Movie Review - Ring the Bell

Ring the Bell shows Rob Decker, a successful and driven sports agent who goes to a small Florida town seeking to sign up a promising high school baseball player. He finds a possible secondary prospect but is stunned by their faith and the happiness of their lives - something his is missing.

The movie is beautifully done is filled with guest appearance by Matthew West, Casting Crowns, Steven Curtis Chapman and several well known baseball players. A couple of interesting side notes here, Steven wrote his own part and the segment in which Casting Crowns appears was not scripted. These tidbits are in the special features.

This is a great family film and out of five stars - I give it a four and half.

TV Review - Defiance

While not actually a Christian Speculative program, Defiance shows much promise as a Science Fiction TV show. There are plenty of twists and turns, unexplained mysteries, and a hints of some type of spiritual background among the various alien races who live in the town.

The show starts with a human and an alien racing across the barren landscape in a type of car often seen in post apocalyptic movies. They stop to investigate an ark fall, uncovering a treasure which will help them 'get ahead' in their life. They run into vicious bikers, escape, injured but alive, and run into the lawkeeper from Defiance.

They're taken in, cared for and get involved with the locals, pretty much against their will. There's a murder, an attack by an army and in the end, the human male is offered the job of lawkeeper.

Best of all, there is plenty of undercurrents, like a family feud between two powerful families, two sisters, one of which if the mayor, the other the local bar keep - brothel owner, and a Romeo-Juliet romance.

It will be interesting to see if the writers manage to pull off a tight action packed series with all the interesting set up elements in tact.

The Bible Miniseries - Part 4

While the blogger has not yet finished watching this segment, there are some nice things so far. The rising hatred of Jesus coming from the religious leaders and the growing love the people had for him.
Some of the spice is images of Pilate and how cruel he really was.

While several things are taken from the Bible much seems out of context and a very disappointing scene is the one with the adultress who is brought before Jesus. Unfortunately, what the western mind doesn't understand about this trap, is that Jesus knew full well that BOTH parties had to brought for judgement and stoned to death for the sin. He also didn't kneel down and begin writing in the dirt.

The scene with the fish and loaves was well done as was the raising of Lazarus from the grave. Again, there are some things lost on the western mind. Since they sometimes buried someone alive, they checked on the grave after three days to make certain the person was really dead. That is why it was important for the number of days Lazarus had been in the grave.

Also, Mary the sister of Martha is displayed prominently as a follower of Jesus traveling with him, yet the men and women traveled separately, so her being with them as she is, is completely wrong.

While the effort put into these is appreciated, the blogger wishes the writers, producers and directors had put some time and research into making certain cultural aspects clear and correct.

Movie Review : Matchmaker Mary

Matchmaker Mary is an adorable, although predictable, family movie. It centers around a young girl who gets a puppy and then plays matchmaker with two single people who take the other two pups. With their help, her aunt, and the man who runs the shelter, she helps her parents rediscover their love for each other.

This is a sweet film and was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Not to mention the puppies were adorable.

*Due to schedule conflicts the blogger was unable to view the last two segments of 'The Bible'. They will be watched over the weekend and then reviewed.