New Documentary on Teenage Girls and Abortion

A new 54 minute documentary about a late term abortion department in Russia for teenage girls is in production for release in 2008. David Kinsella, an award winning photographer and filmmaker, is the director/photographer of "Killing Girls."

This film is being made as a TV movie and a full length Cinema version, which is one hour in length. In Russia, women have between 2 and 10 abortions each, despite the availability of contraceptives (I am not endorsing contraception here.). Teenagers abort up to eight months gestation.

I took a look at the trailer for the Killing Girls film on Youtube and it is shocking and at the same time, deeply moving. Warning: It is an explicit film.

Here is a summary of "Killing Girls" via Norwegian Films:

St. Petersburg, Russia. An abortion clinic that specializes in late term teenage abortions. Young girls arrive at the clinic through the back door, sometimes with their mother or a friend. But all of them have to go through it alone. Here, abortions are performed even after 7 months of pregnancy. The procedure is standard. When the girls arrive at the weekend, they are put in one big ward. All at the same time, eight girls are given drinks in order to encourage their contractions to start on Monday morning. When the contractions start the doctors and nurses will help the girls to deliver. Most girls do not want to see their babies. They stay for the night and in the early morning they leave the clinic again to get back to their lives.

"Killing Girls" is a story about moral and economic choices in today’s Russian society. It is the story of three girls that at one point in their life decided to end a pregnancy at a late term. It is the story of the doctor who performs these late term abortions. Who are these people? What is their story?

In the film we follow these characters closely for three years. Through them we learn about the living conditions for the younger generation in Russia, those that dream of a glamorous western lifestyle, but are condemned to live hunting for money to buy a moment of happiness. Nobody has time to have children any longer. Fighting to find an income in a society with badly paid work, children have become a problem.

I am in the process of learning more about this film and will keep you updated. More to come...

Cross-posted at Catholic Fire.

Movie Trailer: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian

The second Narnia film comes to theaters May 18th.

Visit the official site

Click here for more movie trailers

Screenwriters: Andrew Adamson (Shrek), Christopher Markus (The Life & Death of Peter Sellers)
Director: Andrew Adamson (The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe)
Actors: Liam Neeson (Batman Begins), Ben Barnes (Stardust), Warwick Davis (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets), Peter Dinklage (Find Me Guilty)

Movie Review: Cidade de Deus (City of God) (2002)

SHORT REVIEW: Depressing, haunting, extremely hard to watch – loved it.

The box cover for this DVD boldly displays Roger Ebert’s announcement "One of the best films you’ll ever see!" Normally, I find Ebert’s taste in film to be lacking. He’s a bright enough guy but his political and social agenda are too obtuse for my political and social agenda to withstand. While his exclamation is a tad overdone, this is a very potent film on many levels. The acting alone is worth the price of admission. The actors are so strong, I often felt as if I were watching a documentary, not a film.

However, I do strongly advise you to see this movie. It is a harsh film about the trails of a young man named Rocket growing up in the toilet that is City of God (found about fifteen miles outside of Rio de Janeiro.) City of God is ironically named since if there were hell on Earth, it would be a place like this. We are shown this brutal world and its hellish soap opera in all of its lurid details. This film goes on for over two hours and I couldn’t keep my eyes from it. The richness of the story and the honesty in which the events are presented is brilliant. The structure of the film is masked by clever narrative tricks such as briefly introducing a character, only to tell us he will be more important later. This sets a character up when it is most convenient to the story. We then wait for the character’s reintroduction so we can find out about who they are. The narrator does this a few times and it works wonderfully. It gives exposition without being intrusive in addition to infusing the narration with a human flavor (he seems to get ahead of himself while telling the story and has to backtrack.)

The content of this film is hard to watch. I strongly warn you about this. Children are shot and killed. Women are raped. Men are gunned down. This is not for the faint of heart. It is a film for those who need a dose of realism. If nothing else, this film will make you feel gratitude for your station in life, if you do not live in a situation even close to the one presented in this film.


Cautions: As I mentioned, there's rape, beatings, shootings - a variety of violent acts. This is liberally mixed with sexual content and harsh language. This is a film for adults - discerning adults. None of the rough content is gratuitous however. This is an important distinction to make. It is a natural development of the plot and the environment. Violence is a part of the story because violence is a part of the lives of the characters - you can't have one without the other.


Worldview: The film doesn't take a strong theological stand but it did raise some issues, at least for me, when I viewed it.

Most Christian thinking (at least in the West) I describe as "suburban Christianity". This means ideas and concerns are developed from the point of view of a bunch of puffy suburbanites sitting comfortably and safely in their homes. Only the most affluent Christians would sit around and seriously discuss whether it is healthy to watch PG-13 Rated movies or not - we are so blessed to have such stupid concerns. While I have nothing against the Western middle class, it seems to me that much of our theology has been weakened by our casual lifestyles. Films such as this can wake us up from their comfy naps and remind us that the power of the Word is there for people in far dire circumstances, who seem to have nothing to save them. Hope - God - still lives in the darkest of places, no matter how deep the well we fall, his grace is still there.

Utah Students Ask Golds Gym to Clean Up Programming

Cross-post from The World...IMHO

Here's a media that we never thought to review...the Gold's Gym network.

Stories like this give me hope for the future.
I give these students credit for doing the right thing and promoting morality.

Five student organizations from Brigham Young University and Utah Valley State College are asking Gold's Gym to get rid of video and music that they feel is too sexually graphic.

The groups submitted a petition and voiced concerns about the programming to Kirk Livingstone, Gold's director of operations, in a two-hour meeting Wednesday.

The groups want the gyms to keep R-rated movies off the TVs, play less explicit music and install blinds on aerobic room windows to block views of dancing — which some feel is too provocative.

Gold's has its own programming network that is broadcast nationally throughout the chain. But what is acceptable in some markets doesn't necessarily fly in heavily Mormon Utah County, home of the church-owned and very straight-laced BYU.

"I could read you some of the lyrics from these videos, but it would be too embarrassing for both of us," said Jesse Yaffe, a spokesman for the groups.

Livingstone ruled out the request to install blinds. Why ? Seems like a good idea. He said he would look into ways to change the programming, but did not know what the chances were.

"We're committed to doing what's right for the community and our members," Livingstone said.

story here

Selecting Favorites for 2008: Here's mine; what are yours?

Catholic Exchange posts today on Fifteen Films to Look for in 2008. I always enjoy these lists, as they give me new enthusiasm for the films of the upcoming year. One January, I made a list of must-see films and then returned at the end of the year to determine how many of those films I actually did see and how many met my expectations. As it turned out, I saw most of the films on the list and about 80% of them turned out to be just as good or better than I had anticipated.

Here is a list of the films Marc T. Newman, Ph.D. includes as films to look for in 2008, based upon articles , trailers, and plot synapses he has viewed. He warns us that he has yet to view these films and that many of these films are yet to be rated. Keep in mind also that release dates are always subject to change.

1. Veggie Tales Presents the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything - January 11, which has already been reviewed by Leticia.

2. Penelope -- February 29

3. Horton Hears a Who! -- March 14

4. Inkheart -- March 21

5. Iron Man -- May 2

6. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian -- May 16

7. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull -- May 23

8. The Incredible Hulk -- June 13

9. WALL-E -- June 27

10. Hancock --- July 27

11. The Dark Knight -- July 18

12. X- Files Sequel -- July 25

13. Valkyrie -- October 3

14. Harry Potter and the Half- Blood Prince -- November 21

15. Star Trek XI -- December 25

I'm going to select the five I am most looking forward to seeing based upon the descriptions presented here and then return at the end of the year to see how well I did --- not in terms of how popular they were, but in terms of how well I liked them -- how good they actually turned out to be.

I am eliminating Veggie Tales Presents the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything , as that's already been reviewed.

Here my five (in no special order):

1. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian -- This is C.S. Lewis and I loved the Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, so it's got to be a winner.

2. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull -- Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg -- the perfect combination! The only concern I have here is that they don't focus too much on death and dying unless they incorporate the after-life and we get a foretaste of the supernatural energy Jones has in heaven. Jones is like the energizer bunny -- nothing stops him.

3. The Dark Knight -- I'm a batman fan -- have been ever since reading my brother's comic books as a kid (although I preferred Katie Keen or Archie at that time). The dual nature of man is always intriguing and it sounds a little like Spiderman III.

4. Valkyrie -- World War II films are appealing to me -- my dad fought in World War II and there were lots of photos and memorabilia from that time in our house. Hitler has always been an intriguing character to analyze. I'm always eager to learn more about that time period, which shortly preceded my birth.

5. Star Trek XI -- Although William Shatner won't be in this one as Kirk, Leonard Nimoy will be there as Spock and that's enough to satisfy me. I have yet to see a Star Trek film I didn't like.

So which five are you most looking forward to watching?

Coming in May: He Lives An Unusual Life ...

We all know that I'm a huge fan of the unusual blend of horror and spirituality that are the Odd Thomas books, don't we? (Read my commentary on the series.) Anyone who joins me in that fandom will rejoice to see that Dean Koontz has been channeling Odd Thomas again.

Via Unhurried Catholic.

Family-Friendly Flicks: A New Option for Parents Renting DVDs

Cross-post from The World...IMHO

A good article about Faith and Family Flix by Tim Drake.

A good alternative to Netflix and Blockbuster.

Parents Leslie and Michael Tuttle understand the difficulty in finding good films for their 8- and 5-year-old sons to watch. They gave up monthly cable service because the job of monitoring content became too daunting.

Up until recently, they depended on movies from their local library or purchasing good films.

"When you're paying $20-25 per movie, that becomes prohibitive," said Leslie. "And we couldn't find the Catholic content we wanted — like saints movies — through the library."

The Tuttles considered Netflix, but knew that, in perusing it, the company carried a lot of content that wasn't suitable for the whole family. But then Mrs. Tuttle's sister e-mailed her about Faith and Family Flix.

"It offers a lot of the documentary videos and saints videos so that we can rent them and see if we want to buy them," said Leslie. "Our first two films were a documentary on Mother Teresa and a Tom & Jerry cartoon."

She's pleased there's a family-friendly alternative available for those who want to rent movies without supporting a company that promotes soft-core pornography and homosexual films.

That was founder Steve Thomas' goal in setting up the new business, which went live the last week of November. Thomas said that his company is working with the Dove Foundation for assistance screening the films in their catalog so that they'll be free of profanity, graphic violence, sex and nudity. The catalog currently has about 1,000 films. As the company broadens its customer base, it hopes to increase the catalog to 3,000 and eventually 10,000 films.

I checked out the site and they have a good slection of movies including "The Bells of St. Mary's", "Ben Hur", and "The Bishop's Wife".

story here

"The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" Movie Review

“The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything” Film Review
“Jonah: A Veggie Tales Movie”, the best selling DVD of all time, which sold 50 million copies, is admittedly a tough act to follow, but “The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything” valiantly takes up the challenge. Not that its heroes look promising at first. Elliott known to Veggie Tales fans as Larry Boy, Sedgewick, who is Mr Lunt, and George, better known as Pa grape, are ‘cabin boys’ or waiters, in the “Pieces of Ate Dinner Theatre”. Their audition for the starring roles in the theatre’s pirate show ends in disaster. and they lose their jobs. While they are slumped in a pile of misery outside the theatre door, contemplating their bleak future, out of the blue, or rather out of the back of a garbage truck, adventure beckons. Elliot takes a chance, pushing the button on the mysterious, blinking gold ball, and catapults the three would-be pirates into a dingy somewhere in the ocean. The three are magically transported into the middle of a real pirate adventure.
Will they accept the challenge to save the princess’ brother from the fearsome pirate, Robert the Terrible, who has kidnapped him to wrest the crown from the King’s hands? The princess demands an answer. “But we’re just cabin boys” the three pirates whine. Her father, the King, who sent them the golden ball, which she calls the Helpseeker, was mistaken. Each of them suffers from particular limitation, Elliot has his ‘fears’, Sedgewick his laziness, and cheese-curl addiction, and George his wish for his kids to look up to him. No hero material here, just three losers who want to go home. Are they capable of rising to the challenge of the King’s expectations?

Screenwriter Phil Vischer has taken the Veggie Tales away from a Scripture-based story, yet there is still a solid character lesson for children in this frothy pirate flick. Director Mike Nawrocki describes the theme, ‘God calls us into adventure, and equips us to fulfill that call”. This wasn’t immediately apparent, either to me or my 10 year old daughter who missed the wisecracks of “Jonah. The middle of the film seemed a bit lost at sea, predictable and slow moving, until the King makes his appearance, and gives it a sense of direction. He praises the pirates, and tells them, “The hero isn’t the strongest, or fastest, smartest, with the best looks. A hero is one who, no matter how hard, does what he knows is right.“ He reminds them of the signs and help he sent them along the way, saying, “my help is always there”. The King is a God figure, who has brought out the bravery in Elliot the fearful, the ambition in Sedgewick the slothful, who nearly took the option of deserting the adventure for his easy chair, and inspired George, who proved he truly was the leader he always wanted to be for his kids. When the three are propelled back into their world, they have discovered their own greatness, thanks to the King’s confidence in them.
Although I prefer the Biblical storyline and well-crafted characters of “Jonah”, “The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything” stands out as much for what it doesn’t have as for what it does. A family film with precious few potty jokes (a mention of a character’s wetting himself), and absolutely no off-color anatomical references, alternate lifestyles, or crude language. There is none of the cynicism or nature worship which pervade children’s entertainment lately, so “Pirates” is, in those respects, clean, inspiring family entertainment, which will delight your children, even as you are missing the sing along tunes of Jonah. Mild violence includes a kidnapping, attacking cheese curls, some fighting and blowing things up. This film will entertain the kids with no objections from Mom. You might even discuss what constitutes a true hero on the way home.

Name 20 films that portray Christianity in a positive light.

That's the challenge that Steven Greydanus answers and that Jeffrey Overstreet tells us about. I'm delighted to share Jeffrey's post as a guest blogger at Catholic Media Review (yes, I'm a fan). I see that the movies that instantly sprang to my mind are included ... Serenity, World Trade Center, The Count of Monte Cristo, Signs, Return to Me. Enjoy, and make your own additions in the comments box. I'm mulling this one over ...

I frequently receive mail from readers who argue that we should ignore “Hollywood’s output” because of the ways in which Christians are negatively portrayed.

But I know many Christians who are devoting their lives to developing meaningful movies in Hollywood. I frequently participate in fruitful, enlightening discussions about films that explore issues of faith. And I frequently see movies that present Christianity, Christians, and truths fundamental to Christian faith in a positive light — not just from Hollywood, but from all over the world. So I have a hard time taking such complaints seriously. Of course we should be discerning. But just boycott or condemn the whole endeavor? Might as well boycott grocery stores. Or public libraries. Or public schools. Grocery stores stock products owned by organizations that are unfriendly toward Christianity. Public libraries are full of books that portray Christianity in a negative light. Public schools often employ teachers who are hostile toward Christianity.

I was delighted to discover a useful list to keep on hand when I receive such complaints. My friend and colleague Steven D. Greydanus, who publishes reviews at Decent Films and at Christianity Today Movies was challenged, at artsandfaith.com, to “name twenty Hollywood movies made since the turn of the millennium that present Christianity in a positive light.”

He took a stab at it, and came up with this list:

1. Amazing Grace
2. America’s Heart and Soul
3. Because of Winn-Dixie
4. Bridge to Terabithia
5. Charlotte’s Web
6. Cinderella Man
7. Count of Monte Cristo, The
8. Daredevil
9. Exorcism of Emily Rose, The
10. Ladder 49
11. Lars and the Real Girl
12. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
13. My Big Fat Greek Wedding
14. Nativity Story, The
15. New World, The
16. Patriot, The
17. Return to Me
18. Rookie, The
19. Serenity
20. Signs
21. 6th Day, The
22. Spider-Man
23. Tears of the Sun
24. Walk to Remember, A
25. We Are Marshall
26. World Trade Center
27. X2: X-Men United

Thank you, Steven!

Now, I don’t think Greydanus is claiming that these films qualify as profound spiritual explorations. But they do stand in stark contrast to the claim that “Hollywood” (as if that was just one company, united under Satan) is operating under a mandate to slander and destroy Christianity.

Can you think of other titles that qualify? Name them! (Remember, they need to qualify as “Hollywood movies.” In other words, from a major American studio. If we were to expand this list to include independents and international film, the list would expand significantly.)

Movie Review: Stranger Than Fiction

STRANGER THAN FICTION
Most people have heard of the interesting premise of this movie. Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) is an IRS auditor with an incredibly dull life. One day he begins hearing a woman's voice narrating his every action. Unbeknownst to Crick, he actually is the protagonist in author Karen Effiel's (Emma Thompson) latest novel. We are shown dual realities as Ferrell tries to discover why he is hearing the voice and Effiel investigates method after method of killing off her character. When Ferrell hears the voice mention his impending death the search takes on a new urgency. He then enlists the aid of a literary professor (Dustin Hoffman) and Crick's life takes new turns as he begins to incorporate the professor's advice into his life. I am loathe to say more about the plot as this is about as much as I knew when watching the movie and I don't want to ruin it for anyone. (I will discuss some of my other thoughts in the spoilers below.)

What I can say is that this movie is an unexpected delight, as unique and original in its own way as was About a Boy, and that is high praise indeed. One of the charms is that although it was loaded with big talent no particular actor took precedence over another.

The biggest unexpected delight were the last few minutes of the movie which suddenly refocused our eyes on life in an entirely different way. It then becomes redemptive and life affirming in a way that not only affects every character in the movie but allows us to see the world in a new way as well. Intrigued? Good. Go see this movie.

SPOILER ALERT!

• I found the little counting/measuring device that overlay many of the scenes to be distracting and of no value whatsoever. It was clever but we got the point without it.


• I was really bothered by the way that practically every living space was sterile and sparsely furnished, with no decorations. The only exceptions were the baker's home and bakery, and the professor's office which all had a warm, homey feel. These characters are the only ones with fairly fulfilled lives and this shows in their environments as well.
  


• I really enjoyed the way that we were shown the author's imagined methods of death by using the little boy on a bike and the job seeker every time. I also enjoyed the fact that, as time went on, the job seeker's life obviously did also as she became employed.


• I liked seeing the author's agony as she realized that if Harold was real then there was the possibility that she had killed eight other "real" people. This was not just in the service of her art. There were real lives who had been ruined.
  


• As we got closer to the end of the movie and it became increasingly clear that Harold's death was inevitable, accepted even by him, I became angrier and angrier. Also fairly obvious was the idea that he'd have to save someone's life to make his own death necessary. However, that didn't help much, considering that the main proponent for his death was the professor who claimed it would be necessary for a great piece of literature. Is this the cost of art? No, indeed. So I just got angrier. Then when I saw the death scene ... what a cliche! This, to me was one of the weakest points. If this book was a great piece of art, then the death scene should have been a tad more original, n'est ce pas?


• Of course, the brilliant, final author's narration pulls the entire story together and spins the focus around in such a way that you see that self-sacrifice, freely offered, is an action that cannot be denied and that changes everyone who sees it. Not only is Harold redeemed but the professor stops just lifeguarding and enters the water himself. The writer also is transformed. She looks terrible throughout the movie, as if she's about to die herself, chain smoking, red eyed, hasn't published a novel in ten years, and is suffering from writer's block so severe that the publisher sends her an "assistant" to push progress along on time. When we see her at the end of the movie, she looks healthy and peaceful, even when contemplating rewriting the rest of the book, and thereby undertaking a complete departure from her usual methodology. Harold's willing sacrifice shook her our of her rut and made her see that there could be a better story, a more worthy story, to tell. That the little things like a warm cookie, the touch of a hand, a hug, a little act of kindness are truly the things that can transform our lives and make them worth living. It is also part of the genius of this movie, that such hackneyed phrases can take on a new and redemptive life when the viewer is seeing them ... and that is because they are true.