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March 9, 2018

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Easter Movies to Watch and Avoid

This Easter season will once again bring an influx of faith-based films to a theater near you. Several of the films will gear up with tremendous hype and false marketing, not out of choice, but rather out of ignorance—blind to the promotional materials not matching their films.

Since I’ve already endured the bad films, there’s no reason why you should find yourself suffering, too. Here are a few tips of what to watch and avoid.

***I Can Only Imagine*—WATCH**

(March 16, 2018—I’ll give it 4 out of 5 stars)

Out of all the faith-based films being released this season, I Can Only Imagine is the one worth seeing. The film tells the true life story of how the band Mercy Me got started and how the title song became the number one Contemporary Christian hit single of all time.

The best part of the film was watching Dennis Quaid (The Rookie; The Parent Trap; Yours, Mine and Ours), known for happy protagonist roles, play the antagonist—showing off his true acting chops. In fact, his performance was so good that I bought into his creepiness and got a little weirded out, wondering what in his life he might have drawn from to pull off such a nasty character. Quaid’s performance alone is worth the ticket price.

That’s not to say the entire film was great. The story had a hard time getting started and the director clearly struggled with how to end the film, resulting in three back-to-back endings. The standard practice for creating a clean ending is done by making sure all of the subplots resolve prior to the start of the ending sequence. If you only have time to see one Easter movie, pick this one.

***Paul Apostle of Christ*—AVOID**

(March 23, 2018—I’ll give it 2.5 out of 5 stars)

All of the eggs were placed in this big budget Easter basket and stars Jim Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ, Person of Interest) who plays Luke. With so much at risk, there will be a lot of promotional money thrown at the public to launch this costly production. Unfortunately, the funds didn’t show up on the screen. And the story… you’ll be confused during the first 30-40 minutes as you try to figure out what the film is about.

The secret… the film is a story about Luke, but it’s being promoted as a story about Paul. The main character that interacts with the supporting characters is Luke, and Paul is only used as the archetype or the wise counsellor—the Obi-Wan Kenobi, if you will. The story takes place in Paul’s last week before his beheading, a time when he has Luke write his final letters.

There is a tremendous amount of artistic license taken in the film, so don’t expect to drink in the moments as if you’re watching the reenactment of Scripture. The reality of Christian suffering is softened with all the bad scenes taking place off camera. And, the number of people nodding off during the screening I attended was massive. Can you say boring and confusing? Don’t waste your time on this one.

***God’s Not Dead 3*—AVOID**

(March 29, 2018—I’ll give it a generous 3 out of 5 stars)

God’s Not Dead: A Light in Darkness never gets the audience to care about the main character. Nor does the audience know why the film is supposed to be important. In other words, this is a TV movie that’s been placed on the silver screen in hopes of it becoming an event film for Easter. Or, the producers are trying to force the trilogy to become a franchise, even though it’s not trending in social media or at the box office (Film 1 $60MM, Film 2 $20MM, Film 3 TBD).

The film gets close to touching on some important issues, but it never takes the time to explore any of it in a depth useful for the audience.

While the budget is supposed to be bigger than its freshman and sophomore counterparts, the story wasn’t properly crafted for the big screen. The film used small screen story structure and stereotypical character development. Within the first five minutes of the film you know how the story will end. In a case like that, the director must get the audience desiring to see how it will unfold, but he didn’t.

Non-Religious Films Competing for Audiences

The films with the greatest chance of drawing in families, regardless of controversy, are the following:

Tomb Raider—March 16, 2018
A Wrinkle in Time—March 23, 2018
Ready Player One—March 30, 2018

These movies are all being promoted as event films for the entire family, but be careful to discuss the stories after watching, so no one accepts the liberal messages without due consideration. The studios know that making high quality, popular films is ideal for delivering their agenda and changing the culture, so expect an attempt for clear, easy to swallow messages being salted into the movies.

Please consider supporting the costs of a new, free webinar designed to help filmmakers craft strong stories, fill in story gaps, and strengthen their story structure—giving them a shot at creating a 5-star film. Click the button below to donate!

Copyright © 2018 by CJ Powers

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March 7, 2018

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Workplace Wisdom from an Entertainer

Book I met CBS’ national correspondent for Inside Edition, Megan Alexander, last week. She was a speaker at a film and television conference I attended and had a signing for her latest book Faith in the Spotlight. Between the pages are applicable suggestions designed for the person that wants to honor their faith, while thriving in the professional workplace.

Her husband Brian is a man committed to their relationship and family, a standard that she can count on in her weekly travels. Brian engaged me in a short chat and I soon realized the sacrifice their family quietly suffers in order to help and encourage professional woman (and men) to influence their marketplace with wisdom, advice and good ole fashioned morals.

Megan lives with her family in the Nashville area and commutes to New York and other locations for 3-4 days each week. It takes a toll on her and her family, but they know it is the right thing to do at this time. But being the right thing doesn’t stop a professional woman in the entertainment world from facing unhealthy and relentless demands that Megan must counter to maintain her faith.

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.” Eleanor Roosevelt

A clear example from a couple years ago was Megan’s “after the Oscar” segment that challenged her beliefs. When she came into the studio that morning, the wardrobe person pointed to the dress she was supposed to wear. It was a knock-off dress made for less than $100 designed to look like the $5,000 dress Angelina Jolie wore on the red carpet.

The dress was provocative including a slit that went so far up the leg there wasn’t much left for the imagination. In that moment Megan was faced with a career decision that might compromise her faith. She took a few minutes to think about how to solve the problem and reached for a black conservative dress, suggesting someone else would be better suited to show off the white dress.

Not only did the contrasting dress allow her to maintain her beliefs on what’s proper attire to wear, but it demonstrated to the audience a valuable lesson on how great professional women can look without compromising their beliefs. Another lesson came from the moment that was helpful to everyone in the room.

Most compromising situations can be precluded if we think through several scenarios we might face every day.

Megan learned that talking about a less expensive version of a red carpet dress is an annual segment after the Oscars®. She now knows to chat with wardrobe in advance of the show to predetermine the types of dresses she will wear. She also learned that the wardrobe person is only doing their job based on the directives given from the segment producer.

In her climb up the career ladder, Megan has attended several churches that catered to stay-at-home moms with morning Bible studies. Her needs for fellowship and spiritual encouragement were not facilitated by the churches because she didn’t fit the stereotypical model of a Christian woman.

The person impacting millions of people every week had no one ministering to her.

It didn’t take long for Megan to start her own Bible study. She still gets together every week with a group of women in New York for encouragement and camaraderie in maintaining their faith in the entertainment industry. And yes, you would know every woman in the group if I shared their names.

Every one of us needs to have accountability to maintain our beliefs. Megan’s new book Faith in the Spotlight gives golden nuggets of wisdom that are practical and easy to apply. Her words come from the heart and are laced with years of experience navigating a fickle industry where you can be “the toast of the town one day and yesterday’s news the next.”

Take it from a woman who has to battle fierce competition where “someone is always looking to take your job or steal your spotlight.” Megan knows what it takes to stay relevant and her book empowers the reader to do the same. This book is for anyone who wants to thrive in their career, while maintaining their beliefs.

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March 5, 2018

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The Shape of Best Picture

The Shape of Water took home the Best Picture Oscar® and was the perfect choice in reflecting the media’s interpretation of who we as a country have become. The picture presented the LGBTQ community in a positive light and as the new norm of society, even though it makes up less than 2% of the population. The story also focused those with a liberal we/they political mindset to a new enemy and quickly divided the audience.

The antagonist, or the uber bad guy in The Shape of Water, was a white, Christian man who required his wife to submit and loved shooting guns. The proxy antagonist was a white, male business owner who, after being propositioned by a homosexual, refused to serve the man going forward. Both men were put into the light of being extremely evil.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri was snubbed, in the name of politics, even though it was a better choice. That’s not to give my stamp of approval for it, as I’d prefer a couple films that weren’t nominated due to its lack of politics.

In Three Billboards, the protagonist treated everyone the same and demonstrated unity. No dispensation was required of any people group, as everyone in the film was equal. The protagonist and antagonist had a profound respect for each other. While neither backed off of their heated position, they treated each other with a commendable amount of dignity. They shared laughs and tears, and made sure each one’s opinion was clear and respected, regardless of the conflict between them.

Some say the large increase in Academy members included people that haven’t mastered their craft, but are politically far left, making a difference in the award outcome. While minorities were limited in the past and the pendulum swinging wide will help balance the industry, many members are now voting based on politics for the sake of balance, rather than on art.

I watched all nine movies nominated for Best Picture and disagree with the outcome. While The Shape of Water was brilliantly made, the story was working overtime with its heavy-handed political agenda—destroying the very art it was creating. Three Billboards respected the audience and provided a unique look at political issues that are worth considering by both sides.

Last week I was at a conference with numerous filmmakers and television producers. I had a chance to talk with many of them and watched seven film premieres. Most of the pictures took the we/they approach of an overt, in-your-face presentation. But one film, which brought me to tears, demonstrated a respect for the audience and stirred everyone in the room with what I’ll call “the right way” to present inclusion. I’ll share more about that film in a future post.

This year’s Best Picture is a perfect selection if the award is to represent the political climate in our nation. Many filmmakers have jumped on the bandwagon of overt content to further the phenomenon of dividing our culture with the we/they mentality—a sad commentary.

Art, when done without an overt and disrespectful agenda, helps the nation look at important issues, while uniting both sides in the name of healthy progress.

Unfortunately, The Shape of Water did not respect the audience and elevated the LGBTQ community as the new norm, which in of itself might help the pendulum swing to a healthier place, unless the lack of respect neutralizes the effort. Three Billboards shared the same valuable message without alienating or disrespecting its audience.

I’m a firm believer that films should artistically stir change through exploration, not politics. And, the award for Best Picture should be given to the best crafted film, not to the one with an in-your-face political agenda. So, call me old fashioned, because the trend is not likely to change until filmmakers that believe in the intrinsic value of storytelling get funded.

If you’d like to help fund me one cup at a time…

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