Tag Archives: Christian

I Can Only Imagine 2

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It’s time for the big sequel to the original hit that came out a while back. Sequels are always going to have a tough time because in theory you covered everything in the first film. This one does run into some of those issues as a result like with throwing in a ton of drama. I thought it was a bit overplayed here but ultimately it still leads you down the road to a good moral. Additionally since this film is based on something that did happen, it probably limits what you can do to a degree.

The film kicks off with showing how Bart’s time at the top didn’t stop more troubles from piling on. He had a kid with Shannon but he grows up with a strong case of diabetes which can only be controlled through daily shots. Sam doesn’t particularly like taking the shots though and tends to put it off as he works on the music. Unfortunately this got him into dangerous situations more than once which makes Bart feel like he has to watch over him 24/7. This has caused some rather serious rifts between the two of them and it feels like Bart is at risk of losing this connection forever. Can he find a better way to handle this?

The film does make Bart look pretty bad throughout as a result of this though. Particularly with what he went through as a kid, you’d think that he would be a whole lot more careful here. It is a dangerous situation but he just blows up at Sam way too much and basically has 0 tact. It’s always going to be easier to backseat drive and of course in real life it may not have played out like that but in the movie Bart does look rather unreasonable the whole time. Even when things are going well he finds it hard to give Sam any complements.

Meanwhile Sam is going through his rebellious phase as he pushes himself to his limits to try and prove himself. This causes him to misjudge his limits and faint at one point so that was also a pretty bad look for him. You can’t plan for every contingency of course but since there’s a whole plot about convincing his father that no extra surveillance is needed….it really blew the point up in Sam’s face.

Then Tim has it the roughest as he’s dealing with some health issues throughout the film but doesn’t let these issues define him. He is determined to plunge ahead and keep on making music. This easily helps him be one of the best characters in the film. He also helps to solve a lot of the issues going on with Bart and Sam. Without Tim the group would have absolutely fell apart.

In the end there are always times where you need someone else’s help and so the film really shows that group teamwork in action. The songs are also pretty good as you’d expect. They are really well known and it shows that Mercy Me had more than one all star song. It’s certainly not easy to pull something like that off but this band was up to the task. Since this is more of a bio pic than a musical there aren’t a lot of songs but the ones that we do get are solid.

The writing and pacing are pretty good here as well. We even get a few flashbacks to flesh out the final days for one character before he got written out. There is a lot going on here and so by the end you should find each character to be at least tolerable. I still think that some of the drama ends up being forced with characters making the wrong moves but at least at the end of the day it’s not like any of the characters had bad intentions.

While the film has a pretty serious tone throughout, there is still some time for humor here. The pranks tend to be really intense though so I do not recommend trying any of them out in real life. While some would be okay with it, I dare say the majority would take it pretty personal and really try to take you out. The golden rule here is absolutely to know your audience at all times. One misstep and it’s all over. Same with trolling or making adjustments on the fly during a live performance. Those things can definitely backfire.

There’s a saying about how you shouldn’t let your dreams be memes and it’s always an inspiring one. Many would say that Sam may not have had much of a chance to live the music life on the road because he could have a diabetic episode at any point. Others might have said that Tim was being too ambitious when he didn’t know how much time he had left. At the end of the day there isn’t much point to worrying about stuff like that. The characters just put their faith in God and kept it moving. If they were not able to finish the journey, then so be it but in the meantime there is no room for giving up. Bart almost threw in the towel but by sticking around he was able to churn out one more big song that would go on to change a lot of lives.

Overall, I Can Only Imagine 2 is a worthy follow up to the original film. It may not feel like the most necessary sequel out there but if you think that you have enough content for another story then you really ought to go for it. If they made a third film in this series then I would check that out as well. Hopefully it can just have a bit of a happier tone though. This one could just be so dreary at times and granted, the topics are very serious. You’re just hoping for more of an upbeat kind of film to relax with. If you are not familiar with the band Mercy Me, then you should really get a lot out of this one.

The Cross and the Switchblade

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This is a film that I’ve certainly heard a lot about over the years even if I hadn’t gotten to watch the film until now. The true events were a really big deal after all so that only makes sense. The film definitely captures how dangerous the environment was in NYC back in the day. Certainly not the kind of place you’d want to be walking around without a plan. Without divine intervention, David would not have been making it out of there alive either.

The film starts off with David hearing about a group of thugs who had attacked someone in the park. He tries to see them in court but is blocked from visitation and forced to turn away. He doesn’t want to just leave without a fight like this though and so he looks around the city for opportunities to turn the troubled youth over a new leaf. He means to introduce them into Christianity so that they will finally have a true purpose beyond their empty lives. Fortunately, he meets a girl named Bo who is able to get him into the gang bases to meet with their leaders. David also runs into a small congregation whose pastor takes him in. Now Davis can focus on getting the word out.

Right away you can see how everything had to go perfectly for David to have even had a chance here. The gangs could have easily murdered him at any time and it’s not like there would be anyone who could have stopped them. The gangs may not have literally ruled the city but they certainly had a lot of momentum. It wasn’t a popular move to get in their way and David was being very aggressive with his approaches. David wasn’t here to be subtle and so he would challenge them to their face. His final goal was to get all of the gangs inside a room with him to convert them at once and really make sure there was no room for escape. In most cases this would have been fatal.

David had God’s blessing in this from the start and so everything turned out well. He was really able to touch their hearts and not only left with his life intact, but knowing that he redeemed many souls. So the film has a happy ending there and is a very uplifting story in general. The fact that this happened in real life is a true miracle, definitely not something that can be downplayed or explained rationally. God is the only answer to a difficult situation like this.

Now the film is aiming to be as realistic as possible and for that reason it can be rather gritty. We see how the teens are all just addicted to the violence. They all hold serious grudges against each other to the point where they are always bloodthirsty. They are even quick to turn against their own members for any perceived moments of cowardice. This leads one of their members to fall to his doom. Each person also has to watch their backs at all times because the other gangs seek to attack them from behind, get them into traps, etc.

Then you have a bunch of drug dealers taking advantage of the chaos as well. Rosa gets trapped into this and is the film’s main subplot. She has a really hard time kicking the addiction and just when it seems like she has gotten out, she is sucked right back in. It’s definitely one of those plots that is tough to watch because she really should have been safe after the first time but then allowed herself to fall back into the same cycle. She let the bad moment get to her which is why you need a particularly strong anchor to fight such urges. The kind of anchor you are absolutely not going to get from your own strength.

I was also glad that David had some allies here. The church pastor and his wife were both very helpful to David. It absolutely makes a world of difference to have a place to rest as opposed to sleeping inside the car the whole time. Additionally, Bo was also helpful in being able to lead David around so he wasn’t just wandering. He had a lot of help that God presented to him and then faith had to take the rest of the way.

As long as you’re wearing the armor of the Lord then you will be protected at all times. It can be difficult to resist fear in the moment but it was absolutely rewarded here. David really never took a step back. The pacing and writing for the film are both pretty good. There is going to be a bit of shock value here as the film did not want to tone down the way that the gang members would talk at all. So you’ll be on the edge of your seat here even when you know that a positive ending is coming up. I do think it would be nice to have a version for kids at some point so they can also experience the story. There have certainly been many plays and such that go through the plot but I don’t think there was another big movie.

Overall, The Cross and the Switchblade is a powerful film to watch about how miracles still happen. You need to really watch it if you just don’t have hope for the future. It’s not a film I would recommend for younger viewers due to the violence and dark themes though. So for now just watch it if you’re old enough to handle this kind of story. Sometimes it can be hard to logically process a miracle and that’s fine. I would even argue that it should be that way because they defy logic. So seeing a film like this can be helpful as you are able to really visualize the kind of atmosphere that David walked into and was able to walk out of in complete victory.

The Little Troll Prince Review

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Now this is a special that I haven’t seen in a very long time. The Little Troll Prince is one of those wholesome stories that is fairly quick but covers a lot of ground. Bu may not be the most intense main character out there but he does serve his role well in learning about the true meaning of Christmas. This is a special I could really recommend to anybody.

The story starts by spoiling the ending though as we see how Bu is living a happy life. He lets the audience know that he used to be sad though as he grew up as a troll. The rest of the special is a flashback as we go back to the troll world and learn that they are taught from early on to be as mean as possible. The Trolls are a very cruel people and Prince Bu is the only one who wants to be nice. The school is desperate to knock that out of him though and Bu’s father is certainly upset about this. The other trolls decide to take Bu out of the picture permanently by sending him off to be eaten by the humans.

Fortunately for Bu the humans aren’t so bad. Otherwise he was completely tricked and dominated in this encounter though. Unfortunately while being nice is a good trait, Bu also ended up being naïve which did make it easy to put him in a bad position here. In a way I was surprised that the film didn’t end with him going back to the troll world in order to rehabilitate them. Instead he sort of rolls with the idea that goodness turned him into a Gnome and he’s just happy that it all worked out.

I would say the side characters end up standing out a little more than Bu here. Bu has a good singing voice here and he does his best to be a good prince while not succumbing to the way of the trolls. At the same time, he’s a bit too timid and there isn’t a whole lot to him. I enjoyed the King because he was actually concerned for his son but was stuck within the negative trolls framework.

So his only idea for helping Bu out was to be mean because that’s the only way that he knew. The King even went to the school personally to try and figure out what was going wrong. He was in Bu’s corner the whole time so I appreciate that. The Queen was a whole lot less sympathetic as she just considered Bu to be a failure and wasn’t going to defend him at all. It shows the completely different approaches that both of them had to this situation.

Then you have the two kids in the human world who got to explain things to Bu. They did a good job of rejecting all his arguments about how the trolls were beyond saving. They basically told him to stop being silly and listen to their points. They also explained the true meaning of Christmas being about the birth of Jesus Christ and instilled within Bu some true life lessons. Without them, Bu would still have been in a rather rough place.

The special does a good job of balancing the adventure with also being a more educational special where it talks quite a bit about the Bible and Jesus. It’s the kind of thing you don’t see a whole lot of nowadays so that was a really nice touch. It’s the small things like this which help to take the special to the next level. Surprisingly we don’t have a huge bombastic climax but I guess this special didn’t really need that. No need to promote violence here when the whole point is about Bu finally learning a better way.

The animation is pretty solid. It has a very traditional style that works well and reminds you how good the hand crafted style is. It holds up better than some modern titles which is absolutely a huge inditement on them. This style isn’t going for anything fancy but has strong fundamentals across the board.

As for the soundtrack, the songs could be a bit catchy at times. I actually liked the song Bu had about how cruel the trolls were. He sings it really fast to the point where it is almost hard to keep up but I liked the lyrics and he showed just why trolls could not be underestimated. It was all handled rather impressively if you ask me since I don’t always enjoy these old songs.

Overall, This is a pretty good special. It may be under an hour but they still cram in quite a few characters and the world building is solid. The special doesn’t try to show how the trolls are just misunderstood, but instead their society is just built completely different than the humans. It’s really interesting and also when you consider how close it is to the humans base. Perhaps one day the two sides will meet and things will get really intense but if not, you still have the lore here and can imagine how it all plays out. If you haven’t seen the special before, I would definitely recommend checking it out. I think you’ll be surprised at how fun it can be.

Overall 7/10

The Passion of the Christ

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This write up is of the TV-14 version. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time to look at one of the most famous adaptions of Jesus Christ’s resurrection. I would even go as far as to say it’s probably got the number 1 spot on lock there. It’s really nice to see a movie like this get so mainstream. It may not be my personal favorite adaption but it definitely does show what a massive burden he had to endure for humanity’s sins.

The movie starts with Jesus being betrayed by Judas and what follows is close to 2 hours of him being beaten and tortured until his eventual murder. There are quick flashbacks to his life and important moments mixed into this but make no mistake, the focus is really on his final hours. I can’t think of any film I’ve seen with this long length of nonstop violence. Films like Transformers are famous for very long action scene but to call this an action scene would definitely be misleading. This is a complete beatdown/torture for hours, not a string of different fight scenes so you definitely don’t want to get that mixed up.

Throughout the movie you know that Jesus has the power to save himself but is showing restraint because his death needed to happen here. It’s what makes all of the scenes that much more powerful since it would be one thing if he was completely helpless but putting up with all of this when he could end it all in an instant is really something. Along the way you naturally have Satan trying to tempt him and also showing up to mock as much as possible.

His demons also make quick work of Judas. One of the annoying things is always how Satan can freely use his abilities whenever he pleases while Jesus has to show restraint but that’s how it has to be for now. In the end Christians will get the final victory and it’s all about trying to survive until then. It isn’t easy and it will be a long road but at least there is a light at the end of the tunnel. That really should provide some comfort although it is often easier said than done.

The main thing to remember is your Earthly life is essentially a series of long trials. It’s a race with an unknown goal and so you have to not only survive the race but not lose your faith along the way. If you are able to do this then you will be in Heaven in the end. If you are not able to do this, then Hell awaits which is an unfathomable punishment even greater than the tribulations you see in this film. It is quite literally the highest stakes imaginable and so you have to really do your best to not let it overwhelm you. Just take it one day at a time and the Lord will be with you.

Now like I mentioned this isn’t my favorite adaption because to me the whole thing is a little too narrowly focused. Without the context from the Bible, it’s not as if this film is really going to be speaking to you all that much. In that sense it’s impressive that the film is releasing with a real specific target of reaching Christians and being a visual aid. On the other hand, there is no real goodness in almost any of the characters. The beatings and torture also go on for such an incredibly long amount of time that there is virtually no plot for most of the film.

It’s just like pulling up footage of someone being beaten and it goes on for a long time without the guy being able to fight back. It’s just going to be a hard watch and you question how effective it can really be. The movie also does add a lot of effects to make this almost like a horror film at times but then it jumps right back to the shock value violence. I understand that plenty of people have seen this film and enjoyed it so I suppose I can’t say it had no positive effect. Still, you get more out of the toned down versions that focus on the surrounding events as well like He is Risen. Or ultimately just reading your Bible is still and always will be the best resource since you are reading The Word directly.

Overall, The Passion of the Christ is a film showing a very important moment in history. The brutality that Jesus went through was absolutely extraordinary and he did not falter in his divine mission. Ultimately it is thanks to him that we have a path to Heaven through believing in him. I won’t fault anyone for skipping the film though due to the extreme levels of violence. At the end of the day this is a way to reach more people but as long as you read through your Bible and have a good understanding of the events then you are still all set. The ending is definitely handled really well, you can see how the sequel will pick things up from here.

Sound of Freedom

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This film certainly made a lot of waves when it was coming out. It deals with the rather heavy themes of human trafficking and goes very in depth with the subject. So this isn’t meant to be a fun watch by any means but more of an instructional one. Always keep your guard up and be careful out there. You need to be careful not to let your kids out of your sight with any strangers and even with people you know unless you are 100% confident that everything will be okay. Villains lie around every corner.

The film follows a guy named Tim who works for Homeland Security and his main job is really about finding podophiles across the country. Sometimes he is able to save some of the victims as well but typically they are taken across the border so there isn’t much more that the country can officially do about it. One day he plays the long game with one of the villains to get his trust and manages to actually save some of the victims. One of these victims explains that his sister is still being held captive and so Tim decides that this time he is going to see the mission all the way through. He will have to go to Columbia and so he loses the support of the homeland since this is out of his jurisdiction. Tim’s officially gone rogue and will have to use all of his skills to take these guys down.

There isn’t a lot of action for most of the film as it’s really about Tim having to set up a trap for these guys. He plays nice with the locals and has to act the part for a while. The idea is to build a giant building filled with kids to get all of the villains around and of course one of those kids might be the girl that he’s looking for. Of course it’s a very risky endeavor as well because if he gets taken out of the picture, now there is a new base for the villains. Also he has to wait until all of the kids land and so the first ones who get into the island are in the most amount of danger.

I’d say the main weakness that the film runs into is that since Chris has to pretend to be evil for most of the film, it feels like the majority of the film is just villains chatting with each other and talking about evil subjects. The dialogue is just hard to listen to even when nothing is happening. Then the film is fairly graphic in detail about what’s going on here and the main character barely manages to get there in time. One character’s origin is another tragic one about being with a minor when he didn’t even realize it.

Basically, this film is unrelentingly dark at all times. There’s never really any time for happy scenes here. Sure there may be a smile once in a while but only the very ending is actually happy. That’s a long time that you have to sit through to get to that point. For any film the objective for me as a viewer is to have fun. If you’re not having fun then the entertainment part of the genre is being lost and that’s always a problem. I would have preferred if the film has just dramatized things a bit and been more of an action thriller where he went around shooting everyone and saving the day. Of course you can only take so many liberties when being based off of a real event.

The takeaway here is to do your part in trying to make the world a better place. Be careful which organizations you donate to since tons of them are scams and just redirecting the money but find one that is actually helping and contribute. It can feel a bit futile at times with how much corruption there is in the world but we’ll be stuck here a while longer and every single person you can help is one less person being hurt or becoming a victim. Even if the film itself may be a little too daunting to check out, you can always do research online on ways to help.

Overall, Sound of Freedom is definitely an intense film. I do think that it goes too far to illustrate the points of the dark fates that go to anyone who has been trafficked. We understand implicitly what happens at that point without needing to see the whole leadup to it and aftermath. In a standard film that I’d review, going this far in depth would net you the immediate 0. This film is based on a true story so there’s no score and these kinds of films tend to have much more content since you can get away with more in that context. It’s why you can have documentaries and such with enough content to be an easy R just get a standard PG since it’s in a scientific context. As long as this film can inspire more people to support the cause of keeping everyone safe then that’s a good thing.

Overcomer

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It’s time for a film about overcoming the hurdles and problems in your life so the title is certainly very appropriate. It’s definitely a solid movie and probably one of the only track and field titles I’ve gotten to check out. It’s definitely a tough sport as you’re really all alone and can only go as far as your body can take you. In that ways it has to be one of the sports with the fewest variables. You’re either fast enough to pull this off or you aren’t.

The movie starts with John getting excited because his Basketball team should be ready to go all the way next year. Unfortunately that dream is quickly taken away as the school isn’t doing very well with funding and jobs are drying up so everyone ends up leaving the school. John doesn’t really have a Basketball program anymore and so Principal Olivia tells him to coach up Track and Field now. There’s only one person who tried out for the team though, Hannah. John isn’t thrilled about this because 1 person does not make a team…except he’s then reminded that you only need 1 person for Track. Hannah has asthma though which is a significant hurdle to winning and John just isn’t very motivated right now. Can they both overcome these issues to win this thing?

So at first John may not be the most supportive but I’d say the film writes him well. He’s not being completely unreasonable or rude or anything like that. He just really was crushed because he’s taught Basketball all his life and finally had a chance at winning. It’s easy to see why he would be a little dismayed right now. I would also say he turns to taking Track pretty seriously before too long so it’s also not like he was out of it for half the film. By the time he met with Thomas at the hospital I’d say John had started to settle into his role as coach.

Learning tips from an ex-runner was a really good way for him to help coach up Hannah too. Thomas also helped John reawaken his Christianity. While John had never left per say, Thomas showed him that this wasn’t quite as high up in his priorities as it should have been. It took John a while to say that he was a Christian for example. From there on John started praying more and things got better there. He even tried running with the team a bit although that’s one trial he probably doesn’t need to subject himself to more than once.

John’s wife Amy is always very supportive as well. She does her best to encourage him with the Track and Field program and also tries to cheer up Hannah. It’s always good to have someone in your corner and just her presence certainly made things easier on John. Principal Olivia was also a solid character. Now she couldn’t help as directly most of the time because of her position but she would at least try to sow some seeds to help things work out. She talked with Hannah, warned the leads that Hannah’s grandmother Barbara might try to stop them, etc.

As for Barbara, she’s the main antagonist here but definitely another reasonable one. She had to live first-hand with how Thomas wrecked their lives. He had a rough history involving drugs and so it’s not super easy to forgive that. Even though he says that he’s better now and is in a condition where he can’t do any more damage, it’s just hard to forgive and forget. So she really tried to keep Hannah away from him to the point where she told the girl that her father was dead. That way they would likely never meet and if not for the coincidence of John meeting Thomas in the hospital it wouldn’t have even happened. Barbara planned well in that respect.

Then you have Thomas who is in a serious condition at the hospital. He’s lost his eyesight and doesn’t seem to have a whole lot of time left to live. He’s introduced as a very nice but lonely guy from the start. He doesn’t have any visitors at the hospital. Mix that in with the fact that he can no longer see and it’s really been a tough experience for him. It’s hard to even imagine having to live like that for a long period of time. Nobody to talk to and nothing to see? Yeah the film did not hold back at all with his trials here. Fortunately he was able to find God and became a Christian so while his life has been a really rough one, he’ll get to finally experience the joy he missed in Heaven.

He also got to meet up with Hannah before dying so he had some good memories to end life with. These times were brief but at least it happened. It would have been a little too tragic if he had parted before that could happen. As for Hannah, she naturally has a tough time with this as well. It’s difficult to live your whole life thinking your father’s dead only to find out he’s been around the whole time. The hospital even seems to be fairly close. Ultimately she does decide to talk rather than bottling it all in and this helps her be a better person. During the film there was a bit of a subplot where she’s a thief and this helps her break away from that.

Once Hannah becomes a Christian she stops stealing things altogether. The plot didn’t really add anything to the film so I sort of feel like it could have been cut out though. I think the whole plot was only here so we could have some objective way to see how she was acting better now. The concept behind that is good but it was just treated like such a minor thing throughout the film that I feel like it could have been removed. Ultimately all of the characters are in a better place by the end of the film than when they started.

Overall, Overcomer is a pretty solid film. The ending might make you a bit sad for one of the runners just with how things turned out though. It’s always best to win or lose right at the results screen but when your really think you’ve won, only to have it taken back a few minutes later definitely stings. I would have just made the winner immediate to avoid that. If you’re looking for a solid film of inspiration then this is a good one to pick up. It’s certainly got its sad moments but on the whole it’s a light hearted film that should fill you with good vibes.

The Nativity Story

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It’s time to check out The Nativity Story. Considering that this one got to claim this title you can say that it’s seen as the definitive film adaption of this moment in time. It’s definitely got very solid production values and they did well to adapt everything here. There’s a lot of attention to detail throughout each part of the movie and no corners were cut here. The movie has definitely aged well and of course it’s always nice to see the events of the Bible played out on the big screen.

The film really focuses a lot on Mary and her coming to terms with all of this. Initially she did not even know Joseph and the whole arranged marriage came really suddenly. Mary was understandably not a fan of this but ultimately goes along with it so as not to disappoint her family. What makes matters tricky for her is that she ends up being pregnant with Jesus despite not having any affairs. It is difficult to actually convince anyone of this though so her reputation is shot. It’s definitely a rather difficult burden that she has to bear in the meantime.

Same with Joseph as he is pressured by the customs to out Mary and have her stoned. He decides not to do this of course and makes the heroic choice of keeping this to himself but for a while he doesn’t totally believe her either. It’s definitely something that is tough to believe, particularly since he was well aware that she was not happy about the marriage initially. Fortunately things turn out for the best and they manage to finally get along by the end. Usually in the films we cut to the end when Jesus is born and the 3 Wise Men appear so this was a bit of a change of pace with how the focus was on the earlier events. The birth doesn’t happen until near the very end of the film and isn’t the main subject this time.

So I would say the main theme of the film was faith. Ultimately each character needed a whole lot of that to survive here. Joseph had to have faith in Mary telling him the truth and overcoming the dreams he would have. Mary had to have faith that she actually saw the angel and everything was as foretold, etc. Without faith none of the characters would have been able to make it to the end. Even the Wise Men needed this or else they may have lost sight of the star and ended up giving up on the journey halfway.

They are the comedic plot of the film as they bicker a lot and have a lot of fun on the way there. You can tell that the 3 of them are good friends and are close enough to mess with each other like that. Fortunately they’re also wise enough not to tip off the king about exactly where Jesus was and just keep on moving. I’ll give the film credit for not making the King quite as obvious about how evil he was compared to other adaptions. He also felt like a very imposing figure with how he threatened his only son and showed how he has stayed in power for so long. Definitely not someone you want to get in the way of.

This is an adaption everyone can be proud of. It sticks close to the scriptures and I wouldn’t say any of the scenes felt like they didn’t belong. Naturally the film does need to expand on some scenes and throw in a lot of extra moments to pad out the runtime, but it was never anything that made you feel like the writers were messing things up. I get the feeling they did a lot of research here and likely collaborated with scholars to learn more about the customs and how a day to day life would have been like. There are a lot of people who make a career out of that so you could definitely get some good background elements this way.

While the events in the Old Testament were massive and living through them would have been quite the experience, it’s also abundantly clear that it would have been a very difficult age to live in. The film shows in detail just how tough life was on everyone there. Food was scarce and you could always count on thieves and soldiers showing up to erase all of your hard work. There were no modern conveniences and walking for miles was a normal thing. There was no part of daily life that was easy and it’s really something to think about. We have the privilege of knowing everything from the future as opposed to living through it. We all face trials and they would be different in the past compared to the present but I’m personally glad I’m in a future era. Naturally it’s moot since if I grew up back then I wouldn’t know the difference since it would seem normal to me but I’m rather used to this era.

Overall, The Nativity Story is a really solid Christian film. It’s a good adaption of the birth of Jesus Christ and serves as more of a prequel compared to most adaptions. There’ a lot going on here and each of the characters gets a lot of development. They spared no expense on the visuals and soundtrack throughout the film. It’s all a very impressive production here and with Easter quickly approaching it’s always a good time to reminisce about the birth of Jesus Christ. That would ultimately lead to the Resurrection and then bring us up to the current date. Now’s a great time to watch the film as well as any time. Just as it has held up over all these years, I expect it will continue to do so as the years go by. It’ll be difficult to make a more detailed adaption of the Nativity.

Facing the Giants

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Facing the Giants is a film I saw a very long time ago before the blog days. Well, now I have rewatched it and the movie holds up well. It’s a solid drama story with the main characters being put through a lot of trials in their faith but ultimately they are able to overcome them and get even closer to God by the end. While you can likely see all of the story beats coming in advance, this isn’t really meant to be a film of twists and turns so the execution is what counts here.

The movie starts by introducing us to Grant who has been having a rough time. His Football team has been losing so many games for years and years. Just having a mediocre season is the best that they have been able to pull off. This is causing Grant to lose a lot of standing with the fathers whose kids are losing their time to shine here. Meanwhile Grant isn’t doing much better at home. He and his wife Brooke have been unable to have a kid for a while, their car is broken down, and the house is in poor condition. It seems like everything around Grant is falling apart and even his faith is now strained. Is there any chance at a comeback?

There is also a sub plot where a kid named David is interested in joining the Football team but he’s worried that he will fail. He figures that if he doesn’t join then he can’t possibly lose but his grandfather pushes him to try anyway. David ultimately makes the team but now he’s scared about actually kicking. Can he manage to go past his fears? There isn’t a ton of time for the subplot but ultimately David steps up eventually. It’s a tricky situation for Grant though because the team does already have a great kicker. Considering how bad the team is, he was probably hoping that David would be playing a different position. He makes sure to give David his chance to shine though which is good.

The movie’s got good pacing and goes quickly. My only issue/weakness for the movie is I think the drama aspects can be overplayed a bit. Grant’s various sad moments just don’t land for me in that I think he goes overboard. If the movie dialed down the sad scenes a little bit I think that would be for the best. The deck is certainly stacked against Grant but he just keeps on doing the right things and it pays off.

The turning point for the team is when they decide to finally start playing for God instead of focusing on wins. This way they’ll stay happy whether they win or lose. The team certainly has a lot more motivation after that as they start dominating on the field. Ultimately to put that to the test I would have kept the ending without the plot twist near the end. It would still have been a happy ending with how far they made it in the season without it feeling a bit cheesy. The very final game just seemed like a stretch.

Low key, the team’s defense was actually really good though. So in the first game we see in the movie, Grant’s team fumbled 4 times and threw 3 interceptions. So if you’re counting that’s 7 turnovers yet the final score had them losing 21-7. So their defense was absolutely rock solid in stopping them each time because otherwise the score should have been far greater. I like to think it shows that the team did have some talent, they just couldn’t turn that into points on the other side. So by the end of the film both sides were finally playing well and it made a difference.

Meanwhile Brooke had to deal with her share of trials as well since she really wanted a kid too. She goes through a lot of tests and is always hoping that things will be different. While I don’t think taking the individual tests to see who is at fault was a good idea (Puts unnecessary guilt on whoever is not performing) you can see how desperate she was. Ultimately things turn out well for her.

So the movie definitely has a happy ending for everyone. Someone even gets a new vehicle and along the way one kid’s relationship with his father is mended. Each character certainly has a lot to be thankful for. We get a lot of fun Football scenes as well so this was definitely a quality title. The title itself was also clever as it means a few different things as you watch the movie. A versatile title is nice because it shows that they really thought hard before selecting it. Sometimes a title just feels thrown on without having a whole lot to do with the movie.

Overall, Facing the Giants is a solid movie. It’s well balanced with the writing and trials that the characters have to go through. Grant may overdo it a bit with his reactions but you know that things will turn out fine in the end. Ultimately he made the right choice in having the kids learn to accept the result whether it be victory or defeat. They would place everything in God’s hands and what will be, will be. There won’t always be a happy ending but you just have to stand strong through to the end.

Left Behind II: Tribulation Force

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In Left Behind 2 the situation continues to grow more dangerous for the heroes. Nicolae has gotten even more support so he now effectively runs the free world and has full access over the media. This makes it more difficult to stop him and the heroes also have the knowledge that they can’t stop him. How should they proceed now and will this cause tensions among the group? They will have to pray that they make the right decisions or their Tribulation Force will be over before it has truly begun.

The first film ended with the heroes having some hope here because they did manage to get a moral victory with Buck becoming a Christian so he can not be deceived by Nicolae’s persuasive abilities. This film also has a similar kind of tone to it as the heroes know they cannot win the war so they have to secure smaller victories in the meantime. Every life they save is a big accomplishment in itself so they have to keep on trying their best and taking as many risks as needed.

Why have they accepted defeat in terms of stopping Nicolae? Well, the reason actually makes sense. The events are playing out exactly as they were foretold in the Bible which is what helped get the main characters into becoming Christians. As such, they know that what is written has to come true which means that the Anti Christ will come to power and the temple will be rebuilt. The main characters then know that these events have to happen but it’s possible they can at least slow things down or convert more people in the meantime. It comes down to the classic debate where if you know what the future holds and can’t change it, are your other actions all predestined as well so no matter what you choose, the end result is the same?

Well to keep it brief, while the future will happen as foreseen by God, there’s no way for anyone to actually know the future. (You can safely ignore fortune tellers and such for that reason) Not to say God can’t enhance someone with future sight as done in the past but there’s no way to tell if someone is scamming you or not. If they say they know when he is coming back then you know it’s a scam because the Bible makes it clear that nobody would know. As for any other predictions, I would still ignore them since it’s safer to just accept that the future is unknown outside of what’s written in the Bible.

So going back to the characters, they still have to try their best because regardless of how the future will play out, they don’t know what’s going to happen so going in half heartedly is not the way to do it. You do understand why Rayford doesn’t want to be driving Nicolae around though. Being the personal driver for the Anti-Christ is not something you want on your resume but ultimately I was on Bruce’s side here. Now if Nicolae starts asking Rayford to commit some actual crimes then it’s time to draw the line. This connection comes in handy almost right away too.

Rayford takes some rather extreme risks the whole time though. He has no real subtlety when going around and downloading files from the computer. It works out but you do feel like he should have done a smoother job of the whole thing. In general Rayford looked good here. He helped to patch things up with Chloe and Buck while also doing on all kinds of missions so he was really busy here.

Buck’s the other main hero and things are also tough for him the whole time. Being a reporter and having to be at the front lines every time with Nicolae watching his every move has to be unnerving. There was a really random scene though where there’s a new boss at his company who wants to give him a hard time. Fortunately his old assistant showed up in time to defend him but the whole thing felt random. Nicolae really wants Buck on his side so you feel like the company would have gotten the memo. Imagine if Buck was fired there? That would have thrown Nicolae’s plans for a loop and it just seemed odd that this would even come close to happening.

That’s the one scene that felt really out of place in the movie. As always Buck fought through it though and keeps having a critical role throughout the movie. Then we have Chloe who has a much bigger role in this film but unfortunately it’s not a good one. She is mainly used to add a big romance/drama subplot which wasn’t needed. She gets jealous quickly, doesn’t listen or give Buck a chance to explain and hurts the team’s morale. It feels like she took the longest to really get on board with what’s going on and you would have thought she would have made more progress by now. At least things are squared away by the ending so she should be good in the third film but I’d definitely be cool with the subplot vanishing. I don’t think this is the perfect time for romance with the end of the world going on.

Bruce doesn’t get as much to do in the field but he’s effectively the group’s field commander so he helps with coordinating everything and making sure that the characters are all on the same page. He is the one giving the sermons at Church to help convert more people so his role is definitely pivotal either way. It probably would have been tough to balance another subplot too.

Then we have the main villain Nicolae who still makes for an imposing figure. He’s got a fairly strong chokehold on the world and uses his powers effectively to break everyone down. The guy rarely breaks down but that does make it satisfying when the heroes do finally get one up over him. In a way these films are definitely about a lot of strategic battles. There are a lot of rules by which Nicolae can use his power, for example he can use telepathy to an extent but he’s not seemingly allowed to just use this on the whole planet and be done with it which does give the heroes a chance here.

One character who was annoying the whole time was Chris though. So this guy didn’t take the rapture very well and refuses to believe in God. He storms out of the church and then nearly commits suicide. He even pointed a gun at Rayford and nearly took it all out on him which would have really been crazy. The heroes do have a scene where they try to talk him down right outside of the Church btu that doesn’t end up working out so well. Only Rayford is able to turn him by the end. So Chris ends up in a good spot but I certainly wouldn’t have minded if he was cut out.

Overall, Left Behind II is a solid sequel. While it doesn’t quite match up to the original with the intense rapture scene and setting the board for each of the characters it is a good sequel. Each of the characters gets to continue their journey and get closer to God. The journey is quite early though to the point where you could say they are still at the very beginning and will need to steel themselves for what is to come. Buck will certainly have to be extremely careful now since Nicolae will likely know that he has been betrayed. It’s possible that he won’t know but I’m pretty sure he figured it out. By extension Rayford should be careful as well since they are seen together a lot. All it takes is one traitor in the congregation to put everyone at risk. Next up is the final of the original Left Behind trilogy movies so we’ll see how that one goes.

The Case For Christ

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The Case For Christ is definitely a film where the premise strikes out at you immediately. In 2 of the previous Christian films that I’ve seen (God’s Not Dead 1 and 2) it was about the main character having to prove that God was real. This title flips that around by having the lead try to prove the opposite, that God is fiction. He seeks to do this by overturning the biggest event in Christian history, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Is this feasible or will Lee soon find out that debunking such an event is as futile as trying to suggest that the world is actually flat?

The film starts off with Lee and Leslie heading to a diner to enjoy a nice meal. Unfortunately the situation grows dire when their daughter begins to choke. As despair begins to set in and all hope is lost, a nurse steps in and is able to save their daughter in the nick of time. She is a Christian and Leslie begins to believe that maybe there is a God who is watching over everyone. She goes with the nurse to Church and gets saved. Lee is not happy with this as he is a devout Atheist and tells Leslie that there is no way they can stay together unless she renounces her faith. Leslie refuses and so Lee decides that he will put his reporting profession to use by finding evidence and making a complete case that God doesn’t exist.

Naturally such a journey is doomed for failure. It’s interesting to see the evidence behind the existence of Jesus Christ and how we have hundreds of accounts from individuals who saw him. The mountains of evidence left behind is quite impressive. To Lee’s credit, it does make sense to attack the resurrection if you were trying to debunk the religion since that miracle is really what proved beyond a shadow of a doubt God’s power. There are many other moments in the Bible of miracles as well and even if there wasn’t a mountain of evidence to defend the Resurrection that wouldn’t be enough to rock our faith.

At the end of the day it is impossible to 100% prove or disprove many things. You often have to take a leap of faith and it wouldn’t be worth much if you didn’t need it to proceed. I’m not saying that I would refuse additional proof if it was ever discovered, but I’m fine without it. Everything within the Bible is ultimately all that we need to know. The film fortunately has a happy ending for Lee’s character as he concedes defeat. He was not able to prove that God didn’t exist and furthermore, he only just ended up convincing himself of the opposite. It was a good way to close his character arc.

That being said, I wasn’t a fan of the character. He definitely did not take the situation in stride and came across as completely unreasonable. He’s been married to Leslie for several years at this point, enough to have a daughter who is old enough to talk and everything. Yet, he almost immediately wants to end the marriage because she has become a Christian. I can understand not wanting to accept this and to continue debating it, but not wanting to leave immediately. It’s not like the person suddenly became a Satanist or anything like that. He also doesn’t have any sympathy for criminals and even puts an innocent man in jail because he couldn’t be bothered to look at the facts of the case more closely. That same guy then gets stabbed and nearly fatally injured. Lee is sad about that, but the guy just created so many problems during the film.

Leslie was a good character. She wasn’t too forceful about turning Lee into a Christian right away which was good. It makes sense that she would understand the situation and try to be tactful about the whole thing. Naturally she wouldn’t give up on converting him and that’s good because as a Christian you understand the stakes better than anyone. If she can’t convert Lee in time, he’ll end up burning in Hell for eternity. Of course you don’t want someone you’re close with to experience such a fate. Since the stakes are that high, she has to try playing 4D Chess and trying to slowly get him to her side. At times maybe she wasn’t perfect with her approach, but at least she kept on trying.

I also liked the characters that Lee went to for advice. They all had an extremely confident air about them. Their smirks basically never left and while they weren’t downright condescending to Lee, they certainly seemed to think that he was asking extremely basic questions. Of course they likely weren’t in the best mood since he clearly was asking them questions to get them to take a shot at their religion so they were guarded. I just always like these kind of characters. You know that they’re not going to be on the defensive during the verbal exchange and have all of the answers.

Overall, The Case For Christ is a pretty fun film. The writing is solid and the pacing for The Case for Christ is on point as well. I haven’t seen any debates in a while, but I always like seeing debaters challenge the two sides. I’m certainly not impartial as I’m a Christian, but all the more reasons to better understand the points that the opposition makes so I can know how best to respond. If you liked God’s Not Dead then I believe you’ll like this film. The main character is definitely annoying, but the rest of the case is solid. His coworkers are all pretty fun characters and the Nurse who saved the kid at the beginning isn’t bad. Maybe a little ineffective the whole time, but saving the kid is really all she needs on her resume. I’ll definitely be interested to see which film this company churns out next.