to effect change, and when we do, the most extraordinary things happen."
Here's where you can buy the film, and here's the trailer:
'Preacher' Gunned Down at U. S. Box Office
Despite its star power, acclaimed director, and compelling storyline, the movie flops
Machine Gun Preacher -- the based-on-a-true-story of Sam Childers, a drug-dealing, gun-toting biker who found God and became an alleged mercenary saving African orphans -- has crashed and burned at the U.S. box office.
The film is now opening in the U.K. and other overseas locations; time will tell how it fares in the foreign market.
Why was it such a failure in the U.S.? Bad marketing? Weak promotion? Lack of advertising budget? Spoiled Americans who just don’t care about what’s happening in Africa? Christians won’t see R-rated movies? The subject matter?
Probably a combination of all of the above. We asked a few colleagues -- critics and industry writers -- what they thought. One surmised that fans want to see Butler in action movies, not in a drama -- though this film was quite dramatic. Another thought that Christians are simply turned off by the notion of a Christian carrying a gun. Another said it simply never was in wide enough release to attract a big audience.
We also asked one of the film's producers if she had any theories, but received no response.
We don't think our investigative story -- exposing several of the problems with Childers, his claims, and his orphanage in South Sudan -- had much, if anything, to do with the movie bombing, because readership wasn't very high on that piece, and none of the major wire services picked it up.
Whatever the reason, even though the film itself appears to be packing heat, when it comes to the box office, it's shooting mostly blanks.
Jesus Walks into a Wrestling Ring . . .
'Wrestling for Jesus' a compelling exploration of a strange but fascinating subculture
Wrestling for Jesus, an award winning documentary, follows Timothy Blackmon, a rural South Carolina man who decided the best way to share his faith was to form an amateur Christian wrestling league to spread the Word. Blackmon, who goes by the nickname "T-Money," faces challenge after challenge -- financial, marital, spiritual -- as he tries to work with this rag-tag-team group of grizzled old bikers and young skinny wrestlers.
The film begins as a kind of cultural side-show, introducing you to a small circle of enthusiasts where Christian evangelism intersects a grassroots form of what WWE calls "sports entertainment." But although the wrestling action may be overscripted, the evangelistic mission rings true as the traditional altar becomes an invitation to meet Jesus at the edge of the ring.
Nevertheless, the façade of sports entertainment becomes a metaphor in the false-front marriage of one of the couples involved. When that marriage breaks up, so does the Wrestling for Jesus team. The air of unreality is capsulized first in an early scene in which one wrestler shows off the trophy he won for being the most Christlike wrestler. Behind him is a poster of a scantily clad female model draped across the hood of a sexy car. The unreality is capsulized again near movie's end when a morose little girl uses a home karaoke machine to sing herself a sappy little princess song.
And yet, and yet, there is a genuine good-heartedness that permeates all this unreality: the divorced father becomes more attentive and nurturing than ever. The leader of the fractured team pulls them back together for a benefit exhibition to support a fellow wrestler who has broken his neck. These things tip the balance of human experience in favor of hope.
Filmmaker Nathan Clarke (whom, full disclosure, I count as a friend) has a wonderful eye for detail and for metaphor. In Wrestling for Jesus, he helps us see human imperfection with compassion and hope.
The film is available purchase at the official website, and here's the trailer:
Frontman for The Killers Promotes Mormons
Brandon Flowers says he "still has a fire burning" for his LDS background and faith
With Mitt Romney and discussion of Mormons in the headlines, the LDS church has recruited an interesting choice for an ad campaign to "educate the public" about its beliefs: Brandon Flowers, lead singer of the rock band The Killers.
In a 4-minute video, Flowers discusses his faith and his family; it even includes pictures of the singer playing with his infant son. It's part of a larger publicity campaign to make Mormonism look "hip" to a younger generation. Flowers looks into the camera and says, "I'm a father, I'm a husband, and I'm a Mormon."
Check out the video:
'They Can Fly!'
A child's awestruck wonder at watching 'E.T.' for the first time
It doesn't get much better than this:
Putting 'The Hammer' Down
Inspiring true story of deaf wrestler/fighter hits limited theaters next week
Hamill, who recently retired from the UFC circuit, was the first deaf person to win a national championship in college wrestling. In fact, he won three NCAA titles while competing for the Rochester Institute of Technology in the late 1990s -- an amazing feat for anyone, much less a deaf man.
The film, starring deaf actor Russell Harvard in the title role, follows Hamill's story from childhood, from his diagnosis as a toddler, through his boyhood -- when his mother wanted to send him to a school for the deaf, but his grandfather, who helped to raise him, insisted on Matt going to a "regular" school -- and then through high school, where he excelled at the sport. He won a full scholarship to Purdue, but flunked out.
After taking some time off, he then enrolled at RIT, which has a large population of deaf students. Hamill initially had trouble adjusting to an environment of almost solely deaf people; having grown up in a hearing world, he preferred to talk and read lips, but at RIT, most of the students preferred to communicate by sign language. For a viewer with hearing, the film doubles as a fascinating look into their world, and director Oren Kaplan uses some nifty editing and audio tricks to help the viewer to better appreciate what it must be like to be deaf.
But what stands out most in the film is Hamill's perseverance and determined focus; he arrived on campus determined to win a national championship, and doggone if he didn't end up winning it not just once, but thrice. If it's coming to your neck of the woods, it's worth checking out -- or at least renting some day on video.
Here's the trailer:
Heartland Film Fest Announces Winners
Australian film 'Red Dog' wins $100,000 top prize as Best Narrative Feature
The Heartland Film Festival, held annually in Indianapolis, announced its 2011 award winners recently, with Red Dog, made in Australia, winning the top prize of $100,000 as Best Narrative Feature.
The film's synopsis: "It’s night in the Western Australian outback, a dying dog lies in the backroom of the town's only pub. Slowly, as word spreads, the local community gathers at the pub. Part vigil, part wake, part celebration, they swap stories of Red Dog’s epic life, travels and his rise to fame."
Meanwhile, Crime After Crime won the $25,000 Best Documentary Feature Award, and Thief received the $10,000 Vision Award for Best Short Film.
Here's the trailer for Red Dog:
And the (Disabled) Band Played On
Inspiring doc shows there are no 'handicaps' to making beautiful music together
It's hard enough to get 29 people to work together. Harder still when they're of different ages, races, genders, abilities, temperaments, cultures, religions, and more. Harder still to pull such a variety of humankind together and get them working in synch, creating a product -- no, a work of art -- that is nothing short of a masterpiece. Now, add one final challenge: All 29 of those people are disabled.
But that's just what Javier Pena has pulled off with the Spirit of Goodwill Band, a group of disabled adults in South Florida who truly are making beautiful music together. Pena, the director, is clearly a skilled musical leader, but it's his sensitive, patient, almost magical touch with these differently challenged adults that is a wonder to behold. Pena's story, and that of the musicians in his group, is chronicled in For Once in My Life, which aired earlier this year on PBS's Independent Lens and is now available on DVD.
The band -- which includes percussion, brass, keyboards, guitars, and lead and back-up singers -- is made up of folks with Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism, and blindness. None were skilled musicians when Pena took the part-time, nominally paying position. But he has turned the group into a legitimate performance outfit which has also recorded its first CD, by the same title as the film.
The New York Times hailed the film as "feel-good" and laud its "rare look at a segment of the population, adults with disabilities, that is largely invisible." Veteran Hollywood director Tom Shadyac (Bruce Almighty, Liar Liar)called it "entertaining, inspiring, compelling."
While Pena's leadership is certainly a highlight, filmmakers take us into the lives and homes of several of these disabled adults, where we learn their family histories, some of them quite sad, but always with a note of hope -- especially as they begin to realize their potential with the band. And early on in the film, we learn that they're gearing up for their first major public performance: A stage show in front of thousands at a Miami convention for America's mayors. Will they be up to the task? You can feel the tension as the big day nears, anxiously hoping that they'll come through when the spotlight comes on and the curtain goes up.
The DVD and/or the soundtrack can be ordered here, and here's the trailer:
Downey Jr. Pleads: Forgive Mel Gibson
Downey asks Hollywood to "join me in forgiving my friend his trespasses"
In a passionate speech at Sunday night's American Cinematheque Award Ceremony, Robert Downey Jr. pleaded with Hollywood and the world to extend grace and forgiveness to Mel Gibson, just as Gibson had done for him some years ago when Downey was struggling with addictions and a tainted public image.
In the last several years, Gibson's image has taken a beating as he: was convicted of DUI and then making anti-semitic remarks; divorced his longtime wife and chased after a much younger woman; made heinous threats, taped and publicly released, against that same woman.
As Gibson joined him onstage Sunday night, Downey said, "On this special occasion . . . I would ask that you join me, unless you are completely without sin in which case you picked the wrong f---ing industry, in forgiving my friend his trespasses and offering him the same clean slate you have me, allowing him to continue his great and ongoing contribution to our collective art without shame."
When Downey learned that he was going to be given an achievement award at the ceremony, he requested that Gibson be his presenter. In doing so, Gibson called Downey "my friend. When I saw you all those years ago and got all those warnings, I just thought, ‘There’s nothing so much wrong with him.’ You’re a good dude with a good heart.” Gibson had helped Downey make a comeback from his own addictions by paying Downey’s insurance bond so he could star in 2003's The Singing Detective.
Watch Downey's forgiveness speech here:
(image from clip on CBS's Early Show)
'Catholicism' Series Comes to PBS
Chicago priest Father Robert Barron takes viewers on a catholic, and Catholic, journey
Half a century ago, Archbishop Fulton Sheen’s weekly television series Life Is Worth Living (and later The Fulton Sheen Program) was watched by millions of Americans of all stripes. Sheen was “America’s Priest,” and since then there has been no comparable figure in American culture—and there may never be.
Inspired by Kenneth Clark’s groundbreaking 1969 BBC series Civilisation, which ushered in a generation of globe-hopping documentaries, Fr. Barron and his crew employ a worldwide backdrop that includes the Holy Land, Europe, Africa, India, the Philippines—at least 50 locations in 15 countries. Unabashedly a work of advocacy, even evangelization, Catholicism offers a confident, upbeat overview of the scope of 2000 years of Catholic history, belief, thought and practice.
Much of this is the common heritage of all Christians, and Fr. Barron’s approach is catholic as well as Catholic, name-checking C. S. Lewis and N. T. Wright alongside Thomas Aquinas and Augustine. Evangelicals will feel very much at home for the first few episodes as Fr. Barron expounds upon the disorienting, challenging uniqueness of Jesus, the revolutionary power of his teachings, and the fathomless mystery of God. Other episodes, particularly those dealing with the Virgin Mary and the Eucharist, will challenge non-Catholic sensibilities, but Fr. Barron’s emphasis on Scripture and reason establishes a broad common ground, and open-minded Evangelicals will appreciate his presentation even when they disagree.
Fr. Barron makes an engaging, appealing spokesman for Christianity and Catholicism, and his method is consistently positive and nonpolemical. He discusses topics like Aquinas’s ways of proving God and Catholic Marian spirituality without going out of his way to oppose challenges like “God is a delusion” or “Catholics worship Mary.” The settings are more than window dressing; Fr. Barron goes to Auschwitz to discuss the problem of evil, and magnificent locations including Hagia Sophia, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the tomb of Mother Teresa help to bring the Faith alive to the senses and the imagination.
Click here and/or check local PBS listings for Catholicism. The series is also available as a five-disc DVD set at catholicismseries.com.
Here is the trailer for Catholicism:
What Happens in Vegas . . . with Christians?
A group of believers "fesses up" to playing the casinos in a fascinating documentary
Fast forward a few years, and now another group of young people is doing the same thing. But they're not from M.I.T. They're Christians, and they call themselves "The Church Team," and they're also taking Vegas casinos -- and others -- for gobs of money, all because they've learned the science of counting cards.
Their story is told in the awesomely titled Holy Rollers, which claims to feature "the most well-funded blackjack team in America -- made up entirely of churchgoing Christians."
Sound shady? Perhaps unethical? You be the judge. They would argue that casinos are robbing people blind, especially folks who are addicted to gambling and/or can't afford it in the first place. They'd say that they're taking from the rich to put the money to better use -- feeding their families, tithing, and keeping the moolah out of the wrong hands.
"It doesn't seem like one of the most noble things a person can do in the world," one member of the team says in the film. "But at least we can liberate the money from the clutches of those who would use it for ill purposes, you know?"
The team includes not just laypeople, but pastors and worship leaders. The filmmakers were subtle and secretive, managing to get unprecedented footage inside casinos, showing the team at work -- and the casino operators who were always on the lookout for card counters, and then "inviting" them (sometimes politely, sometimes not) to leave.
One of the Church Team members, David Drury, was asked in an interview if he saw their work as a form of "social justice." Here's how he replied:
"The social justice side of things is hard to quantify. The first difficulty in this line of work is simply justifying to yourself how you are serving society by playing a game in a way that is largely frowned upon. We are raised in a society that values easily drawn pictures of 'service' that are easy to nail down but often don’t make no sense once you start asking hard questions. If you are a teacher, you bust your ass doing important work for no money. If you are good at dunking a basketball, you get paid millions to provide “entertainment” through the vehicle of a soul-sucking corporate structure. But at least you can draw those lines.
"For me, I decided I was able to provide for myself and my family, which was of first-level importance. I was in a work structure (players and managers) where I was valued, where my goals were honored and were mine to set (as opposed to goals in a corporate environment), and where I was excited to work towards the success of the whole team. I felt supported like I never had before in a career endeavor. [And] yes, liberation, justice, and a good old fashioned sticking-it-to-the-man. He is big and I often felt infinitesimally small. When you have a big losing night AND get kicked out, what have you achieved? I choose to believe that the road is long, and while I am on it I mostly limp along with dark glasses, banging my cane against the curb."
Holy Rollers is a compelling film that explores a world where the answers don't come easy, where there's lots of gray and little black-and-white. It's won awards at several film festivals, and it a provocative discussion starter. "People can't stop asking questions," Drury told CT. "The central paradox -- Christians taking money from casinos -- starts all sorts of conversations."
DVD pre-orders are being taken at the official site. Watch the trailer here:
Aronofsky to Bring 'Noah' to the Big Screen
Acclaimed director says he's loved the Bible hero's story since he was a kid
What had been rumored for years became official Monday when Paramount Pictures and New Regency Productions announced that Academy Award nominee Darren Aronofsky will direct the feature film Noah.
"Since I was a kid, I have been moved and inspired by the story of Noah and his family's journey," Aronofsky (Black Swan, The Wrestler) said in a press release. "The imagination of countless generations have sparked to this epic story of faith. It's my hope that I can present a window into Noah's passion and perseverance for the silver screen."
Christian Bale is rumored to be the frontrunner to play the title character. Academy Award nominee John Logan (Gladiator, The Aviator) will re-write the original script penned by Aronofsky and Ari Hanel. Filming will begin in the spring, with the shoot lasting an estimated 40 days and 40 nights (just kidding on that last part).
Noah was last seen on the big screen looking an awful lot like a heavily bearded Steve Carrell in the 2007 comedy Evan Almighty, a box office and critical bust. There have also been a number of animated versions over the years, and a 1999 TV version starring Jon Voight as the title character.
It's not the first time Aronofsky has tackled religion or spiritual matters on the big screen. The Fountain (2006) was, as our reviewer Jeffrey Overstreet put it, a "science fiction mind-bender (in which) we learn that our sufferings are caused by our separation from the Tree of Life mentioned in the book of Genesis." But ultimately, the characters showed little interest in God himself.
Overstreet also wrote in that review, "Spiritual exploration seems to be Aronofsky's forte, after all. His first film, Pi, told a troubling tale about a headache-prone mathematical genius who began to suspect that God was speaking to him through the numbers. The next film, Requiem for a Dream, portrayed people succumbing to addictions of all kinds, looking for satisfaction and solace in all the wrong places. Each project has been risky, experimental, and uniquely philosophical. In The Fountain, it becomes clear that Aronofsky believes our sufferings stem from both spiritual and physical lack. So his characters take dangerous risks in order to find healing for their bodies and their hearts."
In an interview with CT at the time, Aronofsky spoke about dealing with mortality and "the sanctity of life." He said that The Fountain was "in many ways . . . about science versus art, and religion versus spirituality. You have these [scientific and religious] dogmas that are the languages of a certain type of discovery, but beneath that you have a certain type of acceptance and truth."
But it might be a leap to say that the director, who grew up in a Jewish home, holds to an orthodox Christian view of the world. In that same interview, he said, "At the core of so many different religions is the spiritual truth which unites us all. It's just amazing when you look at the Judeo-Christian/Islamic foundation in Genesis about the two trees in the Garden of Eden—the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life—and man and woman ate from the Tree of Knowledge and were basically banned from Eden. They could no longer eat from the Tree of Life. You think about that, and then you go to the Mayan tradition. Think about how separate the Jews were from the Mayans! They were separated by, who knows, thousands of years—and yet, the Mayans tell a story about 'a first father,' an Adam, who had to make a sacrifice for the Tree of Life.
"To me, that's amazing that there's this unity of spiritual sense between many of the faiths. I think that there is something that makes us all human. From all our different faiths and beliefs, there is something that connects us."
(Photo by Niko Tavernise)
'Courageous' No. 1 New Film at Box Office
The latest from Sherwood Baptist beats bigger-name movies . . . on far fewer screens
The makers of Facing the Giants and Fireproof have another winner on their hands: Courageous, the latest film from Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Ga., earned more than $9 million over the weekend to finish No. 1 among new releases and fourth overall at the box office.
The weekend numbers beat Fireproof's opening weekend by $2,2 million, and make Courageous the fifth-best opening of all time for a Christian movie, behind only The Passion of the Christ and the three Narnia movies. Box Office Mojo's Ray Subers writes, "Made outside of Hollywood without any major stars, Courageous managed to fly under most radars (including my own) until very recently. It's unfair to ignore the vast majority of church-going Americans for whom typical Hollywood fare isn't of great interest, though, and Sherwood Pictures has impressively found a way to mobilize this subset of the population. It will be interesting to see if Courageous can hold as well as Fireproof did when it went on to earn $33.46 million, or nearly five times its opening weekend, in 2008."
Faith Films Alive and Well in Toronto
Movies with spiritual themes were prevalent at the recent international film festival
Christians may often feel that there are fewer films with faith content or themes than they would like to see. Highlights from this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, however, show world cinema continues to explore religion and spirituality in enlightening, challenging, and refreshing ways.
Italian director Ermanno Olmi, also a recipient of the Palme d’Or, came out of retirement to helm The Cardboard Village. It’s a beautiful and painful story of a priest who cannot bear to leave his church which has been shut down, and so he transforms it into a shelter for North African refugees. Olmi, who turned 80 earlier this year, is inexplicably underappreciated by (in fact, largely unknown to) American audiences. As America wrestles with its own questions about immigration, The Cardboard Village may hit too close to home, but its setting may be just far removed enough to let its parable-like qualities be heard by those with ears to hear.
Two Iranian films show how people trying to live in increasingly fundamentalist societies can struggle to balance personal integrity with survival in a legalistic society. Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation came to Toronto having already scored the Golden Bear award at the Berlin Film Festival. What begins looking like it will be a divorce drama—she wants to take their daughter out of the country, he wants to stay and care for his elderly father—quickly spirals into something else. It ends up as a meditation about surviving in a culture so consumed by fear of being labeled anti-religious that a woman must call a religious hotline to get clerical advice over whether it’s a sin to change the pants of a man who has wet himself. Less an indictment of any particular religion as it is an examination of the consequences of rigorous fundamentalism, A Separation gives audiences a taste of what it is like to live in near constant fear of not being able to live up to society’s expectations where the cost of such failures is steep indeed.
Less political (and less religious than its predecessor, Persepolis) Marjane Satrapi’s Chicken with Plums is a whimsical, bittersweet allegory about the pain of exile. Combining live action with animation, it tells how one of the world’s great violinists lost his passion for music and, eventually, life.
Also getting strong festival buzz, Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene features a breakout performance from Elizabeth Olsen as the titular character, a woman whose identity has been so badly fractured by her experience in a cult that even the love and patience of her sister (Sarah Paulsen) and brother-in-law may not be enough to allow her to even verbalize what has happened to her. (Look for CT’s review of this film on October 7.)
Still more challenging, yet in its own way devout, Alexander Sokurov’s Faust gives us a rendering of Goethe’s tale where the titular character (Johannes Zeiler) begins quite literally elbows deep in blood and guts and searches for some hint of the divine that he has been told exists in the world, but for which he has found no evidence.
If The Last Christeros is devout in its depiction of Roman Catholicism, Habemus Papam most assuredly is not. A sometimes farce about a Cardinal who verges on a nervous breakdown when his colleagues suddenly and unexpectedly elect him Pope, the film treads carefully—perhaps too carefully—around the questions it raises. Most of the satire in Habemus Papam centers on the Vatican secretary trying to keep the pope’s struggles a secret, but the film becomes more serious when it focuses on the man in the papal chair himself.
In Joaquim Sapinho’s This Side of Resurrection, a young woman is told by her parents that her brother had left the country, but she learns that he has actually been living in a monastery. Confused by his devotion and her parents’ response to it, she resolved to affirm his right to make his own choices and, in the process of interacting with him, begins to question her own.
Two films, while not overtly religious in theme, warrant special notice. Hirokazu Kore-eda continues to explore how modernity pulls families apart in I Wish, a heartbreakingly sweet and sincere tale of children who cling to the faith that if they can make a wish as two bullet trains pass one another, it will come true. They set out on a quest to try to make the impossible happen the only way they know how. And Emmanuelle Millet’s Twiggy tells the tale of a woman who is shocked to find herself pregnant. Unable to have an abortion because of the stage of her pregnancy, she resolves to give the child up for adoption, only to wonder about her—and her culture’s—attitude toward pregnancy as she falls into a subculture of expectant mothers who hold very different hopes and expectations about what motherhood will mean.
Kenneth R. Morefield, a CT film critic, is the editor of Faith and Spirituality in Masters of World Cinema (Volumes I & II) and the founder of 1More Film Blog.
A Cinematic Salute to War Heroes
'Flag of My Father' a portrayal of heroism, PTSD, family, and the peace of Christ
There are far too many film festivals to keep up with these days, but one of the most unique is the G.I. Film Festival, with movies solely dedicated to the service of the American Armed Forces.
The winner of this year's Best Narrative Feature, Flag of My Father (R2 Productions), is a thoughtful and occasionally stirring look at what it means to be a war veteran, to deal with post-traumatic stress disorder, to negotiate the land mines of family feuds and jealousies, and to share a bond with other vets that only vets can understand. And finally, to walk such a difficult road as a Christian, with that "peace that passes all understanding" in the face of all difficulties, whether it's an ambush in Iraq or a personal attack from family members.
Former TV star John Schneider (Dukes of Hazzard) stars in yet another faith-based film, but he's not the one touting Christianity this time. He plays one of four brothers -- the smarmy, sarcastic, heavy drinking one, at that -- to Judith (GiGi Erneta), an Iraqi vet who served as a nurse and army captain. The four guys just don't "get" their younger sister, who shares a bond with their father (William Devane), a Vietnam vet, that their brothers just don't understand.
When a difficult event strikes the family, the tension intensifies until another situation opens the eyes of all involved to the truth of the matter. It's not a great movie, but it's not bad either, and I would say it's almost a must-see for families with a vet in their midst.
To order the film, click here. And here's the trailer:
Documentary Examines 9/11 Cross at WTC
Chaplains, police, firemen remember finding the cross in the wake of the attack
As the World Trade Center cross makes the news again in recent weeks -- atheists suing to keep it from being displayed at the memorial, and a NY lawmaker wanting it to be called a national monument -- it's a good time to revisit a 2006 documentary that tells the story of that cross.
The Cross and the Towers, winner of a Crystal Heart Award from the Heartland Film Festival, looks back at 9/11 and the ensuing days through the eyes of seven people, several of whom were on the scene and digging through the rubble in search of survivors. The 54-minute documentary follows their stories through the finding of the steel beams intersecting to form a perfect cross, a symbol of hope that remains at Ground Zero today. It's definitely worth a watch as we remember that historical, horrible day.
The film is available to stream for $3.99 here. And here's the trailer:
Are Youth Groups Biblical?
New documentary 'Divided' says they’re not only unbiblical, but dangerous to families.
Every Wednesday night during the school year, I join other adults to meet with high school students to study the Bible. According to the new documentary Divided, now showing for free online, this practice is unbiblical, worldly, and dangerous to families—not to mention an extension of evolution and paganism.
From my 12 years as a volunteer youth worker, I know that just as churches are flawed, so are youth ministries. We’ve made mistakes. We’ve course corrected; pizza and eating goldfish are no longer the meat and potatoes of youth discipleship. And these kinds of conversations must continue; we have to challenge what we do and ask tough questions including: Why are so many church kids leaving their faith behind?
Divided is supposedly asking the same question. It’s billed as a “journey to discover the truth about modern youth ministry, with this question in mind: ‘Is it an issue with the church, the kids, the parents?’” But this 60-minute film isn’t interested in fair exploration or discussion. Instead, it is propaganda, a commercial for the Family Integrated Church movement, an association of interdenominational churches which view age-segregated, peer-oriented youth ministries as “family-fragmenting” and unscriptural. The movie both begins and ends with the logo for producing organization The National Center for Family Integrated Churches (NCFIC).
The movie begins with a young filmmaker, Philip Leclerc, saying he’s seeking answers to his questions about youth ministry. But by the end, that quest feels like a ruse—a fake journey for answers he already knew. (Leclerc, who made the movie with his brother, admits his father pulled him out of high school youth ministry.) By the time Leclerc delivers his final verdict—“God didn’t ordain youth ministry. He didn’t create Sunday school. He did create the church and the family”—it’s obvious he’s been toeing the company line from the start.
The most striking evidence: Almost every Divided interview is with supporters of the movement, including extended time with NCFIC director Scott Brown (who is credited as an executive producer). Other interviews (like those with youth pastors at the National Youth Workers Convention) are truncated and used strategically—to the point that they can feel as if they are used out of context.
This is not the only questionable methodology. The film is filled with scare tactics, vague overstatements, experts with random credentials like “Jake’s Café,” broad-brush painting and sketchy statistics like this from Britt Beemer of America’s Research Group: “90 percent of kids had so many doubts before college you could drive a semi-truck through.” How many doubts create such a hole? Are we talking an 18-wheeler?
While some featured adherents of the movement present welcomed nuance (aka “this approach doesn’t work in all contexts but it does in ours”), most draw a black-and-white picture that youth ministry is not mentioned in the Bible—and is therefore categorically dangerous. They go on: Age-segregated programs date back to paganism and are actually schemes to get evolution into churches. (Get it? Students advance from first grade to second just like Neanderthals to humans). All nuance is tossed aside in the thesis that youth ministry must be eradicated wholesale in favor of fathers, and fathers alone, instructing and mentoring young people.
We as a faith community must continue discussing how we reflect the model of church and ministry in Acts and the epistles. Unfortunately, the video equivalent of an angry letter-to-the-editor doesn’t extend that conversation.
Watch the trailer here:
Divided Trailer from NCFIC on Vimeo.
'Machine Gun Preacher' for Two Audiences
Studio releases "secular" and "faith-based" versions of poster for film; see trailer below
Coming to theaters next month, Machine Gun Preacher is a movie that will appeal to some Christians because of its subject matter. It will also turn off some Christians . . . because of its subject matter.
The movie, opening in limited release on September 23, is based on the true story of Sam Childers, a drug-dealing hell raiser as a teen and young man who began to turn his life around after finding Jesus. Today, he spends much of his time in Sudan and neighboring countries, allegedly fighting pockets of the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) with his own band of gun-toting rebels while sweeping up orphans who have been left behind -- and then putting them into orphanages that he has built in the area.
Some Christians will love the film for showing Childers' path from rebellion to redemption. Others may avoid it for the same reason; the first 15-20 minutes are as in-your-face and gritty as anything you'll see in an R-rated movie (which it is), with a sex scene, drug dealing (and taking), brutal violence, and foul language. Even after Childers -- played terrifically by Gerard Butler -- finds God, he's still got some rough edges, and his flaws stick with him through the rest of the movie. Sounds pretty realistic to me, and I appreciate the filmmakers' boldness in showing those character flaws. But it's also a bit much for the "safe-for-the-whole-family" folks who prefer their "Christian" movies to be G-rated fare.
Relativity Media, which is distributing the Marc Forster-directed film, realizes this, but knows it's also got a film on its hands that can have terrific crossover appeal -- for Christians because of the redemptive arc of the tale, and for secular audiences who appreciate character development woven into what is in many ways an action movie, with Childers as its real-life action hero.
In an attempt to reach both audiences, Relativity has released mainstream and faith-based versions of the movie poster. They also plan to release "exclusive" clips for the faith-based market in a week or so. Stay tuned.
Here are the two posters -- "secular" on the left, "faith-based" on the right. Both include the phrase, "Hope is the greatest weapon of all." In the latter, the cross motif is evident, but seems forced, especially as it cuts off Butler's forehead. But there seems to be a clear focus on the children -- the main motivation for Childers' work -- in the background.
Finally, here's the trailer:
An Unexpected Tale of a Priest
'The Least of These' avoids cliches, takes some surprising plot twists along the way
There are all sorts of directions one might take a screenplay about abusive Catholic priests, but writer-director Nathan Scoggins takes his story along unexpected paths in The Least of These, a drama/mystery releasing to DVD today.
Made four years ago, the just-now-to-video release stars Isaiah Washington (Grey’s Anatomy) as Father James, an African-American priest who steps into a new role as a teacher at a Catholic boys’ school—but he’s got some emotional baggage. Figuring out just what that baggage entails is part of the mystery—and it’s not as cut-and-dried as you might think. Meanwhile, Father James’ predecessor at the school has gone missing . . . and watching that mystery unfold is another compelling element.
The school’s head priest (played by former Oscar nominee Robert Loggia) welcomes Father James, a former student, into the fold, but another priest (Bob Gunton) is suspicious of the newcomer. And yes, the film’s title plays a vital role in how events ultimately unfold in the end.
It all adds up to a “Christian movie” that rises above cliché, predictability, and agenda. There are no in-your-face sermons here, just realistic men trying to live their lives according to the cards they’ve been dealt. They all sin and make errors in judgment, some more serious than others. But grace and forgiveness also have their place in the story. It's worth a watch.
Here’s the film’s official website, here’s where to buy it, and here’s the trailer:
'Abstinence Never Felt So Good'
Christian sex comedy, 'The Waiting Game,' even features Ted Haggard in a cameo
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
Can Rapists and Murderers Be Forgiven?
That's the question behind the amazing true-story of 'Heaven's Rain'
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.
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
"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.
New Documentary: 'Beware of Christians'
Four young Christian men take their big questions to the world, but there's nothing new here
The new documentary Beware of Christians is being marketed as a major revelation but plays as old hat.
The points made are good, but all too familiar. Christians fail to live out all of God’s Word on a daily basis? No way! Christians need to emphasize relationship over religion? Do tell! Most young adults plugged into Christian culture already know this stuff.
The movie fails to draw any new conclusions, though it comes close to a key point: The guys note how many non-Christians view Christians as hypocritical, yet how can believers live the Christian life publicly without coming across as pious or sheltered? If only the movie followed this thinking through to its logical conclusion: the need for Christians to walk the fine line of being holy and being cool—“in the world, not of it.”
There’s nothing special about their hipster style of filmmaking with out-of-focus shots, quick intercuts, etc.—think The Real World gone Christian. Nor is this a clever movie, or particularly funny, though not from want of trying. I felt like I was on a trip with four slightly irritating Christian frat boys. They share the usual anecdotes of losing their wallet and passport or getting lost in Switzerland on the way to Italy.
Two of the guys “help” their lovelorn friend by intercepting all his postcards to his girlfriend—which of course only makes him mad and doesn’t seem particularly Christ-like. For that matter, watching two of the guys smacking each other’s bare backs as some sort of fraternal prank is like watching an episode of Jackass. Or how about when two of them dress up like gladiators in Rome with cheap gift shop toys and proceed to smack each other in public like little boys? Way to represent America, guys.
Still, by the time the movie was over, it occurred to me that I had maybe fifteen years of spiritual maturity on these four. These “old” conclusions they draw might have been new to me when I was their age. As much as I want Beware of Christians to be an insightful and informative documentary for all ages, it may still be a worthwhile film for teens and young adults. Especially those who need to see a film that ultimately concludes that 1) Christians don’t have it all worked out, and 2) God loves us anyway.
The DVD is available for purchase here. See the trailer below:
The Muppets Are Coming!
They return to the big screen in November, and this new trailer makes me green with envy.
Brad Pitt: 'I've Got Issues' with Christianity
'Tree of Life' star says he grew up in the faith, and questioned it even at a young age
Terrence Malick's Tree of Life, one of the year's most anticipated movies, made its international debut at the Cannes Film Festival yesterday, and Brad Pitt, one of the stars of the film, said that he questioned his own Christian upbringing from a young age.
"I grew up with Christianity, and I remember questioning greatly some things that didn't work for me, [and] some things did," Pitt said at a press conference, as quoted by TheInsider.com. "I grew up being told that God's gonna take care of everything and it doesn't always work out that way, and when it doesn't work out that way, then it's God's will. I got my issues man, don't even get me started...I got my issues."
Pitt also said, "Many people find religion to be something inspiring. . . . I myself find it very stifling as an individual." (CT has requested an interview with Pitt; stay tuned.)
Meanwhile, the reviews are beginning to come in, with mixed results, and even boos!
Others:
IndieWire: 'A Universe-Spanning Search for God'
Variety: "Inescapably divisive picture could captivate the zeitgeist for a spell."
The Guardian: "An unashamedly epic reflection on love and loss."
MovieLine: "It's all about life, but does Malick care much for people?"
Hollywood Reporter: "A beauteous creation that ponders the imponderables."
NY Times: "A cosmic head movie of the most ambitious order."
Unsung Heroes of the Civil Rights Movement
PBS documentary 'Freedom Riders' spotlights the courage of a little known group
Martin Luther King Jr. might be the most well known face of the civil rights movement, but a small group of blacks and whites who boarded two buses—one Greyhound, one Trailways—in May 1961 may have been the most courageous.
Freedom Riders, an excellent American Experience documentary airing on PBS stations tonight, tells the story of those brave souls, who intended to ride the buses through the deep South, deliberately but non-violently violating prejudicial Jim Crow laws along the way—by sitting together in “whites only” establishments.
They were met with racism and mob violence, but continued their brave quest in a saga that ultimately pulled in the police, governors, the National Guard, the Kennedys, and a watching world—and, in the end, was a major victory for civil rights.
Here's the trailer.
Watch the full episode. See more American Experience.
Hey, Boo!
New documentary explores Harper Lee, 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' and the classic film
Mary Murphy’s Hey, Boo: Harper Lee and ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ which opens in limited theaters this week, is more celebration than investigation . . . and I’m perfectly fine with that.
Few works in the history of American literature are more universally beloved than Lee’s bildungsroman. Add to the novel’s immense popularity the fact Richard Mulligan’s film adaptation consistently tops lists of fan favorites and the task of a documentarian covering this material is simultaneously daunting and alluring. Finding people willing to talk about what the book means to them is seldom a problem. Harnessing that enthusiasm to deepen the appreciation of the work about which every reader thinks he is an expert can be a difficult task indeed.
The key to Hey Boo’s success lies in director Murphy’s ability to balance critique and appreciation, providing both historical and biographical context -- including insights into Lee's friendship with Truman Capote, and how that plays into the story and the film -- to explain the novel’s importance and testimonials to attest to its timeless qualities. Lee Smith, Scott Turow, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Brokaw, and James McBride read from and express admiration for Mockingbird, and, for the most part, eschew the temptation to use the forum to try to make themselves look smart, keeping the focus on Lee’s work.
That’s not to say that the film is superficial. It has plenty of insights for people who know the novel, not just for new fans. Two elements stood out upon reflection. Murphy chronicles how Lee worked with her publisher for approximately two years after the book manuscript was accepted, honing, polishing, and revising the text. Fifty years later, it’s a lot easier to get one’s work into print -- but has this relative freedom led to a decline in quality? It’s hard to imagine a book from an unknown artist getting that kind of detailed attention today, and by and large we tend to buy into the Romantic notion that masterpieces are fully-formed offsprings of the minds of creative geniuses rather than hard polished products of sweat equity.
The other element of the documentary that is truly enlightening is Murphy’s putting the novel in its historical context. The further we get from the civil rights movement of the 1960s, the more we tend to misremember To Kill a Mockingbird as a postscript rather than a preface to it. Written in the late ’50s and published in 1960 (the film adaptation was released in 1962), Mockingbird often doesn’t get the credit it deserves for speaking out against racism before doing so was fashionable in white America.
Several of the white interviewees speak out about the complicated, at times even subversive, cultural work performed by the novel. If, as Shelley said, the imagination is the moral instrument, then the book instructs us how to read it when Atticus tells Scout that we must walk in another man’s shoes to truly understand his point of view. For many of us, Tom Robinson’s shoes were the first we walked in that belonged to a man of a different color. Once we took Atticus’s advice, it was hard, if not impossible, to go back to the old ways of thinking.
Here's the trailer for Hey, Boo:
This review originally ran on Ken Morefield's 1More Film Blog.
Caviezel "Rejected in My Own Industry"
'Passion of the Christ' star says that offers have decreased since playing Jesus
In a recent speech at First Baptist Church of Orlando, actor Jim Caviezel said he's been "rejected in my own industry" since playing Jesus in 2004's The Passion of the Christ.
The Orlando Sentinel reported that Caviezel said that director Mel Gibson actually encouraged Caviezel not to play the role, because it could ruin his career. Caviezel: "He said, 'You'll never work in this town again.' I told him, 'We all have to embrace our crosses.' ''
Caviezel also talked about how Gibson's personal life has been in a very public tailspin in recent years; the director has been labeled an anti-Semite and has threatened and cursed at the mother of his youngest child.
"Mel Gibson, he's a horrible sinner, isn't he?" Caviezel said. "Mel Gibson doesn't need your judgment, he needs your prayers."
The Sentinel story also reported that Caviezel, a Roman Catholic, "has never shied from films with religious subtexts, sometimes controversial ones, from The Passion of the Christ (2004) and The Stoning of Soraya M. (2008) to I Am David (2003) and Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius (2004).
Also:
Caviezel has said his faith is his guide, both personally and professionally. He speaks of being "called" to the acting profession and says it was no coincidence that "in my 33rd year, I was called to play Jesus." He even joked about his initials — J.C. — with Gibson at the time of his casting, which "freaked him out a little."Caviezel and his wife have adopted "special-needs" children from China, and one has cancer.
"Maybe God, through my son's death, is going to teach me something."
Norma McCorvey Appears in Pro-Life Film
The woman who was Roe in 'Roe v. Wade' has a small part in abortion-themed movie
Norma McCorvey, who was "Roe" in 1973's landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, plays a small role in Doonby, an upcoming film that addresses abortion and pro-life issues.
McCorvey, who switched positions and became a pro-lifer about 20 years ago, has appeared in documentaries before, but this is her first feature film. The estimated $2 million movie, which stars Jon Schneider in the lead role, is scheduled to release in September.
The Hollywood Reporter notes that writer/director Peter Mackenzie wanted McCorvey for the part, and the way he found her is a fascinating story -- if not divine intervention. According to THR:
Before researching her whereabouts, the director chose to shoot his film in Smithville -- population 3,902 -- where McCorvey lives. "I guess you could say the project chose me," she says. "God told me to move there two years before but didn't really tell me why. So I obeyed. I had no family there, no friends. I just obeyed." Says Mackenzie: "I tried to find Norma, and that's where it got a little spooky. Out of the blue, during some random conversation, I discovered that Norma actually lived there."
Here's the trailer:
Bruce Marchiano Plays Jesus . . . Again!
Straight-to-DVD film, 'The Encounter,' would've worked better as a Sunday morning skit
Many plays have been successfully adapted into movies (A Few Good Men, 12 Angry Men), though some are better suited for the stage (Doubt, Sleuth). The Encounter, a direct-to-DVD movie releasing today, feels like it would translate better as a Sunday morning skit or a production at some church-related event.
Part of the problem is the supremely clichéd premise—essentially a redemption story set in an old Twilight Zone episode. On a dark and stormy night (naturally), five travelers take refuge at the Last Chance Diner, where the food is free and the sole proprietor wears a nametag that says “Jesus.”
Is this guy for real? It’s hard to build any mystery considering this is the fifth (!) portrayal of Christ by Bruce Marchiano, best known as “the smiling Jesus” from The Visual Bible: Matthew. But The Encounter is less a supernatural thriller than a drama and modern parable, as Jesus confronts each traveler with their secrets and heartaches.
Teenage Kayla is running away from an abusive father and considering suicide. Melissa (Christian pop star Jaci Velasquez) is a young woman considering an “unequally yoked” marriage. Spineless Hank and spiteful Catherine comprise an annoyingly bickering couple headed for divorce. Smug businessman Nick (wrestler Steve ‘Sting’ Borden) is angry with God over his difficult childhood. Jesus takes turns with each character, politely listening to their anger and fear while challenging them to trust in God’s love.
Like many disappointing play-to-film adaptations, The Encounter feels stagey, set in a single room for most of the movie. The unimaginative story lacks creative direction from Christian producer/director David A. R. White (though there is a somewhat clever surprise toward the end). Still, aside from the amateur characterizations of Hank and Catherine, the acting isn’t half bad. Velasquez does all right with a role that any competent actress could pull off, and Borden actually shows some emotional range and timing. This is ultimately Marchiano’s vehicle, though. Say what you will, but the guy excels at portraying a wise and personable Jesus.
It’s the writing that sets The Encounter apart from lesser Christian movie fare. Sean Paul Murphy and Timothy Ratacjzak (Sarah’s Choice, featuring Rebecca St. James) have devised a thoughtful script that smartly plays both sides of arguments with timely insight, biblical wisdom, and sprinklings of humor. Why does God allow bad things happen to good people? If God loves us so much, why doesn’t he answer our prayers when we need him most? The movie’s answers may not completely satisfy everyone, but it handles the questions well enough to spark discussion.
This is a case where the right script is matched with the wrong production. The Encounter is corny and derivative, for sure, but not unwatchable. It carries the potential for stronger impact on stage, where actors work without a net, a thoughtful script shines, and audiences are more forgiving of a limited production.
Buy the movie here, and watch the trailer below:
Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Warner Herzog’s latest documentary is an immersive 3D experience
The Chauvet Cave in southern France, discovered in 1994, contains the oldest cave paintings ever found, going back more than 30,000 years. (Think, roughly, of the timespan between Moses and us, then multiply by ten.) Access to the cave has been severely limited, but filmmaker Werner Herzog is a very persuasive man. Thanks to his efforts, the good graces of the French Ministry of Culture, and the marvels of 3D technology, Cave of Forgotten Dreams (now showing in limited release) takes us inside this time-capsule, littered with bones, where the tracks of cave bears are still visible, and where the presence of our distant yet not-so-distant ancestors is uncannily strong.
I saw this film with my wife, Wendy, who tends toward claustrophobia. The 3D experience is so immersive, I was afraid she might flee the theater. But it turned out that she was entirely absorbed by the images on the walls of the cave: horses, bears, panthers, rhinos, and many more. There are handprints, too, made by a man with a crooked little finger (his inadvertent signature). The film shifts at intervals to locations outside the cave: views of the ruggedly beautiful surrounding terrain, glimpses of the nearby lab where researchers studying the cave are based, and conversations with a few of these scientists—even a quick trip, late in the film, to Germany, where parallel investigations are going on. (Here we see a flute made of bone, discovered in Swabia in 2008, dating to a period contemporary with the paintings at Chauvet, and hear a tune played on a copy of it.)
As usual, Herzog himself, who narrates the film and engages in dialogue with researchers, is an intrusive presence, often charming, quirky, sometimes exasperating. Meditating on the paintings, he soars from eloquence into hyperbole, then lurches into jokeyness, as if embarrassed by his own effusions. (The accompanying music tracks the narrative, one moment over the top, the next moment hauntingly evocative.) The film concludes with a bizarre postscript that is pure Herzog.
Throughout the narrative, but especially toward the end, Herzog dances around the numinous. We come to an altar-like stone on which the skull of a cave bear was carefully placed many thousands of years ago, facing what was then the entrance to the cave. It requires conscious effort to talk about such matters without mentioning God, whose unacknowledged reality is nevertheless palpable here, where people like us painted by torchlight 30,000 years ago.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams, one of the year’s best documentaries, was recently named a Truly Moving Picture by Heartland Truly Moving Pictures. Here’s the trailer:
John Wilson is editor of Books & Culture.
Just for Fun: Movie Mashups
What do you get when one film collides with another? Bedlam. Chaos. And fun.
These are troubled times, so here's a little chance for some fun -- but it all depends on YOU. It's Movie Mashups, where you take two recent film titles, smash them together, and provide a brief synopsis. For example:
Water for African Cats, in which Rob Pattinson and Reese Witherspoon try to assist thirsty lions while on safari . . . and are never seen again
The Bieber, in which Mel Gibson wields a menacing hand puppet that looks like a teen pop star with a bad haircut
Rangorio, in which Johnny Depp’s chameleon turns into an exotic blue bird and flies to Argentina. (Caution: some scenes are quite macawbre)
Red Riding Hoodwinked, in which superbad grannies save the day by killing off all the werewolves
OK, readers. Your turn.
The Best Films You've Never Seen
'Official Best of Fest' now airing on selected public TV channels
For every great movie you've seen or even heard about, there are probably five more fantastic flicks you've never seen or heard about. That's where Official Best of Fest can help.
Now OBOF is airing on American Public Television, starting this month and running through the end of March 2013. Some 120-plus stations -- including in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Detroit, and Miami -- are airing the show (look for your local station here), and more are added every week.
OBOF also sells boxed sets of the films, in categories such as Chick Flicks, Laugh, Inspire, Real People, Family, and more.
Here's Stevenson describing Best of Fest in more detail:
'Useless' Gets Useful at 168 Competition
Short film about justice vs. mercy wins top prize in Christian speed-filmmaking event
One of America's more fascinating film fests is the annual 168 Project, in which entrants must shoot a movie from scratch in just seven days time.
The Christian-themed event, held in early April in Glendale, Calif., chooses a different Scripture passage each year as its theme. This year's theme was Philemon 1:10-11: "I appeal to you for my son Onesimus, who became my son while I was in chains. Formerly he was useless to you, but now he has become useful both to you and to me."
Fitting that a film called Useless would win Best Film and several other awards -- and prize money totalling $12,000 -- at the 168 Fest. The 11-minute fictional film features a U.S. Marshal seeking revenge for his father's murder, but then is forced to consider the possibility of forgiveness.
You can watch the film below or at its official website:
Useless (2011 168 Project Winner) from Brandon Adams on Vimeo.
Full Slate at Full Frame Fest
Documentaries galore included several that explored issues of faith and spirituality
The 2011 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, held April 14-17 in Durham, NC, had one of its strongest lineups ever, with over 90 documentaries—including several of particular interest to Christian viewers.
Allard Detiger’s The New Saint chronicles the attempts by the mother of slain border guard Yevgeny Rodionov to have her son classified a martyr by the Eastern Orthodox Church. A cultural portrait of the overlay between television entertainment, folk legend, and church tradition, the film provides a glimpse into a world that is simultaneously alien to most American viewers and yet, in many points, disturbingly familiar.
Julia Haslett’s An Encounter with Simone Weil works both as an introduction to an undeservedly marginalized moral philosopher and social activist and as a mediation on how the director grapples with Weil’s thoughts as she attempts to apply it to her own life.
To Be Heard, about students growing through “power writing” courses in the Bronx, is deeply informed by co-director Edwin Martinez’s Mennonite upbringing, particularly its emphasis on the power of community. Martinez told CT that unlike Waiting for Superman, his project “isn’t overtly an educational film” and that the filmmakers’ goals were “not to scream out policy issues” but to tell the story of three kids who find hope and empowerment through community. He opined that the film does, in its way, preach “salvation” of a kind.
Several other films dealt with world religions. Jed Rothstein’s Oscar-nominated Killing in the Name follows a Jordanian Muslim who speaks out against Jihadist violence, emphasizing how often those who are victimized by it are other Muslims and challenging its adherents that they are misrepresenting the Koran. Natalie Braun’s and Avigail Sperber’s The Hangman interviews the Jewish man assigned to guard and, eventually, execute Holocaust organizer Adolph Eichmann. Daniel Goldberg’s 27-minute, single-take Steps to Eternity is a wordless observation of one man’s routine yet inspiring struggle to attend religious services.
Political and social issues were front and center in many of the event’s films. Steve James, director of Hoop Dreams, previewed The Interrupters, a look at Chicago’s CeaseFire organization and its attempts to curb inner-city violence. Academy Award winner Barbara Kopple (Harlan County, USA; Shut Up and Sing) screened Gun Fight, an examination of America’s love affair with weapons. The line between terrorist and activist was meditated on in If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front and Better This World, which tells the story of two Texas teens arrested for domestic terrorism at the 2008 Republican National Convention. Laura Israel shows how the prospect of wind turbines divides a town in Windfall, while Susan Saladoff’s Hot Coffee generated strong festival buzz by using the famous Liebeck vs. McDonald’s case as a lens to examine the politics of tort reform.
Kenneth R. Morefield is an Associate Professor of English at Campbell University in Buies Creek, NC. He is the editor of and a contributor to Faith and Spirituality in Masters of World Cinema.
'Why Are Christian Movies So Awful?'
Salon's Andrew O'Hehir asks the question, but he's picking on the wrong movie
A few months ago, we ran a blog post titled, "Why Are Christian Movies So Bad?", prompted by a thought-provoking article of the same title over at Relevant magazine.
What I completely disagree with, however, when it comes to O'Hehir's article, is his "hook": He's jumped on Soul Surfer as an excuse to write his opinions, and for that, I think he's wrong. O'Hehir calls the film "a trite, sentimental puddle of sub-Hollywood mush, with mediocre photography, weak special effects and an utterly formulaic script. . . . [T]his one is pretty awful."
I don't think Soul Surfer is a great movie; I'm pretty sure it won't be considered for our Critics' Choice list at the end of the year (though it'll be a strong candidate for our Most Redeeming list). It's not great, but it is very good. And if, as O'Hehir suggests, it is to be labeled a "Christian movie" -- and frankly, I could argue either way on that point -- I would say it's one of the best ones we've seen in years.
Our critic gave it three stars (out of four) -- somewhere between a B-minus and a B, if this were a grading scale. (3.5 stars would be B-plus to A-minus, 4 stars would be A to A-plus, for comparison's sake.)
Let's try to look at things a bit more objectively than O'Hehir does. Soul Surfer has a 53 percent rating at Rotten Tomatoes -- meaning that 53 percent of the 74 critics compiled so far gave it a positive review, and 47 percent gave it a negative. ("Positive could mean anything from barely making the cut to thinking it's the best thing since sliced bread; I think the film falls somewhere in between. Conversely, "negative" means anything from barely missing the cut to "I hated it.")
Some of the nation's top critics liked the movie (Entertainment Weekly, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times), but many did not. But why didn't they like it? I don't have time for a full analysis here, but here's what Roger Ebert wrote in his 2.5 star (out of four) review:
My problem with "Soul Surfer" is that it makes it look too simple. Bethany (AnnaSophia Robb) has a loving family of professional surfers and a big, friendly dog. She lives in walking distance of the beach. She was and is a committed churchgoer and got great support from her spiritual leaders. She was an indomitable optimist with a fierce competitive spirit.But there had to be more to it than that. I applaud her faith and spirit. I give her full credit for her determination. I realize she is a great athlete. But I feel something is missing. There had to be dark nights of the soul. Times of grief and rage. The temptation of nihilism. The lure of despair. Can a 13-year-old girl lose an arm and keep right on smiling?
The flaw in the storytelling strategy of "Soul Surfer" is that it doesn't make Bethany easy to identify with. She's almost eerie in her optimism. Her religious faith is so unshaken, it feels taken for granted. The film feels more like an inspirational parable than a harrowing story of personal tragedy.
Ebert's skepticism is understandable. I've asked many of the same questions myself, even when I interviewed Bethany Hamilton, the title character: Didn't you get angry at God? Didn't you struggle with your faith? How could you and your family make it look so simple? Ebert is right to wonder about these things, but he can't blame the movie for them. I have spent time with the Hamiltons and with Bethany, and it IS uncanny how "simple" they've allowed this incredible experience to play out. A rock-solid but "simple" (er, childlike) faith somehow kept Bethany from experience those "dark nights of the soul" and "times of grief and rage" that Ebert wanted to see. I know I certainly would've have experienced those things. But again, don't blame the film -- those are questions for Bethany and her family, not for the filmmakers or scriptwriters. They're not making this stuff up.
Also, I think Ebert oversimplifies. If he were to watch the movie again, he'd see the scene where Bethany tearfully asks her youth pastor how this could possibly be a part of God's plan. She is downcast and troubled in the hospital (a scene which Bethany says was trumped up a bit, because she wasn't really all that sad). She worries that people will see her as a freak. She storms away from one competition, so upset about her circumstances that she says she'll never surf again (also fictional -- apparently the filmmakers tried to find those "times of grief and rage," and couldn't find them!)
Anyway, I'm not picking on Ebert. I'm picking on O'Hehir. Soul Surfer is a good, maybe even a very good, movie. And it is definitely NOT the place to start picking on "Christian films." I could name at least a dozen (or 50 or 100) places to start, but this ain't it.
'Soul Surfer' Catches a Box Office Wave
New faith-based film finishes in top five with a strong per-theater average
Soul Surfer, the inspirational true-story movie about surfer Bethany Hamilton, exceeded studio expectations by pulling in $11.1 million over the weekend -- good enough for fourth place overall at the box office, but finishing first in the per-theater average ($5,014, compared to $3,848 for Arthur, $4,861 for Hanna, and $3,438 for Your Highness) among new releases.
“We’re thrilled with the response," said Rich Peluso, vice president of Affirm Films, a branch of Sony Entertainment, the film's distributor. Peluso noted that a rare A+ CinemaScore, strong exit polling (96% rating the film Excellent or Very Good, 92% saying they will recommend it), and strong Facebook and Twitter activity all point "to a strong and long theatrical run. What’s most exciting about all this is that the inspirational message of Bethany’s life and faith is impacting people all across North America, and we’re looking forward to expanding the release in other territories in the coming weeks and months.”
Blogging for the WSJ's Speakeasy, Anthony Kaufman said the film "exceeded expectations" and is "poised to go the distance in the marketplace." Kaufman's story also noted that the promotional team behind Soul Surfer had done a good job reaching out to Christian opinion leaders and church groups, while also trying to make it "a crossover film" and to "achieve a balance and not to make it seem like only a faith movie," according to Berney. "I think it was effective. Given the Cinemascore and exit polls, we think it’ll hang around for a long time.”
Deadline.com analyst Nikki Finke wrote that an exec from distributor Sony had said, "If we do $10 million this weekend (or close to it), it would be a home run for Sony and FilmDistrict." Finke went on to write: "Mission accomplished. A strong Christian message sometimes works at the box office, sometimes falls flat. This one worked, helped by the strong appeal and personal promotion of American Idol winner Carrie Underwood. Soul Surfer played incredibly well all around the country as Sony had been screening the title aggressively -- 350 previews -- especially for church groups who arranged for buses to bring in audiences all day Friday.
"The film was marketed extremely well by FilmDistrict by emphasizing the upbeat, positive message although not overtly its religious undertones even though Soul Surfer is the only mainstream movie with a faith-based message during the Easter holidays. Key targets were tweens, teens and moms, and the film tracked well with these groups, and direct engagement was made with Underwood’s fan base, extreme sports enthusiasts and athletes who had overcome personal obstacles."
Box Office Mojo analyst Brandon Gray noted that Soul Surfer's opening "was solid considering that surfing movies tend to wipe out. It was enough to land within the average range of inspirational sports dramas. Distributor Sony Pictures' research showed that 80 percent of the audience was female and 56 percent was under 25 years old."
Film Explores Human Rights in El Salvador
'Return to El Salvador,' narrated by Martin Sheen, can be seen in entirety on Hulu
Return to El Salvador, narrated by Martin Sheen, explores the reconstruction of El Salvador, post-civil war. The 12-year conflict (from 1980 to 1992) killed over 75,000 people and displaced nearly one-fifth of the population. the documentary brings the struggles of this beleaguered country back into view and examines what drives over 700 Salvadorans to flee their homeland each day, often risking their lives to illegally enter countries in search of a better life for their families. It also profiles a Salvadoran couple who fled death threats in the 1980s, finding asylum and a political platform in the United States. We meet another couple who, after escaping during the war, returned to El Salvador to work with churches and poor communities. And a family speaks out about their continued hunt for the truth about a murdered anti-mining activist.
This film explores the hopes of the Salvadoran people and walks with them in their journey. The film can now be seen in its entirety on Hulu. Here's the trailer:
Discovering ‘The Human Experience’
Two brothers travel the world in search of the meaning of life
Jeffrey Azize grew up in what he describes as an abusive home, so as a young man, he decided to travel the world in search of goodness—and perhaps find a bit of the love he missed out on as a child. In the documentary The Human Experience, which releases to DVD today, Jeffrey and his older brother Cliff embark on three distinct adventures in their quest—first living for a week with New York City’s homeless, then visiting disabled orphans in Peru, and finally traveling to Ghana to meet people who are dying of AIDS (including an infant) and to visit a leper colony.
Along the way, they interview a number of experts on culture, beliefs, and “the human experience,” and while the brothers never say much about their own spiritual convictions, there’s a fair amount of Christian commentary throughout. Among their interviewees are Makoto Fujimura, a Christian artist, speaker, and founder of the International Arts Movement, and William B. Hurlbut M.D, a physician and Stanford prof who serves on the President’s Council on Bioethics. When asked about the nature of human suffering, Hurlbut brought up the Crucifixion as the example of the ultimate suffering.
In the end, the Azize brothers discovered what they had hoped to find—hope and goodness amidst pain and suffering, all over the world. It’s worth a watch.
Check out the trailer below:
'Expelled' Writer Tackles One Hell of a Movie
Kevin Miller explores questions about hell in a new documentary, due sometime in 2012
Kevin Miller apparently isn't afraid of controversy. A few years ago, he co-wrote the script for Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, a documentary which examined "academic freedom" -- specifically, why college profs who believed in intelligent design weren't allowed to teach it, or even mention it in some cases.
Now, in the wake of the Rob Bell conversations about free will, destiny, universalism, and the existence of hell, Miller is tackling the underworld itself in an upcoming documentary called Hellbound? (And yes, the question mark is part of the title.)
“While recent challenges to the traditional view of hell are grabbing headlines, most people recognize this controversy is nothing new,” Miller says in a recent press release. “For centuries, people have wondered, if God is our pure, all-loving Creator, how can he allow billions of sinners to suffer for eternity in hell? Is it possible we’ve got hell wrong? Or are recent attempts to find a way around traditional teachings on hell a vain attempt to avoid the inevitable? These are the questions I want to explore.”
Miller adds, “Rather than endorse or exclude a particular position, I’m interested in talking to leading voices on all sides of the debate to discover how the various perspectives on hell developed and what our beliefs about hell reveal about God, the Bible and, ultimately, ourselves.”
The film will go into production this summer, wrap in the fall, and likely be released sometime in 2012,.
Meet the New Movie Marathon Man
Man ran 75 marathons in 75 days to call attention to the challenges of single parenting
When Terry Hitchcock lost his wife to breast cancer, he was suddenly faced with the incredible difficulties of single parenting. At the age of 57, the modern-day Forrest Gump decided to make his life incredibly harder -- by running 75 marathons on 75 consecutive days, covering the distance between St. Paul, MN, and Atlanta, about 2,000 miles. All in the name of calling attention to the challenges of single parenting.
Hitchcock, whose own faith was challenged when his wife died, and son Christopher chronicled the journey, now coming to theaters as My Run, narrated by Oscar winner Billy Bob Thornton. The film will show one night only, March 31, in about 500 theaters nationwide. Click here to see if it's playing near you, and check out the trailer below:
Behind the Scenes of 'Soul Surfer'
Just Jared releases an exclusive look at some of the actors behind the film
Japan, Tsunamis, Nukes, Godzilla, & the Movies
A few thoughts, and some news, connecting all of the above
As we continue to pray for, worry about, and send aid to Japan in the midst of their crisis, I can't help but be reminded of Godzilla, the classic 1954 monster film that in some ways is comparable to current events. Like the tsunami, Godzilla was a devastating creature who rose from the sea, trampled everything in sight, and wreaked havoc on the land and its people. There was a nuke angle as well: The giant creature was born from nuclear materials, a mega-mutation from atomic radiation, with radioactive breath, no less. The parallels between that film and Japan's current crisis are eerie, as evidenced in the original Japanese trailer
The anti-nuke message of the film means little today, of course, when Japan, which powers one-third of its electricity with nuclear power, is struggling to prevent a meltdown crisis. If only the fictional Godzilla were real today -- over the course of the films, he actually changed "sides" and became a defender of Japan. Perhaps he could think of a way to protect them from the meltdown. But in his absence, Japan's nuclear officials and engineers -- with offers of help from around the world -- are scrambling to contain the mounting threat.
Meanwhile, Hollywood is considering the plight of one of its greatest sources of revenue. According to a story in yesterday's LA Times, Japan is the No. 1 foreign market for Hollywood films, generating $2.5 billion in box office receipts last year, $700 million ahead of No. 2 foreign market France. The story reports that "Hollywood studios are undoubtedly counting on Japan to play an important role in the success of their big budget summer tentpoles such as Kung Fu Panda 2, Green Lantern, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon." The story says that Hollywood execs are now reconsidering their release plans, depending on how quickly the nation recovers.
The recovery may take some time, and along the way, Japanese people may or may not be interested in going to the movies. Something as trivial as a movie seems like the last thing you'd want to do if you've lost loved ones, your home, and more. On the other hand, trends show that people sometimes flock to the movies to escape the harsh realities of life, so it's hard to say how our friends in Japan might react in the weeks and months -- and maybe years -- ahead.
In the meantime, at least one American film distributor is moving forward with plans to show a movie in Japan: Campus Crusade for Christ, which for decades has shown the evangelistic film Jesus to billions of viewers around the world. Japanese Campus Crusade teams are already on the ground, as staff and volunteers deliver aid, food, and more to the displaced and the devastated. The ministry's Japanese teams are asking for 50,000 DVDs of the Jesus film (in Japanese, of course) to share with their countrymen.
When I first heard about this, I thought it was a bit tacky -- because while there are people all over the world who certainly need Jesus, what the Japanese need right now is food, shelter, warmth, medical aid, and comfort. But there are so many with no place to go, nothing to do, but just sit and wait for help to come. And as noted before, hurting people often like to escape to the movies; why not show a film that offers the greatest hope of all? Between that and knowing that the Japanese teams are asking for the film -- and the decision isn't just being made at CCC's Orlando headquarters -- I'm good with it. (If you're interested on donating to help get those DVDs to Japan, click here.)
The Day the Movies Died
Hollywood's first question is not 'Will the movie be good?' but 'Can it be sold?'
Check out this awesome analysis -- by GQ writer Mark Harris -- on the overall decline of smart movies coming out of Hollywood, where execs are more interested in whether an idea can be marketed rather than whether it's good, intelligent, unique.
Some highlights, directly from the story:
> I don't mean that there are fewer really good movies than ever before (last year had its share, and so will 2011) but that it has never been harder for an intelligent, moderately budgeted, original movie aimed at adults to get onto movie screens nationwide.
> How did Hollywood get here? There's no overarching theory, no readily identifiable villain, no single moment to which the current combination of caution, despair, and underachievement that defines studio thinking can be traced. But let's pick one anyway: Top Gun.
> The guys who felt the rush of Top Gun because it was custom-built to excite them is now in its forties, exactly the age of many mid- and upper-midrange studio executives. And increasingly, it is their taste, their appetite, and the aesthetic of their late-'80s postadolescence that is shaping moviemaking.
> Such an unrelenting focus on the sell rather than the goods may be why so many of the dispiritingly awful movies that studios throw at us look as if they were planned from the poster backward rather than from the good idea forward. Marketers revere the idea of brands, because a brand means that somebody, somewhere, once bought the thing they're now trying to sell.
> If you were born before 1985 . . . well, it is my sad duty to inform you that in the eyes of Hollywood, you are one of what the kids on the Internet call "the olds." To the studios, which have realized that the closer you get to (or the farther you get from) your thirtieth birthday, the more likely you are to develop things like taste and discernment, which render you an exhausting proposition in terms of selling a movie.
> More often than not, these collectively infantilizing movies are breeding an audience—not to mention a generation of future filmmakers and studio executives—who will grow up believing that movies aimed at adults should be considered a peculiar and antique art. Like books. Or plays.
That's enough teasers from the story. If you like movies, and are concerned about the lack of intelligent stories hitting the big screen, this is your kind of essay.
'I Can Do All Things . . .'
Watch a scene from 'Soul Surfer,' coming to theaters April 8
Soul Surfer, the inspirational story of teen surfer Bethany Hamilton, releases to theaters next month. Check out this scene from the movie -- shortly after Bethany (played by AnnaSophia Robb) lost her left arm to a shark attack, her father (Dennis Quaid) comforts her in the hospital.
Palin to Be Portrayed by . . . Julianne Moore?
Despite Tina Fey's spot-on impersonations, Moore will play Palin in upcoming HBO film
HBO Films announced this week that 4-time Oscar nominee Julianne Moore will play former VP candidate Sarah Palin in an upcoming movie for the cable channel.
Moore will play Palin in HBO's adaptation of the 2008 election book, Game Change, by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. Yet-to-be-announced cast members will also play Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain.
As the Huffington Post noted, "It will take quite an acting job for Moore to play the role -- she's an outspoken liberal, and backed Obama during the election."
Going Gaga over the Gospel?
"Lady Gaga is spreading the good news of Jesus Christ, whether intentionally or not"
Writing for Busted Halo: An Online Magazine for Spiritual Seekers, Helen Lee, a theology student at Fordham University, claims that Lady Gaga is spreading the gospel in her music. She says that Gaga's new single, “Born This Way,” is "an anthem for the different. The song offers words of encouragement for everyone on the margins of society, including gay people, members of racial minorities, and even the 'broke.' She insists that 'God makes no mistakes.'"
And this: "Because Lady Gaga is able to embrace the ugly, and in so doing embrace the beautiful, she has a sensitivity and appreciation for inevitable human suffering. She acknowledges that people struggle constantly with their fallen nature . . . From her attention to human suffering, I’m reminded of the Christian theme of uniting your sufferings with Christ’s suffering. Gaga is demanding that the marginalized be seen as the valuable, beautiful, Christ-like people they are.
"Lady Gaga is eccentric for sure. She can be grotesque. She can be vulgar. But she is a role model of Christian virtue precisely because it seems unlikely that she would be. She has the potential to introduce God to so many people precisely because it doesn’t seem like she is doing so. Lady Gaga is telling a huge, devoted audience that God loves them."
I would agree that, at least in this song, Gaga is communicating some biblical truths. But to call her a "role model of Christian virtue"? A self-professed bisexual who shows off more of her body than almost any entertainer in history, who says she stays in shape on the "drunk diet," who walked into the Yankees' locker room after a game last summer while swilling whiskey and groping her own breasts, who believes she has two souls, who gave the finger to Mets fans, who . . .
Point made. If she's singing Christian truths, fantastic. But "role model of Christian virtue" doesn't exactly fit the situation.
Making the 'Most' out of a Short Film
Acclaimed Czech film, now out on DVD, tells a moving, redemptive story
The not-so-good news is the way Provident is promoting it; I applaud them for marketing it to Christians -- with a ringing endorsement from Luis Palau, no less -- because it's a film with themes that will resonate with believers. But their synopsis and descriptions give so much away that the viewer can guess the outcome long before it happens. I had not seen the film until Provident sent me a screener, and looked forward to viewing it. But I knew within 10 minutes how it was going to end, thanks to Provident's descriptions.
You could learn more about the film at Provident's site here, but if you're serious about watching it, I'd avoid reading much about it there. I'd even avoid the trailer there, which also gives too much away. The best advice is to go into this film "cold" -- or, as our critic Ron Reed put it in his review eight years ago, "To reveal much at all of a story this concise and beautifully constructed would be to rob the viewer of some of the film's greatest power."
TWLOHA Story Coming to Big Screen
Kat Dennings in title role for 'Renee,' who sparked To Write Love on Her Arms ministry
The trivia section on Kat Dennings' IMDb webpage says that "most of the characters she plays tend to be 'rebellious daughters' around 15 or 16." Dennings, 24, will tackle that role yet again in the upcoming Renee, a film about the troubled teenage girl who sparked the ministry To Write Love on Her Arms.
TWLOHA founder Jamie Tworkowski is a friend of the real-life Renee. He and others came to her side during her troubles in early 2006; Tworkowski wrote an essay about the situation titled, "To Write Love on Her Arms," which ultimately became the name of his organization. TWLOHA is a non-profit movement "dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicide. [It] exists to encourage, inform, inspire and to invest directly into treatment and recovery."
CT did a brief profile on Tworkowski several months ago.
'You Don't Have to Break the Lord's Rules'
Jane Russell, sex symbol and Christian, died yesterday. We interviewed her two years ago.
Peter T. Chattaway did a nice interview with Russell for us two years ago. In that conversation, Russell said she came to Jesus as a young girl, was taught Scripture by her mother (and later in Hollywood by Henrietta Mears), had an abortion as a young woman that almost killed her, and then later became an adoption advocate, adopting three kids of her own. As for her image as a sex symbol, she says she naive about the whole thing, only to later learn that "all it was about was some cleavage!" She also had some advice for young Christians looking for Hollywood work today: "You don't have to break the Lord's rules."
Jesus Walks on Water!
Well, that's hardly breaking news, but a new movie by that title combines surfing and faith
We featured Bryan Jennings, a former surfing star who found Jesus and later founded Walking on Water, a Christian surfing ministry, as our Who's Next subject in the October 2010 issue of Christianity Today.
In Walking on Water, Jennings takes two promising young surfers on a world tour to meet some of the planet's best surfers, to see life in various cultures (including third-world countries), to take part in various outreach ministries, and to experience life in a variety of settings. Jennings himself had taken a similar journey when he was 14; he wanted to "pay it forward" by doing the same for others. This film is that result. I've seen it, and it's definitely worth checking out to see how these boys are affected by what they see, hear, and learn.
Emilio Estevez on new film: 'It was the divine'
Writer/director says 'The Way,' starring father Martin Sheen, had providence on its side
When asked after a recent screening about the making of The Way, which stars his father in the lead role, writer-director Emilio Estevez told Catholic New Service, "I've stopped using the word coincidence" to describe the process. "It was providence. ... It was the divine."
The film, slated for limited theatrical release this fall, stars Martin Sheen in the story of four Westerners who walk the 500-mile pilgrimage route from the French Pyrenees to Santiago de Compostela, Spain, where tradition says the remains of the apostle St. James are buried. It is named after what is known as The Way of St. James.
I've heard good things about this film, including from CT critic Ken Morefield, who saw it at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall.
The Anti-Social Network?
Winklevoss twins, star characters in 'The Social Network,' continue their legal battle
The Social Network may not have picked up any major awards at Sunday night's Oscars, but the film's main characters continue their battle for awards of another kind -- in the courts.
The Los Angeles Times reports that twin brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who maintain that Mark Zuckerberg ripped them off to build Facebook, are contesting an out-of-court settlement reached three years ago. The Winklevosses have already accepted a $160 million settlement, but feel they're entitled to more -- while also insisting it's not about the money. They say it's the principle of the thing.
"If it was about the money, we would walk away right now," Cameron Winklevoss said. "Mark Zuckerberg wouldn't be sitting where he is if it weren't for us. They think it's over. We believe there is another chapter to be written."
Zuckerberg's response? "After all this time, I feel bad that they still feel bad about it."
Narnia Producer Found Dead in NY
Perry Moore died last week of an apparent accidental overdose of a painkiller
Perry Moore, who played a critical role in bringing the Narnia stories to the big screen, died of an apparent accidental overdose of OxyContin last week, it has been reported. He was 39.
Moore's 2007 book, Hero, about a gay superhero, won a Lambda Literary award. He also wrote and directed the 2008, Lake City, starring Sissy Spacek.
Moore played a key role in bringing the Narnia films to the big screen, starting with a 2001 letter to the C. S. Lewis Company seeking film rights to the Chronicles for Walden Media. He was just 29 at the time. Five years later, the self-professed "Narnia geek" saw his dream come true when The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe hit the big screen. Moore chronicled his journey in, The Official Illustrated Movie Companion for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (HarperSanFrancisco).
"I'm just the ultimate fanboy living out a fan's dream, because this was my favorite book as a kid," Moore told CT in 2005, just before LWW released. "Narnia kicked off my lifelong relationship with storytelling, with wanting to read everything I could get my hands on—certainly fantasy, though I like to call it 'literature of the ideas.'"
'The Washed-Up Geezer Redemption Film'
A pastor opines on 'Gran Torino,' 'The Wrestler,' 'Crazy Heart,' and 'Red' -- but no 'Get Low'
In a brief essay on what he calls "washed-up geezer redemption films," Charles Hambrick-Stowe, pastor of the First Congregational Church, Ridgefield, Conn., writes for Faith & Leadership wonders if such movies "teach us anything about what they might be looking for from the gospel?" He also asks, "What kind of 'redemption' do we find in these movies?"
By "these movies," he's specifically referring to Gran Torino, The Wrestler, Crazy Heart, and Red, and yes he does find redemption in each -- and, unfortunately, in far too spoiler-ific description. Glaringly missing from his list is Get Low, which releases to DVD this week and features the great Robert Duvall in the lead role, playing an aging hermit who has hid in the woods for more than 40 years to pay -- in his mind -- for a specific sin of his youth. To him, grace isn't an option; he wants to pay his penance. But as he encounters others along the way, he begins to consider the possibility of forgiveness. Duvall should've received an Oscar nomination for the role, but was unfortunately overlooked.
Check out our review of Get Low, my interview with Duvall (who knows a bit about geezer redemption), and the trailer:
Well Beyond 'Skin' Deep
New on DVD, 2008's 'Skin' is a stirring look at South Africa's apartheid era
No wonder Roger Ebert called it "one of the best films of the year." I just watched Skin, a 2008 film based on the true story of Sandra Laing, a dark-skinned girl born to white Afrikaner parents in 1955 South Africa. The film, which released to DVD a few weeks ago, follows Sandra's remarkable journey -- expelled from school and shunned by white society despite her father's efforts to have her officially classified as "white," and the sociological implications that her pigmentation wrought.
Oscar nominee Sophie Okonedo (Hotel Rwanda) is brilliant in the lead role as Sandra, torn between her feelings for her family and the black man with whom she falls in love. Sandra's father (played by Sam Neill) is an old-school racist who sees blacks as a lower class, but her mother (Alice Krige) is a bit more tolerant. But Sandra is forced into a position where she must choose between family and the man she loves, resulting in a difficult journey through hardship, racial intolerance, familial rejection, and a society in which she can never quite find her place.
It's ultimately a story of perseverance, redemption, and forgiveness, and well worth putting in your rental queue. Here's the trailer:
Producer Wanted to Cut Bible from 'Soul Surfer'
But after Bethany Hamilton's family complained, the Word made it to the final cut
The Hollywood Reporter notes that a producer had requested that the words "Holy Bible” be digitally removed from the cover of the book in a scene of Soul Surfer, the upcoming film depicting the journey of surfer Bethany Hamilton. Hamilton lost her left arm to a shark attack at the age of 13, but has since come back -- through perseverance and her Christian faith -- to become one of the world's greatest surfers. The entire Hamilton family is strong in their Christian faith.
"I could see the words bright and clear," Hamilton told THR. “I looked at my wife and whispered, ‘Thank you God, they put it back.’ ”
Fox News reported that Tom Hamilton and the production team "didn’t always see eye-to-eye," but that he's pleased with the end result.
“This is the first movie I’ve ever been involved in, and what really counts is what ends up on the screen,” Hamilton told FOX411. “And we are absolutely thrilled with the way the film turned out, and the wonderful way it portrays Bethany’s and our family’s story and faith."
Has Your Pastor Caught Bieber Fever?
New movie, out this week, has Christian undertones -- and even a Bible study guide!
There’s a subtle-but-fascinating marketing campaign going on for Justin Bieber: Never Say Never, accentuating the faith angle of the movie. Well, maybe not so much the movie as Bieber himself. Other than a quick pre-show prayer or two, the film is not overt about Bieber’s faith; one publicist clarified that “while Justin and his mother [also prominently featured] are Christians . . . this is a secular film about Justin and his music. However, it is clean, safe, wholesome entertainment that parents and grandparents can take their kids to.”
Still, due to the faith angle — however subtle — a relatively new division of a large marketing agency is pitching the movie to faith-based media and audiences. Allied Faith & Family, an arm of Allied Integrated Marketing, is working the faith angle for the movie, which is being distributed by Paramount. Allied IM (the parent company) is an established marketing agency that works a myriad of projects with well-known clients — including many of Hollywood’s major studios. (CT works regularly with the Chicago branch of Allied for movie screenings for our local film critics.)
In conjunction with the new Bieber film, Allied Faith & Family has put together a 12-page Bible study discussion guide titled, “Never Say Never: For Nothing Is Impossible With God,” based on the film and Bieber’s own faith journey. The guide bills itself as “an opportunity to teach our children about the power of hope, prayer, faith and family.” It includes sections on “Discerning God’s Plan for Your Life,” “The Power of Prayer,” and “The Importance of Godly Friendships.”
We already knew that Bieber was a Christian, but Allied Faith & Family’s efforts — which include a video interview with Bieber’s mother, Pattie Mallette — have helped members of the media learn even more about his faith journey. Cobbled from press releases, videos, and the interview with Mallette, we learn that:
> Bieber, in his own words, is “a Christian. I believe in God. I believe that, you know, Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I have a relationship with him. And he’s the reason I’m here.” (A few more "you knows" were edited out here.)
> Mallette wanted her son to be “a youth pastor or a worship leader,” and when Justin’s pop star began to rise so rapidly, she didn’t think it was God’s plan because so many entertainment celebs “are getting into trouble. It’s not the best environment to raise a child from.” But she says God “said” to her that he’d called her son “to be a light in the world, and how are you supposed to be a light in the world if you’re not in the world.”
> “Justin is still discovering who he is and who God is,” according to Mallette. “He has faith in God, and God has hooks in his heart. . . . He definitely knows he is not here on his own merit. He can’t deny the unprecedented favor of God in such a short period of time. And he knows it’s for a purpose and a plan.”
> Justin’s “Pray” is his mom’s “all time favorite song. It’s so full of life and hope.” In the song, Bieber notes some of world’s woes (“children are crying, soldiers are dying, some people don’t have a home”) before praying “for the broken hearted, for the life not started, for all the ones not breathing, for all the souls in need.” It’s not great poetry, but it’s a catchy pop song with a good word from a nice kid who believes in Jesus, you know?
And here's the movie trailer:
'Soul Surfer' Trailer Premieres
Inspirational story of Bethany Hamilton coming to the big screen in April
Jan. 28 update: And we now have the trailer embedded below.
Entertainment Weekly has the premiere of the new trailer for Soul Surfer, coming to theaters in April. It's the inspirational story of Bethany Hamilton, who lost her left arm to a shark attack at age 13 but has gone on to become one of the world's top surfers, thanks to her courage, perseverance, and Christian faith.
AnnaSophia Robb plays Hamilton, while Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt play her parents. The faith angle is clear in the film, but it's not at all "preachy." It's a pretty good surfing movie, with beautiful people and places throughout, and based on one of the most inspirational stories I've ever heard. (Seriously? Losing an arm to a shark attack and not only having the courage to get right back in the water, but going on to become one of the best surfers in the world anyway? I find that, and Hamilton's story, astonishing and incredibly uplifting.)
CT visited the Soul Surfer set last year and interviewed Quaid and Robb; my interview with Bethany Hamilton will post shortly before the April 8 release of the film.
A Few Effing Cuts for a PG-13 Rating?
Weinstein considers dropping profanities from 'King's Speech' to reach wider audience
According to The Los Angeles Times, Harvey Weinstein, producer and distributor for The King's Speech, is considering making a few edits to the film to knock it down from an R rating to PG-13 or even PG.
The story notes that Weinstein "aims to rope in more movie-going commoners who normally wouldn’t go near a historical drama about a British king. The plans involve a potentially risky decision: re-editing the movie to excise coarse language and secure a lower rating that will open The King’s Speech to a broader audience."
Weinstein apparently noted the success of the movie in Great Britain, where a 12-and-over rating has helped it to top the box office chart for the last three weekends. "The British numbers are huge because the rating lets families see the movie together,” said Weinstein. “Tom and I are trying to find a unique way to do this that keeps his vision of the movie.”
The film was rated R because of a brief string of f-bombs spoken by King George VI (played by Colin Firth) during a speech therapy session with Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). It's played mostly for humor in the film, and is for the most part inoffensive.
New Film Explores Intersection of Science & Faith
Ambitious 'Genesis Code,' made by Christians, has strengths and weaknesses
A new film, The Genesis Code, is beginning to make its way to theaters over the coming weeks and months. The movie, made by Christians in Grand Rapids, Michigan, tackles three main themes—the compatibility of science and faith, sanctity of life issues (especially at the end of life), and academic freedom in the classroom (particularly for students of faith to be able to voice their beliefs).
The $5 million film is an ambitious project spearheaded by Jerry Zandstra, a pastor and college prof in Grand Rapids (he teaches economics at Cornerstone University). Zandstra, a conservative activist in Michigan and the head of that state’s Pro-Life Federation, unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 2006.
Zandstra has said that he hopes The Genesis Code stirs up political waters, which is why he scheduled its first two non-local screenings in Iowa and New Hampshire – to be the first two states to voice their preference for the 2012 GOP presidential nominee. The first screening, Wednesday night in Des Moines, will be hosted by the Iowa Christian Alliance Education Fund and The Patriots Fund. Expected to attend are several well-known Iowa GOP politicos such as Steve Scheffler of the Iowa Christian Alliance and Kim Lehman of the John Paul II Stem Cell Research Institute – both members of the Republican National Committee.
The film itself has its strengths and weaknesses. There’s a 30-minute documentary-style segment that’s especially fascinating, explaining the compatibility between science and faith as it relates to the Genesis timetable (God created everything in six days) and the cosmic timetable embraced by science today (about 16 billion years).
But sandwiched around that is a mediocre film with a relatively cheesy story about a Christian college student journalist who falls for the star of the men’s hockey team, who is not a believer. The young woman is wrestling with expressing her Christian beliefs in the context of academia, and the hockey dude is wrestling with Big Questions because his mom is dying. Good ideas, but not very good execution, with less-than-believable plot developments including an over-the-top conclusion that wraps up far too neatly.
I wish they’d developed the best 30 minutes of the film into a 90-minute documentary, focusing on the “code” itself – the idea that God’s six days of creation are quite compatible with the cosmic time of 16 billion years since the Big Bang. That’s the good stuff in this movie.
Here's the trailer:
'Bella' Star to Build Huge Pro-Life Clinic
Eduardo Verastegui pledges to build largest pro-life women's clinic in U.S.
Mexican actor Eduardo Verastegui, who co-starred in the beautiful pro-life film Bella, recently announced that his organization, Mantle of Guadalupe, is planning to build the largest pro-life women's clinic in the United States.
“I will not use my talents except to elevate my Christian, pro-life and Hispanic values,” Verastegui said at an event where he made the announcement. "We are compelled to step up our efforts and will power of the soul to help the unfortunate, the sick and the poor, strengthen family ties, practice charity and live with integrity. This all will make Christ enter our heart, allowing him to become part of our soul."
Verastegui is active in the pro-life movement, often standing in front of abortion clinics to try to talk to pregnant women, offering life-affirming solutions to their situation. At the recent event, Verastegui introduced guests to some of the babies saved from abortion thanks to his organization's work.
A One-Sided Attack on Zionism
The many problems with the documentary 'With God on Our Side.'
Editor’s note: Several months ago, we reviewed a pair of documentaries about Christian Zionism. Our reviewer found one of the films, With God on Our Side, to be a balanced look at the situation. Guest blogger Gerald McDermott, the Jordan-Trexler Professor of Religion at Virginia’s Roanoke College, offers a different viewpoint.
The documentary With God on Our Side is anything but balanced. It does not give “both sides their due” but instead interviews only Israelis on the far left and ignores Christian Zionists who defend the rights of Palestinians. The result is a one-sided attack on Israel that treats social and political realities with the same ideological insouciance which the documentary assigns to John Hagee and his band.
One interviewee in the film claims—without rebuttal—that Jews did not live in the land for two thousand years. The truth is that Jewish communities have lived in the land through all this time, flourishing in Jerusalem, Galilee and coastal cities in the 9th and 11th centuries, and then rebounding after being massacred by Crusaders in the 12th century. By the early 19th century, long before the rise of Zionism, more than ten thousand Jews lived in what is now Israel.
Viewers are told of Jews expelling Arabs from villages in the 1948 war for independence, but not that the war was started by Arabs, or that Arab armies from neighboring countries targeted Jewish civilians, or that the war was unnecessary because the UN had offered a two-state partition that the Jews accepted and Palestinians rejected.
Continue reading "A One-Sided Attack on Zionism" »
'King's Speech' Tops Heartland's List
'Secretariat,' 'Waiting for Superman' also named in year's top 10 "Truly Moving Pictures"
"This top ten list represents the best of our Truly Moving Picture Award-winning films from 2010," said Jeffrey Sparks, President and CEO of Heartland Truly Moving Pictures. "We feel it is important to highlight these standout films and the positive impact they have on audiences."
To see the entire list, click here.
King David Headed for Big Screen . . . Twice!
Separate movie projects, both by Christian directors, are in the works
Directors Scott Derrickson and David Cunningham, both Christians, are in the early stages of helming major films about King David.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Derrickson is "getting his slingshot ready" to helm Goliath, about the popular Bible story of David and Goliath.
Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Day the Earth Stood Still) will helm the film that THP reports will have "a modern vibe that harkens to the spirit of films such as 300 and The Bourne Identity." The film is being produced by Temple Hill, which also was behind 2006's The Nativity Story.
Meanwhile, Cunningham (The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising, To End All Wars, The Path to 9/11) told CT he will helm Day of War, the first in a series of 3D films based on the Lion of War franchise, which tell the story of King David and his "mighty men." (Concept art from the studio is pictured here.)
Grant Curtis, who produced the three recent Spider-Man films, will produce the Lion of War movies. Cunningham's GiantKiller Pictures (get it?) has optioned rights to all five Lion of War books, to be released by Zondervan, starting with April's Day of War.
Cunningham tells CT that Day of War will be a “major motion picture in the vein of Lord of the Rings.” And his GiantKiller Pictures website says the films "will be realized in 3D with the supernatural aspects of the film literally hovering in the audience."
Stay tuned to CT Entertainment for further developments on these films.
Turning into Gods?
Upcoming documentary explores quest for immortality and 'our ultimate potential'
TV host and filmmaker Jason Silva is working on a documentary called Turning into Gods in which he explores "mankind's journey to 'play jazz with the universe' ... It is a story of our ultimate potential, the reach of our intelligence, the scope of our scientific and engineering abilities and the transcendent quality of our heroic and noble calling."
The film proposes to investigate "the texture and color of our next refined and designed evolutionary leap," suggesting that we will someday become what philosopher David Pearce calls "Paradise Engineers." Silva quotes Stewart Brand: "We are as gods, and we might as well get good at it."
Interestingly, our latest cover story, "Chasing Methuselah," explores some of the same ideas, while asking if we who believe in eternal life should even care about such possibilities.
Here's a teaser trailer for Turning Into Gods:
TURNING INTO GODS - 'Concept Teaser' from jason silva on Vimeo.
Where's the Dawn in 'The Dawn Treader'?
New Narnia film overlooks one of the book's main themes, falls short on others
CT film critic Steven D. Greydanus, writing for The National Catholic Register, clearly articulates a number of the problems with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which opened to a weak $24.5 million over the weekend -- a much weaker opening than for The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe ($65.6 million) and for Prince Caspian ($55 million).
Analysts and studio heads will come up with all sorts of theories for the weak opening, but certainly one of the reasons is that the film got all sorts of things wrong, when compared to the book. Greydanus does a nice job in describing the challenges of converting a beloved book to the big screen, that it rarely can be a perfect adaptation, and that some changes are inevitable. That's well enough, but some of the changes are head-scratchers -- starting with the title itself.
The Dawn Treader is supposed to be sailing always east, toward the world's edge, the eternal dawn, toward Aslan's country. But the film completely overlooks that. Greydanus asked two key people about the that -- Walden Media president Micheal Flaherty and co-producer Douglas Gresham. Flaherty understood and acknowledged the validity of Greydanus's point; Gresham blew it off.
"Narnia has an interesting geography: The world is flat," Flaherty said. "And there is something beckoning about the utter east. That would have been a good shot. … That’s an interesting point.” But Gresham, C. S. Lewis's stepson who calls himself the "Narnia police" to make sure the films get the main things right, said, “I don’t think that’s the least bit important, to be honest. That they sail eastward, in Narnia? A flat world, theoretically? I don’t think it is, no.”
Read the rest of Steven's insights here. He voices all of my own concerns about the film, but much more articulately than I ever could.
Hobbit Auditions: Dark-Skinned Need Not Apply
Debates abuzz after 'Hobbit' casting agent turns away a dark-skinned woman
A couple of weeks ago, a casting agent for Peter Jackson's upcoming Hobbit was fired for telling a woman she was too dark to play one a hobbit.
It's caused quite a stir, with people weighing in on both sides of the issue. Some say the agent deserved to be fired for her "racist" attitude, but others contend that the hobbits in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth, rooted in Anglo-Saxon, Northern European lore, should be Caucasian.
Atlantic Wire has a nice summary of the discussion. Check it out, and let us know what you think in the comments section.
Bah! Humbug to Christmas Movies?
LA Times story claims that 'Hollywood scraps its Christmas spirit'
Noting that there are no Christmas movies releasing this year -- except for the critically panned Nutcracker in 3D -- and none planned for 2011, an article in the LA Times business section begins by saying that Hollywood is now playing the Grinch.
"The release of new Christmas movies long has been as much a tradition of the season as the annual late-night TV showing of It's a Wonderful Life and shoppers stampeding stores on Black Friday," the article notes. "But this year, there's hardly a holiday movie in sight."
The Times says the trend "reflects a change in traditional Hollywood thinking. Family films are as popular as ever . . . but the film world thinks Yuletide themes are getting a bit long in the whiskers."
The story quotes producer Joe Roth (Home Alone, The Santa Clause), a former chairman of Disney Studios: "The way to do a big-budget film these days is to take stories that everyone in the world knows and take them in a new direction. But no one's come up with a fresh way to do a holiday movie, so we're all doing it with other kinds of stories."
In a separate piece, Times columnist Steven Zeitchik flat-out asks, "Is Hollywood mounting a war on Christmas?" He concludes his op-ed with these words: "Hollywood executives' assumption is that Americans would rather come to theaters to see stories about pretty much anything other than Christmas. Are they right?"
Meanwhile, AWR Hawkins at Big Hollywood says the Times is playing loose with statistics, and that the Christmas movie is alive and well.
What do you think?
And Another Silly Quote from Narnia Land
Neeson not alone in denying Christ as obvious source of story; now a producer joins in
Seriously??
Presumably in the name of political correctness -- and trying to avoid having the film pigeonholed as a "Christian movie" -- one of the chief producers says he doesn't know if C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia are "Christian"? Yowzers. That's astonishing.
Johnson's full quote includes a reference to Aslan's clearly Christ-like death-and-resurrection scene in the first book and movie, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe: "Resurrection exists in so many different religions in one form or another, so it's hardly exclusively Christian. We don't want to favor one group over another ... whether these books are Christian, I don't know."
Even more astonishing is that Johnson's words come just a couple of days after Liam Neeson, the actor who voices Aslan, denied that his character solely represents Christ. Neeson said that Aslan "also symbolises for me Mohammed, Buddha and all the great spiritual leaders and prophets over the centuries."
Narnia fans around the world have been voicing their dismay at the comment ever since. Many of them are weighing in on Johnson's and Neeson's comments at Big Hollywood. "They are absolutely killing this movie for me," wrote one commenter. "C'mon, can't they even read the Cliff Notes . . . before talking about the movie?" Another: "How exactly do people in charge of making a movie not actually know what the movie is about?" And yet others are undeterred by the remarks: "I'm still going to see it. Nothing will deter me from this movie. NOTHING!"
Meanwhile, the film is clearly being marketed to Christian churches and leaders at NarniaFaith.com, a joint effort between Fox, Walden Media, and Grace Hill Media. In the section on sermon illustrations, evangelist Luis Palau calls Dawn Treader "a powerful story" about "discovering the risks, surprises, and revelations of life with Jesus Christ." Palau goes on to refer to Aslan as "Lewis' depiction of Jesus Christ."
Another pastor, Ken Foreman, refers to the story and film as "a wonderful analogy about our spiritual growth as Christians" and that Aslan's name "in our world is Jesus."
Palau and Foreman are absolutely right, of course. Even C. S. Lewis said as much: "The whole Narnian story is about Christ," he wrote. Lewis pictured Jesus as a lion partly because he's called "The Lion of Judah" in Scripture.
So, on the one hand, those behind the film are clearly unashamed to associate their product with Jesus and Christianity, as evidenced at NarniaFaith.com. But on the other, with the recent comments from Neeson and Johnson, it's quite a different story.
I'm not saying that Neeson and Johnson are obliged to shout from the housetops that Narnia is a Christian allegory. But to say things that essentially deny that fact seems like a foolish strategy at the other extreme. It miffs the core audience -- Christians who've loved these books for decades -- and confuses everyone else.
Young Director Shows Promise with 'The Trial'
Gary Wheeler's second movie, now on DVD, a positive step in Christian filmmaking
It's been several weeks since a review copy of The Trial landed on my desk, and I haven't been able to find the time to watch it till just this evening. It was a Christian film by a young director, so I admit I wasn't trying terribly hard to make the time, either. I feared it might be another one of those heavy-on-agenda-but-weak-on-story flicks for the flock.
I was wrong.
Wheeler and a strong cast have come up with a good-but-not-great film about a 40-something attorney (Matthew Modine, Full Metal Jacket) who is considering suicide after surviving a car accident that killed his wife and kids. But just before he pulls the trigger (literally!), the phone rings . . . and he ends up taking on one last case, defending a young man accused of murder.
It's a decent courtroom drama, based on a book of the same title by Robert Whitlow. (Wheeler's directorial debut, The List, was also based on a Whitlow novel.) The film's title obviously refers to the story in the courtroom, but also in the heart and soul of the main character's life as he struggles to find a reason to live and a purpose for pressing on. It unfolds in a way that feels mostly natural, never hitting the viewer over the head with a sermonizing agenda. Faith and biblical principles are part of the story, but organically, never forced.
Wheeler's directorial restraint is to be commended in a genre (inexpensively made indie Christian films) that often lacks such restraint. Ironically, that leads to my main complaint about the movie: Methinks there's too much restraint, because many of the characters lack, well, character. I only kinda sorta cared about them as people; the story kept my attention more than the people did. And Wheeler had some good talent to work with -- not just Modine, but veteran Bob Gunton as the prosecuting attorney, Robert Forster as an investigator, and TV veterans Clare Carey (as a psychologist) and Randy Wayne (as the defendant), the latter most recently seen in the lead role of To Save a Life.
But that's a mere quibble. Overall, it's a fine effort, and I look forward to more from Wheeler. The film is now available on DVD from Fox Home Entertainment. Watch the trailer here:
Here's One 'Code' Worth Checking Out
New documentary explores the 'imaginative DNA' behind the Chronicles of Narnia
When the book Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis released a couple years ago, with its claims of discovery of a “secret layer” of meaning behind The Chronicles of Narnia, I remember thinking, “Seriously??”
But it was released by Oxford University Press, giving it some instant cred. Still, on the heels of The Da Vinci Code movie and The Secret and all sorts of hooey with This Code and That Code coming out, I pretty much ignored the book. In the years since, I’ve heard others say it was a good read, but I still haven't gotten around to reading it.
Well, shame on me.
Leave it to a 60-minute documentary – called The Narnia Code, no less! – to pique my interest. The film, which released to retail outlets just before Thanksgiving (and, conveniently, only a couple weeks before The Voyage of the Dawn Treader hits theaters), is an overview of the ideas that Planet Narnia author Michael Ward put forth in his book.
And they are fascinating ideas. Ward says that Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia include a deeper, never-before-discovered “imaginative DNA” behind the seven books, with each book representing one of the seven planets of medieval astronomy—one of Lewis’s great interests. The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, for example, represents the planet Jupiter, while Dawn Treader represents Sol, or the sun. (The sun and moon were considered “planets” in medieval astronomy.)
Think it sounds a bit weird? I would’ve thought so too, till watching this documentary, which builds a compelling case, especially since it includes interviews with many top Lewis scholars, who all give credence to Ward’s discoveries. (And most of them also thought the idea sounded wacky when they first heard it too – till they read the book.) All to say, the film has encouraged me to find a copy of the book and give it a read. Check out the trailer for the documentary below:
Aslan Represents . . . Mohammed and Buddha?
The 'stupid' comment is from Liam Neeson, who voices the Lion in the films
On the next-to-last page of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Lucy wonders how they shall live in their world without meeting Aslan, the Great Lion, again. But Aslan reassures her, saying she will meet him again: "But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name."
Any Christian lover of these C. S. Lewis books knows full well what that Aslan's name is here in our "real" world: It's Jesus himself. I mean, there's even a death-and-resurrection scene in one of the books in which Aslan must shed his blood to pay for the sins of another. Aslan as a Christ figure is almost as well-known a fact as, well, Jesus himself was a Christ figure in The Passion of the Christ. It's a no-brainer.
But now there's a low-brainer of a comment from actor Liam Neeson in today's London Daily Mail that already has Narnia and Lewis fans seething. Neeson, who does a fine job providing the voice of Aslan for the Narnia movies -- Dawn Treader releases worldwide later this week -- said in an interview with the Daily Mail that Aslan is also based on other religious leaders like Mohammed and Buddha.
The Daily Mail then cites a couple of Lewis experts who note how "stupid" Neeson's comment was.
‘Aslan is clearly established from the very beginning of the whole cannon as being a Christ figure," said William Oddie, a former editor of The Catholic Herald and a lifelong fan of the Chronicles of Narnia. "I can’t believe that Liam Neeson is so stupid as not to know."
Walter Hooper, Lewis’s former secretary and a trustee of his estate, said the stories have "nothing whatever to do with Islam. Lewis would have simply denied that. He wrote that the 'whole Narnian story is about Christ.' Lewis could not have been clearer."
Lewis himself once wrote of Aslan's character: "He is an invention giving an imaginary answer to the question, 'What might Christ become like if there really were a world like Narnia, and He chose to be incarnate and die and rise again in that world as He actually has done in ours?'"
Meanwhile, advance reviews of the film haven't been very kind, either.
The Dawn Treader Sets Sail . . . for Your Church
'Narnia Night' created for local congregations to learn about the film and Lewis
The ever-expanding Narnia Faith website -- "Narnia-Inspired Resources for People of Faith" -- recently added a "Narnia Night" section to the site, chock full of materials for churches to host their own event while gearing up for next week's release of Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third film in the Chronicles of Narnia series.
"Narnia Night" is being billed as "an exclusive event just for churches" that includes a documentary on C. S. Lewis, a behind-the-scenes look at the making of one of the movie's scenes, “Un-Dragon Your Life” testimony from Jim Burgen of Flatirons Church, and exclusive look inside the new film. It's all available at no cost.
That all can be found in the "Engage" section, which also includes "Operation Narnia," a partnership with Samaritan's Purse and its annual Operation Christmas Child event.
The "Teach" section, introduced by Fuller Theological Seminary President Richard Mouw, includes sermon outlines, study guides, and other goodies. And the "Learn" section includes the trailer, a gallery, info on Lewis, and an essay from Douglas Gresham, Lewis's stepson.
There's Something About That Mane
Is it Aslan? Or is it just a bloodthirsty African predator? You make the call . . .
One of these is the top half of the poster for the upcoming movie, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, opening Dec. 10. The other is the top half for the DisneyNature film African Cats, coming in April. Can you tell which is which? (For the answers, click here and here.)
Have the Coen Bros. Gone Family-Friendly?
Directors of 'True Grit' remake say it's 'tonally' different from previous projects
The brothers told the newspaper they wanted to make the kind of movie that they enjoyed as kids, and they say the holiday release date -- typical of more family-friendly fare -- is appropriate. "We thought that seemed to make sense, because it is a young-adult adventure story," Ethan Coen said.
Their version is darker than the 1969 version, starring John Wayne, but still has a "winking playfulness," according to the newspaper, with much of the film playing as a comedy. "That's something people do associate with our movies," says Joel Coen, "the fact that there is a humorous element." The brothers said they took much of the humorous dialogue straight from the 1968 novel by Charles Portis. "There's a formality to it," Ethan says. "And no one uses contractions."
Harry Potter Is 'A Good Christian'
So says a former Yale University theologian who has taught courses on HP
"I firmly believe that we need to read the [Potter] books with an eye beyond witchcraft," Tumminio says. "I don't have the sense from the books that the witchcraft is designed to make us want to be witches and wizards. I think it's designed to teach the reader about fighting for one's values and fighting for love."
Tumminio says she structured her forthcoming book the way she did her class: by exploring Christianity's influence on Rowling's themes of evil, sin and resurrection.
When Tumminio, who holds three degrees from Yale and is an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church, taught Christian Theology and Harry Potter at the Ivy League university during 2008 and 2009, the course drew a religiously diverse group of students, including an Indian Christian, a Kenyan Episcopalian and a Chinese atheist.
Trading Faith Healing for Sex, Drugs, and Fame
That's a big part of the plot in 'Sympathy for Delicious,' coming to theaters next spring
Actor Mark Ruffalo (Collateral, Zodiac, Shutter Island) and good friend Christopher Thornton have walked -- metaphorically speaking -- a difficult journey together for some 20 years. Thornton had been a paraplegic since 1992, when he fractured two vertebrae after a fall while rock climbing; Thornton still can't walk. Ten years later, Ruffalo was diagnosed with a brain tumor; it turned out to be benign and was surgically removed, resulting in temporary partial facial paralysis.
With that history, the two men teamed up to write (Thornton) and direct (Ruffalo) an edgy indie film about faith healing titled Sympathy for Delicious, which was just picked up by Maya Entertainment and is slated for a theatrical release next spring. Thornton plays the role of a recently paralyzed DJ who attends a faith healing service. But instead of being healed, he awakes the next day to find that he has the power to heal others simply by laying hands on them -- a power he quickly abuses.
"He basically takes his God-given gift and prostitutes it for sex, drugs, rock & roll, and fame," Ruffalo said at the Sundance Film Festival, where the film screened. In the same interview, Thornton said that the main character was so down about his circumstances that he "had to at least entertain the possibility of faith."
Earlier this year, Thornton told the LA Times that about 18 months after his accident, he had done the same thing -- going to faith healing services and seeing holistic healers, often dragged by friends. "You're ready to believe in miracles," he said. But when he wasn't healed, he later resented the experience and was angry at himself "for having been duped."
Ruffalo, who grew up Catholic and attended Catholic schools, says the film is "very personal. I was there, watching [Thornton] struggle with being paralyzed. A lot of that struggle comes with, 'Why? How do I make sense of this?'"
See more of their interview in the video below. (Caution: There's a clip from the film that includes a couple f-bombs):
Narnia: Coming to a Mall Near You!
'Ice Palace' to magically appear in 16 shopping centers for holiday season
Georgie Henley (who plays Lucy) and Will Poulter (Eustace) will give Narnia fans a look at the upcoming film with a live, streaming broadcast from LA's Beverly Center mall at 4 p.m. Eastern Time. The palaces will be available at 16 Taubman shopping centers nationwide from November 12 through December 24.
According to a press release from Fox and Taubman, the exhibits "feature a color changing 30-foot Ice Palace, encircled with a series of majestic arches and smaller globes that appear to be carved from ice. . . . [G]uests will encounter life-like figures portraying scenes from the film and movie footage integrated in an exciting video show. When visitors enter the Ice Palace's largest dome, they will be greeted with falling snow and a captivating light show."
And if that weren't enough, even Santa -- 16 versions of him! -- will be on hand for pictures when you sit on the Ice Palace throne "that's cool to the touch," according to the press release. Santa in Narnia? Well, we'll just pretend he's Father Christmas.
The exhibits will be at the following shopping centers:
The Narnia Ice Palace will be available the following Taubman shopping centers:
> California: Beverly Center (Los Angeles), Sunvalley (Concord)
> Colorado: Cherry Creek (Denver)
> Connecticut: Westfarms (Farmington)
> Florida: Dolphin Mall (Miami), International Plaza (Tampa), The Mall at Wellington Green (Wellington)
> Illinois: Woodfield Mall (Schaumburg)
> Michigan: Fairlane Town Center (Dearborn), Great Lakes Crossing Outlets (Auburn Hills), Twelve Oaks (Novi)
> New Jersey: The Mall at Short Hills (Short Hills)
> North Carolina: Northlake (Charlotte)
> Texas: The Shops at Willow Bend (Plano)
> Virginia: Fair Oaks Mall (Fairfax), MacArthur Center (Norfolk)
Ja Rule Takes Lead in Faith-Based Film
Rapper with a rap sheet plays lead role in 'I'm in Love With a Church Girl," due in 2011
I'm in Love with a Church Girl recently finished filming and is slated for a 2011 TBA release. The film is based on the true story of Galley Molina, a former music industry exec who was involved in drug trafficking and did prison time before finding God; he's now a youth pastor at Evergreen Valley Church in San Jose.
In an interview on the film's official website, Ja Rule said "I almost felt like I was that character" -- and it's easy to see why. Rule has been in trouble with the law numerous times with drug and gun charges, though he's never served time in jail; a gun charge is still pending. And his potty mouth is notorious; all seven of his studio albums come with explicit language warnings. In a recent interview, he ripped fellow artists -- using the term "n*ggas" -- for what he perceives as misuse of the phrase "keeping it real." Rule said, "You know what keeping it real is? Feeding your f*cking family, taking care of your f*cking kids, that's what's keeping it real. All that other frivolous bullsh*t is just that." Hmmm, okay.
Rule, who has acted before (The Fast and the Furious, Scary Movie 3), is clearly proud to be part of a faith-based project: "I just shot this real ill movie, this Tyler Perry sh*t called I’m In Love With A Church Girl, with Adrienne Bailon. They talking about taking it to the festivals and sh*t. So we can get a shot at winning awards and sh*t. It’s like everything is moving in the right direction for me right now." (Note: It's not a Tyler Perry film.)
I wonder if they'll be sending Rule to pastors' conferences and churches to plug the film, and other sh*t like that? Good Lord.
The film also stars Stephen Baldwin, Michael Madsen, and former Cheetah Girl Adrienne Bailon, Christian rappers TobyMac and T-Bone also appear in the film.
Molina says that “the message of this film is really simple but profound. Sometimes God needs to use extreme measures to deal with extreme circumstances. I was that extreme circumstance. This film is simply about the power of God in a man’s life. The unique part of this story aside from being based and inspired on my real-life experiences is that I wrote it while I was incarcerated in a federal prison on drug trafficking charges.”
The movie will be the first release from Reverence Gospel Media. Here's a video of Molina talking about the film:
Hilary Swank Visits Prison Fellowship
Star of 'Conviction' was present for screening at evangelical ministry
Hilary Swank, who plays the lead role in Conviction, recently visited the Washington headquarters of Prison Fellowship for a screening of the film. She is working with the ministry to spread the word about prisoners wrongly convicted of crimes.
In the film, she plays the role of Betty Anne Waters, whose brother Kenny spent 18 years in prison after wrongfully being convicted of murder. Betty Anne went to law school and spent almost two decades trying to prove his innocence before DNA evidence cleared him in 2001, and he was released.
Just before her appearance at Prison Fellowship, Swank told The Washington Post that since the film released, she had met 12 former inmates who had been exonerated, and that all of them spoke of "having found faith in prison, that it was what got them through their ordeal and the circumstances.”
Swank said she regards the film and Waters' story as "such a story of faith. Faith in this other person, the faith that Kenny had in his sister that made her feel loved, to continue on. It was this beautiful circle that they gave each other, this unshakable love. And you know, that faith can be compared in myriad ways: to having faith in a higher power, faith in trusting your future, having hope." She also mentioned "the power of faith" and that the film "is a great way to continue to spread the word" about those wrongly imprisoned. She has worked with Waters and The Innocence Project to that end.
Here's a video of highlights of Swank's visit with Prison Fellowship:
Why Are Christian Movies So Bad?
One writer at 'Relevant' addresses, and tries to answer, the question
The brief essay, excerpted from his book, You Are What You See: Watching Movies Through a Christian Lens is long on stating the problem in terms we've heard before: Christian movies are "intellectually vacant," "disconnected from reality," and are known for "substandard production values, stilted dialogue and childish plots." He blames it not only on the filmmakers themselves, who are guilty of mediocre art (at best), but also the Christian audience, which he says should be more discerning and more demanding -- of excellence, that is.
His concluding paragraphs, entitled, "So what can we do?", include a few platitudes that sound great -- "we need great films," "we must demand quality" -- but are short on practical suggestions and application. Nehring likely offers more detail in his book (which I haven't read), so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt; I'll assume he gets more specific in those pages.
He's right that Christians "must demand quality," but what's that look like? Does it mean that we shouldn't pay $10 to see a lame Christian film in the theater, or $18 to buy the DVD? And that we should spend our money on excellent films instead? Perhaps, but box office statistics alone don't really tell us much about excellence, or whether films are worth our while (no matter how some folks might interpret those numbers).
To me, the main thing goes back to something that producer Ralph Winter (the X-Men and Fantastic Four movies) told me a couple of years ago: There's simply no substitute for a great education at a first-rate film school, years of hard labor in the trenches with the best in the business (and yes, that likely means working side-by-side with pagans in Hollywood), and paying one's dues with lots of sweat, heartache, trial-and-error, failure, and dogged, unwavering persistence. There's simply no substitute for it.
True, God might clearly be leading you to make a movie, even a "Christian" movie. But without such a background, it's unreasonable to think you can make a great one. It's hard work, arguably the hardest of all the arts to master. And it takes time. Prayer and God's leading are great, but alone, they're no substitute for mastering the craft. That takes years.
Pandora-monium! 'Avatar 2 & 3' on the Way!
James Cameron, Fox agree to move forward with pair of sequels
Avatar is the biggest money-making film of all time, earning nearly $2.8 billion worldwide at the box office. It is also the top-selling Blu-Ray disc in history.
Cameron said, "It is a rare and remarkable opportunity when a filmmaker gets to build a fantasy world, and watch it grow, with the resources and partnership of a global media company. Avatar was conceived as an epic work of fantasy – a world that audiences could visit, across all media platforms, and this moment marks the launch of the next phase of that world. With two new films on the drawing boards, my company and I are embarking on an epic journey with our partners at Twentieth Century Fox.
"Our goal is to meet and exceed the global audience's expectations for the richness of Avatar’s visual world and the power of the storytelling. In the second and third films, which will be self contained stories that also fulfill a greater story arc, we will not back off the throttle of Avatar’s visual and emotional horsepower, and will continue to explore its themes and characters, which touched the hearts of audiences in all cultures around the world. I'm looking forward to returning to Pandora, a world where our imaginations can run wild."
Another Award for Melissa Leo
Oscar nominee's latest film picks up top prize at Heartland Film Festival
The Space Between, starring 2009 Oscar nominee Melissa Leo, won the $50,000 Grand Prize as Best Dramatic Feature at the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis on Saturday.
Leo, who was nominated for an Academy Award last year for Frozen River, was not present at the ceremony, but filmmakers Travis and Kristine Fine were there to pick up the award for The Space Between, which does not yet have a distributor. Other big Heartland winners were Freedom Riders ($25,000 for Best Documentary) and The Butterfly Circus ($10,000 for Best Short Film). Freedom Riders will air on PBS's American Experience next May, and you can view The Butterfly Circus in its entirety here.
A total of $150,000 was awarded at this year's festival, bringing Heartland's total over the years to more than $2.3 million in prizes.
Meanwhile, Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson, co-founders of Alcon Entertainment and producers of The Blind Side, My Dog Skip, and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, won the annual Pioneering Spirit Award "for their creative spirit in filmmaking and their contribution to Heartland's mission to support filmmakers in their quest to create films that bring out the best of the human spirit," according to a press release.
See a complete list of award winners here.
Christian Film Fest Slated for Korea
'X-Men' producer Ralph Winter to be keynote speaker at Seoul event
The 8th Seoul Christianity Film Festival (SCFF) will be held Oct. 21-26 in Seoul, "with a solemn goal to touch viewers and heal them from the emotional stress and burden in their everyday lives through movies," according to an article in The Korea Times.
Ralph Winter, a Christian and producer of the X-Men and Fantastic Four films, is the keynote speaker. Winter will "give a lecture on movies and his Christian faith," according to the article.
The fest, with the theme of "Touch You, the Healing," will include 20 full-length films and 17 shorts from 10 different countries. SCFF chairwoman Bae Hae-hwa said, "As so many people use touch phones these days, the meaning of human `touch' has vanished, making people feel more lonely and depressed. We wanted to heal those souls (through SCFF)."
The opening film Korogocho Hakuna Matata: A Story of Jirani" by Korean director Lee Chang-gyu documents a Korean priest and conductor who teaches despairing African children how to sing by creating a choir, and their journey to stage a performance in the United States. The 80-minute documentary will have its world premiere at the festival.
'The Hobbit' Gets the Green Light
Peter Jackson to direct the two-part film; shooting begins in February
The Hollywood Reporter says that the on-again, off-again films finally get the go-ahead, but labor issues could still affect where the movies are shot.
Signs That the Apocalypse Is Upon Us
Studio plans bigger budget remake of original Left Behind film
An e-mail just arrived in my inbox with that header at the top. So I clicked. And read this: "The wait is over! Loyal fans who have been waiting five years for the next LEFT BEHIND film, will be thrilled by the news that Cloud Ten has re-gained its rights to continue their LEFT BEHIND film series franchise."
We'll let the press release do all the talking. For now.
Rousing Music Coming to 'Church'
New indie film about an African-American congregation big on gospel music
"Everyone has a story about the church they attend," says executive producer Tommy Ross. "What we have done is taken those funniest stories, blended them with some original music and unforgettable characters to create a cinematic experience that will not be forgotten.”
Gospel greats Daryl Coley and Blanche McAllister Dykes lend their voices to the film.
'Blue Like Jazz' Movie Back on Track
In just three weeks, project went from dead in the water to moving forward with production
On September 16, three weeks ago today, Donald Miller wrote on his blog that the Blue Like Jazz movie, which he and filmmaker Steve Taylor had been trying to make for several years, was essentially dead. "The book that swept the country will not sweep theaters," Miller blogged that day. The main culprit was a lack of funding, especially after a key investor had decided to back out of the project.
Less than two weeks later, the film received a breath of fresh air -- and possibly new life -- when two young men from Franklin, Tenn., launched SaveBlueLikeJazz.com, a grassroots effort to raise $125,000 by October 25 to keep the film on track. The money was being raised through Kickstarter.com, an online fundraising site.
They had 30 days to raise the money; they did it in ten. Miller announced the news on his blog today with a post titled, "YOU DID IT!", writing, "I’ll blog more about all of this soon, but for now, raise your glasses friends, because WE ARE MAKING A MOVIE!"
Taylor recently told CT that once the money is raised, shooting would begin within a few weeks, mostly in Tennessee (where Taylor lives) to save significantly on costs. Originally, the entire film was to be shot in Portland, where Miller lives and where much of the story is based. Now, only portions of it will be shot in Portland.
In a later e-mail to CT, Miller said, "It’s become a bigger and better story, and a story I think God stepped into the middle of. Some thoughts:
"We had so much trouble raising the money for the film that I wondered whether God wanted us to make it. . . . This is a very honest movie, a very raw movie, but it’s a movie that presents faith as it intersects with a fallen humanity. So I think God answered my doubt in a way only God could. That’s been the most amazing part for me.
"We all get to tell this story together now. It’s our story. It’s not a story for the church to consume, it’s a story for the church to tell.
"The gospel is about rescue, and in a very real way, we got rescued on this. Our brothers and sisters swooped in to help us out.
"Another feeling I didn’t expect . . . is fear. We’ve got to make an amazing movie now! We’ve been pushing so hard to get the finances, and now we’ve turned a corner and are making it, and that let loose a lot of fear. Fear is a good thing, for sure, but it has to be overcome. The only way to overcome this fear is to make a heck of a movie. So here we go."
10/11 UPDATE: Jonathan Frazier and Zach Prichard, who launched the SaveBlueLikeJazz website, report that contributions came from almost 1900 backers, with donations ranging from $1 to $5,000, and that most donations were between $50 and $100 -- "which is great," they note, "because it proves that this was truly a groundswell of smaller donations that made the difference."
Director Steve Taylor weighs in on the good news: "I've been overwhelmed with joy and gratitude. We reached the end, then God provided a very unexpected turn via a couple of very dedicated fans of the project. It hit me at the end of the third day of the campaign, 'Hey - we're making a movie. Time to stop saying "if" and start planning "when."' Not since the Apostle Thomas has anyone been so happy to be proven wrong." Taylor said that shooting would start in late October and run through November.
Here's an updated video from the team behind SaveBlueLikeJazz, including thank you's from Taylor and Miller:
Let's Make History! from Save Blue Like Jazz on Vimeo.
The Faith-Based Version of 'Crash'?
That's how 'I AM,' which opens in more than 2,000 churches Sunday, is being described
Billing itself as "the faith-based Crash," the new film I Am opens in more than 2,000 churches this Sunday -- 10/10/10, an apt release date for a story based on the Ten Commandments.
The drama, set in Los Angeles, features 10 disparate stories ultimately connecting together -- similar to the model and ensemble cast in Crash. Characters include "a desperate heiress, a beautiful reporter, a vengeful detective, a charismatic district attorney," and more, each wrestling with one of the 10 commandments.
The film was made by Mariners Church in Irvine, California. Sunday night's screenings will be free, and the film will release to DVD on November 2.
The trailer:
The 'Upside' to the Down Side
New faith-based film focuses on finding the light . . . even on the blind side
Randall Bentley of NBC TV's Heroes plays a young athlete who has the world in his hands until an accident changes everything in the new faith-based film Upside, releasing to DVD today. Bentley's character, lacrosse star Solomon White, has his world literally turned upside down after a vicious hit leaves him with an unusual perspective. And that's just the beginning of his problems. When a new girl, the blind Wren, enters his life, Solomon gets the chance to see things in a whole new light. Check out the trailer here.
'Superman' Highlights U.S. Educational Needs
And Christians can help meet those needs, says Teach for America's Nicole Baker Fulgham
* * *
Waiting for Superman, the new documentary by Davis Guggenheim, opened in select theaters last week to rave reviews (including CT’s), and expands to more cities in the weeks ahead. The film opened amid much anticipation from the education reform community and is already getting lots of buzz. (Despite opening in just four theaters, the film earned an astounding $34,758 per theater, far above the nation’s top two films, Wall Street 2 and Legend of the Guardians, which earned $5,333 and $4,507 per theater, respectively.)
Waiting for Superman follows five families desperately seeking a quality education for their kids. The neighborhood schools simply aren’t measuring up, so the families apply to a handful of successful public charter schools as alternatives for their children. A highly competitive lottery decides who is admitted—and who goes back to the neighborhood school. One charter school, for example, received 767 applications for just 35 spots.
As a native Detroiter fortunate to attend a high-performing public magnet school, and who went on to teach in urban public schools, I found these scenarios hitting close to home. The reality is that by the time children in poor communities enter the fourth grade, they’re already three grade levels behind their peers in wealthier communities. Of children from these communities who do graduate, they perform, on average, at an 8th grade level. Waiting for Superman confronts these tragic realities.
But the film illustrates that we actually do know what success looks like when we do the hard work. Across the country, schools featured in the documentary, such as the KIPP Academies and the Harlem Children’s Zone, offer exciting proof points that every child—regardless of where they’re born or the extra challenges they may face—is capable of achieving success on an absolute scale.
In our work at Teach For America, the national corps of young leaders who teach in urban and rural public schools around the country, we see examples of possibility every day in our teachers’ classrooms. Research shows that teachers are the single-most important factor for a child’s academic success. The key is learning from and replicating effective teaching and overall success of high-performing public schools.
As people of faith, we live out the biblical principles of equity and service by getting involved to advance solutions. Students in low-income communities need tutors, policy advocates, and classroom resources. The producers of Waiting for Superman created a website to help churches take action: WeAreNotWaiting.com
The U.S. has the resources, talent, and collective potential to drive real solutions on behalf of our kids. Waiting for Superman illustrates that the millions of children caught in the cycle of struggling schools deserve better. So what are we waiting for? As people of faith, it’s time to take action.
'Blue Like Jazz' Movie: I'm Not Dead Yet!
Film based on Donald Miller's popular book could be getting another chance
Turns out a couple twentysomething guys in Franklin, Tenn., Jonathan Frazier and Zach Prichard, are among many who didn't want to hear that news. So Frazier and Prichard launched SaveBlueLikeJazz.com, a grassroots effort to raise $125,000 by October 25 in hopes of keeping the film alive. All funds are being raised through Kickstarter.com, an online fundraising site. If $125,000 isn't pledged by October 25, no money will exchange hands.
Frazier and Prichard write on the site that "since the book itself is so unique, why should the funding come traditionally? We submit that the funds for this movie should come from the people who the book actually impacted. It should come from the more than a million people who bought the book. It should come from the fans.
"We are just a couple of normal guys who decided to take a chance. When we heard the news about the film being halted, we thought to ourselves; “There’s got to be another way.” We dreamed big and now here we are. We know this is possible. Blue Like Jazz has reached a massive amount of people, and if it were to become a film, it would reach even more. Most importantly, we believe that this is going to be an incredible story. Think about it… investors back out, the movie's put on hold and the fans step up and say; “No, we will fund this movie.” That is a story we want to be a part of. Will you join us?"
Here's a video from the site:Save Blue Like Jazz from Save Blue Like Jazz on Vimeo.
Does It HAVE to Be a Sing-a-Long?
'Sound of Music' returns to the big screen in October as an audience participation event
To celebrate its 45th anniversary, the film is re-releasing to theaters for two nights only next month -- October 19 and 26. That's the good news. The bad? It's being billed as a sing-a-long event. I suppose that's fine for folks who WANT to sing along. But I want to hear the divine Julie Andrews, not the tone-deaf schlub I happen to be sitting next to in the theater that night. I don't even want to hear myself singing (because I'm a tone-deaf schlub myself). I want to hear Maria, Mother Abess and the nuns, and Liesl (confession: I was crushing on Charmian Carr as a pre-teen) and the children singing these songs. Heck, I even want to hear Christopher Plummer quasi-croak his way through "Edelweiss," which makes me tear up every single time.
Can't we have the best of both worlds -- a sing-a-long release one week, and an "art-appreciation-so-just-shut-up-already" release the next?
The Power of a Hymn
Upcoming movie, 'Alone Yet Not Alone,' tells a true tale of faith and redemption
Alone Yet Not Alone, a true story, began shooting this week in Roanoke, Virginia, with Wales and Michael Snyder as producers, George Escobar as director, and Oscar-nominated composer Bruce Broughton (Silverado) handling the music. Wales says it's a cast of talented but mostly unknown actors, except for Jenn Gotzon, who played Tricia Nixon in Frost/Nixon.
The story is set in the mid-1700s in western Pennsylvania, where European settlers and Native Americans aren't quite getting along. When natives raid one village, they kidnap two young sisters, Barbara and Regina Leininger, who are later separated. The young girls cling to the hope instilled by their family's Christian faith, especially by remembering the words to a German hymn their family often sang together, "Allein, und doch nicht ganz allein." The first stanza is translated:
Alone, yet not alone am I, Though in this solitude so drear,
I feel my Saviour always nigh.
He comes the very hour to cheer,
I am with Him, and He with me
E'en here alone I cannot be.
The hymn ends up playing an instrumental role not only in sustaining the girls during their captivity, but even in reuniting them with their mother.
Wales says the film, tentatively slated for a fall 2011 release, is "an Amazing Grace type of movie," another project he produced. He says it will be a family-friendly flick that accentuates the faith angle in the story.
Live at CT: Sean Tuohy of 'The Blind Side'
You loved the movie; hear the story behind the story in a free webinar coming soon
Click here to learn more about CTI's Web Campus, which offers courses and webinars to Christian leaders.
A Birds-Eye View
Owl City's theme song for 'Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole' soars
Last month, we noted that Adam Young, aka Owl City, was writing the theme song for Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, opening Friday in theaters everywhere. Young has now released a video of the song (see below) -- and it's just as catchy as his earlier tunes. Check it out and try to resist a smile:
'A Near Encounter with the Gospel'
Southern Baptist theologian Russell Moore finds the deeper story in Duvall's 'Get Low'
On a recent Sunday afternoon, Russell Moore, dean of the School of Theology and Senior Vice-Pre