Christian Nation - Movie Reviews

Monday

09Feb

Imprint: A Good Old-Fashioned Ghost Tale

Monday, February 9, 2009 at 11:02PM

Imprint: A Good Old-Fashioned Ghost Tale

by Greg Wright

One of the fun (if often unpleasant) aspects of plowing through independent DVD releases is never knowing quite what to expect. When dealing with studio films, everything tends to be formulaic and tailored for the broadest possible appeal. As one mainstream director has noted, however, independents have the advantage of aiming for maybe only a tenth of the mainstream audience—hence, they only need to spend one-tenth as much. All too often, though, bargain-basement production values are all too obvious.

But I decided to gamble on Imprint in spite of its pedigree: a release from MTI Home Video, the outfit that has seen fit to also bring us the watered-down, R-rated porn-industry franchise Pirates. But hey—guilt by association is a pretty poor way to review films, and MTI even offers a line of honest-to-gosh family films.

So I’m happy to report that I’m actually pretty glad I bit on the promotional blurb for this “supernatural thriller”:

Synopsis

Shayla Stonefeather, a Native American attorney prosecuting a Lakota teen in a controversial murder trial, returns to the reservation to say goodbye to her dying father. After the teen is killed, she hears ghostly voices and sees strange visions that cause her to re-examine beliefs she thought she left behind.

The Unexpected

So here are some things I wasn’t expecting.

First, this isn’t the usual PG-13 horror flick. Instead, it’s a far more sober-minded ghost story of the Sixth Sense variety. Co-writer/director Michael Linn never opts for the lowest-common-genre-denominator, eschewing gratuitous gore, exploitive treatment of women, and hysterical mayhem. The story—which involves murder, knife attacks, spectral intrusions, and familial tensions—certainly would allow for such indulgences. But necessity is the mother of invention, as they say, and Linn follows his low-budget plan down a nicely restrained story-telling road in a highly creative and refreshing fashion.

Second, this isn’t just one of those stories with a “Native American” setting, sensitively fronted by Anglos and, for all intents and purposes, nothing but a mainstream tale sensationally plopped into an Indian setting when any old locale would do (think, perhaps, of Thunderheart, or even Windtalkers). No, Imprint is rooted in the American Indian experience and Indians are its stars. While I’ve expected such casting from personal, cause-oriented films like Clearcut and Smoke Signals, I don’t at all expect it from a genre film like Imprint. Whodathunk that Indians tell ghost stories, too? Duh.

Third, Imprint tells a uniquely interesting tale of mystery and the macabre that reminds me a great deal of the collections of classic ghost stories I used to read as a kid: stuff from Ambrose Bierce, Edgar Allen Poe, and Marion Crawford. In this case, Shayla Stonefeather returns to her father’s bedside distraught over her brother’s disappearance years before, her complicity in sending a potentially innocent Indian youth to jail, and her father’s incapacitated faculties. Upon taking up residence in a disused upstairs room, she also hears noises and sees shadows that no one else can. What really happened up in her brother’s room? What’s the significance of the block and tackle? What’s that wolf doing following her around the reservation?

As a medicine man tells her, “There are messages all around us, but few are listening. Few understand.” And when Shayla finally decides she needs to start listening, we follow along as she tries to sort out the clues the spirits are sending her. And unlike so many ghost stories, this one takes us in directions we can’t possibly guess... unless, perhaps, we’ve spent a little too much time dissecting the film’s trailer. Don’t. The ride is too fun to spoil.

Actors to Keep Your Eyes On

Finally, I’m not used to being so pleasantly engaged by performance from relative unknowns. Not since One False Move, perhaps, have I felt like I’ve spent quality time with so many actors of whom I hope to see much more in coming years. Tonantzin Carmelo is particularly good as Shayla, and I’ve got to say that I’m monumentally grateful to Linn for letting her keep her clothes on. He doesn’t even send her out in a rain storm.

About the only thing predictable about this film, given its setting, is that the scenery is beautiful. Linn has captured South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation in stunning detail, and he’s done a fine job of showing off the country in literally the best light possible.

The only reservations I have about Imprint are the lighting and sound quality for some of the interior scenes, and the musical score. Most of the time, you couldn’t distinguish this film from its higher-budgeted counterparts; but Imprint is so captivating that I just wished that the cinematography, sound, and score were as consistently good as their finest moments.

Still, if you’re up for a very different ghost story experience—one that might let you shake off the grimy feeling with which Hollywood horror tales often leave you—take a chance on Imprint and cut it some low-budget slack. I think you’ll enjoy it.

Rating

Imprint is rated PG-13 for “violence, some frightening images and drug references.” Honestly, aside from the fact that this is a ghost story, there’s very little here that would be out of place in a PG film. I wouldn’t hesitate at all to sit down and watch this film with my grade-school kids. If I had any.

Courtesy of a national publicist, Greg screened a promotional copy of "Imprint."

Greg Wright is Managing Editor of both Past the Popcorn and Hollywood Jesus. An ordained pastor, Greg is the author of Tolkien In Perspective: Sifting the Gold from the Glitter (2003) and Peter Jackson in Perspective: The Power Behind Cinema’s The Lord of the Rings (2004). A widely-known lecturer on Tolkien, Lewis, film, and fantasy, Greg resides in the Seattle area with his precious wife Jenn and their two cats, Grynne and Bearrett.

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Monday

09Feb

Lord Save Us from Your Followers: In the Middle but Not Caught

Monday, February 9, 2009 at 11:01PM

Lord Save Us from Your Followers: In the Middle but Not Caught

by Greg Wright

Noteworthy Documentary

As a critic, I rarely find myself in the position of feeling like a shameless promoter... but this is one of those rare instances. I really can’t find enough opportunities to champion Dan Merchant’s documentary Lord, Save Us From Your Followers; and I don’t feel bad about that in the least. It’s not only a film whose content is deserving of an audience from Christians and non-Christians alike, it’s also entertaining and knows precisely what the limits of low-budget filmmaking are. It never overextends itself, and it never rests on its indie laurels.

If you’ve been tracking the market for documentaries over the last ten years, you’re probably not surprised that the top five non-IMAX grossers in that period are Fahrenheit 9/11, March of the Penguins, Sicko, An Inconvenient Truth, and Bowling for Columbine. The Michael Moore model of documentarianism has captivated the minds of careerists and bean counters alike, and—in keeping with larger cultural trends—documentaries now flaunt their biases and take positions that are guaranteed to fan the flames of controversy. Last year, two documentaries from the polar extremes—Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed and Religulous—waded into the top-twenty list by adhering to that very model.

It’s a model that literally makes me sick to my stomach.

Dan Merchant understands and also leverages that model—but it’s precisely the subject of his film, as well. While he understands that nobody’s forcing us to tune in to CNN or Fox News, or ramming movie tickets down our throats, he also keenly observes the growing commercial value of polarizing rhetoric. “It’s my choice to be offended or not,” Merchant notes, “but it’s becoming easier to be... This country is polarized, and we’re loving it.”

If the Church Has the Answers, Start Acting Like It

Of particular interest to Merchant is the Church’s role in all of this. To help investigate popular opinion of Christian sloganeering, he toured the country as “Bumper Sticker Man,” a roving reporter with a microphone and white coveralls plastered with slogans from the right and the left. What he found might be surprising. Opponents of Christianity often understand it quite well; but more often, Christians have no clue about the values of secular culture, indicative of a head-in-the-sand mindset worthy of Sergeant Schultz from Hogan’s Heroes.

What’s really great is that Merchant talks with and features the highest-profile minds from both sides of the debate: Rick Santorum and Al Franken; Michael Reagan and Janeane Garafalo; Bill Maher and Matthew Crouch. It’s a balanced and fair presentation that says, “Hey, we’re all at fault. But if we believe the Church has the answer, we’d damned well better start acting like it... or expect the consequences.”

To be fair, Merchant’s film is at times equally provocative. At the conclusion of one such sequence, though, he confesses: “I can do hyperbole, too... but it doesn’t remind me of Jesus. ... We have—I have—to do better.”

In the interest of modeling what “better” means, Lord, Save Us heavily features clips with Tony Campolo, John Perkins, Bono, and Rick Warren, and keeps the focus squarely on “waking up the faithful” rather than pointing out the faults of “the wicked.”

The third act of the film turns on three powerful illustrations: first, Merchant’s stint operating a confession booth at a Portland, Oregon, Gay Pride festival—in which Merchant himself starts the ball rolling by confessing his own sins, and those of the Church; a heartfelt tale from Tony Campolo about how, as a youth, he stood by and did nothing while a classmate was literally persecuted to death; and a visit to Bridgetown Ministries’ Nightstrike at the Burnside Bridge in Portland, a regular event at which those who care can minister to those in need: food, clothing, medical assistance, haircuts, and, yes, footwashings—just the sort of thing that Jesus commended to his followers, and that his brother James called “true religion.”

“I’m not used to hearing anyone who’s a Christian say anything nice,” says one of the visitor to Merchant’s confession booth.

Well, quite frankly, neither are many Christians. And Merchant’s film is a good start toward changing that.

I’m pleased to report that the DVD of Lord, Save Us is once again available for purchase at the film’s official site, in support of Merchant’s 2009 tour of college campuses. Soon, hopefully, he’ll also get the details of a mainstream distribution deal nailed down.

If you’re at all interested in being part of a larger cultural conversation that’s more about answers than complaints, more about love than about fear, and more about Jesus than about ourselves, take the opportunity to watch this film. You might not agree entirely with Merchant’s theology; but honestly, the hungry, the sick, and the hurting don’t much care about splitting hairs. Let’s give the divisiveness a rest, eh?

Rating

Lord, Save Us From Your Followers is at present unrated. Be aware that, while Merchant doesn’t go in for potty language and gratuitous provocateuring, his look at the gay culture in particular is frank. If your family wouldn’t be able to handle a visit to a Gay Pride festival, you don’t want to sit down and watch this film with them, probably, either. On the other hand, if you’re interested in getting your family over that particular hump, a screening of this DVD might be exactly what you need.

Courtesy of the filmmaker, Greg screened both an online press copy and the present “Movement Edition” DVD of "Lord, Save Us From Your Followers."

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Monday

09Feb

Max Payne

Monday, February 9, 2009 at 11:00PM

Max Payne

by Michael Karounos

For people without a life, watching movies on DVD or via Netflix is the only outlet to a world of escapism such as that Max Payne provides. In “On Fairy-Stories” Tolkien writes that fantasy should have an “arresting strangeness.” In this case, the strangeness comes from the video game which has the added value of Satan worship. Although that is not explicit in the film, it does feature devils of its own. Revenge is the theme du jour as evidenced by recent films such The Spirit, The Dark Knight, Quantum of Solace, etc., and that is the case here as Payne (Mark Wahlberg) seeks revenge for the murder of his wife and daughter by drug addicts.

The easily-graspable premise allows the writers the luxury of developing character without having to spend a lot of time on an intricate plot. Unfortunately, they only manage to portray six degrees of shallowness. Emotion, not intricacy, drives the interest of the story. Wahlberg admits as much in an interview, saying, “We were trying to make a movie that was entertaining and driven by emotion.” In film, rage is the poor man’s gold and Wahlberg stays angry the entire movie which provides the justification for the mayhem he indulges.

A Simple Plot

The plot is simple. A corporation is contracted by the government to produce a serum which enables soldiers to become super-human. The corporation is called Aesir, the drug is called Valkyr, Payne’s partner is Balder, and the bar where the bad guys hang out (I’m not making this up), is called Ragnarok. As an English teacher, I’m glad to know that the writer’s youth was not entirely misspent on Sega Genesis and that he was able to squeeze some Norse mythology into his data bank.

Every movie has a worldview. In these highly partisan times, that worldview is invariably political. One can determine the orientation of the writing/directing team by the portrayal of the movie’s archetypes and social institutions. In the case of Max Payne, the evil element in the film comprises not only the vile capitalists in the Aesir corpororation but also the military and the police. The message is that the prevailing economic and social culture is evil and has corrupted the institutions of society. Since these can no longer be trusted, they must be eradicated with help from the outside. In Mission Impossible III, The CIA (i.e. America) is corrupt, the Vatican (i.e. Christianity) is corrupt, and the only good guys in the movie are the foreigners employed by the CIA and the Chinese people who help Cruise’s character kill the evil Americans. In other words, to find good people you have to go to a Communist country. China is portrayed as a benign and bucolic land with helpful citizens, quaint cone hats, and smiling, eco-friendly people on bicycles.

Similarly, Max Payne teams up with a beautiful Russian spy to kill the capitalists and the rogue American military. This wishful thinking on the part of Hollywood is so common as to be a standing joke. It is the thematic variant of “Four legs good, two legs bad!” which Hollywood dutifully chants to itself.

As the movie develops, Payne learns that the drug induces hallucinations in the people who take it. That hallucination is a “Valkyrie”—a “soldier’s angel” who of course looks nothing like an angel and everything like a devil. Draw your own conclusion. Payne finally exposes the people who are distributing the drug but not before he is compelled to take the drug himself and channel his own inner demon in order to slaughter a dozen or so running dogs of capitalism. Visually, the film is successful and will appeal to fans of pure violence. Emotionally and intellectually, it is yet another failed endeavor at propaganda and consequently it bombed, like so many of its cousins: Rendition, Redacted, The Valley of Elah, Lions for Lambs, Stop-Loss, ad nauseum.

Max Payne is not recommended for general Christian audiences, but for viewers who care nothing about an amoral worldview, excessive violence, and some nudity, then this one may be the ticket.

Rating

Max Payne is rated PG-13 for violence including intense shooting sequences, drug content, some sexuality and brief strong language.

Running time: 1 hr. 40 mins.

Directed by: John Moore

Screenplay: Beau Thorne

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Beau Bridges, Ludacris, Donal Logue, Chris O'Donnell

Michael Karounos is an assistant professor of English at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville. He has a Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in Victorian literature and has published papers in Studies in English Literature, the Age of Johnson,The Robert Frost Review, and in Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries.

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Monday

09Feb

The Pink Panther 2: Martin Is no Sellers

Monday, February 9, 2009 at 11:00PM

The Pink Panther 2: Martin Is no Sellers

by Jeff Walls

Steve Martin returns as the bumbling Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther 2, a sequel to the 2006 remake that itself probably never should have been made. Now, that’s nothing against Martin. You won’t find a much bigger Steve Martin fan than yours truly. Whenever I’m in a funk, he has always been my go-to guy to bring me out of it. But as much as I admire Martin and think he’s a comic genius; he is completely wrong for this role. In fact, I don’t see how any actor other than Peter Sellers could be right for this role. Trying to walk in his footsteps is kin to another actor playing Richard Blaine or Don Corleone.

Since stumbling his way into becoming a national hero by retrieving the famous Pink Panther diamond in the first film, Clouseau has been assigned by Chief Inspector Dreyfus to a super important detail: parking meter cop. However, when a villain known as The Tornado steals such historical artifacts as the Magna Carta, an imperial Japanese sword and the Shroud of Turin, he is recruited to join an international dream team of detectives to solve the case.

As you would expect, Clouseau spends most of the movie seemingly making matters worse for his investigation by burning down restaurants, unwittingly ruining evidence and even sitting on the Pope’s hat; then, of course, he discovers one crucial—and somewhat far-fetched, honestly—piece of evidence that turns the entire case around.

It's About the Gags, Not the Plot

If you think I am giving anything away about the plot, don’t worry, I’m not. It doesn’t really matter anyway. The movie is not so much about the plot as it is about the gags. Unfortunately, the gags range mostly from unfunny and just plain stupid to minimally clever, generating something little more than a chuckle with only a very few exceptions.

One thing you can say about Pink Panther 2 is that it does put together quite an impressive cast. In addition to Martin and the also returning Jean Reno and Emily Mortimer, the film features Andy Garcia, Alfred Molina, John Cleese and Lily Tomlin. Jeremy Irons also shows up, but his role doesn’t amount to much more than a cameo; much like Clive Owen’s appearance in the first film. They each have their moments, but in general the great cast is just wasted. Not to mention the accents that are just plain awful to the point of being a distraction. Strangely enough, the only accent that sounds somewhat appropriate is John Cleese’s, who doesn’t even make an effort to sound like a Frenchman.

I carry around a certain affection for the original Pink Panther films and honestly, it has been awhile since I have watched them so I can’t even say for sure that the gags in those films were any more clever than what we are getting today. Then again, the gags in those films—particularly The Pink Panther and A Shot in the Dark—felt more original. They were also performed by Sellers, who also disappears into Clouseau’s many disguises much easier than Martin.

If you are one of those responsible for the 2006 Pink Panther’s $160 million take, than you will probably like the sequel just as much as there is plenty more of the same. Otherwise, I recommend seeking out the original films and discover the comedy true comedy gold.

Rating

The Pink Panther 2 is rated PG for “some suggestive humor, brief mild language and action.” The only thing I really noticed is the suggestive humor, referring to some sex and racial gags, but I’d say this movie is appropriate for all ages.

Courtesy of a local publicist, Jeff attended a promotional screening of "The Pink Panther 2"

A self-described movie geek, Jeff Walls is an official DVD-aholic who works days in the insurance industry and blogs about movies for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

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