My Experience with... Courageous

Wrote this one Friday, technically. Life keeps getting me behind. Good thing, however, that I discovered auto-schedule.

***Disclaimer... if you don't know by now, betta axe sum-bodday!***

<<Courageous DVD>>

Okay, I've been waiting all week for this one! Anybody will tell you that this is my all-time favorite Kendrick Brothers' movie, and probably my all-time favorite movie!

This movie follows not one but FIVE protagonists... and was filmed by not one but TWO cameras! Lol. Honestly, though, multiple cameras definitely help with film production.

It starts off with the ideal father figure, Nathan Hayes. He does something that many people do without thinking: he left the car vulnerable and unattended at the gas station for about 2 seconds. A thug (and the main antagonist) named T.J. jacks the car, ending up in a high-intensity chase ending in a crash into a tree. The truck's fine, but more importantly, Nathan's baby son is unharmed in the back seat.

The police arrive, and it turns out that they are Nathan's future co-workers. Two of them, Adam and Shane, discuss whether they would have held on to the wheel of the car as Nathan did.

This is jut the first part of several story arcs. Let me break it down for you:

- Adam: a man who, after a tragedy, decides he needs to be a better father to his teenage son.

- Nathan: as I said, the ideal father figure, goes the extra mile to protect his teenage daughter, while dealing with issues with his own father.

- Shane: a divorced dad who tries to keep himself happy

- Javier: a man who tries to provide for his poor family

- David: a man struggling with the concepts of being a dad

I would completely recommend this to any families, any friends, and especially males who wish to become fathers.

Okay, a few spoilers. You gotta watch this scene.

And now, the one-minute version of Courageous.

Thanks for reading up on this series! If you need catching up, here are my blog posts for Flywheel, Facing the Giants, and Fireproof!

What's your favorite film? What's the best time you've had with your dad?

Hasta la vista!

Psst: Bonus! If you've read the Fireproof post, you will notice that I had a Say MovieNight Kevin video up. Now, a bunch of us viewers have requested that he review Courageous. He hasn't, mostly because it's such a good movie, and there doesn't seem like a lot of things that can be nitpicked apart. However, I think he should be bugged and overloaded with comments saying that he should review it regardless of the quality (or if I were Oprah, irregardless, etc. etc.). I want you to a) tell your friends about this blog, I'd love it if more people read it, and b) go to Kevin McCreary's social media pages and comment the mess out of them, saying you want a Courageous review. Lol.

Again, he did not put me up to this, I'm just a cray-cray lay-day.

P's.

My Experience With... Fireproof

*** Same Deal ***

Okay, techinically, I wrote this on Thursday. Thankfully, I can fake the date. So we'll pretend that I actually stuck to the schedule. 'Kay? 'Kay.

I found this movie to be probably the most somber out of these five movies. Also, I will admit, my least favorite by default.

This movie had some strange twists and turns. Without offering much explanation, it tells of a man named Caleb Holt, who leads a double life of sorts. In his line of work (firefighting), he's a huge hero. As a husband, he is... lacking. At best.

The marriage between Caleb and his wife is very rocky. From the start of the movie, they constantly bicker, and neither seems to have love in his heart for the other. To top things off, the wife has a seemingly attractive doctor at the hospital where she works flirting with her, while the husband flirts with internet porn.

Caleb gets some mentoring from one of his co-workers, and a 40-day love challenge from his father, which turns the marriage arround.

No spoilers. Nope. Nada.

Unless you wanna watch the 60-second rendition.

Lol, good summary, right?

Now, I have done 4 movie reviews by this point (I'll add more variety soon, I promise!), but I'm not a very good movie reviewer. Buuuut, I do know of a review for Fireproof that I highly respect. For further spoilage, take a look at this.

***Disclaimer #2: Kevin McCreary did not put me up to this. Just sharing. Special thanks to him being totally cool with it.***

Hope you're enjoying this series! Glad you're taking the time to read it. If you want to see the others, take a look at Flywheel and Facing the Giants!

Au revoir!

What's the most challenging obstacle life has tossed you? (Oooh, a tough one this time!)

My Experience With... Facing the Giants

***Disclaimer: Same as the Flywheel post.***

Okay, part 2!

I must have been either in late high school or early college when I first heard of this. This movie swept the Church nation like madness. I will admit, I was not eager to watch this at first. No, I've been saved for a long time (certainly by that point), but a) I didn't know anything about the Kendrick Brothers, and b) I was not much of a football person at that point. I'm not now, but I won't object to watching a game. I was more into "Remember the Titans," which was more than enough "football media" for me at that point.

A few years later, I decided I'd give it a shot. I'd been playing in my college's marching band for quite some time, and my football tolerance had gone way up.

Boy did I regret not watching it at my church.

First of all, production quality had gone WAY up since Flywheel. Secondly, I ended up loving it WAY better than "Remember the Titans." Sorry, God-fueled revival trumps ethnic reconciliation for me. :)

(Forgive me, I haven't seen this movie in a while. I needed a refresher, so I read an IMDB summary. My memory did kick in.)

This one is about a high school football coach named Grant Taylor who's on the edge of being a total failure. His team is BEYOND lousy, he is close to being fired, his personal life is nearly in shambles, and he and his wife are unable to have a child. Through the help of a man of God, Grant finds the Lord and dedicates the team to him. The man, himself, prays over the whole school, which starts a new revival among the student body. (Boy, good thing this is a Christian School, eh?)

By the end of the movie, things do turn out alright. As usual, I won't spoil too much, so here are two of my favorite scenes.

What really got my goat was how so many people bashed how "predictable" this movie was.

...

*coughcoughDISNEYANDNICHOLASSPARKSMOVIEScoughcough*

Seriously. Watch it. If not for the cinematic excellence, watch it as a refreshing, heartwarming movie.

Until tomorrow, peace.

What's your favorite sport or sport-related movie?

My Experience With... Flywheel

***Disclaimer: I am not sponsored by the Kendrick Brothers or their affiliates. I am just a crazy person who likes to write.***


Hey, everyone! It's been awhile. I've basically been... working. It's hard to work and blog at the same time. At least at my job. Lol.


Okay, for those of you who may remember my Priscilla Shirer post, you may recall that this was from the Kendrick Brothers movie "War Room." And guess what? It's coming out this Friday! So I decided that in the days leading up to the premiere on Friday, I'll write about the other four Kendrick Brothers' movies.


Here we go! Movie numbah one!

I managed to get this from my library, and firstly... *snickers* I'm sorry, I cannot get over that moustache / beard combo! After seeing him clean-shaven in 3 other films, it was a MAJOR shock for me to see this! Okay, I know he's got the combo in the new movie, but it's grey! It seems to look better. Sorry, Alex Kendrick, you look like a 1930s silent film villain in this shot.

Anyway, I borrowed the Director's Cut DVD, and saw the intro to the film, where Alex explained that it was their first movie, they didn't have much of a budget, the equipment was okay, he was surprised that it was even finished, let alone a major success, yada yada yada. I found myself talking to the TV saying, "Dude, it's your first movie, no need to apologize!"

Then I saw what he meant. Boy, technically sepaking, it started out rooooouuugh....

Don't get me wrong, I didn't watch it to tear it apart. My name is not Doug. I was looking at it through a TV studio student's eyes. Thankfully, the story soon overpowered the other elements of the movie.

If you are clueless as to what this movie's about, it's about a man named Jay Austin who is a crooked used car salesman / lot owner (I know, redundant), but finds Christ in the midst of all that's going around him. From overhearing his son talk about how dishonest he is to his wife's loving nudges, he starts to feel his soul tear away. At one point, he seems to do a complete 180, which perplexes his only 2 employees. When Jay decides to make his life right with the Lord, he dedicates the whole lot to Him, and lots of crazy things happen.

At this point, I'm just gonna drop you off. I don't want to give away everything, and it's not even the whole story!

I will however, spoil just a bit for you. Jay decides to pay back what he's ripped off to his customers, and while some take it likely, there's this one elderly Black woman who practically beats Jay down with her own paycheck! In a loving, nuturing, grandmotherly kind of way. Oh yeah. You know what I'm talking about. I nearly fell over laughing at that part, and I had to pause and replay that scene!

As for the Christianity values, they are through the roof. There is no sugarcoated "inspirational" stuff in this picture. That's something I admire about all of these films. Some people might say that it's a little too unbelievable. I'd rather believe that there is Someone I cannot see who guides and controls situations from really bad to really good in an instant than to think that by some lucky 1/ chance that "a happy ending happened." Even if it is in a movie.

Flywheel provides amazing family fun, and wholesome entertainment, and honestly, it's a great way to learn about God's providence, even in the hardest of times. There were even moments that got me teared up!

Yes, yes, a thousand time yes, I would recommend this movie.

Thank you for reading this entry. I will try to come in tomorrow with Facing the Giants. I'm hoping this series turns out really well! I'm also looking forward to War Room coming out!

What's your favorite Christian film?

My Experience With... The Lego Movie

Now this is the first time I've posted a movie review. I wish I'd done this last year, when it came out.

On Sunday, I watched this at a friend's... house? Well, she's house-sitting for missionaries, and so, it's kind of her house. For now. Anyway, she invited a bunch of people, including yours truly, for post-church lunch, chatting, and The Lego Movie. Needless to say, I was quite excited. I had not watched it as of that point, and I had just talked about it with some co-workers a couple of days earlier. Not to mention, "Everything is Awesome" came up on my "Movie Time" (movie, tv, theatre soundtrack) Pandora station.... and it's been stuck in my head ever since.

Alright, then, on to the movie. IT WAS AMAZING. I kid you not, I figured that a movie based on a toy franchise loved by generations would be completely botched up. Nope. It was a refreshingly cool movie that was uplifting, and pretty much free of completely unnecessary gags! Even the protagonist, Emmet, a completely average Joe in every sense of the word, running out of the house without his "clothes" on and the ever-popular sitcom (in the Lego universe of Bricksburg), "Where Are My Pa[aaaaa]nts?" were still funny!

Basically, watching this video will give you an all-star cornucopia of both the Celebrity and Lego Celebrity realms!

In the Real World Celebrity realm you've got:

• Will Arnett
• Elizabeth Banks
• Alison Brie
• Charlie Day
• Keith Ferguson
• Will Ferrell
• Morgan Freeman (WHAAAT?)
• Jonah Hill
• Key (as in "& Peele")
• Shaq (not kidding you. Again, WHAAAT?)
• Channing Tatum
• SO MANY MORE!

In the Lego Realm... whoof... Okay, forget it, too many characters and realms, just watch the movie, and be amazed at the number of appearances that are made.

The movie itself starts with this weird, Sci-Fi Lord of the Rings-type scene of the main antagonist, Lord Business, settling some score with Morgan Freeman's kinda hippy Gandalf-type character. (Forgive my descriptions, they were the first things that came to mind.) Hippy Gandalf-type, whose name is Vitruvius, by the way, prophesies in rhyme about some chosen one ("The Special") who will stop Lord Business' no-gooding.

Cut SpongeBob-style (8 1/2 years later) to Emmet, a regular guy who wants to be cool, popular, and special. He follows instructions for everything. No, really, everything. How to start the day, how to go to work, he even misses the "getting dressed" step. Well, either he missed it, or he followed the directions so closely, he forgot to use common sense for a nanosecond. His instruction books pretty much tell him how to completely live his life. You can see that he's even influenced by what he's told to do if you take a close look at his posters, and his choice in television show(s). I will say, lego jumping jacks... hysterical. :)

It's kind of surreal, though, when you think about it. Kinda ridiculous for a block-man to be told how to live life by a bunch of block-shaped "books." Then again, are you reading this on your phone, tablet, laptop or electronic device? Is your next site Social Site, Buzzfeed, or Pinterest? I thought as much.

(I'm guilty, too! I just cut off my Facebook account, and it hurts so good! #FacebookFree, anyone? No?)

Emmet's failing search to become popular leads him to lose one of his instruction books, which in turn, has him distracted to the point where his adventure ultimately begins. He meets a young Lego-lady named "Wild Style," Vitruvius, Unikitty (my favorite character), and Batman. Oh yeah. Batman. It's really great, too, how they turned such a popular character-turned-meme into an integral part of the movie!

The movie takes a lot of twists and turns, and it makes a very touching ending. I won't give any more away, I don't want to ruin it for those of you who haven't seen it yet! (Hey, I told another co-worker about it today, and she hasn't seen it yet.) I will leave you with the fact that it is, well, an awesome movie! Lol. I would highly recommend it.


Peace out.

Everything is awesome
Everything is cool when you're part of a team
Everything is awesome when we're living our dream

So............... what insanely annoying song that you ended up liking has gotten stuck in your head, lately?