Guitar Praise: Solid Rock

Today we have a story so big, even Penny Arcade weighed in on it. There is a Christian Guitar Hero, Guitar Praise: Solid Rock. Like I said the other day, I don't really think that calling something "The Christian ...." is very accurate or intelligent, but here there really isn't any other way to say it. This is a long time coming. Christian video games have a checkered past, but they have regained a modicum of respect recently. Now they are finally jumping on what is arguably the biggest franchise in current video games. Don & I were talking just recently that Guitar Hero or Rock Band need to release Chrisitan music add-ons, the way that they have done with Aerosmith. My guess is that the reason they haven't is that the Christian record labels and bands don't want people to be able to play songs like Chris Tomlin's "Made to Worship" while playing as some of the characters in Guitar Hero. Personally, I'd love to see Youtube videos of these worship songs being performed by Slash, "Grim Ripper," and The Devil. The track list for Guitar Praise: Solid Rock includes "Jesus Freak" by dc Talk, and a bunch of other songs that will be familiar to youth groups across the country. I recognize a lot of the songs from my own youth group days, so that probably indicates that the music is a bit dated. It includes a USB-corded guitar, but I imagine that it will work with the wireless guitars that are available for PC. Which is the worst thing about this. PC & Mac only. No Xbox. No PS3. No Wii. Not even PS2. Come on Digital Praise! Put this out for $20 on the PS2, make it compatible with the millions of Guitar Hero and Rock Band guitar controllers that people already own, and let the money just flow in! If this was on the consoles then every youth group in the world would own a copy on day 1! The system requirements are pretty light, so I guess they could run it off a cheap laptop, but this game is made for consoles! Also, like so many Christian products, Guitar Praise: Solid Rock is ridiculously over-priced. $100 for the game + guitar. Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock with guitar is selling for PCs for only $60. Is this really a better value? Or are they just playing to the fact that they have a corner on this segment of the market? (Original Story on Kotaku) (Guitar Praise official site) (Penny Arcade Commentary) EDIT Stop the presses! So... You know that CAG podcast we're always talking about, CheapyD and Wombat and all that? Well, its a podcast about cheap gaming, and wouldn't you know, someone found a cheap deal on this game! $20 off and free shipping... The thread language is a little rough and largely anti-Christian, so beware...! Subscribe to the SuperCandid Podcast, the number 1 podcast for Christian movies Subscribe to the SuperCandid Blog Save This Page

SuperCandid Shorts: Battlefield Part 1

Slow week in Christian movie news, so I'm only posting stuff every other day.  Its either that, or you'd be getting me ranting about people in the Arts and Faith forums posting ridiculous rumors and arguing over the validity of fake movie news.

But today, I do have a bit of good news:  an honest to goodness review!  I'm reviewing a short film called "Battlefield Part 1."  I found this through a post on Yahoo's Christian Filmmaker Forum, and it is quite good.  I like the effects, the acting is better than acceptable, and the concept is engaging.  Most of all, this is a brief idea, done well and not overly drawn out.  Bravo!  Watch it below, or go to the official site to download it in High Def.  The only negative I have, and it's not really a negative, is that it is highly reminiscent of the famous Halo 3 ads, which I've put underneath it.  They both use the same Chopin music, but the similarities go beyond that.  Judge for yourself.

Oh, one last thing.  I'm all for good firearm safety, but for a war movie you really shouldn't have a close-up that show the bolt of a rifle locked to the rear.  But enough nit picking!  I like it, I'd like to see more, and I'm looking forward to more from this filmmaker.  I'd love to see Battlefield Part 2.  

Battlefield: Chapter One from Daros Films on Vimeo.



(Forum Post)
(Official Site)

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Fatal Flaw Coming Soon!

I know it is silly and diengenious to simply label Christian films as "The Christian ______," but I really love to do it, particularly when a movie opens itself up for a really bizarre statement.  So, without further ado, I present "The Christian Torture Porn" film, Fatal Flaw.  I first heard about this film from a blog post by the husband of the lead actress.  

The official site bills the movie as being about a man who makes the "ultimate gamble," then faces the "ultimate interrogation," then he recieves the "ultimate gift."   Sorry, I made that last part up.  Based on the trailer it seems like he makes a bad bet, is tortured, and then his family goes to church and he tries to call, but his wife won't answer the phone.  Not sure what it all means, but apparently you can find out this fall.  The movie looks to have good production values, and the premise has me intrigued.

Actually, I have no idea if this film would be classified as "torture porn" or not, but it certainly seems unusual for a Christian film.  How many Chrisitan movies do we see that have jumper cables to the face?  I'm not sure what the "Ultimate Interrogiation" is, but I'm presuming that is is so named because of either A) Its signifigance(ie. he's being interrogated for his eternal soul), or B) Because they use every interrogation technique the filmmakers could afford to squeeze in.  Maybe both.  

Watch the trailer below, or visit the official site for a little more info, but no firm release information yet, although the original blog post mentions "fall."


(Original Blog Post)
(Official Site)

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2008 ICVM Crown Awards

You may remember that we mentioned the fact that The List won a number of awards from the ICVM Crown Awards for 2008 (ie. I'm guessing that the movie must have premiered in 2007, as The List was).  

If you listened to our podcast you'll remember our opinions on the merits of The List, so I'm interested to see what it beat out for the awards.  

ChristianCinema.com has a listing of all the awards from this year.  Notably, The List beat out The Case for Christ The Movie and Friends for Life for Best Picture, a category that mixes documentary and fiction films.  The Case for Christ The Movie is of course based on Lee Strobel's book, and Friends for Life seems to be something about a wolf-dog.  I think that Friends for Life might have even less Christian content than The List, but I don't know.  

The List also beat out Sunset & Friends for Life again for best screenplay.  I can't find anything definitive about Sunset, but I think it might be this film.  

Finally, The List beat out Friends for Life and Secret of the Cave for best drama with a budget over $250,000.  Perhaps the most surprising thing is that The List had such a high budget, unless the majority of it went to Malcolm McDowell's fee.  Secret of the Cave is another young kids adveture mystery movie, which I think feels similar to The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey, definatly a good thing.  I'd like to check it out.

You can see the rest of the list, which is full of film's I've never heard of and mostly have no idea where to find, at ChristianCinema.com.

Thank goodness Evan Almighty didn't make the cut.


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A Movie about Wesley

An independent movie about the life of John Wesley, appropriately titled Wesley, has been completed, and is only awaiting distribution.  

John Wesley, as you well know, is most famous for founding the Methodist Church.  The film's official website is pretty bare at the moment, but hopefully that will change soon.  Between this and Amazing Grace, 18th and 19th Century British Christians are being well represented in theatres.  

I wonder if this film will explore any of the incidents detailed in The Supernatural Occurrences of John Wesley.  That might be an interesting way to spice it up a bit.  

(Dallas Morning News)
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Want to see Fireproof for Free?

Want to see the new Kendrick Bros. movie, Fireproof, for free?

Well, all you have to do is head on over to Screenitfirst.com and find a Fireproof screening near you.  Sorry for the late notice, but many of these are already past and you'll just have to wait until Fireproof is in a theatre near you to buy your tickets like everyone else.  

Oh, and the graphic doesn't really have anything to do with Fireproof, but it came up when I searched for images related to the word "Free," and I thought that with all the Olympic excitement it might be good to remember that the people under China's rule are far from free.  


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Episode Thirty Three - The List

The SuperCandid Podcast returns with a review of The List, Gary Wheeler's adaptation of Robert Whitlow's novel of the same name.

The film stars Macolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange, Time after Time, Heroes), Chuck Carrington (JAG) and Hilarie Burton (One Tree Hill).

The film follows Carrington's character Renny who discovers that his father has left the massive family fortune to charity.  Renny is distraught until he learns that the only thing that his father did leave him is "The Covenant List of South Carolina," a mysterious document dating back to the civil war, that is described as the true source of his family's riches.

Tune in to the podcast and see what we thought about the film, which is available from both Amazon and ChristianCinema.



SHOW NOTES

Look for a full write up on the ICVM Awards tomorrow.

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The List, winner of two ICVM awards

Christian Film News reports that The List has won two International Christian Visual Media awards, for "Best Drama over $250,000" and for "Best Screenplay."  I can't find any listing of the other winners, or of nominated films, but I have an email out to the ICVM people, so keep your eyes on the blog for that news as soon as I get it.

I did find, in my research, the 2006 winner of "Best Film" is A Distant Thunder (2006), which, unfortunatly (or fortunatly, depending on your P.O.V.), not a remake of A Distant Thunder (1978) the awesomely low-budget sequel/remake to/of A Thief in the Night (1972).  Speaking of though, both those films are due for higher budget, or at least modern remakes.

If you're interested in any of those films, they are available from ChristianCinema.com to buy, and you can rent them if you are a member of Netflix.

(Christian Film News)


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The Widow's Cry Mite Might What? There's a sort-of trailer!

Has everyone subscribed to The Widow's Might email updates?  You know, from the official website for the movie I talked about a while back?

Well, unlike many movie websites, they are actually sending out good content over their email updates.  Today I got an email with a production-wrap trailer.  Apparently, at least for now, it is exclusive to the mailing list.

Before we get to the video, which by the way, looks great and seems to be coming along well, I wanted to mention something a bit odd about the movie's plot.  As you can see in the video below, or, if you're not on the mailing list and can't watch the video yet, you can get a hint of it in the intro video on the website.  [also, the website has for some reason been renamed "www.thewidowscry.com." I smell a "movement" that will coincide with this movie, akin to The Amazing Change (with Amazing Grace) and Get on Board (with Evan Almighty), or Fireproof My Marriage (with, of course, Fireproof).  Anyway...]

Basically, it seems that a major part of the plot has to do with property tax law and reform.  What?  Is this movie a libertarian polemic disguised as a pseudo-retelling of a Biblical story?  Time will tell.



The Widow's Might Production Wrap Trailer from John Moore on Vimeo.



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Episode Thirty Two - Pray

This week on the podcast we review Pray, an independently produced thriller which is purportedly based on a true story.  

I've been trying all day to track down something related to the "true" story behind this film.  No such luck, but I'll keep an eye out.  

SHOW NOTES --

Third Day performs on The Tonight Show.  


You can watch the trailer for Pray 2:  The Woods at the film's official website.



You can rent this film from Netflix.  

Jon's Golden Calf.

Don's Golden Calf.

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A Firestorm of Fireproof

It may be the most highly anticipated movie in independant Christian cinema, since, well, ever.  I'm talking of course about Fireproof, the new film from the Kendrick Bros. of Facing the Giants fame.


In the hype that is running up to the movie's release, we have a slew of articles coming out about the film.  

First up, we have a interview/news story/review of the movie over at CBN.com.  Craig von Buseck writes about his impressions on the movie, about Kirk Cameron's background and some about the background of the film's production.  He doesn't have a full review, but he has lots of positive things to say about the production values and the acting.  

Our old friend Ted Baher co-writes an interview with the Kendrick Bros.  At WorldNet Daily Alex and Stephen talk about how they came to do Fireproof, and a little about their writing process.  I found it interesting that they speak about writing the ending of the movie first, but BEWARE OF SPOILERS, since they do explain the final scene in the film that they used as a starting point of the writing process.

Baptist Press has a whole series of articles about the film, the most interesting, IMO, are their review and a piece about the behind-the-scenes production.   The review is absolutely glowing, and you really should read it yourself.  One interesting note is that at this particular screening, over 2,000 pastors & wives were in attendance.  I'm guessing this was at some sort of conference or something, but that audience gave the film a standing ovation.  

The behind-the-scenes piece has a good overview of the film, with lots of information that you may already know, but this is a good one-stop resource if you are interested in the production.  There is also a fun little article profiling many of the actors and other crew members who mostly worked as volunteers.

Finally, Film Stew has a brief bit about the marketing of the movie, through word-of-mouth, like these words you're reading right now.

Also, if you click the banner below you'll go to the Fireproof site, which actually has a really good blog collecting other articles.

Heck, Fireproof is so big that Kevin Smith mentioned Kirk Cameron's profile in the L.A. Times on his podcast the other day.

As always, SuperCandid is your number 1 source for Fireproof information!  

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Great News! (I guess...) More Left Behind movies on the way

It's the most popular Christian book series I can remember.  Its already spawned several successful movies, and one of the most unusual video games ever.  

Well, you might have wondered why there hasn't been a new Left Behind movie in a while.  You might also wonder why such popular books would be relegated to no-budget direct to video affairs.  So did co-author Tim Lahaye.  Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins refused to put their names on the movie, Alan Moore-style.  So much so that Lahaye sued Cloud Ten pictures over what he said was a breech of contract over the length, budget (and probably an unspoken dispute over quality).  The lawsuit has held up production on any further Left Behind movies.  

At long last, the lawsuit is settled, in a rather unusual way.  LaHaye has been granted the rights by a judge to remake the Left Behind movies with a new studio.  However, if he does not exercise these rights in a certain length of time, then the rights will revert to Cloud Ten and they will be able to continue their series.

I'd say that this is actually kind of a slap in the face to the authors, since it places restrictions on them and gives the advantage to the film company who was being sued in the first place.  Anyway, one way or another we're getting more Left Behind movies.  Maybe we should finally review the earlier movies so we can be ready.

(News Blaze)
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