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Let me get one thing straight off
the bat - I’m a reviewer who calls a spade a spade. Whether it’s a
big-budget Hollywood star vehicle or a labor-of-love indie, the
question for me is simply "Is it a good movie?" So although
I knew that Facing the Giants had an interesting backstory -
made on a shoestring budget by an Georgia church - it certainly
didn’t predispose me in the movie’s favor. I just popped it into the
DVD player and said "Let’s see!" Well, I saw that this is
one outstanding film.

Facing the Giants introduces
us to the Shiloh Eagles, a high-school football team that’s gone six
years without a winning season, and to its coach, Grant Taylor, who’s
struggling with crises in his personal life as well as a sense of
crushing failure about the team. Can Grant pull his team - and by
extension himself - out of a slump of apathy and discontent, and dare
to dream of success? The answer would seem to be "no,"
until a visitor gives Grant a message: God opens doors that no man
can shut… and Grant has an open door at Shiloh. What will he do
about it? It’s that challenge that sparks Grant to call on God for
inspiration and strength, and to try something very different with
his team.

If I had to summarize my praise for
the film in one word, it would be "daring." You might find
that odd. After all, we usually hear that word tossed around for
films that bare a little more skin or show a little more violence
than the current norm… but that sort of thing isn’t really daring
at all. Hollywood knows perfectly well that pushing the envelope just
a bit in terms of sex and violence is a safe bet.

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But if you think about it, what’s
the aspect of the human experience that Hollywood won’t touch with a
ten-foot pole?

Faith.

When was the last time you saw a
film or episode of a TV show in which any of the characters was an
ordinary person who is also a devout Christian? (Note the emphasis on
"ordinary": from their few appearances in the media, you’d
think that all Catholic priests were either 1. exorcists or 2.
pedophiles. Puh-leeze.) When have you seen a character reading the
Bible? Praying? Referencing God as part of making a decision?
Probably very seldom, if ever. And yet, faith is an integral part of
the daily life of many Americans. What kind of weird cultural
disconnect do we have when the media not just ignores it, but
pretends it doesn’t exist? It’s as weird as if we never saw people
falling in love in the movies (except for the occasional obsessed
lover who stabs somebody.) I think we get this vacuum because
depictions of faith challenge us… and we don’t like to be
challenged. It’s a lot easier to just label a film like Facing the
Giants as "oh, it’s preaching at us" - that lets us toss it
aside without actually thinking about its message. Except that it’s
not preaching, anyway: it’s doing that rare thing, giving us a clear
and emotionally honest view of what faith can mean in real life.

That’s why I’d call Facing the
Giants "daring." I’ve never seen such a courageous
exploration of how faith works in people’s lives. We’re not talking
about a one-off scene in which a character offers up a prayer to God
in a crisis; that’s about all we see, if we see anything at all, of
faith in mainstream film. No, we’re talking about how Grant, his wife
Brooke, and the other characters incorporate their faith into every
aspect of their lives. In particular, I found the scenes of Grant’s
struggle with the crises in his life to be particularly moving. Here,
Facing the Giants dares to show us Grant in agonized prayer;
in the struggle to accept God’s will in whatever form it takes; and
in heartfelt gratitude. In Grant, we have a character whose faith
illuminates all aspects of his life, from work to home; it’s no
one-shot moment. (It’s interesting to note that in this film, whose
theme is the work of God in human hearts and lives, no scenes take
place in a church.)

OK, so Facing the Giants is
daring. But is it also a good film? Definitely.

For one thing, it’s not just daring.
It takes on a challenging theme, yes, but so do other films… the
question is what it does with that theme. Facing the Giants
goes to the finish line here by fully exploring the material, and
taking it seriously. For instance, when we see Grant struggling at
various points in the film, Facing the Giants doesn’t shy away
from showing the honest emotion involved. The result is a very moving
portrayal of Grant’s character development. I suspect that some
viewers might see these scenes and criticize the film for being too
emotional or too sentimental, but I really felt that the film is
completely honest, presenting highly emotional content without
pulling on any easy-to-reach strings in the viewers. It may seem a
little over-the-top at first, but (again) only because we’re not used
to seeing portrayals of real faith in film. Imagine the same level of
emotion dealing with romantic love, and it’ll seem perfectly normal,
even quite restrained. (If you’re the kind of person who’d watch
Romeo and Juliet and comment "Hey, why’s he so upset? Why
doesn’t he just get a new girlfriend?" then you might find
Facing the Giants to be too emotional. But your friends
probably don’t like sitting next to you in the theater…)

Plot-wise, Facing the Giants
has the challenge that every sports movie faces: of taking the
typical "rooting for the underdogs" story and making it
fresh. I’d say that it does a solid job here, for a couple of
reasons. One is that the football-game part of the story retains a
certain desirable unpredictability by having both ups and downs
throughout the film; it also stays tightly within the bounds of
realism, not veering over into fairy-tale mode. (As an athlete and
coach myself, I can attest to the fact that people are often capable
of doing a lot more than they think they are. It’s also worth
commenting that yes, there does exist such a creature as the coach
who doesn’t swear.) Another is that while the saga of the Shiloh
Eagles is the main part of the story, there’s also the story of
Grant’s family life interwoven into the plot. Even if you think you
know what’s going to happen in the football plot thread, there’s a
lot of dramatic tension in the other plot threads.

Another reason that Facing the
Giants works well as a film is that the "sports story"
and "faith theme" are not separate elements, but are part
of one well-integrated whole. You know how the coach always manages
to inspire his team? Most of the time that inspiration takes the form
of "Believe in yourself, and nothing is impossible!" But
"believe in yourself" is a typically Hollywoodian mantra in
that it doesn’t really mean much of anything. Facing the Giants
doesn’t even do lip service to that trite phrase, instead taking on
the bracing "Believe in God, and nothing is impossible."
Exactly how the Shiloh Eagles works through that particular idea is
the core of the movie, and Facing the Giants does an
outstanding job of tackling the complexities of it. What does it
really mean to call on God to help you win a football game? It’s a
shining element of the film that it faces up to that question and
incorporates its answer into the film.

Given that Facing the Giants is
an independent film, it’s worth taking a little while to talk about
the level of polish that we see here. The short answer is that it’s
definitely feature-film quality: it’s a testament to the talent of
the filmmakers that they managed to get everything looking exactly as
it should. One of the notes I jotted to myself was that the
filmmakers had really done an amazing job with the cast. Almost
without exception, the acting in the film is solid. How had they
managed to hire that many decent actors and still stay under budget?
Then I found out that the cast was all amateurs: they were real
doctors, teachers, coaches, and students from the filmmakers’
community. That’s simply amazing, and a tribute to both the
dedication of the cast to doing their very best work, and to director
Alex Kendrick for bringing out the best in them.

I also made a note that the actor
they’d cast for the role of Grant was a sterling choice - and
essential, since he really carries the emotional weight of the film
on his shoulders. I was stunned to read the credits and realize that
Alex Kendrick, who turns in an utterly convincing, sensitive, and
moving performance as Grant Taylor, is also the director, co-writer,
co-producer, and editor of the film. Let me tell you, it’s not
particularly common to find genuinely multi-talented performers, so
I’ll just end my review with a hats-off to Mr. Kendrick and a hope
that we’ll see more of his films in the near future.

By Kam Williams

Malkovich Shines in Character Study of Kreskin-Like Mentalist

Even though his star is The Grievous Buck Howard as an alternative of The Awesome Kreskin, it's winsome visible who John Malkovich's character is based on in this bittersweet, unlikely-buddy flick. For, groove on Kreskin, Buck is a mentalist long past his glory days when he was a frequent guest on the Tonight Give someone an idea of and other popular TV variety programs. The two also attired in b be committed to in hackneyed an usually-tireless handshake and a stage finale in which they invariably find a wad of money esoteric on a associate of the audience.

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I did say this is a buddy vehicle, and it co-stars Colin Hanks as Troy Gabel, a 2nd year law student who drops out of school at the point of departure without telling his father (Tom Hanks) to pursue his dream of becoming a writer. Soon forced to face the reality of having to earn a living, he applies for a position as the personal assistant to Buck Howard, an entertainment icon who has been reduced to performing in modest, half-filled venues in tiny towns all over the country.

Gone for Buck are the opportunities to appear on late night television and to dally with posh hotspots on the fillet in Las Vegas. Unfortunately, that in point of fact hasn't humbled him ditty iota, which means Troy is essentially stuck in in the light of motels with this pompous egomaniac 24/7.

Then, when he's in the midst of rethinking the fateful decision to take this job, who should show up unannounced but his understandably irritated dad. But any chance Mr. Gabel has of talking his emotionally-estranged son off the road and into returning to L.A. ends once Buck hires another assistant in a cutie pie named Valerie (Emily Blunt). She and Troy fall for each other at first sight which makes taking abuse from their delusional boss a hell of a lot easier.

The Great Buck Howard was written and directed by Sean McGinly whose unflattering portrait of his subject makes for a riveting cinematic experience. Its closing credits acknowledge a debt of gratitude owed Kreskin as a source of inspiration.

Of course, Mr. Malkovich deserves considerable credit, too, as he turns in yet another compelling performance worth the price of admission alone as a pathetic has been who has no idea he's washed up. Among the members of the stellar support cast are Steve Zahn, B.J. Hendricks, Griffin Dunne, Ricky Jay along with amusing cameos by such trivia answers as Gary Coleman, George Takei and Tom Arnold.

When you throw the chance to watch the real-life Hanks as a father-son duo into the mix, you have all the ingredients for sleeper hit that can't miss in indie art houses.

Excellent (4 stars)

Rated PG for suggestive language and a drug reference.

Running time: 90 minutes

Studio: Magnolia Pictures

To see a trailer for The Great Buck Howard,

As of this composition, “In the Fringe a organize of Fire” was the last great “Eastwood” membrane Clint Eastwood made. Sure, he went on since 1993 to make some other fine films, and “Absolute Power” and “True Crime” came careful to the old Eastwood mystique, but none of them featured Eastwood in the stable Eastwood mode–eyes narrowed, brow furrowed, fists clenched, gun in hand. “In the Line of Fire” proves more than merely another action thriller; it’s a suspenseful mystery as ably. And while Eastwood’s character may be a Secret Service agent named Open Horrigan, it’s unquestionably a pattern hurrah for the misfit loner the supernova pioneered in the “Dirty Harry” pictures. Columbia TriStar concede the film’s classic status with this, their second DVD argue, a Special Number with added features like documentaries and a director’s commentary. It was the least they could do.

Extras:
Perhaps I should start by mentioning these new added features, since initially Columbia did a minimalist packaging of the film with at best uncomfortable selections and a occasional language choices. This time we get quite a suspicion more for our spondulicks. Chief sum total the bonus items is an audio commentary by the director, Wolfgang Petersen (”Das Boot,” “Air Energy At one,” “The Perfect Storm”). I tend to like directors talking about their films more than stars because the directors commonly have a more universal approach to their discussions, and Petersen’s comments pertain to this out. He is assisted in his commentary by the producer of the DVD Special Copy, so it isn’t just Petersen sitting solitary and itinerant.

Next, there are two documentaries of about twenty minutes or so each, “In the Family of Fire: The Extreme Sacrifice” and “Behind the Scenes With the Mysterious Service.” Both confine the expected conversations with filmmakers and stars. Two short featurettes follow, “How’d They Do That?” and “Catching the Counterfeiters,” which attention on special effects and the government’s real-life Secret Service. Then, there are five deleted scenes of varying length and quality, some talent files, biographies and such, and fleeting moulding notes in the printed booklet supplement. Twenty-eight preoccupied-motion scene selections are also included, together with three theatrical trailers (one each for this film, “Das Boot,” and “Air Force One,” only the latter being in widescreen) and three TV spots. As always, the Columbia folks do languages better than anyone, supplying English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese, with English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean, and Thai for subtitles.

Video:
The spitting image and uninterrupted qualities of this new issue remain about the unvarying as they did on the eve of, meaning they are still plenty good. The metaphor displays signs of restricted grain, especially during the separation sequences, some stripling line shimmering, and occasional age flecks. Colors are generally natural, although flesh tones can sometimes pinched to a mild orange rather than entirely to shades of pink. The whole obsession is framed in a widescreen ratio that measures 2.13:1 when played back on a regular 4:3 TV set, and the clone achieves imperturbable greater transparency if one’s set, like my Sony XBR400, is qualified to reproduce the film anamorphically.

Audio:
The sound is provided either by Dolby Digital 5.1 or Dolby 2.0 Surround, and it’s forever fun when a disc enables the user to operate the isolated representing point comparisons. Distinctions are astonishing, the DD 5.1 putting harmonious into an entirely different aural environment than the Stereo Surround, much more discrete, more directional, more accurate, and more potent. As prior to, the audio remains a highlight of the disc, not only for the sound of things like cars, planes, motorcycles, crowds, and storms, but for composer Ennio Morricone’s evocative musical score. Be circumspect, nevertheless, if you have DD 5.1 capability; the come up short mounting is for Dolby Surround, and unless you manually hard cash to DD 5.1, you’ll miss much of the disc’s sonic pleasures.