The Bible Collection: Jesus

Plot Summary

Jesus was and is the most significant figure in history. As God in the flesh, He lived among humanity for three years, establishing His earthly ministry with the least likely people. However, Jesus always knew that His ultimate purpose would be fulfilled in His sacrifice on the cross, paying the sin debt for all humanity. Nonetheless, it wouldn’t end there since He would rise again victorious.

Production Quality (1.5 points)

Like over Lux Vide offerings, Jesus sports a fine production, including good sets, locations, and props. Camera work and video quality are also professional save for some wild action shots. Audio quality is okay, even if the soundtrack is a bit generic. However, generic special effects and poor editing drag this score down to the middle line. At times, cuts and transitions are very abrupt, creating a confusing experience for the viewer. Therefore, this is the best rating that can be awarded in this category.

Plot and Storyline Quality (-1.5 points)

Throughout the movie, Jesus is portrayed as having a strange attitude, as if He’s unsure of what’s happening or even surprised at events. This assumption seems to rise out of an odd theological implication that Jesus only became God after His baptism. It also impacts the temptation sequence as Satan appears to know more about the future than Christ does during this experience. Because there’s too much content to cover in this narrative, expository dialogue poorly bridges the gaps as precious time is wasted on unnecessary extra-biblical asides, such as a pointless romantic suggestion between Jesus and the sister of Lazarus. These tangents are included while more pertinent points are glossed over, and most scenes are generally disjointed as they typically end in abrupt ways. Besides these obvious concerns, the sheer amount of information that’s thrown at the audience in less than two hours is overwhelming. There are simply too many subplots and characters to keep up with, which predictably leads to low quality. Overall, due to the gross alterations of historical record, a negative rating is warranted in this section.

Acting Quality (1.5 points)

In keeping with many other biblical entertainment options, the acting of Jesus tends to be theatrical and dramatic. However, it’s not always bad as emotional and line delivery is inconsistently acceptable. Nonetheless, the casting isn’t always culturally authentic, which is another common misstep in films based on the Scriptures. In the end, despite its faults, this section still keeps the overall rating from being zero.

Conclusion

Why are movies about Jesus usually among the worst? What’s the point of fielding such bizarre portrayals of the Christian faith’s central figure? It’s clear that such failed attempts at capturing the true essence of a historical figure Who changed the course of history are based on faulty information. Screenplays like this one only further turn people off to Christian entertainment, but hopefully, things will continue looking up in the future.

Final Rating: 1.5 out of 10 points

August 18, 2020August 18, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Biblical, Drama, Historical, Inspirational, International, Movie ReviewsTags: 1.5 points, 1999, Abedelouhahad Mouaddine, Affirm Films, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Beta Film, Bible, Biblical, Christian Kohlund, Claudio Amendola, Con Dios Entertainment, Debra Messing, Drama, El Housseine Dejjiti, Elena Sofia Ricci, Fabio Sartor, Five Mile River Films, Frank Konigsberg, G.W. Bailey, Gabriella Pession, Gary Oldman, Gianmario Pagano, Gilly Gilchrist, Heinrich Krauss, Historical, Ian Duncan, Iddo Goldberg, Inspirational, International, Jacqueline Bisset, Jeremy Sisto, Jeroen Krabbé, John H. Francis, Josh Maguire, Judd Parkin, Karim Doukkali, Lorenzo Minoli, Lube Productions, Luca Barbareschi, Luca Bernabei, Luca Zingaretti, Lux Vide, Manuela Ruggeri, Maria Cristina Heller, Miles C. Hobson, Mohammed Taleb, Omar Lahlou, Paolo Lucidi, Patrick Williams, Peter Gevisser, Quinta Communications, Rai Fiction, Rick Warden, Roberta Cadringher, Roger Hammond, Roger Young, Russell Kagan, Said Bey, Sean Harris, Sebastian Knapp, Sony Pictures Television, Stefania Rocca, Suzette Couture, Thomas Lockyer, Trimark Home Video, Zack Maguire Leave a comment

Barabbas, Season 1 [2012] (Series Review)

Plot Summary

Barabbas led a band of rebels against the occupying Roman government, but his criminal activity led him to have close contact with Jesus at His own trial. Barabbas was set free in exchange for Jesus, but afterward, he was faced with a series of choices. What would he ultimately decide?

Production Quality (2 points)

As a well-funded production, Barabbas has fine video quality and camera work. Its sets, locations, and props demonstrate great historical authenticity. Audio quality is passable despite a generic soundtrack. The biggest issues with this section is the poor editing, which is evidenced by quick cuts and abrupt transitions. Otherwise, this is likely the season’s best element.

Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)

Even though this miniseries contains a slightly interesting premise, it’s difficult to connect with the characters as they seem to just be pawns in the plot. Barabbas has some believable aspects to his personality, but all of the characters need a lot more work with more substantial dialogue and flashbacks in order to avoid their being very blank and generic. As usual, Jesus is portrayed in a very odd way, and the narrative is full of pronounced and forceful drama. Action and fighting scenes fill time and circumvent opportunities to establish reasons why the characters do what they do besides what the storyline wants them to do. This wasted time also causes important scenes to be quickly skipped through, which causes off-screen content to be referenced rather than shown. Some scenes go by really fast for the sake of hitting certain high points while others contain some oddly suggestive content that seems very out of place. Although there are too many characters as too many things are trying to be done at once and while the main character’s motivations don’t make much sense, the ending is actually unique. However, it takes forever to get there and lacks the proper build-up, which rounds out a section with slight potential yet plenty of problems.

Acting Quality (1 point)

In keeping with other offerings from the Trinity Broadcasting Network, the acting of Barabbas is only dramatic and theatrical. Many cast members come off as robotic, and most of the actresses seem like they’ve been coached (or even forced) to sound like they’re always out of breath. Much of the makeup work is unusual, and the cast isn’t always culturally authentic. Elsewhere, the injury acting is quite poor. Nonetheless, despite these obvious concerns, there are some positive moments of acting, and it tends to improve with time.

Continuity Quality (1 point)

Throughout this fairly short miniseries, it’s hard to keep up with the different timelines. Many things just happen with no warning, lead-up, or explanation. Also, the tone is constantly changing throughout the saga, which hampers continuity. As such, there’s often no real driving focus even though it’s named after a historical character. Nonetheless, much like other elements there is some slight potential in the series’s latter third, which is enough to save this section from a null score.

Conclusion

In the end, there’s unfortunately not much to work with in Barabbas. It had a lot going for it to be a unique take on a biblical narrative, but fell short in nearly every category. It could never decide what it wanted to be and thus isolated all potential audiences. Now, it’s simply been forgotten by much of the Christian realm and only serves as an example of how not to do it.

Final Rating: 4.5 out of 14 points

June 23, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Biblical, Drama, Historical, Series ReviewsTags: 2012, Aïcha Ben Ahmed, Alessandra Costanzo, Anna Valle, Bible, Biblical, Billy Zane, Compagnia Leone Cinematografica, Cristiana Capotondi, Drama, Federico Scardamaglia, Filippo Nigro, Filippo Rizzello, Francesco Scardamaglia, Franco Castellano, Giampiero Judica, Historical, Hristo Shopov, Iaon Gunn, Inspirational, Lorenzo Balducci, Luca Fiamenghi, Luigi Di Fiore, Marco Dionisi, Marco Foschi, Maria Cristina Heller, Matteo Branciamore, Nicola Lusuardi, Nicola Sorrenti, Nicolò Forte, Paola Pannicelli, Paolo Seganti, Paolo Vivaldi, Pär Lagerkvist, Polyband, Rai Fiction, ReelzChannel, Roberto Zorzut, Roger Young, Salvatore Basile, Tommaso Ramenghi, Trinity Broadcasting Network, Valentina Carnelutti Leave a comment

Paul the Apostle {St. Paul} [2000] (Movie Review)

Creepy Paul…….

Plot Summary

Saul of Tarsus was a ruthless man bent on destroying the church of Jesus Christ, until he had an unforgettable encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus.  From there, his life was never the same as he became Paul and effectively switched sides and became zealous for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Though many were still skeptical of him, God was with him all of his life and used him to turn the world upside down.  His work as an Apostle of Jesus Christ is still affecting the world today.

 

Production Quality (1 point)

It’s clear that there was money behind this film—you don’t get the opportunity to make a more than two hour film every day.  For the most part, this production is average, with okay camera work and historically authentic sets and locations.  However, some of the video quality is blurry and some of the lighting in outside scenes is poor.  There is also an unusual use of weird special effects throughout, including an annoying use of negative video quality in an attempt to be dramatic.  We also are provided with unnecessary location subtitles as a crutch for bad editing.  With a such a large idea, editing is key, as it is in any epic.  Yet the editing of this film is totally off and allows the plot to focus on all the wrong things.  In short, a lot of wasted money was thrown at this production.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

Paul the Apostle gets caught up in the all-too-common trap of Bible films: using a movie named after a well-known Biblical character to focus on all kinds of useless side issues and peripheral characters.  It’s fine to make a movie about a character or group of characters who shadowed a well-known Biblical figure, but don’t pretend like the movie is actually about that figure.  Though there is a substantial amount of content in this film about Paul, this movie is not about Paul’s life, but about things that happened around Paul during random parts of his life.  It’s not like Paul has a small story—there is tons of content about him that would make an awesome movie.  Yet we are left with half-measures and allusions to what could have been.  As extra-Biblical events take up the time of this story, pointless time jumps are taken and tons of off-screen content is alluded to.  Dialogue is designed to move the plot along and only crafts characters who seem lofty and inaccessible rather than like real people.  Alas, what could have been with this very important and engaging historical account.

Acting Quality (0 points)

Once again, another Bible movie commits the cardinal sin of casting: British people trying to portray Middle Eastern people.  Thus, there is a lack of cultural authenticity that is not helped by the partially unrealistic costuming, the creepy makeup jobs, and the obviously fake beards.  This is not to mention the overly theatrical, dramatic, and breathy delivery of lines and emotions.  Unfortunately, there is not much good to mention here.

Conclusion

So you have over two hours of runtime and virtually only a third of your content actually pertains to the Biblical historical account of the Apostle Paul.  Very few film makers have the luxury of having this much time on their hands to craft a movie, yet this team decided to waste it on tons of non-Biblical and quasi-historical content, complete with large time jumps and completely unnecessary characters.  Besides this, the characters don’t even feel like realistic or authentic Jewish people, which is not helped by the fact that they are played by British people.  It’s no wonder so many people are weary of films that have the “Bible” stamp on them.  We eagerly await the day when Biblical movies are honest about what they are depicting and create historically realistic and culturally authentic portrayals of people in the Scriptures.

 

Final Rating: 1 out of 10 points

 

April 4, 2017January 10, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Biblical, Historical, Movie ReviewsTags: 1 point, 2000, Barbora Bobulova, Bible, Biblical, Carlo Siliotto, Ceská Televize, Christian Brendel, Craig Huston, Daniela Poggi, Ennio Fantastichini, Epic, Faith Brook, Franco Nero, G.W. Bailey, Gaetano Varcasia, Gareth Jones, Gianmario Pagano, Giorgio Pasotti, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Hicham Bahloul, Historical, Ian Ricketts, Jack Hedley, Jeremy Zimmerman, Johannes Brandrup, KirchMedia, Luca Bernabei, LuxVide, Maria Cristina Heller, Massimo Sarchielli, Michele Greco, Paolo Lucidi, Quinta Communications, RAI Radiotelevisione Italiana, Riccardo Sardonè, Roger Young, Thomas Lockyer, Umberto Orsini 4 Comments