Here is the first two hours of NBC's Kings, directed by Francis Lawrence, who made Constantine and I Am Legend, both of which were surprisingly watchable(even good) and surprisingly literate spiritually. I was impressed by the opening episode, which is operatic and gripping, even if it is a bit silly. Sure, Ian McShane gives at least 4 monologues in these 2 hours, but he sells the heck out of them. Sure, David shouting at tanks doesn't quite have the dramatic ring of a true "David vs. Goliath" battle, but that works too. Mostly because it is operatic, and in opera you expect over the top theatrics and emoting. Its not Battlestar Galactica, but Battlestar Galactica is the first show that I thought of after watching this, and that is a very good thing.
Biblically, it has some issues. For one thing, it is far too prudish and bloodless for being based upon one of the most violent and lascivious books in the Bible. But until a "real" adaptation of the Old Testament is made, then this will do. Kings airs Sundays on NBC, or you can watch it like I do, on Hulu.
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Just saw some new info on a film that is the very early stages of pre-production: The Widow's Might.
On a more wordy subject today, I have a couple of story deconstruction of the Bible from the Alternative Christian Writer's Workshop. I've never heard of it before either, but it seems like a cool idea, especially considering some of the work that apparently has come out of it.
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We received a rather negative comment the other day in response to our post about the threats of legal action emanating from Left Behind Games against various video game websites that have made unspecified "false and misleading" statements. Let me clarify why it bothers me that they(the game company) are doing this:
2. They weren't specific. In none of the complaints that were posted online was a single specific instance cited. This leads to number 3.
3. This isn't that bad, since I can understand and even respect it from a commercial standpoint; they have a new, "gold" edition of the game coming out in a short while and this is easy, free, publicity. Nothing wrong with that, at least commercially. The morals of it are more debatable.I'll admit that I haven't played Left Behind: Eternal Forces. Not even the demo? Why? There is no Mac version yet. Maybe when I can afford a new Intel MacBook I'll install XP and play it on there. My co-host actually has a copy of the game, but he lent it to our sometime guest host to play, and I spoke with him yesterday and he said his computer can't run it. So, for the moment, we don't have any informed thought on the matter.
I will weigh in on the most troubling aspect of the game, in my opinion. For a long time I've had a love/hate relationship with Christian post-apocalyptic movies. I love post-apocalyptic movies in general. Mad Max, The Road Warrior, the Terminator series, The Quiet Earth, Damnation Alley, The Omega Man, Warrior of the Lost World, Waterworld, Nausicca: Of the Valley of the Winds, (Spoiler)The Planet of the Apes, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, The Stand, the list goes on. I love them all. The idea is just cool, running around a lawless world, scavenging gasoline, shooting evil biker gangs to defend beautiful damsels and their mutant children. It's the ultimate escapist fantasy.But it has its problems. Max Brooks, author of the excellent World War Z, said it best when discussing the popularity of his books: "I don't know what's scarier, the fact that zombies could rise or the fact there are actually people out there that can't wait for it to happen. So they can just start loading up with guns and get on their motorcycles..." Recently, I read the letters column of The Walking Dead, a zombie comic book, and they had a totally insane letter from some guy who had built his own zombie proof fortress in a cabin high in the mountains. I'm waiting for the follow up when he gets into a shoot out with ATF agents. If you take this type of fiction too seriously, then it can have highly negative effects on your worldview. Suddenly, a nuclear exchange with another country not only seems survivable, it might seem likable.
This problem is more extensive in Christian post-apocalyptic(or you might call it apocalyptic) fiction. It has many of the same appeals(lawless land, fighting for survival, good vs evil in a final struggle, beautiful damsels, biker gangs) and many of the same drawbacks. However, since it is explicitly Christian it, in my opinion, is much more dangerous. It isn't based upon conjecture or redacted Civil Defense plans from the 1950s; it is based upon an interpretation of the revealed Word of God. If it is possible to believe that a post-nuclear situation like Mad Max is plausible, how much more so for the Christian to believe that a Left Behind type of situation is possible, even inevitable.It is a problem; how do you have escapist apocalyptic Christian fiction without becoming a dangerous influence on young people? How do you balance entertainment with a desire not to have a generation of readers who want to launch nukes at Mecca in a effort to "hurry up" the 2nd Coming? Or bulldoze the Dome of the Rock so that the Temple can be rebuilt. The conclusion I came to long ago is that this kind of fiction is best avoided. The Bible is not very explicit about the end times, leaving much open to conjecture, but it is very clear that it will not be pleasant. Men will wish for the rocks to crush them so that they might escape. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. People will long for death but will not die. Pretty awful, right? I've decided that I won't support and apocalyptic Christian fiction unless it makes it quite clear that it will be, literally, hell on Earth during the end times.
But I still love apocalyptic fiction. Hence, my dilemma with Left Behind: Eternal Forces. I like the fact that they are making a RTS set in this environment. It is a great idea. But a part of me still recoils from the romanticizing of the end times. I think that weaving in religion just puts it too close to doctrine and too far from entertainment, and it is a dangerous doctrine.That said, our commenter, Jason, has an amazingly in-depth overview of the the game at his blog, Shock & Blog. He covers the controversy, reviews every mission(!) of the game, and generally comes across that the world's biggest fan of Left Behind: Eternal Forces. He does a good job of responding to criticism of the game, although at times he comes off as simply repeating the PR line from the game company. Check it out if you're interested in the game. He obviously loves it, and has some good information. Thanks for the comment Jason!
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Regular readers and listeners will know that don and I are both avid video game players. In addition, as a filmmaker I look at videogames a lot for ideas on where film may be headed in the future. 300, for example is, in my opinion, the best video game movie yet made and it's not even based upon video game source material.
Well, the Left Behind: Eternal Forces video game is in the news recently. For those who don't know, the game is a tactical strategy game that puts the player in command of a small army of christians to work against the anti-christ. Your primary weapons in the battle are prayer and worship(singing to convert enemies) but you also have the ability to simply kill the non-belivers. Apparently an expansion to the game is being released soon, and in order to head off bad publicity(mainly since the game was highly criticized and recieved generally bad reviews), the producers have decided to address criticism directly, contacting websites that have made negative comments about the game.
What did they say? Did they accept constructive criticism and go forward in the spirit of, as Paul said, "Live at peace with all men?" Not exactly.They sent out letters threatening legal action for the websites hosting "false and misleading" information.
That seems like just what Jesus would have done in such as situation, doesn't it? I believe the Gospel of Luke records Jesus sending several strongly worded legal letters to the Phairsees informing them that it was in fact libel for them to say that he was "a madman" and "the Devil."The really funny(and sad) thing is that the letter doesn't specify what "false and misleading" statments are being made. Gameology has posted all their stories on the game, and a quick perusal doesn't reval anything that bad. All christians are white, all women are barred from leading christian forces. It is possible to kill the bad guys but not necessary. All that jives with what I've seen from the game.
So, just for the record, Left Behind: Eternal Forces does not stink like a 3 week old dead lion with a beehive inside its festering torso. Not literally. (Gameology story)Powered by Qumana
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Another slow news week. Nothing really to report, at least nothing I'm interested in reporting. Yet another Noah's Ark movie(apart from Evan Almighty, Darren Aronofsky's proposed sci-fi take and the other animated one from the people making that awful looking Ten Commandments CGI). This one is told from the point of view of the animals. Blah. Who cares? This has been done before(Fantasia 2000, Madagascar was similar as was The Wild). Unless it features dragons biting the heads off mermaids(Robot Chicken) then I'm not interested in more talking animals.
Uh, what else? Two movies about the adolescent years of Jesus. One is a supremely boring looking documentary called Jesus: The Lost Years. It traces the "most historical journey of all time"(WTF does that even mean?) from Palestine to Egypt. The preview talks of Jesus doing miracles in Egypt and founding churches, you know, all the stuff that was cut out of the Bible by the council of Nicaea in order to cover up the evidence of alien landings in New Mombassa. Or something.
The other is called The Aquarian Gospel, about Jesus's years from 13-30. A lot of the same territory that Ann Rice covered in her no-longer-going-to-be-a-film Christ The Lord. I've heard Rice's book is good literature and not bad theology, so I guess there is some potential here. However, it should be noted that The Aquarian Gospel is directed by the guy who directed The Secret movie, which is one of the most anti-Christian and anti-intelligence projects to be shoved into popularity through Oprah and good marketing.
There is a part of me that wants the "lost" years of Jesus to be some kind of Kung Fu meets Highlander, where Jesus wanders the earth, learns martial arts, fights bad guys and the occasional dragon. Basically Samurai Jack with a few people raised from the dead. Or something close in tone to Xena, with Jesus meeting everyone from Abraham to Emperor Caligula(Xena actually did all that).
Or we could go the modern route like Mark Millar's Chosen(source of the picture), except that has a killer twist at the end, which, for me, brought the whole sacrilegious nature of the project full circle and it actually made sense.
I have a podcast to recommend, but I'll save that for tomorrow.
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This week we're reviewing a movie I've been looking forward to for a while, Gospel Road: A Story of Jesus. Directed by Robert Elfstrom, and starring Elfstrom as Jesus and Johnny Cash as the narrator who guides you through the life of Jesus, this film is one of the most unusual films about Jesus I've ever seen. It also features the incomparable music of Johnny Cash, with help from June Carter Cash and Kris Kristofferson. Tune in to see how it measured up to our (high) expectations, and to hear a bit about what's coming up for the Super Candid Podcast!
Show Notes:
The San Antionio Christian Independant Film Festival(which we mentioned once before, here)
Across The Universe Official Website -Best Film I (Jon) have seen this year!
Delicious Monster - organize and catalog your books, music, movies, etc.
Wes Anderson's Hotel Chevalier is free on !
The Game I mentioned playing with Don is the great Ticket to Ride.
Intro:"God's Gonna Cut You Down" By DJ Schmolli and the Johnny Cash AllStar Band Outro:"Must I Wait" by Phil Wickham from 'Cannons'Subscribe to our podcast by clicking the link at the right (or click here for iTunes) or download it directly here.
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Do you know what the world needs? What cinema needs? A movie version of the story of Moses! Boy, wouldn't that be a great movie! Imagine all the miracles, plagues, the epic story of a people rescued from bondage and taken to the Promised Land. All wrapped around the fascinating character of a Jew who was raised in Pharaoh's court, only to return to challenge Pharaoh himself in an epic power struggle between the gods of Egypt and the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!
Well, now you can get your wish. Promenade Pictures is starting a 12 part series titled "Epic Stories 
of The Bible." Naturally, you don't get much more epic than the Exodus, so their first film is The Ten Commandments. This story takes the unusual tactic of focusing on the relationship between Moses and his half-brother Ramesses and the film is almost unique in having an all-star cast of actors. Even more unusual, the film is animated! How crazy is that! Watch the trailer at the bottom of this post.
You may have noticed my sarcastic tone...not...uh...not again. Ok, I'm more than a bit skeptical about this film. It is being released in September 2007, supposedly in theatres, but most likely you'll see this on DVD. This is the 3rd film titled The Ten Commandments to be released in the past 2 years. The first and most famous is the 2006 tv-miniseries version starring Dougray Scott, entitled <The Ten Commandments
So what does the new The Ten Commandments have that these others don't? How about really bad CGI(looks to be somewhere below Saturday morning cartoon CGI(think ReBoot and Beast Wars)? Or a has been actor phoning it in as Moses's voice(Christian Slater)? The best moments in the trailer simply remind me of the better stuff in films such as The Prince of Egypt
The story of Moses is really done to death. Even Battlestar Galactica did a version of it( )! If you don't have anything new to say don't bother! At least stuff like The Decalogue and The Ten take a new tactic on this story by transferring it to a new setting. This film has a lot of work to do for me to like it.
Ok, on top of all its other obvious problems, I'm now mad that The Ten Commandments website is so bad. It has a link to embed the trailer but instead of just giving it to you it demands your name and email, and it has now been 45 minutes since I provided that and I still haven't received the embed code. So chalk up another victory for Christian movies with awful website design. You'll have to go there to see the trailer.
Since I can't embed that, I'll post this youtube video instead. Warning, it does feature one cuss word.
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