Amazing Grace Review

This movie came out in 2006 and is a historic drama about the man William Wilberforce.   I had heard a little about this man growing up and was interested to see what Hollywood did with his story.  Overall,  I think they made a good period piece that didn't exclude things like William's faith which made him the man he was throughout history.   The acting in this movie is well done,  and although it isn't incredibly fast-paced as far as a story (few historic dramas can be),  it did deliver what it was intended to do which is give the biography of an astounding man who worked in England to abolish slavery.  I don't know if it is true or not but it shows several scenes of William interacting with John Newton.  If that is historically accurate it is news to me.   John Newton wrote the hymn "Amazing Grace" and used to be slave ship sailor before he became a Christian and changed his life.     I wasn't aware that he knew William Wilberforce,  but that is an informative fact if the movie wasn't taking historic liberties.    I thought this movie was well-done and showed the dedication of Mr. Wilberforce to overthrow slavery in England.   I would give this movie 3 out of 5 stars.  Worth a watch.

Iron Man 2 Review

I recently watched this movie after hearing much about it this summer but judging by the reviews from friends and relatives I decided not to pay a movie ticket price to view it.    After watching the DVD,  I feel I made the right decision.    First of all,  Iron Man 2 is not as good as the first Iron Man movie (but few sequels are).   Unfortunately movies like Spiderman 2 and The Dark Knight set the bar really, really high for superhero sequels.  In this case I believe the Iron Man series follows the more traditional sequel expectation which is that it doesn't surpass the original.    After watching this,  I feel the movie was kind of a let down for the following reasons:
1.  Tony Stark's character is just plain annoying and arrogant.  Robert Downey Jr. may just be playing the role really, really well if that is the character of the comic book hero - but to me it doesn't excuse the fact that he is a little too big for his britches.
2.  The ending of this movie is anti-climatic.   I don't want to give it away for those who may still watch this movie,  but I thought the enemy was built up to such a degree,  that the fast way he is destroyed didn't seem to be worth the watch in my opinion.    That's all I'll say on that matter.
Overall if you want a lot of special effects,  and you love the comic book character you may really enjoy this movie,  otherwise I advise you to save yourself 2 hours of your life.

Love Happens Review

I watched this with my wife tonight and boy, was I surprised (in a good way).  Love Happens as a movie is a well put-together movie about the need people have for one another,  and the ways people try to escape their hurt.   The acting in it was top-notch and the script was really well-written in my humble opinion.   Don't rent this movie thinking you will be getting a romantic comedy.  While it did have romance points,  it wasn't purely about the love between the two main characters.   This movie dared to tackle much deeper issues in life and for that - I have to applaud it.    I was expecting a fluffy, formulaic movie where everything turns up wonderful,  but this movie went in directions I didn't expect and tackled issues that many movies don't even touch (in a good way)!!  One thing I really liked about the movie was,  that even though the main character wasn't dealing with his own emotions and issues that occurred in his own life - he still was driven with a heart to touch other people and minister to their needs.   Rather than become self-obsessed he was still focusing on others which was a wonderful example of "loving his neighbor as himself" as the Bible teaches.    Since I don't want to give anymore away - I'll leave it at that and heartily recommend you go out and rent/buy the movie "Love Happens".   Movies like this aren't released that often.

Killers Review

I wasn't sure what this movie would be like, but I do like both Ashton and Katherine and the preview looked funny. Now that I rejoined Netflix again, I figured it is time to start up on the reviews. Why? Well watching movies is all fun and everything, but unless I analyze the movie and compare it to others as well as evaluate it from a Biblical worldview, I find movie watching can be a big useless time sink. This movie is about Ashton Kutcher who is an assassin in the movie. He falls in love with Katherine Heigl's character and the rest you will have to watch. My opinion? Did not like it. Something about this movie just didn't deliver what I wanted. The movie walks the fine line between action and comedy and didn't do it well. I wasn't sure if I should laugh or be concerned during intense action scenes and the overall delivery of the lines left much to be desired. I'm going to have to say this movie was definitely worth skipping. One character in the movie does nothing but drink throughout the entire movie. Is this supposed to be funny? Are we to laugh at murder and alcoholism? I suggest this movie be skipped based on poor delivery and objectionable material to laugh about.