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Reviews
Yesterday (2019)
Enjoyable for Beatle Fans
The film was an interesting nostalgic trip through the music of The Beatles. The movie poses the question, "What would life be like without the music of the Fab Four?" The moralistic dilemma of wealth and fame versus love and serenity is ever-present while a sweet, though rather shallow romantic storyline serves as the thread weaving the storylines together. Major holes exists as to how the world forgot The Beatles. Still, the music made viewing the film a nice way to spend a couple of hours.
The Faith Community (2017)
Waste of time
The producers were grossly out of touch with the manner in which cults really operate. The acting is very poor. From the very beginning the viewer realizes this retreat is run by a some deranged characters. There is no sense of being "drawn in." Good films in this genre are presented in a manner that is almost believable, such as the Blair Witch. In the Blair Witch the viewer is slowly moved into the horror allowing the terror to be far more experiential. In this film we know in the first ten minutes that some horror is awaiting.
The movie uses far too much "preachy" material in the first quarter of the film. Many will grow quickly bored and may not hang around for the action. Personally, as a United Methodist I was uncomfortable with the sect using the UM logo of the cross and flame on the t-shirts. Many, if not most United Methodist are not fundamentalists. This personal element made everything from the outset to be unbelievable.
Pilgrimage (2017)
Mixed Bag
Viewing "Pilgrimage" provided a mixed bag of the dynamics that can create a film of interest or boredom. The visuals certainly fit the historical backdrop. Those were years of theological shadows. Faith versus the need of relics, a compassionate religious worldview versus a justification for using violence in defense of faith, and personal faith versus the institutional power of the church are captured in the dark, gray, and cloudy mood created through lighting. They were years in which the yearning for truth and meaning was restrained by superstition. The story moves slowly through 13th century Europe. Again, I loved the visuals but was disappointed as interesting religious themes struggled to break through the plodding storyline. The characters were not developed enough for me to emotionally invest myself in them. I felt Pilgrimage missed a great opportunity to create a meaningful film that dared explore the important themes of personal faith, the institutional church and especially the confusion that always exists when attempting to narrowly define good versus evil.