Everything You Missed in Seasons 7 and 8 of When Calls the Heart

Basically, this

Sadly, barring any miraculous developments, seasons of When Calls the Heart are no longer eligible to receive full reviews. However, this does not prevent us from sounding off on this waning phenomenon of a series. In our viewing, Seasons 7 and 8 ran together due to similar themes and circular subplots. Production, acting, and continuity were much the same in both seasons, so there’s nothing pertinent to discuss except for the continual absurdly of the storyline.

Despite some slightly interesting narratives that had potential, such as the new pastor and his family, most meaning is quickly discarded by the writers in favor of WCTH’s usual brand of sappiness. Nonetheless, there are moments when the sappiness is turned down, even when it comes to Rosemary’s character, in favor of standardly boring drama. Silly, childish conflicts continually take precedence over meaningful plot developments, and mindless conversations are the order of the day. As a result, the characters remain as static as ever, going nowhere on a treadmill of romance.

Did I mention the 438298203 romantic subplots that are found in these two seasons? The doctor and Nurse Carter (before the doctor leaves due to being too expensive of a cast member). Jesse and Clara (with their ridiculous forced dramas). The switchboard woman and the post office guy. The notoriously overlooked Hickam and that new “trendy” strong female character. Stock Lee and Boring Rosemary. Old Bill and some random woman? This is all without mentioning Elizabeth’s nauseating love triangle with the saloon guy and that Mountie from Heartland, which eventually leads to Elizabeth and the saloon guy (for now) and Nurse Carter and the Mountie (maybe).

As the town struggles with first-world problems that you might find inside a dollhouse, the series’ main character (?), Elizabeth, trying to fill the “huge” gap left by the Hallmark-banned Lori Loughlin, is tossed around at the writers’ whims, making random decisions for no reason. She likes the Mountie. She likes the saloon guy. She hates the Mountie. She hates the saloon guy. And on and on and on and on…

Why are we supposed to care about these characters anymore? What are the stakes? What are we supposed to learn? What’s the point? Can Michael Landon Jr. get anymore mileage out of his patented Young Widow Romance Cycle? Is this still a Christian series? Why do I watch it? When will Hallmark finally cancel it? What does Janette Oke really think about this stupidity? How many Hearties will hate this post? Does anybody care about WCTH anymore?

In all seriousness, by reducing the sappiness of the series, the WCTH team might be slowly isolating their own audience. The writers had already painted themselves into a corner, but when the niche WCTH audience isn’t satisfied, will they continue to reward the writers? How many seasons can this series realistically sustain before sagging ratings displease Hallmark’s advertisers, forcing the network to cancel? Do people really want to see this same stuff over and over again?

I supposed that only time will tell as we forge ahead into another ridiculous season.

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November 20, 2021November 20, 2021 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Announcements and Opinion Pieces, Opinion PiecesTags: Andrea Brooks, Aren Buchholz, Ben Rosenbaum, Brian Bird, Chris McNally, Erin Krakow, Eva Bourne, Hrothgar Mathews, Jack Wagner, Kevan Smith, Kevin McGarry, Loretta Walsh, Martin Cummins, Michael Landon Jr., Pascale Hutton, Paul Greene, When Calls the Heart series 1 Comment

When Hope Calls, Season 1 (Series Review)

It’s like When Calls the Heart on an obscure streaming service!

Plot Summary

When Lillian and Grace, two orphan siblings, agreed to travel to a new town to run an orphanage, they had no idea what would be in store for them. Of course, they probably could have made an educated guess since they went from Hope Valley to a basic copy of this fantastical borough. This new town has equally important aspects as Hope Valley, such as the obligatory town doctor, the expected general store, and of course, a predictably hair-gelled Mountie just waiting to get hitched. What else could fans of When Calls the Heart want besides another series on the cable channel rather than on a streaming service nobody uses?

Production Quality (1.5 points)
The budget for When Hope Calls (WHC) is clearly lower than When Calls the Heart (WCTH), and this is most strikingly obvious in the poorly constructed town set that looks like a bunch of clapboard buildings plopped in the middle of a mowed-over field. The structures’ false fronts are also too much. This aside, must like WCTH, WHC is limited to just a few select sets, props, and locations, and there are some cheap special effects on top of this. Nonetheless, the production is aided by typically fine video quality, audio quality, and camera work, even if the soundtrack is pedestrian and boring. The editing tends to lag at times, such as leaving scenes running too long, but this production is overall just average.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)
Much like its parent show, not very significant happens throughout the course of the WHC “plot.” The only remotely interesting elements are used up by the third episode as the series devolves into typical small-town romance nonsense. If it’s possible, the characters are much more blank and cardboard in WHC than in WCTH even if they are less sappy in the former. This is created by a lot of stiff and awkward attempts at conversations as some characters seem to be mysteriously concealing things that are never revealed while others seem to wonder why they are even there. The dialogue is very stock and phoned-in, which creates wooden characters, and the so-called comedic elements are beyond cheesy. Any struggles the characters experience can’t be adequately related to because they seem so plastic and forced. Elsewhere, the town setup is shockingly unrealistic on a historical level, and the Christian themes are very shoehorned in. In the end, with no driving purpose or actual point, the first season’s story is basically just a lot of trumped-up drama with nothing substantial to back it up.

Acting Quality (1 point)
In keeping with Michael Landon Jr.’s common practices, the cast of WHC appears to be as fake as WCTH’s (except not as over the top). This includes how they interact with each other as well as what they look like. On appearances, none of them look historically accurate except for some slight attempts at realistic costuming. When it comes to acting, line delivery seems laborious for some cast members while others seem bored with their roles. Emotions overall seemed forced and unnatural. Some cast members show potential in different roles but don’t live up to their full potential. In the end, this section’s rating is basically expected.

Continuity Quality (.5 point)
As previously mentioned, the best potential for engaging continuity is quickly discarded in the beginning and replaced with drab procedural recurrences. In the middle and at the end of the season, many of the episodes run together and feel like the same thing is happening over and over again. Then, this is culminated with an awkwardly forced climax and alleged cliff-hanger ending in the final episode. Basically, this season doesn’t have much going for it.

Conclusion

What else is there to say? Shows like When Hope Calls have a specific purpose in mind and do whatever it takes to fulfill that purpose. The storylines are predetermined, the production is as cheap as possible, and the cast is as pageantry as expected. All of these criteria are tailor-made for a reason, so we have to commend MLJ and company for at least being consistent in their poor novel adaptations. Why not try to capitalize on the success of a series like When Calls the Heart? However, what is it ultimately accomplishing besides creating more sub-par Christian entertainment?

Final Rating: 3 out of 14 points

November 8, 2019January 3, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Historical, Inspirational, Mystery, Romance, Series ReviewsTags: 2019, Alfonso H. Moreno, Amanda Phillips Atkins, Angelo Oddi, Ava Weiss, Blair Williams, Brad Krevoy, Bradley Walsh, Brian Bird, Brian Roworth, Carrie Schiffler, Catherine McGregor, Curtis Caravaggio, David Anselmo, David Barlow, David Gingrich, Derek Thompson, Don McBrearty, Drama, Drew Nelson, Elizabeth Saunders, Eric Jarboe, Giovanna Moore, Greg Hovanessian, Hallmark, Hannah Emily Anderson, Hanneke Talbot, Hideaway Pictures, Historical, Inspirational, Isaak Bailey, James Cade, James Moorhouse, Jamie Spilchuk, Jefferson Brown, Jim Calarco, Jimmy Townsend, Jocelyn Hudon, Jonathan Potts, Josh Bainbridge, Josh Reich, Kalinka Petrie, Kate Moyer, Kavan Smith, Kelly Boegel, Kevin Jubinville, Kevin McGarry, Kim Roberts, Kym Crepin, Larry Bambrick, Laurie Murdoch, Liam MacDonald, Marshall Williams, Megan Follows, Michael Copeman, Michael Landon Jr., Michael Shepard, Michael Vincent Dagostino, Mike Rohl, Morgan David Jones, Morgan Kohan, Mystery, Naomi Sagbien, Neil Crone, Nicholas Carella, Pascale Hutton, Riley O'Donnell, Rob Stewart, Romance, Ryan-James Hatanaka, Sara Snow, Sean Bell, Sean Connolly Affleck, Simon Webster, Susie Belzberg, T.W. Peacocke, Tom Bishop Sr., W. Michael Beard, Wendy Crewson, When Calls the Heart series 2 Comments

When Calls the Heart, Season 6 (Series Review)

We don’t speak of her anymore

Plot Summary

And once again we return to the fake small town known as Hope Valley for another fruitless season of people living in the dream world crafted by the series creators. Hardly anybody remembers Jack the Mountie anymore except for the fact that he and Elizabeth were married long enough to produce an instant child who’s coincidentally named after him. While Daniel Lissing willingly left the show, which was last season’s biggest news, Lori Loughlin was literally handcuffed, removed, and totally scrubbed from the show. The shadow of her scandal looms over the sixth season, especially with how Hallmark mishandled the whole ordeal and drew unnecessary attention to the problems. As a whole, Abigail’s awkward exit from the show and the subsequent complete rewrite of the show is the most interesting things that happened, but why are we not surprised? Michael Landon Jr. always planned to subject Erin Krakow to his favorite young-widow-starts-sort-of-dating-again treatment as he always has, so there’s nothing left to do but once again point out the same old flaws this series commits and count down the minutes for the Hearties to descend on my little blog post to vehemently defend all things wholesome in the face of such heartless (lol) criticism.

Production Quality (2 points)
What’s a Hallmark production without the same carbon-copy lineup of good camera work and video quality, acceptable audio quality, and that predictable, nauseatingly bubbly soundtrack? When Calls the Heart part VI checks all the proverbial boxes in this category, and it’s getting very difficult to differentiate any of the seasons from each other (except for the first two). Hope Valley still consists of the same old sets, locations, and props that are no doubt re-purposed for other Hallmark productions and are designed to make the audience believe this is a real Western town. Also, there’s still that tiny forest area Bill goes to dramatically reveal another part of his vastly complex yet noticeably cagey backstory. The only complaint for this section (besides their doing the same thing with no noticeable changes or improvements) is that we still don’t have a set for the beauty salon where the female characters get their hair done (although we might have gotten a quick glimpse at it in the finale).

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)
As we’ve said before, ever Hamilton took over Hope Valley, nothing has ever been the same. We just get the same old helium-infused characters spinning in circles as they retrace old plots steps over and over again. The only chances we have to get outside of the Hope Valley crossroads are Bill’s forest trips to tell us another part of his ever-fluctuating history, but now that we have a new Mountie, I guess we’ll have some trips to that bridge or something. Elsewhere, Elizabeth keeps us wondering why she’s even still in the series as her heart (lol) is passed around like a football and only exists for Michael Landon Jr. and company to continue their fetish of pairing a woman with a law enforcement character just long enough for her to get pregnant before killing said man near the end of the movie\series or even in between installments. Seriously, how is Elizabeth and Lucas vs Nathan any different from Charles vs Jack (except that Marcus Rosner was an essential addition to the show yet was stolen from us)? Elsewhere, the town is littered with many empty-minded side romances that they desperately want us to care about (although Aren Buchholz is quickly becoming one of the most important aspects of the entire series). Even Rosemary is losing her luster as a satirical comic relief who reminds us how un-serious the whole ordeal is as the writers are muting her character to go all dark and brooding because of [WHOOPS SPOILER]. And then there’s that whole situation with Abigail. Ironically, just before Lori Loughlin was led away by the police, her character made a hilariously funny reference to how Bill needed to bring some random bad guy to justice, and this is definitely the defining moment of the entire season. Loughlin’s scandalous shadow looms large over the poor town; even after the writers awkwardly tried to erase her from the universe’s memories, everything was clunky following the hiatus. Subplots awkwardly start and stop with no real conclusions. Scenes between Elizabeth and Lucas seem directly copied from Beauty and the Beast (yes, he gave her a library). Gowen is as uneven as ever (seriously, what do the writers expect from him at this point?). They all seem lost without Abigail to guide them in their everyday lives, but alas, she and Cody (awwww he left too!) has bigger fish to fry in court “back east.” Thus, with nothing really new to say here besides the same garbage we’ve seen from the past two indiscernible seasons, Hearties only have this incoherent stream of consciousness to parse through as they rush from Facebook to “own” the author of this post with zingers better suited for a clickbait news site.

Acting Quality (0 points)
For the most part, the acting of this season is as sappy as ever, but there are a handful of instances, especially near the end, that feel very muted and more scripted than usual. This is no doubt that this is due to some of the redone footage after Loughlin’s untimely exit, and the cast members were likely just emotionally distraught over her absence. Overall, there’s really nothing new to write home about (although Elizabeth does quite a bit of writing these days), and this section is award no points because we expect better than this after six seasons.

Continuity Quality (0 points)
As previously mentioned, some of this season’s subplots seem to disappear from the writing with no warning, which is a likely byproduct of the rework done following Loughlin’s arrest. Otherwise, it’s just typical plug and play romances as the writers introduce one after another to the point where you can’t hardly tell the different between them. Also, as a side note, at least a third of the subplots in season six relate in some way to the upcoming summer spinoff show When Hope Calls, which is possibly where many characters will escape to once When Calls the Heart finally runs out of steam.

Conclusion

Oh yeah, so there’s a seventh season coming up. MLJ has at least two more seasons to use Elizabeth’s indecisiveness and lack of personality as a carrot to dangle in front of his rabid fans, but sooner or later, they’ll get tired of this song and dance. With Loughlin’s scandal-ridden exit, this series is already running on fumes and has only been sustained by constant romance bait-and-switch. I mean, is anybody the least bit annoyed with how they treat Elizabeth? Anyhow, this has been another WCTH review from your favorite reviewer in which I didn’t talk about much substantial and just sort of rambled on about random things I thought of while I binge-watched this season. Begin commenting now……………………….

Final Rating: 2 out of 14 points

June 6, 2019June 7, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Historical, Inspirational, Romance, Series ReviewsTags: #Hallmarked, 2019, Aaron Douglas, Alfonso H. Moreno, Amanda Phillips Atkins, Amélie Eve, Andrea Brooks, Annie Brunner, Aren Buchholz, Ava Grace Cooper, Ben Rosenbaum, Bill Dow, Billy Wickman, Brad Krevoy, Brenden Sunderland, Brian Bird, Bruce Boxleitner, Callum Seagram Airlie, Carter Ryan Evancic, Charlotte Hegele, Chris McNally, Christian Michael Cooper, Clayton Chitty, Cynthia Cohen, Daniel Arnold, Darren Dolynski, Doran Chandler, Drama, Eliza Norbury, Elizabeth Stewart, Eric Jarboe, Erin Krakow, Eva Bourne, Genea Charpentier, Gracyn Shinyei, Greg Malcolm, Hannah Zirke, Historical, Hrothgar Mathews, Inspirational, Isaac Keoughan, Jack Wagner, Jacqueline Samuda, Jaeda Lily Miller, Janette Oke, Javien Natt, Jerry Wasserman, Jimmy Townsend, Jocelyn Hudon, Johannah Newmarch, John Sereda, Kadence Kendall Roach, Kayla Wallace, Kevan Smith, Kevin McGarry, Kurt Evans, Lee Holdridge, Loretta Walsh, Lori Loughlin, Lorne Cardinal, Martin Cummins, Martin Wood, Michael Girardin, Michael Landon Jr., Michael Shepard, Michelle Harrison, Mike Rohl, Neil Webb, Neill Fearnley, Nick Hunnings, Pascale Hutton, Paul Greene, Peter DeLuise, Phillip Mitchell, Richard Manning, Rob Estes, Robert Irving, Robert Parent, Romance, Sebastian Billingsley-Rodriguez, Shelley Matheson, Sheri Rabold, Shona Miko, Spencer Teeter, Susie Belzberg, Vicki Sotheran, Vince Balzano, When Calls the Heart series 2 Comments

Movie Renovation: Love’s Abiding Joy

“Dancin’ is a good excuse to wrap your arms around a pretty woman” ~Dale Midkiff

Production Improvements

Michael Landon Jr. continues to provide good production quality in this movie series, however, it remains his only strength. However, as our founder pointed out in his review, the editing is atrociously choppy, and you guessed it, the makeup and costuming is overdone. Landon Jr.’s attempt at historical accuracy in makeup and costuming begins to diminish in this film, and worsens in the later ones. Erin Cottrell has too much makeup on for us to believe she is living out West, and Dale Midkiff looks like he just stepped out of a spa, not a stagecoach. However, these flaws could have been overlooked if the original plot had been upheld. 

Plot & Storyline Improvements

Where to begin? There is nothing in this plot that is remotely accurate to the book. First, the book opens with Clark and Marty in their 40’s, with adult children and several grandchildren. Marty receives a gift of train tickets to see Missie from Clark for her birthday, and the two journey there. The movie opens with Missie and Willie married with an older adopted son, young son, and baby daughter. Marty is completely absent from the film, and Clark has just arrived for a visit. Within the first thirty minutes of the film the baby girl dies, leading him to extend his trip. In the book, Missie and Willie had two young sons, and more hands than they did in the previous novel, not less (as is portrayed in the movie). I have already mentioned that Jeff was not in the book, so reinforcing this point is null. The movie plot continues with the Lahayes grieving individually for their daughter, including Erin Cottrell screaming in a field, and Dale Midkiff offering cliches as reassurance. In the book, Clark and Marty enjoy meeting Missie’s new friends and neighbors before Clark becomes involved in trying to rescue two boys from a collapsed mine. He severely injures his leg in the process, and it is amputated by a doctor-in-hiding who also happens to be Missie’s best friend’s husband. This extends the Davis’ visit and puts things back home on hold. In the movie, the plot meanders between the grieving parents, the evil rich guy, and Jeff’s forbidden love interest with no real direction or point. In short, this movie never should have been made, and it is fruitless to continue to point out it’s many flaws, for this will help no one. 

Acting Improvements

Recast everyone and make this a TV series. This is the best way to fix this disaster. There is not much else to say here. The cast of this film is inaccurate to the book and drags down the movie even further. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, because of the many errors, this movie deserves a remake. The original book content is worth it. Janette Oke should be a part of the filmmaking, especially the casting. The screenwriter should use the content in the book to create a TV series and make very few alterations 
(we still don’t know why MLJ didn’t think of this). There is enough content to make an entire season out of each book. As seen in When Calls the Heart, screenwriters can build an entire episode around much less! Filmmakers looking to make a historical romance TV series, look no further than this book series for content!

October 7, 2018October 7, 2018 by amg16 Categories: Movie and Series RenovationsTags: Dale Midkiff, Erin Cottrell, Logan Bartholomew, Love's Abiding Joy, Michael Landon Jr., Movie and Series Renovations, TV Series potential Leave a comment

Movie Renovation: Love’s Long Journey

This is totally not a baby doll

Production Improvements

There are no errors here, Michael Landon Jr. has a talent for creating high quality productions. This part of the film is an example to others inspirational filmmakers of how to use your budget to it’s maximum potential. As he obviously has potential as a filmmaker, there is no reason for his mistakes in the others areas of the film. 

Plot & Storyline Improvements

This plot had potential, and there is nothing inherently wrong with Landon Jr.’s content – except that it is not accurate to the book. In some areas, he strays so far that one has to wonder if he even read the book before making the movie. The plot contains fairly believable secondary characters, humor, and a mostly realistic tale of married life. However, there are also many problems. First, Jeff and his brother are not in the book, neither are the other ‘bad guy’ characters. While this subplot was an interesting idea, it is not fully developed and is therefore unnecessary. Plus, the ‘bad guy’ characters are extremely cheesy. Second, Missie was throughout the entire duration of the journey by wagon, not just at the end. She was about seven months pregnant when they reached their destination, however, Willie wanted a doctor to deliver their baby – a fellow passenger died in childbirth on the trail and scared everyone – so he left her in town while he went on to hire hands and establish their homestead. Third, in the book, once she finally made it to Willie’s land, Missie had to live in a one-room sod house with the baby for two years before he made enough money to build a real house. In the movie, they fix up a small, already existing house on the land. Furthermore, the Native American subplot in the movie is completely fabricated and has nothing to do with the original story. Missie was not a teacher out West because there was no one to teach and she was busy surviving. She did have one neighbor, Maria, who was Mexican and had a husband and son. Maria did not speak English, so Missie taught her, and in return Maria familiarized Missie with her culture. Maria did not deliver Missie’s first son (whose name was Nathan Isaiah BTW), and that was not the only child Missie had. At the end of the novel it is mentioned that she is expecting another. Finally, there are also many instances where Missie and Willie share the gospel with those around them; this fact is completely deleted from the movie, with the exception of a few scenes where they are shown reading the Bible. Therefore, Landon Jr. could have improved this plot by using the content already written in the book, and by making this book series into a TV series, not a standalone film.

Acting Improvements

Oh, just when we thought it couldn’t possibly get worse, it did. Thank God Dale Midkiff’s scenes a brief and far between. We’ll never know why Erin Cottrell was chosen to replace January Jones, the former was a better actress and had more potential, even if she was a typical Landon female lead. Cottrell drags down the whole movie. Logan Bartholomew is slightly better in this movie than the previous one, but is still his awkward self. Cookie is a walking stereotype (he wasn’t African American in the book), and Henry was not a full-grown man with a checkered past in the book, he was a boy that the LaHayes hired to drive their second wagon while on the trail. On the whole, the acting in the movie is pretty bad, and the cast needs a complete redo. However, to their credit, they don’t have anyone to tell them how to improve.

Conclusion

In conclusion, because of the many errors here, this movie deserves a remake. The original book content is worth it. Janette Oke should be a part of the filmmaking, especially the casting. The screenwriter should use the content in the book to create a TV series and make very few alterations
(we still don’t know why MLJ didn’t think of this). There is enough content to make an entire season out of each book. As seen in When Calls the Heart, screenwriters can build an entire episode around much less! Filmmakers looking to make a historical romance TV series, look no further than this book series for content!

September 28, 2018October 7, 2018 by amg16 Categories: Movie and Series RenovationsTags: Dale Midkiff, Erin Cottrell, Logan Bartholomew, Love's Long Journey, Michael Landon Jr., Movie and Series Renovations Leave a comment

Movie Renovation: Love’s Enduring Promise

Pa needs me!

Production Improvements

Love’s Enduring Promise has great production quality, with realistic sets, a picturesque location, and great camera work. As our founder pointed out, the main issues here are some choppy editing and the usual unrealistic makeup jobs. Otherwise, this is the strongest area of the film. It is obvious that Michael Landon Jr. is a talented producer. However, as women had little to no access to makeup out West, and only took baths once a week to save water, there is work to do in the area of makeup and costuming. Additionally, after further observation of the book series’ content, I believe this book and the others should be joined together to make a TV series. I believe this is the only way all the content and the many characters could be included. In short, this book should never have been a standalone film.

Plot & Storyline Improvements

Where to begin? Michael Landon Jr. has drastically altered the book content in this film, so much so that it barely resembles the original story. First, he pieced together some obscure sub-plots in the final chapters of the novel – Missie went on a date with a man named Grant Thomas and eventually married Willie – and created his usual love triangle between Missie, Grant, and Willie. He purposely ignored the fact that Missie also went on dates with one of Ma Graham’s (Sarah in the movie, oh wait she’s not in this movie, another inaccuracy) sons for some time before going out with Willie, and that it took some time for her and Willie’s relationship to develop. Next, the core incident in the film – Clark cutting his leg with an axe while chopping firewood – never existed in the book. In the novel, there was an obscure sub-plot where Clark had a logging accident and cut his foot. This laid him up for a couple of weeks, but he was never unconscious or in critical condition. In the movie he has an infected limb and potential gangrene, in the book he had a cut that was stitched up, big deal. Finally, in the book Clark and Marty have three children together after becoming a real husband and wife. Arnie was one of their sons, but Landon Jr. forgot Ellie, Luke, and their adopted daughters Nandry and Clae. Nandry and Clae were adopted from a neglectful neighbor who was leaving to pan for gold and was easily convinced to give up his children. While the book content is a bit of an information dump, it would make several great episodes in a TV series. Considering that Landon Jr. has had much success with this in the past, I am flabbergasted as to why he didn’t think of this from the start. People are far more likely to watch TV than go see an obscure inspirational film. This is the main way in which he could have improved the plot and storyline quality. 

Acting Improvements

Again, there is so much bad here it is hard to know where to start. Dale Midkiff is a terrible actor, Katherine Heigl’s promising performance in the previous movie has declined considerably, and the child actors are grating. K’Sun Ray needed serious coaching to come off as anything but a whiny little kid, and it was not given to him. Arnie is barely in the film and has a forgettable performance at best. Logan Bartholomew is awkward and does not accurately portray the Willie character. Finally, January Jones shows potential as Missie, but delivers a mostly blank performance and needs coaching. Landon Jr. could have improved this section by giving Katherine Heigl a chance to improve, and recasting everyone else.

Conclusion

In conclusion, because of all the glaring errors here, this movie deserves a remake. The original book content is worth it. Janette Oke should be a part of the filmmaking, especially the casting. The screenwriter should use the content in the book to create a TV series and make very few alterations. There is enough content to make an entire season out of each book. As seen in When Calls the Heart, screenwriters can build an entire episode around much less! Filmmakers looking to make a historical romance TV series, look no further than this book series for content!

September 26, 2018September 26, 2018 by amg16 Categories: Movie and Series RenovationsTags: Dale Midkiff, January Jones, K'Sun Ray, Katherine Heigl, Logan Bartholomew, Michael Landon Jr., Movie and Series Renovations Leave a comment

Movie Renovation: Love Comes Softly

Production Improvements

To start things off, Michael Landon Jr. is obviously capable of creating movies with high production quality. This being so, there is nothing glaringly wrong with this area of the film –  the camera work is professional and there is a clear respect for historical authenticity present throughout. As our founder pointed out in his original review, the only issues here are a commonplace soundtrack that adds virtually nothing to the story, and an average editing job. To remedy these issues, the filmmakers should have followed the already complete (and well-done) editing job found in Janette Oke’s book, Love Comes Softly (yes, this movie is actually supposed to be based on that story). Furthermore, they should have invested in a proven editor who had done an above average job in the past. Otherwise, there is nothing to be ashamed of here, thus making production the strongest element in the film. 

Plot and Storyline Improvements

If I was being generous, only about fifty percent of the content in this movie is accurate to Oke’s book. For example, the first couple of chapters in the novel clearly state that Marty’s husband’s name was Clem, not Aaron, and Missie turned two years old halfway through the book. In the movie she is at least ten. Sadly, this is the first of many errors. While Landon Jr. kept the basic idea of Marty and Clark’s relationship, it is like an empty shell with no heart. For starters, the dialogue between the two in the movie pales in comparison to the humorous and realistic interactions found in the book. The characters in the movie are somewhat stiff with rare displays of emotion -and the displays that are there are exaggerated and rather annoying – while the characters in the book are deep, complex, and human! Furthermore, Landon Jr. rejected the original plot structure for a simple tale that is similar to all his historical romance films. For instance, in the book Marty could not leave with the first spring wagon train because Missie caught the measles. In the movie, she left with the first one. In the book, Marty’s son Claridge (NOT AARON) choked on a button and had to be rushed to the doctor, and it was following this incident that Marty and Clark became a real husband and wife. In the movie, Clark chases after her wagon on horseback and throws out a cliche as his reason for leaving Missie alone at home: “A man loses his woman, he goes after her.” And because I’m on a roll, the original agreement between Clark and Marty was that she would establish a relationship with Missie, then take her and Claridge back East in the spring. In the movie Missie did not leave with Marty. Finally, as our founder pointed out in his review, Landon Jr. had no excuse for any of these errors, because he had both the budget and the run-time to use the original book content. 

Acting Improvements

The plot in the book relied on it’s deep and well-rounded characters, however, this was not the case in the movie. Let’s be honest, the only reason people watched this movie is because it had a familiar actress in the lead role and good production quality. This brings me to my first point. While Katherine Heigl is a fairly good choice for Marty, she does not meet her full potential under Landon Jr.’s tutelage – he only works with meek and air-headed female leads. Secondly, Dale Midkiff has to go. period. The Clark Davis in the book was twenty-five, maybe thirty. Clark in the movie is, by all appearances, at least forty.. For this and many reasons, he needs to be recast.  Thirdly, Theresa Russell is a terrible choice to play Ma Graham. Oh, you did not know that was her name? This is no fault of yours, in the movie her name is Sarah Graham. Ma Graham was at least fifty when Marty met her, and had thirteen children (a blended family). Sarah/Ma in the movie is shallow and always spouting inspirational cliches in times of difficulty. Ma in the book is a fountain of wisdom and spiritual depth. Fourthly, Corbin Bernsen is not a bad choice for Ben, and could be arguably the best actor in the film (shocking I know). Finally, all the actors are wearing too much makeup and have too clean of clothes for anyone to believe that they are living as pioneers out West. This area of the film could have been improved by removing Landon Jr.’s influence over the casting and hiring someone who actually knew what they were doing. 

Conclusion

In conclusion, because of all the glaring errors here, this movie deserves a remake. The original book content is worth it. For starters, Janette Oke should be a part of the filmmaking, especially the casting. The screenwriter should use the content in the book and make very few alterations. Michael Landon Jr. is obviously not the right person to make movies from books. Christian authors, beware. Yet, with the right person(s), and inclusion of Oke in the filmmaking, this movie could change the older generations’ perspective on romance plots. Oke had a gift for appealing to all the generations and creating diverse characters; her content should not be ignored just because Landon Jr. ruined it. 

September 20, 2018September 20, 2018 by amg16 Categories: Movie and Series RenovationsTags: Janette Oke, Love Comes Softly, Michael Landon Jr., Movie and Series Renovations Leave a comment

When Calls the Heart, Season 5 (Series Review)

Why are we still here?

Plot Summary

When Constable Jack Thornton returns from the North back to the nice little town of Hope Valley, everyone expects him to finally marry Elizabeth Thatcher, which the series has been building up for way too many seasons now.  Thus, the TV couple finally ties the knot and is married long enough for Elizabeth to get pregnant, and Michael Landon Jr. and company follow this up by the long-awaited and long-expected death of the male lead, which leaves Elizabeth (shockingly) free to love again.  Elsewhere in Hope Valley, the other characters are doing the same things they always did with no significant alterations in their character arcs (except Jesse is a good guy now or something like that), but when you have a rabid fan base and unlimited season renewals, why would you try anything creative as a writer?

 

Production Quality (2.5 points)

If anything improved in this season of When Calls the Heart, it’s that the production got slightly better.  Video quality is still crisp, and camera work is still professional, but the sets and locations seem to have improved somewhat.  Props are pretty much the same old stuff.  The soundtrack is that same recycled and very tired and uncreative score that can be found in pretty much any other Hallmark production.  Further, the editing is pretty standard in Season 5, and overall, there’s not much keeping this production from being nearly perfect (except for the soundtrack), which shows you that it pays to have a good budget.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

What was Season 4 about?  I already forgot.  The railroad?  Anyways, I challenge any Heartie to tell me what Season 5 is actually about except for completing Michael Landon Jr.’s favorite romantic chase storyline with the female lead’s marriage, pregnancy, and eventual husband’s death.  Shocking turn of events, I know.  Well, Hearties can be consoled that Michael Landon Jr. is known for rebuilding the romantic chase for the young widow by introducing a new love interest later in the series.  By killing off Jack and freeing Daniel Lissing from this nonsense, Landon Jr. and company opened up a whole new world of storylines to pursue for at least three or four or five more seasons, so you can rest easy!

Acting Quality (1 point)

Are we still here?  These same old tired cast members are still old and tired.  Erin Krakow, Lori Loughlin, Daniel Lissing, Kevan Smith, Pascale Hutton, et al. haven’t changed much since last season.  Michael Landon Jr.’s approach to casting, acting, and makeup is no better than it’s always been.  However, there are a few bright spots from some of the peripheral cast members that keep this section from being zero.  Nevertheless, most of Landon Jr.’s casting work seems like a plastic surgery pageant.

Continuity Quality (1 point)

At least this season creates a story arc that is somewhat interesting, which is the loss of Jack.  It was really the only card this show had left to play, so now this move opens up a whole new world of plot possibilities.  However, I don’t expect many of them to be any good.

 

Conclusion

As I predicted months ago, after wasting away at least two seasons kicking the can down the road ad nauseum and trolling with his typically pageantry and empty characters that are ripped off from a Janette Oke novel series that doesn’t even remotely resemble the dollhouse show this series has become, Michael Landon Jr. has finally come full circle with his favorite storyline of all: the young widow plot.  As can be seen throughout the Love Comes Softly series, including Love Comes Softly and Love’s Unending Legacy, Landon Jr. is infatuated with the chase of a romance, but once the couple marries and has some kids, it’s time to kill off the husband between movies and introduce a new romantic chase for the young widow.  It’s no surprise to see the long overdue exit of Jack Thornton from this series, especially since Daniel Lissing probably has better things to do.  Expect next season to introduce Elizabeth’s new love interest and her new chase after the grief has subsided (please bring back Charles).  Also, since we’re going to keep mindless renewing this troll-fest, let’s go ahead and experiment with some other cast members this show needs right now.  I vote for Erik Estrada, Morgan Fairchild, Kris Kristofferson, and Corbin Bernsen, to name a few.  Cast-member-guessing is the only thing keeping this show interesting at this point.

 

Final Rating: 4.5 out of 14 points

 

May 22, 2018December 31, 2018 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Historical, Inspirational, Romance, Series ReviewsTags: #Hallmarked, 2018, Alfonso H. Moreno, Ali Liebert, Amanda Phillips Atkins, Andrea Brooks, Andy Patterson, Anne Wheeler, Aren Buchholz, Ava Grace Cooper, Ben Corns, Ben Rosenbaum, Benjamin Goas, Brad Krevoy, Brian Bird, Callum Seagram Airlie, Cameron Bancroft, Carter Ryan Evancic, Charlotte Hegele, Chris Gauthier, Christian Michael Cooper, Clayton Chitty, Colby Wilson, Corey Schmitt, Cynthia Cohen, Daniel Lissing, Denise Kewin, Derek Thompson, Doran Chandler, Dylan Sloane, Eliza Norbury, Elizabeth Stewart, Eric Jarboe, Erica Carroll, Erin Krakow, Eva Bourne, Garwin Sanford, Genea Charpentier, Gracyn Shinyei, Greg Malcolm, Hallmark, Hannah Zirke, Harrison MacDonald, Hrothgar Mathews, Imogen Tear, Jaiven Natt, Janette Oke, Jerry Wasserman, Jill Teed, Jimmy Townsend, Johannah Newmarch, John Sereda, Josie Bissett, Julian Domingues, Julie Fairweather, Kadence Kendall Roach, Kate Isaac, Kavan Smith, Kevin O'Grady, Larissa Albuquerque, Liam Hughes, Loretta Walsh, Lori Loughlin, Maja Miljkovic, Mark Humphrey, Martin Cummins, Martin Wood, Matt Ellis, Max Lloyd-Jones, Michael Landon Jr., Michael Shepard, Michelle Harrison, Mike Rohl, Milo Shandel, Neill Fearnley, Pascale Hutton, Paul Greene, Paul Jackson, Peter DeLuise, Richard Manning, Robert Parent, Sarah Grey, Sean Poague, Shaughnessy Redden, Sheri Rabold, Shona Miko, Steve Richmond, Susie Belzberg, Vicki Sotheran, Vince Balzano, When Calls the Heart series 49 Comments

When Calls the Heart, Season 4 (Series Review)

Happy plastic people

Nurse Carter’s still here for some reason

Can’t forget about Rip

Plot Summary

After the marriage of Lllllllee and Rosemary, stuff just sorta keeps happening in Walnut Grove Hope Valley.  Rosemary has a daily ‘funny’ escapade and continues to parody herself until she becomes a perfect character like the others.  The town counselor, Abigail, tries to take over the mayor’s office from the breathy Gowen while she’s still trying to run her café.  That odd fake-looking guy named Bill is still hanging around being mysterious and doing sheriff stuff.  Elizabeth and Jack are still performing their endless and painful will-they-won’t-they dating dance until the writers finally get tired of it and decide to send Jack to the north to fight the good fight.  A railroad subplot is introduced (I wonder where that idea came from) to try to keep this television series on life support.  But who cares what happens anyway—ratings are up and a fifth season is on its way already, so who are we to talk?

 

Production Quality (2 points)

Much like Season 3, the production of When Calls the Heart has remained relatively stable since the early, low-budget days passed.  Video quality and camera work are professional as always.  Audio quality is standard, but that same old stupid soundtrack gets really old, especially when you hear it on other Hallmark movies.  Sets and locations are extremely limited as the series further settles into its small town feel.  There’s no branching out here, that’s for sure.  Editing also standard and very phoned in as each episode follows and mindlessly predictable progression.  They stretch out, one after the next, like indistinguishable zombies in Michael Landon Jr.’s makeup jobs.  What more can we say?  The money is clearly spent pretty wisely, but for what?

Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)

In a change from Season 3, this season’s storylines bring some minor complexity to the screen, especially where the railroad is involved.  However, the writers overplayed their hand with the railroad characters and made them too evil in some kind of weird attempt to make the breathy Gowen a nice guy.  Regardless, the railroad intrigue is resolved far too easily and dispensed with as quickly as it was introduced.  Besides this, Season 4 is full trite subplots and asides: Elizabeth helps a troubled child with something, Rosemary always has a new scheme, the fake-looking Bill is mysterious, Abigail is the town hero, Lllllllee does business stuff, Pastor Hogan does protective stuff, Cody is a middle school boy, Jesse is still hanging around for some reason, and Jack has to ‘fight the good fight’, as we are reminded in nearly every episode.  Too many characters are fixed and too many conflicts are easily resolved.  Random ‘mysterious’ characters are introduced to only be discarded or used as more fodder for manufactured drama.  Overall, with tons of inconsistently used characters and a host of overused ones, Season 4 of this series overall lacks direction and focus, but what else is new?  The writers are clearly either trolling or phoning it in because they don’t have to try.  Why try something risky when safe pays so well?

Acting Quality (1 point)

New season, same old cast full of fake-looking plastic people and Hallmark retreads.  No emotions are believable and everything seems manufactured and childish.  There’s nothing new to talk about here except for the fate of Daniel Lissing.  Is this an elaborate scheme to generate attention or just the loss of a main actor?  Only time will tell.

Continuity Quality (0 points)

As noted in last season, Season 4 has no plot or character arcs that should be commonplace in recurring series’.  Most characters are static or become more perfect.  There are no plot twists or character complexities.  Though the railroad storyline had potential to be complex, it simply did not reach its full potential.

Conclusion

When Calls the Heart has long been a series that has lost its way.  Living off of the old days at the beginning of the series and constantly reminding us through flashbacks what these cast members used to look like before they became #Hallmarked, Landon Jr. and company are just phoning in episode after episode as their sappy series gets mindlessly renewed time and time again.  But what does it matter as long as they have a faithful following who are intent to grab on to anything of remote substance produced by the pharmaceutical-backed mother channel that still tries to pretend like it’s about greeting cards.  It still remains true that When Calls the Heart fills a huge void of wholesome entertainment that no one else seems to be able to fill with anything more substantial than this.  So here we sit, in mediocrity and safeness.

 

Final Rating: 3.5 out of 14 points

 

April 29, 2017January 19, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Historical, Inspirational, Romance, Series ReviewsTags: #Hallmarked, 2017, Adam Bergquist, Adam Greydon Reid, Ali Skovbye, Amélie Eve, Andrea Brooks, Andrew Dunbar, Anthony Konechny, Aren Buchholz, Ava Grace Cooper, Believe Pictures, Ben Corns, Ben Rosenbaum, Brian Bird, Callum Seagram Airlie, Camden Filtness, Carter Ryan Evancic, Christian Michael Cooper, Christian Sloan, Daniel Arnold, Daniel Lissing, Duncan Fraser, Eileen Pedde, Eliza Norbury, Erica Carroll, Erin Krakow, Eva Bourne, Genea Charpentier, Gracyn Shinyei, Hallmark, Hannah Pederson, Hannah Zirke, Hrothgar Mathews, Imogen Tear, Jack Wagner, Jaiven Natt, Jeremy Guilbaut, Johannah Newmarch, John Emmet Tracy, Josie Bissett, Julian Christopher, Julie Fairweather, Kadence Kendall Roach, Kavan Smith, Larissa Albuquerque, Liam Hughes, Loretta Walsh, Lori Loughlin, Mark Humphrey, Martin Cummins, Mason McKenzie, Matthew Clarke, Michael Landon Jr., Milo Shandel, Natasha Quirke, Nelson Leis, Niall Matter, Nikolas Dukic, Pascale Hutton, Paul Greene, Preston Vanderslice, Robert Parent, Spencer Drever, Terence Kelly, Tom Belding, When Calls the Heart series 5 Comments

The Confession [2013] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Leaving her Amish family behind in order to discover who she truly is in the world, Katie Lapp soon discovers that the Englisher life is harder than she anticipated.  She tries to work a restaurant job while searching for the mother she never met, Laura Mayfield-Bennet.  As a wealthy woman with a terminal illness, Laura is wary of leaving too much for her husband, Dylan, to gamble away like he has before.  She longs to find the long lost daughter she gave up years before, but she gives up all hope until one day, a miracle seemingly occurs.  Has her daughter really returned to her or has her husband pulled another one of his tricks?  In the midst of the confusion, Katie Lapp must keep her head above water and trust that God is in control.

 

Production Quality (2.5 points)

Michael Landon Jr. and Brian Bird always seem like they are on the cusp of production greatness, and The Confession inches closer to production perfection, improving from the standard performance of The Shunning.  Camera work is highly professional, as is video quality.  Sound quality is good across the board.  The sets and locations are more realistic and diverse than the previous installment and give the film a tangible feel.  Yet two areas—the soundtrack and the editing—keep this production from being all it could be.  For one, The Confession utilizes a vanilla Hallmark-ish soundtrack that doesn’t inspire much.  For another, there are some lapses of editing, namely some odd assumptions, leaps in logic, and plot holes.  For the most part, the editing is fine, but there are just enough errors to create a small amount of confusion.  But in the end, this is actually a really good production and showcases what the Landon Jr. crew can do.

Plot and Storyline Quality (2 points)

The Confession is more complex than The Shunning and it is really an interesting storyline.  The structure is unique and is mostly not one that is commonly used.  The conflict is slightly simple, but at least it’s not a copy of a copy of a copy.  Characters feel more real in the second movie than in the first one, and this is probably because of some more meaningful and deeper dialogue.  But there are a few silly moments that keep the character development from being all that it could be.  Elsewhere, as previously mentioned, there are some plot holes and leaps and logic that are inserted just to keep the plot moving to a desired conclusion.  For instance, how did replacement servant never arrive from ‘the agency’ and expose Katie for not being the replacement servant?  This allows the plot to progress forward to its desired conclusion with a dramatic will-signing scene.  For the most part, the error finding in this film is a little bit nitpicky, but we would have preferred to see the plot progress more naturally and not so carefully orchestrated.  Also, the ending of the film is quite confusing and isolating, obviously just setting up for the next film.  In the end, The Confession is an enjoyable plot with a touching message—it’s just too bad it wasn’t better because it definitely could have been.

Acting Quality (2.5 points)

Usually, changing a handful of the cast members in the middle of a trilogy isn’t a good idea, but it actually helps this franchise.  Katie Leclerc is a much better Katie Lapp and makes her character feel more authentic.  Elsewhere, emotional delivery and line delivery are much improved.  Everyone is cast very appropriately.  For the most part, Landon Jr. and company avoid their usual over-costuming mistakes.  Unfortunately, a handful of minor errors keep the acting quality from being perfect, but it is still a formidable effort.

Conclusion

Landon Jr., Bird, and their comrades have always demonstrated an ability to adapt Christian novels into films, and The Confession is probably their second best.  It’s oh-so-close to being Hall of Fame due to its professional feel and slightly creative plot, but several minor issues become a perfect storm to keep this from happening.  Unfortunately, only major plot reconstruction would have made it any better.  Yet it is good how it is and many people will enjoy this film.  Therefore, we can’t help but wonder that Hallmark’s production absence from this film somehow made it better.

 

Final Rating: 6.5 out of 10 points

July 12, 2016January 16, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Inspirational, Movie ReviewsTags: 2013, 6.5 points, Abigail Pagan, Adrian Paul, Affirm Films, Amish, Believe Pictures, Beverly Lewis, Bill Oberst Jr., Brett Gentile, Brian Bird, Cameron Deane Stewart, David Temple, Hallmark, Inspirational, Julia Whelan, Katie Leclerc, Lancaster County Trilogy, Michael Landon Jr., Michael Rupnow, Mission Pictures International, Odyssey Networks, Ray Collins, Sandra Elise Williams, Shelton Grant, Sherry Stringfield, Steve Boles Leave a comment

The Shunning [2011] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Katie Lapp’s life is about to change.  As a young Amish woman, she is coming of age and has been chosen by Hickory Hollow’s bishop to be his wife in order to raise his two children following the death of his wife.  But Katie is struggling with her Amish identity and wonders if there is another life for her outside of Lancaster County, as she secretly plays non-Amish music on her worldly guitar.  She also misses her true love, Daniel Fisher, after his tragic death.  What’s more, a mysterious Englisher woman has been asking around Lancaster County for Katie by name.  Everything comes to a head as Katie finally must choose between the life she has grown up in and the life she wants to find outside of Hickory Hollow.

 

Production Quality (2 points)

The Shunning has all the typical marks of a Michael Landon Jr.\Brian Bird production: good video quality, professional camera work, vanilla editing, a clichéd setting and surroundings, and unrealistic costuming.  Landon Jr. and Bird have always known how to invest in quality camera work and video quality, but they unfortunately let too many other things fall by the wayside.  This plot is sleepy enough as it is, but the editing does nothing to help this fact.  Slow transitions between scenes and long fadeouts tempt the viewer to fast forward.  There are also too many scenery sequences that could have been used instead to build characters.  Also, it’s really hard to know if the portrayal of the Amish in this film is realistic or if it’s embellished.  Yet there are enough positive elements to lift this production about average status, but we await the day when the Landon Jr.\Bird team finally goes all the way, as they clearly have the means to do.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1.5 points)

Adapted from Beverly Lewis’ popular novel by the same name, The Shunning just carries the entire identity of a stereotypical Amish plot.  As previously mentioned, some of the elements are likely realistic, but we can’t help but think that some real Amish people would feel offended by some of the portrayals.  There is little meaningful plot content as this film is obviously just setting up for the second installment of the trilogy.  Character development is shallow and dialogue is vanilla.  If so much time was going to be spent on preparing for the next film, it was an absolute must for characters to be deep and meaningful by the time the credits rolled.  Unfortunately, this did not happen.  On the brighter side, the use of flashbacks in this film are effective and creative.  The subplot overlay is intriguing and breathes new life into the film about halfway through.  Overall, while there are some interesting points, this plot really doesn’t hold the attention and it’s difficult to know what audience this movie would draw interest from.  As we’ve mentioned in the past, Landon Jr. specializes in bringing Christian novels to the big screen, but too often, the books are better than the movies.

Acting Quality (1.5 points)

With obviously practiced ‘Amish’ accents, dialogue from the cast members is often hard to understand without captioning.  Yet the acting is not terrible and is sometimes quite good.  Emotions are sometimes over the top and other times realistic.  It’s not that this movie was cast wrong—they are not coached good enough.  Therefore, this is just another average contribution to the movie.

Conclusion

The Shunning is one of those movies that, when analyzed, is really not that bad, but it carries an intangible air to it that makes it extremely forgettable.  Landon Jr. and Bird have the ability and potential to make a huge difference in the Christian\inspirational movie field, but they constantly settle for second best.  There are plenty of other more meaningful, creative, and complex Christian novels that desperately need to be made into screenplays, and Landon Jr. and company have demonstrated the willingness and ability to do this.  What Christian film needs is game changers, not the status quo keepers.

 

Final Rating: 5 out of 10 points

July 11, 2016January 16, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Inspirational, Movie ReviewsTags: 2011, Alexa Yeames, Amish, Believe Pictures, Bill Oberst Jr., Brian Bird, Burgess Jenkins, Chris Easterly, Danielle Panabaker, David Topp, five points, Hallmark, Inspirational, Jana Allen, Lancaster County Trilogy, Michael Landon Jr., Mission Pictures International, Nancy Saunders, Odyssey Networks, Richard Fullerton, Sandra Elise Williams, Sherry Stringfield, Tim Holt, Wyatt Lanier Leave a comment

What Audiences Want

Per the Calgary Herald, When Calls the Heart fans, also known as #Hearties, are very much in love with the Hallmark series because it’s family friendly and wholesome.  At the beginning of the show, there was an attempt to craft meaningful characters, and fans still hold on to this, even though character quality has significantly decreased since the inaugural season.  Michael Landon Jr. right hand man Brian Bird has said before that their show fills a deep desire in fans for wholesome entertainment.

So what does this mean?  It means that however cheesy and disappointing WCTH may become, they still have a devoted fan base because there’s nothing else. WCTH exists in a vacuum.  They were obviously trying harder at first because they had to, but now they don’t have to try because there’s no competition in their genre.  This is a sad reality, because there is so much potential in WCTH alone, but we firmly believe that this genre of TV series is largely untapped.  What if there were even better family-friendly weekly series on television and on-demand services?

Christian and inspirational viewers may like certain aspects of non-family-friendly entertainment (this definition is very broad and subjective), they still desperately want wholesome entertainment.  So where are the Christian creative geniuses?  Entertainment still remains to be another area where western Christians have allowed other ideas to fill the vacuum.  The inspirational genre is starved for quality creations.  Hallmark, despite their flaws, would likely approve any series that marketed well and was crafted for their target audience.  The vast world of on-demand entertainment remains untapped by Christians.

What we need is a generation of creative Christians to rise up and redeem entertainment by making better entertainment.  Due to financial constraints, they would obviously have to start out small, but it’s better to start somewhere than nowhere.  If God wants you to create redemptive entertainment, then He will provide.  We must be open to what God wants us to create, because as we have seen, entertainment has a profound effect on western culture and even the entire world.  Christian entertainment has too long been dominated by low-quality and propaganda-ridden sediment, and it’s time for that to change.

June 21, 2016December 31, 2018 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Announcements and Opinion Pieces, Opinion Pieces, Polls, Awards, News, and InterviewsTags: Announcements and Opinion Pieces, Brian Bird, Hallmark, Michael Landon Jr., News, When Calls the Heart series Leave a comment

Saving Sarah Cain (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Sarah Cain used to be a successful column writer, but lately she’s been experiencing writer’s block.  To make matters worse, her Amish sister, whom she hasn’t spoken to in years, suddenly dies, leaving Sarah as the legal guardian of her five Amish nieces and nephews.  In a moment of desperation, Sarah writes a column about the children and accidentally stumbles upon success.  Therefore, she agrees to take the kids to her Chicago apartment in order to secretly continue writing about them.  The five children discover that they are in the midst of culture shock when they must assimilate into big city life on a steep learning curve.  In the end, they will all have to be honest with themselves and each other in order to find the lives they were meant for.

 

Production Quality (1.5 points)

As a part of the Fox Faith era of Christian film, Saving Sarah Cain enjoyed increased production success compared to movies before it.  The camera work is good, but the video quality could be better.  The sound quality is a little above average while the use of music throughout is actually really good.  This is something more Christian films need to do effectively.  The set and locations are believable and diverse.  The editing is pretty good, though there are some parts that leave you scratching your head as to what is actually going on.  Overall, there is really not much else to say regarding Sarah Cain’s production; it all comes out as just average.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1.5 points)

Adapted from the innovative Amish novel The Redemption of Sarah Cain by Beverly Lewis, this film almost captures the original purpose of the book, but not entirely.  The elements are there, but there just isn’t much feeling in this movie.  The characters are portrayed as very one-dimensional, not putting forth the depth they should in this highly character-driven plot.  Since the storyline is so linear, the characters have to take up the slack, but they do not go as far as they need to.  This is likely because the dialogue is very pedestrian and safe.  Safe is actually a good word to use to describe this film.  No risks are taken and no rewards are reaped.  While it is an interesting fish-out-of-water tale, it’s not dynamic enough or deep enough to warrant a higher score.  While there are some interesting psychological elements and backstory throughout, the ending is enough to put a damper on anything creative in the rest of the movie, as it leaves viewers wondering what they were supposed to learn from it.  This film is basically a nice try, but not good enough.

Acting Quality (1 point)

Unfortunately, the acting really drags down the characters.  Most of the characters are cast very poorly; some seem like they are forced into roles not suited for them.  There is the usual touch of Michael Landon Jr. evident in over-costuming the cast members, including those playing Amish characters.  Emotions are overplayed throughout and line delivery is forced most of the time.  While there are some funny moments, the acting is overall a disappointment.

Conclusion

Honestly, this is an instance when the book is better than the movie.  The movie removes meaningful elements from the novel, which is probably why they ended up with the paint-yourself-in-a-corner ending they did.  In addition to being safe, Saving Sarah Cain is also forgettable.  Were it not for its creative use of music (it’s sad that other better movies are not doing this), we probably wouldn’t even remember this film.  While it has plenty of potential, it is a very forced screenplay that unfortunately had little to no impact on Christian films.

 

Final Rating: 4 out of 10 points

 

June 20, 2016January 16, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Inspirational, Movie Reviews, RomanceTags: 4 points, Abigail Mason, Amish, Austin Sharette, Bailee Madison, Believe Pictures, Beverly Lewis, Brian Bird, Brittany Landon, Caitlin E.J. Meyer, Cindy Kelley, Danielle Chuchran, Elliott Gould, Fox Faith, Ian Reed Jones, Inspirational, Jeff Olsen, Jennifer O'Dell, John F. Cruz, Kalburt Dallof, Lisa Pepper, Mark McKenzie, Max Whitaker, Michael Landon Jr., Monique Lanier, Phil Abrams, Redemption Films, Robert Gros, Romance, Scott Christopher, Soren Fulton, Tanner Maguire, Tess Harper, Tom Markus, Tom Tate, Whitney Lee, Yolanda Wood 4 Comments

PureFlix Goes to Court (Updated)

According to multiple sources, Michael Landon Jr. and co-writer Kelly Monore Kullberg are suing David A. R. White and PureFlix, citing large similarities between their film Rise and the PureFlix film God’s Not Dead. Since God’s Not Dead has grossed over $100 million worldwide, Landon Jr. and Kullberg want $100 million in damages for White and company stealing their plot structure and movie idea and using it for their own good.

We’ve never seen the film Rise, so we cannot comment on the similarities, but if this is true, this is a huge setback for the Whites and PureFlix. Even if this comes to nothing, it should be a huge wakeup call for them to create original content and to avoid shady notions. It would be a blow to Christian movie marketing if PureFlix loses this full amount, since they have proven themselves to be effective in marketing Christian films. Yet it would also not be surprising to find that the Whites have been doing funny business all along. These are the kinds of things that can majorly hurt the image of Christian movies even further.

As for the plaintiffs…both of them claim to be Christians and Kullberg is an outspoken atheist convert to Christianity. Landon Jr. has multiple deals with Hallmark to generate his creative content. We can understand their frustration over a stolen idea, but the Bible does warn Christians not to sue other Christians (1 Corinthians 6:1-8). We in no way are ready to defend PureFlix of wrongdoing, but Landon Jr. and Kullberg need to tread very carefully and determine what kind of image this gives to the Christian entertainment world. Satan would like nothing better than to destroy and divide the progress being made in Christian film making.

UPDATE: According to our research, it looks like the movie ‘Rise’ never even made it to production. Instead, the plaintiffs claim that they know their idea was copied because they shared their almost-movie idea with people close to PureFlix while God’s Not Dead was being created. This may or may not strengthen their case, especially if they can prove that they definitely shared the idea with PureFlix while the movie in question was still being written and that they were not compensated for sharing their idea. Of course, they will also have to show that they have exclusive creative control over that movie concept and that their original idea was explicitly copied by PureFlix.

June 7, 2016December 31, 2018 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Polls, Awards, News, and InterviewsTags: David A. R. White, Kelly Monore Kullberg, Michael Landon Jr., News, PureFlix 4 Comments

When Calls the Heart, Season 3 (Series Review)

Plot Summary

Following the shocking proposal of Charles, both Jack and Elizabeth are left confused about the true nature of their relationship.  They must sort out how they really feel about each other, even in the midst of other controversies, including Bill Avery’s dark secrets, the constant schemes of Henry Gowen, and the town’s new adaptations to the logging industry.  Also, new and budding romances are aplenty in the newly christened Hope Valley, along with new colorful characters.  Like always, the people of Hope Valley will have to navigate each new challenge together and keep remembering that hope is just around the corner.

 

Production Quality (1 point)

So, for starters, the production quality of When Calls the Heart diminishes significantly in Season 3.  The camera work stays the same as always, but the sets and locations are severely limited, with obvious reuses of them.  The characters rarely do anything outside of the winding street of Walnut Grove Hope Valley.  As usual, the costuming and makeup is worse than ever, making it impossible for the audience to believe that these people are supposed to be low to middle class frontier people.  The musical score is abysmal and the editing is all over the map, mostly settling for an episode-by-episode approach.  There’s nothing wrong with this, but as will be discussed later, it disrupts the original purpose of this show.  In short, corners were cut in this season, demonstrating an overall lack of regard for quality.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

Not only is the Season 2 ‘cliffhanger’ resolved with lightning speed, it is quickly replaced with one mindless storyline after another.  People do this and that, Harriet Olson Rosemary schemes stuff, the town has events, people come and go, and Jack and Elizabeth continue a mind-numbing and painful dance of on and off romance.  The Hamilton characters are kicked out; we’re not sure if this was a blessing or a curse.  Bill Avery, once a promising double agent character, is reduced to a washed up guy who hangs around town.  Henry Gowen continues his usual bad guy stuff and generally accomplishes nothing.  Ever the town counselor, Caroline Ingalls Missy LaHaye Abigail acts like she’s doing things like running a diner and riding horses and taking care of orphans.  Elizabeth attempts to teach and play acts a hard working frontier woman while Jack does Mountie stuff.  Lots of things are talked about that happened off screen.  The Christian message is long gone by now, replaced with trite Joel Osteen sayings from Abigail and Pastor Hogan.  Shallow subplots are introduced and quickly resolved.  Overall, there is zero creativity in this season and the much-anticipated season finale climax fizzles out with the New Year’s fireworks at the beginning.  The writers give us no reason whatsoever to want another season, because there is no direction whatsoever anymore in this series.  But in the upside down world of Hallmark, Michael Landon Jr. and company trolled the ‘#Hearties’ for an entire season of false pretense and proved that they could do whatever they wanted and still get renewed.  The mind boggles.

Acting Quality (.5 point)

The acting has been on a downward trend since the first season, but Season 3 reaches new lows.  The starring cast demonstrates they have no intention to try to be good at acting, nor do they have to try.  Any air of professionalism demonstrated in previous seasons is gone, replaced with mindless line delivery and forced emotions.  Every scene seems very staged and fake, just actors and actresses saying lines they don’t really care about.  The only thing that keeps this portion from being zero is some slightly interesting acting from certain cast members.

Continuity Quality (0 points)

As previously mentioned, the original purpose of When Calls the Heart has been washed away in that flash flood or that mud slide.  The continuity collapsed along with the mine (again).  There is no driving purpose to Season 4.  Once this show’s strongest point, the continuity has been completely abandoned in favor of a mindless stretch if silly episode that accomplish next to nothing.

Conclusion

This was such a disappointing season to endure.  There was so much potential in this show, but it has been tossed by the wayside.  It’s so sad to know that an opportunity to create truly quality and far-reaching Christian entertainment has been squandered in favor of more fake and manufactured ideas.  We get that from Hallmark all the time—why not change things up?  The viewers are not stupid, so why treat them that way?  Creators need to think better of their audiences and give them shows that provoke the imagination and challenge the status quo, not lull them to sleep or incite undue laughter.  It is clear that they knew they could do whatever they wanted and still get renewed, and it is likely that Season 4 will still be heavily watched.  But we at Box Office Revolution are still waiting for someone to use Hallmark resources for a better purpose: to create a show or movie series that is dynamic and truly changes things up.  We sincerely believe this is what God has called some Christians to do, and we wait to promote and support whoever will accept the challenge.

 

Final Rating: 1.5 out of 14 points

 

April 19, 2016January 19, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Historical, Inspirational, Romance, Series ReviewsTags: 2016, Ali Milner, Ali Skovbye, Andrea Brooks, Ava Grace Cooper, Ben Rosenbaum, Brooke Shields, Carter Ryan Evancic, Daniel Lissing, Erica Carroll, Erin Krakow, Eva Bourne, Genea Charpentier, Gracyn Shinyei, Hallmark, Historical, Jack Wagner, Jaiven Natt, Janette Oke, Jason Cermak, Johannah Newmarch, Kavan Smith, Kristina Wagner, Larissa Albuquerque, Logan Williams, Loretta Walsh, Lori Loughlin, Madison Smith, Mark Humphrey, Martin Cummins, Michael Landon Jr., Neill Fearnley, Oscar the Dog, Pascale Hutton, Romance, When Calls the Heart series 3 Comments

When Calls the Heart, Season 2 (Series Review)

Plot Summary

With the high-stakes trial against the corrupt Henry Gowen’s coal company brewing in Coal Valley, Elizabeth Thatcher, Jack Thornton, and Abigail Stanton all have other issues of their own to deal with.  Just as she and Jack begin growing closer together, Elizabeth feels a pull from her well-to-do family in Hamilton to come back them.  She soon feels her relationship with Jack become clouded by an old childhood friend.  Jack’s troublesome brother resurfaces and forms an ill-advised connection to Elizabeth’s family.  As Abigail discovers the hard truth about Bill Avery, she also receives word of a family member she never knew she had.  With new and sometimes frightening things on the horizon, the people of Coal Valley must band together and be prepared to face the unexpected.

 

Production Quality (2 points)

Despite increased popularity and an obviously increased budget, Season 2 of When Calls the Heart does not gain any more ground in production quality.  For what it’s worth, it doesn’t lose any ground either.  Camera work is the same, including great angles and video quality.  Sound quality is the same, and unfortunately, so is the vanilla soundtrack.  The introduction of new surroundings—Hamilton—is both a blessing and a curse.  As they progress, series should change and do different things as to not get stuck in a location rut, but Hamilton also brings with it a license for Michael Landon Jr. and company to commit one of their favorite errors—pageantry and over-costuming.  Characters in both Coal Valley and Hamilton are transformed, almost into dolls.  It would be one thing to pose a distinction between rich city characters and frontier characters, but this does not occur.  In other issues, the editing does not improve in Season 2, as it is still equally choppy as Season 1.  In short, Landon Jr. and company once again fall into the typical Hallmark trap: pretty good production with overdone and unrealistic costuming.  This puts a damper on a series with huge potential.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1.5 points)

The season begins on a strange note by discarding an otherwise interesting wildcard character and by quickly and easily resolving the coal mine trial without any real suspense or appreciation.  It’s like the writers were just trying to rush to something else, but it’s not clear what they were rushing to.  The Hamilton subplots are intriguing, but it’s hard to feel like there’s any real meaning or purpose behind them.  Season 2’s central plot and subplots not only water down the original Christian message, but they also feel shallow.  For the most part, the original characters remain mostly intact, but the newer characters are not developed as they should be.  Bill Avery perhaps has the most interesting character arc and shows potential for the next season.  However, Season 2 ends on a head-scratching note with a slightly forced cliff hanger that only seems to be begging Hallmark for a renewal.  In summary, while there was great potential in a Season 1 follow-up for further character development, Season 2 falls flat and does not meet expectations.

Acting Quality (1.5 points)

Despite a largely similar cast to Season 1, Season 2’s cast takes the foot off the brakes, so to speak, and seems to not try as hard as before.  Several actors and actresses, including Erin Krakow and most of the Hamilton characters, seem to be overplaying their roles and forcing emotion.  Some actors and actresses remain the same, but the biggest issue here is that no one improves.  This should be the case in a television series.

Continuity Quality (1.5 points)

Within the season, Season 2 is fairly consistent as far as internal subplots.  It is hard to discern its overall arc except for indecision.  However, the relationship between Season 1 and Season 2 is disjointed.  The increased budget popularity seemed to make the writers think that they did not need to preserve the honest originality of Season 1, because they didn’t.  This was a disappointment.

Conclusion

There was much anticipation and expectations following the unprecedented success of When Calls the Heart, Season 1, yet Season 2 failed to meet these.  As a season itself, it was about average, and would have been fine as another pilot season.  But sophomore seasons should build of the successes of the first, eliminate mistakes, and overall improve, not start over at square one.  The writers have given themselves an interesting choice and framework to work within for Season 3, and it will be interesting see how it goes.  This concept has loads of potential in its corner—time will tell how it plays out.

 

Final Rating: 6.5 out of 14 points

 

April 17, 2016January 19, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Historical, Inspirational, Romance, Series ReviewsTags: 2015, Andrea Brooks, Ben Rosenbaum, Carter Ryan Evancic, Charlotte Hegele, Daniel Lissing, Devon Weigel, Erica Carroll, Erin Krakow, Eva Bourne, Garwin Sanford, Gracyn Shinyei, Hallmark, Historical, Hrothgar Mathews, Jack Wagner, Janette Oke, Johannah Newmarch, Katelyn Mager, Kavan Smith, Kristina Wagner, Logan Williams, Loretta Walsh, Lori Loughlin, Lynda Boyd, Marcus Rosner, Mark Humphrey, Martin Cummins, Michael Landon Jr., Mitchell Kummen, Neill Fearnley, Oscar the Dog, Pascale Hutton, Romance, When Calls the Heart series 1 Comment

When Calls the Heart, Season 1 (Series Review)

Plot Summary

Elizabeth Thatcher always dreamed of helping students in struggling western America towns, but when she arrives in Coal Valley, she realizes that her privileged eastern life has not prepared her for the task at hand.  Recently hit with the tragedy of the local mine collapsing and killing most of the men in town, the survivors, mostly widows, are still reeling and trying to come to grips with their new lives.  Elizabeth is tasked not only with teaching children who just lost their fathers but also with adapting to the new unfamiliar and rugged surroundings that stand in stark contrast to how she grew up.  She finds solace in her friendship with Abigail Stanton, the strongest of the widows, who is determined to bring the mine owner to justice for the death of her husband and son.  Elizabeth’s life is also complicated by her budding relationship with local Canadian Mountie Jack Thornton, who has been sent to investigate the nature of the mine collapse.  Elizabeth, Abigail, and Jack must not only grapple with the challenges in front of them, but must also discover that love is not what you expect at first.

 

Production Quality (2 points)

It’s definitely about time that someone started making good Christian television series.  There’s no better way to start than to adapt from a talented Christian author with established novel series.  As far as production goes, the first season of When Calls the Heart has meager beginnings but a lot of good honest and raw material.  The camera work is professional, including good angles and video quality.  For the most part, in a break with previous habits of Michael Landon Jr. and his crews, the costuming is mostly realistic to the time period and setting.  The setting and surroundings are realistic, even if the sets are somewhat limited.  The musical score is just average.  The editing needs some work, since there are unnecessary rabbit trails, but this is to be expected of these sorts of TV shows.  The main point is that for a pilot season in mostly uncharted territory, season one was mostly a production success.  With a few small things tweaked, it could have been perfect.

Plot and Storyline Quality (2 points)

Though season one slightly departs from the original plot structure crafted by Janette Oke, it is not a major mistake at this point.  The overall plotline stays mostly faithful to Oke’s original purposes.  Within the overarching plot, there are multiple subplots, as expected from a TV show, some of which are quickly resolved and others of which are intriguing.  Throughout this season, the main characters—Elizabeth, Jack, and Abigail—are fairly well developed through witty and believable dialogue.  The circumstances and events that the characters experience are realistic.  In the end, this section is held back from being, once again, by a host of small issues, such as underdeveloped or stereotypical supporting characters and subplots not reaching their full potential.  Even with this, the plots are very interesting watch and the end of the season makes the viewer want more.  In short, Season 1 ended on a high note and left the door open for greater things to be achieved.

Acting Quality (2 points)

The cast of Season 1 is a mixture of professional and semi-professional.  For the most part, the actors and actresses deliver their lines well and demonstrate believable emotion.  Unfortunately, some of the supporting cast leaves something to be desired and the main cast does not live up to their full potential.  As is the case with the remainder of the season, small issues plague the acting and keep it from being its best.  But despite these small problems, the cast shows great potential for future seasons.

Continuity Quality (3 points)

When it comes to within-season continuity, Season 1 achieves a perfect score.  The driving purpose of the season is to discover the truth behind the mine disaster, and this is not wavered from.  Character arcs are both static and dynamic, a perfect balance.  By the end of the season, it feels like the characters are different than they were at the beginning, without compromising personality traits.  This should be the goal of continuity.  Season 1 sets the standard for continuity quality.

Conclusion

When Calls the Heart, Season 1 has almost everything we can ask from a pilot season: above average characters, intriguing plotlines, realistic surroundings, a professional cast, and a driving purpose.  Small alterations to plot and\or character quality would have changed everything for Season 1 and would have made it Hall of Fame, something to truly be proud of.  But even as it is, Season 1 is enjoyable and will forever be a landmark achievement in the history of Christian TV shows and series.  It created anticipation of another season and proved that Christian shows can be quality.

 

Final Rating: 9 out of 14 points

 

April 11, 2016January 19, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Historical, Inspirational, Romance, Series ReviewsTags: 2014, Daniel Lissing, Erica Carroll, Erin Krakow, Gracyn Shinyei, Hallmark, Historical, Jack Wagner, Janette Oke, Johannah Newmarch, Loretta Walsh, Lori Loughlin, Martin Cummins, Michael Landon Jr., Neill Fearnley, Pascale Hutton, Romance, When Calls the Heart series 14 Comments

Love’s Unfolding Dream (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Raised by her new family, Belinda Tyler is now ready to set out and make a life for herself, even though the culture she lives in frowns upon women pursuing professional careers.  She is finally and begrudgingly allowed by the local doctor to assist him in a small role, and she gets a ‘big break’ one day when a wealthy yet elderly woman has a stroke in the middle of town and is confined to bed.  Belinda becomes her nurse and physical therapist, but that’s not the only task on her mind—a young lawyer has come to town to ready some inherited property for sale, and the two of them clash over their views of women’s roles in society.  Little do either of them know that their carefully chosen paths are about to be altered forever.

 

Production Quality (1.5 points)

Another unnecessary installment in the Love Comes Softly series, another quasi-inspirational director.  The story of Unfolding Dream’s production is much like the latter installment.  The video quality and camera work are solid.  The sound quality, however, is sometimes inconsistent.  The historical surroundings are fairly well done, but they are obviously limited in scope, as the same sets are used excessively.  As will be discussed in depth later in this review, the costuming and makeup are particular horrible in this film.  Finally, the editing is uneven, pasting stock scenes together in an attempt to create a movie.  In short, there is really nothing new here—at this point, the saga settled into average production quality and awful plots and acting.

Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)

Though Michael Landon Jr. returned to the writing department, things did not improve.  It cannot be understated that the original intent of Janette Oke’s work has been completely abandoned and replaced with a shallow inspirational ‘plot’.  ‘Plot’ is relative because a collection of random empty sequences depicting silly stereotypical frontier characters is not a true storyline.  Characters go here and there, from one place to the next, with no real plot flow.  Dialogue is very hollow, thus forming plastic characters.  The “excuse for Drew to go to the doctor” device is highly overused.  While discussing the roles of frontier women is an interesting topic, it cannot be properly appreciated in the context of this film.  The only other thing that keeps this plot from being zero is the intriguing underdeveloped subplot between Belinda and Mrs. Stafford-Smythe.  Yet there are also other useless subplots shoved into the storyline, likely to increase the movie’s runtime.  Therefore, less than a full point must be awarded here.

Acting Quality (0 points)

It doesn’t really get any worse than this.  From exotic frontier hairdos to extravagant makeup to fake country accents, the overall acting quality barely escaped negative points.  The continued commitment of Dale Midkiff and Erin Cottrell to this franchise derails it.  There is no acting coaching employed; too many supporting characters come off as robotic.  Due to the poor acting, the audience cannot relate to these characters.

Conclusion

As the saga slugs on, it becomes increasingly apparent that the writing team didn’t have that many ideas.  Rushing up and forcing new romances and courtships into every new movie demonstrates lack of creativity and borderline obsession.  The question must be asked again: was the original Janette Oke plot really so bad that this was used instead?  We think not, and would advise future novel adaptations to do their best to stay faithful to the original story, unless they can find a way to improve it.

 

Final Rating: 2 out of 10 points

March 2, 2016January 17, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Historical, Inspirational, Movie Reviews, Romance, WesternTags: 2 points, 2007, Alexis Raich, Alpine Medien Productions, Brian Gordon, Cindy Kelley, Dale Midkiff, Darian Weiss, Devon Abner, Erik Olson, Erin Cottrell, Hallmark, Harvey Frost, Historical, Inspirational, J.C. Brandy, Janette Oke, John Prosky, Kelsey Lewis, Larry Levinson, Larry Levinson Productions, Lori Rom, Love Comes Softly series, Love Finds You in a Doctor's Office, Michael Landon Jr., Nancy Linehan Charles, Patrick Levis, Paul Ganus, Randall Bentley, RHI Entertainment, Richard Herd, Robert Pine, Romance, Samantha Smith, Scout Taylor-Compton, Stephen Graziano, Tahmus Rounds, Timmy Deters, Victor Browne, Western 2 Comments

Love’s Abiding Joy (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

When Clark Davis makes a cross-country journey to visit the LaHaye’s cattle ranch, he finds a family trying to hold things together as they ride through tough financial times.  Problems are only compounded when the infant Kathy LaHaye dies suddenly of unknown causes.  Each family member is scattered from each other, dealing with grief in different unhealthy ways.  Willie is forced to take an extra job as the town sheriff as many local families are struggling to make ends meet under the firm grip of the cruel mayor Samuel Doros.  With so many negative circumstances pressing in around them, the Clark and the LaHayes will have to pull together and remember that the darkest times come right before the light.

 

Production Quality (2 points)

Consistent with the previous Love Comes Softly films, the production quality of Love’s Abiding Joy is above average.  The video quality and sound quality are solid.  The camera work is professional.  However, there are some minor issues here, such as the stock musical score.  In keeping with a main Michael Landon Jr. error, the costuming, especially the makeup, is inconsistent with the historical period.  Also, the editing is very choppy, not giving any opportunity to truly engage in the story, as will be discussed further next.  But in sum, Abiding Joy looks good on the surface and is mostly good in this area.

Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)

As previously alluded to, the plot seems like a collection of random scenes glued together.  It meanders without any real identity, forcing too many different issues together in one storyline.  In the midst of this, the tragic struggles of the characters cannot be connected with or accessed by the audience because they seem very shallow.  The dialogue is quite stock; no care is given to originality.  Each character is very procedural and stereotypical, including the cheesy villain.  Abiding Joy begins a new theme of the remainder of the Love Comes Softly series: forced extra romance subplots.  At this point, the original novel plots have been completely abandoned.  On a brighter note, this grief story had some great potential, but it was left untapped.  There is a slightly interesting twist at the end of the story, but it’s pretty much washed over by all the other negative elements.  Unfortunately, that’s the only good that can be said.

Acting Quality (.5 point)

Abiding Joy marks the beginning of vain actors and actresses in this film franchise.  Dale Midkiff once again takes on a large role in this movie, and it’s not a good thing.  Other cast members portray annoying forced emotions and awkward line delivery.  Erin Cottrell has a lot of half-screamed lines.  The only good element to bring light to here is the presence of at least some good acting, though it’s just not enough.

Conclusion

Love’s Abiding Joy had just as much of an original idea behind the plot as Love’s Long Journey did, but the originality is left on the proverbial playing field.  We need more movies about the real struggles of families portrayed in realistic settings, but this film just doesn’t cut it.  There was a significant decrease in overall quality in this fourth Love Comes Softly installment, and unfortunately, it was the unhindered beginning of a major slide for the film saga.

 

Final Rating: 3 out of 10 points

February 29, 2016January 18, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Historical, Inspirational, Movie Reviews, Romance, WesternTags: 2006, 3 points, Alpine Medien Productions, Blake Gibbons, Brett Coker, Brianna Brown, Bridget Terry, Dale Midkiff, Douglas Lloyd McIntosh, Drew Tyler Bell, Erik Olson, Erin Cottrell, Fox Faith, Frank McRae, Historical, Inspirational, James Tupper, Janette Oke, John Laughlin, Kevin Gage, Kevin Kiner, Larry Levinson, Larry Levinson Productions, Logan Bartholomew, Love Comes Softly series, Madison Leisle, Mae Whitman, Michael Landon Jr., Romance, Stephen Bridgewater, Thomas Stanley, Western, William Morgan Sheppard 1 Comment

Love’s Long Journey (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Following their marriage, Willie and Missy LaHaye set off further west to begin a life of their own by building their own cattle ranch business.  They set out with no one but each other to lean on and begin forming relationships with people in the small settlement near their land.  Willie assembles a team of castoff ranch hands while Missy seeks to assist local Native Americans in their educational pursuits.  They are surrounded by hurting and hungry people who need what they have to offer, but little do they know that evil also lurks around the corner, wanting to steal what they have worked hard for.  The LaHayes will have to dig deep and cling to everything they learned back home in order to weather the storm.

 

Production Quality (3 points)

Love’s Long Journey marks the high point of the Love Comes Softly series in multiple ways, and especially in production quality.  The camera work, video quality, and sound quality are all solid.  This is the most authentic-looking Love movie when it comes to props, costuming, sets, and locations.  Great care was obviously taken to make this film as realistic as possible, and it shows.  Constantly dealing with farm animals on set is neither easy nor something you see often in Christian films, but Long Journey pulls this off without errors.  In short, the production of this film is flawless.

Plot and Storyline Quality (2.5 points)

While it is still not entirely accurate to the novel, Long Journey is the best flowing and dynamic plot of the film franchise.  The characters, although they still need some deepening.  It’s refreshing that there are some different characters in this plot that are not typical frontier romance characters.  In that vein, there is no new romance\courtship, but an actual portrayal of married life—what a concept!  While the dialogue as a whole is just average, there is some truly good humor throughout.  The end of this plot, though slightly predictable, is actually epic and has a unique twist to it.  However, the villains in this plot are extremely cheesy and unrealistic.  Also, we felt that the subplot between the two brothers needed to be explored further and to take on a larger role in the film.  But besides these small issues, this is a solid plot that deserves recognition.

Acting Quality (1 point)

This is where this movie loses Hall of Fame momentum.  Changing actors and\or actresses in the middle of a franchise is rarely a good idea, especially when it’s a downgrade.  We realize that sometimes you can’t retain actresses, but January Jones was a much better missy than Erin Cottrell.  Unfortunately, a majority of Cottrell’s lines seem forced and strained—she is the main reason this movie is not as good as it could have been, especially since she plays the central character.  But even still, this is the best acted movie of the franchise, with just average acting.  On a brighter note, Long Journey has an actually fair portrayal of Native Americans by using real Native American actors—another novel concept.

Conclusion

Love’s Long Journey is another one of those movies that really could have been something great.  It had all the tools—originality, great production, honest portrayal.  But one poor starring actor or actress can really spoil a movie; this film is an unfortunate example of this.  Regardless, this is an enjoyable movie that many people will find acceptable.  It was a symbol in its era of better Christian movies and it can be used as a blueprint today on how to—and not to—revive a franchise to greatness.

 

Final Rating: 6.5 out of 10 points

 

February 28, 2016January 18, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Historical, Inspirational, Movie Reviews, Romance, WesternTags: 2005, 6.5 points, Alpine Medien Productions, Cindy Kelley, Colin McCabe, Dale Midkiff, Diane Salinger, Douglas Lloyd McIntosh, Erik Olson, Erin Cottrell, Fox Faith, Frank McRae, Gil Birmingham, Graham Phillips, Hallmark, Historical, Inspirational, Irene Bedard, James Tupper, Janette Oke, Jeff Kober, Jerry Louie-McGee, Johann Urb, John Savage, Kevin Kiner, Larry Levinson, Larry Levinson Productions, Logan Bartholomew, Love Comes Softly series, Michael Landon Jr., Richard Lee Jackson, Robert Norsworthy, Romance, Stephen Bridgewater, Tucker Louie-McGee, Western, William Morgan Sheppard, Willie Arnold Davis 2 Comments

Love’s Enduring Promise (Movie Review)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Plot Summary

Years after Clark and Marty Davis settled into their new life together, their family is prosperous and successful.  Missy Davis is a young woman now with a job and a mind of her own.  All seems well until tragedy strikes—Clark receives a serious injury in a wood-cutting accident, which sends the entire family into a search for answers and hope.  While taking care of Clark and praying for healing, Marty and Missy must work the fields in order to have the crops done in time for harvest.  At the end of their rope, they suddenly receive help from an unexpected source.  Little do they know that God has been watching over them all along and will allow them to be a part of His special plan.

 

Production Quality (2.5 points)

Michael Landon Jr. and Hallmark, in this installment, continued to showcase production superiority over other Christian films of the era.  Love’s Enduring Promise has realistic sets and locations and great camera work.  The video and sound quality are solid, including well-filmed outside scenes.  The costuming is pretty good, with some minor issues regarding period authenticity.  The only other caveats to raise are some poorly created special effects and inconsistent editing.  At the beginning, the movie makes sense, but it becomes very rushed and choppy at the end, as will be explained next.  Nonetheless, the Love Comes Softly series, at this point, was still produced well.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1.5 points)

As previously mentioned, the first half of the movie is interesting and it feels like the audience will really be able to get to know Janette Oke’s characters.  However, once the major conflict is easily resolved, the plot meanders from there and comes to a predictable and forced conclusion.  Besides this, this film is an inaccurate adaptation of original novel that does not improve upon the original plot.  There are too many plot holes and unnecessary characters that only provide filler time.  The inevitable romance seems forced; it’s hard to really appreciate what’s going on because the characters are too shallow. While the dialogue is okay, the characters need to be deeper.  There is some real humor, but the Christian message is forced and not meaningful.  In short, this plot had a lot of potential to be different and interesting and to package a profound Christian message into a movie with authentic, accessible characters, but it only comes off as half-measures.

Acting Quality (.5 point)

The cast size increased for the second installment, but the quality decreased.  There are only a handful of good actors and actresses; the child actors are not coached well.  Line delivery is overly dramatic, like every line is supposed to be a deep spiritual truth.  But at the same time, emotions seem shallow.  Unfortunately, low quality acting derails an otherwise above average film.

Conclusion

Janette Oke’s beloved series has a mountain of good content where deep characters and realistic frontier struggles are concerned.  However, Michael Landon Jr. and team did not capture what they needed to capture.  Love Comes Softy could have been an epic saga, but we are only left to wonder what could have been.  Most audiences will be fine with Love’s Enduring Promise, mostly because of the era it was released in, but it needed something more.  In the future, we hope that this movie genre is redeemed from ‘just okay’ status.

 

Final Rating: 4.5 out of 10 points

February 28, 2016January 18, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Historical, Inspirational, Movie Reviews, Romance, WesternTags: 2004, 4.5 points, Blaine Pate, Cara DeLizia, Cindy Kelley, Cliff De Young, Dale Midkiff, Dominic Scott Kay, Douglas Fisher, E.J. Callahan, Fox Faith, Hallmark, Historical, Inspirational, Janette Oke, January Jones, K'Sun Ray, Katherine Heigl, Katia Coe, Kesun Loder, Kevin Kiner, Larry Levinson, Larry Levinson Productions, Lincoln Lageson, Logan Arens, Logan Bartholomew, Love Comes Softly series, Mackenzie Astin, Matthew Peters, Michael Bartel, Michael Landon Jr., Randy Pope, Robert F. Lyons, Romance, Western 3 Comments

Love Comes Softly (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Taken to the unknown Western lands of America by her husband Aaron, Marty Claridge doesn’t know what to do when her husband dies in a tragic accident.  Alone in a strange land, she accepts the offer of a widower named Clark Davis to marry him for convenience until she can go back home to the East.  As she struggles to cope with her own loss and deal with Clark’s spirited daughter Missy, who is still dealing with the tragic loss of her mother, Marty slowly realizes that she will miss the Davis home when she has to leave.  She will have to decide what will prevail—her heart or her head.

 

Production Quality (2.5 points)

For the most part, Michael Landon Jr. knows what he’s doing when it comes to production.  This was during the heyday of Fox Faith and Hallmark, and it is easy to understand what set inspirational semi-Christian films like this one apart from movies in its genre before it.  The video quality is clear and outside scenes are filmed well.  The camera work is professional.  Care was taken to make the surroundings and props authentic to the time period.  However, the musical score is stock and the editing is just average.  Too many events take place off screen, things that could have set this movie apart from other romances.  But in the end, the production is likely this film’s greatest asset.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1.5 points)

Adapted from the first novel of Janette Oke’s famous series, Love Comes Softly is an intriguing plot.  This film is likely the most accurate to the original story of the whole movie franchise.  A marriage of convenience plot is not that uncommon, yet it was common for the frontier settlement time period.  Other authentic historical factors are captured.  The dialogue is good, but not great, but the characters are at the very least believable.  But with a simplistic commonly used plot, character deepening is greatly needed.  Unfortunately, Love Comes Softly, though it had the runtime to accomplish this, did not do it.  This is why the plot comes out of just average.

Acting Quality (1 point)

This was a small cast and was far better than many Christian film casts of the time, but it still was plagued with errors.  Some characters (as we will see later from Michael Landon Jr.) are too done-up for the time period, i.e., too much makeup and manicures.  But compared to later, Love Comes Softly was great in this area.  Yet other problems remain.  Only two or three actors are truly good.  Katherine Heigl and Dale Midkiff are okay in their roles, but they needed refining.  Once again, in a small-scope, simplistic plot, acting is essential, and this cast was only marginal.

Conclusion

Love Comes Softly marked the beginning of an era for Michael Landon Jr., Hallmark, and popular author Janette Oke.  Oke captured believable, seemingly common historical characters in her novels and brought them to life for audiences to enjoy.  However, the film franchise did not necessarily do this.  Love Comes Softly is a strong enough beginning and demanded stronger follow-ups.  But if you are looking for a well-produced, semi-typical Christian romance, this is the film for you, and you will not be disappointed.

 

Final Rating: 5 out of 10 points

February 27, 2016January 18, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Historical, Inspirational, Movie Reviews, Romance, WesternTags: 2003, Adam Loeffler, Ain't No Time For That, Alpine Medien Productions, Cindy Kelley, Corbin Bernsen, Dale Midkiff, Dani Goldman, David Fine, Dean Landon, five points, Fox Faith, Hallmark, Historical, Inspirational, Janette Oke, Katherine Heigl, Ken Thorne, Kevin Bocarde, Kyle A. Clark, Larry Levinson, Larry Levinson Productions, Love Comes Softly series, Michael Landon Jr., Nick Scoggin, Oliver Macready, Romance, Skye McCole Bartusiak, Theresa Russell, Tiffany Amber Knight, Western, Wild Woman With an Axe, William Ashford 3 Comments

The Ultimate Life (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Jason Stevens has inherited his grandfather’s massive fortune, but he has lost his way in life.  He is successful at putting the money to good use helping others, but he seems to never have any time for his longtime girlfriend Alexia, who he does not realize has plans of her own.  On top of this, Jason’s family is suing him for the family fortune.  When he wakes up one day and suddenly finds Alexia has left the country, he doesn’t know what to do.  Therefore, he goes to his old friend Hamilton, who produces the diary of Jason’s grandfather so Jason can learn from his grandfather’s mistakes before he repeats them.

 

Production Quality (.5 point)

The video quality is clear, but unfortunately, that’s all that can be said for the production of The Ultimate Life.  The sound quality varies depending on the type of scene.  The camera work is also very random—sometimes good and sometimes shaky.  The sets and locations are pretty good and fairly historically accurate, but some of them are unprofessionally presented.  Perhaps the worst part is the editing.  It is already difficult enough to transpose a past plotline onto a present day plotline, but The Ultimate Life comes off as very choppy and hard to follow.  The scenes are all over the place, sometimes depicting a vague World War II battle and sometimes depicting an awkward 1940s high school (the actors seem too old for high school though) dance.  The bottom line is that where the resources were available to make this a successful movie, they were not utilized.

Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)

This plot is meant to be another book adaptation, but it is nothing like the book that bears the same name.  However, there wasn’t really much to work with in the book anyway.  In this film, the life of Red Stevens is displayed at breakneck speed, thus not allowing any time for character development.  While this could have been a very interesting tale of success, decline, and corruption, the story sputters along like an old car.  It seems like multiple different movie ideas were spliced together into one, since the story hops along through time, only hitting the highlights and those moments that can be easily connected to the first installment in the series.  The dialogue is mindless, and thus, the characters are empty.  The only good thing to highlight here is that this plot had potential—the story of Red Stevens is not necessarily a happy one, but it could have been used as an example of how to handle success and how to put family first.  But beyond this, there is nothing to say except that it seems like, rather than actually craft a meaningful plot to showcase an interesting topic, the crew thought up a whole bunch of tongue in cheek references to the more successful Ultimate Gift and transposed it on a post-Depression era backdrop.

Acting Quality (.5 point)

The actors and actresses are given no help.  Therefore, the line delivery is very forced and no emotional expression is authentic.  It seems like this cast could have been better than they are in this film, but nothing materializes.  As a side note, it is difficult to cast multiple actors for one character across a timespan, but The Ultimate Life handles this pretty well.  But unfortunately, that is the only good thing to mention.

Conclusion

The Ultimate Gift was a great film, and it is understandable why a prequel was requested.  There was a lot of good content that could have been covered.  Red Stevens’ character arc could have been showcased.  The Ultimate Life could have been a great film, but ‘could have’ is not a winning phrase.  After the success of Gift, Life had no excuses to be so poor, but it did.  This is unfortunate, and The Ultimate Life joins a long line of Christian films that could have been.

 

Final Rating: 1.5 out of 10 points

February 18, 2016January 18, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Historical, Inspirational, Movie Reviews, RomanceTags: 1.5 points, 2013, Abigail Mavity, Abigale Corrigan, Ali Hillis, Austin James, Bechir Sylvain, Bill Cobbs, Brett Rice, Brian Bird, Cheryl McKay, Dane Northcutt, David R. Kappes, Drew Waters, Elizabeth Ann Bennett, Historical, Inspirational, Jack DePew, Jason Davis, Jason Looney, Jim Stovall, Joshua Brady, Katherine Murdoch, Lee Meriwether, Logan Bartholomew, Mark McKenzie, Matt Mitchell, Michael Landon Jr., Peter Fonda, ReelWorks Studios, Riley Watson, Romance 2 Comments

When Calls the Heart [2013] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Elizabeth Thatcher is restless in her American white upper class family structure and longs to make a true difference in life.  She is tired of being sheltered by an extravagant and risk-free lifestyle in the east and longs to teach struggling children in the west.  But her family is opposed to this prospect and seeks to thwart her goals.  Yet as Elizabeth seeks to understand their opposition, she stumbles upon a family secret involving an aunt who shares her name who also had a heart for struggling western schools.  In trying to discover how she can leave her mark on the world, Elizabeth finds that God has uniquely equipped her for adventures she never imagined.

 

Production Quality (2.5 points)

Michael Landon Jr. usually puts on a good production.  The camera work is professional, including in different lighting scenarios.  Good locations and sets are chosen that are neither cheap nor unrealistic.  The costuming and makeup are not overdone like Landon has done in the past.  The video and sound quality are solid.  The editing is pretty good, considering that two stories are being overlaid.  But the editing also leaves something to be desired as there are some plot holes.  But in the end, this film’s production is quite good.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1.5 points)

When a movie mixes two different plots together connected by the reading of a diary, it usually means that there is not enough content in either subplot.  This is slightly true in this Janette Oke novel adaptation, but it seems to work out well enough.  Yet it cannot be ignored that putting two plots together undermines character development in both.  Dialogue is limited because of the combination, but it is still not a completely bad plot.  There are some interesting points and slight twists throughout.  Events that occur are authentic and believable.  The premise of the movie is very interesting, but the end of the movie is confusing.  Was this meant to be the first in a series of movies?  At the time of this writing, there are no plans for a sequel.  The ending could have been written in such a way so that a sequel was not necessary—as it is, it seems incomplete and slightly unprofessional.  Whatever the intention was, this is an average plot that needed further developing, yet it is not horrible on its face.

Acting Quality (1.5 points)

This is a semi-professional cast, yet they are not terribly dynamic.  They do fairly well in delivery and expression, but they still leave something to be desired.  The actors and actresses do not change the movie for the better, but neither do they derail it.  Average is a word that sums up this film as a whole.

Conclusion

It is likely that Michael Landon Jr.’s development of the When Calls the Heart television series cut this potential movie saga short, but we cannot understand why he planned to make both, each with different actors and characters and with entirely different premises.  This movie, we believe, had more potential than the television series, although there is nothing wrong with creating more miniseries.  The bottom line is that the When Calls the Heart film seems like an afterthought and feels like more could have been done with it had more effort been applied.  As it is, it’s a fine movie, but it is not Hall of Fame worthy.

 

Final Rating: 5.5 out of 10 points

February 16, 2016January 18, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Historical, Inspirational, Movie Reviews, RomanceTags: 2013, 5.5 points, Anthony Harrison, Believe Pictures, Brian Bird, Brian Martell, Castel Film Studio, Cherie Lunghi, Christopher Villiers, Daisy Head, Daniel Sharman, Emily Bowker, Greg Lawson, Griffin Cork, Hallmark, Hannah Duke, Historical, Inspirational, Janette Oke, Jean Smart, Jordan Films, Laurette Bourassa, Lee Holdridge, Lee Williams, Lori Loughlin, Lori Ravensborg, Maggie Grace, Michael Landon Jr., Miriam Rizea, Natasha Calis, Poppy Drayton, Romance, Sam Duke, Stephen Amell, Tom Carey, Tygh Runyan, Word Films 2 Comments

The Last Sin Eater (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Cadi Forbes has lived all her life in a Welsh immigrant settlement deep in the Appalachian Mountains, isolated from the world outside.  She has lived in fear, as have the people in her settlement, and now she has a terrible secret to guard.  Not only that, but she has risked trouble on her life by laying eyes on the forbidden sin eater—the cursed individual who must atone for the sins of those who die in the settlement.  Seeking a way to end it all, a mysterious girl guides Cadi to listen to a stranger preach to the forest about a hope she has never heard before.  She is now more curious than ever to learn about the stranger and even the identity of the cursed sin eater.  But what will it cost her in the end?

 

Production Quality (2.5 points)

The production of The Last Sin Eater is excellent, with only minor problems.  The camera work is good, as is the video quality.  The only issue to raise is the inconsistent lighting in some scenes, though it could be argued as realistic.  The audio quality is overall good, though the soundtrack could be a little more inspiring.  There are diverse sets and the Appalachian scenery is realistic.  Some of the flashback content seems a little low quality, perhaps on purpose.  In the end, this production is done very well.

Plot and Storyline Quality (3 points)

This is likely Michael Landon Jr’s best movie to date, but it can be credited to the writing genius of foundational Christian author Francine Rivers.  Her book that inspired this movie is among her best, and Landon’s adaptation is seamless.  The plot ties realistic historical events to an excellent fictional story built around believable characters.  The superstition is woven wonderfully with Biblical elements.  The characters are realistic and flawed, driven by true-to-life dialogue.  There are twists and turns in the plot, and the end is slightly unexpected.  In short, this excellent plot can be attributed to the genius authorship of Francine Rivers and to the honest adaptation of Michael Landon Jr.

Acting Quality (2.5 points)

For a cast of largely little known actors, they perform quite well.  The line delivery is mostly accurate, though it seems forced at times.  Sometimes the Welsh accents seem fake, but other times they do not.  Despite these small issues, there are no extremely negative elements where the acting is concerned.  This cast is a good example of what can be done with the proper coaching.

Conclusion

There are plenty of lesser and well known Christian novels that can and should be adapted for the screen.  Where many movie plots are stock, there are plenty of Christian works of fiction that could be portrayed through video instead of more bland inspirational films.  The Last Sin Eater is an example of what can happen when an excellent novel is adapted correctly into a movie.  This film should be a blueprint for many more movies in the future.

 

Final Rating: 8 out of 10 points

February 2, 2016January 18, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Hall of Fame, Historical, Inspirational, Movie Reviews, SuspenseTags: 2007, 8 points, A.J. Buckley, Anne Cullimore Decker, Brian Bird, Don Shanks, Elizabeth Lackey, Fox Faith, Francine Rivers, Gabrielle Fitzpatrick, Henry Thomas, Historical, Inspirational, Kim Myers, Liana Liberato, Louise Fletcher, Mark McKenzie, Michael Flynn, Michael Landon Jr., Molly Jepson, Nick Praggastis, Parker Hadley, Peter Wingfield, Robert Gros, Soren Fulton, Stefania Barr, Stewart Finlay-McLennan, Suspense, Thea Rose, Valerie Wildman Leave a comment