Apocalypse 3: Tribulation (Movie Review)

Creepers…

Plot Summary

Tom Canboro doesn’t believe in God or the supernatural, but his sister does and insists that he should before it’s too late.  However, one day, his brother-in-law begins to go insane, along with other people around the world.  Then Tom falls into a coma and wakes up to an entirely different world.  Everyone is following a world leader and receiving his required mark.  Will Tom turn to God before it’s too late?

 

Production Quality (1 point)

Not much about production changes throughout this agonizing series.  Though video quality has finally improved, the film is filled with unwatchable and dizzying action scenes.  Audio quality is fine, but the soundtrack is cheesy.  Sets and locations are somewhat limited and there is some poor lighting in certain scenes.  In keeping with the theme of this series, Tribulation is full of more product placements from Jack Van Impe, John Hagee, and even T. D. Jakes for some reason.  Finally, the editing is all over the place and causes a confusing plot development.  In short, though tiny improvements are being made, it’s just not enough.

Plot and Storyline Quality (0 points)

This installment is perhaps the most bizarre and sensational as it includes a lot of horror and creepy spiritual elements.  There are a lot of strange and bizarre sequences of violence, including sensationalized demonic activity.  The occult is portrayed in a childish manner yet there is still an obsession with the satanic.  All of this is combined with the forceful and ridiculous apocalyptic worldview that is being propagated in the midst of this madness.  The storyline is very incoherent as it jumps all over the place and fills time with information dump dialogue.  Most of the characters, especially the antichrist, are extreme strawmen and really have no potential.  In short, it feels like this movie was only made for the sensational appeal rather than anything meaningful, and it’s still horrible.

Acting Quality (.5 point)

In keeping with the theme of sensationalism, emotions are over the top and obnoxious.  Line delivery is mostly forced.  While there are some good factors, this cast seems overall disingenuous, especially when one finds out that a handful of these cast members didn’t even know they were in a Christian movie when they agreed to this lunacy.  I guess they should have known that a movie this bad would be labeled as Christian.

Conclusion

Besides everything else, how does this installment fit into the series?  There are some connecting elements, but this ridiculous series as a whole really has no continuity or sense whatsoever.  If PureFlix had been named as a contributor to this mess, I would have believed it.  Constantly pushing TV preacher talking points and products transposed on top of a C-grade horror film is only a recipe for disaster.  Once again, scaring people into Christianity is a failing strategy and only serves to feed someone’s obsession with the sensational.  But don’t worry, there’s only one more of these…

 

Final Rating: 1.5 out of 10 points

 

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March 8, 2017January 10, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Apocalyptic, Horror, International, Movie Reviews, Psychological, SuspenseTags: 1.5 points, 2000, André van Heerden, Apocalypse Film Projects Inc., Apocalypse series, Apocalyptic, Beki Lantos, Blair Johannes, Cloud Ten Pictures, Costa Kamateros, Darren Josephs, Erik Knudsen, Gary Busey, Gary Koftinoff, Gerry Quigley, Heather Hodgson, Horror, Howie Mandel, International, J.D. Nicholsen, Jack Van Impe, Jack Van Impe Ministries, James Brinkley, James Downing, John Hagee, John Hagee Ministries, Joseph Ziegler, Lawrence Bayne, Leigh Lewis, Margot Kidder, Nicholas Tabarrok, Nick Mancuso, Nicolas Swan, Nicole Nordeman, Nigel Shawn Williams, Patrick Gallagher, Paul Lalonde, Peter Lalonde, Phillip Jarrett, Psychological, Randy Butcher, Rexella Van Impe, Rothaford Gray, Roy Lewis, Sci-Fi, Sherry Miller, Speculative, Sugith Varughese, Suspense, T.D. Jakes, Wayne Best 4 Comments

Miracles from Heaven (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

When Anna Beam is diagnosed with a rare digestive disorder, her parents, especially her mother, are thrown for a loop.  They question their faith as they are swept up in the chaos of medical treatments and tests.  In the face of adversity, the Beam family must pull together and dig deep to discover what they truly believe, because a miracle from heaven could be just around the corner.

 

Production Quality (2.5 points)

With top level production budgeting and resources, Miracles from Heaven is clearly a high quality production.  Everything looks great—camera work, video quality, sets, props, and locations.  Audio quality is professional, but the soundtrack is standard.  The only flaw to point out here is some lazy editing—there are a lot of montages and footage scenes that seem to pad the runtime.  But otherwise, this is the kind of production that should be the norm in Christian film.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1 point)

It’s undeniable that this true story touched the Beam family in more ways we can imagine, and it’s always great to portray real life on the big screen.  This is obviously an amazing story, but we can’t help but feel that it could have been portrayed in a better way.  For one, though these are real people in the story, they don’t feel real, which is probably due to the fact that time speeds by in this plot.  There’s obviously a lot of ground to cover, but the pace of the storyline leaves little room for meaningful dialogue or character development.  This is a collection of snapshots—good snapshots, mind you—but snippets nonetheless.  In the end, many will find this movie enjoyable, but we just would have liked to get to know the characters a little better.

Acting Quality (2.5 points)

This is clearly a professional and quality cast, as lines are mostly delivered well.  The main drawback to raise here are some over the top emotional deliveries.  But otherwise, each character is cast well and each cast member delivers professionally.

Conclusion

Stories like the Beam family’s story are powerful and deserve recognition in Christian entertainment.  They are meaningful and can be very powerful for those who watch.  Movies like Miracles from Heaven will have a lot of impact with a lot of audiences.  However, we would have liked to see the characters of this movie deepened so that its impact would have been maximized.  But as it is, many people will enjoy this film and it’s certainly something worth watching.

 

Final Rating: 6 out of 10 points

 

February 18, 2017January 11, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Inspirational, Movie ReviewsTags: 6 points, Affirm Films, Brandon Spink, Brighton Sharbino, Bruce Altman, Carlo Siliotto, Christy Beam, Columbia Pictures, Courtney Fansler, Derrick Williams, DeVon Franklin, Disease, Eugenio Derbez, Franklin Entertainment, Hannah Alligood, Inspirational, Jennifer Garner, Joe Roth, John Carroll Lynch, Kelly Collins Lintz, Kenny Alfonso, Kylie Rogers, Martin Henderson, Matthew Hirsch, Patricia Riggen, Queen Latifah, Randy Brown, Rhoda Griffis, Roth Films, T.D. Jakes, TriStar Pictures, Wayne Pére, Zach Sale, Zack Roth 2 Comments

Left Behind [2000] (Movie Review)

Kirk Cameron, the early years

Plot Summary

In an instant, millions vanish all around the world, causing the planet to descend into chaos as planes go down, cars drive into buildings, and unrest erupts everywhere.  Pilot Rayford Steele finds nearly half of his plane’s manifest (haha) missing.  Reporter Buck Williams is on the flight at the time and believes it has something to do with the vast globalist conspiracy he has uncovered.  As order dissipates around the globe and as many theories are posited as to what happened to those who disappeared, those still remaining look for a world leader who can bring global peace to the chaos.

 

Production Quality (1 point)

As a late 90s\early 2000s production, the original Left Behind film has many of the marks of this era of filmmaking.  Opening credits sequences were common back then, but they weren’t ever justified.  The video quality and camera work are fairly well produced.  However, action scenes are not filmed or produced very well and include poorly crafted CGI and other special effects.  Kirk Cameron provides some slight yet unwanted narration throughout the film.  Elsewhere, location subtitles from JAG are awkwardly inserted and the soundtrack is cheap.  Finally, the editing is pretty good, but as will be discussed next, there is too much content to cover and not enough continuity.  In short, this ‘classic’ Christian film has some good quality, but not enough.

Plot and Storyline Quality (.5 point)

Based on the blockbuster apocalyptic fiction series by popular authors Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, the original Left Behind film is not without its plot errors.  The premise is trumped up, lacking a touch of realism, but this may get a pass since it was based on the international politics of 15+ years ago.  The movie is focused on big world-changing issues, but they come off as simplistic and not groundbreaking enough.  The creators perhaps took on more than they could handle as many subplots are juggled throughout.  While it’s commendable for this early film to take on a new genre in Christian film (apocalyptic), the plot lacks the intrigue necessary to make it great.  For example, there are too many slow and melodramatic scenes—the storyline is anti-climactic and contains to many convenient occurrences.  The dialogue is full of information dumps that overemphasize apocalyptic elements.  This builds empty characters that are swept along by the plot and are thrown together for no particular reason.  On a positive note, the climax scene at the end is slightly interesting and well-crafted.  But overall, this first installment spends too much time getting ready for the next film and not enough time building the characters and a realistic apocalyptic landscape.

Acting Quality (0 points)

Apocalyptic action movies require dynamic acting, but this cast lacks this quality.  Line delivery is stiff and not engaging.  Emotions are overdone and too dramatic.  Kirk Cameron is a better actor than he is of late, but that’s not saying much.  In short, there’s not enough positive here.

Conclusion

This was definitely a groundbreaking Christian film that brought a popular Christian novel series to the big screen.  It was a hit, since the Christian market was starved for quality.  However, this does not mean it was a great film.  It had a lot of good ideas behind it, but not enough quality to back them up.  They had an amazing budget for the time, but it seems like it was mostly squandered.  Needless to say, the old is just marginally better than the new.

 

Final Rating: 1.5 out of 10 points

 

September 14, 2016January 15, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Apocalyptic, International, Movie Reviews, SuspenseTags: 1.5 points, 2000, Alan B. McElroy, Apocalyptic, Apocalyptic Plane Plots, Brad Johnson, Chelsea Noble Cameron, Clarence Gilyard Jr., Cloud Ten Pictures, Colin Fox, Gordon Currie, International, Janaya Stephens, Jerry B. Jenkins, Joe Goodman, John Hagee, John Patus, Kirk Cameron, Krista Bridges, Marvin Ishmael, Namesake Entertainment, Neil Crone, Paul Lalonde, Raven Dauda, Suspense, T.D. Jakes, Thomas Hauff, Tim LaHaye, Tony De Santis, Vic Sarin Leave a comment

Heaven is for Real (Movie Review)

Plot Summary

When Colton Burpo is forced to undergo an emergency surgery at a young age, his parents’ worst nightmare comes true when he flat-lines on the operating table.  But Colton survives the procedure and lives to tell about his near-death experience with Jesus in Heaven.  The young boy claims to have met dead relatives he never knew and his miscarried sister, whom he never knew about.  As a pastor of a small Nebraska church, Colton’s father Todd is faced with the tough decision to make this news public and risk ridicule or to keep silent about it.  Do miracles really exist or are they just stories?  Ultimately, this is what they will have to decide.

 

Production Quality (2 points)

With obvious backing from big Hollywood names and the right amount of funding, Heaven is for Real looks good on the surface.  The video quality is top notch, as is the camera work and audio quality.  The soundtrack could use a little work, but this is only a minor problem.  The sets and locations are professionally done and the surroundings are authentic.  Prop usage is appropriate and adds to the plot.  The use of special effects is intriguing, especially those that accompany the spiritual\psychological elements.  The only complaints here pertain to the editing, which of course goes hand in hand with the plot.  There is little continuity as the creators try to cover too much ground at once.  But otherwise, whatever you might think about those behind the movie or their motives, this is the almost ideal production quality for a Christian-themed film.

Plot and Storyline Quality (1 point)

Heaven is for Real is about far more than just an attempt to prove or discuss the existence of the afterlife.  There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but there is just too much content that is forced into this film.  One would expect the real people that are supposed to be portrayed in this film to have multiple facets to their lives, but there is no focus among the various ideas that are floated throughout the storyline.  In the nearly two-hour runtime, you can learn a lot about small town stuff, small church issues, financial struggles, the counseling process, philosophical discussions on miracles, the ins and outs of a volunteer fire department, the daily issues that face a rural working class family, a girl that claims to have painted Jesus, and oh yeah, a boy who had a near-death experience with heaven.  With the proper continuity, all of these issues would have been pertinent and interesting to watch, but this does not exist in Heaven is for Real.  Despite spending a lot of time with the characters, by the end of the film, we don’t really know them.  Dialogue is flat and only serves the purpose of driving the plot along.  While the spiritual\psychological elements regarding the afterlife and the spiritual realm are inspiring, they are passive and are not given enough attention.  The end is fairly interesting, but there is little buildup to it.  Basically, there was a lot of potential here, but it was poorly handled.

Acting Quality (2.5 points)

With ‘big name’ cast members and clear money spent here, there are few errors to point out.  Coaching is obvious present and a general air of professionalism is evident.  Even though the lines aren’t very good, they are delivered well.  Emotions are believable.  In short, this is the way the cast of a Christian-themed film should be.

Conclusion

This movie was marketed on an inspirational platform that promised to rally Christians and ‘prove’ that Heaven is for real (duh).  But in reality, Heaven is a very small player in this film as runtime is spent on other various topics.  Whatever you might believe about near-death experiences and their plausibility, it’s still something that needs to be discussed in the context of film—and we’re still waiting.  Heaven is for Real did not deliver on what it advertised, and while it was obviously well-funded and well-marketed, it did not leave a lasting effect on the field.  It takes meaning and heart to do this, and when it comes down to it, it feels like all the creators of this movie wanted to do was make easy money.

 

Final Rating: 5.5 out of 10 points

 

September 9, 2016January 15, 2019 by Box Office Revolutionary Categories: Drama, Inspirational, Movie Reviews, PsychologicalTags: 2014, 5.5 points, Bryan Terrell Clark, Chris Parker, Connor Corum, Danso Gordon, Darcy Fehr, Greg Kinnear, Inspirational, Jacob Vargas, Kelly Reilly, Lane Styles, Lynn Vincent, Margo Martindale, Mike Mohrhardt, Nancy Sorel, Psychological, Randall Wallace, Rob Moran, Roth Films, Screen Gems, T.D. Jakes, Thomas Haden Church, Todd Burpo, TriStar Pictures, Vivian Winther 2 Comments