The Visual Bible: Acts (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

After Jesus Resurrected from the dead, He charged His disciples to go out and complete the work He had begun by making new disciples and building His kingdom on earth.  Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to give His followers power, and they spread His Gospel to ends of their known world.  God also raised up an unlikely champion of the faith in Paul of Tarsus, who formerly persecuted the very people he joined forced with.  Through the power of God, the followers of Jesus turned the world upside down.

 

Production Quality (2.5 points)

Much like the other installments of The Visual Bible saga, Acts demonstrates superb production quality, including in the areas of video quality, audio quality, and camera work.  The soundtrack is a bit generic, but the sets, props, and locations are excellent in historical and cultural authenticity.  There are virtually no errors to point out here—except for the fact that there is no editing, which is by design.  In the end, however, this is a top-notch production.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1 point)

Acts demonstrates the same ambition as other Visual Bible films, which cover entire books of the Bible in one film.  Unfortunately, while there are many excellent stories in the book of Acts, this rendition is simply too long to have full impact.  Once again, designed narration hurts character development and thus makes this more of an informational resource than a drama film.  However, it still has its place, even though this film tends to have a strange portrayal of angels.  In the end, the historical accounts therein are very enjoyable and worth a watch.

Acting Quality (2 points)

Unfortunately, Acts still contains the Visual Bible struggle for cultural authenticity as not many of the cast members are culturally appropriate.  While there are some moments that are too theatrical, this cast is mostly professional even still, with good emotions and line delivery.  Also, costuming is a major plus.  This rounds out another generally average effort.

Conclusion

At least this depiction of Acts is not cheesy, but one has to wonder what it would have been like if this was a series.  It seems like it would have had great impact.  Actually, Mark Burnett and Roma Downey already tried that.  However, I think we are still due a good series based on the book of Acts.  Any takers?

 

Final Rating: 5.5 out of 10 points

 

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February 14, 2018January 1, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Biblical, Movie ReviewsTags: 1994, 5.5 points, Adrian Poulsen, Andre Jacobs, Bible, Biblical, Brian O'Shaughnessy, Bruce Marchiano, Carole Prentice, Charles K. Robertson, Chris Truter, Constantine Zakochenko, Dale Cutts, Dan Johnson, David Clatworthy, David Dennis, David Miner, Dawid Minnaar, Dean Jones, Edward Lopatin, five points, Francesco Quinn, Frantz Dobrowsky, George Ballot, Gordon Mulholland, Gordon van Rooyen, Graham Weir, Henry O. Arnold, Historical, Hugh Barrett, James Brolin, James Ryan, Jana Cilliers, Jennifer O'Neill, Joanna Weinberg, Johann Posthumus, John Carson, John Whiteley, Joyce Marcarelli, Louw Verwey, Marko van der Colff, Matthew Dylan Roberts, Mauro Blanco, Michael McCabe, Michael Richard, Neels Coetzee, Norman Coombes, Patrick Mynhardt, Peter Krummeck, Pippa Duffy, Ralph Lawson, Regardt van den Bergh, Robert Marcarelli, Sean Higgs, Tertius Meintjes, The Visual Bible, Tim Parr, Wilson Dunster Leave a comment

The Visual Bible: Matthew (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

In the Gospel of Matthew, the story of Jesus Christ is told, from birth to earthly ministry to death to Resurrection.  Jesus was not only fully God, but he was the Messiah, the Savior of the Jews and of the whole world.  He was a historical figure Who not only impacted everyone He came into contact with but also completely altered human history with His coming.

 

Production Quality (2 points)

The Visual Bible was an ambitious film project to create movies that contained entire books of the Bible within them.  Obviously, with this sort of undertaking, the films produced are going to be very long and are going to lack substantial editing.  Moreover, the Matthew installment has good production overall, including good video quality, camera work, and audio quality.  There are a few oddly-lit scenes, but there was lots of effort put into the historical authenticity of this film, especially when it came to sets, locations, and props.  Though there are a lot of slow parts to this film, this is to be expected, and this production is overall above average.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1 point)

Naturally, a movie based entirely on one whole book of the Bible, word-for-word, is going to have built-in narration.  Once again, this is a great take on the entire Gospel of Matthew from start to finish, but there are a handful of issues that come with this territory, such as a high number of scenes that lack dialogue and a hampering of character development due to limited dialogue options.  Nonetheless, this project is well-meaning and has its place as an informational resource rather than as a work of historical fiction.  It’s not possible to watch in one sitting, but it is definitely good and insightful to use in certain situations.

Acting Quality (2 points)

The Visual Bible: Matthew marked the beginning of Bruce Marchiano’s career, and after seeing this version of him, one can understand why he was cast so often as the Messiah.  He stood out in a world of drab, lofty, and ethereal ‘zen’ portrayals of Jesus from the 70s and 80s, thus making The Visual Bible an enjoyable experience with a positive, natural portrayal of Christ.  However, there are other inconsistencies with this cast, such as random cultural authenticity mixed with British and American cast members.  Moreover, most of the acting is fine, even if there are some slow moments, thus making for an overall positive film.

Conclusion

The Visual Bible project is a resource that can be used for various occasions and purposes, even if it is not truly a historical epic.  It played a key role in bringing Bible movies back to the correct basis of Biblical accuracy, which was a contrast from 70s and 80s attempts at using creative license with the Bible.  The Visual Bible is a good example to build off of regarding how to keep Biblical films rooted in historical fact.

 

Final Rating: 5 out of 10 points

 

February 9, 2018January 1, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Biblical, Historical, Movie ReviewsTags: 1993, Bible, Biblical, Brian O'Shaughnessy, Bruce Marchiano, Carole Prentice, Charles K. Robertson, Charlton George, Chris Truter, Chuck Bush, Darryl Fuchs, Dawid Minnaar, Denise Newman, Ed Lopatin, five points, Frank C. Schroeder, Gerrit Schoonhoven, Gordon van Rooyen, Hannes Muller, Historical, Ivan D. Lucas, Jaques De Klerk, Joanna Weinberg, Johann Potgieter, Jonathan Pienaar, Kevin Smith, Marcel van Heerden, Maria Zak, Matthew Dylan Roberts, Patrick Mynhardt, Pippa Duffy, Regardt van den Bergh, Richard Kiley, Robert Marcarelli, Sasha Zak, Sean Cameron Michael, Sue Grealy, The Visual Bible, Tony Caprari, Tony Joubert, Visual International 3 Comments

Journey to Grace: The Hansie Cronje Story (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Hansie Cronje was one of the world’s best and more famous cricket players, and he used his sports platform to glorify God.  He was passionate for the game and for his family, but the pursuit of a better retirement for him and his wife consumed him.  He always wanted to do better and wanted his game to be better, but this got the better of him as Indian bookmakers relentless pursued him to pay off his team in a match-fixing scheme.  Hansie continually refused them until he could do so no longer.  In the aftermath of things, will he accept God’s grace for what he did?

 

Production Quality (2.5 points)

Though this is an early 2000s production focused on international locations, it is very well done.  Video quality, camera work, and audio quality are what they should be.  The soundtrack is culturally appropriate.  Sets and locations, though difficult to construct and capture, are executed well.  Also, sports props are well presented and constructed.  The only issue to raise here, of course, is the editing, as too much content—almost an entire life story—is shoved into this seemingly brief runtime.  But in the end, this is a production to be proud of.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1 point)

This account is a great true story and one worth bringing to the big screen.  Though the characters are mostly realistic, due to the rapid passage of time and the large amount of content dealt with here, they are hard to get to know very well.  They are accessible as people, but there are a lot of side characters that get left by the wayside.  Also, lots of otherwise important sidebar topics are introduced briefly and then forgotten about.  Yet this story is historically authentic and accurate and certainly has a lot to offer as a lot of complex ideas are woven together.  Epics are very hard to make, so this effort is commendable, and most audiences will enjoy it.  In the end, the story is very realistic and leaves an important lesson to be learned.

Acting Quality (3 points)

This historically and culturally authentic cast can hardly be faulted.  There are no glaring errors here as great care was taken to make sure each character was cast appropriately and realistically.  Line delivery and emotional delivery are impeccable.  This is a casting job to be proud of.

Conclusion

It seems like this creative team did everything they could do to make this movie the best it could be, yet they fall just short of the Hall of Fame, only due to amount of content that is taken on here.  Yet we know that a longer runtime was probably out of the question due to budget constraints.  In the end, however, is this an enjoyable movie that will be well-liked because the creators definitely put their full effort into making it quality.  It is definitely worth your time.

 

Final Rating: 6.5 out of 10 points

 

October 23, 2017January 4, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Historical, Inspirational, International, Movie ReviewsTags: 2008, 6.5 points, Alistair Moulton Black, Andre Jacobs, Anton Dekker, Brandon Auret, Candice D'Arcy, Chris van Rensburg, Dane Vilas, David Sherwood, Dawid Minnaar, Deon Lotz, Douglas Bristow, Dylan Ben-Israel, Epic, Eric Nobbs, Frank Rautenbach, Frans Cronjé, Global Creative Studios, Historical, Inspirational, International, James Borthwick, Jonathan Hearns, Kopano Thekiso, Leslie Mongezi, Linda Mpondo, Matthew Dylan Roberts, Nelson Mandela, Nick Lorentz, Rajesh Gopie, Rajit Kapoor, Ray McCauley, Regardt van den Bergh, Sarah Thompson, Sports, Stephen Hughes, Strini Pillai, Sybel Coetzee, Tinarie van Wyk Loots, Tshepo Mokoena, Word Entertainment Leave a comment