New VeggieTales Movie debuts Feb 27th

LA - On the thematic story line of Pinnochio, a lonely toymaker named Gelato and his assistant Cricket decided to carve a little boy out of wood. When Pistachio tries to do things his way, he lands in a “whale” of a situation! Will he decide to listen to the wisdom of a loving father in time to save his whole family from becoming fish food? Find out in this all-new adventure with a lesson about the importance of family and learning to listen.

‘To Save a Life’ – A faith-based film to reach today’s youth

"The real message of this film is to try and offer help to people that are in trouble," says Josh Weigel, who plays a youth pastor. (New Song Productions / January 20, 2010)

Jake (Randy Wayne) and Jonny (Sean Michael Afabel) share an easy laugh in the quad.

LA – On the surface, “To Save a Life” doesn’t sound that different from a host of indie films — a drama involving a teen coping with the aftermath of a student’s suicide who finds solace in a group of outsiders.

The film, which opened last Friday (Jan 22, 2010), deals with myriad real-life issues facing teens such as drugs, sex and social acceptance. The plot focuses on star athlete Jake Taylor, who seemingly has it all; he has a basketball scholarship, good looks, a cheerleader girlfriend and hangs with the in-crowd. But when a loner, an old friend from his past, shoots himself at school, his world is turned upside down and he seeks answers on how he could have made a difference.

“To Save a Life” is meant to be uplifting and appeal to a wide audience. Which is part of the reason that the filmmakers don’t want to make too much of the fact that this is a faith-based film.

“The real message of this film is to try and offer help to people that are in trouble,” said Josh Weigel, who plays the role of a youth pastor in the film. “I don’t know what that kind of movie is called, movie with a purpose, a positive film, inspirational or redemptive film. It doesn’t really matter.”

The film is being distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films, which had a breakout hit in 2008 with the Christian film “Fireproof.” With a budget well under $1 million, the film, which starred Kirk Cameron, grossed $33 million thanks in large part to grass-roots marketing to church audiences.

Like “Fireproof,” “To Save a Life” is produced by a church-based production company, in this case New Song Pictures, a division of New Song Ministries in Oceanside California. But that’s where the similarities with the more overtly Christian “Fireproof” end. In fact, the new film may have more in common with Fox’s “Glee” than it does with previous Christian films, including a rainbow-colored cast of misfits and a good-looking mentor who guides them through the chaos of high school life.

According to LA Times reporter, Liesl Bradner, screenwriter and producer, Jim Britts, wrote the screenplay after learning that the top influence on teen behavior is not parents, school or even church, but movies.

“I work with troubled teens every day and see the severity of the poor choices they make,” said Britts of his 10 years as a youth pastor at New Hope Church. “Movies are a powerful way to illustrate the consequences of making the wrong choice while reinforcing positive actions. “Not a day goes by without talking to a kid going through some kind of pain.”

Many of those associated with “To Save a Life” are understandably nervous about being typecast as “Christian” filmmakers. It’s not that they are embarrassed by their beliefs, but the track record of faith-based films has been spotty. “To Save a Life” used Hollywood professionals to upgrade the quality of the film, but that was not always an easy task.

“It’s hard to commit to being in a film with any kind of Christian undertones, as most actors don’t want to be pigeonholed,” said casting director Liz Lang. “Christian films can be risky. You can believe in all sorts of things, but when you start talking about God and Jesus, people turn away.”

Initially, Randy Wayne, who plays Jake, passed on auditioning for the role because it was a faith-based movie with a low budget.

“I was afraid it would look really cheesy and I would too,” said Wayne, who changed his mind after reading the script. Jake’s struggles are the heart of the film but the guiding light is Youth Pastor Chris Vaughn, played by actor Weigel. Casting the role of a spiritual leader is crucial especially in faith-based films. “Pastors are depicted as being really preachy,” said Britts. “I knew Chris had been a youth pastor and he came in and nailed it.”

“To Save a Life” is co-produced by Outreach Films, which handled the marketing campaigns for “Fireproof.”

“The grass-roots marketing, especially on the Internet, is a significant part of reaching our teen audience,” said Meyer Gottlieb, president and chief operating officer of Samuel Goldwyn Films, which plans to distribute two faith-based films a year. “We want entertaining films that resonant with people, make them feel good and change their life for the better.” Among the marketing strategies is a Facebook page that also offers tools for at-risk kids, such as suicide hotlines, art contests and other creative outlets.

“We want to empower teens to be a messenger of hope by reaching out and befriending someone in trouble,” said Britts.

Synopsis…

(Source: LA Times, New Song Productions, Internet)

FILM: To Save A Life – Coming Soon…

To Save A Life is a powerful indie movie about the real-life challenges of teens and their choices . But it’s more than just a movie -it’s a feature-length film with follow-up opportunities like a youth group curriculum and a teen devotional centered around the biblical concept that we’re never more like Jesus than when we are reaching out to  the hurting and lonely.

At some point, every teen has to decide “What’s my life going to be about?” To Save A Life desires to bring that question into their world, encouraging them to answer it with boldness, honesty and Christ-likeness.

The movie is slated for a January 2010 release.  For more information please visit http://www.tosavealifemovie.com

FILM REVIEW: 2012 – a spectacular speculative

MILWAUKEE – With German director, Roland Emmerich (Day After Tomorrow) at the helm of 2012, one cannot feel anything but overwhelmed by the wide-screen epic of the end of the world in  this fictional speculative based loosely on Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock.

The movie presents a near-term picture of a society faced with global economic and political turmoil, an aristocratic, global oligarchy of world leaders, and global warming caused by excessive neutrinos from the sun microwaving the earth’s core and not from mankind’ over-industrialization. 

Danny Glover as President Thomas Wilson (2012)

While the script meted much political and social commentary – including the destructive end to all government and religious institutions, the screenplay, nevertheless, portrays the remnant of civilization based on hope in diversity.  Heroic death scenes (Danny Glover as the emotionally resigned president and

Woody Harrelson as doomsdayer radiocaster Charlie Frost (2012)

Woody Harrelson as the radio-broadcasting end-times prophet in Yellowstone), dramatic emotional moments among divorce-torn families (compassionately revealed in John Cusak and Amanda Peet), and an ever-shortening deadline which fuels the crisis and panic (brilliantly embodied in Oliver Platt) combine an orchestral movement from fears to tears over the 2-3/4 hour movie.

The Milwaukee preview audience responded gleefully as three times the state of Wisconsin was mentioned by name – the first as a retired couple lamented their relocating to California, second as global movements shifted the South Pole to the Dells, and in one other scene of humorous relief for the viewer to attend. In the end, however, it is the Horn of Good Hope in South Africa where civilization will reboot as the three arks containing a few protected species, including common folk, billionaires and the Queen of England, dogs in tow.

The special effects were stupendous.  Four computer graphic companies served the backbone of production, supplemented by 9 others – perhaps the largest entourage of entertainment geeks gathered for a single movie.  Sony Image Effects (and a division of  Sony Pictures/Columbia which produced the film) clearly intended to provide an abundance of eye-candy for the film-goer.  This goal was a grand achievement for Emmerich, who is often criticised for his “over” reliance on special effects, but he serves to satisfy the needs of the Star Wars generation.

2012 - Release November 13, 2009. (All photos coyrighted Sony Entertainment/Columbia Pictures)

However, 2012 unfolds the complexities of life in the 21st century for all to see, drawing the viewer deeper into the lives of the characters throughout the epic.  Even as certain scenes of suspense are cliche, such as the pregnant anxiety before Cusak floats to the surface after saving the ark from head-on collision with the North face of Mount Everest, the audience shared gasps of relief, belts of laughter, and swells of anticipation as they traversed the plot from scene-to-scene. 

Danny Glover gives one of the most memorable performances of his career as the president, a widower who seeks the counsel of God in the White House chapel instead of escaping to the ark, and he quotes Psalm 23 as he delivers his final address to the nation of ‘many religions.’  Lead scientist, Chiiwetel Ejiofer (Amistad, Trust, Children of Men, American Gangster) offers an impassioned plea for all to act civilized and not with cruelty, realizing the destructive end from the very beginning but demonstrating a love and respect for people throughout.

SUMMARY:    2012 is more than an imaginative, ficitonal prediction of the end of the world, disappointingly weaved in a predictable plot.  (At one point the political power-broker played by Platt admits that the ‘cardboard toting nutbags were right afterall,’ referring to the extremist street-evangelists of today.) The visual carousel depicts the uplifting tale of human spirit in the face of daunting challenges – from within and from without — with most of the population utterly destroyed. 

Hollywood writers might learn to challenge, and therein raise, the literacy of future generations through better screenwriting, who use (and abuse) a  limited set of words, rather  than developing the all-to-important-and-neglected skill of commanding a vocabulary worth sharing.  For these reasons, given the profanity and blasphemy employed in a PG-13 production and the secular humanism and religious universalism espoused without differentiating destinies, we cannot recommend the film for Christian viewing, but we are encouraged by the few positive references to God and the pictures of human need relying on faith while submerged in abysmal valleys of life – an experience shared by all with desperately different destinations for each according to God’s Word based in whom one places that faith. 

Vie wthe trailer here:  2012 Trailer (HD)

MOVIE REVIEW: Disney’s A Christmas Carol

Disney’s A Christmas Carol (3D and iMax)
Rated: PG   (The film may be frightening for small children.)
CCN Summary:  As artistic, original and dramatic as any animated version can offer in this traditional Christmas story.  An unbeliveable experience for family and friends.

With the Christmas season upon us, like an expected heavy blanket of snow, bombarded by the commercialism and secularism, Disney attempts to lift our spirits in the spirit of Dickensonian tradition with A Christmas Carol.

Not the fanfare of talking animals and outer space effects, nor a culturally contemporary script, but a masterful rendering of the original story, complete with references (and reverences) to the Nativity, Scriptural quotes, and glad tidings.

While some might criticize the effort to retell this story for the 14th time on the big screen since 1938, the technical superiority in 3D is nothing less than breath-taking.  With fly-throughs across the London skyscape, cut-aways from the viewpoint of the ethereals looking down on the Crachet family through roofs and floors, and detailing to the wrinkles and whiskers of old Ebenzer, himself, A Christmas Carol offers the audience a unique experience sure to stimulate the same physical thrills one feels as they ride a roller coaster.

Instead of adapting the story to film, Director/Producer/Screenwriter Robert Zemeckis adapted modern film animation and technology to the story – a rare and refreshing  departure from the cliche seasonal material provided in recent years.  No puppets, talking pigs, or singing mice, Disney’s 2009 contribution to the Charles Dickens legacy  is an endowment of entertainment and encouragement for young and old.

The ensemble cast and technical talent which produced this production have produced art for the film-lover, a tapestry of color and movement forthe art-lover, and an accurate script true enough to the book to please the most traditional adherent.  Jim Carrey carries the film with a noteworthy English accent and all the arrogance, fear and remorse which the part demands.  Colin Firth, Gary Oldman, Carey Elwes, Robin Wright Penn, Bob Hoskins and many others added their talents to complete a euphony which draws one into a complete visual and audio experience of everyemotion throughout the story…from the horror of witnessing the attacks of ‘ignorance’ and ‘want’ while the spirit of Christmas Present fades into dust…to the hights of elation in Scrooge, humself, as he discovers that mankind is now his business.

Some scenes are truly dark, as one would expect when travelling with certain spirits - but the moral is clear: selfishness without repentance leads to a hopeless end.  With spine-tingling and fearsome graphics in mind, the film is probably not suited for the very young, but viewed best by tweens and older.

On the other hand, with repentance and reconciliation being emphasized, albeit apart from any clear statement of the Gospel, a deficiency more critical of Dickens’ original work rather than an issue with Hollywood’s rendering, believers who know that salvation is only by grace through faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ, and not of man’s works (Eph 2:8-9), might, nevertheless, recognize the positive presence of Scripture and reverent treatment of God in secular media in this day and age.  Few choices offer the possibility to evangelize in mainstream settings, and this may be the domino to fell that singular, hardened heart in your sphere of influence at this hour.

A Christmas Carol opens Friday, November 6, 2009.  Visit the website here.

May  Disney’s A Christmas Carol boldly echo the phrases, “Peace on Earth; good tidings to men,” and “God bless us, everyone!” this Christmas season…throughout the year ahead and for many that may come.

(Source: Walt Disney Pictures)

Charles Darwin film ‘too controversial for religious America’

Paul Bettany plays Charles Darwin in Creation Photo: ALLSTAR

LONDON — The film was chosen to open the Toronto Film Festival and had its British premiere on Sunday (Sept 13, 2009). It has been sold in almost every territory around the world, from Australia to Scandinavia.

However, US distributors have resolutely passed on a film which will prove hugely divisive in a country where, according to a Gallup poll conducted in February, only 39 per cent of Americans believe in the theory of evolution.

Movieguide.org, an influential site which reviews films from a Christian perspective, described Darwin as the father of eugenics and denounced him as “a racist, a bigot and an 1800s naturalist whose legacy is mass murder”. His “half-baked theory” directly influenced Adolf Hitler and led to “atrocities, crimes against humanity, cloning and genetic engineering”, the site stated.

The film has sparked fierce debate on US Christian websites, with a typical comment dismissing evolution as “a silly theory with a serious lack of evidence to support it despite over a century of trying”.

Jeremy Thomas, the Oscar-winning producer of Creation, said he was astonished that such attitudes exist 150 years after On The Origin of Species was published.

“That’s what we’re up against. In 2009. It’s amazing,” he said.

“The film has no distributor in America. It has got a deal everywhere else in the world but in the US, and it’s because of what the film is about. People have been saying this is the best film they’ve seen all year, yet nobody in the US has picked it up.

“It is unbelievable to us that this is still a really hot potato in America. There’s still a great belief that He made the world in six days. It’s quite difficult for we in the UK to imagine religion in America. We live in a country which is no longer so religious. But in the US, outside of New York and LA, religion rules.

“Charles Darwin is, I suppose, the hero of the film. But we tried to make the film in a very even-handed way. Darwin wasn’t saying ‘kill all religion’, he never said such a thing, but he is a totem for people.”

Creation was developed by BBC Films and the UK Film Council, and stars Bettany’s real-life wife Jennifer Connelly as Darwin’s deeply religious wife, Emma. It is based on the book, Annie’s Box, by Darwin’s great-great-grandson, Randal Keynes, and portrays the naturalist as a family man tormented by the death in 1851 of Annie, his favourite child. She is played in the film by 10-year-old newcomer Martha West, the daughter of The Wire star Dominic West.

Early reviews have raved about the film. The Hollywood Reporter said: “It would be a great shame if those with religious convictions spurned the film out of hand as they will find it even-handed and wise.”

Mr Thomas, whose previous films include The Last Emperor and Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, said he hoped the reviews would help to secure a distributor. In the UK, special screenings have been set up for Christian groups.

(Source: Telegraph Communications Media)

ID film to clarify fossil record issue

An explosion is coming: a blast against Darwinism in the form of a new film from Illustra Media: Darwin’s Dilemma: The Mystery of the Cambrian Fossil Record.  

The Cambrian explosion, which Darwin admitted was the greatest challenge to his theory, has not been solved in the 150 years since The Origin.  In fact, it has gotten much worse.  This film does more than demolish a defunct idea.  It offers the only alternative that does explain the sudden appearance of all the animal phyla: intelligent design.

The content and delivery are both outstanding–the interviews with Paul Nelson, Jonathan Wells, Steve Meyer, Doug Axe, Paul Chien and Richard Sternberg all deliver an irrefutable case for ID.  Cambrian experts Simon Conway Morris and James Valentine are treated respectfully.  The case builds and accelerates toward the end with so many independent arguments, Darwin is just left mumbling at the end, “I can give no satisfactory answer.”   (This is not exactly the party he wanted on his 200th birthday, but history and the facts of science have more important work to do. )

The film is also visually beautiful.  Majestic scenes of the Canadian Rockies alternate with vivid new animations of Cambrian animals.  This film has more original animations than any previous Illustra project, all detailed and credible.  The entire production is edited with Illustra’s trademark finesse, and powerfully enhanced by another original score by Mark Lewis, one of the most creative musicians in film.  It’s a work of art as much as a documentary.

The film is due for release on Sept. 15.  Once in distribution, it completes a trilogy by Illustra on the case for intelligent design and the demise of Darwinism, coming from three independent directions.  Unlocking the Mystery of Life delivered the left hook from biology.  The Privileged Planet delivered the right punch from astronomy.  And now, Darwin’s Dilemma is the pile driver from paleontology, leaving Darwin’s legacy buried in the rocks, where it will fossilize for the museums of a more enlightened age.

(Source: David Coppedge and Uncommon Descent)

Lionsgate to release faith-based film “No Greater Love”