Because they are all sourced from the one great story. The larger story. Our story. The giants of culture have been borrowing our story for years in the films they direct and produce. By identifying the redemptive stories embedded in all those great films, we feel like we are taking it back, one review at a time.
This animated film is no Disney movie, but it has much of the heart and sentimentality that you would find in one. Sometimes we assume the worst and seek to destroy the things we do not understand.
Longfellow writes that “often times we call a man cold when he is only sad”. That is certainly the case with Russell Durwitz. He is an image consultant who helps other find success in the world’s eyes despite the fact that any form of happiness has eluded him. A surprise visitor on his 40th birthday takes him on a adventure of remembering, healing and restoration.
What makes a holiday film an enduring classic? The Hallmark channel is working overtime this time of year to figure out that formula, but it is very rare that a new Christmas movie becomes a classic. What if someone made a movie where the hero was the very epitome of light coming into the darkness of the world?
The 2009 animated feature from the folks at Pixar may have the most beautiful and poignant picture of both the joy and heartbreak of marriage ever captured on film. And that is just in the first 10 minutes! The rest of the film is about fulfilling the dreams of a lost loved one. In the process of that huge adventure, a wounded heart is restored, a man finds a new reason to live, and a young boy finds the father figure that he desperately needs.
It took 14 years to bring this sequel to market because director, Brad Bird, didn’t want to make the typical “money grab” parlaying the success of a film with a quick sequel, but waited until the right story emerged to follow up the first one…and it shows. This one packs a serious combination of doing the right thing, caring for others, and the love of family.
Ray Kinsella thinks the voice he is following is all about the restoration of Terence Mann, Shoeless Joe, and Dr. Moonlight Graham. He thinks he is supposed to mend their broken stories of an abbreviated association with baseball. But the journey Ray is taking is about something much deeper, the inexplicable restoration of his relationship with his father.
We all eventually learn that the success that the world offers doesn’t hold a candle to the fulfillment we find in love, family, and home. Hassan Kadam has to travel from complete obscurity to the pinnacle of culinary success in order to learn this simple lesson. A delightful family film that will leave you soul satisfied and possible searching for some good Indian food.
Based on the true story of a man in Texas who planned to launch himself into orbit. This is well before some well-known billionaires decided to throw their hat in the same ring. Farmer still carries the childhood belief that he can be anything he wants to be. For him, that is an astronaut. Okay, so I can’t really recommend you watch the movie, it is pretty mediocre, but the trailer is fantastic.
It was impossible to avoid this true story of the 13-year old champion female surfer who lost her arm to a shark attack. Bethany Hamilton’s journey is one of the best your family will ever watch together. Partly because so many movies of this type are not family-friendly, but also because her faith is given a lot of the credit for her ability to make the journey.
Yet another live-action remake of a Disney classic. While it wasn’t reviewed well, we really enjoyed this retelling of the beloved animated film. Yifei Liu is fantastic in the title role as a girl who disguises her gender in order to save her family and their family honor.
One of the best movies I will probably never watch again. It is the incredible true story of a single father who claws his way from homelessness to huge financial success. The perilousness of this father’s journey to protect his child made it a very hard viewing for this father.
Rudy is undaunted by his size, his circumstance, and the incredulousness of everyone he knows. He is going to go to Notre Dame and run onto the field as part of the Fighting Irish Football team. He doesn’t have any money, academic qualification, or athletic ability. His dream couldn’t feel any more improbable.
Told through the vehicle of a grandfather’s reading a story to a grandson, this one is great fun and a favorite of many. This may be the highest-rated romantic comedy of all time and is filled with heroes, villains, and the rescue of a princess.
Critics are loving this film and it is easy to see why. It sort of has everything, but unfortunately for me, sometimes feels like it has too much. My teenagers enjoyed this one a whole lot more than I did.
The amazing true story of the “creation” of the Williams sisters. In Richard’s eyes, he wasn’t raising the Tiger Woods of tennis, he was raising two of them.
The best word I can use to describe this 38-minute animated short based the best selling book is “magical”.
