Movie Review: Instant Family PG-13+

I think you all know how much I love to watch movies.  I try to watch things that I can review here, things that make me contemplate life and the world and stretch me in ways I am not normally stretched in my day to day routine.

I've never felt the tug to adopt, but I know others who have felt the desire to and have.  So, when a movie comes out that is PG-13 and deals with this subject I gravitated toward it.  Who doesn't like Mark Walberg, right? Yeah, I know, a lot of people don't. 

Anyway, I laughed and cried a lot throughout the movie.  It was funny where it needed to be and serious where it needed to be.  HOWEVER,  ....  Yeah, holy moly have some language.  I guess I should have looked up the reviews online like I do with a lot of movies whem I am unsure of it's content.  I just didn't think it would be that bad with this specific subject matter.  Here are the reviews from 2 of my favorite sources:

Common Sense Media review
Focus on the Family Plugged In Review

It really was a lot of unnecessary language in the movie.  I was a bit surprised. I mean I shouldn't be surprised seeing the state of our culture these days. Most of the time, although I am put off my bad language, it doesn't bother me.  I think the subject matter in this movie didn't warrant the types of language there was.  

My opinion is that it's a decent movie in a lot of ways, but it isn't for kids and I probably wouldn't even show it to teenagers either.  I would consider it an adult only movie.

I wrote a post a little while ago about a charity we support that works with adoption.  You can check out the post here.

Interested in a post about how I feel about movies you can check that post out here.

Adoption and/or fostering is something that we need to keep on our hearts in one form or another.  We are called to care for widows and orphans.  This will look differently for each of us.  Prayer, Financial Support, Community programs, actual fostering and/or adopting. 


James 1:26-27
26 Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world

Movie Review: Indivisible

I have to be honest, I've had a rough summer and let my writing go by the wayside for some time now. But, sometimes when we need it the most, we need to slow down and just care for ourselves in a way that means shutting some other things out for awhile.  So, that's what I did.  I got this movie from Netflix in April.  I started watching it and it was so dramatic that I just needed to put it away until I was ready to watch it some more.  Sometimes, that means being ready for a drama in a way that you'll be able to be moved by it.

So I told myself that I wasn't going to send it back until I watched it, so I watched it in the afternoon of the first day of school. I took some time for myself that day in the morning and then after lunch I finished the movie.  I'm very glad I did.  It was a great movie about family, faith and perseverance through hard times. But, it also shows that family requires work, like any relationship you want to keep intact.

Here is a video about the movie that might peak your interest if you already aren't, labeled The Heart of Indivisible.

Another thing that really gives this movie an edge up is the acting, like a lot of Christian films the content is great but the acting is lacking, but this film has a lot of established actors who do an amazing job with all the emotion that the film needed.

This is based on a true story, which I didn't know going into the movie.

See it, it's worth it, but make sure you have tissues and make sure you are in the right mind set for something this dramatic and emotional.

When life throws you struggles it is hard but, Sometimes you just gotta have faith.....

Movie Review: All Saints

I saw the preview for this movie on Paul The Apostle of Christ movie I recently reviewed here. 

I always go into these movies with low expectations from an acting perspective because I know that often times low budget movies mean inexperienced actors.  But, with this one there were several experienced actors that added a depth to the movie.

I like movies based on true stories. They let me know only see into a situation that I don't already know about but also deeper into a situation or circumstance that I've heard of.  In this case, we hear of genocide and persecution all over the world lately, but I had never heard about the Karen people from Burma before. 

Here is the description of the movie:

ALL SAINTS is based on the inspiring true story of salesman-turned-pastor Michael Spurlock (John Corbett), the tiny church he was ordered to shut down, and a group of refugees from Southeast Asia. Together, they risked everything to plant seeds for a future that might just save them all.

After trading in his corporate sales career to become a pastor, Michael’s first assignment is All Saints, a quaint country church with a dozen members. It comes with a catch: he has to close the church doors for good and sell the prime piece of land on which it sits. While developers eagerly eye the property and the congregation mourns the inevitable, Michael and his family look forward to moving on to an established church where they can put down roots.

But when the church hesitantly begins welcoming Karen (kuh-REN) refugees from Burma—former farmers striving for a fresh start in America—Michael feels called to an improbable new mission. Toiling alongside the Karen people, the congregation attempts to turn their fertile land into a working farm to pay the church’s bills and feed its newest people.


Jeopardizing his family’s future by ignoring his superiors, Michael must choose between completing what he was assigned to do—close the church and sell the property—or listening to a still, small voice challenging the people of All Saints to risk it all and provide much-needed hope to their new community.


The main thing for me was seeing someone struggling with what God is telling them to do. As a pastor he thought that God was telling him to not sell the church and land and help these refugees by planting and selling the crops. When all his plans don't go according to his plan, what he sees at the end is that God uses this as a way to draw a community of believers together and is still standing today.

God is good all the time, all the time God is good.

My point is that movies like this make me realize that my life is my responsibility to live it well, but at the same time when I sometimes feel like nothing I do matters, it does to God and he can use the simplest thing in our lives to make the biggest waves.

Movie Review: Paul Apostle of Christ

I knew going into this movie that I had to be in the right mind set for this one.  It's a drama, but one that came highly recommended by my pastor, who is also my bible study leader. 

Dramatic movies can be hard to watch sometimes. This particular movie has come through my house a couple of times and I've passed on watching it, until now. I put it back on my dvd queue and it sat in my house for weeks before I was ready to watch it.  And, I am very glad I did.

If you have a chance to watch it, make sure to watch the behind the scenes stuff, the creators of the movie explain how they filled in much of the information in the film.  Here is one part of that.

I had to keep telling myself that Jim Caviezel was playing Luke through the whole movie, because I always see him as playing Jesus in The Passion of the Christ.

The actor that portrayed Paul, James Faulkner, is an amazing actor.  He has been in a lot of period pieces.  He's your classic English Shakespearean actor.

Unlike a lot of Christian based movies the acting was fantastic in this one.  There were a lot of known actors who used their craft to show this story in a beautiful way.  I laughed a little and cried a little.  I empathized with the characters as well.  As with all movies I watch I wanted to come away with something from it that I hadn't thought or learned before and also be in an emotional state that felt like I didn't waste the last couple of hours of my time.  This one rang true on all accounts for me.

I highly recommend watching it, but be in the right state of mind first.  Sometimes movies like these don't hit you the way they should if you heart and mind aren't open.

Until next time....
1 Corinthians 1:18 
Christ Crucified Is God’s Power and Wisdom

18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Movie Review: I Can Only Imagine

Do you remember the first time you heard MercyMe's song I Can Only Imagine?  I don't remember the specific day but I had an overwhelming response to it and at that time I had walked away from my faith and the church.  I can't pinpoint what it did for me, but I do know that it made me weep and long for something greater than me.

I still feel that way now when I hear it.  I remember when I came back to the church, while rediscovering my faith I heard many MercyMe songs that spoke to my heart and need for a savior.  I clung to those songs and their lyrics while I fumbled and found my way.  To this day, MercyMe's songs help me through some serious times.  I remember when my Uncle passed about 6 years ago and their song Hurt and the Healer came on the radio.  It wrecked me so much I had to pull over. But, it allowed me to work through my grief so much easier.  

Music can do that for some people and I'm definitely one of them.

So, I didn't get to the theater to see this movie. I just put it on my Netflix queue and finally watched it.  I was blown away!  It's an amazing story of how Jesus can change people when they truly wish to be changed.  I cried and laughed and cried again and in the end I felt a feeling of peace and satisfaction.  It made me be very introspective as well.

I watched most of the special features on the disc as well.  I was in awe of the casting of Bart Millard.  Apparently, the actor that portrays him, J. Michael Finley was the under study for the main role in Les Miserables. Of course, casting Dennis Quaid as his father was crazy good as well.  It was Dennis Quaid's first role of a "bad" guy changing into a "good" guy.

I highly recommend this movie.  It was an amazingly moving film about redemption and forgiveness.

There is also some resources available from Bart Millard @ http://bartsstory.com/

Here is an excellent resource on forgiveness and what it requires and what it is/is not.


Ephesians 4:32
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. 

Let's Talk Entertainment-Specifically Movies

So my last post talked a little bit about my struggle with TV and our call to be different as Christians, you can read it here.   This post , I want to focus on movies.

Movies can be amazing.  They allow us to dream, they allows us to feel, they allow us to step into another person's shoes for a little while.  As humans we long to connect, especially emotionally, and a well written and filmed movie lets us do just that.

Anyone ever feel as though we live in a very strange world?  I grew up in the 80s. Where the movie ratings were a little different than they are now.  Profanity was very normal to hear in PG movies of the time, but you rarely heard the f-word until you were watching R-rated movies.  Also, sex(specifically nudity) was mostly R rated films.  You might get some innuendos and make assumptions, or see some people in PG-13 movies fooling around and assume what they were doing, but nowadays I feel like sometimes I am watching soft porn just so they can put some sex in there.  Really, it isn't needed. Hollywood screams, but it's my artistic ability being squashed or some none sense like that. I have seen plenty of great movies where you know that the people are going to have sex but they don't show it.  It's all about how you write the scene.   

At this point some of you might be saying "she's a prude", well I'm not and in the future if you read my blog you will see some interesting posts about the bloggers and Christian writers I follow, then you won't be thinking that. 

Back to the movies.  Now, are all movies that are clean, glorifying to God? I would say no. However, the occasional goofy, good time movie is also fine in my eyes.  We laugh a lot and most of the time there isn't anything to be said after it's done except that we all watched it together and laughed a lot, and that's some good family time in my book.

Nowadays, movie ratings are so odd I feel like I have to make sure I read the full review before anyone of us sees it because if I don't then there is this awful surprise lurking there.

We are such an overly sexualized culture that it's everywhere, even in our kids movies. It's ridiculous.  

Here is an article from CNN money that talks about how G & PG rated films make tons more money they their PG-13 and R rated films but yet that hasn't taken a turn for the better.  That being said, I do want to say that I am glad that a lot of the super hero movies nowadays are PG-13 and mostly clean. Of course, that doesn't mean that they don't put things in there I don't agree with.  But, it does mean that I feel like for the most part I can let our pre-teen son watch some of them.

My husband and I talk about this a lot.  We want to make sure that our kids are watching things that matter, or at least things that don't show them too many things before they are mature enough to understand the ramifications of them.

I want to point out, as a Christian, I want to watch movies that don't disrespect God and my beliefs.  It's hard to find a movie with good acting and a good plot that fits the criteria.  

I want to share something specific with you.  My husband and I went to see Wonder Woman.  I read the reviews before hand and they looked really good.  They did a good job of covering up cleavage, unlike the original TV series from the 80s.  The majority of their female warriors were made up of athletes, not actresses.  The script was well written, and the acting was great.  The violence wasn't over the top for the time period and there was a lot of period humor and female/male related non crass humor.  However, there is this one scene in the movie that bothered me.  There is a scene where you know that the male lead in the movie, played by Chris Pine(Captain Kirk in the new movie series), is bathing in a glowing bath of some kind and Wonder Woman comes into where he is.  He starts to get out and realizes she is in the room with him and there is maybe a minute of awkwardness where she asks him if he is a typical male.  You see, up until she meets him, she's never seen a man before.  And then you see him block him private areas and there is a full frontal scene of him doing it.  Seriously people!  Why?  We didn't need to see that, we got the understanding of the scene from the well written script and they could have show his top half if absolutely necessary. There was a lot of innuendo talk about sexuality with the situation being what it was.  Why the nudity?  I think it has to do with people thinking that they "need" to do this for shock factor, to add "more" to the scene.  I don't know.  All I know is that I was a little enraged by it and it irks me to this day.  It spoiled a perfectly great movie for me.  I am absolutely positive that was not glorifying to God.

I was irritated that I didn't prepare myself for this by reading the entire review online before hand.

Our family uses Plugged In by Focus on the Family as a way to truly see what is in the movie before you view it yourself or let your kids see it.  There is also another site called Common Sense Media that does a good job, but it is not a faith based organization and so therefore I think that I tend to agree with the ratings from Plugged In more than I do with Common Sense, however sometimes they have more reviews than Plugged In does.

I really can't stand the fact that I have to censor everything our family watches nowadays. I know I can turn on the Disney Channel and be okay, but other than that I don't know. There are a couple of services out there that can help with filtering and choosing more clean movies. I haven't tried them yet, but I intend to over the next year and let you all know what I think.

What was the point of this blog?

Yes, it was a little rant from me.  But more so, I think I just wanted to make sure you understand that God really does want us to be better stewards of our time, what we invest ourselves in and how we not only raise our families but also showing others around us how to live differently.  You might disagree with me, it's your choice to do so.  But, I want to say to you...  If you are a Christian then let the Holy Spirit work in you every day. Allow your heart to be open, to look inward and then upward and see if something is missing.  

Someday we will all meet the Father and be held accountable for our actions. That includes our media choices.

Here is a good article on Living a Holy Life.  God's Grace is enough when we are truly saved, but that doesn't give us complete freedom to act as we wish or what we think is best.  Remember Judges "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit."

Jesus is our King and we are to do as He commands, not what we think is right in our own eyes.

While you are thinking about this, you can rock out to Jeremy Camp's Take My Life.

Colossians 3:17

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Movie Review: The Resurrection of Gavin Stone

In an effort to watch better entertainment I've been going through Netflix looking for wholesome movies. Seriously, it is so hard to find movies that are wholesome, entertaining and good at the same time. 

I had seen the previews for this movie awhile ago when it game to the theaters and put it on my DVD queue but it was at the bottom. Well I moved it up the other day and when it came in I watched it with anticipation. 

Result, it was predictable but still really good. It was your typical bad boy forced to do community service who then likes a girl and pretends to be a Christian to get a role in their Easter play, in a mega church setting. It was clean, funny, silly and full of Christian themes but not over the top. Of course some of the acting was not so great, however, I figured with the main role being played by someone I have seen and liked before (Brett Dalton, who I enjoyed watching as Grant Ward in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) that it would be good enough to watch.

I would give it a 7 overall but not a movie I would add to my collection. That being said this is a movie I would allow my kids to watch, although I doubt they would want to watch it since it has a dramatic theme.

It's all about second chances and forgiveness.

Well, I just wanted to share my thoughts on this one. I am planning on trying Pureflix soon and I'll let you know how that goes. 

Oh and the guy who plays the pastor is the guy who was the main lead in The Cutting Edge, does anyone besides me remember that one? TOE PICK 😁

Beauty and the Beast Movie Review 2017

If someone told me, even a couple of years ago, that I would be writing a review about a live action Disney movie I would have laughed out loud.

I debated whether or not to write about this.  In the end I decided to just go for it.  

I had read a lot of reviews about this movie before it even came out.  Then all the boycott posts and articles came out.  I always take these things with a grain of salt. Ever wonder where that expression came from? Click here to find out.  I love facts like this.

While perusing Facebook one day, I came across an article that someone had shared. Someone whom I have great trust in his teachings from previous experience. Here is the article.

http://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/why-christians-can-calm-down-about-beauty-and-the-beast.html?utm_content=buffer7a930

Now I'm not saying I would even write what this person did or have the same exact feelings about it as they do, but I gotta tell you that they make a lot of good points in it.

I was going to go see Beauty and the Beast with my daughter(who is 6) along with other family members, without even reading the reviews.  Let's be honest, reviews are subjective in nature.  We all see movies in a different way.  I'm not a critic, in the professional sense.  I just like to be entertained.  Maybe I have low expectations, but I think going into a movie with another person's review on your mind might not be the best idea.  

NOTE: That doesn't mean that I wont look at a trusted review of a movie from Plugged In by Focus on the Family before taking my kids to a movie I think might not be appropriate, or even going to the movies with my husband and checking for nudity or sex. 

So, where does this leave us?  Well, as a parent there are some things that can wait until they are an appropriate age to discuss, depending on the child of course.  In this case, it's a Disney movie and as adults I think we over think things.  My daughter didn't ask any questions about the "controversial" scenes in the movie. The adults with me and around me giggled a little, and so did I.  

This is the world we live in people.  Are we going to hide from the world or try to be lights in it?  Look at this as an opportunity to teach your children how you and your family feel and how God sees things in our society today.  Teach them that when something is different we aren't called to judge.  Teach them that we are called to love, no matter how we feel about something.  Be a light, heck be a lighthouse for your kids.  If WE don't show them the way and talk with them about things going on in society then someone else will, believe me, and then you never know what information they are receiving.

One more note about the movie.... did you see the original?  Lefou was over the top in that one too, I think we just didn't hear much about it then because they were animated characters. 

I love Beauty and the Beast, it is my all time favorite Disney Animated Film. Maybe that is one of the reasons I wasn't going to let someone tell me how to think about it. Then again, when do I ever let someone else tell me how to think? :)

If you don't know how to talk with your kids about these things, you aren't ready yet? Don't see it until you do know. Decide how you feel about these subjects and how you are going to explain it to your kids.  There are a lot of good resources out there. This one is put out by Focus on the Family: True Tolerance.  I love the scenarios and the responses, how loving and kind they are.

I want to encourage you to look up the original definition of Tolerance, not the current one.  You don't have to approve of something to tolerate(or endure) it.  It's okay to have differences of opinions as long as you are respectful of other people in the process.  Be kind, be loving.  

Go see Beauty and the Beast, but be ready to talk if it comes up.  I bet it won't if your kid is under a certain age.

Until next time!

1 Peter 3:15-16
But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect,  keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.

Movies, Music & Manuscripts(Books)

What have I been watching, listening to and reading lately? 

Well here's a fun little story about me and my hubby.  The night before Valentine's Day we decided to watch a movie. My hubby has been wanting to watch Aliens again and we had it on our DVR, so what better romantic movie to watch than one with acid blood, a little bit of gore and no romance at all. We laughed about it and enjoyed the movie.

MOVIE:
The last new-ish movie I've seen is True Memoirs of an International Assassin.  Okay, I don't love Kevin James as an actor, but I do like him in a lot of things.  He brings back memories of Chris Farley for me. Some of his stuff is just junk, but I really enjoyed Mall Cop and Hitch.  So, when my husband went through his kung fu movie phase recently he stumbled across this gem on Netlflix. He asked if I would like to watch it with him and I said yes, so we added it to my list.  Then on a night last week when we wanted to watch something that wasn't super long we opted for this one.

Now, I'm not a movie critic.  In fact, I often like movies that the critics don't like.  If someone says to me the critics are stating that the movie wasn't very good, I say to myself, if the plot is interesting I'll probably see it then.

Check out the trailer here:  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1542768/videoplayer/vi3047077401?ref_=tt_ov_vi  or on your Netflix account if you have one.

The nice thing about it is that it's TV-14 rated due to violence and thematic content.  There isn't much language or nudity. It had me and my husband laughing several times.  What really struck me is that Kevin James must have done a lot of prep work for this one, he needed to learn all the moves with knives and guns and hand to hand combat.  I hear that this type of stuff isn't easy and that a lot of really great actors have a hard time with it, so call me surprised and thoroughly impressed.

TV SHOWS:
I won't list the amount of TV I watch, at least not in this post.  You would be asking me where I get all the time or how I manage to do anything else if you were to see what I watch on a weekly basis. So, I will share with you my top show this year.  For me it's Timeless on NBC. http://www.nbc.com/timeless?nbc=1
I am really hoping this gets picked up for another season or more. I look forward to watching this show every week with my husband. It's the only TV show we watch together. Time travel, expense, history, action, a little romance, intrigue and relatively clean!  I love a good sci-fi adventure show and they are extremely hard to come by.  I think this one takes the cake.  Of course, every time I say something like this the series tends to be cancelled or end after a couple of seasons.  One can only hope.  Oh a few more things, does the actor from ER that is on this show, Goran Visnjic(AKA Luca)-Garcia Flynn on this show, ever age! Matt Lantar played on Star-Crossed a couple of years ago, I loved that show and it got cancelled after a short first season. He is an amazing actor for being so young.  He can show his feelings extremely well. And come one, who can resist a show that puts together an unlikely trio of a Historian, a Special Forces Guy and a Computer Science geek? Well, I can't.  Give it a chance!

MUSIC:
I love Spotify. No, I'm not a premium user and it doesn't have all the songs I want, but seriously, if I NEED a song then I need to spend the money to get it. Some of you might be screaming at me, you don't pay for your music!!!!!  Actually, what I do is listen to artists on Spotify first and then once a year I usually invest in their music with gift cards I get for Christmas or my birthday.  I'm a big Christian Music Fan. I recently set up separate playlists for my workouts as well.  I separated them into warm-up, push it exercise and cool down.  I also love the fact that you can get genre music anytime you want.  Want oldies, jazz, classical, decade specific music...just type it in.  Then you can add the songs you like to your own playlist.  I've used Pandora before and my husband prefers it but I really just love Spotify.  Would I pay for it if it was no longer free?  Probably, as long as it wasn't a ton.   Anyway, want to follow me on Spotify? Be forewarned it's filled with worship music along with albums from Disney Movies. In the search box type in : 
spotify:user: Christie Lee Rennebu Stoddard
If I had to pick my favorite artist right now, I would say Crowder, specifically his album American Prodigal. 

BOOKS:
Currently I am reading book 2 in the Daughter of China series by C. Hope Flinchbaugh, it's called Across the China Sky.  Book 1 is a historical(set only 20ish years ago) christian fiction, that was an amazing read. It touched me like most other books don't. It's slightly like The Hiding Place(if you haven't read this you should), which is an autobiography, in the feelings it creates. It is so eye opening to a place in the world we often don't think about but that requires a lot of prayer due to it's persecution. Book 2 follows the same characters as they move forward in their journey of life and faith.  I'm half way through it and can't wait to finish so I can start book 3. 

I was notified recently that I've been approved by Moody Publishers into their blogger review program. This is where they allow you to choose from a long list of their books to get for free in exchange for an honest review within a certain period of time. I've chosen my first book and it's on it's way, so I look forward to sharing my thoughts on that as well. It isn't a fiction book and it's about Anxiety.

Well that's it for now.  Feel free to share your thoughts with me about what you're watching, listening to and reading.  I would love to hear about it!


Colossians 4:5

Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.