Episode Forty - Thomas Kinkade's The Christmas Cottage

After a week of missteps with Podango, Episode Forty is finally up! This week we slept through 'Thomas Kinkade's The Christmas Cottage'. Yes, it's a movie based on a painting. A semi-autobiographical look at a young 'Painter of Light' trying to save the homestead from evil creditors and getting paid selling his art to his whole town, spreading his gift like a misguided Johnny Appleseed. Despite the content, this is audibly one of our better shows, and short too! Try to enjoy! Subscribe to the SuperCandid Podcast, the number 1 podcast for Christian movies Subscribe to the SuperCandid Blog

8Bit Jesus has arrived from on high!

If there are two things on earth that Jon and I love, they are Jesus and video games. If there are three, then there are Jesus, video games and Video Game Jesus Music. Right now you can download the entire '8bit Jesus' Christmas album, composed entirely of chip sounds and whatnot (think NES musics) for free! RIGHT HERE! It's 18 tracks long (because really, no one needs more than 18 tracks of 8-bit Christmas music), and well worth a couple bucks just for that awesome album cover. Chip in a couple bucks for his trouble... It's Christmas after all. Also, big ups to my favorite blog in the world (besides this one...*cough*) Kokatu for telling my eyeholes about this project. (Caution: Kotaku is occasionally NSFW on it's main page. Rarely, but you know...) *** Also, again... once Podango figures it's junks out, there will be a new, unbroken episode up for download! Don't get all excited, the show is nearly as boring as the film we reviewed. Episode Forty is finished, but just won't upload for the past couple days. You get what you pay for as they say... They being Chris Martens of TheJesusGeeks Podcast. Subscribe to the SuperCandid Podcast, the number 1 podcast for Christian movies Subscribe to the SuperCandid Blog

Episode Thirty Nine (39) - Christmas Child - Lets try this again

RE-POSTED!  SHOULD BE FIXED.  Thanks to our loyal listener Ted for emailing us about a technical issue.  This episode was just a bear, all on our end.  Thanks for the patience!

Show was late because of massive damage by Garageband, on both sides of the recording.

This week we review Christmas Child , a movie based on a Max Lucado short story.

SHOW NOTES--

Opening music is "What Child is This" by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
Closing music is "Greensleeves" by The King's Singers, the song which provides the tune for "What Child is This."

Some Amazon.com Christmas specials:
Christmas Child for $8.99
The Christmas Shoes  for $8.99
Bella for $10.99


(Click here for Direct Download of episode)

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Finalists for San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival $100k prize

The finalists for the big prize at the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival's have been announced, and some of them will be familiar to SuperCandid readers.

Feature film finalists are:
Fireproof 
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed 
Pendragon, Sword of His Father 
Pilgrim's Progress: Journey to Heaven
The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry
The Sound of a Dirt Road
Throw a Few Things on the Ground
The Widow's Might 


My money's on Fireproof, the Titanic of Christian movies.  If Expelled wins, the SAICFF should be forced to shut down.

The semi-finalists have also been announced in other categories, including documentary(for which, thankfully, Expelled is not nominated), short films(including Dialtone ), and Young Filmmakers.

Hopefully Fireproof wins so that the Kendricks get an extra $101,000 for their next movie.  We want more action scenes!

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Episode Thirty Nine (39) - Christmas Child

Show was late because of massive damage by Garageband, on both sides of the recording.

This week we review Christmas Child , a movie based on a Max Lucado short story.

SHOW NOTES--

Opening music is "What Child is This" by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
Closing music is "Greensleeves" by The King's Singers, the song which provides the tune for "What Child is This."

Some Amazon.com Christmas specials:
Christmas Child for $8.99
The Christmas Shoes  for $8.99
Bella for $10.99


(Click here for Direct Download of episode)

Subscribe to the SuperCandid Podcast, the number 1 podcast for Christian movies

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Pendragon: Sword of His Father hits DVD today!

Pendragon: Sword of His Father , the Independant Christian Arthurian adventure we've talked about several times in the past, has hit DVD today.  

We're still in the midst of our first annual Christmas movie blitz, so a review might have to wait until January.  But don't let that stop you!  Watch the trailer and if it moves you then support independent epics by buying the DVD .

I really want to buy this, but I think I'll have to hold off until after the Epiphany at least.

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Trailer, gameplay footage & an excellent article on Guitar Praise: Solid Rock

If there is one thing that Don & I like as much as movies, it is obviously video games.  Despite my lack of any sort of musical skills, I even like Guitar Hero  & Rock Band,  mainly because they are the best way to experience video games with a group of people who don't necessairly play a lot of video games.

We were both interested in Guitar Praise: Solid Rock  when it was announced, and we both hoped that it would buck the trend of Christian video games being either awful or bizarre.  I felt that a good precedent had been established by Left Behind: Eternal Forces , because no matter what you think about its content a good amount of production value was put into that game.

The few reviews that have come out have been pretty positive , but I think that it would be pretty simple to make a knock-off of a popular game.  Especially when there is already an open source knock-off  who's code you can peruse at your leisure.

GameSetWatch has a fantastic opinion piece  about Guitar Praise: Solid Roc k, which puts it in perspective with other Christian video games (although they leave out Left Behind: Eternal Forces ),  and comes down with some strong thoughts about what it means to have "Christian" video games.  Much of what is said can also be applied to "Christian" movies, so it is a great read.

(GameSetWatch Opinion Article)

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David A.R. White's New Film about Vietnam & its Legacy

Christian Cinema had an article about the filming of David A.R. White's (Hidden Secrets ) new movie called To The Wall.  It co-stars Kevin Downes (Thr3e ) and is the story of two men who's fathers died in Vietnam.  Through a twist of fate they find out their father's were friends during the war and they take a cross-country trip to the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial to discover the secrets of their past.  

The movie also stars Candice Cameron Brue (The Wager ), Rebekah St. James and Stephen Baldwin.  

The plot is sounds reminiscent of the 1989 Norman Jewison film In Country , which starred Bruce Willis as a Vietnam Vet who takes a trip to the Wall with his niece to heal both his wounds and the wounds left by her father's death in Vietnam.  That movie was rather bad until they actually went to the wall, when it really transcended its source material and became quite moving.

For something as powerful iconographically as the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial, I'm surprised there aren't more movies that feature it and the huge national emotions that it both represents and provokes.

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Hello, I'm Satan and I approve this message

Continuing a theme today, David A.R. White posted a notice about this trailer on his myspace blog .   I don't want to be too excited, but...THIS LOOKS LIKE THE BEST CHRISTIAN MOVIE EVER! No idea when this is going to actually come out, but I'm sold already. Enjoy! Subscribe to the SuperCandid Podcast, the number 1 podcast for Christian movies Subscribe to the SuperCandid Blog Save This Page

Relevant Interview with Ted Dekker & Ralph Winter

Relevant Magazine has an interview with House producer Ralph Winter and co-author Ted Dekker. The interview spends a good bit of time talking about how House is the "Christian R-rated horror film," certainly a unique distinction. However, Winter & Dekker bring up two interesting points. First, Winter talks about how they "backed into the marketing campaign a little late," specifically in regards to the R-rating. This seems like an odd thing to claim, considering that the film was delayed by over a year. I would think that in a 13-month period they could come up with some kind of marketing plan. The other bit that I found laughable was Dekker's assertion, prodded on by the interviewer, the he could see no reason besides a bias against faith that the MPAA would give the movie an R-rating. Seriously Ted? You're going to say that the MPAA gave a horror movie an R-rating because they hate Christians? The same MPAA that people such as Kevin Smith has to fight from giving a movie NC-17s for foul language? The same MPAA that has an entire movie about it that presents it as an overly moral set of conservative out-of-touch-with-the-youth busy-bodies? Relevant Magazine Interview found through Brent Alexander Subscribe to the SuperCandid Podcast, the number 1 podcast for Christian movies Subscribe to the SuperCandid Blog Save This Page

Episode Thirty Eight - The Christmas Card

With the sun in the sky and shorts on our legs, we're recording our first Christmas episode of the year... This is about as winter-y as it gets in the fall in New Mexico. This week we review EMMY NOMINATED TV Movie 'The Christmas Card' starring Mr. Fantastic's girlfriend and the guy who played Superboy on TV in the late 80's. In other words, a holiday classic. In a nutshell, a nice lady mails Christmas cards to anonymous troops in Afghanistan, anonymous troop loves card and visits the church he heard about in the card, Ed Asner intervenes and romance ensues. It's better than it sounds, I promise. For more empty promises, download the episode via iTunes or whatever or right here. Since muxtape is all weird right now, I'm not posing the intro and outro musics in protest until it comes back up. Trust me, you don't want a full version of 'R2-D2 We Wish You a Merry Christmas' anyway. Episode Thirty Eight - The Christmas Card is brought to you by the letter T, the numbers 3 and 8, is a Virgo and also enjoys romantic walks on the beach. (Jon is going to hate this post.) Subscribe to the SuperCandid Podcast, the number 1 podcast for Christian movies Subscribe to the SuperCandid Blog Save This Page

House has inauspicious opening weekend

House, the Christian horror film that has been quite literally a long time in coming to theaters, debuted at number 24 in the national box office this weekend, bringing in $329,836.

Granted, it was only playing at 374 theaters around the country, so what does that really say?

Well, the per theater average was $909, pretty awful.  To give you a comparison, one other movie earned $909 per theater over the weekend:  Appaloosa, the Ed Harrirs/Viggo Mortensen Western flop, which, to be fair, is in its 7th week in release.

Fireproof, the juggernaut of Christian films, earned over $1800 per theatre in its 7th week.  Even Religulous, the Bill Maher anit-religion comedy/documentary, earned over $1500 per theatre in this, its 6th week.  Even Save Me, playing in a grand total of 3 theaters in the entire country, earned $1300 per theatre.

I hope House is a good film, but I think that it is safe to say that the marketing for this movie was and is a total failure.


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Guitar Praise to have sequels?

Guitar Praise , is, inconceivably, a huge hit.  I shouldn't say inconceivably, because I knew it would be a huge hit.  I should say, it would have been an even huger hit if they had released it on the the Playstation or Xbox instead of the PC & Mac. 

But, apparently it was such a big hit that now they are considerng doing what they should have done in the first place.  They are also considering adding multiple instruments, bringing them in line with the latest Rock Band & Guitar Hero games.  This game was apparently created mostly in house at Digital Praise, with the help of 2 dozen contractors, and has gotten positive write-ups, and even incorporates innovative features like Rock Band 2's 'no fail' mode.  



All of which begs the question:  why was this released on PCs again?

Now that the PS2 is officially an open platform, there should be nothing holding them back.

(MTV Multiplayer via Kotaku )
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The Best Christian Halloween Movie that Comes out a Week after Halloween

Someday I hope to understand why a Christian horror film was released the week after Halloween instead of, say, the week before?  When people were in the mood for a supernatural scary movie?  Anybody want to help me figure this one out?   House  finally comes out this week, directed by Robby Henson , who made the interesting The Visitation  and the awful Thr3e .  This time he combines The Visitation 's author Frank Peretti with Thr3e author Ted Dekkar.  What will that bring? Anyway, sorry for the lack of posts this week, I'll try and do better next week.  This weekend sees the long-delayed opening of Ted Dekkar & Frank Peretti's House .  Will it fulfil the promise of its genuinly creepy trailer?  How well will it do against the stiff competition of Madagascar 2 & Soul Men (the 2nd to last film that Bernie Mac ever made)?  I'll be back Monday with the box office figures.  Till then, you might want to read the only professional review of House , from CT Movies .  It looks like it wasn't screened for regular critics , which is almost always a bad sign.   Subscribe to the SuperCandid Podcast, the number 1 podcast for Christian movies Subscribe to the SuperCandid Blog Save This Page

Episode Thirty Seven (37) - Fireproof

I find it ironic that our review of Fireproof is our 37th episode.  See Clerks if you don't get it. 

Anyway, this week we have a special guest reviewer, my wife Nicole.  She shares her unique prespective on the latest film from the Kendrick brothers and Sherwood Studios.  

Show Notes  --

Intro Music  -- "We Didn't Start the Fire," as made famous by Billy Joel, performed by Bob Williams and his Orchestra.

Outro Music --"We Didn't Start the Fire," performed by The Hoosiers.  

EDIT- Sorry, I jumped the gun and posted this while our podcast host was still "processing," and apparently it never finished.  So, if you check your favorite podcast catcher this morning, it should be there now.

DIRECT DOWNLOAD 

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The Impostor may be an Impostor of itself, and prayers for Kevin Max

Some big, wild & crazy news about Kevin Max, star of Imposter, the forthcoming Christian movie.  Lots of info on his myspace blog recently.  

First, and most importantly, Max was in a car accident on 27 October.  Good news is that he is ok, he says just minor bumps & bruises.  Hopefully nothing more serious than he is letting on.  

Second, he has some thoughts on his starring role in The Impostor.  Apparently, he was not entierely pleased with how it turned out.  I hope that the movie is good, but I am fearful from reading this that it was hamstrung in an attempt to avoid alienating the so-called "Christian audience."  We noted in our review of Hidden Secrets  that it suffered from attempts to conform to the conventions of "Christian films," so I hope this one avoids that.  Time will tell.

Finally, I just wanted to note that Max is a fan of The Road & The Wrestler , two things that I am also really excited about.  The Road is the Cormac McCarthy post-apoclayptic novel, which I found to be greatly interesting and moving.  It is being made into a movie by director John Hilicoat, who made the wonderful and apocalyptic-toned Australian western The Proposition.  Nick Cave, one of my favorite musicians, wrote The Proposition and is returning to work with Hilicoat on the music for The Road.  The Wrestler is another movie, this time a new feature by Darren Aronofsky, the director of the brilliant Requiem for  Dream & The Fountain.  If those two movies aren't enough to recommend his next film for you, then you should not call yourself a movie fan.

Anyway, The Imposter hits DVD on January 4th , and if you pre-order you can get it by New Year's Eve.  I guess we'll know then what Max was unhappy with.

(Story found through Pinoy Christian Music)
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