Courageous (2011)

By Alex Kendrick

This is a phenomenal movie made by Sherwood Pictures, and directed by Alex Kendrick. Kendrick and his brother, Stephen, are the producers and Alex is also a pastor at Sherwood Baptist church in Atlanta, Georgia. This is the fourth movie that his company has made, and stays true to their morals while improving in quality from his previous films. In this film, the gospel is shared without reserve and it is shamelessly Christian. The movie follows the stories of five fathers, all who decide to follow the scriptures. It is neatly summed up by Adam in the movie: "I don't want to be just good enough." Throughout the film, we see God's providence and plan, and what happens when You both follow and don't follow that plan. The impact on their families that fathers have is the theme of the film and well-done. The fact that their actors are not famous, and their crew is mostly volunteers, they did an amazing fantastic job on this film. You should all go see it! It makes you cry and laugh multiple times in the movie. Their humor is funny but innocent.

The main difference between this film and their last one, Fireproof, is that Fireproof focused on one man. This last film had a lot of story, because you followed five men and their families in the same amount of time that Fireproof had. But they managed the time efficiently and one felt sufficiently connected with each family so that by the end of the movie, you thoroughly sympathized with them. One of my personal favorite moments is when one of the fathers, Nathan, takes his daughter to a fancy dinner and explains that he wants the very best in life for her. The multiple-family element is important because they have a teenage son, a teenage daughter, a younger daughter, and a younger son, hitting on everyone's situation.

It is rated PG-13 because the policemen are fired upon and deal with drugs, as well as some mature themes, but it is an excellent movie for the whole family.

Review by Beckyelsie

Jane Eyre (2011)

Directed by Cary Fukunga

First of all the book is one of my favorite Jane Austen type books, I wrote a review for that here. When I heard a new movie would be coming out I was in the middle of reading the book and I was so excited.

The movie follows the books events to a 'T'.
But instead of starting with Jane as a child, they start with her arriving at the house of St. John River and his sister's house.
It then goes back in time to follow through the Jane's life as Jane tells the Rivers what happened to her.

I thought that they way that they did ingenious. I loved it. For me this has got to be one of the best movies of Jane Eyre ever. No more remakes, this is the best.
Mia Wasikowska plays Jane and she is amazing at it. The first film I saw of Mia's was Alice in Wonderland, I thought she was the perfect Alice. When I found out she would be Jane, I was skeptical. I didn't think she could pull it off. But boy was I wrong. She was so amazing, I loved her as Jane.
Michael Fassbender was Mr. Rochester. And he was exactly what I thought Rochester would be like. I must admit that I like Rochester. I know he is a lying deceiver but I really like Rochester. I was completely astonished that my version of Rochester seemed to be on big screen.

I love this movie so much. It is a movie that everyone has to see!

Review by Sweetie Pie

Soul Surfer (2011)

By Sean McNamara

I have finally been able to see Soul Surfer, which did not disappoint. This movie lost points for bikinis, but gained points for cinematography, plot, acting (except perhaps Carrie Underwood), dialogue, and Christian values. Mission trips are promoted, obedience is promoted, love, respect, and honor are all encouraged. Bethany is not forced to surf (she is pressured by her dad, which proves to be a good thing), but when she decides to, she does it with the full support and help of her family. AnnaSophia did a phenomenal job, showing all the emotion and determination that Bethany Hamilton had in this movie. The only points where I feel that it fell short is that the girls are constantly wearing bikinis (which makes for a more realistic viewing, if slightly uncomfortable), and that when Bethany finally succeeded (which is the climax of the film), I had been anticipating it for the whole entire movie so I didn't feel as though I was succeeding with Bethany. The plot was so obvious that I was expecting the ending the whole movie, and I felt as though Bethany could succeed and should succeed, so I felt as though she was merely doing her job, instead of overcoming great odds. Whether this is the filmmaker's fault or because this is how the real story is, I don't know. A minor detracting point that added to the too-predictable plot was that the soundtrack is not memorable, except for the credits song.

Overall, this movie was really really good, and it adds dramatically to my respect for AnnaSophia Robb as an actor.

Review by Beckyelsie

The Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

Directed by Rupert Wyatt

I may know what you might be thinking 'Why in the world would a christian girl go and see this movie'. True it is about evolution and has pretty much no reference to God. But it is a surprisingly entertaining movie. The reason I saw this movie is because one of my youth leaders, David Oyelowo, starred in this film as Steven Jacobs, the man who owns the company that the testing of apes is being done on. Now again I may know what your thinking 'Why would a youth leader take a job that is about evelutionist', I don't know exactly why he took the role but I am guessing that the project intrigued him, and that he would challenge himself with this role. His Character is nothing like him and David is one of the sweetest, most-dedicated-to-the-Lord people I know.

In the movie you see Will Rodman(James Franco), a lead scientist in a company's project of trying to find a cure for Alzheimer's. Will's father is plagued with the terrible disease, and is failing quickly. At the lab Will is about to present his project to the board of the company, when the ape they had been testing on went viral and had to be killed. Will later finds out that the ape was only protecting its child, who had been born at the lab. Will takes the baby ape home to where he and his father live.
Charles Landon(John Lithgow) immediately bonds with the ape, and Will discovers that the formula they had injected into its Mother had transferred into the baby ape.
Will takes it upon himself to raise this ape. He teaches Caesar(the ape) sign language, and how to interact with other people. But apparently not enough. After Caesar attacks one of Will's neighbors, he is locked up. When Will tells him he isn't going home, Caesar plans an escape.

This movie kept me on the edge of my seat pretty much the whole time. You end up wanting Caesar to win but you don't want him to do the things he did in order to win. This film not for those who scare easily. The ending was a little disturbing and might have the cause for more Ape films. There is definetly some intense scene that are not for young children's eyes.
The evolution in this movie didn't bug my all that much, sure it was a little annoying, but I was watching a movie where Apes learn to talk. So obviously there is evolution in it. I would recommend this movie.
Review by Sweetie Pie

P.S. If you are interested in seeing my youth leader in other things (he is an amazing actor) then here is the list of stuff he is in or will be in:
The Help (He plays a preacher and had to write his own sermons that ended up changing the end of the film)
Red Tails

X-Men, First Class (2011)

Directed by: Matthew Vaughn

X Men; First Class is a captivating and action packed movie. It has excellent special effects and yet still manages to maintain that special hallmark X- Men feel.

If you have seen the other installments in the X- Men franchise you will not be disappointed. However, if you have not seen any other X-Men movies this is an excellent place to start. Even though this is a prequel to the other four X-Men films it is definitely a stand alone.
This new installment is set after World War 2 and features intermittent images of Charles Xavier/Professor X, Erik Lehnsherr/Magneto, and Raven/Mystique's childhoods.

X- Men; First Class is full of spectacular displays of special effects. However, this movie isn't just tricks and lights. It is riddled with heart, raw emotion, and captivating acting performances. James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, and Jennifer Lawrence really deliver. Each of these actors bring a lot of new meaning to Professor X, Magneto, and Mystique. New actors supply a lot of comedic relief with their strong supporting roles.

However, be aware that there are some adult themes in this movie, such as some drinking and violence, as well as the pervading theme of evolution that is ever present.
Overall, this is a worthwhile watch that I would recommend.

A Review By: Christie S.

Rango(2011)

Directed by Gore Verbinski

Rango is a lizard who has lived in captivity his whole life. His only friends are a wind-up-fish, a head-and-leg-less-barbie, and other little plastic toys.
But one day when his owners are on a road trip, Rango(Johnny Depp) is thrown out of the car.
He is in the middle of a desert that doesn't quite agree with him. The desert has no water. There he meets a friendly armadillo with some wacko advice. He tells Rango to keep walking until he hits Dirt. Rango keeps walking until he meets Beans, a lizard with a panic disorder, Beans then takes him to her home town of Dirt.
Rango then becomes sheriff, and must save the town of dying from thirst.

This movie was cute, but not great. It is just a little wacko, I'm not sure that kids as young as four would be able to follow this movie that well. I wouldn't recommend buying the movie until after you seen it.

Review by Sweetie Pie

Super 8 (2011)

By J.J. Abrams
The movie opens with Joe Lamb (Joel Courtney) on a swing-set holding his mother’s necklace, because his mother had died in an explosion at the mill and the necklace is one of Joe’s only links to his mother. Over the course of the movie, as a mystery unfolds, he grows and comes to grips with his mother’s death and by the end is able to let her (represented by the necklace) go and continue to live his life. His development as a person works as a plot-mover and successful feel-good ending because the mystery by itself doesn’t move the plot well enough (it’s simple and similar to other movies). Joe’s life and growth, as well as involvement with Alice Dainard (Elle Fanning), also helps move it along. The mystery character of the movie gradually becomes known and at the end, Joe is able to help him continue life, which helps Joe himself continue to live. There is a train crash that lasts for a long time and a few other violence issues, as well as a lot of blood because the kids in the movie are making a zombie movie. So Joe does makeup on Alice that makes her look like a zombie and she pretends to bite him, but that’s really the only things that are bad violence-wise. Language-wise, it’s not that clean. Every five to ten minutes there is a bad word, usually from one of the kids. I really really enjoyed this movie and recommend it to anyone who doesn’t mind violence or language.
Review By Beckyelsie

Soul Surfer (2011)

Directed by Sean McNamara

You have probably heard the story of Bethany Hamilton, the Hawaii native who had her left arm bitten off by a 14-foot tiger shark, off the shore of her home town, while surfing with family friends. Bethany was thirteen that year, 2003.

Soul Surfer is about Bethany Hamilton, and her recovery from the shark attack. Bethany(played by Annasophia Robb) goes out at the crack of dawn on Halloween, to go surfing with her best friend and her best friends brother and dad. Her mother(played by Helen Hunt) was at home along with her brothers, Noah and Timmy. Her father(played by Dennis Quaid) was at the hospital getting a knee surgery.

Bethany was resting on her board when the shark attacked, she was pulled under momentarily, then her friends rushed to help her. Her left arm and part of her board was in the belly of the shark. Her friends pulled her, on the board, on to the coral reef, where the shark could not get at. Her friend's dad immediately took control and started shouting commands, telling his son to go and call the hospital. The brother ran across the coral reef to get to shore. The friend's dad wrapped her bleeding shoulder in his swim shirt. The friend's brother called the hospital and Bethany's mother. Bethany's dad had to leave the room he was going to have his surgery in so it would be available for Bethany. Talk about scary.
Bethany was taken by the ambulance to the hospital, with her friends behind the ambulance and her mother and brother behind them. The worst part was that during all of this Bethany was conscious.

The movie then follows Bethany after the shark attack and until she got back on her board at the Rip Curl National Surfing Competition.

Bethany's story is a very inspiring one. This movie was amazing. I centered on the attack, but in the movie the whole thing I just described couldn't have lasted five minutes.

Bethany stayed true to God during that horrible time in her life. Trusted in Him, and was extremely brave.

Bethany is now 21 and a pro surfer along side of her best friend Alana Blanchard, the same friend who was there for that horrible time.

If you haven't yet seen this movie, you need to. It is amazing!

review by Sweetie Pie

Gnomeo and Juliet(2011)

Directed by Kelly Asbury

Shakespeare's classic tale of love is being told again, this time by...garden gnomes?

Gnomeo; A young blue gnomes, son of the Queen of the blue gnomes. Adventurous and totally awesome...in a gnomish kind of way.

Juliet; A young red gnome, daughter of the King of red gnomes. Pettied and pampered, but outgoing and not-at-all-delicate.

What do they have in common? Nothing. But what happens when an accidental meeting plunges them into a head-over-heels-romance? A Secret.

The red gnomes and the blue gnome have forever been at odds, blue destroys that of reds,red destroys this of blues. But things will get complicated when and blue gnome and a red gnome fall desperately in love.

Gnomeo and Juliet are trying ever so hard to stay together and not have to hide their love from those they know.

The movie follows these two gnomes through many adventures. From garden frogs to lawn-mowers to tea pots to a talking statue of William Shakespeare, this movie is one you'll want to see again and again.

I really loved this movie, it gave a twist to the tale of Romeo and Juliet. I suggest seeing it.

review by Sweetie Pie