The Lost Melody by Joanna Davidson Politano

Author’s Note: We were provided with a free copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Plot & Storyline Quality (2.5 points)

The pages of Politano’s latest work, The Lost Melody, contain both profound Biblical truths that resonate with the reader, and incomplete ideas that echo in the book’s unfinished basement.

Vivianne Mourdant is a recently orphaned woman who is eager to run through the door of freedom her father’s death just opened. Vivianne believes she is destined to help save women who are trapped in abusive relationships. However, as a concert pianist, she doesn’t exactly mix with the lower classes. When the terms of her father’s will are brought to light, Vivienne uncovers a mystery that can only be solved by…working undercover in an asylum.

Mitchell Turner has worked as a doctor for mentally ill people for a long time. The regrets and shame of his past seem to crush him at times, and he longs to change the broken system of asylums. Unable to overcome his own struggles, Mitchell continues to help where he can without really committing to lasting change…until a sane patient is admitted to the asylum against her will.

For starters, this is an atypical plot and storyline. I’m happy to say that this story is unique and beautiful in many ways, not odd. Strengths of the plot and storyline include the suspense elements, the non-obvious resolutions, and the way the very nature of Jesus is woven into the pages of the story…or did He weave Himself in?😉 Weaknesses include moments of expository dialogue, some deep ideas that did not come to their full fruition in the plot (likely due to length constraints), and some choppiness/pacing issues in the storyline. Overall, the novel rounds out with an above average score in this section.

Character Development (2.5 points)

Next up, the character development in this story is above average in some areas, but not overall. Vivianne is a strong lead with a consistent arc, realistic depth, and relatable struggles. It would have been nice to see her childhood experiences as flashbacks, rather than spotty moments of expository dialogue. Mitchell has potential and is an imperfect hero, but the reader is mostly told who he is. It would have been nice to see this character develop more naturally. For instance, who is he other than a nice guy who experienced trauma? (spoiler) Moreover, it is unrealistic to believe that either of these characters would be ready for a serious relationship until (through Jesus) they dealt with the trauma they both experienced. The minor characters are strong and have more depth than some of the more prominent members of the story, but some feel extra. For example, Nurse Branson. Was this character needed in the story? The antagonist has basis for his actions and is realistic in some ways. Sometimes his violent scenes go a little too far. On the whole, the characters in this story are all average or above. Had the novel been a series instead, there would have been more space to deepen and explore Vivianne and Mitchell’s arcs more completely, to add greater meaning to the antagonist’s role, and to tie together everyone’s roles in the story more securely.

Creativity & Originality (1 point)

To conclude, The Lost Melody receives a half of a point in creativity for its application of Biblical truths and for the story’s spiritual depth. We also award it a half an x factor point in originality for portraying a very difficult topic in a mostly objective and meaningful way. The novel’s message of hope for people who need healing is relevant and needed right now. This story would make a great screenplay for a TV series. We recommend The Lost Melody to those who are looking for something unique to read.

Box Office Wish List Rating: 6 out of 10 points

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November 14, 2022November 13, 2022 by amg16 Categories: Box Office Wish ListTags: Box Office Wish List, Drama, Historical, Inspirational, Psychological, Suspense Leave a comment

Break Every Chain (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Jonathan Hickory lost his dad at an early age, so he tried to fill the void by becoming a cop. Jonathan was successful and soon settled into a simple life with his family. However, after developing and subsequently hiding PTSD as a result of his police work, Jonathan enters a downward spiral of substance abuse to cope with the pain. Will Jonathan find his way back before his family is destroyed?

Production Quality (2 points)

Break Every Chain is surprisingly one of the best productions ever crafted by the JC Films team. This includes good video and audio quality as well as an effective soundtrack. Despite some wild action camera work, the sets, locations, and props are professional. For the most part, editing is acceptable except for some lagging scenes. Nonetheless, this section is overall above average.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1 point)

Based on a true story and possessing no writing credits from Jason Campbell, Break Every Chain is an excellent look at how police officers are surrounded and affected by trauma every day without being properly prepared or supported. However, the protagonist’s trauma progression is a bit quick, sped up by time jumps as voiceover attempts to bridge these jumps in the timeline. Nonetheless, the writers did a great job with portraying how police officers are expected to push down all their inner turmoil, which can lead to substance abuse and other vices. To capture these concepts, the writers used artistic psychological scenes that are good but tend to isolate the viewer with an ethereal quality that lacks balance. Also, there is a lot of gloom and doom in this narrative without much positive, which is only compounded by a “wise” Christian character who is essentially sarcastic and condemning in the face of the protagonist, who’s struggling with trauma. These matters are not aided by the somewhat simplistic view of psychology that the writers possess. While dialogue is mostly effective at building characters, the extensive timeline stunts realistic character growth, leading to a somewhat empty and forced conclusion. However, there are enough strong points in this plot to justify a meager rating.

Acting Quality (2 points)

As a whole, the acting in this film is mostly average. At times, the performances are somewhat stilted and overly practiced. Emotions are inconsistent in some instances. Some cast members are more genuine than others, and the lead actor is a standout. throughout the screenplay, the acting improves with time, leading to an above-par score for this aspect of the movie.

Conclusion

In a stunning turn of events, the JC Films team actually produced a mostly acceptable film. It can’t be a coincidence that Jason Campbell had no hand in writing or directing Break Every Chain. Basing the screenplay off of a true story was a good way to present a mostly realistic narrative. Demonstrating the cause-and-effect relationship between police trauma and PTSD is an important conversation to have in the context of Christian entertainment. However, a number of issues held this movie back from being all that it could have been. As a result, Break Every Chain is yet another example of why it’s important to focus on quality over quantity.

Final Rating: 5 out of 10 points

November 13, 2021November 14, 2021 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Inspirational, Movie Reviews, SuspenseTags: 2021, Beck Rosser, Becky Rosser, Brayden Lacer, Collins Randolph, Daniel Fajardo, Dean Cain, Deborah Thompson, Dennis P. Marburger, Don Brooks, Drama, Ignacyo Matynia, Inspirational, Jason Campbell, Jeremiah Clark, Jonathan Hickory, Joseph Moreland, Krystian Leonard, Lindsey Palmer, Sterling Morse Jr., Suspense, Tim Searfoss 4 Comments

The Exorcism in Amarillo

Plot Summary

In the middle of nowhere in Texas, a family is seemingly subjected to demonic attacks due to some evil books that they have in their house. Will they be able to fight off the unclean spirits before it’s too late???

Production Quality (0 points)

This awful of a production doesn’t belong in our modern era of Christian entertainment, yet here we are. Cheap video quality and poor lighting are only compounded by bad camera work and weird angles. Audio quality is also horrible, including loud background sounds, a cheap soundtrack, and weird sound effects. Further, editing is extremely choppy due to abrupt cuts and transitions and annoying fadeouts. It goes without saying that the sets, locations, and props are very cheap and limited. With no potential to speak of, no points can be awarded here.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

Going from one thing to the next, this narrative has an incoherent presentation that’s full of illogical happenings and things that happen simply because the writers want them to occur. As another installment in the awful Christian horror genre, this film is replete with stupid jump scares and dumb obsessions with demonic activity. The view of spirituality that is espoused is quite childish, which leads to laughably staged and unnatural scenes. Most sequences make absolutely no sense as they are full of riveting activities of daily living, expositional dialogue, wasted time, and ridiculous fake suspense. Most of the run time is spent on characters wandering around and believing in a misogynistic worldview that elevates men over women. Needless to say, there is no positive to note in this section.

Acting Quality (0 points)

Much like other aspects of this screenplay, the acting is a disaster. All performances are totally blank and dead. Stone-faced line delivery that lacks emotion or conviction has to be seen to be believed. Some lines are even said too soon or too late. In the end, this movie has absolutely no hope.

Conclusion

The Exorcism in Amarillo falls down to the basement of Christian entertainment, harkening back to an era that we should have already closed the chapter on. Instead, poorly funded trains wrecks like this film keep popping up. One day, Christian creators might learn their lesson.

Final Rating: 0 out of 10 points

October 9, 2021 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Horror, Movie Reviews, SuspenseTags: 2020, Ashley Hays Wright, Cadence Wright, David Owen Wright, Drama, Horror, Jaina Wright, Scout Wright, Suspense, zero points Leave a comment

Mayflower II (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Miles and Kate just want to live an average life no matter what the world is doing around them. However, Miles encounters a point of no return when his Christian brother shows him a secret spaceship that Miles’ brother intends to use to evacuate Christians from earth. The goal is for Christians to recolonize Mars with Christianity. What choice will Miles make???

Production Quality (.5 point)

Between cheap special effects, annoying sound effects, and bad audio quality, this production is a real doozy. Background sounds and echoes detract from the viewing experience, and cheap sets, locations, and props don’t effectively represent what they are supposed to portray. Acceptable video quality and camera work keep this section from a score of zero, but editing is very choppy, and all production elements worsen with time. Thus, only a small rating can be awarded here.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

In this narrative, the writers used plenty of expository dialogue as to leave nothing to chance about what occurred in the plot. The story in and of itself is very fast-paced by trying to get to certain points, creating unrealistic circumstances, and leaving huge gaps in logic. Also, the persecution premise is absurd, full of evil characters who are bent on destroying Christians for absolutely no reason. Stock conversations do nothing to build characters, and Christian characters are ridiculously perfect conduits of Bible verses. In the end, with tons of off-screen content due to the low budget and a lot of silly coincidences, no points can be awarded to this section.

Acting Quality (0 points)

Unfortunately, the acting in Mayflower II is just as bad as other aspects of the film. Whether yelling, screaming, or mechanically delivering lines, many performances feel phoned in. Emotions are not authentic, and a lot of cast members seem to lack conviction of what they are doing. Therefore, no score is warranted here.

Conclusion

It’s evident that the creators of this screenplay went into production with an agenda. In the years that we’ve reviewed Christian entertainment, we’ve never seen this successfully work. Doing this should not be the purpose of Christian creativity, and audiences know this, which is why movies like this one will soon be forgotten.

Final Rating: .5 out of 10 points

September 21, 2021 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Movie Reviews, Sci-Fi, SuspenseTags: 1/2 point, 2020, D'Arcy Browning, Dallas Lammiman, Drama, Gene Jarvis, Greg Lammiman, Joel Harder, Joyce Swingle, Justin Lewis, Kealey Storrs, Nathan Clarkson, Rachel Peacock, Richard Swingle, Rick Holets, Robert Kirik, Ryan-Iver Klann, Sci-Fi, Shawna Pliva McGill, Stephen Hardy, Suspense, Tree Browning Leave a comment

Coronavirus: Perfect Storm (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

When a seeming miracles happens during a tornado in West Virginia, a New York reporter is compelled to brave the COVID-19 pandemic to get the scoop. However, what he finds there isn’t what he expected. The reporter will have to come face-to-face with what he truly believes about the afterlife.

Production Quality (0 points)

Between awful special effects and terrible audio quality, this production is a drag on the viewing experience. Loud background sounds, echoes, and annoying special effects are also problematic. Shaky camera work and tight shots are disorienting, and the lighting and video quality are inconsistent. Further, choppy editing ruins things, so all of these factors contribute to a score of zero for this section.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

This nonsensical narrative is very trippy and confusing to the audience. The subplots are pointless and empty due to mindless dialogue and meandering conversations. Cardboard-cutout characters are impossible to connect with, and these characters are tossed along in a bizarre story-within-a-story twist that is very mind-bending and generally weird. Wacky afterlife theology is also laced throughout this strange tale. In general, this section contains a lot of outlandish content that contains no potential and thus yields no points.

Acting Quality (1 point)

To top everything else off, the acting in Coronavirus: Perfect Storm is uninspiring. However, the performances are not all bad as they are more vanilla than terrible. There is nothing majorly positive nor negative in this section whether it relates to emotions or line delivery. Thus, with just one point, this aspect of the film is the highest rated.

Conclusion

The JC Films team has also proven that they are willing to make a screenplay about anything in an attempt to harvest quick cash with little upfront investment. This movie is no exception to this tendency. Thus, with no end in sight to this nonsense, there’s little else to say here.

Final Rating: 1 out of 10 points

September 1, 2021 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Movie Reviews, Psychological, SuspenseTags: 1 point, 2020, Beck Rosser, Bobby Lacer, Brayden Lacer, Drama, Eileen Lacer, Gary Lee Vincent, Greg Mason, Harvey Roberts, Jason Campbell, Joshua Reinhart, Kimberli Rowley, Nicholas Miller, Psychological, Suspense, Terry Kennedy, Tim Ross, Timothy Perez-Ross Leave a comment

Into His Arms (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

When a little girl goes missing, the community is shaken. Her parents are beside themselves as they demand for the police to do something. Many authorities are dismissing the disappearance as a simple accident, but one detective isn’t convinced. He won’t stop until he finds out the truth.

Production Quality (0 points)

With very poor audio quality, inconsistent video, and bad lighting, this production is mostly a disaster. Scenes are too bright in the outdoors and too dark in the indoors. Backgrounds sounds are annoying, as is shaky camera work. Sets, locations, and props are extremely cheap, giving the film the feel of a cheap reality show. Weird flashes and special effects disorient the audience, and editing is extremely random. Needless to say, this production has no potential, which is why no points are awarded here.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

Between very obvious messaging and incredibly unsubstantial dialogue, watching this screenplay is a real drag. There are tons of scenes without conversations and useless montages that waste time. Many side characters do nothing to advance the narrative, and the viewer isn’t drawn into the suspense. Despite the tragic circumstances of the plot, the audience feels nothing due to the totally blank and empty characters. Otherwise good themes are lost in the most boring possible portrayal of a crime drama that’s full of characters staring into space. Then, to top everything off, a wild climax sequence concludes the story by disrupting the overall tone of the movie with an over-the-top ending. Hence, another score of zero is warranted.

Acting Quality (0 points)

Between extremely sappy and unbelievable emotions and overly practiced line delivery, the acting of Into His Arms leaves much to be desired. Many cast members are very over-the-top in their performances, including a lot of fake happiness. Thus, due to lack of potential in this section, no points can be awarded.

Conclusion

In the end, older creations like this film had an uphill battle to fight due to low production potential. There was also a lack of adequate understanding when it came to effective acting. However, this doesn’t diminish the fact that screenplays like Into His Arms are just bad in every way. They have no impact on the audience and only serve as a relic of days that were darker for Christian entertainment. Hopefully, we can move past these times.

Final Rating: 0 out of 10 points

July 22, 2021 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Movie Reviews, Mystery, SuspenseTags: 1999, Christina Carlson-Juntti, Cliff Dahl, Drama, Faye Wefso, Irene Handren-Seals, James Jacobson, Jim Wefso, Joel King, Keith Davenport, Marc Linn, Marcia Welch-Kahler, Mark Barnes, Michael Linn, Mystery, Suspense, Travis Opdyke, zero points Leave a comment

The Appointment [1991] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Liz is a journalist who just hates God with a passion. Her entire job consists of writing anti-God articles in the paper. Liz is clearly bent on evil, so she doesn’t believe a strange message that she hears from a mysterious messenger who claims to be from the Lord. The message is that Liz will die at a specific time on a specific day, which was why she needed to get saved. Liz laughs this off, but as the day gets closer, she becomes more and more uncertain of what she believes. Will be turn to Christianity before it’s too late???

Production Quality (0 points)

As a 1990s production, The Appointment is just bad, even for the time period. Video quality is cheap, lighting is inconsistent, and camera work is random, including silly mid-shot zooms. Audio quality is disrupted by weird sound effects, noticeable background sounds, and an overpowering, in-your-face soundtrack. Further, very abrupt cuts and transitions sometimes completely cut off scenes in abrupt and shocking ways. Needless to say, no points can be awarded in this section.

Plot and Storyline Quality (-1 points)

In the most propaganda-level fashion, the Christiano team made sure to craft one of the most offensive portrayals of Christians and non-Christians known to Christian entertainment. The “bad” characters are downright evil pariahs who are bent on destroying Christianity. Many other characters are generic and vanilla due to blank dialogue, but almost every conversation is used to push agendas, preach at people, and force ideas down the viewers’ throats. Some scenes are very short and punctuated. In general, the writers seemed to have a really bizarre obsession with the main character dying, which further contributes to a portrayal of Christianity that will repulse people. In the end, due to offensive elements, this aspect of the film must receive negative points.

Acting Quality (0 points)

The performances in The Appointment are either generic or overplayed. Some cast members are trying too hard to be interesting, which sometimes comes off as overly theatrical. Forced line delivery and emotions don’t help matters. Further, cheap costuming caps off a section that lacks any substantial potential.

Conclusion

As we’ve said time and time again, trying to scare people into being saved is one of the worst things that a Christian can do. This is not the objective of our faith, yet some Christian creators seem to think that it is. Though older than other movies, The Appointment still tarnishes the reputation of Christian entertainment. The one hope is that we are now past these dark days.

Final Rating: -1 out of 10 points

July 8, 2021 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Movie Reviews, SuspenseTags: 1991, Art Oden, Branden Williams, Christiano Brothers, Christiano Film Group, Dave Christiano, Dave Christiano Films, Drama, Eric Brown, Five and Two Pictures, Frank Rogers, John Redden, Karen Jo Briere, Keith Vivrette, Leslie Basham, negative points, Rich Christiano, Suspense Leave a comment

Future Tense [1990] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

After a college student becomes a Christian while away from his family, he tries to encourage them to convert to his newfound faith. When they refuse, he decides to record a tape of what would happen to them if the Rapture came before they were saved. Coincidentally enough, after the student sends the tape to his family, the Rapture actually does happen! What will they do now???

Production Quality (.5 point)

As a 1990s production, Future Tense leaves much to be desired. The weird grainy and shady tint to the video disrupts the viewing experience, as do weird special effects. The soundtrack is loud and annoying, and other aspects of audio are unbalanced. The camera work, sets, locations, props, and editing are the only acceptable elements that prevent his section from receiving no points. Needless to day, this is a very low-quality production.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

Between heavy-handed messaging and lots of off-screen content that we only hear about, this narrative barely counts as storytelling. With hardly any actual dialogue to speak of, the characters are blank cardboard cutouts. The out-of-order plot style is poorly presented, which confuses the audience. Other aspects are generally boring as many scenes waste time. Also, the entire narrative is perfectly spoon-fed to the audience and magically constructed to fit a very narrow worldview. Further, the vague ending makes no sense and leaves the viewer wondering what just happened. In the end, this section receives a score of zero due to lack of potential.

Acting Quality (1 point)

Although the acting in this film is robotic and overly practiced, it’s actually the strongest aspect of the screenplay. This fact is mainly due to the fact that the lead actor posts the best performance. Elsewhere, however, there’s too much yelling and screaming. There’s not much else good to note here, which rounds out an underwhelming effort.

Conclusion

Apocalyptic movies about the Rapture were all the rage in the 1990s and early 2000s. However, the idea of trying to “scare” people into being saved is fairly morbid. I doubt creations like Future Tense made any significant impact, and such projects definitely have no influence in the more modern era. Once again, films like this one only serve as examples of how not to do it.

Final Rating: 1.5 out of 10 points

June 29, 2021 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Apocalyptic, Drama, Movie Reviews, SuspenseTags: 1.5 points, 1990, A. J. Merrill, Anne Towery, Apocalyptic, Charles Towery, Dan Hinds, Drama, Fred Carpenter, James Reid, John Shannon, Ken Preston, Leigh Lombardi, Mari E. Ferguson, Matthew Freeman, Nancy Moore, Paul Mills, Priscilla Waite, Russel Ramji, Suspense Leave a comment

Good Friday [2020] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Lucas Cole is a high-power prosecutor who’s currently under political pressure to make a local scandal go away. Lucas wants to do his job but can’t shake the feeling of betraying an innocent victim. Lucas is also struggling with being a single dad to his son. Before he knows it, Lucas finds himself caught up in a complex scheme of local politics with little room for error. Will Lucas be able to get out in time?

Production Quality (2.5 points)

Though this creative team is largely unknown in the Christian entertainment world, the production of Good Friday is very professional. There are very few errors to note. Video quality, camera work, and audio quality are all good. Sets, locations, and props are on par with industry standards. The soundtrack is intriguing, so the only minor concerns to note relate to confusing editing. Nonetheless, this isn’t enough to prevent this section from receiving a high score.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1 point)

It’s very surprising how complex the characters of this film are. Via superb dialogue, the characters’ motivations and personalities are well-constructed. The writers refrain from painting any one character as all good or all bad, which is a difficult feat. The narrative contains a very realistic and interesting exploration of the complications relating to local politics and legal concerns. However, this section is not without its flaws. Some scenes seem unrealistic, such as over-the-top negotiations, deals, and threats that appear out-of-place for the situations. Also, the plot jumps all over the place, trying to cover too many things at once. The many storylines and asides become confusing as the characters are shuffled from one things to the next. At times, the characters only do what the writers want them to do without having good reasons for acting in those ways. Despite the excellently subtle Christian messaging and flawed characters, this narrative has a really abrupt conclusion that makes no sense at all. Thus, with obvious potential that is left untapped, this aspect of the screenplay can only receive a below-average rating.

Acting Quality (3 points)

The acting is actually the strongest aspect of this movie. The performances are very strong with little to no problems. Emotions are believable, and line delivery is on point. Thus, a perfect score is awarded here.

Conclusion

Good Friday joins a group of Christian entertainment that almost made it to the next level. However, a collection of small issues held this film back from being all that it could have been. Nonetheless, this creative team certainly has potential for the future, so it will be interesting to see what they offer next.

Final Rating: 6.5 out of 10 points

June 3, 2021 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Movie Reviews, SuspenseTags: 2020, 6.5 points, Adam Grupper, Billy Griffith, Brandon J. Dirden, Christopher Martinez, Colin Critchley, Colin Ryan, Dan Stone, Daniel Loewenthal, Danny Binstock, Diane Johnson, Donna Vivino, Drama, Emma Thorne, Frederick Buford, Harald Hübscher, James T. Daley, Jennifer Sklias-Gahan, Jordan Lage, Kirk Johnson, Lily Wen, Mak Manson, Murphy Guyer, Ned Risely, Nick Hetherington, Quentin Chiappetta, Raquel Merediz, Rebecca Merle, Roberta Friedman, Rupak Ginn, Sharrieff Pugh, Suspense, Teagle F. Bougere, Timothy Stickney Leave a comment

Acquitted by Faith (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Benjamin Stills’ life is forever changed when he’s responsible for a texting-and-driving accident that puts a little girl in the hospital. Benjamin is a high-power lawyer with a lot of workplace pressure, but this event sends his life spiraling out of control. Will he ever be able to regain his footing and return to the faith that he left behind before it’s too late?

Production Quality (2 points)

This film contains a professional production with only a few errors to speak of. Video quality, camera work, and audio quality are all in line with industry standards. Sets, locations, and props are professional and well-constructed. The main concerns in this aspect of the screenplay relate to weird special effects and editing. It’s unclear why these special effects were even needed as they make for an odd experience. Further, some scenes end very abruptly with no warning. Thus, due to more good than bad, an above-average score is warranted in this section.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1.5 points)

Acquitted by Faith contains an intriguing narrative although there are many subplots to keep up with. The characters therein are realistic and flawed, developed through authentic dialogue. Due to the large amount of content, many scenes can be a bit rushed even though some sequences waste time when there’s no time to be wasted. The more the story progresses, the more hasty the progression of the narrative becomes. There are many interesting asides and complex characters that could have had creative backstories, but we never get the chance to fully explore them because of the many tangents and subplots. These concerns make the story better suited for a series. It’s a shame that this movie is too bloated because is contains a good subtle Christian message. In the end, due to a generally mixed bag, this section receives an average rating.

Acting Quality (2.5 points)

As a whole, the acting in Acquitted by Faith is quite good. There are only a few over-the-top performances, but for the most part, the cast members deliver believable performances with good line and emotional delivery. Near the end of the film, the acting becomes nearly perfect, which leads to a very high score for this section.

Conclusion

This screenplay is perhaps the closest that Kevan Otto has ever come to the Hall of Fame, but it wasn’t due to his solo efforts. Acquitted by Faith was clearly a collaboration, but it still missed the mark due to inconsistent production elements and a bloated narrative. Nonetheless, this movie deserves a remake that reorganizes the concepts therein and presents them in a clearer fashion, perhaps in series form. With the consistent funding that Kevan Otto can get, it’s time to start saving some of the money to put toward fewer projects. Maybe then he’ll finally break through.

Final Rating: 6 out of 10 points

May 11, 2021 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Movie Reviews, SuspenseTags: 11 Seconds, 2020, 6 points, All Entertainment, Angela Kerecz, Atonement Pictures, Austin Craig, Brad Allen, Brad Stine, Callie Brook McClincy, Casper Van Dien, Catherine Oxenberg, Chuck Howard, Claudia Church, Daniel Lusko, Destined Media, Drama, Green Apple Entertainment, Jaci Velasquez, Jared Wagner, Jeremy Boz, Jerry Foster, Keith Sausedo, Kelsey Sanders, Kevan Otto, Lauren Damrich, Martin Michael, McKenna Sparks, Michael Joiner, Monte Markham, Peg Allen, Rebecca Lines, Rusty Martin Sr., Steven Dady, Suspense, Tim Warren, Tom Sanders, Tom Schanley Leave a comment

Cries of the Unborn (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

In a sequel to The Life Zone, which nobody cared to remember, much less watch a sequel about, the horrific nonsense of the first installment is rehashed as a completely new cast of characters decides the fate of the perpetrators from the first film. These new characters form a jury who’s tasked with determining the innocence or guilt of the alleged criminals. In order for this movie to have a “plot,” one juror inexplicably thinks that the evil corporation that imprisoned three pregnant women is somehow innocent of all transgressions. She spends the entire screenplay trying to convince others, including the audience, of this fact. What ensues is a slow descent into madness that will leave you wondering how this garbage gets made.

Production Quality (-3 points)

Much like this film’s awful predecessor, Cries of the Unborn has an extremely cheap production that’s negatively impacted by other elements. Lighting and audio are quite poor, and the soundtrack is creepy. Sets, locations, and props are extremely limited. There really isn’t any editing present, and any aspects of the production that aren’t bad are washed away by all the other problems that are in this screenplay.

Plot and Storyline Quality (-3 points)

How is it even possible that there was enough money to make two of these terrible movies? To self-indulge in their first creation, the writers use Cries of the Unborn to provide a bizarre commentary on The Life Zone. Doing this requires the narrative to lead the audience in one direction, only to pull out a double fake twist at the end. As a result, the plot is completely mind-bending and out-of-this-world insane, essentially presenting a demented defense of the events that took place in The Life Zone. There are so many rehashed scenes from the first film that Cries of the Unborn feels like a sick director’s commentary on The Life Zone where the creators are speaking through the characters to lecture you on why you shouldn’t hate their utter madness. Contrived dialogue and trumped-up situations force propaganda down the viewers’ throats, including a very twisted obsession with eternal punishment for certain sins that the writers deem ‘worse’ than others. In the end, the awful nature of this section drags the entire creation down to the lowest level.

Acting Quality (-3 points)

On the whole, the acting in Cries of the Unborn is uninspiring. However, this section is overwhelmed by the sheer nonsense that overtakes the entire screenplay. When a central idea is this bad, it infects every section of the movie, causing an overall negative rating.

Conclusion

Additionally, this film receives a negative x-factor point for being offensive and for pushing toxic propaganda on the audience. It’s rare that film creators fail so hard that they produce two screenplays that each receive the lowest score possible from our ratings system. This is a feat that has never been previously recorded in our experience with the field of Christian entertainment. It goes without saying that both The Life Zone and Cries of the Unborn are among the worst movies ever created, and the views espoused by these films have no place among Christianity. If the pro-life movement is to ever be effective, it must dispense with poison like these two creations and actually care about every person like Jesus does.

Final Rating: -10 out of 10 points

April 22, 2021April 22, 2021 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Horror, Movie Reviews, Psychological, SuspenseTags: 2017, Allison Thomas Lee, Alycia Cooper, Andrew Gause, Blanche Baker, Buck Hujabre, C.C. Hughes, Carrie Brooks, Chalet Lizette Brannan, Clifton V. Powell, Dan Mason, Daren Donofrio, Deborah Twiss, Dexter Njoku, Drama, Ericka Demberg, Evgeniya Radilova, Francine Del Vecchio, Green Apple Entertainment, Horror, Jaclyn DiGianni, Jeff Davis, Joanne Baron, John Chludzinski, Josephine Moon Bloomfield, Justice for All Productions, Justin Deas, Ken Del Vecchio, Kenneth Hampton, Kirk Ponton, Mario Del Vecchio, Mary Apick, negative points, Nina Transfeld, Obaid Kadwani, Pamela Rivers, Psychological, Robert Loggia, Rosa Lucrezia, Russell Brannan, Shezi Sardar, Solodeep, Suspense, Suzi Lorraine, Theresa Teresi, Waleed Bedour, Wayne Mccrae, Yaron Urbas Leave a comment

The Life Zone (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Three pregnant women, who each intended to have abortions, are kidnapped by a powerful and creepy corporation that’s bent on forcing its pro-life agenda onto people. This unethical company intends to hold the three women captive until they deliver their unborn children. While they wait, the women are forced to explore their pasts and understand what led them to their choices. With a premise as bad as this, you can’t even imagine how strange things get.

Production Quality (-3 points)

The Life Zone is truly a creation to behold for all the wrong reasons, starting with its extremely cheap production. Poor lighting and bad audio quality make for an obnoxious experience. The soundtrack is creepy, and the sets, locations, and props are cheap and limited. Editing is choppy, and while some small aspects of the production are slightly acceptable, this section is overall negatively impacted by other elements of the film.

Plot and Storyline Quality (-3 points)

Words can hardly explain how awful this screenplay is. It’s hard to believe that this plot is so honest about the radical extremist wing of the pro-life movement. The Life Zone could be a dark parody if it weren’t so propaganda-heavy and full of bizarre sequences. Tossing all conventional movie procedures aside, such as meaningful dialogue and developed characters, The Life Zone elects to take a very demented turn down some of the less-traveled alleyways of Christian culture that many don’t dare to discuss. Instead of beating around the bush, this story fully embraces a warped view of the life issue to the point that the writers are unashamedly pro-baby and anti-mother rather than being an advocate for all life, born and unborn. Dominated with extraneous documentary content that attempts to brainwash the audience, this narrative is basically a slow descent into madness. Once The Life Zone reaches its climax, which is a very sick twist ending, it becomes clear what the creators’ agenda was: demonize everyone who’s ever had an abortion. Supporting the kidnapping of pregnant women so that they can be forced to deliver their babies is a very demented idea that has absolutely no place in Christian entertainment, which is why the negative ratings fill up this review.

Acting Quality (-3 points)

Much like the other aspects of this film, the acting is quite bad. Emotions are very strained while lines are forced and unnatural. Many cast members over-act and try way too hard to be convincing. Similar to the production, this section is negatively effected by the other horrible elements of the screenplay, which gives another negative score here.

Conclusion

Additionally, The Life Zone receives a negative x-factor point for being offensive propaganda that pushes a toxic agenda. There is literally zero justification for making a movie like this. If the pro-life movement is to defend the philosophies of this film, these activists are further gone than expected. This screenplay is the epitome of why the pro-life movement in America has not been fully successful over the past few decades. All that can be learned here is how not to do it, but such a movie can also prompt us to examine the purpose of our activism to see if we actually care about all people or just some.

Final Rating: -10 out of 10 points

April 20, 2021 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Horror, Movie Reviews, Psychological, SuspenseTags: 2011, Amanda Antonucci, Andrew Gause, Angela Little, Anthony Rackley, Beth Rosen, Blanche Baker, Charles Durning, Drama, Eileen Fulton, Elissa Goldstein, Eric Etebari, Francine Del Vecchio, Frank Giglio, Greg Jackson, Horror, Jeff Davis, John P. Gulino, John Tobias, Joyce Borneman, Justice for All Productions, Justin LaMarca, Katarzyna Wolejnio, Keith Collins, Ken Del Vecchio, Kenneth Lampl, Lindsey Haun, Maija Polsley, Mario Del Vecchio, Martin Kove, Michael Borao, Nace Naumoski, Natalie Romero, negative points, Nina Transfeld, Ozzy Fiaz, Psychological, Rachael Robbins, Randy Pearce, Rebecca Baron, Rob Moretti, Robert Borneman, Robert Loggia, Rod Weber, Suspense, Tara Buck, Tarri Markel, Tatijana N. Naumoska, Thomas G. Waites 2 Comments

Timbertown (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

There’s a murder mystery among the people of Timbertown, but most are too busy to care. However, when a logger accidentally discovers the body, an ambitious Natural Resources officer takes it upon himself to solve the case. Doing such leads him to unexpected places, and each character must determine how they will find purpose in a life that is sometimes meaningless.

Production Quality (2 points)

Timbertown has an acceptable production as a whole since it lacks glaring errors. Despite some inconsistent camera work, video quality and audio quality are on par with industry standards. The soundtrack is intriguing, and sets, props, and locations are authentic. Lighting is good, but there’s some lagging editing due to the nature of the story. Thus, in the end, an above-average rating is awarded to this section.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1 point)

In the beginning, Timbertown is quite boring and doesn’t accomplish very much, especially since a lot of the complicated dialogue doesn’t effectively build characters. In the first half of the plot, it’s hard to understand the point as it’s based on a vague idea that isn’t fully fleshed out. After wasting some time, the narrative suddenly changes into an anthology as if it’s a series. This element of the film is interesting because it lets the audience see the same scenes from other characters’ perspectives, thus fleshing them out and bringing more clarity to the situations. However, despite this creative aspect, the story is still a partial idea that lacks deep enough characters to carry the plot when the viewer is confused. In the final third of the movie, there’s actually a really good montage that lets the audience know the entire purpose of the screenplay, even if it’s a little too late. Working backwards to get to this point was commendable, but it left the viewer uninterested in the stakes, which begs the need for a better hook. The characters have tons of potential to be gray rather than black-and-white, so they just needed more development to fully achieve the goals that the writers had. Thus, with a good amount of prospect that wasn’t completely fleshed out, this aspect of the film receives one point.

Acting Quality (2 points)

For the most part, the acting in Timbertown is either average or slightly better. Some cast members are better and worse than others. As a while, line delivery and emotions are believable and on-point. The positive aspects, combined with the fact that some elements could be better, leads to a slightly above-average score for this section.

Conclusion

The core concept of this film would have worked much better as a series that involved more content and collaboration. Nonetheless, the creative team behind this movie has massive potential for the future as they could expand the long-neglected genre of suspense mystery in Christian entertainment. We need more faith-based mysterious that are actually engaging and unpredictable. Perhaps these creators can do this in the future.

Final Rating: 5 out of 10 points

April 15, 2021 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Movie Reviews, Mystery, Psychological, SuspenseTags: 2019, Adam Dufour, Amor Domini Productions, Angela Duggins, C.J. Swift, Caleb Martin, Cory Kays, Daniel Cleghorn, Daniel Main, Dave Payton, David Ross, Drama, Eleanor Brown, five points, Jackie Davis, Jacob Dufour, John Wisley, Michael J. Patterson, Mystery, Peter Law, Psychological, Rachel Casey-Dufour, Rich Jones, Sophie Davis, Suspense Leave a comment

The Wager [2020] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

When Brucie loses some kind of supernatural wager with a spiritual being, Brucie is allowed to retrace the steps of his life to see how it happened and how things could have been different. Through mind-bending and reality-defying methods, Brucie criss-crosses through time to see his life in hindsight. Will be able to make the right choice before it’s too late?

Production Quality (2 points)

As a whole, The Wager has a fairly good production despite a lot of loud background sounds. Even still, the soundtrack is very interesting and seems too advanced for this film. Lighting is a bit inconsistent, but video quality is stable throughout. Sets, locations, and props are on par, and editing is acceptable. Thus, this rounds out an above-average section.

Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)

Despite interesting character backstories, very generic dialogue consistently overstates the obvious in this narrative, thus causing the characters to be too cardboard and generic. Very expository conversations leave nothing to chance, spoon-feeding the viewer with a very pushy Christian message. Random and disconnected scenes cause the plot to lack concrete themes or purposes; silly coincidences and convenient turns also make for a frustrating experience. Large time jumps confuse the audience, as do trippy psychological sequences that lack sense and only waste time. Although this movie is full of hit-and-miss story presentations due to a meandering, stream-of-consciousness narrative, there is actually a grain of potential somewhere in this screenplay. Aside from all the clutter, several key concepts that are explored in The Wager have the ability to be great. However, the film continually gets in its own way, so only a small score can be awarded here.

Acting Quality (1.5 points)

Although there are some good performances among this cast, many of the scenes come off as very scripted and overly practiced. Emotions and lines are a bit forced and stilted at times. However, Cameron Arnette is always a standout actor, and as a whole, all the cast members improve with time. Thus, this is enough to warrant an average rating in this section.

Conclusion

In the end, The Wager is full of wasted ideas that need restructuring and repackaging. It’s clear that this creative team wanted to go in a certain direction, but they forgot to let the viewers in on where the movie was actually headed. Mind-bending psychological trips don’t exactly engage the audience or help the watcher connect with the characters. Therefore, this screenplay is an opportunity for the creators to reflect on what they want to convey in the context of film and apply these findings to future projects.

Final Rating: 4 out of 10 points

April 8, 2021 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Movie Reviews, Psychological, SuspenseTags: 2020, 4 points, Aaron Starkey, Andie Stanek, Anita Cordell, Aurelio Almazan, Bill Reis, Bishop Stevens, Brett Beucler, Bridgestone Multimedia Group, Cameron Arnett, Carl G. Herrick, Clean Screen Productions, Damian Tanenbaum, Darin Simms, Devon McCann, Drama, Elizabeth Timmons, Erick Schroder, Gary Dellmo, Gavin Ferguson, Heath Clifton, James Buster Douglas, James Troup, Javien Jackson, Jayden Acker, Jeremy Spencer, Jim Gloyd, John Wells, KateLynn E. Newberry, Kevin Ackley, Kolan Wright, Leanne Johnson, Lisa Gloyd, Lisa Wright, Lyindaa Russell, Mark Justice, Matthew P. Fletcher, Michael Miller, Mike Cessna, Mike Farrell, Psychological, Quentin Malicoat, Richard Overly, Richie Johns, Robert Larson, Shawn Harper, Sid Liming, Stephanie Haff, Suspense, Td Van Camp, Tim Stonerock, Troy Vanarsdalen, Ty Shelton, Vince McVay, William C. Canfield, William Hines 1 Comment

Fearless Faith (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

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

Production Quality (2 points)

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

Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)

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

Acting Quality (1.5 points)

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

Conclusion

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

Final Rating: 4 out of 10 points

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

Worm [2007] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Adam was one of the cool kids in high school who didn’t want anything to do with Christianity. However, he’s forced to examine the faith when people around him begin following Jesus. Nonetheless, Adam still wants nothing to do with Christ until it’s too late for him.

Production Quality (1 point)

Even though this production has okay video quality and camera work, the audio quality is quite weird, including loud sound effects, obvious overdubs, and a distorted soundtrack. Sets, locations, and props are average, but lighting is inconsistent. Editing is also passable, but there are too many concerns to award this section more than one point.

Plot and Storyline Quality (-1 points)

It seems like that the entire purpose of this plot is to try to scare people into becoming Christians, which is a ridiculous tactic. The message-pushing is extremely obvious and doesn’t allow the audience to decide anything for themselves. The narrative is full of expository conversations and manufactured dialogue that make for cheesy characters, including absurd strawmen non-Christians and overly perfect Christians. There’s also quite a bit of talk about off-screen happenings as well as mindless sequences that accomplish nothing. The story concludes in a very dark way, and due to the propaganda nature of this film, this section has to receive a negative point.

Acting Quality (0 points)

Unfortunately, this section doesn’t yield any positive results either as most of the performances seem overly staged. Line delivery is unnatural and overly practiced, and it makes matters worse that the cast members frequently talk over the top of one another. Further, emotions are mechanical, rounding out a zero-potential effort.

Conclusion

We’ve said it before and will say it again: propaganda screenplays always fail. There’s just no potential in them. Setting off to push an agenda on the audience is always the wrong motive, and it will be inevitably exposed. There’s simply no sense in contributing this sort of garbage to the market.

Final Rating: 0 out of 10 points

March 23, 2021 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Horror, Movie Reviews, Psychological, SuspenseTags: 2007, Akron Watson, Brian Kennedy, Christiano Film Group, Drama, Horror, Ian Loomer, Jessica Quazi, Judah Films, Karen Seimears, Leslie Lesseman, Mitch Bird, Psychological, Rahim Quazi, Stephen Moffatt, Suspense, Tonya Coleman, zero points Leave a comment

Lost Heart (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Hannah is a country music star who loses her cool during an interview due to sensitive questions about her past. This prompts her to take time off from the show business, but her father’s sudden death forces Hannah to return to the hometown that she wants to avoid. There, she has to confront the darkness of her past and come to grips with what her choices have done. Hannah wants to run from God, but He won’t give up on her.

Production Quality (2.5 points)

The Collective Development team has come a long way with production quality during their time in the field. Lost Heart is an example of continuing improvement, which is all we really ask of entertainment creators. As such, there are few errors in this section. Video quality, audio quality, and camera work are all professional. Though the soundtrack is a bit generic at times for a music-themed film, the sets, locations, and props are well-constructed. The editing is overall fine with a few minor errors. In the end, this is all deserving of a high score.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1.5 points)

Much like Wild Faith, Lost Heart has a high amount of potential in the plot category. It includes a realistic portrayal of entertainment life, which is supported by a very effective use of flashbacks to establish character motive and experiences. This is coupled with a surprisingly realistic view of small towns and hidden family problems within them. Despite the many interesting concepts explored in this narrative, it’s almost too much for one story, making it hard to focus on one thing. Lost Heart feels more like a series than a movie and has the authentic and believable characters necessary for such a venture. They’re crafted with great dialogue that helps the audience to connect with them. However, this section isn’t without its downfalls. Convenient turns and coincidences help important plot points get unnecessarily kicked down the road, and sometimes, things happen in the narrative simply because the writers wanted them to. While the story’s conclusions are good, they seemed to be arrived at in unnatural ways. It’s good to write the ending before the beginning, but it has to be properly set up with logic and reason. Unfortunately, Lost Heart loses more and more focus as it goes, leading to a climax scene that’s a bit over the top and unbelievable. This nosedive in the screenplay’s second half kept it from being placed on the Hall of Fame, but this area of the film still warrants a good rating.

Acting Quality (2 points)

In the film’s beginning, the acting is a bit raw. Emotions seem forced at times, and some of the yelling and screaming gets annoying. It would have better if these performances were more subtle and natural, but as a whole, the acting does get better as the movie goes on. There are many good cast members with DJ and Josh Perry being standouts. In the end, this area justifies an above-average score, which rounds out another screenplay that could have been much more.

Conclusion

Lost Heart is another high-potential idea from the Collective Development team. However, like other projects, this one just doesn’t make the cut due to a handful of small yet avoidable errors. This committed group of creators has progressively improved since their former days, which is rare in this business. Nonetheless, they seem to have plateaued and need stronger narrative outlining to help push them across the finish line. Bringing better storytellers into their fold will help them to finally achieve the next level.

Final Rating: 6 out of 10 points

February 2, 2021 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Inspirational, Movie Reviews, SuspenseTags: 2020, 6 points, Abigail Mason, Annika Mary Gaber, Anthony Hornus, Bridgestone Multimedia Group, Cassie Dean, Christine Marie, Collective Development, David Gries, Dean Teaster, Debbie Thomey Bennett, Dennis Therrian, DJ Perry, Don Most, Drama, Encourage TV, Greg Mason, Inspirational, Jesse Low, John Mashni, Josh Perry, Lauren LaStrada, Melissa Anschutz, Michael Rene Walton, Nathan K. Robertson, Rebecca Lawlor, Rico Bruce Wade, Robert Bradley, Shane Hagedorn, Suspense, Taylor Dupuis, Tonya Hawkins, Victoria Jackson 2 Comments

Trafficked: A Parent’s Worst Nightmare (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

When Allison goes missing on her birthday and doesn’t turn back up, her parents become very worried. The police won’t do anything for 48 hours, so Allison’s parents do the only thing that any reasonable person would do: contact an old friend from college who deals drugs and happens to know a shady private investigation group that has questionable ethics, such as impersonating police officers and breaking into people’s houses without permission. Allison’s grandmother uses a good portion of her retirement to fund this dubious operation, and time is running out to find Allison, who has been taken by human traffickers.

Production Quality (1 point)

After a long opening sequence wastes time, this film’s remaining production doesn’t get much better. Video quality is acceptable, but camera work and lighting are quite inconsistent. The audio leaves a lot to be desired, such as a very loud and distracting soundtrack as well as awful special effects. Sets, locations, and props are fine, but the editing is quite poor. Some scenes awkwardly cut off while other sequences are very disorienting. In the end, despite slight improvement with time, this section is still below average, which is unacceptable for 2021.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

This plot’s main strategy is the shove one thing after the next onto the audience without any continuity. Most events happen because the writers want them to, and some occurrences are quite unrealistic, such as the questionable legitimacy of the narrative’s shady investigative force and their possibly illegal actions. Many scenes come off as overly staged, and the many confusing subplots easily become discombobulated. There are a lot of moving parts in this story, and characters have no chance to be developed due to musical montages and mindless conversations. The villains are stereotypical and over-the-top, often using unnecessary expletives. The Christian message in this movie is fairly vague, and there seems to be an unnecessary political tilt. Overall, with unforced errors and basically no potential, zero points can be awarded here.

Acting Quality (1 point)

Most of the time, the acting in Trafficked is trying way too hard. Line delivery and emotions are much too forceful. Performances come off as overly practiced and unnatural. Despite slight improvement with time, only a small score is warranted in this section.

Conclusion

This screenplay is a true embarrassment for 2021. How much longer must we endure such drivel? Besides a juvenile portrayal of the otherwise serious issue that this human trafficking, this film chooses to give credence to shady and questionable operations wherein people take the law into their own hands. This should have been a major red flag for anyone who thought about investing in this movie. It’s still unbelievable how projects like Trafficked even get funded and make it to the public release, but it’s high time that we see fewer of them.

Final Rating: 2 out of 10 points

January 26, 2021January 26, 2021 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Movie Reviews, SuspenseTags: 2 points, 2021, Allison Rowe, Andrew Kaufman, Angela McCulley, Angelina Danielle Cama, Be Your Own Hollywood, Ben Blaesing, Bill K. Kenney, Brian Heintz, Brian Papandrea, Collide Distribution, Courtney Mathews, David Jerome, David Voshel, Dean Cain, Deon Hunt, Diana C. Salinas, Don Klenk, Drama, Eileen Hayes, Garrett Thierry, George P. Saunders, Grover McCants, Janet Caine, Jeffrey T. Morgan, Jeremiah Pauling, Jeremy Evitts, Joel Paul Reisig, Karina Martinez, Keilah Jude, Kelly Trammell, Ken Alter, Kevin Tates, Kristy Swanson, Laura Henderson, Manzur Moidunny, Maria Wasikowski, Mark Boyd, Maryellen Voshel, Nancy Wagner, Niko Scherer, Rick Rosanova, Ryan Gardner, Scott Voshel, Shane Carson, Sophie Bolen, Suspense, Tevis R. Marcum, Tommy Wolf Leave a comment

Beyond the Shield (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Pastor Omar wants to make a difference in the lives of troubled youth. However, things become complicated when the pastor runs into two local police officers, Fitzpatrick and Finch. An unexpected turn of events occurs, and everyone involved must decide what their faith is in before it’s too late.

Production Quality (-1 points)

This production goes beyond simply being bad and is actually offensive. Poor video quality, shaky camera work, and weird camera angles are just a few issues that make this film nearly unwatchable. Inconsistent audio quality, wild zooms, and bad lighting are also concerns that disrupt the viewing experience. The editing is likely the most off-putting element as weirdly abrupt cuts and transitions sometimes completely interrupt scenes. Unnecessary stock footage wastes time and seems to replace more substantial content. In the end, this is just an awful section overall, which warrants a negative rating.

Plot and Storyline Quality (-1 points)

Despite the presentation of realistic circumstances and themes that absolutely should be explored in the context of Christian entertainment, the narrative of Beyond the Shield is simply a train wreck. Subplots are dizzyingly offered to the audience, jumping from one thing to the next with no organization or continuity. In addition to an obnoxious portrayal of story happenings, some scenes nonsensically repeat over and over again. Basically a random collection of loosely connected ideas, this movie completely lacks any shred of character development. Dialogue is extremely stilted and wooden, and attempts at flashbacks but poorly executed. What’s more, there are annoying breaks in the screenplay for fake interviews and confessionals. All of this combined justifies a negative score in this section as well.

Acting Quality (0 points)

The acting in Beyond the Shield doesn’t inspire any confidence either, but it’s at least not offensive. Nonetheless, overly practiced line delivery and forced emotions are commonplace in these performances. Acting is either robotic or full of screaming and yelling.

Conclusion

The good thing is that negative-point films are few and far between, but when they come up, it’s just another instance of Christian entertainment’s reputation being tarnished. It makes the field into a laughingstock and turns potential audience members away. However, there are hopefully new creators who want to do what God has called them to and can rebuild what’s been torn down.

Final Rating: -2 out of 10 points

January 5, 2021 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Inspirational, Movie Reviews, SuspenseTags: 2017, Alison Law, Boise Holmes, Darryl Blalock, Drama, Inspirational, Kingdomtainment, La'Kesia Rambo-Barrett, LaKesia Barrett, Lejend Vega, Maahra Hill, Maddox Entertainment, Michael Barrett, Michael G. Barrett Jr., negative points, Omar Gooding, Patrick Kilpatrick, Raquel Roque Herring, Reyna Day, Shawn McDonald, Suspense, Thai Edwards, Todd Tetreault, Tyler Maddox, Vic Stagliano 1 Comment

The Haunting at Bonaventure Circus by Jaime Jo Wright

Author’s Note: We were provided with a free copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Plot & Storyline Quality (2.5 points)

Jaime Jo Wright’s latest novel, The Haunting at Bonaventure Circus, has an engaging and creative storyline with a few interesting twists along the way. However, some plot choppiness and the inconsistent pace of the storyline set the novel’s rating back to average. The Haunting at Bonaventure Circus has a split storyline with two protagonists, one in the past and one in the present. In the past, Pippa Ripley is the adopted daughter of a wealthy circus owner and his wife. Pippa is engaged to a prominent figure in society and has every creature comfort at her fingertips, but her predictable existence has one abnormality. A mysterious figure who calls himself The Watchman has lurked in the shadows of her life for as long as she can remember, and now he wants to meet in person. Against her better judgement, Pippa meets with him. This act that inadvertently becomes the straw that broke the elephant’s back (pun intended), as it opens the door to a conflict that grows and becomes increasingly complex. In the present, Chandler is a single mother who works for her uncle in his business of renovating old buildings for resale. While surveying a recent purchase – an abandoned train depot – Chandler uncovers a unsolved historical murder mystery. Her renovation project happens to be the site of the famous, decades-ago murder of Patty Luchent, an employee of the Bonaventure Circus. This discovery unfolds into increasing chaos, and Chandler soon finds herself swept along in a strange series of events that will force her to face her greatest fears in the present and reckon with the untold horrors of the past. As we previously mentioned, the plot and storyline in this novel are slightly above average, with interesting plot twists and a detailed storyline that holds the attention all the way through. Unfortunately, there are also errors here. The storyline is a bit scattery and cannot seem to find and hold onto a focal point. (spoilers ahead) One minute we’re witnessing Chandler and or Pippa struggling with their health challenges, then we’re reading interesting dialogue about the murder mystery, but do not fully feel a part of what is happening. This leads me to my final point on errors in this section. Because the novel is written entirely in the third person, the reader feels like a witness to events as they occur, instead of a willing participant. Readers need first person if they are expected to care about the characters and everything that is happening in a novel. In spite of these errors, on the whole Wright’s novel is good for a casual read, and therefore receives the rating we mentioned earlier.

Character Development (2 points)

Much like the plot and storyline, the characters in this novel also hover around the average portion of the rating scale. First, Chandler and Pippa are not bad protagonists, but there is an odd tone with Chandler throughout the novel. Thankfully this is mostly resolved through the lesson she learns in the end. Additionally, Pippa is a mixed character who doesn’t seem to know what she wants out of life. Both protagonists feel thrown together for the most part. (spoiler) In contrast, the antagonists are very well done. They both have realistic motives and backstories, and are realistic in their reactive choices. The minor characters are a mix of good and bad. Some are quite well done and have more depth and motive than the lead characters do, while others (like Pippa’s father and fiance) are stereotypical. Overall, this part of the novel receives an average score because of it’s 50/50 mix of pros and cons.

Creativity & Originality (.5 point)

Finally, Wright earns a half point in originality for crafting an interesting storyline that does not condone the sad truth behind circuses, nor does it paint them as the worst evil on earth – her view is balanced. It would have been nice to see more of this theme in the plot. Because of the errors listed above, we here at BOR do not recommend that this story be made into a Christian film, however, it is not a bad read for fans of murder mysteries.

Wish List Rating: 5 out of 10 points

October 22, 2020October 22, 2020 by amg16 Categories: Box Office Wish ListTags: five out of ten points, Jaime Jo Wright, murder mystery, Suspense, The Haunting at Bonaventure Circus Leave a comment

Skydog {Lifestone Velocity} (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Josh never knew that his father was killed in the line of duty as a CIA agent nor that his mom and her boyfriend are also CIA agents. However, these secrets are revealed to Josh, along with his real name, Colt Lifestone, when his mother goes missing in action. The CIA is trying to track down biochemical weapons that a rogue terrorist group has seized with the help of a corrupt CIA agent. Thankfully, however, the CIA is in need of a few willing teenagers to help them find the turncoat before the bio weapon is released on the whole city!

Production Quality (.5 point)

In 2020, Crystal Creek Media still hasn’t improved their production quality. Skydog (formerly known as Lifestone Velocity), sports weird video quality and poor lighting in some scenes. In keeping with previous trends from this production team, the audio of this film is all over the map, including a generic soundtrack that sometimes cover up other sounds, background noises that distract the viewers, ridiculous sound effects that are added on top of the video, and overdubbing that’s extremely obvious. Elsewhere, special effects are horrible, and camera work is wild. Sets, locations, and props are cheap and limited; all of the aforementioned production elements don’t adequately portray what they’re supposed to represent. To cap things off, the editing is terrible…some scenes prematurely cut off with no warning while others drag on for no reason. In the end, despite some slightly improvement as the movie goes on, this section is just another failed effort from this team.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

During the screenplay’s opening twenty minutes, so many things happen that the audience becomes very lost on what the narrative is actually about. The plot needs to pick a lane and stay in it as it’s trying to do tons of things at once, such as vague government agency stuff that’s hard to follow and is likely not very accurate to real life. With many characters to keep up with, it’s hard to relate to any of them, especially since some of them do odd things without legitimate reasons. Bland and vanilla dialogue depersonalizes them, and a convenient lack of communication between some characters allow certain things to occur that wouldn’t otherwise. On this note, the story often decides what needs to happen and forces it to take place without logical reasons. Lacking focus or purpose whatsoever, Skydog is full of the most ridiculous action scenes and outcomes, including outrageous things that the extremely cheesy villains get away with in broad daylight. Also, it’s unclear why the CIA would ever trust teenagers with government secrets, which demonstrates a lack of understanding of how things actually work in the real world. Therefore, due to many unforced errors and absurd elements, no points can be awarded in this category.

Acting Quality (1 point)

Like other acting performances from this team, many of the cast members in Skydog are trying too hard. This produces robotic and cardboard emotions as well as stiff and stilted line delivery. A lot of the scenes seem overly practiced with certain performances coming off as really strange. However, despite poor injury acting, this section isn’t all bad. There are some acceptable elements, but they aren’t enough to save this film from itself.

Conclusion

Much like previously unsuccessful offerings from this company (Creed of Gold, Unexpected Places, Courageous Love, The King’s Messengers, A Horse Called Bear), Skydog is just more of the same from Crystal Creek. They’ve never significantly improved throughout their tenure in Christian entertainment, which is unacceptable from a group that consistently puts out content. At this point, it’s unfortunately unclear where this team is headed, but we don’t have high hopes for their future.

Final Rating: 1.5 out of 10 points

October 20, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Inspirational, International, Movie Reviews, SuspenseTags: 1.5 points, 2020, Callie Heyer, Christopher Veldhuizen, Crystal Creek Media, Damion Stevenson, Daniel Knudsen, David Cade, Dawn Ray, Dean Cain, Demaris Harvey, Dennis Doyle Jr., Destiny Gin, Drama, Duku Musaraj, Eric Moyer, Garrett Thierry, Geoff Curtis, Greg Tull, Gwendelynn Martindale, Heather Fairbanks, Heidi Scribner, Inspirational, International, Jacob Bellanti, James Pilachowski, Jared Allen, Jared Withrow, Jeannine Thompson, Jerry Daniels, Jerry Hayes, Jessica Koloian, John Risner, Jonas Risner, Jonathan DeRoos, Josh Allen, Kristina Kaylen, Kurt Hierholzer, Kyle Ray, Mark A. Knudsen, Michael Anthony, Michelle Knudsen, Mike T. Tremblay, Mimi Sagadin, Mo El-Zaatari, Niki Cipriano, Ralph H. Meyer, Renae Anderson, Richard Swingle, Rocco Guirlanda, Rod Myers, Rose Anne Nepa, Rosie Berryer, Samuel Joshua, Schalet Jackson, Suspense, Tiffany Burns, Tim Kaiser, Vickie Lynn Smith, Vision Films, Wayne E. Brown 1 Comment

Denounced: Rise of the Horsemen (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Paul loved his family, but they were Christians while he wasn’t. Thus, when they were taken in the rapture, he was left behind to face an ever-darkening world. Becoming a violent hater of God, Paul joins the ruthless government agency known as the Horsemen, who stamp out any traces of Christianity left on the earth. However, when they turn on Paul, he’s forced to face the reality he’s been trying to avoid.

Production Quality (0 points)

From the get-go, Denounced exhibits very disorienting and off-putting audio quality that’s sometimes overdriven, and although the soundtrack can be interesting at times, it’s often too loud. Camera work is very inconsistent, and despite clear video quality, the lighting is all over the place. The same can be said for the cheap sets, locations, and props as they don’t adequately represent what they’re supposed to portray. Special effects and sound effects are annoying, and weird zooms and camera angles confuse the audience. The editing is a disaster, sometimes wasting time on nature footage that accomplishes nothing and others times letting scenes drag on for no reason at all. Needless to say, there’s too much negative in this section to warrant any points.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

In keeping with most apocalyptic films, as soon as the rapture happens in Denounced, everything in the world starts falling apart and melting down for no reason. How are supposed to be believe so many instant natural disaster occur in succession? Besides this, it’s hard to follow the movie’s storyline since it jumps from one thing to the next, vaguely constructing the world with cryptic dialogue. Despite okay attempts at flashbacks, they’re too heavy-handed and narrated, and other conversations don’t do enough to build characters. Long boring sequences go by wherein nothing really happens and no one talks. Then, these give way to scenes of unnecessarily extreme and sometimes gross violence even though they’re accompanied by some slightly interesting plot turns that give better understanding to what the writers wanted to do. Nonetheless, it’s just too little too late as some potential as wasted that could have been better presented in a short film. This concept simply demands too much funding and planning than was put into this screenplay, but it’s a shame that the imperfect character outlines weren’t fully fleshed out and were instead replaced with excessive torture scenes. Also, to make things even more complicated, the ending of Denounced is very confusing as it seems to negate everything that happened in the narrative. Due to all these concerns, zero points are also awarded here.

Acting Quality (0 points)

The acting performances of this movie are less than inspiring, including a lot of yelling and screaming. As such, most emotions are quite forced. Lines are also mumbled, and there’s generally not any positive here to offset the negative, which rounds out a zero-point effort.

Conclusion

Did we really need another apocalyptic film? This rapture-succeeded-by-worldwide-dystopia song and dance has been done time and again, and it basically never works. Then, as if the premise didn’t already short-circuit potential, all other movie elements are very low quality. Denounced is a classic example of biting off more than you can chew and pushing forward to make something without proper planning. We’re long past the era where any random piece of Christian entertainment is going to be embraced.

Final Rating: 0 out of 10 points

September 29, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Apocalyptic, Drama, Horror, Movie Reviews, Psychological, SuspenseTags: 2017, 4 Mile Radius Productions, Alex Crowe, Anastasia Adleta, Apocalyptic, Drama, Fritz Beiswenger, Heather Uster, Horror, Jana Hart, Jennylynn Adleta, Jimmy Smuda, Justin James Mihalko, Matthan Griggs, Michael Martin, Michael Soland, Psychological, Rhonda Soland, Sean Hart, Stavros Bortsalas, Stephen C. Bortsalas, Steven Burke, Suspense, Will Carter, zero points Leave a comment

Heavenquest: A Pilgrim’s Progress (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Vangel was a judge in the Kingdom of the South, but when he was wrongly accused of treason against the king he worked for, Vangel is sent for punishment. However, he escapes this fate and meets up with another fugitive; together, they run into a mysterious man named Elder who tells them that they can be set free if they make it to the Kingdom of the North. Through many perilous circumstances, they battle their way to freedom at all costs. Will they be able to cross the border before it’s too late?

Production Quality (1.5 points)

Unfortunately, fantasy productions in Christian entertainment almost never fare well, and cheesy special effects combined with obvious CGI elements are usually the leading culprits. Heavenquest isn’t an exception to this tendency as its sets, locations, and props don’t adequately portray what they’re supposed to portray. Camera work is often shaky, especially in action scenes, and the film is replete with very trippy and dizzying sequences that confuse and overwhelm the viewer. Video quality is clear, but lighting is inconsistent. Despite an interesting soundtrack, it’s sometimes too loud. There are many quick cuts and transitions throughout, but there is actually some production improvement throughout, which is enough to grant an average score for this section.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

After completely dropping the audience in the middle of narrative nowhere, Heavenquest consistently introduces concepts that fly over the head of the viewer. These elements seem designed with purposeful vagueness even though they include intriguing psychological aspects and artistic perspectives. It seems like the writers were trying to tell something profound but never got around to explaining it. Nonetheless, it’s hard to follow the plot’s progression as random things happen. Some sequences are total wastes of time and accomplish nothing, only wasting valuable opportunities to develop accessible characters and help audiences understand what’s actually going on. As they are, the characters are difficult to connect with due to detached and cryptic dialogue although they have some potential. The villains are very cheesy and mainly serve to include unnecessary language and edgy content. Often, things in the story happen because they need to rather than naturally developing. Besides the disorienting nature of the movie, its allegory seems a bit off at times and not completely congruent with the faith. It seems to adopt unusual theological stances, and its flat ending leaves everyone empty-handed. Thus, no points can be awarded here.

Acting Quality (1.5 points)

Some acting in Heavenquest is acceptable, but for the most part, the villain cast members post over-the-top performances. A portion of the acting seems unsure or awkward while other parts demonstrate overly practiced emotional and line delivery. Further, makeup isn’t all that it could be, which rounds out an overall average section.

Conclusion

This film joins other similar ones (such as The Adventures of Chris Fable and Heaven’s War) in presenting poorly constructed CGI fantasies. Relying too much on visual effects and allowing the storyline to fall by the wayside, Heavenquest‘s creators either never figured out why they wanted to make this movie or never properly communicated this. After all the hype surrounding the movie, Christian audiences were left with another disappointment that will contribute to the growing discontent with the field. Hopefully, however, future offerings won’t commit the same errors.

Final Rating: 3 out of 10 points

September 17, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Action Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Movie Reviews, Psychological, SuspenseTags: 2020, 3 points, Action Adventure, Adam Gellert, Alan Powell, Asger Folmann, Dan Mark, Darren Wilson, David Kang, David Kim, DK Entertainment International, Drama, Eric Tiede, Fantasy, Fernanda Romero, Ginny Emery, In-Pyo Cha, Jae Hyeon Sung, Jeremy Adams, John Michael Rovetto, Jonathan Beard, Joy Thayer, Karyme Lozano, King Street Pictures, Leslie Chung, Marius Haugan, Mary Bae, Matt Bilen, Matthew Faraci, Michael Tang, Minsok Oh, Patrick Thompson, Peta Sergeant, Psychological, Rachel Tan, Ricky Kim, Sung Jin Kim, Suny Chung, Suspense, TKC Pictures, Tyler Fleming, Wanderlust Productions, Young Cha Choi, Young Suk Park Leave a comment

Nine by Rachelle Dekker

Author’s Note: We were provided with a free copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.

UPDATE: After a consultation with our writing team, it was determined that the previous review was too harsh and overlooked some of the superior qualities of this novel. Thus, two points have been added to the overall rating.😃

Plot & Storyline Quality (3 points)

Rachelle Dekker’s latest thriller, Nine, is a well-crafted and engaging novel that gets off to a rocky start. Zoe is living an average life working as a waitress and living in a hotel room. She has finally gotten a handle on managing the dark forests of her childhood memories, and is generally content to drift through each day. One rainy day, a terrified red-headed girl with an innocent expression bursts into the diner. She says her name is Lucy and claims she can’t remember anything. Zoe is drawn to Lucy’s vulnerability and decides to help her. Little does Zoe know that the price tag for this decision could be her life. Tom Seeley is a hardened FBI agent who threw himself into his work after losing his wife. Seeley found himself deeply involved in The Grantham Project, a top-secret government operation – based out of a campus named Xerox – whose goal is to genetically engineer biological weapons to defend the U.S. on special assignments. When the powers that be begin to do things that go against the few morals Seeley has left, he finds himself torn between obeying orders and exposing criminal activity. Zoe, Lucy, and Seeley find themselves thrown together in an on-again-off-again trio who are each forced to decide between who they are and who they have been trained to be. The strongest point of the plot and storyline is the theme I just mentioned. Deciding to be who God made you to be, no matter the cost, is a vitally important message in today’s world. Dekker beautifully weaves this theme throughout her novel and makes it the defining question amid the madness. This gives her story both depth and a purpose. Another strong point in the plot and storyline are the extremely well-crafted psychological elements. These are mainly showcased in Lucy’s deep and illustrative flashbacks that unfold throughout the middle of the novel. In comparison, this area of Nine also contains weaknesses. There are a few typical thriller elements, like a crazy lady living in a bunker, and the ending of the story is somewhat choppy. On the whole, this area of the novel rounds out with an above average score that could have been perfect if the errors listed above did not exist.

Character Development (4 points)

In comparison, the strongest aspect of the overall novel is Dekker’s character development. Lucy is a very well-crafted character with a fully developed set of emotional, behavioral, social, and spiritual characteristics. Her choices are relatable and, as previously mentioned, the flashbacks Dekker uses with her character add a lot of depth. Zoe is a believable main character who changes in realistic ways as time goes forward. Seeley is a mixed bag. His identity towards the beginning is unclear, but as it unfolds he becomes a strong character. Moreover, the back and forth shift between third and first person in the novel’s dialogue is very creative and illustrates the book’s key themes very well. Additionally, Olivia and other minor characters have clear roles in the story and are well-developed. The antagonist is actually quite good and avoids the typical thriller villian pitfalls. On the whole, a job well done, which earns Dekker a perfect score in this area.

Creativity & Originality (2 points)

Finally, Dekker receives a full point in creativity for her excellent dialogue, and a full x-factor point in originality for her superbly crafted psychological elements – i.e. flashbacks, etc. This being so, we highly recommend that the content in this novel be made into a Christian TV series. By doing this, the screenwriter would have room to do an in-depth exploration of Seeley and Zoe’s pasts, and therefore make their characters as strong as Lucy’s. They would need to tone down the violent torture sequences in the latter half of the story and edit out some of the characters’ brushes with death, but it can be done. To sum up, this novel is a great read for mature audiences and would make a great Christian series in the right hands.

Wish List Rating: 9 out of 10 points

September 12, 2020September 30, 2020 by amg16 Categories: Box Office Wish ListTags: Box Office Wish List, Nine, Rachelle Dekker, Suspense 1 Comment

Adam’s Testament (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Joseph Gable is a police detective with a troubled past, but he never gives up trying to bring his son Adam back to the faith they once both had. However, a creepy businessman has come to city and seems to have some kind of magical hold over Adam, along with others in the area. Thankfully, there’s some ninja angels in the neighborhood who can help Joseph fight the forces of evil and take back his son!

Production Quality (1.5 points)

Despite acceptable video quality and camera work except for some randomly shaky moments, there are a lot of dark scenes throughout this production. The soundtrack is interesting, but audio quality is inconsistent. Special effects are very cheesy, and there are several awkward fadeouts. Further, the editing is mostly average; there are also some improvements with various elements as the movie goes on, which is enough to warrant an average score for this section.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

Besides the typically absurd spiritual horror premise, the dialogue of Adam’s Testament is very obvious and message-pushing, making the characters feel like mere representations of issues rather than actual people. Despite a few interesting psychological elements, the spiritual warfare aspects are not handled well at all as they are too heavy-handed, leaving nothing to chance. Flashbacks are present but fail to properly build character personality and motive. What’s more, the audience can easily become isolated by the world built in this narrative since it’s hard to know where or what is happening as too many concepts are thrown at the viewers. At times, the writers become lost in their own philosophizing and their obsession with portraying Satan as a cheesy figure with more power than he actually possesses. Further, legalism and the unusual elevation of angels pollute the storyline, and it all concludes on a very bizarre note that only muddies the already murky waters. In the end, there’s just too much negative here to warrant any points.

Acting Quality (1 point)

Between forced emotions and line delivery, it’s clear that this cast was coached to as dramatic and serious as possible. Overall, the performances are trying too hard, and things only get worse as they go. Though some of acting is somewhat acceptable, it tends to get worse as it proceeds. Thus, one point is all that can be warranted here, which rounds out an overall absurd film.

Conclusion

Pretty much every spiritual horror screenplay in Christian entertainment history is a total bust. Adam’s Testament just falls into the already long line of awful offerings in this so-called genre. It seems like all these types of movies want to do is create a lot of sensationalism, using faith-based elements as props to reach a certain audience, whoever it may be. Thus, the next time a creator thinks about making one of these, they might should think twice and see if that’s what they’re actually supposed to do.

Final Rating: 2.5 out of 10 points

September 10, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Horror, Movie Reviews, Psychological, SuspenseTags: 2.5 points, 2017, Adam Bogen, Art Hindle, Bridgestone Multimedia Group, Drama, Dwayne Adams, Elva Yuill, Frank Chiesurin, Horror, Ian Matthews, Jason Barbeck, Kate Drummond, Luke Bilyk, Marc Forand, Markus Parilo, Nicholas Schnier, Nick Mancuso, Pedro Salvin, Philip Moran, Psychological, Rafael Kalamat, Reel Deal Guys Entertainment, Sebastian MacLean, Suspense, Sydney Van Delft, Todd Yuill, Zoé De Grand Maison Leave a comment

No Place in This World (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Two girls are stuck in a bad home situation, and bullies at school only make matters worse. However, tragedy strikes when school officials and those close to the girls fail to act in time. Will the community be able to come together and prevent future crises?

Production Quality (1.5 points)

Although this production has fine video quality, the audio leaves much to be desired. Background sounds and cheap sound special effects are annoying, and the soundtrack sometimes overpowers other sounds. Camera work is okay at times, but there are also some tight shots and odd camera angles. Sets, locations, and props are not quite up to par. Further, the editing contains a lot of quick cuts and transitions. Nonetheless, there is some slight improvement throughout the film’s sequence, which is enough to warrant an average rating for this section.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1 point)

Despite a choppy introduction sequence and initial dialogue that pushes issues rather than developing characters, there’s a surprising amount of potential in this plot. At first, many of the characters seem to only represent social concerns rather than people even though most of the highlighted problems are definitely realistic and worthwhile to look at in movie form. However, the conversations between characters do improve as the narrative proceeds, and the family issues that are presented are unfortunately believable and could exist anywhere. Connecting these negative elements to school struggles was a very good aspect of this storyline despite the fact that it’s a very sobering exploration of everyday pain that many experience. It’s also a hard look at the problem of evil and the church’s response to this concept. In the end, the plot has a very meaningful conclusion even if it’s quite sad. In conjunction with the first half being improved, it would have been better for this narrative to end on a better note of hope and redemption. As it is, many audiences will be isolated by the ending, and this blunts any impact the story would have otherwise had.

Acting Quality (1.5 points)

Despite a bit too much screaming, most of the cast members are okay in this screenplay. Child acting is not bad, and emotions outside of the yelling are acceptable. Some line delivery is a bit quick while other parts are fine. Overall, these factors contribute to an average score for this section, which rounds out a respectable effort.

Conclusion

No Place in This World is another film in need of a remake or adaptation. It’s an example of all we ask entertainment creators to do: put your best foot forward and see what God does. Though there were some definite areas in need to improvement, it’s clear that the team behind this movie were really trying to make something quality, so it will be interesting to see what they do next.

Final Rating: 4 out of 10 points

September 3, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Inspirational, Movie Reviews, Psychological, SuspenseTags: 2017, Alicia C. Del Aguila, Angela Winiewicz, Ashley Sperrazza, Ashlyn Jade Lopez, Bailey Gavulic, Beatrice McClure, Blayze Hippensteel, Bouncy Boxer Media, Brad Castillo, Bridgestone Multimedia Group, Chelsea Wolf, CVI Productions, Dawn Horton, Drama, Elizabeth Corbett, Elle Gabriel, Emma Burke, Essex O'Brien, Hunter Wayne Pratt, Inspirational, Isabel Myers, Jackson Tessmer, Jennifer Rosario, Jeremy Kaminsky, John Hardy, Kathy Patterson, Kinley Rice, Liz M. Day, Megan Brown, Melanie Scott, Melony Daemer, Michael A. Blank, Molly E. Smith, Orlando Casiano, Psychological, Shannon Scott, Stefanie Davis, Suspense, Tiffini Holtsberg Gothard, Tracy Decresie, Tyler Huth Leave a comment

The Crossroads of Hunter Wilde (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

In the aftermath of a world war that left mutants and ISIS rebels roaming the earth in search of their next victims, Hunter Wilde fights to survive and protect those close to him. However, when a new threat emerges that he has no idea how to fight, Hunter does what he typically does: run away. Will he be able to rekindle his faith before it’s too late?

Production Quality (1.5 points)

Despite seemingly having adequate funding, this production fails to meet quality standards. This includes background noise that sometimes conflicts with spoken audio as well as a loud and generic soundtrack. The sets, locations, and props don’t effectively portray what they’re supposed to portray. Also, the camera work is wild, including poor shots in action sequences. The video quality is mostly stable throughout, however, and the editing is average. Despite some less-than-inspiring special effects, some elements of the production do improve as it goes on. Nonetheless, it’s only enough to earn a middle-of-the-road score for this section.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

Besides the fact that this film is based on a ridiculous premise and bizarre plot elements, it also contains a really bad and slightly incorrect portrayal of the spiritual dimension. The writers seemed to be obsessed with sensationalism, shock, and awe as well as fixated on pro-prepper messaging that seems to want the world to descend into chaos so that they can do whatever they want. Despite being a large-scale idea, the story is based on clunky narration and stock footage. It’s also full of forced drama and purposely creepy supernatural elements. In the character department, the so-called protagonist almost always saves the day via unrealistic action sequences. Other characters are built on forced cardboard dialogue and awkward conversations that make everything drag out. The villains are extremely cheesy, and the narrative decides what happens to the characters and what random things they’ll do without good reasons for doing them. Things only get more ridiculous as they go, mostly due to the fact that the movie confuses itself with wacky inter-dimensional subplots and terminology. The concepts of other realms are extremely difficult to grasp, and the screenplay’s questionable view of spirituality tends to play fast and loose with reality. In the end, this is a pointless storyline full of madness and nonsense.

Acting Quality (1 point)

Between overly theatrical emotions and forced line delivery, the cast was seemingly coached to be very serious for no good reason. Too often, tones and feelings don’t seem to appropriately fit the situations. Makeup is also an obvious problem, and the villain acting is laughably ridiculous. In the end, despite some okay moments that keep this section from being zero, the acting tends to worsen as it goes forward, which rounds out an overall absurd creation.

Conclusion

It’s difficult to understand what the makes of this film were really going for. Mixing a dystopian premise with muted political overtures, much like The Reliant, is basically a losing formula from the get-go. Combing this with poor production and acting aspects sends this movie down to the basement of Christian entertainment. However, the market is thankfully changing for the better, which will no longer allow screenplays like this to exist.

Final Rating: 2.5 out of 10 points

July 22, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Apocalyptic, Drama, Horror, Movie Reviews, Psychological, SuspenseTags: 2.5 points, 2019, Abel Becerra, Alin Bijan, Apocalyptic, April Hartman, Bridgestone Multimedia Group, Chuck Huber, David Timmes, Drama, Greta Norris, Haulston Mann, Horror, Jordan DragonKing, Kaci Hill, Kat Rowland, Kenneisha Thompson, LaRonn Marzett, Mike Norris, Norris Moving Pictures, Psychological, Rafael Villegas, Suspense, Ted Ferguson, Valerie Norris, Vernon Reeves, Zane Tabari 2 Comments

Home of the Brave [2020] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Drew Thomas returns from active duty and wants to get back to normal, but he finds it difficult due to the trauma he experienced overseas. Nonetheless, he goes right back to working for a nonprofit he started with his brother and friends. Before they realize it, their paths are unintentionally crossing with group of local police officers who want to see change come to their city. They must all come to grips with how God wants them to act and react to the difficult circumstances they are placed in.

Production Quality (1.5 points)

Home of the Brave has some good and some bad aspects in its production. The video quality and camera work are acceptable, but audio is very poor at times, including loud background sounds and an inconsistent generic soundtrack. The sets, locations, and props are mostly average, however. Possibly one of this section’s worst aspects is the extremely choppy editing, which involves some weird fadeouts and abrupt transitions between scenes. Though this could be due to the large amount of content within the film, this rounds out an overall middle-of-the-road effort.

Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)

At its very core, Home of the Brave is trying to do way too much at once. It feels like an entire season of a series was crammed into less than two hours as there are many, many characters who seem like they have potential yet crowd each other out due to the sheer number of them. The plot tries to cover too many topics at once, and in doing so, short-circuits any hope for meaningful themes even though there could have been some. Some of the dialogue is actually pretty good and shows a lot of potential, but the narrative is just a long string of scenes and sequences, some of which seem totally out of place and context. Certain circumstances that characters find themselves in seem very staged and contrived only to force the storyline to go in a certain direction that the writers wanted it to go. As such, characters are pawns in the plot, and many scenes are very unnecessary and waste time. There are far too many coincidences throughout the screenplay, and it all leads to a very rushed ending where mostly everything is fixed in unrealistic ways. In the end, although there was plenty of potential in this movie for a thought-provoking story, it got in its own way by biting off more than it could chew.

Acting Quality (1.5 points)

For the most part, the acting in Home of the Brave is most okay. It could be a bit better than it is, but it’s not horrible. Emotions and line delivery are a bit forced in dramatic scenes, and many instances are fairly bland. Thus, the mixed aspect of the acting in this film makes this an average section.

Conclusion

This screenplay had a lot going for it, but it needed to be slowed down and planned in a more efficient way. The creators needed to strongly consider turning it into a miniseries so that the full weight of their ideas could have been felt. As such, a remake may be in order. In the end, Home of the Brave can be a learning experience for all movie makers: don’t try to do too much at once.

Final Rating: 3.5 out of 10 points

June 27, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Movie Reviews, SuspenseTags: 2020, 3.5 points, Andrew Dozier, Ariel Santerelli, Aris Rogers II, Ben Woods, Carrie D. Gibson, Deon Gibson, Drama, Garnet Jones, Jeremy Woods, Jorge Diaz, Kibwe Dorsey, Kyle Marra, Lee Lee Lapointe, Lisa Brave, Marc De Stefano, Matthew Williams, Rebeca Donovan, Ryan Clark, Sammy Cash Bennett, Shaila Velazquez, Shellita Boxie, Simone Farrell, Suspense, Terri Blakney Beach, Tiffany Edwards, Tyson Brown, Victoria Baxter, Wade Williams Leave a comment

Run [2017] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

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

Production Quality (.5 point)

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

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

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

Acting Quality (0 points)

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

Conclusion

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

Final Rating: .5 out of 10 points

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

Worth Fighting For [2017] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Alex has made a name for himself as an underground prize fighter, which has attracted the attention of the local mob. Thus, when Alex agrees to be one of their enforcers, he doesn’t realize how much he’s agreed to do. This seems to jeopardize the relationship Alex wants to have with Lilly, a girl he met at a local diner. Because of his decision, Alex will have to confront both his past and his present in order to be free.

Production Quality (1 point)

The production of Worth Fighting For is likely its weakest area, with wild camera work in action scenes, loud background sounds, and inconsistent lighting. For instance, some outside scenes are too bright while some inside scenes are too dark. Also, there are very obvious overdubs throughout the film, and the live audio sounds quite cheap. Video quality also leaves something to be desired, but the soundtrack is one of the bright spots. Further, some elements of the production do tend to improve as the movie goes on, such as the video quality, so this section overall does enough to warrant a point.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1.5 points)

From the beginning, Worth Fighting For contains surprisingly well-constructed dialogue that makes the characters mostly believable. However, there are also some drawbacks here, such as cheesy conversations that unnecessarily reinforce gender stereotypes and build thin romantic subplots. Nonetheless, it’s good that the viewers are able to slowly learn about the characters rather than all at once, and most of their dialogue is authentic and organic, which develops realistic character struggles and motives. Even so, there were plenty of chances for the characters to be a bit deeper and to drive the plot with their choices. As it is, the storyline tends to sweep the characters along with some head-scratching coincidences, including the slightly forced romantic relationship. Unfortunately, the narrative tends to worsen as it goes, including a lot of patriarchal messages and things happening without enough precedent, which all culminates into a cheesy against-all-odds sports climax that’s paired with a very forced and rushed conclusion that leaves things too empty. However, the first half of the screenplay is enough to warrant an average score, which is encouragement for the future.

Acting Quality (1.5 points)

Though the acting sometimes comes off as a bit blank and vanilla while some performances are a bit stiff, there are moments when the acting is better. Despite some dramatically forced lines, for the most part, emotions are believable, and the cast members definitely appear to be trying to do their best. At the very least, this is Alan Powell’s best performance to date, and the cast as a whole does enough, even though there are some rocky moments, to warrant an average score for this section.

Conclusion

Films like Worth Fighting For are complicated because they have something to offer, but it’s usually packaged in the wrong way. This is almost always due to some shortcoming within the movie-making process, and it’s typically poor screenwriting. However, that’s not the case in this screenplay; a lack of adequate funding is to issue this time. Nonetheless, all a film maker can do is put their best foot forward and let God take care of the rest. Thus, perhaps we’ll see more from this creative team in the near future.

Final Rating: 4 out of 10 points

May 30, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Movie Reviews, Romance, SuspenseTags: 4 points, Alan Powell, Allie Streltsov, Brad Jerkins, Chad Boswell, Christian Walker, Christopher Mielke, Drama, Ebed Pictures, Heather Boswell, Javarice Moody, Josette Dwyer, Joshua Sheik, Mike Kozlowski, Moses Jones, Romance, Ruth Freiderich, Susan Sik, Suspense, Tara Owens, Theresa Chason, Tim Ross, Tucker Meek Leave a comment

Sons of Thunder, Season 1 [2019] (Series Review)

Plot Summary

Simon, ever since becoming a Christian, doesn’t want to be in his motorcycle gang anymore, but the gang leader won’t let Simon out very easily. Afraid for his girlfriend’s life and uncertain of the future, Simon decides to go on a road trip since he thinks this will keep everyone safe. Along the way, Simon hops from town to town, trying to make enough money to pay his way. In each area, he’s able to magically help someone before he has to return to his pursuit of unknown goals. The question is, will he ever be safe from the grasp of the biker gang?

Production Quality (2.5 points)

For the most part, in keeping with the new ways of a well-funded PureFlix machine, Sons of Thunder sports a respectable production. This is evident in the video quality, camera work, and audio quality, including a pretty good soundtrack. Sets, locations, and props are also above average. Despite some obvious continuity errors and less-than-perfect editing, this production improves as it goes. Thus, this section is easily the strongest point of the series.

Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)

From the get-go, the first season of Sons of Thunder is full of constant narration, which is only combined with cheesy, juvenile dialogue that’s quite obvious and expository in most scenes. Many of the plot’s circumstances come off as unrealistic and trumped up, and many of the situations characters find themselves in seem quite staged and contrived just to move the narrative forward. This makes it difficult to know who the characters actually are and why they do what they do other than the fact that they are pawns in the whims of the storyline, which forces everything to reach certain conclusions, no matter how unnatural the premises may be. Some characters have extreme swings in their behaviors without legitimate explanations or catalysts, all just to make specific instances transpire. Besides these obvious problems, the fact that the protagonist can just stumble from town to town without any clear direction or objective and always find some kind of sticky situation to patch up with his wisdom before quickly leaving without good explanation is pretty ridiculous. Why would so many people trust him and benefit from him right in a row, and how would one person benefit from so many coincidences? Elsewhere, the villains and ‘bad’ characters are beyond cheesy strawmen, and basically all of the action sequences are unrealistic. However, surprisingly, not all is bad in this section since there is a consistent presence of partially effective flashbacks that build some semblance of a backstory for the main character. Further, there are some interesting themes explored in a few of the episodes, such as desperate people doing illegal things for desperate reasons, but any good is easily wiped out by the cringe-worthy climax that leaves the viewers with a painfully obvious attempt to create a second season of this madness. Therefore, only half a point can be awarded here.

Acting Quality (2 points)

Moreover, despite obvious plot problems, the acting of this series actually isn’t half-bad. Though there are moments of unsure delivery and while some performances could be better, this section is at least above-average. Dramatic scenes are a bit overacted at times, and the villain cast members were presumably coached to be absurd. Nonetheless, this aspect of the season shows improvement with time, which is enough to warrant this score.

Continuity Quality (1 point)

Sons of Thunder follows a typical recurring drama model that hearkens back to The Lone Ranger where every episode has different characters save for the main ones. As such, the protagonist hops from situation to situation, easily resolving problems within the given episode time frames. In this pursuit, episode conclusions aren’t backed up by logical progression and are rushed for the sake of time. Every episode ending is essentially the same, and while the flashbacks tend to interrupt this mold, it’s not quite enough. Another predictable aspect of this series is its use of the premiere and finale episodes to explore the bigger subplot outside of the smaller episodic ones, and though not all is bad, it’s just not quite there.

Conclusion

Despite itself, this series is actually best PureFlix Original series to date, which is really saying much considering the other options (see The Encounter, Hitting the Breaks, Malibu Dan the Family Man, and Hilton Head Island). Sons of Thunder has moments of potential and is definitely well-funded, but it just commits too many avoidable errors, mostly pertaining to poor writing. However, this isn’t anything new when it comes to PureFlix, so, at this point, we unfortunately don’t expect anything less from them.

Final Rating: 6 out of 14 points

May 19, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Inspirational, Series Reviews, SuspenseTags: Acorye' White, Adam Cope, Alec Rayme, Amanda Joy Erickson, Amos Elseth, Anna Zielinski, Benjamin Schile, Chaz Taylor, Claire Seneca, Creek Wilson, David A. R. White, Deke Anderson, Don Swayze, Donna Morrell Gafford, Drama, Emily Peachey, Gabriel Sabloff, Gerald Brodin, GiGi Erneta, Grady McCardell, Inspirational, J.B. Barrett, Jeffrey Decker, Jeremy Lawson, Jesse Gallegos, Johnny Ray Gibbs, Jonathan Glenn, Katherine Elseth, Kimberley Bliquez, Loren F. Gilley, Martin Elfrey, Mavrick Von Haug, Mayra Leal, Michael Kruger, Michael P. Collier, Ned Yousef, PureFlix, Randal Reeder, Red State Entertainment, Remy Carter, Rex Mundo, Richard Reeder, Sam Medina, Susan Gallagher, Suspense, Tom Zembrod, Vanessa Angel Leave a comment

Where Was God? [2014] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Pastor Thompkins has a secret, but his life becomes even more complicated when a desperate man decides to hold him hostage in the pastor’s own home. During their standoff, the man asks Thompkins pressing questions about the problem of pain and life’s true purpose. Will either man come out of the situation alive?

Production Quality (1 point)

With such a low budget, it’s unclear why this production was put forth just for it to contain cheap sets and props, lack actual locations, and have inconsistent lighting throughout. As it’s basically people hanging around in a house, the camera work and video quality are fine, yet it all feels very cut-rate. The soundtrack is very generic, and all audio is quite hit-and-miss, including silly sound effects. There’s also no editing to speak of, which rounds out an overall poor effort that undermines this film’s existence.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

As a heavy character-based plot, Where Was God? needed some serious help in the narrative department for it to even have a chance, but with only wooden characters to speak of due to overly constructed, obvious dialogue, there’s really no hope for this movie. The entire premise, full of unrealistic circumstances, feels very contrived, and the storyline is an overused waste of time because it seeks to drag things out as long as possible. Dead time also fills gaps where substantial content could have gone. Instead of a real plot containing believable dialogue, the audience is only left with silly gender stereotypes and a strange endings that both instantly fixes all the problems and almost negates the entire situation at the same time. Due to all of these factors, no points can be awarded to this section.

Acting Quality (0 points)

In nearly every facet of Where Was God?, the acting is extremely awkward, including wooden emotions and incredibly forced line delivery. The drama is also manufactured, and the cast is so small that even the smallest errors are very noticeable. Unfortunately, there’s just nothing positive to say about this category, which rounds out an overall basement-level offering.

Conclusion

What else is there to say? Where Was God? is just another in a long line of embarrassing Christian projects that will fade from memory as time goes on. There’s next to nothing that justifies its existence and no reason for it to be made. The only thing that can be gleaned from it is how not to produce Christian entertainment, but there are already too many examples of that.

Final Rating: 1 out of 10 points

May 7, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Movie Reviews, SuspenseTags: 1 point, 2014, Bailey Rossetti, Chelsea Casanova, Chip Rossetti, CMD Distribution, David Ross, Donna Botts, Drama, Joe Mayse, Kaitlin Borst, Kristi Miller, Matthew Ulm, Pamela Cash, Paul Spite, Rossetti Productions, Sean O'Bryan Smith, Seth Adair, Suspense, Timothy Paul Taylor, TPTFILMS Entertainment, TRU Media Film Distribution Leave a comment

Modern Prodigal (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Brian Sanderson is an investigative reports who’s addicted to painkillers and never ceases in his quest to solve the mystery of his son’s untimely death to the same drug he’s hooked on. Even though his obsessions cause him to lose his dream job, Brian will stop at nothing to discover the truth of what really happened while also wrestling the demons inside his head. Ultimately, Brian will have to confront his dark past in order to face the future.

Production Quality (1.5 points)

After an odd opening sequences that seems to suggest Modern Prodigal is part of a crime series, weird gray lighting seems to dominate much of the film. Audio quality is also an issues as there are some obvious background sounds as well as too much dead air, even if the little soundtrack therein has some potential. Sets, locations, and props are are bit cheap-looking, and there are some unnecessarily tight shots and instances stationary camera work. Furthermore, the editing leaves something to be desired with awkward cuts and transitions, but the good news is that the production takes a turn for the better in the film’s second half that amends a lot of the earlier errors. However, this is only enough to raise this section to the halfway mark.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1.5 points)

Surprisingly, the characters are one of the strongest aspects of Modern Prodigal as some of them possess subtle characteristics that make them come off as relatable and human; their dialogue is also not all bad since it establishes them as imperfect people. However, while some conversations are quite good, others are too obvious and over the top. Nonetheless, the narrative makes fairly good use of mystery concepts throughout the plot progression and does a reasonable job at concealing important facts and revealing them bit by bit throughout the film. While there are plenty of positive aspects, there are also nagging concerns with this story, such as the fact that it’s trying to cover too much ground in one screenplay. Much of its content would have been better suited for a series, and a sudden massive time jump at the movie’s conclusion leaves the viewer somewhat confused. Nevertheless, Modern Prodigal offers a lot of hope for this writing team’s future potential.

Acting Quality (1 point)

Unfortunately, the good aspects of this film’s plot are detracted from by a lot of over-acting in many of the screenplay’s important scenes. This includes quite a bit of overdone emotional performances and forced line delivery. While there is some good in this section, such as some good supporting cast members and better acting in the less dramatic scenes, better coaching could have lifted Modern Prodigal to a better level.

Conclusion

This film joins a sizable collection of Christian creations that had a lot going for them but never made the next step in to greatness. Much of this shortfall is due to financial constraints, but a lot of it can be blamed on a lack of collaboration or a tendency to force something to happen before it’s time. Ideas were never meant to be carried out alone, and sometimes, it’s just not the right season for them. Nonetheless, it will be interesting to see what this creative team offers next.

Final Rating: 4 out of 10 points

May 4, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Movie Reviews, Mystery, SuspenseTags: 4 points, Adam Laborde, April Etchart, Branden Lewis, Bridgestone Multimedia Group, Bryan McClure, Christopher James Cain, Darryl W. Handy, Drama, ElFilm Productions, Francine Locke, Holly A. Morris, Hummingbird Productions, Jack Savage, James Edward Hamilton, James Etchart, James Hamilton, Jim Houghton, Josh Murray, L. A. Winters, Lola Luton, Michael McClendon, Mike Parker, Mystery, Paul Barlow Jr., Scott McDonald, Suspense, Vanessa Ore Leave a comment

Scion [2018] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Kendra Williams is tired of the way things are. She never gets to have any fun because her parents won’t let her go to dangerous all-night parties with her “friends.” One of these said nights, Kendra meets a mysterious man who promises to grant her secret wish of living however she wants. Kendra accepts his offer but suddenly wakes up in a world where she was never born. Will she be able to escape the nightmare before it’s too late???

Production Quality (1 point)

For the most part, Scion offers a very cheap production experience, including shaky camera work, tight shots, and bizarre camera angles designed to be “cool.” Audio quality is also uneven as backgrounds sounds are too prevalent and invasive sound effects annoy the viewer even though the soundtrack is somewhat interesting. The video is also sometimes blurry, and lighting is inconsistent throughout. Sets, locations, and props are mostly average if not slightly limited, and cheesy special effects plague the audience with dizzying sequences. Further, though there is some slight improvement throughout, continuity errors and various editing concerns keep this section on the low end of the spectrum, but it’s not even the worst of it.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

Scion starts off with the completely wrong premise by portraying a tone-deaf view of young people being wayward and throwing in with strawman villains. Also, the psychological fantasy world created for this plot is very difficult for viewers to understanding since its rules seem very subjective. For instance, things in the alternate universe randomly happen for no particular reason, and obstacles are arbitrarily applied to the characters just for the sake of expanding the narrative and illogically getting them where the writers wanted them to go. Similarly, the story’s progression makes little sense as unnecessary time jumps disorient the audience and endless meandering sequences waste time just so that the characters can run all over the place and fill the runtime. Very convenient dialogue also forces the plot to go where screenwriters wanted it to go, and forced suspense scenes crowd out any shred of potential there was for character development. In the end, this screenplay is just a bad version of the typical It’s a Wonderful Life style of psychological narrative.

Acting Quality (1.5 points)

Though it’s a bit average and sometimes even awkward, the acting is the best aspect of Scion. However, emotions still aren’t very believable throughout, and line delivery is pedestrian. Nonetheless, it’s unclear how the cast members could have done much better with how poorly written this movie was. Thus, this rounds out a severely underwhelming effort that should have never gotten past the initial planning stages.

Conclusion

Kingdom Sight Studios has demonstrated some slight potential in the past, such as in 2nd Greatest, but more recent projects, like Scion and A High School Story, have not instilled any confidence in their commitment to quality. Often, being a lone ranger studio rarely pays off, but the least they could do is overcome their low production quality with deeper storylines that would make bigger companies take notice. However, this isn’t the case as they further contribute to the already low image of Christian entertainment.

Final Rating: 2.5 out of 10 points

April 20, 2020April 20, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Fantasy, Movie Reviews, Psychological, Sci-Fi, SuspenseTags: 2.5 points, 2018, Candace Dixon, Daphnie Fine, David Ash, Don Fine, Drama, Fantasy, Glory Fine, Grace Fine, Jamaal Curry, Jason Rohana, Jennifer Prus, Jordan Lane, Julie Piper, Kaylee Rutter, Kingdom Sight Studios, Kristen Lester, Kyle Gaylord, Laura Kelly, Nathan Blair, Olivia Curtis, Psychological, Robert Parks, Sci-Fi, Scott Piper, Suspense, Suzanne Henson, Zach Miller Leave a comment

Harriet [2019] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Harriet Tubman was a Civil War hero although many did not initially regard her in that way. While she was raised as a slave on a Maryland plantation, she heard God call her one day to leave and run to freedom. With the help of her pastor, Harriet persevered through perilous circumstances to reach the free state of Pennsylvania, but it was there where her real work began. She knew God had called her to free slaves on her own…starting with her family… even though the Philadelphia abolitionists were reluctant to help. In the end, Harriet’s obedience to God left a lasting mark on American history.

Production Quality (2.5 points)

As a well-funded, mainstream project, Harriet sports very high production quality with very few errors to note. Video quality, camera work, and audio quality are exceptionally high, and the soundtrack is excellent at tying the movie together, including using real-life singing that was historically authentic. The sets, locations, and props are realistic and well-utilized, and the production overall has a gritty feel to it that shows attention to detail and care for accuracy. The only small concern to point out relates to some slightly choppy editing, but this also pertains to the storyline. As a whole, however, this is a highly professional offering.

Plot and Storyline Quality (2 points)

The true story of Harriet Tubman was definitely one that was long overdue to be put into movie form. In this rendition, the characters are very well-developed through believable and accessible dialogue, and the high number of them is handled well as even the minor characters are given efficiently used scenes. Also, the major element of Harriet’s faith in and relationship with God is well-integrated throughout the narrative and is presented at face-value so that the viewers can decide for themselves. Other themes are creatively interwoven throughout the plot to tie together an epic biopic that was likely difficult to effectively condense. Moreover, the sheer amount of content covered in this movie does pose a problem that creates some choppiness in the storyline. It would have been better for Harriet to be presented in a non-linear style so that the story didn’t simply jump from one high point to another. Another pitfall of this section is the fact that some of the writing went out of its way to include unnecessarily edgy content (although some of it is unfortunately realistic) and slightly extreme language (though some is still authentic). Nevertheless, despite these shortcomings, this narrative is still high quality and leaves a lasting impact on the viewers.

Acting Quality (3 points)

With professional acting and directing, Harriet has virtually no flaws in this category. The costuming is period-accurate and reflects attention to detail. Line delivery is on point, and emotions are very accessible. Thus, this rounds out an encouraging effort and completes this film’s campaign for the Hall of Fame.

Conclusion

Harriet also receives an x-factor point for being re-watchable and for tackling a highly relevant topic in a memorable way. One thing to note is that this movie could have been even better in the hands of different directors who could have portrayed the story in a more Christian manner, but the current market was unfortunately not suitable for this to happen. Nonetheless, this creative team did enough to preserve Tubman’s Christian worldview and to make this a high-level screenplay, which caused it to earn a spot on the Hall of Fame. Therefore, we highly recommend it for appropriate audiences.

Final Rating: 8.5 out of 10 points

April 4, 2020April 12, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Hall of Fame, Hall of Fame, Historical, Movie Reviews, SuspenseTags: 2019, 8.5 points, Alexis Louder, Antonio J. Bell, Antonio Perez Kemp, April Buckles, Aria Brooks, Arykah Naomi DeVaughn, Bill Benenson, Brian K. Landis, Charles D. King, Charles Pugliese, CJ McBath, Claire Bronson, Clarke Peters, Cynthia Erivo, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Daphne Reid, Deborah Ayorinde, Debra Martin Chase, Don Hartman, Drama, Eleanor Buchanan Duffey, Elizabeth Koch, Focus Features, Frank Riley III, Gregory Allen Howard, Helen Goldsby, Henry Hunter Hall, Historical, Jaben Early, Janelle Monáe, Jeffrey Lampert, Jenna Marie Hess, Jennifer Nettles, Joe Alwyn, John Watson, Joseph Lee Anderson, Joshua T. Simpson, Kamillah Matthews, Kasi Lemmons, Kathryn Tkel, Keith Tyree, Kendrix Lamaz Brown, Kristina Kendall, Laureen E. Smith, Leslie Odom Jr., Liam Searcy, Martin Chase Productions, Mike Marunde, Mitchell Hoog, Morgan McCoy, New Balloon, Nick Basta, Nigel Reed, Nnamdi Asomugha, Omar J. Dorsey, Pen Densham, Perfect World Pictures, Rakeem Laws, Rebecca Cammarata, Seth Lee Moore, Shea Kammer, Stay Gold Features, Suspense, Terence Blanchard, Thomas Keegan, Tia L. Davis, Tim Guinee, Tory Kittles, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Willie Raysor, Zackary Momoh Leave a comment

Standoff by Patricia Bradley (BTSNBM)

Author’s note: We were provided with a free copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)

Standoff, the first book in Bradley’s new Natchez Trace Park Rangers series, gets this new series off to a very, very rocky start. Brooke is a budding park ranger who wants to be taken seriously by her co-workers and do her job well. She has a wealthy boyfriend, a great family, and a promising future ahead of her. Her idyllic lifestyle comes to a screeching halt when her father is murdered and left for dead while in patrol one evening. Luke is a law enforcement officer (of sorts) who is currently working undercover to expose a big drug cartel that is bringing loads of heroin into the U.S. When he hears that Brooke’s father has been killed, he wants to help find the criminal responsible. The problem is, he and Brooke have a bit of a checkered past, and now that she has a corny villian wealthy boyfriend with a big family inheritance package, he believes any future they had together is now out of the question. She hates him, he has commitment issues, it would never work. You can pretty much guess what happens in this tale, so I won’t bore you any further. As to the plot and storyline quality, let’s just say that the only bright spot in this trainwreck are the chapters featuring the ‘unnamed’ villian. This adds an appropriate air of suspense, but unfortunately the concept isn’t fully developed. Other than that, there are only errors to note here. First, the storyline moves at an inconsistent pace, so much so that the reader sometimes feels like they are being jostled from one scene to another before they can fully understand what’s happening. Second, the author tends towards what I like to call the information-dump style of writing, which interrupts the pace of the story and distracts from whatever point she was trying to make. For example, she offers many unnecessary definitions of crime-related terms and foreign foods Americans may not be familiar with that interrupt the flow of the story. Third, heavy-handed narration is used throughout as the reader is force-fed the major plot points. Fourth, I’m not sure how this is suppsoed to be romantic suspense, since it’s made clear that Jeremy only wants Brooke as a babysitter for his daughter and Luke barely spends any time with Brooke throughout the story. Lastly, perhaps the most unusual facet of this novel is the borderline-racist depictions of non-white characters. Every person with a Cajun accent seems to eat only Cajun food (whose composition the author explains to us in detail), and every other non-white person is a drug dealer or other type of criminal. This messaging is very offensive and unprofessional not to mention bizarre. For these reasons, Bradley earns far below an average score in this section.

Character Development (0 points)

Similarly, Bradley’s heavy-handed, third person narrative tone means that character development is pretty much nonexistent. Brooke is a wooden protagonist who doesn’t know what she wants out of life. Despite her character’s feminist undertones, she doesn’t get much accomplished without the help of her male counterpart, Luke. ‘Luke Fereday’ (no I’m not kidding) has chiseled features, drinks a lot of coffee because “caffeine never kept him up at night,” and goes to a lot of mysterious meetings in bars that make him look really cool…NOT. Jeremy, one of the cheesy antagonists, wears a suit and has a double life as a politician and guy with a Cajun accent who runs a drug cartel. The minor and secondary characters are one-dimensional and add little to the plot. There is unfortunately nothing good to note here. This being said, Bradley earns zero points for character development.

Creativity & Originality (0 points)

In conclusion, there is nothing creative or original to note in this novel. As such, this book should most certainly not be made into a Christian film or series. It is always our practice to point out the good in every novel and commend authors for their strengths, but there was, regrettably, nothing here to commend. Christian authors, we believe in you and the gifts Jesus has given you. Please, don’t write a story unless you are absolutely certain that you have been called by Him to do so. A book you write with Jesus can change the world for good.

Wish List Rating: .5 out of 10 points

April 2, 2020April 1, 2020 by amg16 Categories: Box Office Wish ListTags: Books that Should Not be Movies, half a point out of ten points, Patricia Bradley, Standoff, Suspense Leave a comment

The Islands [2019] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

John Thornton felt called to be a missionary on the remote island of Hawaii in the early 1800s, so he took his wife, Mary, and went with their friend Hiram to the unknown place. Once there, the missionaries met Chiefess Kapiolani and those her were in her tribe. Although the chiefess was familiar with the English language and American customs, many of her people were suspicious of the Caucasian visitors and preferred to practice human sacrifice to their pagan gods. However, one fateful day, as the island’s volcano raged, they all came face to face with what it truly meant to believe in a god.

Production Quality (2 points)

Overall, it’s clear that this production was well-funded with money that was mostly responsibly spent. All the standard elements are up to par, including video quality, audio quality, sets, props, and locations. However, there are a few pesky issues that hold this section back from being perfect, such as some cheesy sound effects that were obviously added on top of the normal audio and a generic soundtrack that never stops playing. Further, the editing leaves something to be desired as there are some abrupt cuts and transitions that cause some scenes to end without natural conclusions. Nonetheless, this production does enough to stay above average.

Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)

From the get-go, The Islands‘ plot is nearly crippled by immediate narration that continues throughout the narrative and is sometimes substituted with information dump dialogue, which seems to serve as some type of history lesson. To make matters worse, there are far too many characters for the viewer to keep up with much less for them to have time to be properly developed. Time jumps also complicate matters and make the story seem like just a collection of random scenes strung together as the film goes from one high point to the next and even seems to repeat itself on several occasions. Several interactions between characters feel like they’re on repeat and are simply designed to waste time until the climax. A lot of the conversations and situations seem very contrived just for the sake of the plot-line, and there are no clear or consistent themes that underlay the idea and give it true purpose. Nonetheless, all of these problems aside, Timothy Chey and his team did stumble upon a very intriguing true account that still shines through despite the poor storytelling. This fact is most evident in the famed final sequence that actually demonstrates some potential, which is why this section isn’t zero points. However, it’s too little too late and makes for a disappointing experience.

Acting Quality (1.5 points)

One of The Islands‘ strongest points is its encouraging commitment to assembling a diverse and culturally accurate cast, even if the costuming is a bit cheesy at times. However, this main strength is slightly weakened by the fact that much of the acting is fairly robotic at times, and emotions are sometimes difficult to believe. While it’s good to see the proper foreign language being applied in this setting, there is a lot of fight-acting throughout the film that is poorly executed and coached. Moreover, in the end, there is enough positive in this section to keep in at the average mark.

Conclusion

The historical narrative behind The Islands appears to be a very interesting and potentially powerful story that could and should have received better treatment. It’s one thing to have a good idea, but it’s another to successfully execute it, and it’s definitely a difficult feat to accomplish. Nonetheless, the experience Chey and his team bring to the table is enough to ask more of them, and the amount of potential for engaging concepts and overarching themes that was left on the table in this film was simply unacceptable. However, Chey is still on an upward trend in his career when compared to his earlier days, so perhaps his true success is just around the corner.

Final Rating: 4 out of 10 points

March 24, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Historical, Inspirational, International, Movie Reviews, Psychological, SuspenseTags: 2019, 4 points, Aiona Kaufusi, Ala'amoe Keolanui, Alice Nakahara, Amanda Lauer, Andrew Sexton Iii, Angel Lemus, Ashton Obrero, Bill Stonebreaker, Boyd Lauano, Braeden Miller, Cecily Tachibana, Cedric Jonathan, Chad Keaulana, Clifton Burchfield, Craig Nahale, David Galea'i, David Turrell, Drama, Emmanuel Gomez, Florence Ner, Frances Soares, Frank Cozart, Gapalean Niihau, Hanale Puanani, Harry Walia, Historical, Hori Bayani, Ichiro Tange, Ichiro Tatsume, Inspirational, International, Isabella Clay, Jessica Kamalu, John Danilewicz, John Huser, John Savage, Josephine Kueva, Kae'o Kapani, Kahoni Milani, Kealii Kuikahi, Lehi Makisi Falepapalangi, Lev Khon, Lurline Manalo, Mailani Makainai, Malia Mahi, Malia Marquez, Marc Ner, Margaret Kalia, Mark Pua, Michael Camp, Mira Sorvino, Philip Wanika, Psychological, R. Julie Burnett, Ray Walia, Rebecca Sanders, Ricky Sua'ava, River Rain Productions, Rock Studios, Rocky Gilding, S. Marc Clooney, Samuellete Tupola, Sanders Kapahulehua, Serita Liva, Shawn McBride, Susan F. Chey, Susan Iakopa, Suspense, Teuira Shanti Napa, Timothy A. Chey, Todd Kim, Tracy Makuakane, Troy Husey, Umi Perkins, V. Carol Rosenthal, Vanessa Cadang, Wallace Del Rosario, Yolanda Hiapo, Yosef Kasnetzkov 1 Comment

Why We Breathe (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Carrie Hicks just wants to catch a country music break in Nashville, but her relationship with her current boyfriend consistently complicates things. However, things escalate when he inadvertently paralyzes Carrie’s daughter, leading the aspiring artist to flee town and seek shelter with her great uncle, who she’s barely spoken to in years. Carrie wants to get back on her feet and move on with her life, but her daughter’s new disability often halts her in her tracks. In the end, Carrie will have to not only come to grips with her new reality but with the faith she’s been running from all these years.

Production Quality (2 points)

Despite a limited budget, it’s obvious that great care was taken to maintain mostly good production quality in Why We Breathe. This is evidenced by acceptable video and audio elements. Though there are some random moments of shaky camera work and some obvious overdubs, there is enough positive in the film’s first half to keep this section above the average line. Sets, locations, and props are well-constructed and well-utilized throughout the movie. Unfortunately, however, the editing tends to become more choppy as things progress, which prevents this area of the movie from being all that it could be. Nonetheless, this is acceptable for a first-time effort.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1 point)

In the beginning of the narrative, the ideas are creatively presented without the use of narration and through the eyes of believable characters with realistic struggles. In the plot’s first half, the dialogue is authentic, and the use of subtlety is commendable. However, by the film’s middle point, things tend to become more abrupt as some montages waste valuable time while a handful of conversations reference off-screen content that would have been better to see. Not a few scenes feel like they’re unfinished or cut off as the storyline unnecessarily rushes to an inevitable conclusion that is fairly cheesy. Unfortunately, in this pursuit, the previously positive elements lose their value as the story’s progression becomes more and more rapid. In the end, since the movie’s premise was mostly typical with some predictable elements, it needed deep character development and a more natural conclusion instead of ending with unrealistic fixes and unfinished ideas. The effort is notable, but more fleshing out was needed before it went into production.

Acting Quality (2.5 points)

As a whole, the acting in Why We Breathe is mostly professional. Line delivery and emotions appear natural as the cast members seem comfortable in their roles. Though there are some slight moments of robotic and awkward performances, for the most part, the actors and actresses are definitely working to be earnest. Thus, this rounds out an above-average attempt that could develop into better things in the future.

Conclusion

The creative team behind this film definitely had a lot going for them, and they began very strong. However, somewhere at the halfway point, it seems like the process became rushed in a possible desire to quickly release the movie. It’s a shame because with a little more collaboration and a slight amount of fleshing out, Why We Breathe could have scored much higher. Even so, it’s highly possible that the lessons learned from this project could lead to better things in the coming days.

Final Rating: 5.5 out of 10 points

March 17, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Inspirational, Movie Reviews, SuspenseTags: 2019, 5.5 points, Alexandra Sedlak, Ang Madaline-Johnson, Bob Daniel, Bryan D. Arata, Charity Spencer, D. Erik Parks, Derrick Dee Drake, Donnie Clark, Drama, Inspirational, J.R. Robles, James J. Fuertes, Jason Bynum, Judy Jackson, Mary Jackson Tatum, Peter Schottleutner, Rob Wilds, Susan Vernon, Suspense, Tayla Lynn, VCE Productions, Wynn Reichert Leave a comment

Life With Dog (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Joe Bigler wants to shut the world out after his wife died a tragic death. However, his daughter won’t leave him alone, the bank wants him to pay his mortgage, and a big company is threatening to turn his neighborhood into a housing development, which prompts them to constantly offer to buy his house. Nonetheless, when a stray dog takes up residence with Joe, his life begins to take a different trajectory. Will he finally be able to make peace with his past and move on with his life?

Production Quality (2 points)

As is the typical custom of Corbin Bernsen and his team, Life With Dog sports a respectable production, including good video and audio qualities along with professional usage of sets, locations, and props. There are really no concerns to note save for the randomly poor lighting and the inconsistent application of editing. Also, the soundtrack is a bit off since it sometimes doesn’t fit the moods of scenes, but as can be seen in the remainder of the film, much of the oddness seems purposeful.

Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)

Life With Dog is a capstone of Corbin Bernsen’s erratic and unusual Christian entertainment career because it’s the ultimate encapsulation of everything he’s ever done. Not only does this film boast the typically odd elements he inserts into movies, but it carries an inexplicably unusual tone that can’t be easily quantified. Some example of this intangible bizzareness are evidenced by some actually interesting scenes that appear to make fun of cliched film tropes, some subtle asides that range from eyebrow-raising to borderline inappropriate, and a tendency for the dialogue to frustratingly meander among some actually pertinent topics that need to be discussed, some complex philosophical concepts that are difficult to grasp, and a constant itching feeling that the narrative is hiding some deep secret that’s never to be revealed. Besides this, there are logical inconsistencies in the writing, such as the fact that the main character is seemingly able to do whatever he wants with little to no consequences for his sometimes questionable actions and the fact that there are too many coincidences that allow the plot to exist. Though there are many half-hearted attempts (we suppose) to do something meaningful in the story, like provide an accessible character exploration, nothing specifically significant materializes and is instead left as an unfinished, off-the-wall idea. The climax scene is probably the best example of the entire film in a nutshell because it pretends to keep building to something real but never gets there and only leaves the viewer with something that’s both vaguely significant and head-scratchingly odd, as if the storyline was purposely written to dangle hidden things in front of the audience without actually revealing their true natures. In the end, though there is some potential in this chaos, it’s not enough to keep this movie above water.

Acting Quality (2 points)

Much like other Home Theater films, the acting of Life With Dog is fine without many noticeable errors. Though there are some overdone emotions are certain moments, the cast members’ line deliveries are consistently on point. Also, each individual appears to assume their roles well. Thus, this rounds out a slightly below average effort.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, Bernsen’s career is marked with wasted potential (Christian Mingle, In-Lawfully Yours, 25 Hill, to name a few), and it’s unclear whether or not he ever intends to change. It seems like he’s always striving to make the next great iconic Christian film but consistently falls short due to intangible oddness. The worst part is that he clearly has the connections and the resources to do better than he is, yet he usually comes up short as he settles for second best. Perhaps, in future projects, he will finally unleash his full skill set and collaborate with others who can make up for his shortcomings.

Final Rating: 4.5 out of 10 points

February 23, 2020February 24, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Animals & Pets, Drama, Movie Reviews, Mystery, Psychological, SuspenseTags: 2018, 4.5 points, Andrew Burkum, Andrew Joslyn, Animals & Pets, Brandon Beemer, Bridgestone Multimedia Group, Chelsey Crisp, Christopher Brian Nicoletti, Clynton Lamur, Corbin Bernsen, Drama, GEM Entertainment, Gregory Hoyt, Henry Penzi, Home Theater Films, Hunter Fischer, James Greilick, John E. Bauer, Jordan Smith, Marilu Henner, Michael Everett, Mill Creek Entertainment, Monica Olive, Mystery, Pay It Forward Entertainment, Psychological, Robert Goon, Suspense Leave a comment

Mountain Top [2017] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Mike Andrews retired from his law career to follow what he thought was God’s call to be a pastor. However, that all changed when Muriel Miller came to his office to ask her to represent her eccentric husband who has gotten himself in trouble with the law due to his self-proclaimed spiritual gift of prophecy wherein he has visions of the future. Through a set of unusual circumstances, Mike agrees to represent Sam Miller pro bono, which sends the lawyer-pastor on a wild ride that he never expected to experience and that will forever change his life.

Production Quality (2.5 points)

Gary Wheeler and his team are well-known for their professional productions, and Mountain Top is no exception. There are virtually no concerns to note in this instance, which entails the use of effective camera work, high video and audio qualities, and well-utilized sets, locations, and props. The only minor nitpicks to note are the somewhat generic soundtrack and the minuscule editing issues that are mostly due to the expansive plot. However, this is an overall nearly perfect effort.

Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)

The Level Path creative team has always had the right idea of adapting Christian novels into films, and Robert Whitlow has wisely sought dramatizations of his books. However, it’s unclear whether or not Mountain Top was the best choice of source material. While the psychological elements that make up the core basis of the plot are interesting, they are also a bit over the top and far-fetched since one of the main characters claims to have many supernatural visions covering a wide range of topics and issues. There’s never been historical precedent for any Christian being able to receive so many special revelations in their lifetime. Besides this, the character receiving the dreams is basically perfect and inaccessible as a person. Additionally, the sheer number of characters in this storyline is overwhelming for the audience and makes for a choppy presentation. They crowd each other out and cause dialogue to be inadequate at developing who they are. The many interlocking subplots are difficult to effectively follow and are better suited for a series if this idea must be portrayed in entertainment. However, there are simply too many convenient turns and coincidences that push the narrative along as the writers seek to cover as much ground as possible while at the same time including wastefully slow sequences. Due to Whitlow’s legal expertise, this aspect of the plot is mostly realistic, and it’s commendable to explore the existence of miracles in the modern world, but Mountain Top treats God’s power like a magic charm, which causes its premise to be simply too unbelievable. There was some potential here, but it was squandered in pursuit of sensationalism.

Acting Quality (2 points)

It seems like Mountain Top endeavored to include nearly every recognizable Christian cast member in one film, and it’s not a bad thing to have experienced cast members. There are actually only a few acting concerns here and there, such as some bland moments, but the sheer number of actors and actresses may mask potential weaknesses. In the end, emotional and line deliveries are at least average, if not better, with only a handful of small issues. In the end, this rounds out a basically average offering.

Conclusion

Wheeler and his team have always been so close to the Hall of Fame, and they do many things the right way. Adapting Christian novels and being committed to professional productions and experienced casts are a winning model on paper. However, many of their films still lack meaningful connections with their audiences and require deeper and more meaningful purposes in order to be truly successful. Perhaps, in the coming days, the Level Path team will finally make a breakthrough.

Final Rating: 5 out of 10 points

February 18, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Inspirational, Movie Reviews, Mystery, Psychological, SuspenseTags: 2017, Adrian Eugene Graham, Angela Marie Williams, Barry Corbin, Bob Gunton, Brian Lafontaine, Burgess Jenkins, Clifton Powell, Coby Ryan McLaughlin, Danny Vinson, Dave Blamy, David Blamy, Davis Osborne, Drama, Ed Pilkington, five points, Gary Ray Moore, Gary Wheeler, Gregory Alan Williams, Inspirational, Karen Abercrombie, Karen Boles, Kathy Whitlow, Level Path Productions, Lin Shaye, Mahri Shelton, Mystery, Psychological, Rachel Hendrix, Reid McGraw, Rob Pottorf, Robert Whitlow, Sandra Elise Williams, Suspense, Sydney Penny, Tim Ross, Torry Martin, Valerie Azlynn, Vanessa Ore, Whitlow Films 2 Comments

MBF: Man's Best Friend (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Paul Landings retired from the military after a disability prevented his further service, so now he works at a dog shelter and takes in dogs who have no homes. However, his practices draw ire from locals, and several troublemakers set fire to his house with the dogs still in it. Affected by PTSD, Landings commits a crime in revenge for his dogs and finds himself embroiled in a lawsuit charged with local politics. Will he be able to be set free from the bondage both in his head and in his life?

Production Quality (2 points)

For the most part, the production of Man’s Best Friend is respectable, including good video, camera, and audio qualities. While the sets, locations, and props are mostly well-chosen, there is some inconsistent lighting in the indoor sets. However, the outside locations are better, and these issues overall improve as the film progresses. Elsewhere, the soundtrack is acceptable, and the editing is a bit odd at types although it is mostly fine. In the end, this is an above average production that could have been a little better due to the year it was made.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

The opening sequences of MBF are a bit of a drag for the viewer since they are drawn out and full of stock footage and vague voiceover that both isolates the audience and wastes valuable time. However, once it gets to the substantial parts of the plot, there are actually some good explorations of how warfare effects people after the military and how one’s life can be greatly altered by the service. Nonetheless, there are a number of problems in this narrative’s character department, beginning with the fact that most of the ‘bad’ characters are total strawmen who hate the main character for no particular reason, are unrealistically anti-military, and are generally annoying. At the same time, the military characters are painted in perfect lights as they create a very odd dichotomy that tries to force the viewer to choose between the importance of a paralyzed character’s life and the lives of dogs that died in a fire. There are either perfect victim characters (though it’s not clear how some of them are actually victims) or highly corrupt small town characters, which is likely realistic in many contexts but is too over the top for this situation. Moreover, the storyline provides both a realistic look at post-war trauma and a hard examination of corruption in small towns, but many audiences may find the premise to be a bit dark and without significant hope or redemption. Elsewhere, the judge seems unnecessarily biased toward the protagonist, and some of the characters attempt to nearly justify the paralysis-inducing crime that is on trial. Dialogue is inconsistently used for information dumps, and a lot of the characters feel unfinished as they tend to crowd each other out for screen time. Also, there is some inappropriate language throughout the plot, and the ending is a bit hard to follow. Overall, much like this creative team’s previous efforts at crafting complex suspense situations (Wild Faith), MBF tries to interest the viewer in legal intrigue mixed with military drama, but there are just too many issues with this concept to justify any points for this section.

Acting Quality (2 points)

While many of the cast members of MBF tend to force their lines and their emotional deliveries in the beginning, the performances as a whole improve as the film progress. The most significantly positive aspect is the fact that DJ Perry posts an extremely memorable and groundbreaking performance as he becomes a character unlike any other he’s previously played and transforms himself for a very difficult role. This element is very impressive and is one of the main bright spots in this otherwise flawed project. Thus, this rounds out an overall above average acting effort that could have been slightly better.

Conclusion

Man’s Best Friend, like many of this creative team’s past projects, had a lot going for it, but it didn’t quite make it past the finish line. Perry, Hagedorn, Teaster, Hornus, and the rest had a lot of momentum following Wild Faith and The Christ Slayer, but MBF tends to blunt this success with its confusing messaging and dark focus. However, Perry’s breakout performance is a key bright spot that gives renewed hope for the future, so it will be interesting to see what this collective produces next.

Final Rating: 4 out of 10 points

February 14, 2020February 14, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Movie Reviews, Psychological, SuspenseTags: 4 points, Anthony Hornus, Austin Two Feathers, Bette Smith, Bridgestone Multimedia Group, Christine Marie, Collective Development, Curran Jacobs, David Dyer, David Gries, David Michael Reardon, Dean Teaster, Debbie Thomey Bennett, Deborah Bennett, Dennis Therrian, DJ Perry, Don Most, Donovan Rogers, Drama, Duncan Lou Who, Erica Overholt, Garry Nation, Greg Mason, Jim Greulich, John DeMarco, John Mashni, Kimberly Harsch, Lauren LaStrada, Maris Fett, Melissa Anschutz, Michael Menegay, Nathan K. Robertson, Psychological, Rebecca Lawlor, Robert Bradley, Robert Henline, Sammy A. Publes, Shane Hagedorn, Suspense, Tim Abell, Walter Fairbanks Leave a comment

Assassin 33 AD (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Ram Goldstein and several other genius scientists are working on a top secret project for a multimillionaire named Ahmed. At first, they’re completely cool with being locked in a room with armed guards patrolling the halls, but when they use their super hacking skills to discover that Ahmed is coordinating with government leaders from Muslim-controlled nations to create time travel, they begin to grow concerned. Ahmed intends to use the mystical power of time travel to return to the past and kill Jesus before He’s resurrected so that Christianity will cease to exist! However, time travel is a bit tricky, and when multiple timelines are created due to the tampering, many different versions of the same characters are apparently created. Also, if they don’t erase the extra timelines before it’s too late, they will all converge into an APOCALYPSE! Can Ram and his friends stop this wicked plot before it’s too late?!?!?

Production Quality (-3 points)

Even though it seems like there was a substantial budget spent on Assassin 33 AD, the funding didn’t pay off as it was wasted on extremely cheap CGI and ridiculous special effects that overtake and overpower all other production elements. They have direct connections to the sets, locations, and props and make it clear that this team had no idea what they were doing when they slapped this project together. While there are some notable positives in this production, they are covered up by the myriad concerns created by the CGI and special effects blunders. Also, the editing has a handful of issues, but this could easily be chalked up to having to deal with one of the worst plots in the history of Christian entertainment. Overall, the glaringly obvious negatives throughout this film overshadow any slightly good elements that could be noted.

Plot and Storyline Quality (-3 points)

Where to begin? Assassin 33 AD has achieved the unthinkable feat of being as incoherent and offensive as Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas. This is not a title to be lightly delivered, but there plenty of ways Assassin goes further than even Timothy Chey has gone (yet). First of all, the entire premise behind Assassin is totally off-base from the get-go. Messing around with time travel and how it relates to Jesus is an absolute no-no when it comes to story-boarding, so there’s no reason to even broach the subject. Then, to take this a step further and actually make a purportedly Christian film about modern day soldiers being able to shoot Jesus with a pistol in the Garden of Gethsemane is borderline insanity. As if this isn’t enough, to create multiple timelines that both alter Scripture and try to twist biblical history into including the movie’s characters in the actual canon is just the end. I literally cannot comprehend the inanity of this proposition, which by no indication is being done in jest. Besides these glowing red flag problems that are part of the story’s very fabric, there are so many other movie faux pas committed in Assassin that space will likely not permit a full exploration. Nonetheless, here is a very quick rundown: characters are poorly developed via expository dialogue and unnatural lines that are designed to force the plot forward, key plot points are supported by unexplained “science” and convenient technical devices that lack basis in reality or logic, the villains basically stepped out of a conservative fever dream about Muslims taking over the world, wild time jumps are only supplanted by the maddening nature of the multiple timelines created by time travel, basically every character has a minimum of two different versions of themselves (“past” and “present”), some of these copy characters end up having conversations with each other, the protagonists can seemingly do whatever they want in a supposedly high-security facility with armed guards all around them, the Jesus character seems just as confused about what’s going on as the viewers are, etc., etc., etc. Did I mention that the writers took a crazily arrogant creative license to replace Biblical characters (like the thieves on the crosses beside Jesus and the man who fled the Garden of Gethsemane with no clothes on) with modern-day characters from the “future” timelines? This notion is only made complete by the scene where two copy characters (the same cast member) are discussing how the modern-day Bible is changing right before their eyes due to the timelines being altered in the past. Further, as if all of this wasn’t an epic trainwreck, the film’s epilogue completely turns everything on its ear by negating the “past” timeline that set the movie’s events into notion in the first place. Therefore, taking all of this evidence into account, this section is awarded the maximum negative score, and this also affects other aspects of the film.

Acting Quality (-3 points)

The horrid nature of the plot bleeds over into acting and causes this section to suffer even though it may not have been as bad if it were paired with a different narrative. Much of the line delivery is robotic and not earnest, and emotions are hard to believe. Some cast members, especially those who are portraying villains, overplay their roles while others seem bored or confused, which may have been justified. In the end, the major negatives at the core of the project drag the entire thing down into the depths of Christian entertainment.

Conclusion

Assassin 33 AD also receives to honor of scoring a negative x-factor point to round out an effort that joins Saving Christmas as one of the worst films of all time. Whenever a creator sets out to make a movie about how biblical accounts and Jesus’ life on earth in general could be altered via time travel as well as how the Bible could be rewritten based on the changing of previous timelines, they are already way off the road and should entirely ditch the project. Going through with such a travesty raises some serious questions about the true motivation behind its creation. There’s literally no way to redeem this awful concept, so the best thing that can be done is to encourage audiences to stay away from it and to help future film makers avoid these types of monumental blunders.

Final Rating: -10 out of 10 points

January 23, 2020January 24, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Historical, International, Movie Reviews, Psychological, Sci-Fi, SuspenseTags: 2020, Anthony Crivello, Beau Davidson, Beth Jasper, Brad Keller, Cesar D'La Torre, Chris George, David Joseph Martinez, Donny Boaz, Drama, Dylan Santos, Gerardo Davila, Heidi Montag, Historical, Ilsa Levine, International, Jacob Hashem, Jason Castro, Joey Stewart, Johnny Rey Diaz, Kariana Karhu, Kyle Roark, Lamar Usher, Logan Thevenot, Martin Peña, Matt Williams, Morgan Roberts, negative points, Niki Spiridakos, Psychological, Sci-Fi, Susan Gallagher, Suspense 11 Comments

Echoes Among the Stones by Jaime Jo Wright

Author’s Note: We were provided with a free copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Plot & Storyline Quality (3 points)

Wright’s latest novel is an excellent example of how to weave life lessons into an intriguing story that would make a great Christian suspense series. The first few chapters of Echoes Among the Stones make it seem like a typical murder mystery, but as the story unfolds it becomes clear that there is much more to this book than meets the eye. When Aggie Dunkirk loses her realty job and is left floundering, she receives a letter from her grandmother, Mumsie, saying that she has broken her hip and needs help. As thoughts of her mother’s recent death crowd her mind, Aggie reluctantly makes the journey back to her hometown of Mill Creek, only to find upon her arrival that Mumsie has neither broken her hip, nor does she appear to be in poor health. Aggie is angry with her at first, but her anger turns to concern when she discovers a skeleton lying in Mumsie’s back yard. The local police brush off the incident as ‘kids’ pulling a prank, but she isn’t so sure. At her new job restoring Mill Creek’s flooded cemetery, Aggie observes more unusual occurrences and begins to wonder if something or someone is targeting Mumsie. Imogene Grayson is a young woman living during the aftermath of World War 2 who has just experienced the violent, completely unexpected murder of her younger sister Hazel. With the war barely over and her brothers just home from the same, Imogene is left grasping for sanity. She vows that she will bring Hazel’s killer to justice, and begins to take great lengths to fulfill this mental declaration – but resolving the same will prove to be nigh on impossible. To find out what happens to these women, read the book! Echoes Among the Stones has a very detailed plotline that holds the attention from cover to cover. There are no lull periods as even the slower-paced scenes are full of meaningful dialogue – one of the novel’s biggest strengths. (spoiler) Another big strength is the fact that the killer is a surprise, and they are not the only one at fault. In comparison, the novel contains a few weaknesses. First, the ending feels a bit rushed as the climactic question asked throughout the novel is answered in an old video on someone’s cellphone, and there are a few moments of sensual thought processes on Aggie’s behalf that we could do without. Lastly, Imogene’s mental murder reenactments are extremely raw and may not sit well with younger readers. In spite of this, this storyline has plenty of potential to be a Christian series, thus earning it an above average score.

Character Development (3.5 points)

Similarly, the character development in this novel is very well done. Aggie and Mumsie’s character arcs make a great parallel because they have very similar, if not the same personalities and tendencies, and have made similar choices throughout their lives. The comparison between an older and younger woman who have similar struggles is a much needed message for our times – neither older nor younger people are better than one another. Furthermore, the minor characters add humor and vitality to the story – which is much needed because of the rather morbid subject matter. The twist with the antagonist adds a lot to the conclusion as well. In comparison, there are a two weaknesses in this section as well. First, although Collin’s character is saved from being entirely stereotypical by his above average dialogue, he continually leans towards the fairy-tale hero/good guy role (he’s a British guy named Colin Collin, I mean, come on). Any-who, the other weakness is the fact that Glen’s character is somewhat shoehorned into the plot – we needed to know more about him as a person outside of his father’s looming shadow. In summary, the weaknesses here do not have a major impact on the story as a whole, therefore, Wright earns a nearly perfect score in this section.

Creativity & Originality (1 point)

In conclusion, Wright earns a half point in creativity for writing a suspense story with many meaningful and humorous moments, and a half point in originality for her effort to focus the reader’s attention on Who holds our lives together in the midst of life’s most difficult and dark moments – an aspect that can be seen all throughout the story. As such, BOSs (Box Office Sass) thinks that this would make a great Christian suspense series. Some aspects of the novel would need to be toned down a bit to be palatable on-screen, and Wright would have to be a part of the writing process to ensure that the integrity of her story is upheld, but it can be done. We here at BOR long for the day when Christian movie-makers will start looking for movie ideas in the right place – exceptional Christian novels.

Wish List Rating: 7.5 out of 10 points

January 4, 2020January 4, 2020 by amg16 Categories: Box Office Wish ListTags: 7.5 out of 10 points, Box Office Wish List, Christian series material, Echoes Among the Stones, Jaime Jo Wright, murder mystery, Suspense, WW2 backdrop Leave a comment

Sacred [2017] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Barrett Lenox, despite his dark past, aspires to succeed in the boxing ring. However, the pressures of helping his wife, Danielle, build their life together, are weighing on him. Her father, who is training him, also pushes him to do better. Will he ever measure up to who he needs to be before more time has passed him by?

Production Quality (1.5 points)

At the beginning of the film, the opening sequence is intriguing and shows promise of creative potential. Also, the soundtrack is effective, and video quality and audio quality are at least average. For the most part, camera work and lighting are good, even if there are some unnecessarily dark scenes throughout. Unfortunately, the editing is somewhat flat, which puts a drag on things, but these efforts were overall good for the tiny budget the production team had to work with. In the end, this is at least an honest attempt.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1 point)

Since Sacred is only based on a handful of characters and is basically an extended short film, it would have been good to see more depth from both the storyline and the characters. Working with only one subplot requires a lot of refinement, yet there are good attempts at flashbacks throughout this film, which definitely help things. Even so, there needed to be more substantial character-building dialogue to make it easier to get to know them as real people. As they are, the conversations are a bit too matter of fact and flat, and there are a lot of sports training montages for a less-than-an-hour film. Thus, there is a lot of wasted time that takes away from better possibilities. Moreover, there are a lot of interesting concepts and ideas throughout the movie that make it more worthwhile than it would have been, even if the Christian message needs some refinement. The ending is certainty unexpected and slightly creative though it needed a better lead-up than it had. In the end, Sacred has a non-typical plot structure that shows a lot of potential but didn’t quite go as far as it could have.

Acting Quality (1.5 points)

For the most part, the acting of this film is average since it has some good scenes and some poorly executed ones. At times, emotions are overdone, and sometimes, lines are forced. Some cast members appear to be trying too hard, but there are also a handful of good performances. Also, some of the makeup work is fairly low quality, and there’s an unusual insinuation (without hard evidence) that a Caucasian cast member is playing an African-American character, but it’s difficult to know. In the end, this section rounds out a passable effort.

Conclusion

The creators of Sacred were onto something, but it’s possible that they didn’t quite know how to convey it. With such limited resources, it was wise for them to choose a shorter-than-usual runtime though it could have been better utilized by delving deeper into character development. Because of this, the story concept could use a remake, or the creative team could use this film as a foundation to build on for better ideas in the future. Either way, it will be interesting to see what they produce next.

Final Rating: 4 out of 10 points

October 26, 2019October 23, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Inspirational, Movie Reviews, Romance, Sports, SuspenseTags: 2017, 4 points, Albert Beck, BCM Productions, Blantina Jones, Brigham McNeely, Crystal Reece, Danny M. Gray, Delaney Ortiz, Drama, Inspirational, Johnathan Perry, Justin Livingston, Kristen Danielle, Omar King, Rene Martinez, Romance, Sports, Suspense, Traci Gardner Leave a comment

The Reliant (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

When the American dollar literally collapses overnight, a family is attacked by desperadoes and is forced to take their gun supply and survival gear into the woods behind their house in order to fend for themselves in the elements. However, the men who gunned their father down are still in pursuit (for some reason), which forces the family to either band together or tear each other apart as they try to defend themselves and survive in the brave new world of looting and living off the land. What will become of them all?

Production Quality (1.5 points)

It’s clear that the money that was donated by people (so that they could be listed as executive producers on the credits) was mostly well-used and not only spent on guns and weaponry. Video quality and audio quality are good, and since the film is mostly filmed in the outdoors, this definitely helps things. The soundtrack is also passable. However, much of the camera work is shaky and dizzy in the name of being action-oriented. Also, most of the indoor scenes are unnecessarily dark and poorly lit. Further, the editing is extremely choppy, which makes things hard to follow, but there are likely other factors to this problem, such as the plot.

Plot and Storyline Quality (-1 points)

From the get-go, the story makes zero sense. There’s no reason why the world would immediately descend into chaos basically in one day due to the sudden collapse of the dollar. How did it happen? What led to this extreme result and knee-jerk looting? This idea is too big and expansive to focus ninety percent of the plot on a collection of characters wandering around in the woods with guns. Did we mention that this movie is OBSESSED with guns? It holds nothing back in being outright propaganda that’s desperate to both create further political divide and garner the attention of powerful lobbying organizations. These concerns aside, there are tons of characters in The Reliant, and while flashbacks are used throughout, it’s not enough to make up for other problems, such as awkward conversations about vague things that are occurring in the world outside the forest, shoehorned Christian concepts, cheesy survival concepts, and outright fundamentalist messaging. Much like Unplanned, there was much fake outrage about The Reliant‘s so-called undeserved MPAA rating, but once again, the rating was actually justified due to the high amount of needless violence without proper balance. Regardless of this, the characters of The Reliant have extremely steep arcs and lack proper motivation for their actions as things just randomly happen one after another, and the plot lacks clear direction or purpose other than to shove certain worldviews down viewers’ throats. Hence, this section’s negative rating is given due to propaganda and due to total pointlessness.

Acting Quality (.5 point)

Throughout nearly every scene, the cast members of The Reliant are coached to exhibit extreme emotions, including a lot of yelling and screaming. Though there is some potential despite these annoyances, dramatic and tense scenes are totally butchered either with awkward line delivery, off-beat emotional delivery, or general uncomfortability with the given roles. In the end, there is little good to highlight in this movie.

Conclusion

After the screener was provided for this film, one of the creators strongly requested that they be given the chance to “approve” this review before it was publicly posted. Surprisingly, this was the first and only request we’ve ever received for this to happen. Moreover, it further shows the amount of control that’s surrounding this movie and reflects the mentality behind its creation. Films like The Reliant have a clear agenda to push on their audiences and purposely make themselves lightning rods for controversy with the hopes of garnering attention from certain groups. There were no attempts in this movie to craft a meaningful plot based on accessible characters, so even if the creative team had the best message in the world, it’s still not correctly packaged. In the end, there are just too many issues here to discern any amount of potential there might have been in this half-baked idea.

Final Rating: 0 out of 10 points

October 24, 2019January 3, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Movie Reviews, Romance, SuspenseTags: 2019, Aprille Park, Betty Yeary, Blake Burt, Brandon E. Park, Brian Bosworth, Bro Cope, Bryan Friday, Caleigh Anne, David Benham, David Grear, Denise Morris, Doug Yeary, Drama, Elijah Johnston, Elizabeth Johnston, Ellen Pepper, Eric Jellison, Eric Roberts, Faith Victoria Johnston, Fervent House Media, Grace Johnston, Hannah Turner, Ian Lauer, James Everingham, Jason Benham, Jenn Gotzon Chandler, Jesse Boone, Jim E. Chandler, John Loper, Jonathan Bocinsky, Josh Murray, Julia Denton, Katelyn Moore, Ken Strauss, Kevin Sorbo, Kevin Wayne, Kiera Strauss, Marcia Loper, Marisa Lynae Hampton, Matthew Trewhella, McKenna Bintz, Mollee Gray, Nico Zahniser, Nicole C. Mullen, Patrick Johnston, Paul Munger, Ramona Schwalbach, Robin Grear, Romance, Rosie Koebele, Ryan Buggle, Shannon Kirk Johnston, Steve Travis Watson, Suspense, Tim Schmidt, Todd Howard, Tommi Pabst, Tyler Sanders, Yolanda Kay, zero points 68 Comments

Decision of Faith {365 Decision Time} (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

On the surface, the Miller family is the model of success in Caucasian American culture, but behind the scenes, they’re coming undone. The parents are divorced yet maintain a tenuous relationship in order to aid their grown children. Their daughter is married to a successful political staffer who has his own secrets to hide. Their son is involved with a questionable crowd of people and suddenly has a child on the way with a girlfriend they’ve never met. In the midst of all the turmoil, the Millers have a chance to find the true peace they’ve never had if they will ask for help from the right people.

Production Quality (2 points)

At first, the production of Decision of Faith is somewhat rough, including weird, unnatural lighting, dark sets, and slightly random camera work. The audio quality is also quite inconsistent at first, along with the editing, which includes some abrupt cuts and transitions between scenes. However, the good thing is that the production improves as the runtime progresses, which suggests better funding was provided later on in the process. It gets better to the point that video quality, audio quality, camera work, sets, props, and locations are all passable and even respectable in some parts. The editing remains somewhat inconsistent throughout, but this section overall does enough to go past the average mark.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1 point)

In the beginning of the storyline, many disjointed subplots tend to come out of nowhere and meander around, but once things settle down, the subplot overlaying slightly improves even though it’s still somewhat poorly presented. By the middle of the film, one of the most interesting things about the plot is its exploration of realistic hidden issues in affluent Caucasian lifestyles. Before this point, the characters are extreme: either perfect, platitude-spouting Christians or horribly bad non-Christians. However, once things begin to change in the middle, the characters actually become authentic and believable with obvious flaws and issues that can be accessed by many people. One drawback is that large time jumps in the story are marked by time subtitles, and another concern is the unnecessary use of explicit language and edgy content in attempts to be realistic. Also, as the plot continues on past the middle, random things keep happening that have forced connections to previously highlighted elements, and in a seeming rush for time, there are quite a few very sudden conversations that seem programmed to happen at certain moments in order for the story to hit the high points it wants to hit. These types of dialogue devices create very steep and unrealistic character arcs so that things are fixed very rapidly by the time the credits come around. Overall, despite the intriguing themes that show good potential for future screenwriting, Decision of Faith tries to cover too much time and too many issues at once. Thus, it may have been better to present this story in series form to allow for better character refinement and plot organization.

Acting Quality (1.5 points)

Unfortunately, there is some poor makeup work throughout this film, and at first, the emotional performances are quite forced and un-earnest. However, like other elements of the movie, the acting tends to improve with time, which suggests a shift in leadership mentalities partway through the process. Nothing significantly dynamic occurs as a result, but the improvement is refreshing. Overall, the acting does enough to be average by the conclusion, which rounds off a mostly middle-of-the-road film.

Conclusion

First-time films like Decision of Faith are tricky because it’s difficult to get things started, but in the new wave of Christian entertainment we’ve seen over the past few years, standards are higher, which makes it harder for new voices to stand out. Thus, the planning process is key. Are you meant to make this film at this time? Has God given you the adequate funding to make it professional? Would it work better as a series? Should you collaborate with other creators? These are all great questions to ask that will help you rise above the fray.

Final Rating: 4.5 out of 10 points

August 30, 2019January 3, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Inspirational, Movie Reviews, SuspenseTags: 2019, 4.5 points, Abby Rodriguez, Ariel A. Santiago, Benjamin Guadalupe, Breanne Hill, Brett De Beaulier, Brittany Isham, Charles Fernandez, Cheryl Thomas, Chris Greene, Deborah Kennedy, Demi Castro, Drama, Edgardo Serrano, Erica Lea Shelton, Gaspar Santos, Giovanni Reyes, Golden Brothers Studios, Green Apple Entertainment, Ibis Enid Rodriguez, Inspirational, J. Benedict Larmore, Karen Konzen, Kenny Rogers, Michael Opal, Natalie Stavola, Richie Febres, Sarai Rodriguez, Suspense, Tamisha Sherman, Thomas Leyva Leave a comment

Vindication, Season 1 [2019] (Series Review)

Plot Summary

Detective Travis always wants to bring the criminals of his small Texas town to justice. However, he’s not always right, and he can’t do it all on his own, despite what he believes about himself. Through every twist and turn of each case, the detective learns something new about himself and about life, but the ultimate challenge of his work and life involves his daughter and her checkered past. Thus, when she comes to stay with him and his wife, he’s sure she’s got something to hide. However, he could have never foreseen the end result of this.

Production Quality (1.5 points)
For a relatively low-budget series, Vindication is definitely trying when it comes to production. The video quality is great throughout, and the camera work is respectable. Sets, locations, and props are mostly fine, but the audio is sometimes too quiet. At first, there’s basically no soundtrack, but this tends to improve as the series goes on. While there are some creative story overlays and plot criss-crossing throughout, the editing can be fairly choppy at times. Sometimes, scenes start and stop at awkward places, and some portions seem unnecessary. However, this element also tends to improve with time. In the end, this is an average production that shows commendable effort.

Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)
What an absolute roller coaster of a storyline. It’s difficult to know where to begin with this; in the first two-thirds of the series, many of the cases are either fairly unrealistic or extremely simplistic. Some contain improbable circumstances just for the sake, it seems, of being unique and tricky. Others contain lots of coincidences and convenient turns; many of them include partially or mostly inappropriate content seemingly just because. While being edgy and realistic is a good quality to have in Christian entertainment (rather than white-washing humanity), there’s a fine line to walk between authentic and trashy. As a side note, some of the ‘crimes’ that are actually ‘twists’ are substantially questionable and borderline ‘vindicate’ the wrong types of behavior. Elsewhere, the suspense elements don’t seem to jive with reality even though there are some interesting psychological elements throughout. Besides the head-scratching partially objectionable content included, the treatment of police ethics and criminal procedure throughout the series would be offensive to many real police officers. Rules are callously broken with no resource, and while it would be one thing to portray a rogue cop in a negative light for the purpose of being realistic, it’s another thing to downright condone unethical practices in the name of doing the right thing, including mixing personal vendettas against certain people and in favor of family members with police work. The detectives’ time is spent on petty misunderstandings that would likely draw the attention of higher authorities due to their frivolous use of resources and questionable methods of arresting people with little reasonable suspicion. These two major problem areas (inappropriate content and offensive portrayal of procedure) are almost enough to totally derail the series from the get-go, especially when these issues are combined with a lot of blank and empty dialogue and cheap Christian messaging throughout the first two-thirds of the season. Odd portrayals of women and minorities throughout the series are also concerns to contend with, but the recurring subplot between the main character and his daughter keep the narrative on life support long enough to get to the final two episodes of the season, which almost save the writers from themselves. It’s clear that the entire series was made for this storyline, and the daughter is the only notably interesting character in the entire creation. The last two episodes are so starkly different from the other ones (except for the disregard for jurisdiction and other questionable practices in the name of being police with agendas) that it seems like an entirely different idea, yet the thinly-developed characters still shine through due to their lack of depth in the first eight episodes. Had they been properly built in the first two-thirds of the season via real cases and authentic circumstances, we would be looking at a totally different concept. As they are, the last two installments include very effective flashbacks that take a good look at hard issues effecting many people. In doing so, the final ‘villain’ is fairly realistic, and the partial conclusion of the subplot between the father and daughter is mostly authentic and believable. Nevertheless, despite the acceptable ending, it doesn’t cover over the multitude of sins committed by the rest of the storyline.

Acting Quality (1.5 points)
Acting isn’t a glaring problem throughout the series even if many cast members come off as very robotic and overly practiced. However, this is likely not a talent problem or a coaching issue because the lines they are given are usually uninspiring. This is evident since acting seems to improve as dialogue gets a slight upgrade in the latter third of the season. Although makeup is terrible at first, this seems to get better too. The key standout performance from every episode she’s in comes from Emma Elle Roberts as she sets herself apart as a truly talented actress with potential beyond this series. In the end, this is neither the best nor the worst acting from a Christian season.

Continuity Quality (1.5 points)
As previously mentioned, the only significant continuity throughout season one of Vindication involves the storylines of the central character’s family, especially his interactions with his daughter and her checkered past. However, these recurring subplots are fairly good in the midst of a mostly typical recurring crime drama style. Still, it would have been preferable to see some other interwoven subplots that were worthwhile to follow.

Conclusion

The creators of Vindication are trying to do something, but there are too many elements of season one that are way off base. The use of edgy content is commendable for a crime series, but it would be nice to see better standards of propriety when it comes to dealing with sensitive topics. For another, a lot of significant research needs to be conducted before anyone creates a drama centered around criminal procedure and police work because it can be easy to make careless mistakes. Further, there needs to be a better look at mental and behavioral health issues beyond simplifying them and reducing them to trite Christian sayings and prayers. In the end, this concept may work better as a larger-scale federal investigative storyline rather than confining it to a small town with unusual half-mysteries. To summarize, the creators have potential somewhere in here, but there’s too much blocking out the light.

Final Rating: 5 out of 14 points

August 14, 2019January 3, 2020 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Inspirational, Mystery, Series Reviews, SuspenseTags: 2019, Abby Wilkie, Abel Becerra, Alan Tregoning, Alicia Underwood, Amanda Duran, Amanda Joy Erickson, Anna Terry, Anna Versemann, AnnMarie Giaquinto, April Hartman, Ashley Bratcher, Austin Dennis, Austin Terry, Ben Davies, Billy Blair, Blue McElroy, Brennan McCullars, Brianna Ripkowski, Brittany Whittingstall, Brooklyn McDaris, Caren Ricke, Chance Gibbs, Charles Skeeta Jenkins, Christa Watson, Christian Rivera, Chuck Huber, Connor S. Watkins, Corey Cannon, Daniel Stine, David Collins, Deanne Lauvin, Dennis Thomas IV, Drama, Dustin Campbell, Easton Hughes, Emma Dennis, Emma Elle Roberts, Erin Hanson, Gary Ongley, Gerald Brodin, Inspirational, Israel Varela, James Johnson, Janet Travis, Jarod O'Flaherty, Jeff Fenter, Jeff Plunk, Jeffery Gray, Jody Jones, Jordan Elsass, Kat Steffens, Kate Randall, Kay Trawick, Keith Rushing, Kelly Leach, Kentrell Wright, Kerry McCormick, Kevin Tillett, Kim Foster, Kim Jackson Davis, Lauren Fiddes, Leslie Steele, Liza Wilk, Major Dodge, Martin Ezelle, Masey McLain, Matt Holmes, Matthew Roy, Megan Dalby, Melinda Peinado, Melissa Couture, Michael Dennis, Micheal Willbanks, Missy Harris, Mystery, Paige Kriet, Paige Shay, Paul Caraway, Paul Flanagan II, Peggy Schott, Rachel Hendrix, Raelynn Willbanks, Rahb Mo, Ram Munguia, Ranier Langley, Retta Vision, Robbie Clark, Roni Hummel, Sam Chance, Sara Cicilian, Shannon Houk, Skyler Chase Thomas, Sonya Davis, Stacey Bradshaw, Stephanie Peterson, Steve Mokate, Suspense, Terrie Cooklin, Tim Llewellyn, Tim Ross, Todd Gable, Todd Jenkins, Todd Terry, Tom Costello Jr., Tom Partain, Tyi Johnson, Venus Monique, Vernon Reeves, William Carroll, William Curtis, Zach Rose, Zachary Thomas Scott Leave a comment

China Cry (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Sung Neng Yee was glad when the Chinese Communists rose to power in her homeland to drive out the occupying Japanese, but she never anticipated the ultimate consequences this would cause. First, it cost her father his wealth and respect as a successful doctor, and then, the Communists began to tighten their grip on every aspect of Chinese life. However, she and her fellow people adjusted and went forward. Moreover, after beginning a family of her own, Sung Yeng Nee was accused of consorting with Westernizers and Christians. In the darkest moment of her life, she reached out to the God she had always shunned for the help only He could give her.

Production Quality (1.5 points)

As an early 1990s production, China Cry has a handful of concerns with it, such as a loud, outdated soundtrack and odd soft lighting at times. Video quality is also sometimes blurry even though the camera work is overall fine, including good establishing shots. For the most part, audio quality is average, and the sets, locations, and props are very realistic, culturally accurate, and historically appropriate. Although the film overall seems outdated and has a lot of quick cuts and awkward transitions due to time jumps in the plot, the production does enough to achieve an average rating, especially considering the time period it was made in.

Plot and Storyline Quality (2 points)

Right out of the gate, unnecessary narration tends to hurt the plot development, but once it ceases, things begin to unfold naturally without hindrances even though the narration does pop up here and there afterward. Had more substantial and qualitative flashbacks been employed to replace the narration, this plot would have been even better. This would have better helped to bridge the large time jumps throughout the story (non-linear plot structure is the only way to effectively handle lots of content), yet on its face, this narrative is still engaging and very intriguing due to the obscurely interesting portions of history it explores. Key themes are subtly introduced in order to let the character feel more authentic and real than they otherwise would be; the writers definitely did a good job at presenting people at face value rather than trying to push messages via strawmen. Even still, there are some lagging scenes that could have been better re-purposed to improve character growth even more, especially since the second half of the story tends to rush through a lot of content that would have been better explored slowly. This is why a non-linear plot style centered around the weak explanation for the narration would have been appropriate. In the end, China Cry still packs a very powerful message that’s still relevant for all Christians today. It’s too bad that’s is hidden behind poorly designed storytelling, but this true account is nonetheless engaging for all audiences.

Acting Quality (2.5 points)

Although many of the cast members tend to be dramatically stiff, the lead actress and lead actor are standouts for their comfortably real line delivery and believable emotions. Others tend to lack natural flair for acting, but it’s refreshing to see a culturally authentic cast. Costuming also reflects this commitment to cultural accuracy. In the end, the acting improves enough by the second half of the movie, and the lead acting carries it most of the way.

Conclusion

China Cry definitely deserves a remake, possibly in a miniseries form to further explore alternate subplots and to present the story in a more comprehensive and non-linear fashion. In the end, this film was made very early on in Christian entertainment, but it was onto something we don’t see in many newer movies: a poignant message about relying on God during difficult times and witnessing His miraculous intervention. Thus, many audiences will enjoy this movie, and maybe, new film makers will be inspired to try something outside the norm.

Final Rating: 6 out of 10 points

August 9, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Historical, Inspirational, International, Movie Reviews, Romance, SuspenseTags: 1990, 6 points, Al Kasha, Catherine Dao, Chi Muoi Lo, Daphne Cheung, Don L. Parker, Drama, Ele Parker, France Nuyen, Historical, Inspirational, International, Irene Burk, James F. Collier, James Shigeta, Joel Hirschhorn, Julia Nickson, Lau Lee Foon, Matthew Crouch, Nora Lam, Parakletus, Paul Crouch, Philip Tan, Robert J. Smawley, Romance, Russell Wong, Suspense, Trinity Broadcasting Network, Vision Video 2 Comments

The String by Caleb Breakey (BTSNBM)

Author’s Note: We were provided with a free copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Plot & Storyline Quality (0 points)
Caleb Breakey’s first foray into Christian fiction has been hyped as a page-turning suspense novel that’s refreshing to the market, but we beg to differ.  From start to finish, its plot closely follows an expected progression as the macho male lead and a bunch of extra characters deal with a maniacal madman who’s intent on killing certain people for personal reasons.  Literally every other page is either an explosion, a fight scene, or a redundant villain monologue, so it feels like the same things happen over and over again. The repetition is wearing and makes the reader feel like nothing’s really being accomplished as the plot stirs characters in circles ahead of an inevitably predictable conclusion, complete with a dramatic villain reveal and a quick epilogue that reminds the audience how the important characters impossibly survived great peril without much consequence. There’s also the nauseating romantic subplot to contend with that reduces the female lead to an accessory needing to be rescued by the perfect male lead who can do no wrong even when it seems like he has a checkered past. Needless to say, there’s nothing much going for this part of the book. Therefore, Breakey earns zero points in this section for his offensive portrayal of women and his sensational, meaningless storyline.

Character Development (0 points)
As previously alluded to, the character department also suffers for authenticity. Every character fits neatly into a predetermined suspense mold: the chiseled male savior, the funny male sidekick, the mindless, emotionally fragile female lead in need of saving, the stereotypical child, the cheesy, cringe-worthy villain with a vague vendetta against life. Oh, and there’s also the obscure character you don’t notice at first who’s briefly included early on in order to set up a later dramatic scene that shows their connection with the overall plot. Dialogue does nothing but drive home these stereotypes, and all the other characters besides these feel very extra and contrived – the minor characters need serious work. Hardly any of the characters make their own choices; the plot makes them for them. Also, perhaps the worst element of this section is the fact that a dark past for the male lead is teased and then completely explained away in a way that fully absolves him of any wrongdoing. This suggests a fear of having flawed characters and is very offensive. In the end, there’s little good to mention about this unfortunate book.

Creativity and Originality (0 points)
Thus, there’s also virtually no creativity to highlight in The String as this has really been done before ad nauseam. No plot twists are unexpected or well-thought-out, and no characters are dynamic or engaging. Characters survive unrealistically harrowing experiences with little injury or problem, and coincidental connections form the fabric of the storyline. Essentially, if you think of the most predictable suspense plot you can conceive, it’s The String. As you may have guessed, we here at BOR do not recommend The String as Christian film or reading material. If there are future novels in store for Breakey, he should take a page from Tosca Lee’s The Line Between and learn that the secret to a great storyline and realistic characters is the art of subtlety and a little thing called substance.

Wish List Rating: 0 out of 10 points

July 31, 2019July 30, 2019 by amg16 Categories: Box Office Wish ListTags: Books that Should Not be Movies, Box Office Wish List, Caleb Breakey, cardboard villian, cheesy male lead, offensive portrayal of women, Suspense, The String Leave a comment

Dawn [2018] (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

Carrie Saunders just wants to live her normal life as a businesswoman, but her recurring nightmares about a missing girl continue to haunt her night after night. Her visions cloud her judgment and cause her to begin to suspect her husband of wrongdoing. Police refuse to believe her tales, so she decides to investigate the matter on her own. Little does she know that the wild ride she’s about to experience will change her life forever.

Production Quality (2 points)

At first, the production of Dawn begins in a rocky manner as evidenced by inconsistent camera work and lighting and some slight background sounds. However, the video quality is stable throughout, and the sets, locations, and props are mostly fine. The camera work does seem to improve as the film proceeds, and it becomes quite professional in the end. Another inconsistent area is the soundtrack since it’s generic in some parts yet quite good in others. Further, one other drawback is somewhat dizzying and repetitive nature of some of the psychological sequences, but this is also sometimes an asset. In the end, the editing is good, and the production is a mixed bag that’s overall above average.

Plot and Storyline Quality (2 points)

Dawn dares to try something extremely different in Christian film as it takes on a very unique plot that’s often hard to quantify yet intriguing at the same time. The attempts at extreme creativity are well-noted, even if they can get a bit head-scratching at times. Although some may not like it, it’s good that the Christian elements of Dawn aren’t too in-your-face as it tries to primarily rely on good mystery plot content. However, the storyline does have a few flaws in that the characters could be a bit more developed than they are, which means the time could have been better spent on this venture rather than on repetition of key elements the audience is shown over and over again. Still, the characters are fairly good as they are, even if the villain characters are slight strawmen. The psychological elements of the plot are interesting, but they could use a bit more explanation as to why they are occurring. However, the ending isn’t quite expected, and Dawn is an overall very creative attempt at a complex mystery plot culminating with an actually effective climax that’s built throughout the entirety of the film. This is finally a real suspense plot worth watching, but it would be even better as a remake or a similar replication.

Acting Quality (2 points)

On the whole, the acting of Dawn is fine with only a few minor errors to contend with. There were definitely some opportunities for improved emotional delivery and more dynamic line delivery. However, the cast does enough to make this an above average performance, which rounds out an overall above average film that’s worth your time.

Conclusion

The potential that this creative team showed is very encouraging because it could be the start of something great for them. It’s highly possible that streaming series are in their future if they are allowed to collaborate with larger budgets and tighter writing. What we need is more psychological suspense and mystery stories, and seeing these in the context of Christian series would be awesome, so we can’t wait to see what they have planned next.

Final Rating: 6 out of 10 points

July 18, 2019July 18, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Movie Reviews, Mystery, Psychological, SuspenseTags: 2018, 6 points, Christabel Fitzgerald, Cynthia L. Leon, Debra Ovall, Drama, Erin Nordseth, Janeva Sharps, Jared M. Leon, JCL Productions, Kathy Sanders, Michael Sigler, Michelle Lewis, Mike R. Tinker, Mystery, Patrick Vann, Psychological, Raian Stanley, Rowan Titus, Sarah Kate, Steve Ray, Suspense, Suzanne R. Neff, Tony Claiborne, Trish Lassinger 1 Comment