Rice Krispie Treats. They are the perfect metaphor for Neal Stephenson’s latest novel, “REAMDE.” Stephenson likes to make poetic illustrations about junk food in some of his books, most famously his paean to Cap’n Crunch in the “Cryptonomicon.” This time around, it’s the aforementioned Treats, an amalgam of two fully formed foods, puffed rice cereal and marshmallows. “REAMDE” mixes the international thriller and geek gamer novels, seamlessly blending the two with only occasionally forays into obscure tech-speak.

The book, like all of Stephenson’s, is extremely character driven, flipping from one viewpoint to another, often in the same time sequence, allowing the reader to experience the action from multiple viewpoints. It revolves around a growing cast of characters, starting with former marijuana smuggler, now online pole playing game mogul, Richard “Dodge” Forthrast. He brings along his adopted niece, former Eritrean refugee — now Midwestern girl — Zula Forthrast.

The motley lot expands to include an ex-Spetsnaz security expert, a Hungarian hacker, a Hakka guide, a Chinese virus righter, a Welsh convert to Islam cum-terrorist mastermind, an MI-6 agent, and an Irish American CIA agent.

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Terrible news:

Blues singer Etta James, best known for classic songs like “At Last” and “Tell Mama,” is terminally ill and her live-in doctor is now asking for prayers. The 73-year-old has been in fading health in recent years.

James’s doctor, Dr. Elaine James, who is not related and has been the singer’s live-in doctor since March 2010, told the Riverside (Calif.) Press-Enterprise that James’s chronic leukemia became incurable two weeks ago. Elaine James told the paper that she finally released the information publicly to let the world know how she is doing.

“I am Southern and Christian and would just ask for the prayers of her fans and friends,” Elaine James said, adding that her fans “know she’s been sick, but not how sick.”

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Here we go again. Prepare to be shocked, appalled — even offended! — by another attack on Christians, namely Catholics, by none other than pope hater Sinead O’Connor. I’m just kidding about being offended; it’s obvious she’s screaming for attention (killing the pope? bet it took her a few weeks to think up that one) and, unfortunately for her, this article won’t just be about her but all of Hollywood. Sorry, Sinead.

What the formerly relevant singer said is not surprising, but then again, it’s never surprising to hear a celebrity disparaging Christianity. Remember this gem from Rosie O’Donnell?

I have news for Hollywood. It’s not risque to attack Christians, and it’s long been a cliché even for our side to say it’s overdone. If you want to be risque, attack Islam, atheists, or agnostics. My husband is a cradle Catholic (meaning raised Catholic), and he says most of these attacks just roll off his back. Most don’t offend or bother him anymore because it’s simply become the norm. But that doesn’t mean it should be ignored or criticism should be spared for trite offense-mongering like Lady Gaga’s “Alejandro” video.

If you don’t want to watch the video, I understand. Lady Gaga is dressed in a blood red habit and swallows a rosary. This desecration of the rosary is offensive to Catholics because of our veneration (not worship) of Mary, mother of God. The director of the video claims Lady Gaga just wanted to take in the Holy. As a lifelong Catholic, Miss Gaga should know better than that, and if she wanted to “take in the Holy,” there are ways of doing it that won’t cause as many digestive problems, like attending Mass and taking Communion. (more…)

Sherwood Baptist Church Associate Pastor Alex Kendrick joined the culture wars after reading a poll claiming film, television and the Internet had a bigger cultural influence than the local church.

But Kendrick couldn’t predict the impact his Albany, Ga. church would make on a film industry indifferent to matters of faith.

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Kendrick rallied his 3,000-member congregation to fund the 2003 film “Flywheel.” The movie, which followed a sketchy car salesman who finds Jesus Christ, ended up playing six consecutive weeks at a Georgia movie house despite featuring an all-volunteer crew. The film’s shock success helped fuel “Facing the Giants” and “Fireproof,” two faith-based indies which proved more profitable than many Hollywood features.

“Fireproof,” budgeted at $500,000, hauled in $33 million with no bankable stars and a tiny marketing push.

By the church’s own standards, Kendrick‘s latest film represents a quantum leap in both budget and outreach.

“Courageous” tracks four police officers whose lives are changed after tragedy strikes close to home. It’s a tale of grief and healing, one that emphasizes the profound influence fathers have on their children.

The film cost $1 million to produce and will be shown in nearly 1,000 screens nationwide as well as in Canada starting Sept. 30.

Kendrick and crew researched the role fathers play in the family structure before making “Courageous,“ uncovering some alarming statistics along the way. They learned more than 90 percent of gang members come from fatherless homes.

“They’re looking for that belonging to a male group,” says Kendrick, who typically writes, produces and directs his church’s films as well as appears in front of the camera.

Children who grow up without a strong, positive male figure are also less likely to believe in a higher power.

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Anyone who thinks conservatives can’t rock it out has clearly not come across Jeremy Dodge – a conservative activist with attitude and an abundance of talent.  When Jeremy first joined BigDawg Music Mafia and shared his Tea Party hit I Am American and Stand Up, the fans couldn’t get enough.  The demand from fans for more has Jeremy back in the studio as we “speak” working on some new songs which will, no doubt, be every bit as kickin’ as his others.

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As with the majority of the conservative artists in the Tea Party movement, Jeremy has been traveling around the country performing on his own dime and as many fellow musicians know, studio time costs a pretty penny.  Jeremy has set up a project page where fans can participate in the production of his new songs by helping defray some of his costs, getting a few “thank you” goodies in return, and even a shout-out in his video.

Here’s what Jeremy has to say about how he got started in music and how he ended up using his talents to wake his fellow Americans up:

Quick note before we begin: The reason I haven’t started my promised countdown of the Top 25 Christian Films was in the discovery of how uncomfortable and unprepared I am to discuss such things. I’m no theologian and almost completely incapable of deep thinks when it comes to matter such as these. But I did want to respond to Bill Maher and therefore only ask that this post not be confused with an arrogant attempt to speak for anyone but myself. 

Always fun to wake up on Saturday morning to discover the latest nonsense coming from our friend Bill Maher. Sharply written, well-delivered nonsense for sure, but nonsense nonetheless:

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Personally, I don’t know of any Christian “for” torture nor do I know of any Christians “for” waterboarding (they’re two different things). That doesn’t mean, however, that as a Christian I don’t understand that stopping the spread of evil and the slaughter of innocents doesn’t sometimes require the making of some very difficult moral choices — like those involving enhanced interrogations and outright war. Furthermore, Christ Himself certainly wasn’t “for” charging into religious temples, throwing everyone out, and then violently turning over the tables of money changers. But sometimes….

And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves.

…action is required.

Every week I stand before God and pray for the forgiveness of my sins. Here’s how that prayer begins:

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Who is Chris Ross?

Chris Ross is a great American, an amazingly gifted musician/singer-songwriter, and a superb conservative voice in the fight to save this great country.  Upon hearing the first few bars of his song Freedom, I knew I was going to really dig his music.  I was right.  I was instantly hooked.  His songs and vocal style remind me of the music of the band America  which I loved back in the day (and still do).  How very apropos.  When he recently posted one of his newest songs, Restoring Honor, featured on the WatchGlennBeck.com site, I just knew this song would resonate with so many Americans.  And it is doing just that.

After I contacted Chris and told him I wanted to do a BigDawg Spotlight piece on him and asked him for his bio, what he sent me turned out to be so much more that I decided to let him answer the opening question himself. (more…)

The first time I heard the song See, Hear, Pray, by Debbie K and The Freedom Band, which has been featured on Glenn Beck’s 8/28 Restoring Honor Rally website and the national Support Our Troops website as well as other conservative blogs and patriotic sites, I was very moved by the message, the music, and her beautiful voice.  When speaking about this song, Debbie said:

I wrote this song over a weekend with me and my guitar sitting at our cottage in Indiana.   I could feel it bubbling up inside of me.  We were just about to have our first Tea Party and wanted to share a song that inspired Americans to Pray for their country and to honor those that fought for our Freedom.   This was one of those songs that just happened – you knew that you were just being used to inspire others.  I remember finishing the last line and saying to myself ….’wow…. thanks Lord’!

Beautiful things happen when we allow our faith to lead us…like this song:

I am so glad Debbie found our site, BigDawg Music Mafia, through our mutual friend, Reese Ccup (one of our wonderful site volunteers on the “BigDawg Brigade”).  When I read her bio I knew I’d met a kindred spirit.  We both share a love of God, we both love music, we are both using it to promote our conservative messages, and most importantly, we are both “Mama Grizzlies” who love our families and are determined to do all we can to help fight the “transformation” taking place in our country.  We don’t let any grass grow under our feet and I don’t think either of us gets much sleep.

So many songs to write, so little time. (more…)

According to the new film “Soul Surfer,” Bethany Hamilton was a born surfer. Her parents were both diehard surfers so it seemed natural when she started surfing herself. As a teenager, her potential seemed limitless until a shark attack cost her an arm and put her dreams in jeopardy. ”Soul Surfer” tells the true story of how Bethany overcame that attack with the help of her family, her optimism and an unwavering faith in God.

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Bethany (Anna Sophia Robb) begins the story as a young surfer aiming to win local competitions against her rival, Malina Birch (Sonya Balmores). The plot starts out slow as it introduces Bethany’s family, who regularly attend Church together and who love to spend time riding the waves. Along with her two brothers, the family includes Bethany’s mother Cheri (Helen Hunt) and her father Tom (Dennis Quaid). After a few surfing scenes that feel like false alarms for what’s to come, Bethany is attacked by a shark while out surfing with her friends. The shark bites off one of her arms and leaves her questioning her surfing career.

The scenes surrounding the shark attack are some of the weakest scenes in the story. Before the attack, the surfing scenes are directed in anticipation of the big attack. Like in “Jaws,”  there are several shots of Bethany surfing while something seemingly lurks underneath the water. These seem out of place in a story that should be more focused on Bethany’s recovery, not on the attack itself. When the shark finally attacks, it’s anti-climactic. The story continues to stumble right after the attack. The director doesn’t seem to know where the camera should be and has it bouncing around and then cutting to close-ups of the actors as they bring Bethany to safety. After that, the camera thankfully slows down and lets the story unfold. 

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On 2214 screens, Nikki Finke estimates the Christian-themed “Soul Surfer” will clear $11.1m this weekend. Sony was hoping for $10 million and is obviously very happy with the results:

Coming in to this weekend, Sony thought it was releasing through TriStar an acquired micro-budget title from FilmDistrict that had “solid upside potential” according to a studio exec. “If we do 10 million this weekend (or close to it), it would be a home run for Sony and Film District.” Mission accomplished. A strong Christian message sometimes works at the box office, sometimes falls flat. This one worked, helped by the strong appeal and personal promotion of American Idol winner Carrie Underwood. Soul Surfer played incredibly well all around the country as Sony had been screening the title aggressively — 350 previews — especially for church groups who arranged for buses to bring in audiences all day Friday.

Overall, “Soul Surfer” came in fourth, but lost the #2 spot only by a nose to “Hanna,” which banked $12.3m on 300+ more screens, and the ill-considered “Arthur” remake, which played on 1,000+ more screens but took in only $12.6m. In other words, it flopped. Per screen, “Soul Surfer” beat “Arther” by $1200. No small thing.

“Soul Surfer,” which is based on the true story of Bethany Hamilton, a young tournament surfer whose Christian faith and family help her to overcome a shark attack that cost her an arm, stars Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt. Thanks to some very good marketing to the teenage crowd in general and to the Christian market specifically, what Hollywood has here is one less excuse to keep ‘em coming.

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Soul Surfer

These days, it seems everyone wants to be famous – and the younger the person, the more attention-obsessed they seem to be. But what if you garnered international attention because a shark literally bit off your arm?

That was the dilemma faced by Bethany Hamilton on Halloween of 2003, when the teenage champion surfer survived a surprise shark attack off the coast of her home in Hawaii. Yet unlike others who have made the news due to freak occurrences, Hamilton has continued to fascinate the media due to the fact that she not only survived and recovered, but has become an even bigger star surfer since then.

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Her odds-defying story is now the basis of the new film “Soul Surfer,” which dives in to Hamilton’s story by showing that her entire family has two big passions: catching waves and celebrating their Christian faith. Early on, the couple of church scenes seem like a gloss as the focus rests on surfing action and Bethany’s teenage social life.

But once the film digs deeper into her story with the attack and a riveting sequence depicting her family’s desperate race to get her to a hospital, “Surfer” finds surer footing and its performances – including Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt as Bethany’s parents, and Anna Sophia Robb as Bethany herself, with “American Idol” champion and country singing superstar Carrie Underwood as her youth minister – also take root.

Aside from the inherent spectacle of surfing Hawaii’s spectacular coastline in competitions, “Surfer” proves affecting not only for its depiction of a family bonding through trauma but also for its portrayal of Bethany’s mission trip to the Indonesian coast after the devastating tsunami there. Her realization that there’s always a bigger crisis than your own to help others through is a timely reminder amid the ongoing tragedy in Japan.

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There’s nothing at all in the trailer to indicate the faith elements that are obviously a very big part of the true story of Bethany Hamilton — a young surfer who lost her arm in a shark attack and through the love of her parents, her Christian faith, and an incredible amount of determination, miraculously returned to tournament surfing. Instead, the marketing’s aimed directly at teens and positioned as a coming of age/overcoming obstacles/feel good film. Nothing wrong with that. As long as the film itself is true to the faith elements (from what I’ve read, it is), this is probably a wise move. People already aware of the story will show up, so why categorize your product as a “Christian film” if it’s so much more?

This is how it used to be, anyway, before Hollywood grew so openly hostile to Christianity. Hollywood always uses “reflecting reality” as an excuse for its coarseness, but won’t do so to reflect the reality of how the Christian faith is a central component in the lives of most Americans. Our faith is as natural a part of who we are as our work and family and secular lives, so there’s no reason to, for lack of a better term, “ghetto-ize” this kind of story as Christian.

In the real world, this is a universal story, no?

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Liberal film critic, Roger Ebert, called Battle: Los Angeles “noisy, violent, ugly and stupid”.  BigHollywood.com Editor-In-Chief, John Nolte, called it “wildly entertaining and subversive”.  That was all I needed to read to know this was a “must see” movie.  And it most definitely is…in fact, movie goers overseas agree as this epic sci-fi film garnered a first place finish in its second weekend overseas bringing in $27.1 million…with Rango, the animated film about the chameloen sheriff (Johhny Depp) earning $17.5 million in its third weekend.  Now that’s American exceptionalism…on the big screen!

As a retired Air Force veteran, I viewed this movie from a slightly different vantage point than one who has never served in our armed forces. And I loved every minute of this fast-paced, heart-stopping, riveting movie…silently cheering on the small platoon of courageous Marines, led by 2nd Lieutenant William Martinez (Ramon Rodriguez), sent out on what seemed like a suicide mission to rescue a few stranded civilians in Santa Monica before the Air Force was to completely level the entire city that had fallen to a devastating alien invasion.

What was originally reported to be meteors falling into the ocean along the Los Angeles coastline (as well as the coastlines of 20 other major cities around the world) was quickly determined to be a well-orchestrated invasion of a massive force of seemingly impossible-to-kill aliens… and they were everywhere… annhilating everything and everyone in their path.  As I watched the fast-paced, chaotic, and gripping action unfold, I often found myself holding my breath and sitting on the edge of my seat — myheart racing wildly, pulling for our heroes.  It has been a long time since I’ve been to a movie that left me exhausted like that, in a good way.

I appreciated how they introduced each member of the platoon and gave us a little insight into their frame of mind just prior to their embarking on this terrifying mission, setting the stage for some of the heart-wrenching actions and decisions that occurred throughout the movie.  It made them more real to me, as real as the stories and situations faced every day by our men and women deploying overseas into hostile combat zones.

The main hero of the movie, Staff Sergeant Nantz (Aaron Eckhart), was very convincing as a tough, no-nonsense, war-weary Marine.  In spite of having just gotten his retirement papers signed — a man who was struggling with some demons from his past (something not uncommon to our brothers and sisters who have served in a war zone) — SSgt Nantz displayed the kind of leadership, ingenuity, courage, selflessness, and compassion commonly found in the members of our military, most especially in our Marines, who are always on the front lines … and go where few dare to go.

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With the Middle East in turmoil and Japan triple-whammied with problems, the whole world could use a laugh right about now. Thankfully, the new sci-fi comedy “Paul” is arriving in theatres Friday, packing more laughs per minute than almost any movie in the past decade – along with great performances, inventive twists and a sweet core of silly fun.

Written by and starring British comics Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, the dynamic duo behind the brilliant cult hits “Shaun of the Dead” and “Hot Fuzz,” “Paul” centers on two nerdy British tourists named Clive (Frost) and Graeme (Pegg) who have come to America to visit the sci-fi nerd mecca of Comic-Con before driving an RV across the US to visit sites where alien encounters have allegedly occurred. Even they realize that they’re just being silly, and there’s no way they’ll ever encounter a real alien – until a car races around them in the dead of night before careening off the highway and exploding.

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Looking for human survivors, they instead encounter a surly, wisecracking, dope-smoking alien named Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen in one of the best voiceover performances I’ve ever heard) who’s on the run from federal secret agents (Jason Bateman and Sigourney Weaver) that he believes are out to kill him. Paul took his name from the dog his spaceship crushed when it crash-landed in rural Wyoming in 1947, and he’s spent the past 60-plus years being questioned at the clandestine Area 51 for his advanced alien insights and technological know-how.

Paul is just desperate to stay on the run and alive, but things keep getting more complicated as junior federal agents (Bill Hader and Thomas Lennon) get roped into the chase, and the on-the-lam trio also pick up a fundamentalist Christian named Ruth (Kristen Wiig) who’s desperate to make a getaway of her own: from her repressive life managing a desert RV park with her Bible-thumping father (John Carroll Lynch).

“Paul” is literally a wonder to behold, a smile and laugh-inducing romp from start to finish that is rated “R” for some profanity and a few dope-smoking scenes but which has such an inherent good-natured vibe that teens and even the children of liberal-minded parents should be allowed to enjoy it as well. Director Greg Mottola (“Superbad,” “Adventureland”) displays the best of his strengths from both those prior films as he weaves frenetically funny action scenes with revealing emotional moments that steer clear of sappiness.

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A disturbing trend in cinema is the inability of some filmmakers to distinguish the difference between pathetic and kind. Really, they’re not the same thing at all, but over the past few years there have been scores of wide-releases with protagonists who aren’t nice guys so much as weak and naïve, not truly friendly because to be that one must have an awareness of what it means to be unfriendly.

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Miguel Arteta’s “Cedar Rapids” might be the most egregious offender I can fathom, surpassing the similarly awful protagonists in “Dinner for Schmucks.” To call Ed Helms’ insurance salesman Tim Lippe milquetoast would be an insult to those who are merely weaklings. Tim’s a small town Wisconsin insurance man who apparently has never left his burg, nor does he seem to have ever watched television, read a magazine, or even spoken to anyone about what the world’s about.

Were this guy real, he’d be instantly unlikeable, a grinning idiot that has gone to great troubles to minimize his exposure to the slightest element of reality. Helms, of “The Office” and “The Daily Show” fame, proves unable to handle his nitwit character in a way that engenders empathy, but he does seem to be winking at the audience, a fatal mistake. Pathetic characters are best played without a sense of irony, and when John C. Reilly shows up, all I could think of was how better suited that great actor would be for the lead role, though even a fine performance could only do so much with this repulsive material.

The film’s contempt for Tim creates an awkward tension with the moments where we’re expected to laud his progress in the titular Iowa city, victories which include but are not limited to:

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George Nolfi has been one of Hollywood’s hottest rising writers of intelligent action films, having had a hand in the smash hits “The Bourne Ultimatum” and “Ocean’s Twelve.” Working with Matt Damon on both of those films, he developed a strong rapport that made him pick Damon as his first choice for his dream project and directing debut: an adaptation of legendary sci-fi writer Philip K. Dick’s short story “The Adjustment Bureau.”

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Dick’s books and stories have served as the fodder for some of Hollywood’s most striking films of the past three decades, including the timeless classic “Blade Runner.” In them, he addresses issues of free will and consciousness, and how much control we really have over our lives and destinies. That theme has never been laid out as strongly as it has in “Bureau,” which is a must-see film not only for film buffs of any stripe but especially for Christian filmgoers who wonder why Hollywood doesn’t deal with spiritual matters in a deep and meaningful way and bemoan the lack of entertainment value in independent Christian films that often don’t know how to entertain.

Nolfi has hit this one out of the park, and he has been involved in a massive national outreach to Christian churches and colleges designed to alert them to this extremely worthy film. He sat down for a phone interview with Big Hollywood and discussed the magic of his movie.

BIG HOLLYWOOD: How were you drawn to this subject matter? Were you just a fan of Philip K. Dick, or was there a spiritual element?

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This might be the most revealing anecdote about the intolerant culture of present-day Hollywood in, well, ever. Get this: some genius producer at Sony digitally removed the words Holy Bible from a Holy Bible in a scene because he thought the sight of a Bible might hurt the film’s appeal beyond the Christian community — probably because he’s projecting and assuming everyone’s as bigoted as Hollywood. After some pressure from the family on which the film is based, he did put it back, but who thinks this way (he asked himself rhetorically). Good grief, there are all kinds mainstream films today where you see glimpses of various social and political symbols. Remember all that obnoxious PETA junk in Lethal Weapon 2, a movie I’ve only watched about a million times. But how many films these days show teenagers with the chicken track peace symbol on their book bag or a Greenpeace poster on the wall?

Hey, what’s that he’s reading?

But what does get digitally removed? The best-selling book in history. And what kind of movie does the best-selling book in history get digitally removed from? A movie based on the true story of a young Christian surfer who was attacked by a shark and credits her faith in God with her recovery. You can’t make this stuff up.

Now, below is that part of this story. But don’t go away, because this story somehow gets dumber. Via Paul Bond at THR:

Tom Hamilton prayed for the best but expected the worst. He and his family, all devoted Christians, thought they had lost their bid to keep an overt reference to the Bible in the upcoming film Soul Surfer, based on the true story of Hamilton’s daughter Bethany, who, at age 13, had her arm chewed off by a tiger shark in Kauai but returned to her board to pursue her dream of becoming a pro surfer.

When religious leaders were shown an early version of the Sony movie [Soul Surfer], set for release in April, the words “Holy Bible” had been digitally removed from the cover of the book in a scene depicting Hamilton reading in a hospital where his daughter was fighting for her life. Hamilton says producer David Zelon, an executive at Mandalay Pictures, had lobbied to tone down the film’s Christianity in an effort to broaden its appeal to non-Christian audiences. But the Hamilton family objected, and when they attended a subsequent screening, they were pleasantly surprised with what they saw.  

“I could see the words bright and clear,” Hamilton says.  “I looked at my wife and whispered, ‘Thank you God, they put it back.’ ”

Brace yourself for what’s coming:

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In a piece last week, I documented what critics have said about an apparent anti-Christian theme in Simon Pegg’s upcoming science-fiction comedy “Paul” — just more of the strident, boorish evangelical atheism we’re seeing from our entertainment overlords these days. In a recent interview, Pegg’s obvious contempt and intolerance for those who don’t conform to his disbelief system comes through quite clearly.

 HeyUGuys!:

It’s a fun movie, but do you think you’re going to get any flak from the Bible belt in America?

Simon Pegg: Who doesn’t get flak from the Bible belt in America?

I wonder if Pegg’s ever spent any real time in America’s Bible belt? You know, just checked into a motel somewhere and spent a week hanging out with the commoners. Regardless, I have a better question: Name a lazy, lockstep, conformist member of the entertainment community who hasn’t stereotyped the Bible belt in America in order to earn their bona fides as a lazy, lockstep, conformist member of the entertainment community. Ridiculing Christians isn’t brave or edgy. What are we going to do, pray for your Hellbound ass? Write a blog post? In the meantime, the rewards are legion. Hollywood loves you even more. You’re a member of Niedermeyer’s frat in high standing. Better yet, some in the media will lie and tell you you’re brave!

Pegg’s comment is followed by what amounts to an explanation of the thinking behind the film’s “anti-Creationist” elements:

Nick Frost: [co-star] As I said to Simon early, it’s a road movie with an alien in it. If they’re going to get annoyed at that… Really, if you have faith then a film about a dope-smoking alien isn’t going to affect that. It’s just another way of seeing. We were really interested in the idea that someone could have their belief system shattered by a single moment, and that’s why Ruth, Kristen’s character, is a Creationist, is a very specific wing of Christianity, which you can’t have a film with an alien in and it not be counter to that idea. Even Mac and Me is an anti-Creationist film because there’s an alien in it. We’re not being anti-religion; it’s just that’s the universe that the film takes place in. Paul at one point – I think the line was lost in the end – said: “I don’t know. I’m just saying there probably isn’t”. Certainly, that sort of dogma can’t exist if Paul exists, and we love the idea of Ruth suddenly just changing from being one thing to another in a second, and that was it. It wasn’t a crusade again organised religion.

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I adore Shaun of the Dead, found Hot Fuzz more than a little tedious, but I was still very much looking forward to Simon Pegg and Nick Frost re-teaming  once again, this time for the big sci-fi blockbuster “Paul,” which hits U.S. theatres March 18th. Because the film hits British theatres later this month, reviews are already starting to pour in and now my enthusiasm has cooled some. Really guys? Southerners and Christians? Needless to say, I expected something a little more creative and original than some lazy, cliched Kevin Smith-style of satire with about as much edge as a tuna sandwich. 

Below is a review round-up for what’s looking like a left-wing, atheist polemic disguised as escapist comedy so that Pegg and Frost can get their bigotry on and line us up for a series of sucker-punch cheap shots. Unlike Monty Python, present-day “satirists” are too ignorant and mean-spirited to mock us with the kind of intelligence and affection we can appreciate, so it’s unlikely we’re looking forward to a couple hours of laughing at ourselves here. ”Paul” might well be the rare exception, but somehow I doubt it. Either way, it’s always good to know what you’re walking into, what you’re laying down your hard-earned money for. So here’s the heads up.

Bottom line: my guess is that the jokes will be less insulting than the “satiric” laziness involved in choosing the easiest, safest targets imaginable. And there’s simply nothing duller than an evangelical atheist.

i09: 

The bromance between Pegg and Frost is as great as ever, but the addition of a fundamentalist Christian woman (played by Kristin Wiig) dilutes their dynamic a bit. The film doesn’t entirely succeed as a fun road-trip comedy or a jaunty science fiction adventure comedy, and some of the jabs at Christianity may piss off Christian audiences.

Apparently Wiig’s character has a sort of anti-religious awakening, in which she rejects Christianity and learns to swear, and this is most likely the most controversial aspect of an otherwise standard comedy. At one point, Paul the alien says, “My existence doesn’t necessarily disprove religion: just all Judaeo-Christian denominations.”

The Hollywood Reporter:

Men in black, rednecks and fundamental Christians are the main heavies that get in the way of their plans. …  Christianity gets in the neck, which could hurt Bible-belt box office[.]

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This year Easter falls on Sunday April 24th, and that seemed a fitting time to do a countdown of The Top 25 Greatest Christian Films of All Time! …at least according to me. As with all of these countdowns, what we have here is the opinion of one person and art is entirely too subjective for one person to claim they’re creating some sort of definitive ranking, so that’s never been the point. What is the point, though, is to have the opportunity to delve into and to hopefully pass on to others a desire to see the films I love so much. Besides, lists are always fun. But they’re also a lot of work and that’s why I’m announcing this one well in advance of my deadline.

Simply put, I need your help through a nomination process.

As has always been the case with every single one of these lists, you the commenters are what make all the work involved in such an endeavor worthwhile. You’re also invaluable when it comes to jogging my notoriously bad memory about deserving films I might have otherwise forgotten or may not have yet seen. So please continue that tradition in the comments section here. The more titles you name, the more comprehensive the final list will be. With almost a couple months to go, there’s plenty of time for me to see and contemplate everything.

A few guidelines: These films should be openly Christian. I’m not interested in allegory or even subtlety. “Lord of the Rings” and “Narnia” are terrific, but once the floodgates open to that kind of thing it becomes impossible to draw any kind of line. But that doesn’t mean that the list will only include Biblical epics. There are plenty of mainstream movies, even dark and thematically complicated ones, where a Christian God is central or at least important to the story. Please feel free to nominate any of those and please feel free to nominate entries critical of the Christian faith. There’s nothing wrong with a smart, well-made, respectful story that forces us to think. Also, as far as the photo above, the Old Testament is an important part of our faith and anything in that arena should and will be considered.

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