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Tag: Michael Scott
God's Not Dead 3: A Light in Darkness (Movie Review)
After Pastor Dave is released from prison for not turning over his sermon notes to the local government, he is immediately hit with a new persecution angle. His father's church, which he has pastored for years, sits on the property of a public university, so protests build on campus based on an argument that questions the necessity of the church being on public property. Dave begins to feel pressure from the university leadership, but things hit a breaking point when the church appears to be attacked and when his close friend Jude is killed in the attack. Dave decides to reach out to his long-lost brother for legal help as chaos reigns around him. Will he ever be able to live in peace?
With the third installment and possible end to the God's Not Dead trilogy, they have not backed off on their recently attained practice of high-quality productions. On most production fronts, A Light in Darkness is a very professional production, including video quality, camera work, and audio quality. The soundtrack is even better than the previous two installments as it is mostly void of the title track and thankfully leaves us without another Newsboys concert to wrap things up. Sets, locations, and props are also very well-utilized and well-constructed. The only two caveats in this production are the presence of some cheesy special effects and the somewhat sloppy editing job, but on the whole, God's Not Dead 3 is top-notch production work.
Plot and Storyline Quality (1 point)
In a shocking turn of events, after making us muddle through that horrible second film, the third of the trilogy has one of the best plots. The first film's plot had good elements due to its many fractured subplots, but A Light in Darkness has the best central and focused idea of them all. Though it takes forever to get to the point and though there are plenty of persecution-complex pitfalls along the way, the ending of this film is very significant because it takes the franchise in a totally different direction than the other ones were going in. Unfortunately, there are still plenty of issues with this storyline, including a lack of adequate character development due to poorly-constructed dialogue and a sloppy story construction that tends to jump from one thing to the next and include too many issues. However, someone got ahold of the plot and decided to insert some truth about why young people don't like the church, which was a breath of fresh air, however brief it may have been. As a whole, this story was a good idea in the end, but it was probably too little too late.
In spite of the usual awkwardness of David A. R. White as a 'serious' lead, other cast members are more natural and believable in their roles, even John Corbett. Benjamin Onyango was hardly ever afforded a fair opportunity to show his full potential in this trilogy, but his parts are still great. The reality is that there are actually few acting errors in this film; even the emotional performances are mostly believable. As a whole, PureFlix has made a lot of strides over the past few years, so if they will just direct their resources in a more responsible direction, who knows what good could be done.
The unfortunate part is that PureFlix managed to isolate everybody throughout the course of the GND franchise. The first film was a big hit because it filled a void in the market and was basically at the right place at the right time. It had good qualities, such as better production than usual, but it was still mostly standard and pedestrian. The second GND film was nothing short of a total trainwreck, and this where the trilogy lost its reasonable audience. However, A Light in Darkness isolated anyone faithful who were left by taking the narrative in a different and non-persecutory direction. In short, it pays to know who your audience is, but it also pays to strive for high-quality Christian films that aren't based entirely on pandering to a specific base. PureFlix has the resources to truly blow open the Christian industry if they really want to, but will they seize the opportunity before it's too late?
August 8, 2018 December 31, 2018 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Inspirational, Movie ReviewsTags: 2018, 6 points, Alysoun Wolfe, Anna Leighton, Barry Clifton, Benjamin A. Onyango, Billy Hallowell, Britanny Yost, Brittany Yost, Buddy Campbell, Caitlyn Leahy, Cissy Houston, Dan Campbell, David A. R. White, David de Vos, David Maldonado, Elizabeth Hatcher-Travis, GEM Entertainment, Greg Alan Williams, Gregory Alan Williams, Howard Klausner, Ian Campbell, Inspirational, Jennifer Cipolla, Jennifer Taylor, Jim Ameduri, Jodi Harris, John Corbett, Kay Smith, Michael Mason, Michael Scott, Mike C. Manning, Newsboys, Nikki Dixon, Pancho Burgos-Goizueta, PureFlix, Quality Flix, Ren Hanami, Rhonda Johnson Dents, Samantha Boscarino, Segun Oduolowu, Shane Harper, Shwayze, Tatum O'Neal, Ted McGinley, Tory Wynter, Vance Null, Vaughn Collar	1 Comment
Samson [2018] (Movie Review)
Samson was chosen to be a judge of Israel by Yahweh, but he did not always do as he was supposed to do. He was anointed by God with superhuman strength when the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, but when he disobeyed, there were serious consequences. God used Samson to deliver His people from the oppressive Philistines, and He used an imperfect man to accomplish His will in the most extraordinary ways.
PureFlix has clearly come a long way since the abysmal production days of The Book of Esther and the half-hearted production of movies like Apostle Peter and the Last Supper. This newer rendition of Samson boasts a surprisingly high production quality, which is manifested in gritty and realistic elements that are not afraid to make the characters get dirty. Action scenes are filmed very well with good camera work. Video quality is crisp, and sets, locations, and props are very well-constructed and culturally authentic. The editing is also good, but this production is held back from being all that it could be by weird cuts and dramatic zooms that are reminiscent of Revelation Road and by very obvious CGI architectural shots. However, on the whole, Samson is a huge step forward for PureFlix Bible productions.
Right off the bat, the plot of Samson is hamstrung by immediate and unwanted narration. Accompanying this story crutch is a typically PureFlix 'creative license' that they give themselves to do whatever they want with historical narrative. As this film was shamelessly pushed as a 'Christian superhero' flick, it is full of mostly mindless action scenes and is actually quite violent for a Bible film–even rivaling The Bible miniseries for gory content. With so many battle scenes and bodies flying around, there is no room for character development as dialogue is instead used to fill time, dump information, and force the story along in the direction the writers wanted it to go in. In molding the story however they wanted, the PureFlix collective whitewashed the obvious mistakes of Samson the historical figure and made this movie into some kind of romance-revenge plot. However, in some ways, they made some interesting connections between the true events of Samson's life, which keeps this section from being zero, but they took too much 'creative license' with historical fact to be acceptable. Regardless, we have no idea who Samson is as a character due to massive time jumps, and the recurring villain character is beyond cheesy. In the end, plot was basically tossed by the wayside in the making of this pandering film.
Somewhere out there, there is a Christian movie consultant who constantly advises film makers to cast BRITISH people as Middle Eastern characters. Sure, Middle Eastern cast members can be somewhat difficult to find, but what is the idea behind casting people with such obviously culturally inauthentic accents? I'm sure with this budget PureFlix could have found some authentic cast members. This consistent problem aside, the acting of this film is mostly fine except for the overly dramatic moments and forced emotions that are apparent here. Also, it goes without saying that PureFlix consulted with Timothy Chey on how to give PhilistIne characters the worst possible makeup jobs. On the whole, this section is average.
What to do with another Bible film? Samson fulfills the gritty category, and the production is fine, but the other categories are greatly lacking in what is needed. With a budget this big, better cast members could have been employed and better screenwriters could have been retained. Then again, it's doubtful that PureFlix actually cares about making a truly quality film. Samson was just another attempt at a cash grab–PureFlix adapts with the times as needed to do the bare minimum to get enough audiences to pay for a ticket. Now most people have forgotten this film even happened. Oh well.
May 7, 2018 January 1, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Action Adventure, Biblical, Drama, Historical, International, Movie Reviews, RomanceTags: 2018, 4 points, Action Adventure, Alysoun Wolfe, Bible, Biblical, Billy Zane, Boomtown Films, Brent Ryan Green, Brittany Yost, Bruce Macdonald, Caitlin Leahy, Craig Jones, Daryl Lefever, David A. R. White, Dylan Williams, Elizabeth Hatcher-Travis, Frances Sholto-Douglas, Gabriel Sabloff, Galen Gilbert, Greg Kriek, Historical, Ian Campbell, International, Jackson Rathbone, James Ryan, Jason Baumgardner, Jim Ameduri, Lindsay Wagner, Matthew Dylan Roberts, Michael Scott, PureFlix, Rehane Abrahams, Rutger Hauer, Sven Ruygrok, Taylor James, Timothy Ratajczak, Vance Null, Vlokkie Gordon, Will Musser, Zach Smith	1 Comment
Movie Renovation: Do You Believe?
Much like other newer, more mainstream PureFlix releases, Do You Believe sports professional production quality with very few errors to speak of. Naturally, due to the nature of this film, the editing is mostly a mess as each scene tries to be a dramatic climax with no resting periods or relief scenes. Thus, the only issue with the production can be rectified by improving the plot.
Much like God's Not Dead, Do You Believe takes on far too many subplots than it can handle. Easily half of them are unnecessary, as each of them try to insert a dramatic turn into nearly every scene that comes up. The paramedic subplot is mostly unrealistic and unnecessary, and its deletion would have also rendered the Andrea Logan White\Sean Astin subplot useless. The military veteran suffering from PTSD and the girl with the unknown past who tries to commit suicide belong in their own film, so they can be developed better as characters. The criminal brothers subplot is awkward and stereotypical. With the removing and reassignment of these subplots, the more pertinent elements of this storyline, namely the older couple who helps the homeless mother and daughter and the pastor and his wife who help the young homeless mother, could have been given more room to grow and be developed beyond their current state. An alternate option to improve this plot would have been to start at the mass car accident scene and then work backward by following each character's path to the accident, but this would take a lot of skill and discipline. Also, the narration has to be totally eliminated. In short, there is so much content in Do You Believe that there is bound to be potential in here somewhere.
While there are some good elements to the acting of this film, most casts would be improved in the absence of Liam Matthews, Andrea Logan White, and of course, Ted McGinley. There are just so many cast members involved here that any good portions are cancelled out by poor performances. However, if the storyline was pared down to a realistic medium, the cast would have also been trimmed to ensure quality of quantity.
Quality over quantity was truly the order of the day for this film. Dumping every subplot you can think of into one film will make a film that a lot of people will see and perhaps like momentarily, but its lasting impact is blunted by its onslaught of content. However, there are enough good ideas in this film to perhaps kickstart a better film in the future.
March 5, 2018 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Movie and Series RenovationsTags: 2015, Abigail Duhon, Alexa PenaVega, Andrea Logan White, Brian Bosworth, Brittany Lefebvre, Cary Solomon, Chuck Konzelman, Cybill Shepherd, David A. R. White, Delroy Lindo, Elizabeth Hatcher-Travis, Harold Cronk, Inspirational, J.J. Soria, Jon Gunn, Lee Majors, Liam Matthews, Linda Hines, Madison Pettis, Makenzie Moss, Michael Scott, Mira Sorvino, Movie and Series Renovations, Pro-Life, PureFlix, Robert Katz, Russell Wolfe, Sean Astin, Senyo Amoaku, Shwayze, Subtle Cross Imagery, Suspense, Ted McGinley, Tracy Melchior, Valerie Domínguez, Will Musser	Leave a comment
Movie Renovation: God's Not Dead
There are really few production errors to note in the first God's Not Dead film. The primary issue with this production is, of course, the editing, due to the large and complex amount of content that is attempted to be used in this film. Thus, if the plot categories were improved, the editing issue would likely also improve.
The plot of God's Not Dead needs some serious work. For one, there are too many ideas shoved into one two-hour film. A lot of these ideas really need to be movies of their own, such as the Muslim family subplot and the Chinese student subplot. The blogger character and all of her connections (Dean Cain, the Robertsons, etc.) need to be deleted completely. The woman with dementia is an interesting aside, but it needs better development. Pastor Dave and his connections really wouldn't be missed either; this area might be better if it was altered. Finally, the portrayal of the atheist professor is noteworthy and better than most, but it still could be better and less over the top. The "character who is an atheist because their mother died of cancer" trope is a bit thin. Also, there are obviously instances of anti-Christian bias in academia, but this story could have been a bit more down to earth. Thus, with a lot of separation, editing, organization, and focus, this plot could have pushed the film into the Hall of Fame.
While the acting of the original God's Not Dead is actually a major improvement over most PureFlix casts, it still isn't perfect. For one, David A. R. White and Tommy Blaze rarely need to be acting. Trisha LaFache is average at best and needs serious coaching. Dean Cain should probably never be cast again. Kevin Sorbo has his place, but not as a raging professor. Otherwise, this cast is fine.
There was a reason the beginning of the God's Not Dead saga was so popular, and it wasn't because of its portrayal of atheists. It has a lot of intriguing content and a lot of ideas that need further exploration in different venues. Trying to lump all of it together in one film was a disappointment. However, it was the first time PureFlix actually proved they could be at least somewhat responsible with their budget, including a high-quality production. Perhaps one day someone will use some of the half-baked ideas of God's Not Dead for greater purposes.
February 11, 2018 February 9, 2018 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Movie and Series RenovationsTags: 2014, Abigail Duhon, Anna Zielinski, Benjamin A. Onyango, Cary Solomon, Cassidy Gifford, Chuck Konzelman, Cory Oliver, David A. R. White, Dean Cain, Delaney, Duncan Phillips, Elizabeth Hatcher-Travis, Hadeel Sittu, Hunter Dennis, Inspirational, Jeff Frankenstein, Jesse Wang, Jody Davis, Kevin Sorbo, Korie Robertson, Lenore Banks, Lisa Arnold, Marco Khan, Michael Scott, Michael Tait, Movie and Series Renovations, Paul Kwo, PureFlix, Russell Wolfe, Shane Harper, Tommy Blaze, Trisha LaFache, Will Musser, Willie Robertson	Leave a comment
Heavenly Match (Movie Review)
Reverend Casey Hunt is promoted to senior minister of her church after the former one steps down, but she doesn't like her job because she is perpetually single. However, her plans change when she finds out that her replacement is going to be someone she met in seminary—a witty, handsome man who is still single. Thus, they decide to hang around together and do comedic things until enough time goes by in the movie for it to come to a neat, inventible conclusion. However, this plot isn't complete without a typical up-and-down romance based on lack of communication. Welcome to made-for-television films!
Much like Hallmark, as we have stated before, UP has mastered the art of the quick made-for-TV production that looks good on the outside. Heavenly Match is one of these such films. It has good video quality, camera work, and audio quality. It has a predictably silly soundtrack to accompany this. Though the sets and locations are slightly limited in this small-town universe, the props are fine. The editing is also fine, considering the tight window this content has to fit into between commercial breaks. However, it's not like there was much content in the first place. In the end, this film checked all the necessary production boxes.
From beginning to end, Heavenly Match is filled with a ridiculous amount of constant narration that destroys any hope this film had of having natural progression. The comedy elements are painfully forced to the point of nausea, and the dialogue is very odd. As a whole, this story demonstrates a lack of fundamental understanding of real church work, and it is a completely manufactured plot that is hopelessly pandering to Christian audiences every second it has. The romantic comedy elements are cringeworthy and were mass-produced on an assembly line as every possible cliché and convention in this genre is used. In short, this film is extremely empty and mostly pointless except to just fill air time and make some easy commercial money.
Though this cast has plenty of professional elements that help its score reach above-average quality, most of the time, the main cast members are trying too hard to be interesting and funny. At times, they are also very plastic in their demeanors. Makeup can also tend to be overdone. However, this section is mostly fine and rounds out a pedestrian film.
Another day, another run-of-the-mill television film from an inspirational network with ad spots to sell. What do we expect at this point? Perhaps soon there will be so many dynamic, creative, and ground-breaking Christian films that movies like Heavenly Match will be totally irrelevant. Maybe.
January 6, 2018 January 2, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Inspirational, Movie ReviewsTags: 2014, 4.5 points, Angela Moore, Beth Pattillo, Bill Dow, Brendan Penny, Cara J. Russell, Christine Lippa, Dawn Knight, Gabrielle Rose, Gwynyth Walsh, Harvey Kahn, Jeff Tymoschuk, Jody Thompson, Kevin O'Grady, Leanne Lapp, Leela Savasta, Leslee Achorn, Letoya Luckett, Libby Beers, Marnie Young, Michael Scott, Michael Shepard, P.J. Prinsloo, Samaire Armstrong, Serge Houde, Uplifting Entertainment	Leave a comment
Christmas With a Capital C (Movie Review)
Dan Reed is just a nice Christian mayor of a small Alaskan town, but when his old high school rival\friend, Mitch Bright, comes to town, Mitch just wants to mess up Christmas for everybody. Mitch is mad that Dan took his girl in high school, so Mitch decides to take it out on Dan by suing the town for having a manger scene on public property. Will the war on Christmas never end?
In keeping with most PureFlix films, Christmas With a Capital C is mostly fine, including good video quality, audio quality, and camera work. The soundtrack is what one can expect from a Christmas film. Some sets are limited, but there are some good outdoor locations that redeem this. The prop choices are mostly fine, but there is a slight over-abundance of Christmas décor. Furthermore, there is one too many montages in this film, yet the editing is mostly standard. In the end, this production is just one of those assembly line PureFlix deals.
With so many cooks in the crowded PureFlix plot kitchen, Christmas With a Capital C has a little bit of everything in it. For the most part, it contains every cheesy war-on-Christmas and fake persecution cliché you can possibly shove into one movie. The film mostly takes up arms in the religion freedom battle in a small town by using propaganda about the opposing side, but there are some surprising moments of sanity when some characters wisely suggest that maybe fighting for manger scenes on public property isn't going to save people. However, this is quickly derailed again by cheesy and formulaic subplots, including juvenile romances, that are driven by obnoxious characters and manufactured dialogue. Unfortunately, any good that was meant in this film is covered up with madness.
This film has another one of those crazy PureFlix casts that is memorable for the wrong reasons, even though it doesn't contain the usual suspects. Ted McGinley is his usual fake self, while Brad Stine takes the opportunity to adlib in over the top and unhinged ways. For some reason, Nancy Stafford allowed herself to be dragged into this nonsense, yet she is always a standout. Other cast members are also fine and make up for the loony moments that dominate the performances.
Why do we need to constantly roll out movies that 'fight' against 'political correctness' and try to 'win back' religious freedom? Since when does not being able to display a manger scene on government property persecution? What if a Muslim ideal was displayed on government property? One character points out the futility of fighting this fight in light of trying to spread the gospel to people who are hurting, and this contribution is no doubt the sanity of Andrea Nasfell. However, any good she wanted to accomplish in this movie is drowned out by the militant agenda of PureFlix. As long as Christian leaders continue to prioritize fighting for political power and influence over doing the real work of Christ, culture will continue to go in the opposite direction.
November 28, 2017 January 3, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Christmas, Comedy, Inspirational, Movie ReviewsTags: 2011, 3.5 points, Andrea Gyertson Nasfell, Barbara Hopkins-Cox, Brad Stine, Christmas, Comedy, Cooper Peltz, Daniel Baldwin, David Cuddy, Edwin Wendler, Francesca Derosa, Frank Delaney, Helmut Schleppi, Inspirational, James Chankin, Jerry MacDonnell, Jessica Busbee, Karen Lauer, Linné Bardarson, Lisa Dawnell James, Michael Scott, Nancy Stafford, Paloma Peterson, Peter Yoder, PureFlix, Ranch Studios, Ron Holmstrom, Ted McGinley	Leave a comment
The Case for Christ [2017] (Movie Review)
Lee Strobel was an acclaimed newspaper reporter who had seemingly reached a new level in his career with his in-depth research pieces. Everything in his life seemed perfect, until his wife Leslie began talking to a Christian nurse who saved the life of their daughter and became a Christian herself. Lee's staunch atheism was immediately challenged by his wife's beliefs, even though she had become a better person as a result. Thus, Lee set out to disprove the faith of his wife by attacking the core tenets of Christianity and skeptically investigating the truth behind them. However, the deeper he went into his investigation, the less faith he had in atheism. He would eventually have to come to grips with what he really believed and make a decision that would change his life forever.
After years of wandering in the proverbial wilderness, Jon Gunn and his team, aided by the new standards of PureFlix, have finally found the promised land. The Case for Christ is a flawless production in every aspect and is an example of what we should see in every film. Video quality, camera work, and audio quality are error free. The soundtrack is highly authentic and appropriate for the time. Sets, locations, and props are exquisite and demonstrate great care for historical accuracy. Finally, editing is excellent as montages are kept to a minimum and each scene transitions seamlessly. Basically, this is your textbook perfect production.
What better plot to use than a real-life story that many audiences can relate to for multiple different reasons? Not only is this film about real people, but they are actually portrayed as real people through meaningful dialogue and realistic circumstances. This film could have easily descended into an information-saturated and message-heavy dump that tried too hard to push its point, but that is not the case here. Both the atheist and the Christian characters are portrayed extremely well and the highly relevant message is presented in such a way that it is both clearly understood and easily received without being pushed in your face. In the hands of a different writer, this idea could have gone south very easily. Yet it did not, and Brian Bird proves that with good content, he can go great things. The only nitpick to raise here is some slight choppiness, but it's not a big deal. The bottom line is that this is an excellent plot and one well worth your time.
You can hardly ask for a better cast than this, as each member fits their character excellently. There are zero acting errors to point out as every performance is executed with near perfection. Emotions are highly believable and line delivery is on point. This rounds out an excellent film.
In conjunction with Brian Bird, Jon Gunn has finally discovered his true talent and has struck gold. He put previous disappointments behind him and found a way to become a great film maker. All we ask of film makers is to show steady and consistent improvement, and Jon Gunn has done just that. He was also afforded a great opportunity to tell the amazing true story of Lee Strobel and to have better funding due to the better decisions made by the PureFlix leadership. This film gives Jon Gunn, Brian Bird, and the rest a platform to build off of to do even greater things.
August 12, 2017 January 8, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Hall of Fame, Historical, Inspirational, Movie ReviewsTags: 2017, 8.5 points, Alysoun Wolfe, Brett Rice, Brian Bird, Brittany Yost, Cindy Hogan, David A. R. White, David de Vos, Elizabeth Hatcher-Travis, Erika Christensen, Faye Dunaway, Frank Shaw, Frankie Faison, Grant Goodeve, Haley Rosenwasser, Historical, Inspirational, Jacob Rhodes, Jeremy Hill, Jimmy Gonzales, Jon Gunn, Jordan Cox, Judd Lormand, Karl Horstmann, Kelly Lamor Wilson, Kevin Sizemore, L. Scott Caldwell, Lee Shaw, Lee Strobel, Linda Latona, Matthew Brenher, Meredith Andrews, Michael Provost, Michael Scott, Miguel Pérez, Mike Pniewski, Mike Vogel, Monica Kepes, Paul Kepes, Paul Reese, PureFlix, Renell Gibbs, Robert Forster, Rus Blackwell, Tom Nowicki, Triple Horse Studios, Vance Null, Wayne Pére, Will Musser	7 Comments
Johnny [2010] (Movie Review)
Johnny is a foster boy with cancer who sees it as his mission to show people the truth and love of God even though he is suffering. When he encounters Dr. Carter, little do they know that both of their lives will be changed forever as a result. Dr. Carter and his wife are still hurting from the death of their young son, and though they are not ready to believe that Johnny could offer healing for them. However, God has other plans for all of them.
In keeping with most recent PureFlix productions, Johnny is most fine. Video quality is on standard, but there are some unexplainable moments of shaky camera work. Audio quality is mostly what it should be, but the soundtrack is extremely uninspiring and sometimes it seems like the audio is overdubbed. Sets, locations, and props are professional. However, there are far too many montages in this film that serve as a crutch for actual content. Thus, the editing work is poor. Overall, this is an average production that should have been better than this, considering the funding it had.
Though there is a somewhat good message behind Johnny, there is far too much melodrama that distracts from it. It is very difficult to connect with the struggles of the characters because they come off as very manufactured and plastic. The main character is very cheesily sappy and perfect, almost to the point of embarrassment. A lot of the dialogue from all the characters is very obvious and forceful in moving the plot along rather than developing the characters. Thus, the story follows a predictable progression that is obvious from the start. While there is nothing inherently wrong with the plotline itself, the way it is presented and the lack of authenticity really derails this film. Also, things are fixed too easily, which doesn't really help us learn anything. In the end, these sorts of movies are very formulaic and are unfortunately designed to make money.
Though this cast is intended to be professional, there is really no coaching present. While it is not all bad, there are far too many over the top emotions and yelling sequences. Everything is overly dramatic, which makes for a very distracting experience. This is not the way to make a meaningful film.
Johnny is one of those films that uses a generic and predictable plot structure to churn out a made-for-bookstore film that can be easily sold on the shelves. It contributes nothing to the field and only serves the purpose of generating revenue for the production company. A few weeks after the release, it is totally forgotten and eventually turns up in the cheap Walmart bins and in thrift stores. Christian film should not be about profit ventures, even though PureFlix has done this for about a decade now. However, hopefully that tide is turning.
May 22, 2017 January 9, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Inspirational, Movie ReviewsTags: 10 West Studios, 2.5 points, 2010, Alan Smithee, Aubyn Cole, Brandon Klopot, Brittany Lefebvre, Byron Jones, Clean Slate Productions, D. David Morin, David A. R. White, David Michael Anthony, David Miner, Disease, Grant Cooper Gillen, Harold Cronk, Inspirational, Jeffrey Peterson, Jerry Phillips, Lee Majors, Leslie L. Miller, Leticia Robles, Liam Matthews, Lonnie Colón, Mel Fair, Michael Scott, Musetta Vander, PureFlix, Russell Wolfe, Tom Saab	Leave a comment
The Wager [2007] (Movie Review)
Creepy……..
Michael Steele, a major movie star, slowly finds his life changing and being turned upside down as he tries to live the way he feels a Christian should live. Nothing seems to work out and things only seem to get harder as he tries more to do what Jesus would do. As his friends and coworkers call him crazy and shake their heads at what he is trying to do, Michael Steele finds himself wavering at times. Will God really help him endure what he is going through?
If one good thing can be said for this unusual production, it's that time and money were definitely spent on the sets, locations, and props. However, not much else positive can be highlighted. Camera work is quite shaky and video quality is quite grainy. The soundtrack is bad enough without forcing us to listen to Randy Travis attempt to sing. Also, there are a number of annoyingly bizzare special effects throughout, including constant flashing that seems to be unfriendly to the epileptic. Finally, editing is poorly done, thus leaving the film too choppy and punctuated. In the end, to be a film of this profile, production should have been far better than this.
Based on a novel by Bill Myers, this really is not the best book plot that could have been chosen to be placed on the big screen. The plot structure is quite unusual and includes confusing flashbacks that don't serve much purpose. There is not real plot content as the story hops from one thing to the next. The characters therein are very one-dimensional. Unfortunately, this includes a strawman portrayal of non-Christian characters and a squeaky clean portrayal of Christian characters. While there is some semblance of a good message lost in translation, all the problems of this story are fixed far too easily, thus making it all seem very trite and plastic. In short, this movie was written for a vague idea that never materialized.
After watching The Wager, one has to wonder why Randy Travis is ever cast in a movie. What exactly good acting qualities does he bring to the table. But hey, on the bright side, this film contains Candace Cameron Bure's best role to date, surprisingly enough. Other cast members, such as Nancy Stafford, are not all that bad, but there is a lot of negative here that detracts from the positive—mostly pertaining to Randy Travis.
What is to be accomplished by these sorts of films? With half-efforts evident in all three categories, what did the creators expect? Do people expect that they can just barely try to put a movie together and then it will just be fine since it's a Christian movie? Thankfully, we are seeing less and less of these types of films today, so films like The Wager can provide a major lesson to today's film makers: 'big name' cast members and writers do not automatically make for a great movie. Great Christian movies take true effort and care and are unfortunately hard to come by.
April 14, 2017 January 9, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Inspirational, Movie Reviews, SuspenseTags: 1.5 points, 2007, Bill Myers, Blazing Sun Productions, Bronson Pinchot, Candace Cameron Bure, Carey Scott, D. David Morin, David A. R. White, Doug Jones, Elizabeth Hatcher-Travis, Inspirational, James Molina, John Gilbert, John Hagee, Jude Ciccolella, Judson Pearce Morgan, Kass Connors, Kelly Overton, Marc Fantini, Matthew Barnett, Michael Scott, Nancy Stafford, Nancy Valen, PureFlix, Randy Travis, Rich Hutchman, Riley McCann, Russell Wolfe, Steffan Fantini, Suspense	2 Comments
Sarah's Choice (Movie Review)
Sarah wants a big executive break like her boyfriend has, that's why she sees an opportunity when she gets interviewed for a temporary job. The only catch is that in order to get hired, she has to prove that she's not pregnant. But after she takes a test, she finds that she is pregnant and is faced with a serious decision: pursue a career and abort her child or give up her career and have her child. Sarah will have to decide how real her faith is and what direction she wants her life to go in.
The one thing PureFlix usually has going for them is that they can put together a respectable-looking production. Sarah's Choice is not an exception. Notwithstanding an odd opening sequence, the camera work is at least above average. The video quality is good, as is the audio quality. The soundtrack could use some improvement, but the sets are respectable. Also, the editing is mostly average, though there are a handful of unnecessary scenes that put a damper on this production. But overall, despite their obvious flaws, PureFlix can usually put together a semi-professional production.
Leave it to PureFlix to take an important social issue and mutilate it with over the top messaging. As a plot filled with typical White-style extremist characters, Sarah's Choice sports a ridiculously unrealistic premise that is designed to force the issue of abortion on the audience. As usual, pro-abortionists and other people who disagree with the PureFlix worldview are portrayed in offensive ways. The dialogue is very obvious and forces the plot along, even though there is plenty of time wasted on bizarre asides. There is also a silly shoehorning of the Christmas story into this plot, along with some odd 'magical' Christmas elements. While the psychological parts are intriguing, they are not enough to offset the onslaught of nonsense in the remainder of the storyline. As can be expected, the end is neat and tidy with no real justification for it ending up that way. Basically, every horror story regarding the combination of PureFlix and the issue of abortion comes true in Sarah's Choice.
While some cast members, including Rebecca St. James, post moderately respectable performances, this is probably Andrea Logan White's most obnoxious role to date as she attempts to caricature a vain (well this mostly true) pro-abortion feminist. There are some bright spots here that keep this category from being terrible, but there are still too many unrealistic emotions and drama moments. Line delivery is fairly average throughout. Overall, this is just average, despite Andrea Logan White.
In a PureFlix Christmas movie about abortion, what could go wrong? Well, a lot, actually. The Whites and company continue their addiction to portraying non-Christians as heartless ogres and construct an unrealistic framework designed to shove a social issue down your throat. Do they even have any regard for reality or are they just trying to sell movies? Movies like Sarah's Choice are exactly why people tire of legalistic Christianity. Unfortunately, while this blog is unashamedly pro-life, this is not the type of film we can support.
December 12, 2016 January 13, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Christmas, Drama, Inspirational, Movie ReviewsTags: 2009, 3.5 points, Andrea Logan White, Brad Stine, Byron Jones, Carey Scott, Chad Kapper, Christmas, David A. R. White, Dick Van Patten, Elizabeth Hatcher-Travis, Ethan Cooper Roy, Inspirational, Julian Bailey, Libby Smallbone, Like a Botox treatment, Linda Bisesti, Marc Davies, Matthew Bacis, Michael Scott, Pro-Life, PureFlix, Rebecca St. James, Robert Miano, Russell Wolfe, Sean McGowan, Sean Paul Murphy, Staci Keanan, Timothy Ratajczak, Yvette Tucker	1 Comment
Dancer and the Dame (Movie Review)
Demoted from his detective position because he took a conspiracy theory too far, Rick Dancer feels like an outcast in most people's eyes. But then he stumbles onto something new about his theory regarding the city's richest philanthropist, whom he believes is corrupt. Yet this only serves him orders for a psychological evaluation, which leads to him taking on a new partner—a traumatized police dog. Rick will have to learn to work with her while trying to regain the trust of his boss all while he still chases leads regarding his theory. In the end, he will have to decide if he is going to let himself care again in order to succeed.
In a break from the typical PureFlix model, most production element of Dancer and the Dame are okay. Video quality is clear and camera work is pretty good; they're getting better with action shots. Audio quality is fine, but the soundtrack is annoying. Prop usage is as cheesy as can be expected from a PureFlix action film attempt. The sets and locations are fairly realistic but are also stereotypical. As for the editing, there's basically none of it. The entire film is face value: what they filmed is what you get. Every scene is run as long as it possibly can be and there's really nothing else there. But the rundown is that Dancer is pretty average on production, which is actually a step up from the norm. This fact alone is disturbing.
So essentially, this story is about a washed up cop doing office work at the precinct because his conspiracy theory about a local rich guy blew up in his face. But he gets a second chance in his career when his theories start to be 'proven' true. Then he's sentenced to a suspect mental evaluation which consists of the psychologist pushing her opinions on him and then forcing him to take her dog off of his hands. From there, doggish 'comedy' ensues as Dancer stumbles upon 'clues' like a children's mystery (or maybe a Hallmark mystery). The characters are flat and comedy is typical Tommy Blaze style. Once again, another horrible portrayal of counseling\psychology in a Christian film. The odd thing about this Blaze creation is that it's not entirely committed to crass and cartoonish 'jokes', but instead tries to insert inspirational themes into the movie, such as the typical feel-good pet storyline. This is not to mention the Christian-sounding messages awkwardly forced into key parts of the plot. And what's with the constant cheesy references to dog breeds 'hidden' in people's names? In short, this film is a usual Blaze train wreck—a little less zany than usual, but still a mess.
The sad state of Christian casting is that 'secular' actor Billy Gardell is substantially better at acting than most PureFlix actors and actresses. David A. R. White, Tommy Blaze, Brad Heller, Carey Scott, and Anna Zielinski are all their typical selves. There is really no regard for any professionalism, yet line delivery is not terrible, just awkward. Basically, nice try, but not good enough.
Year after year PureFlix rolls out laughable films in the name of Christianity. They are rarely received well and seem to accomplish little for the Kingdom. We'll never understand where they constantly get their money from or how they convince more popular actors and actresses to appear in their films. If you've seen one dumb PureFlix movie, you've definitely seen Dancer and the Dame. It's better to not waste your time on another one.
September 6, 2016 January 15, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Comedy, Inspirational, Movie ReviewsTags: 2 points, 2015, Alannah Bruce, Anna Zielinski, Billy Gardell, Brad Heller, Bradley Dorsey, Carey Scott, cheesy dog plots, Comedy, David A. R. White, Delaney, Eleanor T. Threatt, Eva LaRue, Gabriel Sabloff, George Wilson, Hawn Tran, Inspirational, James Denton, John Mariano, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Leonard Roberts, Louis Mustillo, Michael Badalucco, Michael Scott, Mike Starr, PureFlix, Quinton Aaron, Russell Wolfe, Sarah Malberg, Tiny Ron, Tommy Blaze, Verda Davenport	1 Comment
The Mark 2: Redemption (Movie Review)
Eric Roberts as himself
After jumping out of that plane to save their lives, Chad and Dao find themselves on the run for their lives in Thailand as they try to remove the secret chip from Chad's arm while being pursued by agents of an all-powerful rising world leader. The Rapture has occurred, leaving the world mired in chaos. As they try to grapple with the God of the Bible, Chad and Dao find themselves involved in multiple international conspiracies, including a human trafficking scheme that involves Dao's sister and Chad's former employers. As they fight for survival, who will prevail in this brave new world?
In keeping with the usual poor PureFlix production mode, clear video quality is all that can be found here that is remotely positive. Anything else related to camera work is dizzying and annoying. Much of the footage is recycled, both flashback footage and non-flashback footage, which demonstrates extreme laziness. Other scenes of the film are extremely long and drawn out, trying to delay the inevitable to build up some kind of fake suspense. Action sequences are over the top and poorly executed. The use of special effects and sound effects is very amateurish and obnoxious. For such a big plot, the sets and locations are quite limited and the surroundings are almost entirely confined to Thailand, PureFlix's favorite international location. There is little to no editing—I'm convinced that the production team just went with what they had from filming. Basically, The Mark 2 is same song, different verse for PureFlix.
Picking up where The Mark left us hanging, The Mark 2 is the most slow to development suspense plot ever. Inevitable confrontations between 'good' and 'bad' characters are painfully dragged out over a ninety-minute runtime full of coincidences, convenient plot devices, information dump dialogue, stupid action scenes, and scenes of characters sitting around or pacing around and talking. There is basically no purpose to this plot as John Patus once again shoves his apocalyptic opinions down our throats in the most awkward fashion possible. Multiple scenes appear to be directly copied from the original Left Behind series, which is no surprise with Patus involved. Only this time, the antichrist character is borderline unbearable and sports the fakest European accent possible. In the middle of the film, a cheesy Christian message is shoehorned in, along with a random human trafficking subplot that tries to improve the runtime. The mark of the beast concept, though slightly interesting, is only toyed with in the film and never seems complete. In the end, as the characters tell us through narration what we're supposed to learn, it is unclear whether or not the story is to continue—obviously not, since there's no Mark 3, but what were they really expecting? Did they actually have any ideas beyond the Rapture? Basically, we learned nothing from this plot, thus making it completely useless.
This typical C-grade PureFlix cast is complete with fake accents, lame attempts at diversity, racial stereotypes, and Eric Roberts. Multiple cast members appear to have no place in the film, opting to pace around and talk about important things. Other cast members appear to take themselves too seriously and try to be as serious as you can be in a PureFlix action plot. At least not all of the acting is bad, but across the board, line delivery and emotions are very poor. But what else is new?
Why are so many PureFlix action plots at least partially set in Thailand? Also, if we are to endure so many apocalyptic Christian films on the market, can't we at least see one that doesn't involve the alleged 'Rapture' in some fashion? Haven't we seen that enough from the original Left Behind series, that horrible new Left Behind, the first Mark film, The Remaining, Jerusalem Countdown, In the Blink of an Eye, the Revelation Road series (with the exception of The Black Rider), Six: The Mark Unleashed, etc.? With the money spent on this film and every other wasted apocalyptic film, you would think that it could have been saved for a truly groundbreaking Christian action\adventure or suspense movie that would have made a difference in the culture. But instead, we are left with a littered collection of could-haves and cut-rate productions.
August 22, 2016 January 15, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Action Adventure, Apocalyptic, International, Movie Reviews, SuspenseTags: 1 point, 2013, Action Adventure, Apocalyptic, Apocalyptic Plane Plots, Chankin Entertainment, cheesy action scenes, Craig Sheffer, David A. R. White, Eric Roberts, Gary Daniels, International, James Chankin, John Patus, Michael Scott, Mission Pictures International, PureFlix, Russell Wolfe, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Suspense, Terry Cunningham, Vision Scape Entertainment	2 Comments
Apostle Peter and the Last Supper (Movie Review)
Captured by the Romans, the Apostle Peter is held for questioning and possible execution. As he awaits his earthly fate, his mind wanders back to the early days, when he followed Jesus on earth. As he is interrogated by a young and inquisitive soldier, Peter recounts his experiences with Jesus, including the painful moment when he disowned his Lord. Tormented by evil spirits, Peter wrestles with his past as he tries to convert the man in front of him. In the end, each man has his own battle to fight and they must decide which side they will choose.
If you endeavor to create a Bible film, please, please, please invest in good sets and props. Apostle Peter and the Last Supper suffers from the affliction of having only three or four sets, so it fills in everything else with very obviously cheap CGI. They're not even good sets at that. The one good thing here is that at least the video quality is clear and the audio quality is find most of the time. The camera work is commendable, but the soundtrack is not. There are too many bizarre special effects that seem out of place and isolate the viewer. Finally, the editing is blasé and seems to only focus on the sensational parts, as will be discussed next. In all, Bible productions seem to always fall into a poor category all to themselves, and this one is no exception.
While it is commendable to include spiritual themes in a Biblical film, the ones included in this one are only sensational and sometimes downright creepy. The smallest things are overly dramatized—as usual with anything David A. R. White touches, nothing can be subtle, all must be obvious. Dialogue is very pedestrian and theologically scripted; it doesn't feel like real people are talking. When dealing with the Biblical narrative, it is obviously out of order for some reason, probably for convenience. Jesus is portrayed in a very odd way, like He's constantly obsessed with reading everybody's minds. The plot being split between the past and the present does not allow for good character development in any form. Basically, the only positive aspect of this plot is the interesting idea of incorporating the spiritual battle, even though it is pulled off very poorly. Essentially, this plot is The Encounter with Peter—some slight potential but too much sensationalism and mediocrity.
Time and again, we have seen Biblical movie casts with an inordinate number of British actors and actresses and Apostle Peter is no exception. What is it about Bible films that cause creators to believe that Biblical characters are very white and British? Accents aside, the acting is mostly dramatic and sensational, like the rest of the film. Bruce Marchiano, in his typical role, seems creepier than usual. Line delivery is very theatrical rather than conversational. Emotions are not believable. However, the acting is not bad enough to warrant zero points. Overall, everything about this film is just a mess.
Oh, what we would pay somebody for a worthwhile Bible film. Stories from Scripture need to be properly and accurately portrayed and presented on the big screen. Such films should have a historical bent rather than an otherworldly feel. Spiritual elements are great to include, but do them correctly, not in a way that turns people off. Unfortunately, the majority of Biblical films on the market misconstrues the historical truths and spiritual realities of the Word of God, thus contributing only negative content to the field. Who will stand up and turn the tide?
August 16, 2016 January 15, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Biblical, Movie Reviews, PsychologicalTags: 2 points, 2012, Adamo Palladino, Anna Zielinski, Bible, Biblical, Bill Oberst Jr., British Romans, Bruce Marchiano, David A. R. White, David Kallaway, Dominic Bogart, Emilio Doorgasingh, Gabriel Sabloff, Historical, Kevin Hoffmann, Knox Collier, Laurence Fuller, Leon Melas, Leticia Robles, Matthew Bacis, Michael Daley, Michael Scott, Psychological, PureFlix, Robert Loggia, Russell Wolfe, Ryan Alosio, Sarah Prikryl, Shawn Savage, Thomas Colby, Timothy Ratajczak, Tom Konkle	3 Comments
The Encounter 2: Paradise Lost (Movie Review)
After a twist of fate throws a collection of strangers together, trapped in a Thailand resort during a storm, strange things begin to happen. A wanted international criminal and his sidekick and wife, the two owners of the resort, and a 'drug enforcement' agent are all faced with the reality of their lives as they meet Jesus Christ face to face. They are all forced to ruminate on the choices they have made in the past in order to determine how they are going to move forward. Will they cling to their bitterness, rage, and vices, or will they turn to Jesus and accept the free gift He offers to each one of them, regardless of their pasts?
In a change from the norm, The Encounter 2: Paradise Lost boasts above-average production quality. The camera work is professionally presented and the video quality is better than not. The audio quality is consistent across the board. The sets and locations are diverse and fairly realistic, with a few exceptions. The surroundings have an interesting feel, but it seems like more could have been done here, especially since many scenes seem borrowed from Escape. On the down side, David A. R. White brings with him to this film a cheesy action feel that includes waste-of-time sequences and unrealistic elements. Furthermore, the editing of Encounter 2 is all off. The film begins with a time lapse presentation and then randomly abandons it. The passage of time in general is hard to follow and a lot of content is crammed into a small window of opportunity that is squeezed out by philosophical monologues and unrealistic fight scenes. But in the end, this is definitely an improvement for PureFlix and shows what they can do, even though it also shows what they could be doing better.
As mentioned before, too much is shoved into the nearly 110-minute runtime, thus isolating the important aspects. The few main characters that are presented are given a lot of screen time, yet by the end, we only see half of them. By the end of the film that focuses on the struggles of five key characters through the use of flashbacks and philosophical dialogue, we should feel like they are real people, but this is not completely true of this film's core characters. There's nothing wrong with having a small cast of characters, but they need to be deep, complex, and realistic. The Encounter 2 doesn't make it all the way on this front. Yet there are many interesting and creative elements to this storyline. The flashbacks, as mentioned, are a good touch. The issues presented are believable, but some of the 'solutions' to the issues are not. Some ambiguity exists in the plot, but not enough. Bruce Marciano's philosophical monologues are better this time around, but they still can become draining. The spiritual elements that underlie the plot are very intriguing and commendable, but the totally-not-obvious Satan character is over the top. In the end, the plot of The Encounter 2 is a mixed bag with a creative ending, but it doesn't do quite enough to lift this film out of average-ness.
Robert Miano demonstrates in this film that he has the ability to be an excellent villain, which does not explain why he acted so mysterious and lofty in his Biblical roles, The Book of Esther and The Book of Daniel. Yet Miano is the best actor in this cast. Bruce Marciano is always fine, but at some point, his roles become extremely predictable. Elsewhere, David A. R. White is his usual cheesy action hero self and other actors and actresses either overplay or underplay emotions. Line delivery is overall inconsistent, but costuming is fine. Overall, the acting work is just average.
The Encounter 2: Paradise Lost is a huge improvement on The Encounter. The creative idea of having Jesus show up in the flesh in the middle of a hostage situation is very commendable. The psychological\spiritual elements throughout are also noteworthy. But this film is tripped up by its large amount of content and low amount of overall quality. The plot is spread too thin and the characters are too shallow for the time spent on them. In the end, this is an enjoyable film, but it's also another one of those frustrating movies that we wish could be remade.
July 21, 2016 January 16, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, International, Movie Reviews, Psychological, SuspenseTags: 2012, 5.5 points, Abishek J. Bajaj, Ammy Chanicha, Bobby Smyth, Bruce Marchiano, David A. R. White, Gary Daniels, Gigi Velicitat, International, Kaos Entertainment, Kass Connors, Michael Scott, Psychological, PureFlix, Rif Hutton, Robert Miano, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Sean Paul Murphy, Shelley Robertson, Steven Clarke, Suspense, Will Musser	2 Comments
Revelation Road 3: The Black Rider
Two years after the Rapture, the enigmatic Josh McManus has a mission to do good and to right wrongs, even when it seems like evil is winning. His latest mission takes him to a strict and legalistic settlement that tolerates no crime in order to gain medical attention for an injured girl. In exchange for both of their lives, Josh must carry out a dangerous mission: search for a mysterious and troublemaking vagrant known as the Shepherd and bring him back so the settlement leader, Drake, can exchange him to his superiors for more life saving supplies. In route to searching for the Shepherd, Josh and his unwanted tagalong, Sofia, must battle multiple villains and come to grips with what they truly believe about Jesus and His plan for the world.
Despite previous production struggles, Bradley Dorsey and Gabriel Sabloff have greatly improved this franchise. The camera work improves dramatically in The Black Rider, as does the sound quality. The surroundings and sets are innovative and creative. Gone are ridiculous special effects, including that weird lightning! This would have been a stellar production were in not for a collection of small issues—no doubt White influences. For example, the CGI that is used is very amateurish. Action scenes are overall not produced well, and there are too many of them, which is an editing problem. The scope of the plot is so vast that precious time does not need to be wasted on silly fight scenes. Yet these such portions squeezed out the deepening of plot creativity. Nonetheless, this is the type of production that Pureflix has been trying to stab in the dark for years.
The abysmal non-plot of The Beginning of the End seems like a distant memory after viewing The Black Rider. There is a unique psychological edge to this plot and creative concepts that give the film deeper meaning beyond car chases and gunfights. An entire new cast of characters is introduced, and it actually works. A new world is introduced two years after The Sea of Glass and Fire, and it's better than before. But this new world is a double-edged sword—it's too big for the scope of this film. If more of this world had been explained in The Sea of Glass and Fire, we would have a framework to understand, but this did not happen. Foreign plot devices such as the ominous ULC are forced upon viewers without explanation. However, the city-state government system works well in this apocalyptic setting and gives the movie that epic backdrop David A. R. White has been searching for. Moreover, there are other speculative concepts that are introduced and not fully explained. Yet the gospel message is philosophically communicated far better than ever before in a Pureflix movie, and all without forcing the message down the audience's throats. There is unfortunately still wasted time on childish fighting scenes. The escapades of Josh McManus, a surprisingly good character, border on unrealistic and sometimes coincidental. Some of the many villains in this movie are laughable, while others are believable. Each character is crafted through mostly effective dialogue. The ending of this plot is also a double-edged sword: it both introduces a key psychological element and confuses the audience. It both isolates the viewer and makes them want more. Any further discussion is beyond the scope of this review, but the bottom line is Dorsey and Sabloff really have something going here, something that needs to be continued.
Hands down, The Black Rider is David A. R. White's best acting work to date. Bradley Dorsey also contributes an excellent role to the film, perhaps his best. Unfortunately, there is still some cheesy acting from certain cast members. Kevin Sorbo in a thrift store disaster getup and sporting a fake insert-ethnicity-here accent is just too much to bear. Action acting is still B-grade. Other small issues plague an otherwise great casting job, such as that dumb sheet the Shepherd wears. Otherwise, costuming is fairly responsible. Line delivery is sometimes effective and sometimes forced. Emotions are mostly believable. In short, everything about this film is give and take: for every cheesy element, there is an excellent element, and vice versa.
The Revelation Road saga is a cinematic freak of nature—a film franchise with a redemption arc of its own that closely mirrors the rise of Josh McManus, the surprising crowning achievement of David A. R. White's acting career. Nonetheless, The Black Rider is a constant tug of war between the C-grade action of The Beginning of the End and the psychological creativity of The Sea of Glass and Fire. The third installment suffers from the wasted time of the first two installments, where this time could have been used to build a better backstory instead of shoving in all into one movie, intending to fix a broken series in one stroke. But The Black Rider is proof that broken sagas can be fixed. Therefore, we are surprisingly anticipating the release of Revelation Road 4.
May 26, 2016 January 16, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Action Adventure, Apocalyptic, Movie Reviews, Psychological, SuspenseTags: 2014, 6 points, Action Adventure, Alan Boell, Allen Merritt, Ann Ayres, Apocalyptic, Brad Heller, Bradley Dorsey, Brian Bosworth, Brooks Hannan, Bruce Marchiano, Cristina Cibrian, Dallas T. Taylor, Darrell Chumley, David A. R. White, David de Vos, Dea Vise, Gabriel Sabloff, Gerald Brodin, Heath McGough, Hilty Bowen, James Denton, Jeffrey Peterson, John Orr, Jules Hartley, Justin Derosa, Kevin Sorbo, Kevin Wayne, Lance Channing, Latigo Entertainment, Mark Hansen, Michael Bailey Smith, Michael Scott, Miles Wooden, Perry Hinson, Pete Fields, Psychological, PureFlix, Revelation Road series, Robert Gossett, Russell Wolfe, Sage Pistocco, Sci-Fi, Scott White, Sean Paul Murphy, Sewell Whitney, Shelley Robertson, Speculative, Suspense, Tom Zembrod, Tony Payne, Tori Carew, White Door Media, Will Musser	3 Comments
Jerusalem Countdown: A Prelude to Armageddon (Movie Review)
Nuclear weapons have been smuggled into America, and FBI agent Shane Daughtry and his team have been ordered to find them before they are detonated. They must reluctantly collaborate with an old weapons dealer, a corrupt CIA director, and an ex-Muslim spy in order to find the dangerous contraband before America and Israel are blown off the map. Little do they know is that their true hope lies in a Jewish researcher who has come by valuable information about his mysterious next door neighbor.
The good video quality is the only positive element to mention. Otherwise, this movie is barely watchable. The cheap action scenes are unbearable and poorly executed. The camera angles are below par and the musical score is what one can expect from such a film as this. The editing is as maddening as the jumpy action sequences. CGI and special effects are very C-grade. Nothing can compare with the incessant John Hagee product placements as the audience is spoon-fed his controversial views on eschatology and international politics. Unfortunately, the negativity doesn't end here.
It doesn't really seem like David A. R. White and company really did any research on the inner workings of government organizations or the true nature of terrorists when they were planning this movie. The way that the plot unfolds is so unrealistic that it feels like a comic book. Leaps in logic and plot holes litter the landscape. The ways that the characters proceed forward with 'leads' is absurd. Searching the internet for 'Iran Shipping Ltd' and then snooping around in a house they own to see whether or not they have nuclear weapons probably takes the cake, but it's not to be topped by a librarian assisting FBI agents in a confidential case. Every character is a ridiculous caricature and not believable. The only consolation is that this is an apocalyptic plot that doesn't take place on an airplane, but that's not saying much.
We are convinced that PureFlix believes that if you have enough action scenes in a movie, you don't need to coach the actors. Such is the case in Jerusalem Countdown. The delivery of lines is lackadaisical and emotions are lackluster. So-called interrogation scenes are forced and awkward. In short, there is little to nothing good to say about this film.
Is this movie supposed to have a sequel? We certainly hope not, but ending the movie the way it does suggests that this film was only created to push John Hagee's unusual worldview. Movies in the action adventure, suspense, and apocalyptic genres can be used to reach audiences outside of the church, but when films like Jerusalem Countdown crowd out the field and water it down. The next time an unbeliever hears about a Christian action film, they may only think of movies like this one and roll their eyes, as we do. We implore Christian film-makers everywhere to learn from the mistakes of movies such as this one and not repeat them.
February 22, 2016 January 18, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Action Adventure, Apocalyptic, Movie Reviews, SuspenseTags: 1/2 point, 10 West Studios, 2011, Action Adventure, Alex Safi, Anna Zielinski, Apocalyptic, Bradley Dorsey, Brittany Lefebvre, Carey Scott, David A. R. White, David Harris, Geneva Somers, God & Country Entertainment, Harold Cronk, Iran Shipping Ltd., Jaci Velasquez, James Chankin, Jamie Nieto, Jeehun Hwang, John Gilbert, John Hagee, Lee Majors, Liam Matthews, Marco Khan, Michael Scott, Michelle Peltz, Nick Jameson, PureFlix, Randy Travis, Stacy Keach, Steven Dutton, Suspense	14 Comments
The Mark [2012] (Movie Review)
Chad Turner, a former criminal, has been chosen to be a human prototype for a biometric computer chip some call the Mark of the Beast. After the chip is inserted into his skin, Chad becomes a different person, more powerful than before. But he soon finds himself on the run from a powerful world leader, Joseph Pike, who seeks to take the chip and use it for his own means: world domination. Chad takes a businessman, Cooper, hostage and convinces him to assist him in keeping the chip away from Pike. But they suddenly find themselves trapped on a place in the middle of a global catastrophic some refer to as the Rapture. With multiple assailants after them, Turner and Cooper must navigate the uncertain waters and avoid death at all costs.
Beyond a clear video quality, there is little to be excited about in The Mark when it comes to production. The movie is filled with poorly constructed action scenes, wild explosions, and maddening gun-wielding chases. Not much effort was put into sets and locations, as a majority of the film takes place on a plane, which brings to mind many other apocalyptic movies. The editing is passable, but there is little true content to deal with. The musical score is a stock action soundtrack. Basically, this type of movie is been there, done that.
In this possible sequel to In the Blink of an Eye, several potentially interesting characters are thrown together on a transatlantic flight to discuss the world's political scene and to escape from the antichrist's henchman. John Patus has used this plot before and used it again after this movie. With the chip in his skin, Turner is basically an invincible character, not that plot devices like this have stopped action protagonists from being invincible before. With mind-numbing action sequences, there is little to no actual plot in The Mark. Character development and meaningful dialogue are traded for firing guns and yes—crawling around inside of a plane's engine area while it's in flight. While Turner and Cooper could have been interesting flawed 'heroes' with agendas of their own, they were not. The antichrist character is unbearably cheesy. The bottom line is that the apocalyptic stuck-on-a-place plot has been done before and needs to be put to rest once and for all.
This particular PureFlix cast is not extremely cheesy, but they are just not that great. In the wake of cheap action, emotions are discarded and line delivery is reduced to monologuing and pontificating. Where there was potential in the actors and actresses, it is not harnessed.
Centering a plot around a character that has been forcibly given an artist's conception of the Mark of the Beast is not entirely a bad idea. Such an idea has the possibility to breach new genres and reach different audiences than usual. However, movies like The Mark only cause the apocalyptic genre to become further viewed as cheesy and not worth anyone's time. As it stands, Christian apocalyptic movies mostly are not worth your time. No matter where you land on eschatology, movies like The Mark are pointless and empty.
February 21, 2016 January 18, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Action Adventure, Apocalyptic, Movie Reviews, SuspenseTags: 1 point, 2012, Action Adventure, Apocalyptic, Apocalyptic Plane Plots, Bruce Blain, Byron Gibson, Carey Scott, Celicia Arnold, Chankin Entertainment, Charlie Ruedpokanon, Craig Sheffer, Crawling Around Inside of a Plane, David A. R. White, David Cuddy, Edwin Wendler, Eric Roberts, Gary Daniels, Gigi Velicitat, Iván Kamarás, James Chankin, John Marengo, John Patus, Jolene Andersen, Leland Jourdan, Michael Scott, Paul Duran, PureFlix, Ron Smoorenburg, Russell Wolfe, Sarah Deakins, Shane Alexander, Sonia Couling, Suspense, Vision Scape Entertainment	6 Comments
The Encounter [2010] (Movie Review)
Nick, Melissa, Hank, Catherine, and Kayla are all strangers to each other until they are forced to meet up at a quaint diner due to road closures one stormy night. Each has their own story and hurts, but the last thing they expect is to meet the mysterious owner of the diner, who calls himself Jesus. He knows many things about them that no one else knows but he actually demonstrates true care for them, something many of them have never experienced. Each of them must make the most important choice of their lives—will they listen to the words of Jesus or will they turn away?
The production pretty much derails this movie from the get go. For starters, the movie is purposely designed to have extremely limited sets—the movie only takes place a very small amount outside, partly inside vehicles, partly inside flashback locations, mostly inside the makeshift diner, and yes, inside the diner's bathroom. The video quality is quite grainy and the camera work shaky. The sound quality is inconsistent. The only redeeming production quality is the editing, even though there is very little content to work with. In short, it would have done this movie wonders to have better production quality. With such a small cast and so few sets, there are no excuses to have such poor production.
Although the encounter with Jesus in modern times is not really a new plot, there is nothing inherently wrong with this particular rendition. The characters are pretty good and the flashbacks effectively enhance them, but once again, with so few characters, there was more time to develop them, yet this was not done. This sort of small scale plot depends entirely on the characters, and since the characters are just average, it's not good enough. We needed to know more about these characters besides their favorite foods, their occupations, their parents, and their surface struggles. Again, the flashbacks are great, but more is needed. The spiritual\psychological elements in the plot are interesting, but the devil character is very cheesy. In short, this plot concept had a lot of potential—especially if more psychological elements had been explored—that was not brought to the surface. The final result is just a stock plot.
This cast seems better than a lot of PureFlix casts; even though there is really no acting coaching, the actors and actresses do a pretty good job by themselves. However, like the rest of this movie, more is needed. Similar to how the characters carry this sort of small scale plot, the actors and actresses are vital. Unfortunately, there is just not enough positive here.
Though David A. R. White is the director of The Encounter, he does not insert his usual cheesy flavor. But at the same time, dynamic elements are not present. The tools are there, but they are not picked up and used. The Encounter had the possibility to showcase a unique movie genre, but it was left hanging. This film likely joins a group of Christian films that deserve a remake.
February 18, 2016 January 18, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Inspirational, Movie Reviews, PsychologicalTags: 2010, 3 points, Alexandra Samia, Bradley Dorsey, Brittany Lefebvre, Bruce Marchiano, Byron Jones, Connor Greenbaum, Danah Williams, David A. R. White, Elizabeth Hatcher-Travis, Elizabeth Ince, Gibson Bobby Sjobeck, God & Country Entertainment, Ido Waksman, Inspirational, Jaci Velasquez, Jamie Nieto, Jason Cusick, Kass Connors, Madison Gibney, Marc Davies, Matt Gates, Michael Scott, Olivia Samia, Psychological, PureFlix, Russell Wolfe, Sean Paul Murphy, Steve Borden, Steve Taylor, Timothy Ratajczak, Tom Saab	9 Comments
The Book of Daniel [2013] (Movie Review)
Taken from their cherished hometown Jerusalem as young men, Daniel and his three friends must learn to navigate their new culture, Babylon, without compromising their Jewish faith. Even when it appears as though all hope is lost, Yahweh continues to give Daniel and his friends opportunities to influence their own captors for the better. As Daniel's life progressed, he was given more and more chances to influence world politics by simply serving and obeying Yahweh. The life of Daniel is one that can be modeled by Christians of all generations and cultures.
Unfortunately, The Book of Daniel falls into the infamous Biblical film traps when it comes to production. The sets and costuming scream church play and demonstrate a severely limited budget combined with lack of attention to historical authenticity. There are no outside sequences, except for one, that are not replaced with extremely obvious CGI. There are also some annoying special effects. For what it's worth, the camera work is not horrible and the editing is passable, even though the story is very choppy. In summary, PureFlix Bible productions leave much to be desired.
It is commendable to cover all the stories in the Biblical book of Daniel in one movie and to transpose it with Daniel's God-given influence over historical monarchs. But in this pursuit, the viewer gets lost in a very disjointed storyline. There is simply too much content and not enough character development. We at Box Office Revolution continually wonder why Biblical characters always have to be portrayed in the movies as inhuman and lofty—they were regular people! The dialogue of The Book of Daniel also reminds one of a poorly written church play, very robotic. The bottom line is that while there was a mountain of potential to be found in this sort of plot, it was never unearthed. We are only left with a pathetic attempt.
While the acting is not glaringly bad, it is overly theatrical and overly practiced. There are little to no emotions expressed. Again, it gives off the impression that Bible characters were not real people, but like talking wax figures. We believe that if these actors had been afforded better lines and better coaching, something more could have materialized. But alas, we are once again left wondering what could have been.
Bible movies need to be made, but not like this. So many audiences need to know what is in the Bible, but films like The Book of Daniel only serve to further turn people off, making them think that the Scriptures are boring and full of inaccessible characters we can't relate to and fantastical events that will never happen again. The truth is, nothing could be more of a lie. The Bible has many historical and realistic narratives full of flawed and believable characters that need to be depicted on the big screen properly. We look forward to the day when this will happen.
February 16, 2016 January 18, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Biblical, Historical, Movie ReviewsTags: 2 points, 2013, Alice Amter, Alton Demore, Andrew Bongiorno, Anna Zielinski, Anthony L. Fernandez, Azel James, Ben Maccabee, Bible, Biblical, Cary Solomon, Chuck Konzelman, David A. R. White, Drew Cardillo, Francesco Curá, Historical, James Ellis Lane, Jon Monastero, Kevin Blake, Kevin McCorkle, Kyle Hester, Kyle T. Heffner, Lance Henriksen, Liam Matthews, Luke Massy, Michael Scott, Peter Kluge, Philip Anthony-Rodriguez, PureFlix, Robert Miano, Rolf Saxon, Russell Wolfe, Will Musser	4 Comments
Hidden Secrets [2006] (Movie Review)
Following the death of a common friend, Gary, Jeremy, Michael, Harold, and Sherry all gather at his house for a long weekend of repairs and catching up on the good old days. However, all is not well among them. Jeremy discovers that he still love Sherry, his former girlfriend, even though his current girlfriend is staying with them. Michael is guarding a dark secret from his past. Gary and Harold's wife constantly clash over his Jewish background and his atheist beliefs. In the end, they will have to come to grips their hidden secrets in order to face the future.
There is literally nothing good to say about this film's production quality. The video is grainy and the sound quality is all over the place. The camera work is unprofessional. Everything about the production has a very cheap identity. The sets are severely limited, mostly taking place inside one house or on its roof (yes, seriously). The editing is terrible, but it's not like there was much to work with. Roof repair scenes, standing around and talking scenes, and thrift store dress-up scenes litter the landscape. But nothing can beat David A. R. White mouthing a Building 429 song and pretending like he's singing it. As previously mentioned, there is nothing positive here.
There is only one positive element to discuss from this entire film, and that is its slightly interesting exploration of the various types of secret sins many Christians harbor. Otherwise, the remainder of this film is utter nonsense. The dialogue is almost written purposely ridiculous. One character is an over-the-top, obnoxious, legalistic Christian who is the only one, in her mind, who can interpret the Bible properly. It would be funny if it wasn't so unwatchable. The atheist character is equally annoying. Other dialogue is absurd and overly obvious, shoving issues down viewers' throats. There is also no clear plotline to this movie except for repairing a roof, hanging around talking and arguing on various controversial topics, reminiscing about the good old days, playing dress-up in a thrift store, and pretending to sing in a cheap restaurant. Any good intentions there were in making this movie are buried beneath a mound of insanity.
No acting coaching is employed in Hidden Secrets. Actors and actresses are allowed to basically run wild with the material with no quality control. Line delivery is forceful—several actors and actresses are clearly trying to draw attention to themselves. Emotions are also extreme and unbelievable. Once again, there is nothing good to say here.
There is a base idea in Hidden Secrets that should have been given to another film. Unfortunately, Carey Scott, Sean Paul Murphy, and Timothy Ratajczak have not demonstrated that they are good stewards of movie ideas. To make this sort of movie shows one of three things—they either do not care about making quality movies, they do not fully know how to make quality movies, or they are purposely making low quality movies. What type of audience is supposed to derive meaning from this sort of movie? For many reasons, this movie receives a very low score.
February 15, 2016 January 18, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Comedy, Inspirational, Movie ReviewsTags: 1/2 point, 2006, Albert Chang, Andrea Logan White, Autumn Paul, Brad Heller, Building 429, Carey Scott, Comedy, Corin Nemec, David A. R. White, Gregg Binkley, Inspirational, Interrupting Church Services, Jason Borck, Jason Roy, John Schneider, Michael Scott, Mouthing Songs, Obnoxious Christians, Playing Dress-up, PureFlix, Rachel Lampa, Reginald VelJohnson, Russell Wolfe, Sean Paul Murphy, Sean Sedgwick, Staci Keanan, Timothy Ratajczak, Tracy Melchior, Working on a Roof	3 Comments
The Book of Esther (Movie Review)
Following the banishment of Queen Vashti from the royalty of Medo-Persia, King Xerses, lonely and confused, takes the advice of his closest advisors and decrees that all the young women be brought to him, given beauty treatments, and then displayed before him so that he can choose a new queen from among them. Among them is a Jewish girl, Hadassah, who had been admonished by her cousin Mordecai to hide her cultural identity from those in the palace. Against all odds, she is chosen to succeed Queen Vashti, just as the wicked advisor Haman is plotting to destroy the Jewish people from the face of the earth. Queen Esther must decide that she must live up to the calling God has put in front of her in order to save an entire race from extinction.
The Book of Esther commits every Biblical movie error in every category, beginning with production. The sets and costuming are very cheap, like this is a children's church play. It would be one thing if PureFlix did not have the funding to put on a better production, but this is not the case. The camera work and video quality are passable, but the sound quality is very inconsistent. There is really nothing to comment on regarding the editing, either good or bad. In short, the first rule of Bible movies is to create a realistic and high quality setting, including backgrounds, sets, props, and costumes. The Book of Esther does none of this.
The story of Esther is overused in movies, probably because it is easy to replicate and the plot suits most audiences. But this film is not even a good adaptation—it misrepresents Biblical and historical events and includes unnecessary parts. It seems like the viewer is being insulted and being treated like a child in a bad Sunday school class. The film contains ridiculous over the top characters, more so than usual for a Bible film. The dialogue is overly dramatic, like most Scripture screenplays. There are also creepy undertones and insinuations regarding Haman and his eunuch. A lot of content takes place off screen and this plot generally has no real potential and is even offensive is some ways, thus warranting negative points.
As a whole, line delivery is horrible and emotion is absent. The acting is either absurd or too theatrical. The only exception is some small acting potential from Joel Smallbone and Jen Lilley, as their talents seem to be wasted on this nonsense. Otherwise, there is unfortunately nothing positive to say.
Needless to say, The Book of Esther is another ruined Bible movie. The audience will learn nothing worthwhile from it except that they probably don't want to watch anymore films based on Scripture. This movie is the embodiment of why Box Office Revolution feels the need to speak out for quality Christian films and against low quality ones. It feels like PureFlix isn't even trying when they make movies like this, which further warrants a very low score.
February 11, 2016 January 18, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Biblical, Historical, Movie ReviewsTags: 0 points, 2013, Anna Zielinski, Anthony L. Fernandez, Bible, Biblical, Bowl Hats, Cory Oliver, Creepy Eunuchs, David A. R. White, Eliza Roberts, Elizabeth Hatcher-Travis, Hadeel Sittu, Historical, Jen Lilley, Jennifer Lyons, Joel Smallbone, Kass Connors, Kerry Stein, Lauren Wolfe, Liam Matthews, Marco Khan, Mark Irvingsen, Michael Scott, Mission Pictures International, PureFlix, Robert Miano, Russell Wolfe, Thaao Penghlis, Timothy Ratajczak, Tiny Ron, Will Musser, zero points	6 Comments
The Lost Medallion: The Adventures of Billy Stone (Movie Review)
Daniel did not anticipate arriving at his childhood foster home and being pressed into service, so to speak, to fill in for a sick storyteller. Instead of go forward with his personal plans, he elects to stay and teach the struggling foster kids valuable life lessons through an adventure story about Billy Stone, a boy living in a mystical land who has a mission to assist his hurting father in discovering the legendary Lost Medallion that is rumored to grant the wishes of whomever wears it around their neck. Blocked from taking part in the official search operation, Billy and his friend Allie launch their own search for the treasure. They discover an inaccuracy in the official search's measurements and believe they are close to finding it. However, they will have to contend with an ancient enemy who wants the talisman for himself.
The Lost Medallion is inconsistent in a lot of ways, the production quality to start with. It is a mix of professional and cheap production, oscillating from good camera work and video quality to cheap sets, props, and costuming. On the surface, the film seems well produced, but there are some underlying issues that are to be expected from first-time adventure films. Yet there are plenty of production points to be applauded, such as the successful filming of difficult action scenes. There is some obvious CGI, but it is understandable. Overall, the production of The Lost Medallion is its strongest factor.
This movie is a good idea in that it seeks to explore the action adventure and fantasy genres with a Christian-themed film. There are some intriguing elements to the plot, but there are also parts that are not commendable. For one, time travel plots are always problematic and should be avoided as a rule of thumb. Going back and forth in time causes confusion and continuity errors than cannot be successfully reconciled. In fantasy plots, it is also hard to avoid convenient plot devices that solve impossible problems, and Medallion falls into this trap. There are some interesting small plot twists and minor suspense elements that work, but in this pursuit, quality dialogue and character development are discarded. The protagonists are at least mostly flawed characters, but the villain is extremely cheesy. The dialogue is cheap. Most of the plot points are either understated or overstated. In short, while this plot has more potential than many Christian plots, it still missed the mark.
Alex Kendrick is really the only good actor, and he has a minimal role. Sammi Hanratty is forced into a role she doesn't belong in, and the other teenage actors are not coached well. Most lines are forced and emotional delivery falls flat. Unfortunately, there are some Asian stereotypes that are reinforced through the acting. In summary, this movie would not have been as bad if the acting was better.
Despite this negative review, Box Office Revolution sees plenty of potential in Bill Muir and his crew. He has the tools necessary to succeed and could contribute greatly to Christian movies with different genres. On most counts, The Lost Medallion is a good start for a first time filmmaker. There are some definite issues to work through, but we anticipate Muir's next release.
February 11, 2016 January 18, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Action Adventure, Movie ReviewsTags: 2013, 4 points, Action Adventure, Alex Kendrick, Andrew Franklin, Bill Muir, Billy Unger, Bobby Downes, Brie Bernstein, Hal Rudnick, Harmon Jones, James Hong, Jamie Muir, Jansen Panettiere, Jennifer Rhodes, Kaos Entertainment, Ken Streutker, Kevin Downes, Lisa LoCicero, Marc Fantini, Mark Burman, Mark Dacascos, Marlowe Peyton, MeThinx Entertainment, Michael Scott, Phillip Moses, Sahajak Boonthanakit, Sammi Hanratty, Sidney S. Liufau, Steffan Fantini, Tiya Sircar, William Corkery, Wych Kaosayananda	5 Comments
Marriage Retreat (Movie Review)
Mark and Claire Bowman, James and Donna Harlow, and Bobby and Melody Castle are all close friends, but they are also all struggling in their marriages. Mark has unresolved issues with his father, James is gone all the time, and Bobby has a gambling problem. That's why they decide to take advantage of a marriage retreat sponsored by their church. They go into the experience with the wrong intentions and quickly find out that they are not all they thought they were. They will have to dig deep in order to save their marriages from disaster.
To begin, the camera and sound quality are pretty good, but that is the extent of the positive elements. The sets are very cheap and limited. Unfortunately, it is difficult to pinpoint how this film could have been edited better, since it is hard for us to quantify its actual plot. There is little else that can be said about Marriage Retreat's production since much of the movie appears to be mostly impromptu work. One other thing that should be noted is that some of the wedding photos used in the beginning credits are obviously photo-shopped, but when the rest of the movie is considered, this should not be surprising.
As mentioned, there is little to no plot in this film, not only because it is very limited in scope, but most of the dialogue is very impromptu. A majority of the scenes do not appear to have a clear script, so they meander along a path of horrific attempts at comedy, replete with clownish dialogue. Therefore, the characters greatly resemble the actual actors themselves. This plot's one small redeeming quality is that it has a good message, but it is lost in a sea of cheap and ridiculous attempts at humor. There is plenty of potential here to showcase different marital issues among Christian couples, but it is reduced to a C-grade cable channel movie that will never make any impact in Christian culture.
It is noble and notable to cast married couples together in this sort of movie, but like everything else potentially positive in this film, it is washed away. There is zero acting coaching for this small cast, which seems to indicate a certain amount of overconfidence on the part of the actors. With coaching, some of the comedy could have been actually funny, but alas, it is just another item on the list of lost potential.
True comedy is needed in Christian movies, as are movies that take on the struggles of Christian marriages. However, Marriage Retreat only serves to further make a laughingstock of Christian films. Instead of quickly spinning out more and more movies, PureFlix crews need to stop and think on the implications of quantity over quality. It is not worth it to simply make movies about good topics—we cannot stress this enough—care and attention must be given to production, plot, and acting quality. Otherwise, the valuable message is completely lost.
February 10, 2016 January 18, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Comedy, Movie Reviews, RomanceTags: 1 point, 2011, Andrea Logan White, Anna Zielinski, Brad Stine, Bradley Dorsey, Caroline Choi, Comedy, David A. R. White, David Christiaan, David de Vos, Jeff Fahey, Jocelyn Cruz, Matthew Florida, Michael Maury, Michael Scott, Michele Gomez, My Blueberry, Phil Servati, PureFlix, Reginald VelJohnson, Romance, Sean Paul Murphy, Timothy Ratajczak, Tommy Blaze, Victoria Jackson	4 Comments
In the Blink of an Eye [2009] (Movie Review)
David, a detective, stumbles into the vacation of his life when he saves a famous pop star from a hostage situation. David and his wife Lori, along with David's partner Larry and his wife Sussette, are invited by the pop star's boyfriend to spend a lavish weekend with them on their private yacht in the waters of Mexico. But David quickly sense that something is not quite right with the pop star and her boyfriend. Yet before he can do anything about it, strange things start happening. Passengers begin disappearing and David keeps waking up to the same day repeating over and over and over again. No matter what happens, the day repeats over again and David is the only one who can remember anything about the repeats. In order to solve the mystery of his life, he must face the faith he has been running from all his life.
For starters, In the Blink of an Eye has pretty good video and sound quality. However, that is all that can be said. The film also contains odd camera angles and confusing editing—this may be due to the odd plot structure, but it is difficult to understand the flow of the movie. There are also plenty of unnecessary scenes that appear to just fill time. In addition to this, the movie has limited and cheap sets and costumes, like they spent most of the money on the expensive yacht, cars, and jet skis. There is also bad makeup work on most of the characters and cheesy apocalyptic special effects. To make matters worse, John Hagee product placements litter the dialogue. In short, there is little to be positive about here.
This plot has basically no potential. The premise is very trumped up and most of the plot is filler—nothing dynamic or interesting. There is plenty of out of place and awkward dialogue; some of the lines seem impromptu. Thus, the few characters within are mindless and empty. This sort of plot concept, a day repeating over and over again, has been done before and is almost worn out at this point. To top things off, the entire plot, including the confusing end, is based on bad theology regarding knowing the exact hour of the Rapture's occurrence, which is directly contrary to the Scripture verse used at the end of the movie.
It is commendable to cast David A. R. and Andrea Logan White together as husband and wife, but it is not worth it if they are not going to be coached properly. Most of the lines are forced, and since the cast is so small, they carry the entire movie on their shoulders. Instead of helping the movie, most of the actors are very poor casting choices, exhibiting overdone emotions and unrealistic actions. There are really only one or two good actors.
There is nothing wrong with expanding the Christian film genres into action adventure and psychological thriller, but In the Blink of an Eye misses the mark. The repeating day plot is overused and is rarely justifiable, especially in the fashion that this movie uses it. Employing such a small cast and limited sets in exchange for using expensive vehicles suggests an air of vanity. Our advice for the Whites is that they listen to constructive criticism in order to improve their film quality, because they certainly have the potential and resources to do so.
February 6, 2016 January 18, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Apocalyptic, Movie Reviews, Psychological, SuspenseTags: 1.5 points, 2009, Andrea Logan White, Anise Fuller, Apocalyptic, Brittany Lefebvre, Byron Jones, Carey Scott, David A. R. White, Eric Roberts, Jessica Hope Magnuson, John Hagee, Jon Macy, Kass Connors, Lonnie Colón, Mark Burman, Michael Scott, Michael Sinclair, Monte Rex Perlin, Peter Kretchmar, Psychological, PureFlix, Russell Wolfe, Sean Sedgwick, Sugar Baby, Suspense, Tom Saab	6 Comments
What If… [2010] (Movie Review)
In a moment of decision that altered his life's course forever, Ben Walker left his chance to go into full-time ministry and marry his longtime girlfriend behind and instead entered the cutthroat business world to pursue a six-figure salary. He achieved the salary and snagged a fiancée that looked good next to him, but he never found something to satisfy the emptiness within. Hence, his car is hijacked by a mysterious tow truck driver who claims to be an angel and Ben is transported to an alternate timeline where he gets to live as if he had married his old girlfriend and gone into full-time ministry. Unable to escape his alternate life, Ben is forced to play along and discover what the true meaning of life is.
There are really no production errors to speak of in What If… The camera work is professional and the editing is straightforward. It is difficult to pull this type of plot without including cheesy production elements, but What If… avoids these pitfalls. The sets are diverse and there are no video or sound quality errors. The soundtrack is effective. This film takes the route of not committing errors and while it does not do anything dynamic, it also does not turn off the viewer. This is a well-done production.
While there is nothing original with this sort of parallel universe plot, this rendition is a good one. The plot twists are minor but the dialogue is good. The characters are believable, as are most of the events of the plot. There are some predictable elements and while the overall plot is quite simple, there are once again few errors committed. There is truly funny humor throughout that is not overdone. The only caveat here is the confusing end that seems to force a certain conclusion to occur. Otherwise, this is a very good plot.
In keeping with the theme of this movie, the acting is good without detracting from the overall movie. This is perhaps Kevin Sorbo's best lead role. John Ratzenberger is cast very well. The only issue Box Office Revolution has with the acting in What If… is the fact that there is no excellent acting, just great acting. But when considering many Christian films, this is truly an accomplishment.
What If… is a Christian film that is recommendable and may even appeal to some non-Christian audiences. In a field of poorly production Christian films, What If… stands out. It is created well enough to join the ranks of the best Christian movies. Christian film makers should delve deeper into these types of psychological genres without falling into typical plot patterns. What If… can be an example to follow.
February 5, 2016 January 18, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Hall of Fame, Inspirational, Movie Reviews, PsychologicalTags: 10 West Studios, 2010, 7.5 points, Andrea Gyertson Nasfell, Brad Heller, Brittany Risner, Cary Solomon, Chuck Konzelman, Dallas Jenkins, Danielle Hoetmer, David A. R. White, Debby Ryan, Dennis Lee Kelly, Grant James, Harold Cronk, Inspirational, Jeehun Hwang, Jenkins Entertainment, John Ratzenberger, Kevin Sorbo, Kevin Yon, Kristin Minter, Kristy Swanson, Liam Matthews, Michael Scott, Preston Mulligan, Psychological, PureFlix, Richard Pierre-Louis, Russell Wolfe, Stelio Savante, Taylor Groothuis, Thomas Flannery Jr., Tom McElroy, Toni Trucks	1 Comment
Redeemed [2014] (Movie Review)
Paul Tyson's internet security business is successful, but his colleagues are calling for more. A larger company wants to use his business' skills and talents for their own purposes through a buyout deal. In charge of the transition process is Julia, a seemingly desperate woman with a questionable agenda. Distracted by Julia and the business deal, Paul continues to put off preparing for his pending vow renewal ceremony with Beth, his wife of many years. In the end, Paul must grapple with what is really important in his life—business convenience or his marriage.
In the past two years, PureFlix has improved somewhat in their production quality; some movies are better than others. The camera work of Redeemed is fine, but the sets aren't very diverse. The editing is very poor, which is not something that should occur in a plot that is out of order like the plot of Redeemed is. Scenes cut back and forth too fast, isolating the audience. Overall, the final cut of Redeemed seems like a rough draft rather than a finished product.
Building a strong marriage is a very important topic to depict in a Christian movie, but Redeemed only further confuses and almost ruins it. Along with the inappropriate and suggestive content throughout, all of the wrong elements are focused on. Besides this, all of the characters are caricatures, built on cringe-worthy dialogue. Julia is a ridiculous unintentional parody, as is Beth. So much of the plot is full of wasted time, and some of the characters seem un-genuine. None of them are believable. In short, the only good thing here is the idea that was ruined.
This is perhaps one of the worst cast movies of all time. Ted McGinley and Teri Copley are awkward in their roles as supposed parents of young children. Kevin Downes' character and acting are both grating. Some of the characters that are intended to be Brazilian do not seem to fit the bill. In other words, there are no positive elements here.
Tommy Blaze's self-proclaimed expertise is comedy, so Redeemed is a departure for him. Therefore, what unintentionally happened is that he ended up making a mockery of an otherwise important topic. The idea behind this plot has potential, but this plot and this cast should have been thrown out in the early stages of production. Box Office Revolution knows that PureFlix is no longer lacking in the funding department, but they are still not using money wisely. Better luck next time.
January 28, 2016 January 6, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, International, Movie Reviews, Mystery, RomanceTags: 1.5 points, 2014, Ana Ayora, Anna Zielinski, Brad Heller, Cameron Britton, Carey Scott, Cordelia Sonnenschein, David A. R. White, Frank Santora, Gibson Bobby Sjobeck, Grant Goodeve, Inspirational, Karen Peck, Kevin Downes, Marcos Soares, Mayuto Correa, Megan Alexander, Michael Scott, Paige Omartian, PureFlix, Romance, Russell Wolfe, Ted McGinley, Teri Copley, Tommy Blaze, Will Musser	1 Comment
Faith of Our Fathers [2015] (Movie Review)
John Paul George always wanted to know about his father and his experiences in Vietnam, but he could never learn any detailed information about him. Now, on the verge of getting married, he stumbles upon a misplaced box of his father's things and discovers a lone letter that could clue John Paul in on some more information. He begins to search for the sender of the letter, but is unsuccessful until he accidentally reaches a cryptic character that interests John Paul just enough to make him go and see him in person. Once he finally meets his new acquaintance, the two decide to embark on a redemptive journey to reconcile both their pasts and their fathers' memories.
PureFlix has improved over the years on production quality. The camera work is decent and the sets seem pretty good. The war scenes are the strongest parts of the movie, as they are actually not done in a cheesy manner. The soundtrack is just average. However, the editing tends to be confusing. Some scenes are wasted and drag on too long. This is an improvement, but not quite there yet.
This plot would have been improved with more inclusion of Vietnam War scenes. The historical characters needed to be better developed and the present-day characters needed to be less-emphasized. The present day plot is erratic and random; one subplot is introduced and then discarded with no real explanation to its purpose. Some dialogue and subplots seem to just fill time. None of the characters are believable, especially Wayne. Perhaps the worst of all is that one character uses the same actor over a nearly forty year timespan, without aging appropriately. In short, as far as PureFlix movies go, the plot is business as usual.
PureFlix needs acting coaching, plain and simple. David A. R. White's attempt at comedy falls flat. Kevin Downes is not cast into the appropriate character. Candace Cameron Bure and Rebecca St. James seem like Christian celebrity tack-ons, with neither one serving any real purpose. Stephen Baldwin is passable, as are the historical characters, making them the only possible elements here.
In summary, PureFlix has improved a hair from the usual ways. The production quality has improved, but that's about it. A potentially meaningful plot was once again wasted and the acting was once again sub-par. Fatherhood is an important topic, as is the Vietnam War, but both seem like extra additions rather than the main points. Maybe next time things will improve.
January 26, 2016 January 5, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Historical, Inspirational, International, Movie ReviewsTags: 2015, 4.5 points, Bobby Downes, Brian F. Durkin, Candace Cameron Bure, Carey Scott, David A. R. White, Dylan John Seaton, Harold Uhl, Historical, Inspirational, Kevin Downes, Marc Fantini, Michael Daley, Michael Scott, PureFlix, Rebecca St. James, Ryan Doom, Scott Whyte, Sean McGowan, Sean Sedgwick, Shelene Bryan, Si Robertson, Steffan Fantini, Stephen Baldwin, Suspense	2 Comments
Do You Believe (Movie Review)
Pastor Matthew has almost forgotten why he believes what he believes. His spiritual life is stagnant and he wonders why he is even a pastor, until one day he when he encounters an eccentric man on the side of the road carrying a cross. The man asks him if he truly believes in the cross he preaches about. This prompts Matthew to alter his approach to ministry by assisting a homeless pregnant girl and by learning more about the lives of his congregants. Outside of his realm of influence, events begin to take place that indirectly affect him and the people of his church. They are all headed for an unexpected collision and are forced to truly look at the lives they are living—what do they truly believe?
In the same vein of God's Not Dead, the production of Do You Believe is an improvement over previous PureFlix installments. The camera work is good; several difficult action scenes are portrayed well. The sets are realistic and diverse. Audio quality is also good and the soundtrack is respectable. There is not too much wasted time in the movie, but the editing is not the greatest. However, this is most likely due to the high amount of plot content.
There are a lot of well-meaning intentions in the plot of Do You Believe. There are a lot of good stories, but like God's Not Dead, they are all crammed together, thus making it hard to focus on one or for each one to develop as they should. There are more subplots in Do You Believe, and a handful of them are unnecessary and stereotypical. There is also too much narration that replaces the value of developing a plot. Due to the large amount of content, most of the characters are reduced to stereotypes and are therefore not accessible. What would have greatly improved this movie would have been to start at Do You Believe's climax and then work backward by integrating the past and the present. As it is, a lot is left on the field.
Some actors are professional, while others seem unrealistic in delivery. The cast is very diverse, which is a plus. It is possible that the many characters crowded out the scene and did not give actors enough time to work through their characters, but it is also possible that not enough acting coaching was employed in Do You Believe.
Do You Believe has an excellent message, but it is too issues-based. The better production quality and the action sequences do hold the attention of the target audience, but the movie is not as good as it could be. There is plenty of potential with some of the better story lines, but they are drowned out by too much content. It is noble that the creators wanted to address a lot of important issues in a Christian movie, but the point may be lost. In the end, it will be interesting to see how this PureFlix saga plays out in the future.
January 25, 2016 January 5, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Inspirational, Movie Reviews, SuspenseTags: 2015, 5.5 points, Abigail Duhon, Alexa PenaVega, Andrea Logan White, Brian Bosworth, Brittany Lefebvre, Cary Solomon, Chuck Konzelman, Cybill Shepherd, David A. R. White, Delroy Lindo, Elizabeth Hatcher-Travis, Harold Cronk, Inspirational, J.J. Soria, Jon Gunn, Lee Majors, Liam Matthews, Linda Hines, Madison Pettis, Makenzie Moss, Michael Scott, Mira Sorvino, Pro-Life, PureFlix, Robert Katz, Russell Wolfe, Sean Astin, Senyo Amoaku, Shwayze, Subtle Cross Imagery, Suspense, Ted McGinley, Tracy Melchior, Valerie Domínguez, Will Musser	5 Comments
God's Not Dead (Movie Review)
Josh Wheaton didn't ask to be put in the philosophy class of the infamous Professor Radisson. He also didn't anticipate having to sign a piece of paper stating that God is dead in order to achieve a high grade in the class. But prompted by the help of a local pastor, Wheaton decides to not only refuse to sign the paper but also to prove God's existence in front of the class in addition to his other class assignments. It's something that those closest to him do not understand or agree with, but it brings him closer to God and to other people. Little does he know that Professor Radisson and even those connected to him are being profoundly impacted in ways he never expected.
This is perhaps the strongest area of the movie. God's Not Dead has better production than a majority of PureFlix movies, which shows great progress. The camera work is great, and the editing is pretty good considering the many interconnected story lines. The sets are authentic and varied and the lighting is good. The soundtrack is effective. The only real error to consider here is the fact that there may be too much content included. In short, the money used for the movie is mostly put to good use.
Unfortunately, the plot is a bit weak, mostly due to the large number of story lines. There is nothing inherently wrong with a movie about the interconnected lives of people, and for the most part, God's Not Dead does a fairly good job managing the content. However, it seems like there are one too many subplots and one too many characters. If one or two of these were eliminated and that time used to develop other more interesting characters, this movie would greatly improve. As it is, the dialogue is pretty good considering the number of characters. There are some interesting twists and not everything turns out as expected in the end. Most of the characters are believable, but some seem to be caricatures. In summary, the plot is a mixed bag with a lot of untapped potential.
When compared to older PureFlix movies, the acting in God's Not Dead is superb, for most of the actors. This is David A. R. White's best acting job to date. Shane Harper is great in his major debut. However, Dean Cain and Trisha LaFache are uninspiring. But still, one could argue that they did not have much to work with. All in all, the acting is another mixed bag.
God's Not Dead is the best PureFlix-created movie in their existence. Improved acting, improved production quality, and improved plot development all contributed to this rise. However, they still have not hit their ceiling. There is a lot of potential in this movie, and on its face, it is still an above average movie. What is most important is that the core message of God's Not Dead is driven home without being overly preachy or unwatchable. This is success in and of itself.
January 25, 2016 January 5, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Inspirational, Movie ReviewsTags: 2014, 6 points, Abigail Duhon, Anna Zielinski, Benjamin A. Onyango, Cary Solomon, Cassidy Gifford, Chuck Konzelman, Cory Oliver, David A. R. White, Dean Cain, Delaney, Duncan Phillips, Elizabeth Hatcher-Travis, Hadeel Sittu, Hunter Dennis, Inspirational, Jeff Frankenstein, Jesse Wang, Jody Davis, Kevin Sorbo, Korie Robertson, Lenore Banks, Lisa Arnold, Marco Khan, Michael Scott, Michael Tait, Paul Kwo, PureFlix, Russell Wolfe, Shane Harper, Tommy Blaze, Trisha LaFache, Will Musser, Willie Robertson	11 Comments