“Fireproof” a review

I admit I was a somewhat reticent about going to see the latest effort of Alex and Stephen Kendrick, film makers from Sherwood Baptist Church, Albany, GA. I had previously seen “Facing the Giants” and had thought that the answers to the problems raised in that film were just a little too pat to be believable. Life’s problems don’t always turn out so easily solved.

I will also say that this is a Christian movie for Christians. That may not be how the producers conceived it since it is being shown in theaters, but that’s how it came across. Those who are not Christian will most likely not gain much from this movie, and may not even care for it much.

And the answers again are a little too pat for my liking, although certainly not as much as Giants.

This time Kirk Cameron, of Left Behind and, earlier, Growing Pains, is cast as Caleb Holt, a firefighter who is seen as a hero to everyone but his own wife, played by Erin Bethea. Their marriage is quickly going down the tubes and the couple don’t really seem to want to do anything about it.

Enter Caleb’s father who sends him a book called “The Love Dare” and challenges him to follow it’s instructions for 40 days.

I will say that this film is a vast improvement over “Facing the Giants.” Many of the supporting cast are  amateur actors, who nevertheless do an adequate job. Mr. Cameron is the one who gives strength to this movie. Ms. Bethea also turns in a good performance.

The story is compelling. There is action, drama, with humor mixed in so that one is not overwhelmed with the depression of watching a marriage fall apart.

It’s also nice to go to a movie for a change and not have to worry about what body parts I’m going to see, how many people are going to be blown into chunks of gore. And it’s nice to have a movie where the Christian character is not some crazy psychopath.

The church sure could use the message of the movie with divorce rates for believers matching that of unbelievers. And if someone is at the end of their rope in a marriage and takes the message of this film to heart, I believe it can change their lives and heal their marriage.

I’m just not sure there is an audience outside of that.

You can see more, including video clips and behind the scenes clips, at the movie’s web site.

Filed under: Movies , Christianity, Fireproof, marriage, movie

Fireproof

Saturday morning, the wife and I will be heading to the Marcus Theatres to see Fireproof. Our church has rented out one of the screens and we picked up the tickets from them.

I’m looking forward to seeing it.

Later that day we may head to downtown Waukesha for the Art Crawl.

Filed under: Christianity, Movies, Waukesha , Christian film, Fireproof, Movies, Waukesha Art Crawl

Teammates say ‘The Express’ changes history

A movie portrays history inaccurately?

Wow. Knock me over on that one.

Filed under: History, Movies , Movies, The Express

“The Enemy God”

A tip of the conservative ball cap to Practically Speaking.

The wife and I will take in the movie “The Enemy God – A Yanomamo Shaman’s Story” this afternoon at Elmbrook Church. This kind of documentary is right up my alley, worldview differences, language, and the Gospel.

The Left would disagree and I don’t expect the film to impress them, but I’ve been there; I’ve lived among people somewhat similar so I am interested.

Then we’ll probably hit some cheap eating place for our anniversary.

UPDATE: Saw the movie. I thought it was confusing and too long, but my wife thought it was OK. I dozed off and on which may account for my being confused. I thought the room was too warm; my wife thought it was fine. Ah, marriage.

Filed under: Christianity, Movies , Christianity, movie, South American indigenous poeples, The Enemy God, Yanomamo

Movie violence

Eugene Kane blames at least part of violence in America on the movies,

I wonder why so many people seem surprised at the random violence in America that regularly bubbles up and explodes in all kinds of horrible ways, everything from school yard shootings to car jackings to serial killers to murder-suicide domestic incidents.

Violence is all around us and apparently we like it. Just check out the movies.

So do movies, as Hollywood contends, merely reflect culture? Or do they influence culture?

And what difference does it make. It’s Free Speech and we can’t do anything about it anyway.

Filed under: First Amendment, Movies, Social issues , Eugene Kane, Movies, violence

Do Film Critics Know Anything?

I’ve often wondered the same thing. The story is on TIME.com.

I’ve been to films I thought were wonderful, but the critics panned. I’ve been to movies critics were wowed by and left wondering why.

Filed under: Movies , Movies

“The Bourne Ultimatum”

I’ve been a fan of Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne for many years. The Bourne Identity (Wikipedia summary), The Bourne Supremacy (Wikipedia summary), and The Bourne Ultimatum (Wikipedia summary) were all page turners. Eric Lustbader has written two more, but I didn’t like the only book I read by Lustbader so I have not taken a look at those books.

Then there was the mini-series, The Bourne Identity which starred Richard Chamberlain and Jaclyn Smith. This simplified the novel, excluding a couple of sub-plots.

Finally there is the movie trilogy with names as the books (Wikipedia summaries here, here and here). The movies have little of the books in them except for the names of the characters. Nevertheless all three are fine action packed tense thrillers. They are noted for their hand-to-hand combat scenes as well as the chase scenes.

The acting also is superb, in my opinion.

Ultimatum is along the same lines. The writing is concise with even some chuckle lines, like the other two. Take this one (from the trailer, so I’m not giving anything away),

Noah Vosen: [in car, on cell phone] Perhaps we can arrange a meet.
Jason Bourne: Where are you now?
Noah Vosen: I’m sitting in my office.
Jason Bourne: I doubt that.
Noah Vosen: Why would you doubt that?
Jason Bourne: If you were in your office right now we’d be having this conversation face-to-face.
[Bourne hangs up]

Heartily recommended. I will be getting the DVD to put on my shelf alongside Identity and Supremacy.

Filed under: Books, Movies

Why don’t people clap any more when movies finish?

They use to. I remember it. Is it because video and DVD rentals became popular? Something else?

The missus and I went to see No Reservations last night. Cute movie. I’m not really a reviewer kind of person because I get caught up in the story. For real reviews try Nehring the Edge or Blog Critics (where Nick writes, among others).

I thought the story was good, although the premise has been seen before (and what premise hasn’t?) The acting was good. They had practiced enough to look as though they have actually cooked before. There were some good humorous moments (although I think I laughed more watching Live Free or Die Hard), cute moments and tense moments.

But at the end of the movie in a packed theatre there was only a smattering of applause. What gives?

The movie itself is PG which means you don’t have to worry about apologizing to your friends after you recommend it. Neither did we have to worry about people disrobing in front of our eyes, nor did we have to worry about a swear word in every sentence.

Ok, it’s a safe movie. But sometimes safe is good.

Filed under: Movies

The AFI top 100

AFI TOP 100 U.S. FILMS (a tip of the conservative cap to Claude at Fuzz Martin for the list)

The ones I know I have seen are in bold.

1. “Citizen Kane,” 1941.
2. “The Godfather,” 1972.
3. “Casablanca,” 1942.
4. “Raging Bull,” 1980.
5. “Singin’ in the Rain,” 1952.
6. “Gone With the Wind,” 1939.
7. “Lawrence of Arabia,” 1962.
8. “Schindler’s List,” 1993.
9. “Vertigo,” 1958.
10. “The Wizard of Oz,” 1939.
11. “City Lights,” 1931.
12. “The Searchers,” 1956.
13. “Star Wars,” 1977.
14. “Psycho,” 1960.
15. “2001: A Space Odyssey,” 1968.
16. “Sunset Blvd.”, 1950.
17. “The Graduate,” 1967.
18. “The General,” 1927.
19. “On the Waterfront,” 1954.
20. “It’s a Wonderful Life,” 1946.
21. “Chinatown,” 1974.
22. “Some Like It Hot,” 1959.
23. “The Grapes of Wrath,” 1940.
24. “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” 1982.
25. “To Kill a Mockingbird,” 1962.
26. “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” 1939.
27. “High Noon,” 1952.
28. “All About Eve,” 1950.
29. “Double Indemnity,” 1944.
30. “Apocalypse Now,” 1979.
31. “The Maltese Falcon,” 1941.
32. “The Godfather Part II,” 1974.
33. “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” 1975.
34. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” 1937.
35. “Annie Hall,” 1977.
36. “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” 1957.
37. “The Best Years of Our Lives,” 1946.
38. “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” 1948.
39. “Dr. Strangelove,” 1964.
40. “The Sound of Music,” 1965.
41. “King Kong,” 1933.
42. “Bonnie and Clyde,” 1967.
43. “Midnight Cowboy,” 1969.
44. “The Philadelphia Story,” 1940.
45. “Shane,” 1953.
46. “It Happened One Night,” 1934.
47. “A Streetcar Named Desire,” 1951.
48. “Rear Window,” 1954.
49. “Intolerance,” 1916.
50. “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” 2001.
51. “West Side Story,” 1961.
52. “Taxi Driver,” 1976.
53. “The Deer Hunter,” 1978.
54. “M-A-S-H,” 1970.
55. “North by Northwest,” 1959.
56. “Jaws,” 1975.
57. “Rocky,” 1976.
58. “The Gold Rush,” 1925.
59. “Nashville,” 1975.
60. “Duck Soup,” 1933.
61. “Sullivan’s Travels,” 1941.
62. “American Graffiti,” 1973.
63. “Cabaret,” 1972.
64. “Network,” 1976.
65. “The African Queen,” 1951.
66. “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” 1981.
67. “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”, 1966.
68. “Unforgiven,” 1992.
69. “Tootsie,” 1982.
70. “A Clockwork Orange,” 1971.
71. “Saving Private Ryan,” 1998.
72. “The Shawshank Redemption,” 1994.
73. “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” 1969.
74. “The Silence of the Lambs,” 1991.
75. “In the Heat of the Night,” 1967.
76. “Forrest Gump,” 1994.
77. “All the President’s Men,” 1976.
78. “Modern Times,” 1936.
79. “The Wild Bunch,” 1969.
80. “The Apartment, 1960.
81. “Spartacus,” 1960.
82. “Sunrise,” 1927.
83. “Titanic,” 1997.
84. “Easy Rider,” 1969.
85. “A Night at the Opera,” 1935.
86. “Platoon,” 1986.
87. “12 Angry Men,” 1957.
88. “Bringing Up Baby,” 1938.
89. “The Sixth Sense,” 1999.
90. “Swing Time,” 1936.
91. “Sophie’s Choice,” 1982.
92. “Goodfellas,” 1990.
93. “The French Connection,” 1971.
94. “Pulp Fiction,” 1994.
95. “The Last Picture Show,” 1971.
96. “Do the Right Thing,” 1989.
97. “Blade Runner,” 1982.
98. “Yankee Doodle Dandy,” 1942.
99. “Toy Story,” 1995.
100. “Ben-Hur,” 1959.

Filed under: After hours, Movies

Flightplan

Yesterday, the wife and I went to see Flightplan with Jodie Foster. As one can deduce from the trailer, Foster has just recently lost her husband. She was traveling with her daughter to take the body home. Her daughter comes up missing and after the plane is searched with no results, everyone begins to doubt she had a daughter with her, especially when no one recalls seeing her and there was no record of her ever being on board.

Since she helped design the plane, she knows every inch of it. This helps her get around and gives her an advantage in her search.

Jodie Foster did well as the distraught mother. Then again I’m trying to remember a movie I saw her in that she was not believable. The rest of the cast are basically supporting roles.

I can recommend it. Now I’ll go see what others wrote.

Rotten Tomatoes gave it 36% (60 is passing).
Yahoo! Movies graded it B- from both critics and users.
Roger Ebert gave it 3 and a half stars.

Filed under: Movies