Change Your Image
director-editor
Reviews
The Apostle (1997)
a comment from a preacher's son...
This film rates as one of my all-time favorites for a number of reasons; it features Robert Duvall, June Carter Cash, Farrah Fawcett and Billy Joe Shaver (now who on this green earth would have ever imagined these four appearing together?); but what really cinches it for me is the absolute veracity of the character of the 'pastor'.
Forget, for the moment, that the media stereotype of the evangelical preacher is that of a hardshelled, narrow-minded, right-wing bigot (in the form, say, of Pat Robertson), who has plenty of time to point out society's demons, but little time for the forgiveness that is often overlooked in the Gospel. Move away from that 'preacher' title and consider the 'pastor', which is the true role of Apostle E.F.
Apostle E.F. came to town to build a church, to nurture it into growth, to protect it...and that he did. I use the term 'church' here in the Biblical sense; 'a body of believers', and not necessarily an edifice. E.F. didn't seek to build a church for his personal enrichment, but rather, he held down several odd jobs in order to pay his way while fulfilling his goal.
This is seen in his tireless day-and-night efforts, his personal dealings with his congregants, his perfect willingness to accept anyone and everyone...but the scene that really grabbed me, made me go buy the DVD, watch it, pause it and replay over and over, was when the tough guy character (Billy Bob Thornton) is hauled off by E.F., who kicks the $#!+ out of him...because the tough guy was going to harm the church.
I remember watching this scene once with my older son, who is a combat-hardened US Marine. He turned to me in amazement and said, "Dad, that was Grandpa!". The truth is, in a time that is now fading into the past, a church's pastor would readily defend his church and his flock, physically, if necessary -- something that wasn't uncommon at all to see. I could go into pages and pages about my dad's dealings with destructive people, and how, sometimes even with a gun pointed at him, he always won.
But I'll leave it with this comment: This film demonstrates a clear fact of history: the toughest men in America have been it's church's pastors.
Walk the Line (2005)
Not bad as a bio-pic
Being a product of the 1950s, I grew up on Johnny Cash. His music was the soundtrack for my adolescence ('way back When Country Wasn't Cool) and he was among several whom I idolized...such hero-worship inspired me to seek a profession in music, myself; this led to a media career that is now thirty-plus years in existence.
Fans always exist, but my affinity with Cash took on a special significance, due in part to the fact that we both came from the same sweltering little area of south Arkansas, both were raised hellfire-and-damnation Southern Baptist (and both overcame it), and we even had mutual acquaintances, although I never met the man.
Having read both of his autobiographies and the 1969 bio by George Carpozi, Jr., I entered a St. Louis, Missouri theater prepared to be the worst critic ever to have two thumbs. My surprise came in several waves. There is faithful attention paid to Cash's recollections (in Man In Black and Cash: An Autobiography), especially when the viewer understands that for the most part, each scene in the movie is a compilation of numerous scenes from real life. There are nuances such as the scene on the tour bus, when Cash makes his way back to June to propose. Enroute, he encounters a sleeping Luther Perkins, who is holding a lit cigarette, and Cash gently crushes out the smoke for his friend. Not in the film, but Perkins was to die several months later as a result of burns from a fire caused by his sleeping with a lit cigarette.
One thing that puzzles me, though, is that there is enough fact about Cash's hell-raising to make two movies and a sequel. It's hardly a topic in this film. Cash's writings about his own life took me on dark treks where he would lash the wheel of a Jeep, close his eyes and drive blindly through the desert, expecting to crash and die. He was fined nearly a million dollars for setting a forest on fire. He was known for trashing hotel rooms with chainsaws. His epiphany and road to recovery from drug abuse came after a climactic episode when he crawled into a cave that was well-known to be a hopeless series of labyrinths, in an attempt at a final escape from the world. How come no one has ever done a movie about any of this? Finally, Joachim Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, both gifted and skilled actors, don't look or sound like Johnny and June, but they have enough talent to make the play work. The choice for supporting players was a bit disappointing (with all the Elvis impersonators on the planet, one would think it wouldn't be tough to find an actor who looks like the King), but there is one breathtaking bit of casting that deserves some award or reward. Dan John Miller as Luther Perkins is the dog-goned-est reincarnation I've ever seen on a screen. Other than that, the casting is so-so.
But I highly recommend this film for the story, the sound, the music and the energy. If ol' Johnny is helpin' out St. Peter right now, he's probably gotten permission to take his show into Hell, itself and entertain the damned.
My Classic Car (1997)
Jay Leno's Favorite Program
Comedian and talk show host Jay Leno, himself quite a collector of classic automobiles, with several dozen stabled at his home, once commented on the 'Tonight Show' that 'My Classic Car' was his favorite television program.
Not a program for those who don't like the smell of grease and oil, 'My Classic Car' regularly looks in on off-the-frame restoration projects and follows them through from towed-in rust heaps to best-of-show prize winners.
Initially placed on TNN and now seen on Speed TV, the program attracts a wide-spectrum following. The show offers tips for the do-it-yourselfer, giving suggestions as to determining the value of your car, etc.
Produced by Bradley-David Productions, which also brings to life 'Ride-On' and 'Texas Hardtails', the program is hosted by hardcore collector Dennis Gage. The off-camera narrator is Brian Jackson, Gage's on-camera co-host on Speed TV's 'Ride-On'.
Bean (1997)
the funniest movie ever from the funniest guy who ever lived...
I could dwell at this keyboard and gush all night long, but a bunch of words on a monitor aren't going to do this movie justice, nor will they make you get up out of your chair and go see it. I'll venture forth to say that when it hit our town, I sat in the theater laughing so hard that my kids got up and moved. Rowan Atkinson is definitely my kind of humor, and 'Bean' has it in stacks, with subtle little jokes neatly filling in between the hoots, guffaws and minute-long belly laughs.
If there's a God in Heaven (and I believe there is), then the genius of comedy that gave us 'Bean' will not go unrewarded in the life hereafter. Even the Lord has a sense of humor, and He's never demonstrated that any better than by creating Rowan Atkinson. Makes me wonder if The Man is up there on His throne, looking down, scratching His head and saying, "how am I gonna top that?"
Let me suggest, Almighy One, that you could simply make Mr. Atkinson immortal, then let him stay here to entertain generations of Earthlings for eternity...
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
Crucifixion or cashifixion...?
Just came from the opening-day screening of The Passion, and the cynic (read: realist) in me says, "Another crucifixion film; just more blood 'n' guts!".
Now, please understand that I'm neither an agnostic nor a theological liberal; in fact, I'm an ordained deacon who happens to be a film editor, by trade. Watching it, I had my analysis-meter running at full power (sad that I can't just sit back and enjoy a flick, isn't it?) and it's very apparent that the producers played on the well-anticipated press-release press that this movie received to insure a Christian nation-full of packed theaters.
The concerns by the Jewish community are not at all baseless; there are several lines delivered during Jesus' trials (before Pilate and Herod) that give a subtle message that (in spite of protests by Franklin Graham and Mel Gibson himself) maybe the Jews really are to blame for all this. These lines, in my humble opinion, did nothing to help the plot (and were not at all historically or theologically sound), but they will sell tickets.
Likewise, the scriptural liberties (like Caiphas declaring to the mob, "He tells us that by eating his flesh and blood, we will have eternal life", when the words that Caiphas inaccurately paraphrased had only been uttered by Jesus hours earlier, to a group of eleven...how did Caiphas know?) and a marked bias toward Roman Catholic doctrine give this film less of a sheen.
Someone is going to make gobs of money from this film (considerably more than Judas' thirty pieces of silver), which reminds me of words by my late father (himself a minister): "If there's a buck to be made in religion, someone'll get it!". But I'm not totally panning the film; it has moments when the armchair-theologian in me is surprised by careful attention to certain Scriptural minutia that even a lot of preachers leave unnoticed. It is graphic -- and probably could be more so; crucifixions are not pretty -- and to Christians, a reasonable reminder of how our Savior's last hours may have been.
Also, the big-budget perks, like exquisite makeup, incredible sets and some of the most convincing motion-control camera/compositing I've seen, make this one worthy of a watch. The subtitles (the film is voiced entirely in ancient Latin, Hebrew and Aramaic) were not nearly as tedious as I expected them to be.
To those who are experiencing the story for the first time through this movie, please understand that it IS a movie and is not precisely true to Scripture. I would strongly recommend, in no uncertain terms, the old saying that has been going around ever since film was invented: If you want to find out what really happened, read the book!