“Run the Race” is a surprisingly well-made, subtly-acted faith-based film, which is a rarity. The story of a swaggering high school football player (Tanner Stine) and his younger brother (Evan Hofer) trying to help each other out of poverty and despair through sports and faith plays like a Christian “Friday...
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Reviews
RogerEbert.com — Miracles From Heaven
If you’ve read my reviews over the years, you probably know I’m not a big fan of faith-based films. That’s what makes “Miracles From Heaven” such a wonderful surprise. But regardless of your religious beliefs (or lack thereof), bring tissues. You’ll need them for this real-life story of a little...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — The Young Messiah
“The Young Messiah” is essentially an origin story for the archetypal superhero: Jesus Christ. Exploring what life might have been like for the messiah at age 7 is an intriguing idea, but the execution is rather earnest and dull. Still, it has better production values than most faith-based films. Hallelujah!...
Read moreWar Room
Sony Pictures Rated PG for thematic elements throughout. Running time: 120 minutes. One and a half stars out of four. “War Room” is the most slickly made faith-based film I’ve seen yet in terms of production values, but that doesn’t make it quote-unquote good, per se. It certainly looks better...
Read moreKirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas
Samuel Goldwyn Films Rated PG for some thematic elements. Running time: 80 minutes. Zero stars out of four. Let’s just set aside the ideology for a second. We’ll get to that, I promise. Purely from a technical perspective — from a perspective of sheer craft — “Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas”...
Read moreWhat the Flick?! — Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas
“Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas” — or as I like to think of it, “Tyler Perry’s Kirk Cameron’s Saving Christmas” — is a holiday comedy for Christian audiences that’s hilarious in its ineptitude. Seriously, how did this get released? It’s “The Room” of Christmas movies. Alonso and I had a good...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Left Behind
A movie about the Rapture starring Nicolas Cage should be wackier than this. As an airline pilot who has to fly a plane under difficult circumstances of biblical proportions, Cage is oddly inert. You want him to bring the wide-eyed, full-bore crazy; instead he’s the calm voice of reason. But...
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Persecuted
As a disgraced evangelist, James Remar runs around with a rosary and a gun in his bloodied hands, trying to clear his good name. It is not very subtle. My one-star RogerEbert.com review. Read the review here...
Read moreWhat the Flick?! — Moms’ Night Out
The boys and I had a lively conversation about the faith-based comedy “Moms’ Night Out” and the subsequent shitstorm the negative reviews have inspired....
Read moreRogerEbert.com — Moms’ Night Out
Moms are frazzled control freaks and dads are blithering incompetents in this dismally tame, faith-based comedy. Basically the message is: Don’t go out. Because if you do, all hell will break loose — or rather, all heck. My RogerEbert.com review. Read the review here...
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