If this is intentionally awful, it is brilliant.

Fantastic movie. Seriously.
Some scenes of peril, so maybe not ideal for itty bitty ones.
But it's a sweet, exciting, funny, heartwarming movie. And smart as all get out. The writing and performances are fantastic.
Even if you don't have kids, go see it.

At this point, I'm not sure Pixar can do any wrong.

This one's for Bird and Shrode and all you other Trekkies out there.

Star Trek Fans Bash New Film as "Fun, Watchable"


Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

I just heard of this - evidently there is an extremely low budget yet (by the looks of the trailer) good quality film coming out in May called The Hunt for Gollum. It's made by fans of the Lord of the Rings, for fans, and will be available online and for free. I think it's going to be about 45 minutes long.

For my fellow LOTR geeks: this film will recount Aragorn's hunt for Gollum that occurred between the Long Expected Party and the Shadow of the Past (events highly time-compressed in Peter Jackson's films).

Here's the trailer.



[H/T Challies]

I finally watched Fireproof last night. When watching this movie, it's easy to tell that it was made on a very low budget ($500,000), and that many of the actors are not professionals.

I absolutely loved it.

You can read further conversation on this movie in Bird's post. If you're distracted by less than top-notch acting, directing, or cinematography, this movie may not be for you. But if you can get past that, you might find something valuable in it. While many have criticized the quality of the work, the fact that it was produced by a church (who has used the profits to build a recreational center for their small Georgia town) impresses.

In the CNN article linked in the previous paragraph, Variety magazine says it is "as sincere, uncynical and subtlety-free as a Sunday school lecture". Perhaps. But I, for one, have had my fill of the insincere, cynical culture we live in. And I push back against the charge that it didn't have subtlety. Yes, I knew how the overall arc of the story would play out (I know that in most movies, and so do you), it still surprised me in its pacing and its moments of tension and uncertainty.

Though much of the acting was not at professional quality, I think Kirk Cameron and Erin Bethea turned in good, and at times great, performances.

I've heard Christians (who haven't seen the movie) complain about the "name it and claim it" aspects of the film. It's obvious to me that they don't know what they are talking about. Perhaps they are confused with Sherwood Baptist's sophomore effort Facing the Giants, which certainly had those elements. I see none of that in Fireproof. There is never a hint of "Do these things and God will restore your marriage." The lead character has to learn to love with no guarantees, persevering in the face of rejection and with his marriage all but doomed.

Finally, I've heard criticisms (in this space, by a commenter who admitted not having seen it) of the "paint by numbers redemption story" in Fireproof. This entire movie is about redemption, and, paint by numbers or no, it's a story I've seen played out in real life in the marriages of people I know. God can save a marriage, and that's one of the most beautiful things He does. I can understand, I guess, why pockets of our overly cool, cynical, relevant and worldly Christian culture are embarrassed by that.

I will take redemption any day of the week. Paint it by numbers, paint it free-form, heck, fingerpaint it, I don't care. I'll take redemption any way I can get it: small portions, big portions, box it up, serve it up hot or cold. I'm going back for seconds. I love redemption in all instances. Redemption always reminds me of the rescue-mission of Jesus, and His great redemption of those He has called as His own. I can't get tired of that!

I'll take redemption, served with sincerity, a lack of cynicism, and vast personal effort by a church-based production company. Especially when it results in a story as beautiful and inspiring as Fireproof.

I'm watching The Two Towers extended edition with Blake right now, with the commentary turned on.

It's always fun listening to the commentary, but let me just say that the portions with Elijah Wood, Sean Astin and Andy Serkis are absolutely insufferable. There's lots of faux-intelligence, bad interpretations of Tolkien's purposes and themes, whacky discussions of the religious elements of the work, and endless talk of "emotional resonance", "multiple levels of connection", and lots more actory argle-bargle. Ugh.

The commentary of Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan, on the other hand, is hilariously awesome.

Had to say it. That is all.

Survey time! Entertainment edition.

What are your five favorite movies?

Who are your five favorite actors?

Who are your five favorite actresses?

Who are your five favorite singers?

What are your five favorite songs?

Maybe the best movie I've seen this year. Or maybe that was Wall-E, not sure. But Benjamin Button is incredible.

The casting, the directing, the writing, the cinematography, the performances, the story -- all riveting.

Brad Pitt especially is amazing, and while I've always thought he was more than just a pretty face, this role confirms he's a really fine actor. These days when most moviegoers are trained to think Al Pacino "Hoo-ha!"'ing like a machete through the scenery or Samuel Jackson and Kevin Spacey out-yelling each other is "good acting," the understated, natural simplicity of Pitt in Button seems all the more wonderful.

This movie is a great meditation on time, and on permanence and impermanence.

I'm not a fan of old black-and-white movies. For one the acting is usually pretty lame. For two there's no color. Those two reasons alone are enough to deter me from watching any film, but the "classics," so to speak, have one other bad thing going for them: they're always depressing. I mean, we've all seen The Grapes of Wrath, right? Yikes. I don't need a movie to tell me how crappy real life is, I've got real life to tell me that.

Around this time of year most DVD-watching drones out there are spinning It's a Wonderful Life like it's a Michael W. Smith CD (that's to say, they're playing it all of the time, twenty-four-freaking-seven). I've managed to make it through my life without viewing the film, and hopefully, when I'm six feet under, I'll have a smirk on my face knowing that I escaped every snare designed to trap and torture me for two or three hours while James Stewart's fictitious life goes down the tubes. No, thank you. I'll pass.

In case you don't believe me, just see what The New York Times says about it:

“It’s a Wonderful Life” is a terrifying, asphyxiating story about growing up and relinquishing your dreams, of seeing your father driven to the grave before his time, of living among bitter, small-minded people. It is a story of being trapped, of compromising, of watching others move ahead and away, of becoming so filled with rage that you verbally abuse your children, their teacher and your oppressively perfect wife. It is also a nightmare account of an endless home renovation.

Who wants to watch "a nightmare account" of anything? No. Thank. You. I'll. Pass.

I know our very own Billboy here at Thinklings thinks It's a Wonderful Life is the best thing since Sarah Palin (or, should I say he thinks Sarah Palin is the best thing since It's a Wonderful Life?), and I know the aforementioned Billboy will now try to use his clout to ban me from our forthcoming convivial gathering, Entmoot. All of that brouhaha because I won't convert to the Dark Side.

Despite all of those negative consequences, I'll pass.

Just saw Shyamalan's The Happening. Boy did that movie stink. I mean it was complete crapola. If you haven't seen it yet, don't waste your time.

Funny answers ("Gigli," etc.) acceptable, but serious answers appreciated.

The Iron Man franchise just got awesomer.

What are the worst movies you've ever seen?

You guys did so good with your recommendations last week (Bill, I'm using the "Unbreakable" clip you suggested -- good stuff), I have to open it up again.

I need recommendations of clips from a movie (or a TV show available on DVD) that illustrates the differences between men and women. Can be humorous or dramatic or both.

In the past we've used an argument scene from "The Break Up" (the post-party scene near the beginning), which was both funny and heavy. But something entirely light would be fine too.

Ideas?

M. Night Shyamalan's film (if you can call it that) The Happening is about to drop on DVD.
Because I'm your friend, I just wanted to remind you that it is a time-sucking black hole of infinite suckitude.

Don't rent it or buy it or put it in your queue. Don't even look at it in the store. Don't glance at it in the Wal-Mart circular. If someone so much as says "What's happening?" to you on the day of its release, slap them. Hard. Then run away as fast as you can.

I'm telling you this for your own good.

You're welcome.

I am starting a series on love, relationships, and the gospel this week at Element, and I'm looking for some good film clip ideas to use in the services.

Any help?

I'm looking for things that are relatively short, somewhat "dramatic" (although comedic is okay), and that somehow illustrate (in the context of relationships, although not necessarily romantic relationships) sin, grace or gracelessness, forgiveness or unforgiveness, and/or restoration and reconciliation.

As an example, we have used in the past the clip from "Friends" where Ross reveals to Rachel he cheated on her and begs for forgiveness, with her saying it's over because she can't ever look at him the same way.
We also used an argument scene from "The Break Up."

So please recommend some clips in the comments. Everything helps, even if it just reminds me of something else.

(And please, no lectures about movie clips in church or whatever.)

[On a non-related note to my fellow Thinklings: We need to revise our post categories. We have a category for movies, but we don't have one for books? What's up with that? We even have a category for pictures of clowns, and one for Wild at Heart. That's jacked up. We need another ecumenical council to solve this crisis.]

Back to the original point of my post ... I saw Fireproof last night with my wife. It was much better than I thought it was going to be. While I like the idea of supporting Christian cinema, I thought Facing The Giants (which was made by the same people), while a nice story, was so horribly acted that it was distracting. Fireproof's acting is head-and-shoulders better than its predecessor, although still not professional quality for the most part. Kirk Cameron, the star, played a believable character.

When it was all said and done, I thought the movie was great: Its message was good; its acting was better; and its comic relief was not cheesy, but actually comical -- and downright hilarious at times.

I suspect, though, given the cynical nature of professional critics, that this film will likely be something like five percent rotten on rottentomatoes.com, but that information hasn't been posted yet.

I did read a couple of reviews this morning, and my suspicions were quickly confirmed: the movie pundits hate this film. And just in case you weren't 100 percent sure that we live in Babylon, I'll quote some of the comments I found after a couple of reviews ...

Read the rest of this entry . . .

Attention all you people who have Netflix or blockbuster.com

How many movies are in your queue?

I keep wondering if my number is astronomically high.

I have 115. (Whic is down from the high of 139)

Am I nuts?

For bonus points: What kind of movies do you try to put in your queue on purpose? Old movies? Oscar winners? Art house films? Action movies? Cartoons? Everything Keaneau Reeves has ever done?

The voiceover master died. (Link)

Don LaFontaine, the voiceover king whose "In a world ..." phrase on movie trailers was much copied -- and much parodied -- has died, according to media reports. He was 68.

I admit it. I felt like "the voice" was a friend of the family. Every time I heard a movie trailer start with "In a world", I expected it to be good. Even though I knew the following was true:

His favorite work was one he did for the 1980 film "The Elephant Man," he said in interviews, but whether the film was Oscar-caliber or a bomb waiting to blow, he handled every assignment equally.

"My philosophy is that you have to really believe what you're reading, even if you think the film's a piece of junk," he told Swindle magazine. "Even the worst picture is someone's favorite film, and that someone is the fan I am always talking to."

I'll miss him. Man, who else is there? Aren't there only like 2 movie trailer voiceover guys?