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Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (2008)
Watching Dawkins SQUIRM was *priceless*!
...and when he finally conceded that there may have been intelligent design, so long as it was design by frigging ALIENS who had evolved elsewhere in the universe, I almost peed my pants laughing so hard. With that one, he completely revealed that his personal anti-God quest has more to do with not enough hugs or a late-night-sneaky-uncle than any real scientific principles. He'd tipped his hand and, by the look on his face just after the words escaped his mouth, he knew it.
Ah well, Richard. Better luck next time.
This movie was incredibly clever. Sure, he used some Michael Moore style propaganda tricks, but with the tone he set (over-the-top archive footage, etc.), it was clearly meant to be taken as tongue-in-cheek.
Hangman's Curse (2003)
Did a church youth group make this???
I just saw "A Hangman's Curse" and let me say-- I am disappointed.
I've been a fan of Frank Peretti novels for years and I've read everything he's come out with. Like most fans of Christian fiction, I've been dying for a film version of This Present Darkness since the 80s. Looks like that will never come.
Frank Peretti seems to write 2 different kinds of books 1.)books for adults that kids should probably not read (The Oath gave me some serious nightmares when I was 13) and 2.)kids books that are usually entertaining enough for adults to enjoy (for instance, Tombs of Anak and that whole series). This new "Veritas Project" series, though, seems like kids books that adults really can't relate to. I was in my early twenties when the Hangman's Curse came out and I thought it was one of his least inspired. So, *why* is this the first one to be made into a movie (this one was in the works before the Tilly TV special)?? Why not the Visitation or the Prophet or THIS PRESENT DARKNESS (heck, Fox has owned the movie rights to that for years)??
Anyway, besides starting with a mediocre story, this "movie" had huge problems. The leads did a decent job of acting, but all of the extras and bit parts were horrendous! The group of girls that befriend Elisha... it was like they weren't even trying! Huge after-school special vibe. The picture quality in general was sub-TV as was the contrived dialogue. (What happened to the hilarious exchanges between the PC/tolerance-obsessed teacher and Elijah???) And what was with that fat kid being one of the popular/cool guys on campus?? So he was good at football. My experience around high schoolers was that being good in sports did *not* automatically provide an in with the beautiful crowd.
And speaking of which, nice reinforcement of stereotypes. The ONLY people in that school were either a.)beautiful popular prep/jocks b.)hopelessly dorky nerds c.)angry Columbine-esque goth losers. No normal people? No people that relate to several groups? No jocks who like goth bands??? How Saved by the Bell is that? I almost expected Slater to drop by, but luckily this was one of the first Christian movies to not feature fashion/slang from 8-10 years before it was made. And then at the end of the movie... the goth people are "fixed" and the one redeemable jock (one of 2 minority characters in the film)is teaching them how to be normal, since they're not goth anymore ("this is how you throw a frisbee...")
There were a few upsides to it, though.
1.) Good music. Until recently, most Christian movies don't take advantage of all the great Christian music that's out there. Looks like that might finally be changing. Mercy Streets did. The Champion did. And now, Hangman's Curse did (is it required that "Extreme Days" be played in every Christian movie now?)
2.) At least your youth group won't spend the whole movie laughing at the language and clothes/hairstyles of the actors.
3.) The girl who played Elisha was incredibly hot. Like inexplicably hot.
4.) It gives us some hope that Peretti may be gearing up to put more of his projects on film... (we've gotten two in the last 2 years).
If he does, let's hope they do it a little better.
Exit Wounds (2001)
Woww--eeeee, this was a bad movie...
Spoilers ahead 1.)I have seen every single Steven Segal movie ever made. 2.)Despite their complete lack of plot, point, or distinguishing characteristics, I have enjoyed all of them. 3.)I rented this movie expecting more of the same drivel to mindlessly entertain me. 4.)THIS MOVIE SUCKED!!!!!!!!!
It looked like it was going to be Steven's best movie ever! From the producer of the Matrix! Same Hong Kong fight choreographer from Romeo must die... DMX as the co-star...Comic relief by Tom Arnold...Political intrigue...
Unfortunately, bad writing and HORRIBLE editing made this movie impossible to stomach.
What's wrong with this movie? Only enough room to give you the SHORT list: 1.)Many movies have an unrelated scene at the beginning just to introduce us to the main character, by showing how he reacts in a given situation(see The Score). This usually works well. In Exit Wounds, however, this "intro scene" takes almost 20 minutes. It leaves us wondering just what the HECK the vice president has to do with the plot of this movie. 2.)DMX is a HORRIBLE actor. I simply assumed he would be good because ALL rappers are good actors, right? (e.g. Will Smith, Ice Cube, Ice T, Queen Latifa, Ton Loc, etc.) But DMX just SUCKS!! And Steven is not a good actor anyway, so to see the rapper and the martial artist both trying to act in the same scene, with no one to carry them is PAINFUL. 3.) The editing was SO choppy. There is NO pacing, NO discernible climax. It sucks.
The only reason to watch this movie is for the fight scenes, which are cool, as usual for Steven Segal. Especially the scene where he jumps over the car.
I give it a 3/10 on my Steven Segal scale (Hard to Kill being a 10 and Dangerous Ground being a 5).
The Boondock Saints (1999)
My FAVORITE movie
Anyone with any taste will absolutely LOVE this movie. It is completely satisfying, without being cliche'd or predictable. I cannot fathom anyone disliking this movie. If you do, please e-mail me and explain why, so I can try to understand your kind a little better. I thank my lucky stars that this project was ditched by Paramount and Artisan picked it up. I don't think Patrick Swayze or Mark Wahlberg could have done this movie justice. The only regret I have about this film is that I was not able to see it in the theater, because of a lack of a distributor. Oh, well. I am looking forward to Troy Duffy's next masterpiece.
Bless the Child (2000)
This is what the Omega Code was trying to do!
This is by FAR the BEST movie with a religious theme that I have EVER seen. As a seminary student who is into film, I try to see all of these kinds of movies as they come out. I've been pleased with some of them (End of Days, The Exorcist, The First Power, The Prophecy) and totally disappointed by some (Stigmata, Omega Code.) But this movie did what none of those others did: it stayed (for the most part) true to the Catholic/Christian system of beliefs that the film claimed to be about, without warping it into some universalist faith (Dogma, Stigmata) and without sacrificing quality of film (Omega Code). The angels and demons being visible to Maggie as well as the obvious power of prayer reminded me of a Frank Peretti novel.
This film was extremely well acted with the possible exception (ironically) of the super-star lead, Kim Basinger. She did not react with the horror that a normal person would in the same situations, but often like Vicki Vale. Someone like Demi Moore or Bridget Fonda would have been a lot better in the role, but on the whole this movie was excellent. I rate it a 9 1/2 out of 10 as measured against other religious thrillers and an 8 out of ten on a general scale. Keep an eye on the cute but haunting child lead. She was amazing!