Fearless Faith (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Colton is a police officer who’s haunted by the trauma of witnessing his former partner get gunned down in a crossfire. Now, Colton avoids all things relating to God even though his wife wants him to come back to the faith. However, circumstances begin to change Colton’s heart as he’s forced to face the past that he’s been running from.

Production Quality (2 points)

Although this production is mostly above-average, it still has some unnecessary pitfalls, such as odd zooms in the camera work and some strangely blurry video quality in certain parts. Action camera work is inconsistent, and the soundtrack is a bit loud at times. Also, flashbacks tend to be disorienting, and the editing has a lot of quick cuts and transitions, but all aspects of the production generally improve with time. This include better video quality, audio quality, and camera work in the second half of the film. Sets, locations, and props are relatively stable throughout. In the end, this mixed-bag section does enough to warrant this score.

Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)

Fearless Faith is based on a very valid and worthy idea that needs to be explored in entertainment: law enforcement trauma. However, this concept is presented with stream-of-consciousness storytelling that lacks focus or overarching themes. Average conversations don’t do enough to develop the generic characters although there is a lot of missed potential to have better dialogue. The perfect Christian characters and racial stereotypes don’t do much to help the cause of the narrative. Religious platitudes and lack of continuity are only compounded by wasted time and plot jumps. Despite dry humor and sarcasm that could have made for interesting experience, unrealistic coincidences happen just because the writers need them to. Even though the ending does a somewhat good job of bringing everything together, characters are fixed way too easily, and the conclusion isn’t properly set up. There are no meaningful payoffs because a majority of the storyline is just kicking the can down the road to get to an unearned high point. The climax falls flat where it could have soared because it lacks effective build-up, and personal tragedies aren’t exactly treated in a serious fashion. All of this is to say that Fearless Faith had the potential to be a truly interesting movie, but this section’s low score holds it back.

Acting Quality (1.5 points)

As a whole, the acting in this screenplay is average. Surprisingly, Jason Burkey may have found his niche in this film as he demonstrates pretty good performances with dry humor and sarcasm. This role doesn’t require him to go too far beyond his abilities, which actually works. Elsewhere, there are no obviously glaring errors in this section except for some annoying yelling and screaming. In certain pivotal scenes, the acting can tend to be unnecessarily blank and not present. In the end, this aspect of them movie rounds out an okay effort.

Conclusion

Fearless Faith had a lot going for it since it was written by real law enforcement officers who know what it’s like in the real world. This creative team put forth a pretty good project in Beautifully Broken, but Fearless Faith seems to lose some of this progress. A disorganized narrative derailed most of the potential in this screenplay, and a handful of concerns in production and acting didn’t help either. Next time, however, this team can hopefully learn from their mistakes and seek better counsel in their plot development.

Final Rating: 4 out of 10 points

April 6, 2021 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Inspirational, Movie Reviews, SuspenseTags: 2020, 4 points, Atonement Pictures, Ben Davies, Ben Graham, Benjy Gaither, Bleu Bayou Pictures, Brandon Riley, Chance Gibbs, Chris Alan Evans, Chuck Howard, Damon Criswell, Deborah Tucker, Drama, Erin Bethea, Green Apple Entertainment, Green Apple Productions, Heather Bloom, Inspirational, J.J. Holyfield, Jason Burkey, Keith Rushing, Kevan Otto, Kevin Rushing, Mark E. McCann, Scott Fulmer, Sean Morehead, Suspense, Tim Warren, Todd Terry Leave a comment

Pardoned by Grace (Summer 2021)

Expected Summer 2021

Writer(s): Mark E. McCann, Melissa Stamper

Director(s): Kevan Otto

Producer(s): Ben Graham, Scott Highberger, Kevan Otto, Brandon Riley, Tim Warren, Ron Wolff

Starring: Joey Lawrence, Michael W. Smith, Jossie Thacker, Danny Farder, Ben Graham, Chandra Michaels, Tom McElroy, Chad Moseley, Daniel Ball, Roger Welp, Katie Mancuso, Steve Flanigan, Dave Honigman, Ron Wolff, Obi Obisoulstar Uwakwe, Tim Hubbard, Sarah Joanou, Brenda Reiser, Ezra Fontanez, Lindsay Whisler, Elyse Collier, Joe Goehl

Plot Synopsis: This biopic film tells the true story of Scott Highberger, a man who was in and out of jail for a big part of his life. Based on his memoir, the film will cover his 35 arrests, eight felony convictions, five prison sentences, and his path to drug addiction and personal turmoil. The film will end with his new life as an outreach pastor at Road to Life Church’s Michigan City campus who ministers to inmates at Westville Correctional Center.

August 3, 2019January 28, 2021 by amg16 Categories: Upcoming Movies and SeriesTags: 2020, Ben Graham, Brandon Riley, Brenda Reiser, Chad Moseley, Chandra Michaels, Daniel Ball, Danny Farder, Dave Honigman, Elyse Collier, Ezra Fontanez, Joe Goehl, Joey Lawrence, Jossie Thacker, Katie Mancuso, Kevan Otto, Lindsay Whisler, Mark E. McCann, Melissa Stamper, Michael W. Smith, Obi Obisoulstar Uwakwe, Pardoned by Grace, Roger Welp, Ron Wolff, Sarah Joanou, Scott Highberger, Steve Flanigan, Tim Hubbard, Tim Warren, Tom McElroy, Upcoming Movies and Series 4 Comments

Beautifully Broken [2018] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

The Hartley Family appears to have it all on the outside; they are a seemingly successful American family.  However, little do they know that their lives are about to become far more complicated than before.  They inadvertently cross paths with William Mwizerwa, a Rwandan refugee who moved from Kenya to America to try to make a new life for his family, whom he had to flee the Rwandan genocide with.  These lives also intersect with another Rwandan family who has been forever changed by the genocide.  Little do they know that collectively, they will experience both brokenness and God’s redemption after brokenness in ways they never before dreamed.

 

Production Quality (2 points)

Beautifully Broken is an independent film that has finally come to fruition after being in the works for a while, and it bears some key hallmarks of an indie production.  Though the production begins in a fairly rough manner, including wild camera work, weird light filters, and dizzying flashbacks, this is mainly only the first third of the film.  It seems like this part of the film was produced separately from the rest of the movie since the remainder of the film has a significant quality increase.  This is evident as the camera work, video quality, and audio quality all make marked improvements.  The soundtrack is effective and culturally appropriate; however, sometimes sets and locations do not fully live up to the hype.  Nevertheless, this production does enough in the latter two-thirds to make this section overall above average.  It seems like time was spent to improve this part of the film, and they likely did the best they could with the budget they had.  The one drawback is that the editing does not improve throughout the film, but this is is mainly due to the large amount of plot content.  As a whole, this is a great first-time production.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1.5 points)

It’s an excellent idea to begin your movie career with a complex true story rather than to use original content, especially since we have a deficit of creative screenwriters in Christian film.  However, one of the main pitfalls of using a true story is trying to include too much content.  In some ways, it seems like the writing team of Beautifully Broken bit off more than they could chew, but this does not diminish the great message this powerfully true story has to offer.  The downside is that there are one too many ‘filler’ scenes that waste precious time; the sheer amount of content in this plot does not allow space to develop the characters as much as they could have been, and narration and expository dialogue is used too often as a shortcut for full character and story development.  However, despite its rough beginning and inconsistency in the middle, the final third of the plot are definitely worth the wait, and they keep this section higher than it would have normally been.  This writing team definitely has more potential in the future once they master organization and character development.

Acting Quality (1.5 points)

It’s possible that the uneven and inconsistent acting is the main thing that derailed Beautifully Broken from a possible Hall of Fame run. While some cast members, like Benjamin Onyango, are very good in their performances, other cast members, like Scott William Winters, cancel out any good that is done.  Once again, Onyango is not given the space he needs to fully show his potential as an actor.  However, for the most part, emotional performances are believable and effective.  Costuming is culturally appropriate, and great efforts were taken to cast culturally authentic cast members.  Overall, this rounds out a great first effort.

Conclusion

A lot of work has clearly been put into making Beautifully Broken happen after a fairly long period of time has passed, and the finished product is both better than most films and not as good as it could have been.  There is plenty of positive in this film, and it is likely worth your time to see when it releases.  There is a great message to learn, and this story is definitely worth being told.  In summary, this film is a great start to a promising career, so it will be interesting to see what they have to offer next.

 

Final Rating: 5 out of 10 points

 

August 15, 2018December 31, 2018 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Inspirational, International, Movie ReviewsTags: 2018, Alan Powell, All Entertainment, Benjamin A. Onyango, Big Film Factory, Bonko Khoza, Brad Allen, Caitlin Nicol-Thomas, Christopher Morrissey, Chuck Howard, David Jose Ferreira, Ditebogo Ledwaba, Ellie Foco, Emily Hahn, Eric Roberts, Eric Welch, Eugene Khumbanyiwa, Eva Ndachi, Felicia Mahambehlala, Film Incito, five points, Frans Cronjé, Geno Taylor, Geoff Koch, Goo Goo Atkins, Inspirational, International, Jacques Van Rooyen, Jarred Coates, Jessica Obilom, Joe Fredo, John Bostic, Lisa Arnold, London Hibbs, Mark E. McCann, Martin Michael, Maxwell Haynes, Michael W. Smith, Michelle Duffie, Patrick Bokaba, Red Entertainment Group, Riley Ewing, Ronnie Hooks, Saber Bankson, Scott William Winters, Sibulele Gcilitshana, Suspense, Tammi Arender, Toby Mckeehan, Vince Emmett, Welile Nzuza, Zimkitha Kumbaca 3 Comments