Sunday, July 27, 2014

God's not Dead

Good news to fans of Christian movies, Gateway Church will be screening them more in the near future. I had the pleasure of watching God's not Dead on the big screen. It was not a pleasure because it was an awesome movie, on the contrary, it was horrible but I get to that soon.
Gateway now has a Facebook page for all the info if you want to check out the next movie. I sure hope they are getting the viewing license for these films. I will check into this and get back to you. If they are not, I will fight for them to do this right. These movie makers deserve their money. I talking $200 and all is good.
*edit* It has been confirmed that licensing is being paid for movies shown and to be shown. 
What do I think about God's Not Dead? First of all, Dean "Superman" Cain and Kevin "Hercules" Sorbo are in it. They do as good a job as they ever have but they never share any screen time. A waste of opportunity if I ever saw. Here's the trailer so you can get a taste of what I'm talking about here.



Summary provide by IMDB: College philosophy professor Mr. Radisson's curriculum is challenged by his new student, Josh, who believes God exists.

This was the core story and it was well done. There were a lot. I mean a lot of subplots that really didn't add to the movie and with time and care could be developed into interesting movies themselves but here in this movie, it's too much. The movie is nearly two hours long and I felt every moment. The screenplay is really good and would only be better with some editing and getting down to the core of the movie.
My best problem with Christian movies is usually the story but this was well done. The next problem with Christian movies is the cinematography. This movie does not pass the grade. It's shot very straight forward with very little creativity and the coloring is drab. It looks a lot like a TV movie. It could be because of budget restraints but that shouldn't kill creativity. They should take a lesson from Robert Rodriguez. He does so much on the cheap.
I must also warn you that there at least 3 scenes that will make you cry. Hats off to the director for pulling that emotional hat trick. I think they were too close together and too often and I felt manipulated.
Overall, this is not an awful movie in the Christian Movie spectrum. I give it 3.75 out of 5. But that is only in the context of being a Christian movie. As a movie alone? Horrible. Pass on this unless you are a big fan of Dean Cain or Kevin Sorbo.

Saturday, July 26, 2014

Space Oddity (David Bowie + Kristen Wiig) - The Secret Life of Walter Mitty










What is my current favorite movie? The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Why? Because I can Identify with the the character, Walter. He has a brilliant and wonder life inside his head much like I do. I dream of making it a reality much like Walter. In the movie it comes down to a moment in Walter's life where he must decide, will he ride the helicopter or not. If he does not. Life the same. If he does. Life is never the same. What is cool is the moment where he does decide and it's his imagination that pushes him. Wild and crazy imagination. Where dreams are crazy and thought to be unobtainable. Unobtainium is only in the movies.

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Yard Sailing

I took my oldest out to yard sales and there was a lot of baby clothes out there. I found some good stuff though. For my youngest, I got a stack of Pokemon and a squishy Rawhide baseball. When we went to the Rawhide game last weekend, he really wanted one. He should be happy. My oldest found a hardback copy of Ender;s Game.
For me, I found two cds; The Best of Bobby Darin Vol. 2 and The Kingston Trio, Greatest Hits. Yeah, not the usual but my kind of music. I'm odd that way. Never heard of Bobby Darin you say? Let me help you.
And The Kingston Trio?
 I got three books too. The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury, Screw-Jack by Hunter S. Thomson and Uprising by Erwin McManus.
It was a good morning.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Fun Fact about Visalia

Visalia is pretty old. How old is she? When kids were in school there was no history class. *rim shot*
Back to the fun fact of the day. Visalia is older than Canada. Yes, Canada. The whole thing. Canada wasn't established until July 1st, 1867 What do you think of that, eh? So, Happy Birthday, Canada!