facing the giants
DANGIT!!!!!!!! Livejournal just ate a whole long entry that I'd written. And I'd already polished the sentences and stuff. Dangit, dangit, dangit...
Well, what I had been saying is that I'm watching Facing the Giants tonight for the first time ever. I know, I know, what type of Christian am I? This is like the flagship movie for us ... and thank God. Before Giants all we really had to claim was Left Behind. Shudder.
I am not a fan of sports movies, or so-called "inspirational" movies for that matter. So before hitting play on this thing, I did pull out my laptop so that I could have something else to concentrate on. Yeah, somehow having something else to do keeps me from zoning out on the first thing.
Anyway, when this movie first came out, all of my friends told me that I had to see it. That it would inspire me. That it would make me cry. That it would change my life.
Ehh.
There's a good amount tension in the story, but the strokes are too big and, therefore, too predictable. There are little things that make me uncomfortable, like slow frame-change rate, poor Steadicam, and too-long theatrical pauses. Bits of just awful acting are scattered throughout, and I can't stand the moralizing lyrics of the soundtrack -- show me why this moment is great, don't tell me with a song I've heard a hundred times already on Christian radio.
And honestly, I think I'm just not used to hearing Scripture quoted and God taken at his word in a serious movie like this, and I'm kind of ashamed of that. Because, yes, this is a serious movie despite all of its issues. It does set a new bar for Christian filmmaking, and I think that if these types of movies can be made with greater frequency, they will eventually and naturally gain greater finesse.**
The pace does pick up as the movie goes on, and the comic bits are pretty good. Although the characters are directed poorly, their development is written well. An inspirational bit that I happened to enjoy quite a bit was The Death Crawl scene. Intense.
Anyway, this movie is a good start in terms of future faith-oriented movies. Well, it's more than a good start, it's actually gone some of the distance... I'm not a fan of Giants, but I do approve.
"The only reason Fundies love this movie ... is because they have nothing else in the box office aimed directly at them. If they got a film every other week like most genre fans, you can bet they'd ... hold out for something better. But if you only get one film in your preferred genre every year, then of course you're going to give a 10 to each that comes out."
"Christians don't really have a strong presence in the arts right now. The arts, whether it be literature or films or other forms of media, value the idea of freedom of expression -- of all forms of expression ... appealing to a mainstream audience means curbing a few of the more wild forms of expression. Christian principles (...what I mean by Christian is the American church that identifies as Christian) ... are against freedom of expression.... The people in the arts do not take well to this. So Christians often do not like to join the art scene. This means they do not get access to good talent. So they're stuck with volunteer actors and micro-budgets... That automatically cuts out all the artistic freedom gained from filming without studio intervention."
"I am encouraged by the level of professionalism shown by the people who worked on this movie. It was made with next to nothing by a group of people who had little, if any, acting experience, and this project was obviously a labor of love. It's always nice to see amateur work (even if it isn't that great) in the film industry, especially when they have to finance everything themselves."
Well, what I had been saying is that I'm watching Facing the Giants tonight for the first time ever. I know, I know, what type of Christian am I? This is like the flagship movie for us ... and thank God. Before Giants all we really had to claim was Left Behind. Shudder.
I am not a fan of sports movies, or so-called "inspirational" movies for that matter. So before hitting play on this thing, I did pull out my laptop so that I could have something else to concentrate on. Yeah, somehow having something else to do keeps me from zoning out on the first thing.
Anyway, when this movie first came out, all of my friends told me that I had to see it. That it would inspire me. That it would make me cry. That it would change my life.
Ehh.
There's a good amount tension in the story, but the strokes are too big and, therefore, too predictable. There are little things that make me uncomfortable, like slow frame-change rate, poor Steadicam, and too-long theatrical pauses. Bits of just awful acting are scattered throughout, and I can't stand the moralizing lyrics of the soundtrack -- show me why this moment is great, don't tell me with a song I've heard a hundred times already on Christian radio.
And honestly, I think I'm just not used to hearing Scripture quoted and God taken at his word in a serious movie like this, and I'm kind of ashamed of that. Because, yes, this is a serious movie despite all of its issues. It does set a new bar for Christian filmmaking, and I think that if these types of movies can be made with greater frequency, they will eventually and naturally gain greater finesse.**
The pace does pick up as the movie goes on, and the comic bits are pretty good. Although the characters are directed poorly, their development is written well. An inspirational bit that I happened to enjoy quite a bit was The Death Crawl scene. Intense.
Anyway, this movie is a good start in terms of future faith-oriented movies. Well, it's more than a good start, it's actually gone some of the distance... I'm not a fan of Giants, but I do approve.
"The only reason Fundies love this movie ... is because they have nothing else in the box office aimed directly at them. If they got a film every other week like most genre fans, you can bet they'd ... hold out for something better. But if you only get one film in your preferred genre every year, then of course you're going to give a 10 to each that comes out."
"Christians don't really have a strong presence in the arts right now. The arts, whether it be literature or films or other forms of media, value the idea of freedom of expression -- of all forms of expression ... appealing to a mainstream audience means curbing a few of the more wild forms of expression. Christian principles (...what I mean by Christian is the American church that identifies as Christian) ... are against freedom of expression.... The people in the arts do not take well to this. So Christians often do not like to join the art scene. This means they do not get access to good talent. So they're stuck with volunteer actors and micro-budgets... That automatically cuts out all the artistic freedom gained from filming without studio intervention."
"I am encouraged by the level of professionalism shown by the people who worked on this movie. It was made with next to nothing by a group of people who had little, if any, acting experience, and this project was obviously a labor of love. It's always nice to see amateur work (even if it isn't that great) in the film industry, especially when they have to finance everything themselves."