The Hunger Games

Directed by Gary Ross

I'm sure that every movie-going person in America has heard of this movie, particularly if you're in the age range of 9-20. This was a well-made movie. Some people didn't like the shaky camera, including me, but it was necessary during the violent parts, otherwise this movie would have earned a worse rating. As it is, this is a gruesome movie and needs to be watched with caution (same with reading the books). The most disturbing part of this movie that differentiates it from other violent films is that these are human children (not monsters, or adults). Granted, these kids are not at fault; they are forced to do by the evil government. Nonetheless, there are "Careers" who are trained particularly for this killing. This is a movie that can be disturbing and can serve as either a warning for our future or as a desensitizing movie to make today's young people okay with violence.
Family and friendship is portrayed well in this movie, and Katniss (the heroine) strikes up an alliance with a younger tribute named Rue, becoming distraught when she dies.
There is a romantic element in this movie, but only one kiss. There are also a few bad words, and frightening images (in particular, wounds, hallucinations, and giant mutts).
This is as accurate a movie-to-film adaption as I think could be expected. The book has simply too many elements and stories for them all to make them into the movie. Suzanne Collins, the author of the trilogy, was involved in the movie and though there are parts I feel they could have done better (such as the mutts) it was in general, a very satisfactory experience as a fan of the books. The book proves a particular challenge because it's written in first person and Katniss gives the reader many background stories and explanations that are more difficult to portray in a movie. The actors were all fantastic and truly embodied the characters, from the main characters to the more minor characters.
This is a movie that might be confusing to those who haven't read the books first, and will probably be enjoyed most by the readers, but both the books and movie should be read and watched with a pinch of salt and discernment, recognizing that humans could become this depraved, but with the hope that we have in Christ, we don't have to be despondent. We are not given a "spirit of timidity, but of power and love..." (2 Timothy 1:7).
Review by beckyelsie

Dr. Seuss' The Lorax (2012)

Directed by Chris Renaud and Kyle Balda

This was a very cute film and even with its obvious message, it was enjoyable. There is a message that skips subtlety and just goes to the point: killing trees is bad. In the movie, we see the extreme of progress: a city where everything is plastic. Because of the pollution and smog in the air, the citizens buy purified air (like purified water, it comes in plastic bottles) and never explore outside of their city limits. We are introduced to Ted and Audrey, two young people. Ted loves Audrey and Audrey loves trees, so Ted sets out to find a tree to make her fall in love with him. This was more of a cute aspect than a main focus of the film. The main focus was Ted and Audrey's fight for nature against the big business (Mr. O'Hare, who sold the purified air; he is against trees because they make good air "for free"). There were many musical numbers that were entertaining to watch (it's a very brightly-colored movie) but I noticed something interesting: neither Taylor Swift nor Zac Efron had lead singing roles. The animation was well-done and the storyline, though simple and cliche, was not a bad knock-off; it sought to make the plot its own. And true to the Dr. Seuss way, the trees, animals, and names are all nonsensical and fun. I recommend this as a wonderful and innocent family film to see, and its environmental message is no worse than Bambi.

Review by Beckyelsie

Sergeant York (1941)

Directed by Howard Hawks

This was a wonderful tale of Christianity, faith, and saving lives. This is a story about York, a man who ekes a living on a rocky farm in the mountains of Tennessee. When he is drafted for World War I, he tries to be exempted using his faith because he believes that God doesn't want him to kill. However, he goes to camp and immediately astounds with his sharpshooting accuracy. A superior officer explains how he can reconcile his faith and war, resulting in him becoming a celebrated war hero. And he gets a bonus: his girl is still waiting for him at home.

This is a black and white film, but the acting is good and the story is entertaining. It is a good Christian testimony, as well as being a historical account. There really was a Sergeant York, who wrote a book about his life and this movie is an adaption of that book. It shows how York's life went from being a drunken man to a devout war hero, who was still satisfied with simple life in the mountains.

One conversation in particular stood out to me near the end of this film. York explains that he won't do any of the promotional offers (cereal boxes, commercials, endorsements) because he didn't consider it right to be paid for doing his duty and for doing what any man in his situation would have done. Instead he goes home, which I think is an amazing testimony to York's character.

I recommend this movie, but it is violent (it's about WWI...).

Review by Beckyelsie

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)

Directed by Tim Story

This is the sequel to Fantastic Four, which is based off of a Marvel comic.

This was a good movie, especially seeing how it is a sequel. The characters continued to grow and new enemies were introduced. For a while, the silver surfer is a bad guy, but that later gets called into question. What exactly are his motives? And will Reed's passion for science conflict with his love for Susan? Jonny matures even more during this movie, even offering some deep thoughts on how he would like to "have someone" (instead of flirting with endless girls) the way that Ben has Alicia.

This movie was a good family movie, offering plenty of relationship complications, action, and special effects. As a warning, there is a scene where Susan ends up on the floor naked (though nothing super inappropriate is seen) as well as Jonny implying something inappropriate. However, the movie quality, plot, and acting are all phenomenal. In other words, I love this movie, and everyone should see it.

Review by Beckyelsie

Fantastic Four (2005)

Directed by Tim Story

Fantastic Four is my favorite superhero movie because it has a good story, well-developed characters, and is well-made. The quality of the movie is good, besides having a good plot and good characters. The movie stars four unintentional superheroes and one super-villain. There are sibling relationships, love relationships, friendship relationships, rivalry relationships, and they all work together to form a good team who learn to stick together through adverse circumstances. The characters are well-developed and are fun to watch through the movie, because they all grow and become better (or as in the villain's case, worse). The plot keeps you entertained, but is not too difficult to pick up on. There are emotional aspects, action-related aspects, and take-over-the-world aspects that every superhero movie has.

Overall, I love this movie and there is an inappropriate part where Susan is in her underwear and then is "naked" (but she's invisible so her body isn't actually seen). Other than that, it is a wonderful movie to watch.

Review by Beckyelsie

Alice (2009)

A SyFy mini series

This is a fantastic movie, but definitely not the original book nor story at all. It happens in the modern day, with a grown woman. The best part of the movie is watching her grow and reconcile with her past and move on past her fears. She loses a man she thought she loved, but falls in love for real. She must choose between her past, her present, and her future, all symbolized by different men that she has varying degrees of attachment to.

On a side note, my personal favorite part of the movie is Hatter. He is an amazing character and the end makes me exuberant.

Actually, every character in the movie is well-done. In particular, Alice, Hatter, the White Knight, the Queen of Hearts, and the King of Hearts (who was given much more attention than in the cartoon version).

Overall, this is a fantastic movie and I heartily recommend it. However, note that because it's a mini TV series, it is three hours long, so prepare for a good long watch.

Review by Beckyelsie

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

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

17 Again (2009)

Directed by Burr Steers
I really enjoyed this story, but it has a lot of mature adult content. There is physicality and mature themes. However, the way that the film deals with the themes is very encouraging. For instance, in one scene when Mike O'Donnell (played by Zac Efron) is in the classroom, the teacher talks about health. Mike stands up and gives a pretty inspirational moving speech about how abstinence is right and good. Even in the beginning of the movie, the film’s undertones of life are evident. In one of the first scenes, we learn that high schooler Mike can get a basketball scholarship but instead decides to get a not-so-good job in order to stay with his pregnant girlfriend.Throughout the whole film, Mike learns how his family matters more than his career and that his kids matter more than him getting his future right (which means obtaining a basketball scholarship). I loved this movie. It was clever, well-acted and had a good worldview. The only problem is the mature themes, and kissing. In short, I would recommend this movie but not for young children.
Review by Beckyelsie

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2010)

By Michael Apted

I enjoyed this movie much more than I enjoyed Prince Caspian, but it did not quite live up to my expectations. I have read this book many times and it is my favorite in the series, so I have a high standard for the moviemakers to perform up to.

The technical parts of the movie (the acting, costumes, effects, design, etc.) were all astounding and beautiful. I loved the Dawn Treader and how it looked as I had imagined it to be. The acting was quite well done; I already knew that Ben Barnes, Georgie Henley, and Skandar Keynes would perform well, and was quite impressed with Will Poulter's portrayal of Eustace.

My one problem with the movie is with the plot and the storyline. The writers decided to add an element into the story in an effort to unify the plot. However, I found that it merely cheapened it and made it more of a flimsy usual story. My favorite part of the book had been that the adventures were there just to be just adventures - they had a point (to find the seven lords) but it was not a life-and-death, urgent driving force. I liked that Edmund and Lucy had been called into Narnia merely for fun and not to complete a mission, as in the other books. However, the movie does away with this element. I think that without the green mist (a people-eating evil mist) Fox would have made a good movie.

Besides the mist, there are only little glitches with characters that I have a problem with. First, Edmund seems to be a little jealous that Peter left Caspian in charge, in essence making the same mistake that Peter did in Prince Caspian. But it's not a major part of the movie and Edmund fixes his attitude well enough. My second character trouble (which is really just a matter of preference) is that Eustace becomes nice much too quickly. In the book, he's a positive nuisance without one nice bit at all until the island where he turns into a dragon. But in the movie, they show that he does want to be nice, he just doesn't show it (which is perhaps more realistic and makes him more likeable of a character).

Overall, this is a good movie and though it does not follow the book to all the islands, it gets a good deal of adventures in and you get to see the great lion himself. One of the best lines of the book was included in the movie, too: "In your world I am called by another name. You must learn to call me by that name," talking about how Aslan is Jesus in our world.

This was much better than Prince Caspian and I look forward to see how Michael Apted does his next Narnia adventure: The Magician's Nephew.

Review by Beckyelsie

Inception (2010)

By Christopher Nolan

It’s very intense, but good. It plays around psychologically and gets faster and more intense as you progress into the movie. It is one of those movies that you have to watch multiple times in order to catch everything. The movie follows the life of Dom Cobb, a man accused of murdering his wife and who must therefore do illegal brain extraction (extracting secrets from a person’s mind via dreams). Saito hires Cobb and his team to perform inception-to plant an idea in someone’s mind without the subject realizing that the idea is being planted. The mission can be easily compromised by Cobb and the secret he holds. Will they complete their mission and get out safely? And will Cobb finally face his secret and get back to his family?
This movie had a lot of death and some issues with language. Life does not appear to be valued in this film, as can be seen by the fact that the only way to get out of a dream is to kill yourself. Predictably, there is a lot of dying in this film that is not seen as a problem.

Review by Beckyelsie

Avatar (2009)

By James Cameron

This is a thrilling adventure set in another world. James Cameron takes you to another planet where there is human outpost but the outside jungle area is wild wilderness. When Jake Sully (a man with paralyzed legs) finds himself able to live again through an avatar (there is a technology that allows him to inhibit a native’s body), he relishes and enjoys himself immensely. Over the course of a few days, he falls in love (where would a blockbuster film be without romance?) while finding out that the humans are grossly manipulating Pandora, the world in which they are. He and a few of his human friends choose to side with the natives, and leads a rebellion which ends successfully.

There were a couple of things that bothered me with this film. First of all, every living thing is said to have a right to live. There are overt environmentalist messages in this film that make it more believable in Pandora, but because of their biological structuring, ought not overlap into our world. There is a prevalent idea that everything is connected to everything else. The trees all coexist and mix roots, and when the natives ride their bird-like creatures, they send commands via a connection using their hair. It is reminiscent of Disney’s Pocahontas when she sings, “...every rock and tree and creature, has a life, has a spirit, has a name,” which can be a very dangerous idea. Second of all, there is rampant killing of life. Many many people and natives die in the battles that rage and the destruction that occurs, but life is not viewed as precious. It is an inconvenient necessity in order to obtain something (in this case, monetary profit). Thirdly, the natives are built as humans but wear scant clothing. This could be a minor point because they are aliens and blue, but they have similarities to humans, nonetheless.
Overall, the effects are stunning, the plot is overly simple, and though it is fun to play in their world in one’s imagination, it has some problems with it.

Review by Beckyelsie

Gnomeo and Juliet (2011)

By Kelly Asbury

This was an adorable movie with wonderful endearing qualities and I believe that it appeals to adults and children alike. The gnomes and their feuding family lines are funny to behold but it holds to the basic storyline of Shakespeare’s timeless tale (as can be expected from the title). The Reds and the Blues are constantly fighting each other, but they race using lawn mowers and a horrible punishment is to have your hat knocked off. So when Gnomeo, a Blue, and Juliet, a Red, fall in love, only outrage will ensue. Gnomeo meets Shakespeare himself while a flamingo and a frog add comic relief to the mix. In the end, after thoroughly destroying their gardens, the Blues and Reds see how foolish they’ve been and make up to each other, leaving the viewers presuming a happily-ever-after ending. I loved this film-it was sweet and told the tale simple enough so that a child will understand, but entertaining enough for an adult to enjoy it as well.

The only objection I have to this film is that one gnome wears a very unbecoming swimsuit (aka, it covers nothing and looks horrendous) but this is the only issue I have with this film.

Review by Beckyelsie

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

How To Train Your Dragon (2010)

Directed by Dean DeBlois

This is an adorable movie that captured my heart immediately. The characters are lovable and pull you right into their story. This movie follows the adventure of Hiccup, a Viking living in a village that has a pest problem; a big pest problem. As in a dragon problem. So while Hiccup tries to prove his manhood, he discovers an interesting thing about dragons. He can't tell his dad (who happens to be the boss of the clan) so keeps his knowledge a secret. But eventually secrets come out and his nearly costs the lives of his entire clan. But, as this is a children's movie, everyone ends up happily ever after. Hiccup, his friends, and even the dragons are all good characters that warm your heart as they fight together against the evil monster who is controlling the dragons, who exert fear over the vikings. I loved this movie and in the end, the best thing about Hiccup's village is the pets (dragons, who used to be the worst part of the village).

There is some violence; dragons breathe fire at each other and humans try to kill dragons, but other than that there are no problems (no language problems, sexual content, or other kinds of violence).

review by Beckyelsie

Bourne Identity (2002)

Directed by Doug Liman

I absolutely love these movies (so far there are three, with a fourth slated to come out in 2012) because of several reasons. One, they are wonderfully made, well-acted, and the plot has enough movement that it is not all action. Two, the action is awesome. It is not one of those movies that has only gun-shooting action or sniper-style action, but good ole hand-to-hand wrestling/fist-fight. Three, Jason Bourne is a good man. He wakes up with his memory completely gone and through several circumstances discovers that he was a trained killer working for the CIA. Once he discovers this, he determines to leave that life behind and make a new one for himself, but in so doing must stop the CIA from trying to kill him. So he kills a few bad guys, and finds a girl that he falls in love with. One interesting aspect of this story that is different from most spy-action movies is that he does his best to not kill anyone. He kills the bad guys so that they stop hurting other people, but in the car chases, he makes sure to not run people over, and multiple times throws away a gun so that he will not be tempted to use it on harmless civilians.

Overall, a wonderful movie! Note: there is one scene that has sexual content, most of the movie has violence, and a couple bad words are said, but when compared to other movies, this is amazing.

P.S.-the sequels are amazing as well.

-Beckyelsie