Based on how this movie started, I wasn't sure it was going to hook me into watching the whole thing, but it did. It hooked me just enough to say, "I'll watch a little bit more...a little bit more...a little bit more...." until I'd watched the whole thing. That means, it was interesting enough to have something there.
The themes in this story seemed to focus on first integrity, followed by equally perfection and truth.
I don't know that this a movie that I'd watch a second time, but I don't find any faults with it. The acting was fine. The characterization was fine. The faith story was fine. But that's it: fine.
Because the purpose of the movie was to center the story around the growth of faith in 3 of the characters--and mainly the mother--that was the point of view the movie was shot from, which left this particular family's spiritual anchor--the father--as a side character. For the movie's purpose, this was a fine choice. For my purpose in looking for interesting characters to study, it was adequate, meaning no faults, no hooks, and nothing seen from the father's perspective--or very little.
It's a fair movie to watch--again--no faults that I find--just not a movie I'm likely to watch a second time.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Thursday, October 15, 2015
"More Than Chance" (2010)
I watched the first half of this movie--and for a night when I was being extremely picky about what I was in the mood to watch, that was pretty good.
Good Qualities: I thought the beginning handled portraying abuse very tactfully. By no means is abuse something that should be glossed over, but by doing such, it allowed this movie to stay family friendly while acknowledging its place in the story. The story concept was intriguing, and there was enough story bread crumbs to keep me watching for 45 minutes--and as I said before, that's saying something on a night I was in quite the finicky mood.
Challenges: The acting was B-level acting [perhaps because it comes out of the religious drama genre which has a style of acting all its own--a style very different than "Hollywood"]--a style much like what would happen if someone said, "hey, we have a play to put on in 3 weeks. I know we really should put in 6 weeks of time, but it's too late for that--But, I don't want us to drop it either. So, let's go ahead and do something." So, they put on a decent show, but didn't have the time to sink into portraying the characters with any depth--and for an emotional topic such as abuse and trust and friendship--character portrayal is central to the action. Instead, the emotional engagement of the characters/actors was relatively flat-line to what it should have been. As for plot line/script--I followed, and understood some of the jump and jump choices made in the scenes written and selected; but connecting these together with any unity and with character motivation, there were times I couldn't see how some of the jumps could be realistic. I'm not saying they couldn't happen that way in "real life", but it just seemed like there were scenes missing--scenes that would've helped sustain the emotional thread that should've been there, and definitely would've helped some of the plot connections to be more effective and understandable.
Since I haven't finished this movie, I can't speak to either the ending or if where the beginning of the movie was leading actually made it to the finish line. Nevertheless, it was a movie at least worth considering.
I'm not sure at this point if I will ever resume watching this movie or rewatch this movie in its entirety, so I'm going ahead and posting what I think of the first half.
Signing off.
Good Qualities: I thought the beginning handled portraying abuse very tactfully. By no means is abuse something that should be glossed over, but by doing such, it allowed this movie to stay family friendly while acknowledging its place in the story. The story concept was intriguing, and there was enough story bread crumbs to keep me watching for 45 minutes--and as I said before, that's saying something on a night I was in quite the finicky mood.
Challenges: The acting was B-level acting [perhaps because it comes out of the religious drama genre which has a style of acting all its own--a style very different than "Hollywood"]--a style much like what would happen if someone said, "hey, we have a play to put on in 3 weeks. I know we really should put in 6 weeks of time, but it's too late for that--But, I don't want us to drop it either. So, let's go ahead and do something." So, they put on a decent show, but didn't have the time to sink into portraying the characters with any depth--and for an emotional topic such as abuse and trust and friendship--character portrayal is central to the action. Instead, the emotional engagement of the characters/actors was relatively flat-line to what it should have been. As for plot line/script--I followed, and understood some of the jump and jump choices made in the scenes written and selected; but connecting these together with any unity and with character motivation, there were times I couldn't see how some of the jumps could be realistic. I'm not saying they couldn't happen that way in "real life", but it just seemed like there were scenes missing--scenes that would've helped sustain the emotional thread that should've been there, and definitely would've helped some of the plot connections to be more effective and understandable.
Since I haven't finished this movie, I can't speak to either the ending or if where the beginning of the movie was leading actually made it to the finish line. Nevertheless, it was a movie at least worth considering.
I'm not sure at this point if I will ever resume watching this movie or rewatch this movie in its entirety, so I'm going ahead and posting what I think of the first half.
Signing off.
Thursday, October 8, 2015
"The Intern" (2015)
This is a very sweet movie--not a romance, not a heavy drama--but a nice mix of all sorts of elements. I can't speak to the opening credits, but did see the majority of the story and it is very well done.
The music in the end credits had two parts--neither with lyrics. The first part was in the style of the music that was through the rest of the movie. Then the 2nd part of the music switched to a combination of clapping, stomping, and guitar playing--maybe two guitars--still light, but with a little more energy than what was played through the first part. It was a wonderful transition out of the movie world and back to the world outside of the theater.
A very nice movie to sit back and enjoy.
The music in the end credits had two parts--neither with lyrics. The first part was in the style of the music that was through the rest of the movie. Then the 2nd part of the music switched to a combination of clapping, stomping, and guitar playing--maybe two guitars--still light, but with a little more energy than what was played through the first part. It was a wonderful transition out of the movie world and back to the world outside of the theater.
A very nice movie to sit back and enjoy.
Saturday, October 3, 2015
"The Truth Behind: The Nasca Lines" (2010)--revisited?
I think I've watched this before--I think--either that, or another documentary about this same subject. It was interesting the first time. Still so the 2nd, but it is distracting to have the narrator continually talking in sentence fragments.
I'm sorry. Correction:
It is distracting.
To have the Narrator.
Of this documentary.
About the Nasca lines.
Continually.
Talking.
In sentence fragments.
As if.
Each clause.
Deserves.
It's very own.
Dramatic.
Pause.
In order.
To give.
The proper frame.
To talk about.
The Nasca lines.
I'm sorry. Correction:
It is distracting.
To have the Narrator.
Of this documentary.
About the Nasca lines.
Continually.
Talking.
In sentence fragments.
As if.
Each clause.
Deserves.
It's very own.
Dramatic.
Pause.
In order.
To give.
The proper frame.
To talk about.
The Nasca lines.
Sunday, September 20, 2015
"The Prince & Me" (2004)
I'm not sure I know what expectations I have for romantic movies, but I did enjoy this one. My enjoyment was colored a bit in realizing I'd previously read an analytical film article over this movie (sigh), so there was a slight bit of "knowing what's going to happen." Nevertheless, I settled back and quite enjoyed this movie.
The leading lady was the same actress as played "Nikki" in the Bourne movies. So, it was good to see her in a different role. I was also delighted that the college setting didn't include any crass scenes. I was also glad that the movie didn't end at the first "then the boy got the girl" moment and lead through at least one "and then what?"
The forefronted music and end credits music was what I call "Back porch" music--which fit the Wisconsin girl roots very well, but didn't seem particularly memorable.
Overall, this movie did a decent job at telling the romance story. Cheers!
The leading lady was the same actress as played "Nikki" in the Bourne movies. So, it was good to see her in a different role. I was also delighted that the college setting didn't include any crass scenes. I was also glad that the movie didn't end at the first "then the boy got the girl" moment and lead through at least one "and then what?"
The forefronted music and end credits music was what I call "Back porch" music--which fit the Wisconsin girl roots very well, but didn't seem particularly memorable.
Overall, this movie did a decent job at telling the romance story. Cheers!
"Patterns of Evidence: Exodus" (2014)
I was skeptical at first--not knowing what angle this documentary was going to take--but overall, was very pleased with it. Because of the lateness of the hour during which I was watching this, I had to fast forward through parts. For that, I apologize that I don't have an every minute view of this piece. That being said, I was satisfied with the parts I saw, which was the larger part of this documentary.
This 2 hour documentary asks the question "Does archaeological evidence exist for the Exodus of the Bible?" The content is framed with that of a filmmaker seeking answers, but that's all that it serves--as a frame to hold the content together. I seeks to set up a dialogue between the various views of things; therefore, it doesn't seek to set forward a "Here's the conclusion" ending to the quest. Nevertheless, the evidence presented favors in such a way that, a least for a Christian, this film can be seen as a "let's just hear about the cool stuff you've found" and take the rest with a grain of salt. Again, because I am a biased audience and because of the lateness of the hour, I can't imagine how the skeptics would see this film, nor can I guess since that is part of what I missed in my fast forward bits. The movie kept an ongoing graphic running to help the viewer keep track of where things stood in the course of the investigation--and it was a graphic I very much appreciated and liked.
The documentary didn't tackle "Where's Mt. Sinai?" or the crossing of the red sea. But did cover as far back as Joseph's initial travels to Egypt all the way to the conquering of Canaan (notably the fall of Jericho). What it did cover, it covered thoroughly enough--and recapped the evidence in support of its main points every so often--that I didn't feel anything was "missing."
I found this documentary interesting and recommend it for others' consideration. Please note, this is a 2 hour film.
This 2 hour documentary asks the question "Does archaeological evidence exist for the Exodus of the Bible?" The content is framed with that of a filmmaker seeking answers, but that's all that it serves--as a frame to hold the content together. I seeks to set up a dialogue between the various views of things; therefore, it doesn't seek to set forward a "Here's the conclusion" ending to the quest. Nevertheless, the evidence presented favors in such a way that, a least for a Christian, this film can be seen as a "let's just hear about the cool stuff you've found" and take the rest with a grain of salt. Again, because I am a biased audience and because of the lateness of the hour, I can't imagine how the skeptics would see this film, nor can I guess since that is part of what I missed in my fast forward bits. The movie kept an ongoing graphic running to help the viewer keep track of where things stood in the course of the investigation--and it was a graphic I very much appreciated and liked.
The documentary didn't tackle "Where's Mt. Sinai?" or the crossing of the red sea. But did cover as far back as Joseph's initial travels to Egypt all the way to the conquering of Canaan (notably the fall of Jericho). What it did cover, it covered thoroughly enough--and recapped the evidence in support of its main points every so often--that I didn't feel anything was "missing."
I found this documentary interesting and recommend it for others' consideration. Please note, this is a 2 hour film.
Monday, August 31, 2015
"Up" (2009)
If the arts are what is a part of what it means to be human, this movie captures this--WITH A PASSION. When I went to hit "play", I was in a pretty happy mood. This movie managed to bring me to heart-felt tears 11 minutes into the movie. What film manages to do such a thorough job in such a short amount of time? And then, once that point was reached, knew what to do with story then.
(after watching the rest of the movie:)
Very nice film with a sweet ending--a comedy that needs a tissue box at the beginning and the end, and they were sweet tears at that. And the music award is well deserved!
I thoroughly recommend this movie!
(after watching the rest of the movie:)
Very nice film with a sweet ending--a comedy that needs a tissue box at the beginning and the end, and they were sweet tears at that. And the music award is well deserved!
I thoroughly recommend this movie!
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