faith_with_attitude Reviews

The Nativity Story (2006)

Humanity shines forth!

[7/10 · 4 December 2006]

The Nativity Story is not without flaws, but the positives of the film clearly outweigh the negatives. Keisha Castle-Hughes gives an outstanding performance as Mary perfectly illustrating her character's purity and humbleness of heart. Her on screen presence is so natural that you cannot take your eyes off of her. Oscar Isaac also gives an admirable performance as Joseph, showing strength and virtue in protecting his wife.

What is best about the performances is how Castle-Hughes and Isaac show Mary and Joseph's fears and doubts about what is happening to them. The audience can relate to their suffering, how Mary felt when others looked down on her when she begins to "show" she is pregnant, or Joseph's desperation looking for shelter for his wife to give birth to Jesus when all of the inns are full. What a struggle! Unfortunately, the scenes where the angel appears do not come across as authentic. Gabriel's appearances to Mary and to Joseph in his dream lack a certain power that is present in other parts of the film. The script should be changed here to include an important scene from Scripture that is missing.

Dialogue that is pulled directly from the Bible comes across as a little dull and uninspired. One is left with the impression that the actors were reading these lines directly off of the pages. Using language from Scripture is important, but passionate delivery is missing in certain areas.

Nevertheless, Castle-Hughes and Isaac's performances are superb. Thankfully, other characters, from cruel King Herod to the joking Magi, never overshadow Mary and Joseph; they support them well. The cinematography and music in the film are also exemplary.

See this one twice! Merry Christmas!

An Inconvenient Truth (2006)

Film overdoses on too much Al

[6/10 · 23 June 2006]

Regardless of how you feel about Al Gore as a politician, this documentary is worth seeing because of the gravity of the issues discussed. Gore proves to be a worthy spokesman and his arguments are clear and concise at the beginning of the film. In other words, you do not need to be a scientist to understand what he is saying about the environment and the consequences of global warming. He is an effective communicator and good at explaining the problem in layperson's terms.

The problem with the film is, ironically, too much of Al Gore himself. Less than halfway through I began to ask myself "Is this a documentary about global warming or about Al Gore?" There is a shift from the message to the messenger; global warming fades into the background while Al moves to the front and center. While a brief personal portrait (family background, political career) could have enhanced the story, in this documentary the focus on Gore dilutes the film's central theme.

Towards the end, Gore's examples become slightly disjointed as he tries to "throw too much into the bag" (ex: overpopulation). I blame this more on the editing of the film than on his live presentations (people have criticized the movie as being "about a slideshow", but seeing the film made me want to attend one of Mr. Gore's presentations in person!). Thankfully, "An Inconvenient Truth" ends on a positive note. That alone makes this documentary recommended viewing.

The Da Vinci Code (2006)

Not the worst movie ever made, just seems like it is.

[2/10 · 11 June 2006]

I'm sure "The Da Vinci Code" is not the worst movie ever made, but as you're watching it at times it's difficult to think otherwise. Whether it's the disjointed scenes, clumsy cinematography (a.k.a. flashbacks) or uninspired dialogue, this is a very poorly made film (with a story that is boring and uninteresting).

Tom Hanks is a great actor and gives an admirable performance as symbologist Robert Langdon, but even he cannot rescue this snoozefest. Audrey Tautou is a talented young actress, however, her only purpose on screen (as Sophie Neveu) is to look like a caged and frightened vixen (she succeeds).

It's hard to imagine a book that sold this many copies could become a movie that is so bad, but perhaps DVC can be thought of as a "symbol" for what is wrong with American cinema today. If you must waste 2 hours of your life on this garbage, try to see it for free. I'm glad I did!