HEAVEN IS FOR REAL Review

I'm always hesitant to walk into a film that is willing to unabashedly push an obvious message on its viewers; one that is clearly being used to promote a specific or biased opinion, basically propaganda, and unfortunately that has been the case with many a "Christian-themed" films over the past few years. Message movies are a difficult thing to pull off in the first place because they can indeed seem obvious or come off as overly-hokey or sentimental that, when all rolled into one, are the kinds of movies you typically find on something like the Hallmark channel. When it comes to faith-based films specifically I have a tendency to shy away from them because I've always been of the mind that each person is entitled to believe what they want to believe and though I certainly support learning as much about religious culture and the numerous incarnations of faith that cover our world it has to be of that persons own accord. The individual has to want it otherwise forcing someone into a situation further than an introduction will always make a future decision to believe, get baptized, pray, put trust in a higher power, etc. to be nothing if not insincere. That probably seems a little harsh, but faith is such a personal thing that I have to believe someone has to come to really believe in a God on their own and not be coaxed into it by others. This isn't an essay about religion and faith though, but a review of the latest in a string of faith-based films that have opened in the early months of 2014 to strong reception from an audience that has not necessarily been ignored, but never addressed as outright as they have been lately. It is hard to consider myself part of a group because I like to stay open to different ideas and different interpretations from all points of view, but I do believe in God (even if that belief sways more toward metaphorical than literal interpretations when it comes to the Bible and could apply to the concept of heaven as well) and though I enjoy a good religious debate or interesting conversation about the reaches of space, other life and how it correlates to the existence of a God or creationism vs. evolution, I've still been rooting for a film that comes to the forefront of these faith-based pieces of entertainment and doesn't try to push an agenda on an audience, but simply tell them a story from the point of view of honest believers and I think Heaven is for Real is the closest we're likely get.

YOU'RE NEXT Review

I've said countless times that horror is probably my least favorite genre and that I find little real pleasure in paying to see people killed or haunted and generally made uncomfortable for the sake of entertainment. I understand why people find it engaging and I have no problem watching scary movies, I just don't really look forward to it unless it's fall and the leaves and weather compliment the small towns that are often represented within the film. There is a strange, oddly comfortable layer of relatability and the fantasy of what might go down in these kinds of films is hopefully as far removed from your reality as possible. What makes this latest piece of original horror so enticing is that it could not feel more removed from the majority of its audiences likely realities, but that it is in on the joke the majority of its audiences would be making about if it were legitimately trying to stir up some scares from us. You're Next is a low budget riff on the home invasion thrillers that have been sprinkled through the genre since its inception. Director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett (who have both contributed to the horror anthologies V/H/S and V/H/S/2) made this film a little over two years ago (the film premiered at the 2011 Toronto Film Festival), but have been unable to secure a distribution deal for it and so it is with somewhat of a delayed reaction that we receive the film in all its goofy glory. To say I had fun with this film is to say something that might be easily misinterpreted, but trust me when I say You're Next works just as much as a horror flick as it does a comedy. There is brutal violence, a couple of specific shots that gave me the chills, and a body count that will appease anyone in the genre faithful, but on top of that it also has plenty of bad acting from its D-list cast, a musical score for the ages and dialogue that makes it even tougher for these already unskilled actors to allow us to even try and take them seriously. No, You're Next isn't a great film, it may not even be a very good one when we get right down to it, but to say it is not entertaining or that it doesn't have a certain charisma to it that pulls you in and elates your senses would be a tough argument to make and that alone is worth the recommendation.