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Aronofsky to Bring ‘Noah’ to the Big Screen

Mark Moring — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 17:10:34 +0000

What had been rumored for years became official Monday when Paramount Pictures and New Regency Productions announced that Academy Award nominee Darren Aronofsky will direct the feature film Noah.

"Since I was a kid, I have been moved and inspired by the story of Noah and his family's journey," Aronofsky (Black Swan, The Wrestler) said in a press release. "The imagination of countless generations have sparked to this epic story of faith. It's my hope that I can present a window into Noah's passion and perseverance for the silver screen." Christian Bale is rumored to be the frontrunner to play the title character. Academy Award nominee John Logan (Gladiator, The Aviator) will re-write the original script penned by Aronofsky and Ari Hanel. Filming will begin in the spring, with the shoot lasting an estimated 40 days and 40 nights (just kidding on that last part). Noah was last seen on the big screen looking an awful lot like a heavily bearded Steve Carrell in the 2007 comedy Evan Almighty, a box office and critical bust. There have also been a number of animated versions over the years, and a 1999 TV version starring Jon Voight as the title character. It's not the first time Aronofsky has tackled religion or spiritual matters on the big screen. The Fountain (2006) was, as our reviewer Jeffrey Overstreet put it, a "science fiction mind-bender (in which) we learn that our sufferings are caused by our separation from the Tree of Life mentioned in the book of Genesis." But ultimately, the characters showed little interest in God himself. Overstreet also wrote in that review, "Spiritual exploration seems to be Aronofsky's forte, after all. His first film, Pi, told a troubling tale about a headache-prone mathematical genius who began to suspect that God was speaking to him through the numbers. The next film, Requiem for a Dream, portrayed people succumbing to addictions of all kinds, looking for satisfaction and solace in all the wrong places. Each project has been risky, experimental, and uniquely philosophical. In The Fountain, it becomes clear that Aronofsky believes our sufferings stem from both spiritual and physical lack. So his characters take dangerous risks in order to find healing for their bodies and their hearts." In an interview with CT at the time, Aronofsky spoke about dealing with mortality and "the sanctity of life." He said that The Fountain was "in many ways . . . about science versus art, and religion versus spirituality. You have these [scientific and religious] dogmas that are the languages of a certain type of discovery, but beneath that you have a certain type of acceptance and truth." But it might be a leap to say that the director, who grew up in a Jewish home, holds to an orthodox Christian view of the world. In that same interview, he said, "At the core of so many different religions is the spiritual truth which unites us all. It's just amazing when you look at the Judeo-Christian/Islamic foundation in Genesis about the two trees in the Garden of Eden—the Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life—and man and woman ate from the Tree of Knowledge and were basically banned from Eden. They could no longer eat from the Tree of Life. You think about that, and then you go to the Mayan tradition. Think about how separate the Jews were from the Mayans! They were separated by, who knows, thousands of years—and yet, the Mayans tell a story about 'a first father,' an Adam, who had to make a sacrifice for the Tree of Life. "To me, that's amazing that there's this unity of spiritual sense between many of the faiths. I think that there is something that makes us all human. From all our different faiths and beliefs, there is something that connects us." (Photo by Niko Tavernise)

Documentary Examines 9/11 Cross at WTC

Mark Moring — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 06:42:03 +0000

As the World Trade Center cross makes the news again in recent weeks -- atheists suing to keep it from being displayed at the memorial, and a NY lawmaker wanting it to be called a national monument -- it's a good time to revisit a 2006 documentary that tells the story of that cross. The Cross and the Towers, winner of a Crystal Heart Award from the Heartland Film Festival, looks back at 9/11 and the ensuing days through the eyes of seven people, several of whom were on the scene and digging through the rubble in search of survivors. The 54-minute documentary follows their stories through the finding of the steel beams intersecting to form a perfect cross, a symbol of hope that remains at Ground Zero today. It's definitely worth a watch as we remember that historical, horrible day. The film is available to stream for $3.99 here. And here's the trailer:

Are Youth Groups Biblical?

Mark Moring — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 23:50:00 +0000

This post is written by Mark Mooring of Christianity Today: Every Wednesday night during the school year, I join other adults to meet with high school students to study the Bible. According to the new documentary Divided, now showing for free online, this practice is unbiblical, worldly, and dangerous to families—not to mention an extension of evolution and paganism. From my 12 years as a volunteer youth worker, I know that just as churches are flawed, so are youth ministries. We’ve made mistakes. We’ve course corrected; pizza and eating goldfish are no longer the meat and potatoes of youth discipleship. And these kinds of conversations must continue; we have to challenge what we do and ask tough questions including: Why are so many church kids leaving their faith behind? Divided is supposedly asking the same question. It’s billed as a “journey to discover the truth about modern youth ministry, with this question in mind: ‘Is it an issue with the church, the kids, the parents?’” But this 60-minute film isn’t interested in fair exploration or discussion. Instead, it is propaganda, a commercial for the Family Integrated Church movement, an association of interdenominational churches which view age-segregated, peer-oriented youth ministries as “family-fragmenting” and unscriptural. The movie both begins and ends with the logo for producing organization The National Center for Family Integrated Churches (NCFIC). The movie begins with a young filmmaker, Philip Leclerc, saying he’s seeking answers to his questions about youth ministry. But by the end, that quest feels like a ruse—a fake journey for answers he already knew. (Leclerc, who made the movie with his brother, admits his father pulled him out of high school youth ministry.) By the time Leclerc delivers his final verdict—“God didn’t ordain youth ministry. He didn’t create Sunday school. He did create the church and the family”—it’s obvious he’s been toeing the company line from the start. The most striking evidence: Almost every Divided interview is with supporters of the movement, including extended time with NCFIC director Scott Brown (who is credited as an executive producer). Other interviews (like those with youth pastors at the National Youth Workers Convention) are truncated and used strategically—to the point that they can feel as if they are used out of context. This is not the only questionable methodology. The film is filled with scare tactics, vague overstatements, experts with random credentials like “Jake’s Café,” broad-brush painting and sketchy statistics like this from Britt Beemer of America’s Research Group: “90 percent of kids had so many doubts before college you could drive a semi-truck through.” How many doubts create such a hole? Are we talking an 18-wheeler? While some featured adherents of the movement present welcomed nuance (aka “this approach doesn’t work in all contexts but it does in ours”), most draw a black-and-white picture that youth ministry is not mentioned in the Bible—and is therefore categorically dangerous. They go on: Age-segregated programs date back to paganism and are actually schemes to get evolution into churches. (Get it? Students advance from first grade to second just like Neanderthals to humans). All nuance is tossed aside in the thesis that youth ministry must be eradicated wholesale in favor of fathers, and fathers alone, instructing and mentoring young people. We as a faith community must continue discussing how we reflect the model of church and ministry in Acts and the epistles. Unfortunately, the video equivalent of an angry letter-to-the-editor doesn’t extend that conversation. Watch the trailer here:

Divided Trailer from NCFIC on Vimeo.

‘Machine Gun Preacher’ for Two Audiences

Mark Moring — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 17:47:18 +0000

Coming to theaters next month, Machine Gun Preacher is a movie that will appeal to some Christians because of its subject matter. It will also turn off some Christians . . . because of its subject matter. The movie, opening in limited release on September 23, is based on the true story of Sam Childers, a drug-dealing hell raiser as a teen and young man who began to turn his life around after finding Jesus. Today, he spends much of his time in Sudan and neighboring countries, allegedly fighting pockets of the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) with his own band of gun-toting rebels while sweeping up orphans who have been left behind -- and then putting them into orphanages that he has built in the area. Some Christians will love the film for showing Childers' path from rebellion to redemption. Others may avoid it for the same reason; the first 15-20 minutes are as in-your-face and gritty as anything you'll see in an R-rated movie (which it is), with a sex scene, drug dealing (and taking), brutal violence, and foul language. Even after Childers -- played terrifically by Gerard Butler -- finds God, he's still got some rough edges, and his flaws stick with him through the rest of the movie. Sounds pretty realistic to me, and I appreciate the filmmakers' boldness in showing those character flaws. But it's also a bit much for the "safe-for-the-whole-family" folks who prefer their "Christian" movies to be G-rated fare. Relativity Media, which is distributing the Marc Forster-directed film, realizes this, but knows it's also got a film on its hands that can have terrific crossover appeal -- for Christians because of the redemptive arc of the tale, and for secular audiences who appreciate character development woven into what is in many ways an action movie, with Childers as its real-life action hero. In an attempt to reach both audiences, Relativity has released mainstream and faith-based versions of the movie poster. They also plan to release "exclusive" clips for the faith-based market in a week or so. Stay tuned. Here are the two posters -- "secular" on the left, "faith-based" on the right. Both include the phrase, "Hope is the greatest weapon of all." In the latter, the cross motif is evident, but seems forced, especially as it cuts off Butler's forehead. But there seems to be a clear focus on the children -- the main motivation for Childers' work -- in the background. Finally, here's the trailer:

Why I Can’t Boycott Mel Gibson

Mark Moring — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:38:38 +0000

Anna Broadway, a guest blogger at Her.meneutics, CT's women's blog, explains why she won't boycott Mel Gibson's movies despite the recent spate of scandals and less-than-flattering news about the actor/director -- the creator behind The Passion of The Christ. "Gibson’s rant is not the main issue here," Broadway writes. "The issue is, what do our opinions of him and those like him — and our decisions of whether to support or shun them — say about our beliefs about humanity? If it were the case that The Passion were a praiseworthy film, and that Gibson were a racist, violent man, need acknowledging the one fact entail denial of the other? It shouldn’t." Click here to read the entire post.

Gerard Butler to Play ‘Machine Gun Preacher’

Mark Moring — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 01:26:01 +0000

Gerard Butler, last seen onscreen in The Bounty Hunter) will be hunting a bounty of another kind in an upcoming film that begins shooting this month: Machine Gun Preacher, the true story of Sam Childers. Childers, allegedly a Christian preacher, literally lives up to the film's title by carrying a machine gun into Sudan to rescue young children from that nation's war atrocities -- including rape, murder, and forcing them to become child soldiers. Childers, author of Another Man’s War: The True Story of One Man’s Battle to Save Children in the Sudan, told The Christian Post last year, "I don’t condone violence at all . . . but at the same time I don’t believe that children should be raped, murdered, or cut up. I would have to ask the American people that you take a person that cuts up a child, or kill a child, or rape a child, if you catch a person doing that do you think that person would just stop if you just say stop? Or do you think you are going to have to fight that person? You would definitely need to fight that person or else they are going to kill you. "I look at it as a self-defense and I look at it as I’m helping God’s children. I’m not a person out to murder. But at the same time these people need to be stopped. "As far as a pastor with a gun, what would you call David? What would you call all the prophets in the Bible that were soldiers?"

‘HolyWars’ Documentary Getting Some Buzz

Mark Moring — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 22:16:18 +0000

A compelling new documentary called HolyWars made its world premiere at the SilverDocs film festival last week, where it caught the eye of IndieWIRE magazine. IndieWIRE asked director Stephen Marshall about what they called his "unusual approach to the subject of religious extremism in a post-9/11 world after his film completed both of its Silverdocs screenings," adding that Marshall had set out to make a film about end-of-the-world rhetoric. “The inception point was in 2006; Bush was still in power," Marshall said. "The zeitgeist was focused on apocalyptic thinking. This was the original idea that got me the money to make the film. The question was: Could they make it happen? Could they make a self-fulfilling prophecy?” More info here.

Pope Joan Film Sparks Catholic Outcry

Mark Moring — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 19:07:36 +0000

According to the UK's Telegraph, a new film based on the legend of Pope Joan – an Englishwoman who purportedly disguised herself as a man and rose to become the only female pontiff in history – has sparked debate in the Roman Catholic Church. Peter Stanford, a former editor of the Catholic Herald and the author of The She-Pope: a quest for the truth behind the mystery of Pope Joan, said, "It's perfectly feasible that Joan existed. A monk's cowl is baggy and well suited to covering up a woman's body. We know that some women bound their breasts and cut their hair to pass themselves off as men."

‘Great Divorce’ Gathers More Steam

Mark Moring — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 00:08:01 +0000

When it was announced last October that Beloved Pictures had picked up the rights to make a movie of C. S. Lewis's The Great Divorce, many reacted with a "huh?" Who is Beloved Pictures? Though respected director David L. Cunningham (To End All Wars) had signed on to helm the project, some still wondered if it would ever see the light of day. Now it has been announced that Beloved is partnering with Mpower Pictures to produce the film, with Mpower founder Steve McEveety to lead the production team, moving the movie one critical step closer to reality. McEveety is best known for producing a number of Mel Gibson films, including The Passion of the Christ, Braveheart, and We Were Soldiers. Beloved Pictures president Caleb Applegate says that McEveety and Empower are "keen on the project. It's definitely going to happen." He said the release date is still to be determined; the script hasn't even been written yet, but acclaimed children's writer N.D. Wilson (Leepike Ridge, 100 Cupboards) will tackle that task. "He's a phenomenal writer," says Applegate. "He's a Christian, and he's red-hot right now. I've got nothing but great things to say about him."

‘Dawn Treader’ Trailer Premiere: Right Here!

Mark Moring — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 19:33:07 +0000

Thanks to Walden Media and 20th Century Fox, CT is among several select outlets pleased to bring you the world premiere of the trailer for The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Let us know what you think.