Why Me? [2020] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

All Slater wants to do is goof off while living a life of luxury, but when he’s suddenly forced to be the guardian of his younger siblings due to his parents’ untimely death in a car accident, Slater’s entire world is turned upside down. He desperately tries to find full-time help for his siblings while he messes around with his girlfriend, but things never work out. Then, one babysitter seems to change everything for the family, and Slater has no idea what to do.

Production Quality (.5 point)

As another ridiculous Strong Foundation production, Why Me? has uneven audio, as shown by a very loud soundtrack and loud background echoes. Despite acceptable video quality and camera work, the sets, locations, and props are cheap. Also, the editing is terrible; some scenes suddenly cut off with no warning. There are zero transitions yet very obvious continuity errors. With an overall low-quality feel, this section is another failure for this team.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

Full of ridiculously contrived situations and childishly contrived situations, this plot is incredibly juvenile. It lacks purpose and has some of the most absurdly forced comedy sequences ever. The choppy story presentation makes the movie feel like a bunch of random scenes that are poorly strung together. These problems don’t even include the incredibly awkward characters that are pariahs of millennials. The absurd message-pushing about how dumb young people are is incredibly annoying. What’s more, none of the characters seem to have appropriate emotional reactions to life crises like family deaths. Further, after tons of occurrences happen throughout the narrative that lack lead-ups or explanations, it just suddenly ends and leaves the viewer wondering why they just wasted their time on this drivel.

Acting Quality (1 points)

Per usual for the Strong Foundation team, this screenplay’s acting is just bad. Emotions are over-the-top, and line delivery seems mostly unserious. There are lots of awkward performances, and a few cast members are extremely robotic and practiced in their acting. Despite the fact that one of the lead actresses is a standout, it’s not enough to save this disaster from itself.

Conclusion

In 2020, Strong Foundation Films was still making garbage like Why Me?, thus continually making a mockery of Christian entertainment. They continually release unnecessary additions to the market like this one and contribute to the field’s damaged reputation. Thus, in 2021, we’re still saying the same things about movies like this one. Until projects like Why Me? cease being funded, things won’t change much for Christian movies.

Final Rating: 1.5 out of 10 points

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February 16, 2021 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Comedy, Drama, Inspirational, Movie ReviewsTags: 1.5 points, 2020, Ammie Masterson, Brenda Steubing, Bridgestone Multimedia Group, Comedy, Drama, Gary Clarke, Inspirational, Joseph Rene, Josiah David Warren, Juliette Kida, Lisa Valdez, Scotty Walker, Strong Foundation Films, Sun Hui East Leave a comment

Who Am I? [2018] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Pastor Joe wants to help the community however he can, so he and his wife spend all their time serving those who are in need. One day, when Tasha comes to Joe’s office with an interesting story, he learns that there are far more people to help than he realized. Spurred on by this, Joe and his loved ones find themselves plunged into a complex web of crime that they could have never previously anticipated.

Production Quality (1 point)

Despite being a Strong Foundation project, this production is actually kind of okay. This is shown by acceptable video quality and camera work. Also, the sets, locations, and props are passable. However, the audio is all over the place, sometimes having a loud soundtrack and background noises. Elsewhere, the editing is horrific, including extremely abrupt cuts and transitions. Many scenes appear to be begin just as the camera starts, and there’s a lack of continuity between sequences. Overall, even though there were some bright spots, this production is still below average.

Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)

With so many subplots in Who Am I?, the main narrative is nearly impossible to follow as the storyline jumps all over the place. This creates stunted characters due to the plot moving from one thing to another. There’s also just too many characters to keep up with, and incredibly trite dialogue that’s full of platitudes and forced messaging doesn’t help matters. It feels like the writers were trying to cover every possible social issue at once and attempting to connect every possible coincidence together in stupid and juvenile ways. Too many convenient turns, forced correlations, and unrealistic occurrences litter this film, such as a total lack of ethics code comprehension. Strawman bad characters are around every corner, but although there is much unnecessary content in this movie, there’s a surprisingly good character backstory revealed in the middle of the story. Nonetheless, it’s crowded out by the other tangential inclusions and convoluted with very steep character arcs. A rushed and forced conclusion that’s unearned and somewhat magical caps things off, yet the slight potential in the singular character narrative is enough to prevent zero points for this section.

Acting Quality (0 points)

Unfortunately, Who Am I? carries the typically bad acting styles of other Strong Foundation screenplays, especially when it comes to Josiah David Warren. While Amber Shana Williams tries her hardest, much of the coaching is off, and Warren’s bad performance dominates everything. Many background cast members have potential but are overshadowed by Warren’s extreme negatives. His line delivery and emotions are over-the-top, making for a painful experience. Thus, because the bad cancels out the good, zero points can be awarded here.

Conclusion

In the end, this project comes the closest to a real idea of any other Strong Foundation offering. Nonetheless, it would have been much better to focus on just the main story rather than all the others and to recast Josiah David Warren. This would have been a huge step in the right direction, but at this point, it’s unclear if the Strong Foundation team cares about changing.

Final Rating: 1.5 out of 10 points

January 28, 2021 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Inspirational, Movie ReviewsTags: 1.5 points, 2018, Alexis Noel Warren, Amber Shana Williams, Bridgestone Multimedia Group, Joseph Rene, Josiah David Warren, Keith Berry II, Rose Tablizo, Strong Foundation Films, Sun East, Sun Hui East, Victoria Bacon 1 Comment

Run [2017] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

After months of anticipation, Levi and Natalie have finally been able to get married. He’s a businessman while she’s a news anchor with a passion to end human trafficking. However, on their wedding night, Natalie is tragically kidnapped by human traffickers who want to put a stop to her activism. Thus, Levi begins a frantic search for his wife that leads him down paths he never thought he would travel and gives him a front row seat to the social issue he only ever heard about.

Production Quality (.5 point)

Strong Foundation Films is notorious for having low-quality productions, even in recent years when the field has evolved for the better. Run is no exception to this, as evidenced by over-driven audio, a loudly invasive soundtrack, and stupid sound effects. Though video and camera quality are average, lighting is inconsistent, and there are some weird zooms and camera angles. Sets, locations, and props are okay, but flashbacks are dizzying. The editing is atrocious since it’s very quick and abrupt; one scene after the next whizzes by at breakneck speed. Therefore, with very little positive to note here, this low score is warranted for this section.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

From the beginning, which contains creepy sequences, to the end, which basically resolves everything before cutting off in a wacky way, Run is one of your typically bad narratives. When the plot isn’t heavily relying on coincidences, it’s fully of obvious message-pushing as everything in the storyline is about the central issue rather than actually developing the characters. The dialogue is bland, and the conversations are extremely procedural; there’s also a lot of forced drama and constant suspense. The absurdly strawman villains are unrealistically obsessed with the protagonists and are somehow able to commit human trafficking crimes around literally every corner. This brings up the point that the premise is quite childish and is based on a ridiculous amount of luck and giant leaps in logic. It’s hard to understand why certain things happen except for the fact that the writers need them to occur in order to reach a certain point. Besides all of these problems, there are simply too many characters to keep up with, even if some of them do have flashbacks and though some of the minor characters are actually better than the major ones. Nonetheless, it’s not enough to make up for the sea of issues throughout this movie.

Acting Quality (0 points)

As is typical for Strong Foundation screenplays, Run contains a lot of unsure acting. This includes awkward and muted line delivery, forced juvenile emotions, yelling, and screaming. Josiah David Warren posts a traditionally bad performance due to trying way too hard to be something he’s not. While the supporting cast members are better than the principles, it’s not enough to present this section from earning zero points.

Conclusion

Even after terrible movies like The Takeover, A Golden Mind, and Seventy Times Seven, to name a few, the Strong Foundation team continues to churn out awful creations. Run is no exception to this. Despite the Christian entertainment market moving in a positive direction for the past few years, Josiah David Warren, Sun Hui East, and their team members continue to do the same old thing. With a lot of experience under their belts, they should be trending upward, yet they continue to be mired in the basement of Christian film.

Final Rating: .5 out of 10 points

June 19, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Movie Reviews, Mystery, SuspenseTags: 1/2 point, 2017, Amber Shana Williams, Bridgestone Multimedia Group, Chloe Flores, Chloe Hurst, Danny Fehsenfeld, Drama, Javier Medellin, Joseph Rene, Josiah David Warren, Lisa Valdez, Marisa Lynae Hampton, Matthew Roy, Michael Maponga, Mystery, Stephen Baldwin, Strong Foundation Films, Sun Hui East, Suspense, Tamara Truly Wahrmund, Taylor Murphy, Trent Jolie Leave a comment