Captain's CornerLove is a cabin in the middle of nowhere.

This past Thursday I was invited, as a local ministry leader, to view an advanced screening of a film that will be released in September called Unconditional. The writer/director is from Arlington, TX and now lives in Nashville, where the movie is set. It is inspired by true events and even (at least in the screening) has a short segment at the end with the real-life person one of the main characters is based on.

Those of you who know me are at this point asking yourselves, “Why in the world would Kevin agree to see an openly Christian film?” And to answer that, I have to say… I dunno. Tickets were free and it was something to do. As some insight into my perspective, faith-based films entered my awareness with Flywheel, Sherwood Church/Pictures first film. They have since given us Facing the Giants, Fireproof, and Courageous, all of which have suffered from poor acting, a lack of budget, and cheesy writing which is not especially connected with what I like to call “the real world”. Like much of the Christian music industry (another rant for another time), I am not a fan of “faith-based” films in general. My main problem is that they do not tackle real problems in a real manner and they tend to shove the “church-answer ending” down your throat at the end. As a believer, even I check out at these moments because it’s just too much. So, all of that to say I wasn’t expecting much from Unconditional. I am happy to share with you that I was very pleasantly surprised.

First of all, the directing was very, very solid. There was no distinct style to it, like a Nolan or Scorsese, but it was good, solid directing that turned out a good film. Think Peter Berg or F. Gary Gray, whom you likely don’t know by name but have enjoyed a film from…

Secondly, the lead performance were great. Lyn Collins (John Carter, The number 23) and Michael Ealy (Seven Pounds, 2Fast 2Furious) were convincing and relatable. Some of the supporting roles fell a little flat, but for the most part they were solid as well. Surprising all of the child actors were solid, a place I’ve seen many lower-budget “indie” films fall flat, especially when there’s this many of them.

I felt the story was very well done. The story follows a woman who is devastated and loses her faith after her husband is violently murdered. In the opening scene she has returned to the place of his death to take her own life – instantly I knew this film wasn’t going to shy away from reality or tough issues. She is interrupted and through a course of events reconnects with her childhood best friend. Through the new relationship and the connections it brings we see completely unconditional love can change a life and how it can redeem any situation. All this in a way that is real – people still, to the very end, struggle with dark, hurtful, sinful things – and without ever getting real preachy. The viewer is shown God’s truth without ever feeling condemned or judged for not believing the same way.

All told, I really enjoyed the movie – but it is not without it’s warts. There are things that set it apart from the “normal” Hollywood fare movie goers are used to.

First of all, the ending kinda blew it for me. I mean, the climax and the resolution were 90% good, but then the narration kicked in over a montage of “wrap-up” footage and I could have told you down to the exact timing what shots were coming and in what order, including the final “zoom up through a raindrop into the clouds and fade to black”. For a film that had spent so much time expressing a belief system in a believable way, it fell back on it’s Christian roots at the end with a cheesy, predictable summation.

Secondly – the color grading was pretty inconsistent. Now, most normal movie goers pay no attention to color grading – in fact, when I’ve pointed out the teal/orange phenomenon to most people they hate me because they had no idea it existed. However, in Unconditional, normal movie goers will notice. Contrast is inconsistent from one shot to another – one shot seems washed out and the next is high contrast, all in the same scene and normally when going from a wide to a close-up cutaway. There are also several shots, seemingly in every scene that is in low light, that has a shot with blacks pulled up so far that they are distractingly noisy (like the trailer park scene in Michael Mann’s Miami Vice). I’m not sure if this was just poor exposure being corrected in post, but considering it was shot on RED cameras in what I would assume to be a digital RAW format, they would have to be severely underexposed to be that bad. On top of that, highlights through out the entire movie (including the under-exposed scenes) were blown-out/over exposed in the harshest, ugliest way possible… There was no gentle knee into the highlights, they were just gone.

Thirdly and following close behind the poorly exposed shots, there were some obviously blown focus shots (no discernible object was in sharp focus), which only happened a couple of times in the movie, but really stands out from Hollywood fare that does not allow shots like that in a final edit. That said, with a generation of DSLR shooters coming up, people are becoming less and less sensitive to focus being perfect or even attempted at all… Just check out a local short film festival if you think I’m exaggerating.

Now, that seems like a long list (and much more indepth) compared to what I liked in the film – but let me re-iterate, I really enjoyed this film. It was heartwarming and very well done. The reason my criticisms sound strong and are fairly detailed is there may still be time to fix these before a national release in September, which means the few small issues the film has could be remedied and this film could stand on it’s merits as a film with the “normal” Hollywood fare and wouldn’t have to make excuses because it’s a “faith-based film”. This one actually has a chance at connecting with people and I’d like to see that happen.

Hopefully when Unconditional hits theaters in the fall it will pull in a decent crowd opening weekend and will be met with favorable reviews. I’m rooting for this one and in fact, I’ll take my wife to see it opening weekend so we can help them out with something other than my nit-picky review of an early screening…

For more information, check out their website Unconditional or follow them on twitter at @unconmovie

I went to see Prometheus this past Sunday. I hunkered down in my seat, propped my feet up on the railing in front of me and got ready for a masterpiece from Ridley Scott. I absolutely LOVE the original Alien. The sequels were progressively less impressive, though enjoyable. But this would mark Ridley Scott’s return to this universe and I was beyond excited. The ensuing 124 minutes were, on some level, enjoyable, but they were no where near what I have come to expect from the director that gave us Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, and American Gangster. In fact, while I always enjoy going to the movies (and seldom get to these days), the more and more I thought about the movie, the more it left a bad taste in my mouth.

First of all, the story had no progression. The opening scene shows us an intelligent and emotional, yet unknown alien race and then we are instantly introduced to our protagonist who believes said aliens exist and is anxious to find them. By the end of the movie we know barely anything else about said aliens.

On top of that, there was near zero character development. The story follows a familiar structure (more on that later), however in the original Alien there are 8 crew members. When we first see the titular space-faring vessel of Prometheus we are told via text that the ship is crewed by (if I remember correctly) 17 crew members. We have more than doubled the crew – which means each individual will, by necessity, receive less character development. We are shown bits and pieces that let us know that our protagonist Elizabeth Shaw, played by Noomi Rapace, has some kind of faith that is driving her, but other than off-hand comments it does not seem to factor into her decision making. Most other characters have near zero explanation given for their actions – to include the more nefarious actions of Michael Fassbender‘s android, David.

In this same vein, there were entire storylines that seemed completely superfluous. What I’m assuming is good money was paid out to cast Charlize Theron and Guy Pearce in what amounted to a great big aside that took the wind out of the story of Shaw. Theron’s Vickers is closed-off, impersonal, and cranky. We are not told why until the very end and guess what – with zero character arc for her, no one cares. In fact – I was left wondering why the scene had occurred at all. Pearce’s Weyland, the presumed dead owner of the company that sent the Prometheus on it’s voyage, is apparently secretly kept alive and smuggled onto the ship, so he can seek immortality from the Engineers. This mission is part of David’s programming, but doesn’t explain 90% of what he does against the rest of the crew, nor does it factor AT ALL into discovery of the Engineers or the resolution of the film. Excluding this entire story arc (as both Vickers and Weyland are the same story) and the elimination of the basically useless storyline of the two lost team members would have left ample time and material to explore in depth who the Engineers are, what they are doing & why, and what should happen next. Instead we have zero explanation of why the Engineers created us, why they developed a biological weapon that they intended to destroy us with (the Xenomorphs), or anything at all about who they are. Instead, despite David learning how to communicate with them, we are treated to a mindless rampage by the last Engineer on the planet, and a sudden resolve from Shaw to find out what we did wrong (and the promise of travel to the Engineer’s home planet).

Next we have the complete lack of originality in the plot. To be clear, I’m not talking about the necessary elements to cause this to lead up to the events of Scott’s 1979 Alien. I’m talking about the fact that it borrowed scenes and elements directly from other films in the Alien franchise. Just to quickly name a few of the many, many rehashes of past films:

1. We have an android with a secret agenda

2. We have a violent scene discussing breaking quarantine rules and bringing an infected crew member on board

3. We have an attempt to hide/bring home an alien specimen

4. We have our heroine run around in little white underwear.

I could go on as this is nowhere near the only ones – but even just having these elements present left the movie as a whole entirely predictable. Even when there was a slight twist given to the elements or scenes, they quickly got back on the “let’s remake Alien” track. To top it all off, the worst part about rehashing Alien is that this installment has none of the originals suspense or horror. Alien was a truly frightening movie – it is the ultimate haunted house movie, set in a sci-fi setting. You simply cannot leave the house and thus escape your tormentor, because there is no where to go. This movie lacked all of the fright, but kept the action and gore. It’s like Ridley Scott forgot who he was and channeled the much over-hyped James Cameron for this movie.

In all, I had hopeed for a intelligent and cinematically beautiful look into creation and technology. David’s questioning of Logan Marshall-Green‘s Charlie gave me great hope that we would get there, but alas the question, “Why did man create me.” provoked the answer “Because we could,” which is basically the only reason this film was made. There was no hope or plan to start a discourse or to simply say anything. There is hope that the end will lead to an un-Alien franchise that can hopefully shake off the shackles of rabid fandom and possibly have something worthwhile to add to our culture, but likely, we’ll just get more rehashed Alien drivel.

Despite enjoying the visuals, I’m going to have to give this film a disappointing 55%.

So last night I got to do something new – Zombieland (in theaters everywhere today) had a screening/premiere and Zombie Walk last night.

So, at 5p I quit After Effects and unpacked a bag of make-up and costume pieces and started zombify-ing myself in my office. Jeff and Amanda took some pictures and video of the process, so maybe I’ll have that to add later. There weren’t pictures of the rest of the evening for two reasons – 1. My zombie character wouldn’t have had a camera and 2. My zombie companion did not follow Tallahassee’s (Woody Harrelson’s character in Zombieland) advice. When it came time to Nut Up or Shut Up… I think he shut up… Oh well, I had a great time and plenty of people asked to have their picture taken with me, so that was cool.

I had what was probably one of the least gory costumes – I mean there was no blood on my hospital gown until my IV full of blood leaked all over my hands and I wiped them on my robe. The best costume of the night had to be the Hunter S. Thompson zombie.

The movie was great. It was funny and just gory enough. They had amazing titles – the main character, Columbus (played by Jesse Eisenberg) narrates the film by giving his rules to surviving Zombieland. These rules were always shown on screen as they were either followed or broken in 3D text that lived within the frame and reacted to the action on screen. There was an incredible title sequence of super slo-mo zombie attacks set to “For Whom the Bell Tolls” by Metallica. The credits were done in the same way as the rules, only now people were crashing into and scattering the letters all over the frame. It was very cool.

The crowd was pretty fun – but most crowds of geeks who dress up for events are – I mean, who are they to make fun of someone else?

Lessons I learned:

1. White makeup just doesn’t look dead enough on it’s own. If you want your skin to shake off the rosy hue of life, mix in a little green and just a touch of black into your white… it gives you a gray rotting look that white alone can’t create…

2. For most people – zombie makeup consists of copious amounts of fake blood randomly scattered across your skin and clothing. There doesn’t really even need to be any kind of reason for it.

3. People who run haunted houses are annoying. I literally had nearly a ream’s worth of paper from all the flyers and handouts they kept throwing at us…

4. People dressed as zombies re-creating the dance from Thriller is still funny…

5. A free movie and all you can eat pizza for under $10 is well worth the time and effort to dress up as a zombie.

6. Paper costumes (like a disposable hospital gown) can be a bad idea – especially when the hardest rainstorm of the season breaks out while you are driving to a Zombie Walk… So, have a back up plan (I did, but didn’t need it – see #7).

7. God must love Zombie Walks. The clouds parted and the rain stopped at the exact moment I parked my truck.

Here’s some photos from the event posted to Flickr

After hours of putting up Christmas trees yesterday to reset our stage for the Advent Season I needed a little time relaxing… so quite a few of us from work headed to the theater to see Quantum of Solace. I had heard some people were a little disappointed by this one… and I know why, but I must respectfully disagree with them.

There were no gadgets (Q hasn’t even been in the last 2 movies), there weren’t any really witty one liners… Bond was a man with a purpose and still really rough around the edges (in keeping with this being the beginning of Bond’s 007 career). It was a hard-pounding, rough and gritty movie. Marc Forster (director of Monster’s Ball and Stranger than Fiction) did an amazing job directing… adding some tasteful slow motion and well cut action scenes (something a little more than just the average and mediocre quick-cut all handheld that has become the norm lately). To top it off there’s actual character development of Bond’s character, it’s nice to see him learning and growing instead of the usual – I am the epitome and pinnacle of secret agents everywhere. He has his charm, but he’s volatile and unpredictable. He’s got class when he wants to, but he defaults to brute force if things get too dicey – at least until he learns different.

All in all I found it a rather enjoyable movie and I’m glad it didn’t fit the traditional Bond mold.

Thanksgiving was a wonderful day. We stayed home and the five of us (Ann, Lilybeth, Mom, Devin/Kaylee, and I) just relaxed. We played some Guitar Hero on the new PS3, watched the parade and dog show (blech) and then proceeded to eat too much – but not so much that we were sick this time! (It’s like we’re learning or something).

As is our tradition before saying the blessing over Thanksgiving dinner we all said something we were thankful for. We’ve had an amazing year here and there was a lot to be thankful for – some bittersweet, some just amazingly sweet (like the bun in the oven!). When we got to Lilybeth we decided to coach her a little bit so we asked her if she was thankful for various things…

Ann: Are you thankful for Daddy?

LB: Yeah.

Me: Are you thankful for Mommy

LB: Yeah.

Ann: Are you thankful for Grandma?

LB: Yeah. (shouting now) Thank Mimi!

Now Mimi is not Lilybeth’s name for grandma… when she doesn’t call grandma “mamma” she calls here something like “gaga”. Mimi is Lilybeth’s name for Spider-Man. She has some Spider-Man PJs and a Spider-Man cell phone and a Spider-Man weeble wobble thingy… Her amazing father tries to teach her the theme song everytime she gets something with him out… and she sings along: “Miiiimiii, Miiimiii!” We all busted up laughing because Lilybeth apparently grasped the point of the conversation, and was most thankful for Spider-Man (or at least we like to think she figured it out).

Normally I’m more elegant when I try to describe a movie… but not this time. In fact, I won’t even waste the time to tell you how absolutely God-awful the movie was.  Here’s a snippet of a review by Sean McBride that pretty much sums it up.

The slight premise, coupled with some very bad performances by the cast as well as a screenplay filled with ham-fisted dialogue makes for a film that’s not scary and borders on being ridiculous at times. The bottom line is that “The Happening” just isn’t happening, and makes you wonder whatever happened to M. Night Shyamalan’s once lauded directorial skills.

So, for those of you not in the know… Arrested Development was one of the funniest things to hit TV in a long time.  So Fox (predictably) canceled it after 2 and a half seasons.  But that’s okay, Jason Bateman and the crew are back!  Scheduled for release next year is Arrested Development… the movie.  So, go out and buy the DVD’s, watch all 3 seasons, laugh your butt off and get ready for all the inside jokes in the movie come next year!  Don’t do it for yourself, do it for the children.

And it does so in style!  I am just arriving home from the midnight (well, we got into the 11:15 showing) premiere of Iron Man… one of the best reviewed movies of they year so far (it actually wrangled a 96% at rottentomatoes.com – which I thought was impossible for a superhero flick).

It was awesome.  Smart, funny, action packed with a little heart… and set up for sequels big time!  If you didn’t see Samuel L Jackson (as General/Colonel Nick Fury no less!) in the movie, you didn’t see the whole thing!

Anyway, I gotta finish some frozen burritos and an Amp energy drink before heading off to bed.  See ya at the next midnight showing (Indiana Jones, then Dark Knight, then Hulk… oh what a busy summer I’ll have).

I just got back from watching I Am Legend in an IMAX theater. Now, the book, I Am Legend was a good book, but I’m guessing the real reason why every IMAX showing of the movie is sold out (including the 1:15 showing I saw with my dad), is because they were showing, as the only trailer, six minutes from the opening of the Dark Knight movie set to hit screens this summer. Why? Easy, Christopher Nolan actual shot several scenes from the movie on IMAX film. Why shoot on 70mm film (versus the conventional 35mm)? Christopher Nolan says that the characters of the Dark Knight story are larger than life and needed a medium that could convey that.

All I have to say… is WOW. For those that missed Nolan’s first foray into the Batman story arc, he directed the 2005 movie: Batman Begins. It’s a fresh start on the Batman franchise, covering the origins of Batman and keeping the story grounded in something close to realism. It’s rough, it’s gritty, it’s in your face… and Heath Ledger’s Joker is no different. He’s not some grandiose showman, some maniacal clown. He’s a guy that’s vicious, cruel, and quite insane. He is what the Joker is portrayed as in the comics, and completely different from any other cinema version to date. If the other 120 minutes (or so) of the Dark Knight live up to the first 6… The movie will be amazing.

Oh, and for those wondering, I Am Legend isn’t bad-but they changed the ending from the book. I don’t mean a little bit of a change… I mean it’s not even close to having the same impact. The book had an amazing ending, the movie has a feel good Hollywood ending. Oh well, at least the vampires were cool.

These action films where the good guy calls the one person he trusts and he betrays him. So I called NBC, CBS, ABC, the Washington Post and the New York Times….

So a few of you may remember the post about how many movies you have seen off of a certain list… Well, Swimfan was on TNT… so I’m down to only 38 movies to see!

SUPPOSEDLY if you’ve seen over 85 of these movies, you have no life. Mark the ones you’ve seen. There are 239 movies on this list. Copy this list mail, go to your own facebook account, paste this as a note. Then, put x’s next to the movies you’ve seen( you have to have seen the ENTIRE movie), add them up, change the header adding your number, and click post at the bottom. Have fun!

I saw two films in the theater over the holiday weekend (I had scheduled 4 since I had so much time to myself… but I chose to clean house instead… I think I might be sick) and thought I’d share my thoughts on each of them with you:

So I’ve been watching a lot of movies lately. In fact, I spent 2 months down here in the Dallas area without my wife (well except for the one weekend my new job flew her down to see me… THANK YOU WES AND CHRISTINA!), so I’ve had a good bit of time to myself. Add to that the fact that it is the summer blockbuster season (THANK YOU JAWS!) and you’ve got all the makings for a lot of afternoons, evenings, and early mornings in the theater.