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Family, Movie Reviews

Seven Chances

Comedy / Silent 56 min / 1925 Rating: 8/10 This Buster Keaton classic is a silent film, so instead of asking my kids if they wanted to see it, I just popped it in and started watching on my ownsome in the family room. And, as I expected, it didn't take long for them to sit down beside me. I think it was the otherworldliness that got them. This is unlike anything they've seen before, from another time, all black and white, with dialogue you read and music that's so well matched to what's on-screen that it's almost like they can talk. Keaton stars as Jimmie Shannon, a down-on-his-luck businessman who has long wanted to marry his sweetheart, Mary Jones, except he doesn't have the money to support them. And, to make matters worse, his boss has been tricked into "a financial deal that meant disgrace – and possibly prison – unless they raised money quickly." So Jimmie is as down as down can be. That's when the lawyer shows up with news that Jimmie's grandfather has given him seven million dollars... on the condition that Jimmie is married by 7 pm on his 27th birthday! Jimmie's problems are solved: he can marry his girl and keep everybody out of jail! But today is his birthday, so off he rushes to propose. Sadly, poor Jimmie muffs it, making it sound like the reason he wants to marry Mary is just so he can get the money. She refuses! The distraught Jimmie has no interest in marrying anyone now, but is pressured by his partner to marry someone, anyone just to keep them out of jail. The partner makes a list of seven names – seven chances – for Jimmie to try. And when Jimmie foolishly does, he gets laughed right out the door. But that partner isn't finished: he tells the newspaper about the story, and effectively takes out an ad for ladies interested in marrying a millionaire to meet him at the church. When several hundred show up, the chase is on, and for the next ten minutes we get to watch as Keaton jumps, leaps, slides, and runs, runs, runs for his life! Cautions This is an old film and with that comes a couple of concerns. With Jimmie seemingly willing to propose to just about anyone, we see him approach a woman from behind, only to veer off when he discovers she's black. It's a quick few seconds and kids may not even notice the racism here, but if they do, then you can talk about the way things were back then. The bigger caution is the film's premise: marrying for money. This was remade in 1999 as The Bachelor, and it bombed, probably because. by adding color, sound, lots more dialogue, and a star who gave a restrained performance, they made it almost believable. And this is only funny as a farce. If anybody would actually marry someone for money, that'd be a sad, creepy story. The original remains hilarious precisely because it stars a clown no one could ever find believable. Conclusion I encourage you to rent or borrow this from your library, even though many free copies can be found online. It is so old it's in the public domain, free for anyone to republish, but most of those free versions are grainy or have a soundtrack that's nothing more than random selections of classical music. The very best version is KINO's, which pairs a crisp picture with music that matches the action perfectly. It makes a huge difference! So who would like this? I've tested it on pre-teens and skeptical 20 and 30-year-olds too, and while it took them all a few minutes to warm to it, by the end everyone was giving it the thumbs up. They appreciated the hijinks and some also enjoyed the education: this is what film was like way back when, and Seven Chances is one of the rare gems that still hold up today. You can watch the trailer below. ...

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Family, Movie Reviews

Unitards

Family / Comedy 2010 / 107 minutes Rating: 8/10 The producers bill this as "High School Musical meets Napoleon Dynamite" but I'll have to take their word for it, not having seen either. I do know it is laugh-out-loud, tears-in-your-eyes funny in parts. When the vice principal charges Lewis Grady with building up school spirit, he decides to start a guys-only dance...thing (he isn't quite sure what it is, but he knows it isn't a dance team because that's what girls do). His two quirky friends are happy to help, even if they've got some misgivings about dancing in front of the whole student body. The three buddies bribe, beg, and bargain their way through the recruitment process, ending up with a group of a dozen or more. But it's one thing to get a group together, and another to get that group dancing together, especially when the guys have more than their share of left feet. But with a little help from mom and some friends on the school's award-winning girls' dance team, they start figuring things out. Right before their first public performance, Lewis rallies the troops with an inspirational speech that is comic gold. He reminds them of the dream most every student has had, of showing up to school in nothing but your underwear. "This is that day," he tells them: "The majority of the kids out there feel like they're showing up to school half-naked every day. Today is for the nobodies, for the average, I-don't-even-matter kids." Lewis wants his group to be an inspiration to the ordinary guys and girls out there in the audience, showing them you don't have to be awesome at something to do it, you just have to be willing to ignore the peer pressure and embrace the joy. The villain of the piece is the teacher who runs the girls' dance team. She thinks the boys are making a mockery of dance, and she wants them shut down, and she's used to getting her way. While that adds some drama to the story, this is mostly just goofy dance numbers, and quirky friends, showing how fun can be had when you ignore the mockers and set out to be encouragers. Cautions The biggest caution would just be the film's name. Unitards are a one-piece garment that dancers (especially ballet) often wear, but there is also an implicit, never made explicit, reference here to "tard," short for retard, with the joke being that any boys in a dance group are sure to have that word directed their way. It's in bad taste, but that it isn't made explicit makes it easier to overlook. While the dancing is modest by worldly standards, there is a lot of it, and it isn't the formal sort you might see in a "Pride and Prejudice" film. This is more the jump and bounce and shake and wiggle type of dancing toddlers through teens do. That includes some butt-wiggling moves that are a brief part of one or two of the dance productions. It's slightly sexually suggestive, but incidentally, rather than provocatively so. And when paired with the students' generally modest dress, it is quite tame. Conclusion Director Scott Featherstone combined elements of his own school experience with what his son Sam (who plays Lewis Grady) and friends were experiencing to come up with the script. Then he held auditions at his son's school to get all the actors. That's why the acting is solid enough, even though these are not professional actors. What they are is high school students playing high school students so it's not a stretch. And because the director and scriptwriter was a parent who knew the actors, some of these kids are almost certainly playing versions of themselves. What makes this worth watching is just how sweet it is. High school can be a tough time for many, and what we have here is a prescription for how your kids can make it better for others, and maybe themselves. Lewis Grady's friends poke fun, but they don't tear down. The guys do look goofy dancing, but they're also being brave, and some of the school's girls are smart enough to appreciate and encourage that bravery. This is high school as we wish it could have been, and would still like it to be for our kids: full of challenges, yes, but not full of naysayers, mockers, and killjoys. ...

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Family, Movie Reviews

Pride and Prejudice (2003)

Romance/Comedy 104 min / 2003 Rating: 8/10 When a book is adapted for the screen, readers want it to be as close to the book as possible. So let's begin this review with a heads up: that did not happen here. The central plot remains the same – these are women "in need of a husband" – but the setting has been updated to the modern-day USA, with five girlfriends all sharing a house just off-campus. Other departures include how the first love interest, Charles Bingley, came by his wealth: selling classical music CDs for dogs, and marketing them via late-night TV infomercials. And he drives a motor scooter. Oh, and Mr. Collins' proposal now has him make the compelling argument: "Elizabeth, we've been commanded to multiply and replenish the earth." So if you aren't up for a light, silly treatment of your favorite book, this is not for you. That said, I do think it is for most everyone else. And if you've ever wished that someone today could make something like Pride and Prejudice, well, this is something like it indeed. This version also adds an element glaringly absent from the book and every other film version: car chases! Caution There aren't many cautions to offer because, as it turns out, this was made by Mormons. There's no sex happening onscreen or off (though the villain of the piece, Wickham, jokes at one point about being “relatively disease-free”). The only problematic element is a self-help dating guide called the “Pink Bible.” We had to explain to our kids that it was a “bible” only in the sense that it was purporting to be the final word on that subject – dating – as the Mechanics Bible would say it is for car repair. We also had to explain to our girls that this boy-crazy guide and the "religious" way that the youngest two girls, Kitty and Lydia, followed it, was meant to be a comic warning and not an example. Conclusion This is not a faithful retelling of Pride and Prejudice and yet it is a very good one, keeping remarkably close to the spirit of the book. That makes it the perfect date night movie for mom and dad, and a pretty good one for the whole family. The pacing is quick, the romance is sweet, and the humor is sprinkled liberally throughout. Of the 50 or so people I’ve watched it with, or loaned it to, somewhere near 90% have given it a thumbs up. There are so many Pride and Prejudice films that if you want to find this one you should search for the title along with the year, or the title along with the word “Mormon." That’ll help you track it down. I share the trailer below with some misgivings – the film is a lot better than this makes it seem. ...

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Family, Movie Reviews

The General

Comedy 80 min / 1927 RATING: 8/10 The General is equal parts comedy and action, with just a dash of romance thrown in as well. Johnnie Gray has two loves in his life: his steam engine “The General,” and his girl Annabelle. When the American Civil War begins Johnnie, like every loyal Southerner, lines up to enlist in the Confederate Army. But unbeknownst to poor Johnnie, train engineers aren’t allowed to sign up, as they are more valuable as engineers, not soldiers. Try as he might, he just can’t join the Army, and when he finally returns to Annabelle without successfully enlisting, she thinks it’s because he’s become a coward. She sends him away, telling Johnnie she will only see him again when he’s in uniform. Johnnie leaves, heartbroken, and returns to his other great love, his steam engine. But poor Johnnie is in for even greater heartache – Northern spies steal his General and take off with it down the rails toward the North. In an instant, Johnnie goes from being sad and lonely to determined and resourceful. He steals another train and chases after the spies and the stolen General in one of the most brilliant, madcap, action-packed sequences ever caught on film. I watched this film with teenagers and people in their twenties, thirties and forties and they all loved it. If you watch only one silent film in your life, make sure it’s The General. The film's copyright expired long ago, which means all sorts of companies have been free to publish it and sell their own copies. However, not all have done a good job. In the worst versions, the soundtrack doesn't match the action onscreen – it's just random classical music. You can get a glimpse of how a good soundtrack adds a whole other dimension by watching the Kino version's trailer below. Watch it once with the sound, then watch it again with the sound off. It's odd, but a good soundtrack really matters, even for (and actually, especially for) a silent film. So be sure to track down one of the good versions! ...

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Animated, Movie Reviews

Wallace and Gromit: four short films

Animated / Comedy 1989-2008 / 114 minutes RATING: 8/10 It's been 35 years now, since student filmmaker Nick Park crafted his leading man out of clay. He made Wallace lovable and oh so inventive, but also more than a bit thick. Then Park carved up Gromit, Wallace's loyal, long-suffering dog who can't quite manage to keep Wallace out of trouble entirely, but who does manage to keep his master from getting in too deep. Wallace might be a brilliant inventor, but Gromit is the wise one. Since his first stop-motion claymation film, A Grand Day Out (where the duo managed to make it to the moon), Park has featured this duo in three more shorts and a couple of feature films; they've won a few Oscars, and spawned spin-off TV shows (Shaun the Sheep being the most notable). Not bad for a dim bulb and his dog. Part of the charm here is that the two of them do care for each other. Of course, that doesn't mean Wallace knows how to express his affection. He'll build an automatic patting machine, for example, rather than give Gromit the scratch behind the ears that his canine companion really wants. And when Gromit wants to go for "walkies," like every dog does, Wallace builds a set of "techno trousers" that he can attach Gromit's leash to, so the robot pants can take Gromit for his walk. Really Wallace, really? Gromit can't even talk, but the expressive dog sure can communicate. (They actually write dialogue for Gromit, even though he isn't going to speak it, so the animators will know how to shape Gromit's expressions.) Right behind this duo, third billing goes to the inventions – Wallace has more gadgets than James Bond, and they're twice as cool. He's built a machine that automatically throws him out of bed, sliding Wallace down a chute so he can land at his breakfast table, where another machine dresses him and yet another makes his breakfast. This process rarely goes off without a hitch, and the malfunctions are as fun as the successes. Another of Wallace's crazy contraptions is a knitting machine that just needs you to pop a sheep in one end, and a sweater will come out the other. Park has made four short claymation Wallace and Gromit films in all. A Grand Day Out 1989 / 24 minutes Wallace and Gromit need a vacation, and when Wallace discovers they are out of cheese, they decide the best getaway destination is the moon, what with all its bounty of green cheese. How are they going to get there? By building a rocket ship in the basement, of course! The Wrong Trousers 1993 / 30 minutes Wallace and Gromit’s happy home life is disrupted by a mysterious penguin who rents one of their rooms. Soon the shifty-eyed flightless foul is trying to replace Gromit in Wallace’s affections. But never fear, the loyalty of this tried and true dog does win out in the end. The moral of this tale? Either never neglect your dog, or don’t trust shifty-eyed penguins. Fun and silly, it won an Oscar. They even made a sequel, the feature film Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl. A Close Shave 1995 / 31 minutes To make ends meet, Wallace and Gromit have started their own window-washing business. A wool merchant, Wendolene Ramsbottom, asks them to clean her shop windows, and, of course, Wallace falls in love. There are two mysteries to solve: first, where has the country's wool gone? and, second, what or who is destroying the interior of Wallace and Gromit's house? (One hint: this is where Shaun the Sheep makes his very first appearance.) A Matter of Loaf and Death 2009 / 29 minutes Wallace and Gromit are now bakers, and great at it. It doesn't hurt their business, either, that all the other bakers in town are being bumped off one by one. Wallace is in love again, this time with Piella Bakewell, the spokesmodel for Bake-O-Lite breads. The ever loyal Gromit gets stuck doing Wallace's work in the bakery, even as he's also trying to prevent the two of them from becoming the "cereal" killer's next victims. The description pitched this as a "who-doughnut" in the tradition of Alfred Hitchcock, and I was skeptical; how could they pull that off in claymation? But they did! Cautions While A Grand Day Out would be safe for all ages, The Wrong Trousers has a somewhat creepy villain that the pre-school set could find a bit disturbing. The last two films amp up the tension more, with first sheep, and then bakers, getting killed. One baker even gets killed off screen but then falls back into the shot, face first into a cake. It's all claymation, so, not at all realistic (and there is no blood or gore). But it underscores how these aren't really intended as family fare. Some animation is for kids, with some jokes for adults thrown in. I'd say this is for adults, and some older kids  – 10 and up – could enjoy it too. Language concerns would be limited to a few uses of "heck" and "flipping" and I think an "oh my gracious." Finally, in A Matter of Loaf and Death, a bomb blows a hole in Wallace's pants, and we see a brief shot of Wallace's naked, claymation butt. Again, the claymation aspect of it means this is far from titillating, though it might get little boys tittering. Conclusion The appeal here is the spectacle of all of Wallace's crazy inventions, and the simple beautiful loyalty of these two friends. It's clever, and might even inspire some kids to give stop motion filming a try. I remember making one, not with clay, but with a pair of my shoes doing a dance across the floor. There are so many tools online to get an inventive kid going, and this might be just the thing to inspire them. That said, these are not all for the very young. The Brits rate these as 7+ but I'd say that especially A Matter of Loaf and Death should be 10 and up. For a taste of what Wallace and Gromit are all about, check out this compilation of their "cracking contraptions" –  8 two-minute videos of Wallace at his most inventive. ...