Lost In Translation — 1 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: Dull

SUMMARY: Two people you don’t really care about wander around their hotel in Japan for way too long.

DETAILS: Sophia Coppola, please give me my 101 minutes back! I haven't seen a film with so little story in a long time. If you like watching people sing karaoke, ride elevators, and hang out in hotels in Japan with little-to-no character development this could be the film for you. It has to be the most disappointing Bill Murray movie ever made. Bob Harris (Bill Murray) is an aging movie star who is now making whiskey commercials in Tokyo. He meets Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) a twenty-something two years into her marriage who has no purpose other than to help waste 101 minutes of your life. They meet as residents of the same hotel and proceed to wander aimlessly around Tokyo… but mostly just around the hotel. This film was an extreme let down. I’d heard about it and wanted to see it for a decade. Ugh…

SCORE: 1 out of 5

RELEASE: 2003
RATING: R

The Railway Man — 4 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: Forgiveness

SUMMARY: A British prisoner of war is forced to help build the Thai-Burma Railway and is nearly tortured to death. Decades later he confronts his captor and extends the only gift that will set them both free… forgiveness.

DETAILS: Based on the true story of Eric Lomax (Colin Firth), a British Army Officer who is captured during World War II by the Japanese and forced to help contstruct the Thai-Burma Railway. The film cuts back and forth between 1980’s England where Lomax and his new wife (Nicole Kidman) struggle to overcome his horrific war memories and the POW environment of the 1940’s where he was tortured beyond imagination. Along the way he realizes there may only be two ways out of his pain – suicide or revenge, so he sets out to find the one who played a key role in his torture and enact his retribution. In the process he realizes that his captor has been tortured by the wartime memories as well and that perhaps there is a third option that may lead to freedom for both of their tortured souls… forgiveness.

SCORE: 4 out of 5

RELEASE: 2013
RATING: R

Quartet — 4 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: Rich

SUMMARY: A famous operatic quartet finds themselves living together in a home for retired musical stars… but will they ever perform again?

DETAILS: Dustin Hoffman directs this fantastic story about life in a retirement home for aging musicians. When the fourth member of an operatic quartet moves into Beecham House, three of the four decide to get the quartet together again for a final performance of their famous Rigoletto. But an aging diva who worries about her voice along with her failed marriage to one of the other members of the quartet are obstacles that may be insurmountable. A brilliant performance by Billy Connolly (A Series of Unfortunate Events) tops this great cast of fun, rich characters.

SCORE: 4 out of 5

RELEASE: 2012
RATING: PG-13

Elf — 2 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: Ho-Ho-Hum

SUMMARY: Raised by Santa’s Elves, Buddy the Elf learns he’s a human and sets out to meet the father he’s never known. Pseudo-hilarity ensues.

DETAILS: Will Ferrell plays Buddy the Elf who was raised among elves in Santa’s Workshop at the North Pole. But the day comes when Buddy learns he’s a human and that his real father lives in New York City. So Buddy leaves on a journey to meet the man he’s never known. He gets a job in a department store’s Christmas department, falls in love with a co-worker, and destroys his dad’s career, but along the way he helps restore the Christmas spirit that’s long been lost. A Christmas comedy it is, but it’s funny moments are only so funny, and in the end, Elf just can’t compete with the Mother of all Christmas Comedy’s… A Christmas Story.

SCORE: 2 out of 5

RELEASE: 2003
RATING: PG
COMEDY

The Giver — 3.5 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: 1984ish

SUMMARY: In a world where all emotions have been neutered, a young man sets out to free them all.

DETAILS: Based on the 1993 novel by Lois Lowry, The Giver tells the story of a young man in a world free of emotion. Each individual is assigned work based on their giftedness, but Jonas (Brenton Thwaites) is special. He’s given the responsibility to carry the history for the people, an extremely rare assignment that literally places the emotional weight of the world on the one who carries it. The Giver (Jeff Bridges) shares his gift with Jonas who soon learns that he has the opportunity to help bring emotions back to his world.

They say I should have read the book before seeing the movie. I wish I had. I really wanted to like this more, but certain parts of the story (i.e. the boundary being crossed to restore emotion) just fell flat for me.

SCORE: 3.5 out of 5

RELEASE: 2014
RATING: PG-13

Karakter (Character) — 4.5 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: Compelling

SUMMARY: A bastard child is strengthened by every opposing move his father makes

DETAILS: 1920’s Netherlands is the beautiful backdrop for this film about a boy who’s mother was impregnated by the town’s oppressive bailiff. The story begins with the death of the father on the day the son becomes a lawyer and the son his the last to see his father alive… a bloody visit where we don’t know all the details. The story then takes us back in time as we learn of the boy’s origins, his struggles to make a life for himself, his mother’s continual rejection of his father, and his father’s continual attempts to make life difficult for his own son… a conflict designed to build Character.

This film won the Academy Award for best foreign film of 1997.

SCORE: 4.5 out of 5

RELEASE: 1997

RATING: R
FOREIGN

12 Dates of Christmas — 2.5 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: Cute

SUMMARY: Groundhog Day meets Christmas Eve

DETAILS: A girl learns to look beyond herself as she has to re-live Christmas Eve 12 times and take 12 blind dates with the same guy. Once she starts taking care of others in her life, she falls in love, and is able to get the clock moving beyond Christmas Eve

SCORE: 2.5 out of 5

RELEASE: 2011
RATING: TV

Inglorious Basterds — 3 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: Tarantinish

SUMMARY: Americans killing Nazi’s Tarantino-Style

DETAILS: A group of American soldiers work with freedom fighters to kill a bunch of “Nazi’s” and end the war. Bloody, Violent, Overdone… aka Tarantino-Style

SCORE: 3 out of 5

RELEASE: 2009
RATING: R

Rebellion of Thought — 4 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: Mine

SUMMARY: Two stories woven together… Post-Modernism explored and my personal journey away from the traditional church.

DETAILS: I haven’t watched this film in a few years and I realized that I come across as rather egotistical…. imagine that happening when someone puts themself into their own film!

SCORE: 4 out of 5

RELEASE: 2007

RATING: NR
DOCUMENTARY

O Brother, Where Art Thou? — 5 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: Brilliant

SUMMARY: From Chain Gang to Soggy Bottom Boys three men search for redemption in this retelling of The Odyssey.

DETAILS: George Clooney leads the escape of his chain-gang from the prison in the south on a journey toward redemption. It’s brilliant, funny, classic, Coen Brothers at their best.

SCORE: 5 out of 5

RELEASE: 2000
RATING: PG-13

Zoolander — 0.5 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: Awful

SUMMARY: Mr. Zoolander, please give me my 2 hours back

DETAILS: I give this film a .5 instead of a zero in order to recognize that some filmmakers gave of themselves to make this. If filmmakers weren’t involved I would have given it a zero.

SCORE: 0.5 out of 5

RELEASE: 2001

RATING: PG-13

The Client — 3.5 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: Grishamish

SCORE: 3.5 out of 5

RELEASE: 1994
RATING: PG-13

Captain America: The Winter Soldier — 3 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: Marvelish

SCORE: 3 out of 5

RELEASE: 2014
RATING: PG-13

The Fault In Our Stars — 3 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: Sad

SUMMARY: A depressing ride to death through the lives of people with no hope to hold onto.

DETAILS: Sad… this film is sad on a couple of levels. Sad in that it deals with death and dying. Our main characters are on their way to the grave. But more sad in that no one in the film has a hope to hold onto… there is no afterlife, no heaven, no God, no hope. The brief glimpse of any Christian influence is done in a mocking manner of a cancer support group leader who makes a hook rug of Jesus and is portrayed in a very cheesy way. The part that I did like was the Willem Dafoe character… who really is the God character in the film. He is the author of book that our heroes love… but the book literally ends in the middle of the sentence. Our characters must travel across the sea to meet this author and ask him why and what really happened next. When they arrive they are sorely disappointed and they learn that “God doesn’t care about them or for them” or so they perceive. But in the end this God character comes to our heroine and leaves letter that she won’t read until later, a letter that brings an element of redemption. The farther I get from this movie, the more I like it… or at least parts of it. Or maybe I just like being far from it???

SCORE: 3 out of 5

RELEASE: 2014
RATING: PG-13

A Night In Old Mexico — 3 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: Duvall

SUMMARY: If you love Robert Duvall, watch and enjoy this movie… but don’t look for brilliance from him or the storyline.

DETAILS: Duvall… Robert… He’s one of my favorite actors. But the storyline of A Night In Old Mexico seems a little tired and worn. There are some good moments, but things are a bit unbelievable in a film that wants to be gritty and real. The story begins with Duvall’s character wanting to end his life when a grandson he’s never met shows up. Together they end up in the adventure of lifetime with bullets, money, bad guys, and a beautiful señorita…. yeah, she’s contributes to the unbelievable part. Not her performance (which I liked) but her falling for Duvall who happens to be getting up there in age. If you love Duvall, watch it. If not, skip it.

SCORE: 3 out of 5

RELEASE: 2014

RATING: NR

August: Osage County — 3.5 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: Dysfunction

SUMMARY: A depressing look at a depressing family… which makes What’s Eating Gilbert Grape look like happy, fun-filled, roll-on-the-floor comedy.

DETAILS: Dysfunction does not adequately describe the family in this film. A star-studded cast with great performers tell the story of a family brought back together around the suicide of the father, but nothing is strong enough to keep these people together. By the end of the film everyone will have left and the crazy, prescription-addicted mom will be all that’s remains in Osage County Oklahoma.

SCORE: 3.5 out of 5

RELEASE: 2013
RATING: R

Stained Glass Rainbows — 4.75 out of 5 stars

ORIGINAL POST: 13 MAY 2014

FINALLY! After nearly 7 years of working on this film I was able to watch the first assembly of the entire project… all 3 hours and 20 minutes. Now I need to cut it down to 90 minutes or less, add b-roll, music, clean up the audio, etc. etc. It was a great feeling to watch the final credits roll as Brian Healy of Dead Artist Syndrome sang “Angeline”. Wow… what a long time coming!

SCORE: 3.5 out of 5

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UPDATE: 20 JULY 2014

I was able to sit and watch the 1:46 version of SGR (v3) with Karen. It was great to watch it at this length and in a single sitting. Still too long, but heading in the right direction.

SCORE: 4 out of 5

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UPDATE: 22 JULY 2014

We had a private screening of this work-in-progress version (v3.1) of the film at the Paladin studio. It was very well received by the small gathering of friends. Chris & Missy Martin, Heather & Hambo Myers, Pete Kulenek, Will Musser, Dan Fellows, Whitney Henderson, my Mom, Karen, Chase, and I watched it. It’s great to get some encouraging feedback at this point. The disappointing part of it was I had sent out 26 invitations, mainly to pastors and NOT 1 pastor showed up to watch the film. Sigh…

SCORE 4 out of 5

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UPDATE: 9 AUG 2014

I watched my film again with the Klint family during the middle of the day. Remind me never to do this again. Constant interruptions from kids, distractions, etc. I’ve only had a couple of follow up conversations and people seemed to like it, but boy was it rough getting through it. Meanwhile, James Burgess is editing on the film right now and we’ll hopefully have a good cut of it in the next few weeks.

SCORE 4 out of 5

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UPDATE: 13 AUG 2014

Brad hosted a small screening of the film with Fred Jolly, John Moline, and Beck. There was some good conversation that followed, but unfortunately I had to step out early to do a radio interview with Keith Giles about the film for his blogtalk show Subversive Radio. Brad had some good ideas for trying to push each end of the spectrum toward dialogue about this topic.

SCORE: 4 out of 5

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UPDATE: 1 OCT 2014

Much tighter, but still dragged 3/4 the way through… more tightening to do. (the next day, James Burgess and I went through the entire film shot by shot and removed 6 minutes of footage… new running time 85 minutes).

SCORE: 4.5 out of 5

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UPDATE: 9 AUG 2014

The Film is done! Even tighter & better!

SCORE: 4.75 out of 5

RELEASE: 2015
RATING: NR
DOCUMENTARY

Beyond the Farthest Star — 3.5 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: Complicated

SUMMARY: A family and their hidden secrets shake up a small Texas town.

DETAILS: Complicated…. This is probably one of the best “Christian” films I’ve seen. It’s gut-wrenching honest dealings with issues of hidden pasts, parenting difficulties, and troubled relationships are sure to hinder the profitability in the traditional “Christian Market” for this film, but hopefully it will help it find a much broader audience who are hungry for this style of honest filmmaking. A pastor and his family move to a small town to start afresh. The pastor was once sold as the “next Billy Graham” but something has obviously changed. His daughter is dark and into cutting and burning herself, his wife hides deep secrets of their past, and his story is about to thrust into the national spotlight due to a civil liberties case. The denouement of this film is way too long, but almost necessary to unravel all the threads that make up this complicated, yet compelling storyline. Look for it next Spring in select theatres. My good friend (and editor of two of my own films) James Burgess did the editing on this film and it’s definitely worth a watch.

SCORE: 3.5 out of 5

RELEASE: 2013 - Not Yet Released
RATING: PG-13

Tiny: A Story About Living Small — 3 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: Downsized

SUMMARY: This movie will make you consider downsizing your current way of life

DETAILS: A young man who is turning thirty searches for the meaning of “home” when he embarks on a mission to build a tiny house. What begins as a summer project takes over a year of his life as he struggles to complete his undertaking. I love the ideas presented in this film of living less cluttered and more simply. I wish the film would have dug deeper into the relationship between the main guy and his girlfriend who was helping build the house. In essence, that’s the deeper, real, more human story taking place. Will their relationship survive? Will they live happily ever after in this tiny house? Those are the lines I wanted to see explored and unfortunately it was more about building their house, than building their lives.

SCORE: 3 out of 5

RELEASE: 2013
RATING: NR
DOCUMENTARY

Cold Mountain — 4 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: Sad

 SUMMARY: A beautiful and sad story of lovers held apart by the Civil War.

DETAILS: Sad… Jude Law and Nicole Kidman star in this beautifully filmed love story set in and around the context of the Civil War. A pure preachers daughter moves to Cold Mountain and catches the eye of a young laborer just as war breaks out between the States. He must go fight and she must stay behind and wait… and wait. It’s a story of women who need to be strong, of men who desire love more than war, and of the injustices that hunt them down. Their are strong anti-war themes and a couple scenes with strong sexuality in this powerful story.

SCORE: 4 out of 5

RELEASE: 2003
RATING: R

Truth or Consequences N.M. — 3.5 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: Gripping!

SUMMARY: Kiefer Sutherland has created a gritty, updated, Bonnie & Clyde.

DETAILS: Gripping… the evolution of chaos becomes the theme as a team of drug crooks pay the consequences for one decision after another. It’s like watching a finely orchestrated, 90-minute train-wreck, as things go from bad to worse. Kiefer Sutherland plays second-fiddle in their gang with Vincent Gallo & Kim Dickens at the helm. The plot takes them from stealing drugs from a dealer and taking hostages in Utah, to a play-gone-wrong in Vegas, and finally to the consequences of their actions in the dessert of New Mexico. Embedded in the group is an unlikely hero that certainly makes the film more interesting than your average crime story. This movie is heavy on language and bullets but certainly an interesting and entertaining ride.

SCORE: 3.5 out of 5

RELEASE: 1997
RATING: R

Music and Lyrics — 3.5 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: Fun!

SUMMARY: A has-been pop star and the girl who waters his plants work together to write a new hit for today’s current hot act.

DETAILS: Fun!… Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore star in this romantic comedy about an unlikely pair who team up to write a song. Grant’s character can write the melodies but lyrics are not his strong suit… and his previous solo album (and its failure) are proof of that. Barrymore has a gift with words, but lacks the confidence needed to write them down. Together they create a great song and of course, they fall in love along the way. It’s lighthearted and fun, yet still teaches us about overcoming our pasts as well as our failures and shortcomings.

SCORE: 3.5 Stars out of 5

RELEASE: 2007
RATING: PG-13

God's Not Dead — 1 out of 5 stars

ONE WORD REVIEW: Ugh...

SUMMARY: Another "Christian Film" to help Christians feel better about being Christians 

DETAILS: Ugh… I don’t even know where to start. How many unconnected characters can we jam into one movie? Lots. Will everyone come to Jesus? Of course! Can we kill off our main antagonist? Yes, but not before he accepts Jesus as his Savior. Can we turn “witnessing to our friends" (via text message) into blatant self-promotion of the film? Yes! Can we tack on Christian Celebrity in a totally meaningless fashion that is in no-way connected to the storyline? Absolutely. I would like to continue this rant, but I feel the need to go vomit! It’s film’s like this that make me never want to be connected to the Christian Film Industry and why I refer to myself as a follower of Christ who happens to be a filmmaker and not a "Christian Filmmaker".

SCORE: 1 Star out of 5

RELEASE: 2014
RATING: PG

The Dust Factory — 2.5 out of 5 stars

A mute boy finds himself in a magical world with a new girl friend. His grandfather teaches him faith to return to the real world. With a little bit of cheese factor.

SCORE: 2.5 out of 5

RELEASE: 2004
RATING: PG

Duplex — 2.5 out of 5 stars

Ben Stiller & Drew Barrymore move into a Brooklyn duplex with a noisy, crazy, but charming upstairs neighbor who they can’t get to leave. They soon realize that their only option is murder.

SCORE: 2.5 out of 5

RELEASE: 2003
RATING: PG-13

The Lost Boys Of Sudan — 3.5 out of 5 stars

Good look inside the lives of two of the lost boys who came to the States as refugees from the civil war in Sudan. With no family and not much support they struggle to make it in America.

SCORE: 3.5 out of 5

RELEASE: 2003
RATING: NR
DOCUMENTARY

The Godfather — 4 out of 5 stars

Fantastic on many levels.

SCORE: 4 out of 5
RELEASE: 1972
RATING: R

Django Unchained — 5 out of 5 stars

A slave is given his freedom but must search for his wife to try and free her. Fantastic characters. Over-the-top violence - Quentin Tarantino directed it.

SCORE: 5 out of 5
RELEASE: 2112
RATING: R

Born Into Brothels — 3.5 out of 5 stars

Good look into the lives of children of the brothels. A woman comes alongside them a teaches the love of photography. One student stands out with his passion and skills.

SCORE: 3.5 out of 5
RELEASE: 2004
RATING: R
DOCUMENTARY

Craigslist Joe — 4.5 out of 5 stars

Joe decides to spend a month using Craigslist for all of his needs. From food to crashpads to transportation. His journey takes him from LA to Portland to Seattle to Chicago to NY to Florida to New Orleans to Texas to San Fran and back to LA. The generosity of Craigslist strangers will help restore your faith in humanity.

SCORE: 4.5 out of 5
RELEASE: 2112
RATING: NR
DOCUMENTARY

48 hrs. — 1 out of 5 stars

Cops out catching bad guys... please don’t make me watch this again.

SCORE: 1 out of 5
RELEASE: 1982
RATING: R

Blue Like Jazz — 4 out of 5 stars

Donald Miller's story of college and christianity. At an extremely secular campus he gains a sense of what is real about his faith in spite of all the hypocritical christians he knows.

SCORE: 4 out of 5
RELEASE: 2112
RATING: PG-13