Am I the only person who actually likes Joel Schumacher’s interpretation of Phantom of the Opera?
I guess I’ll just have to review, wait and see…

This is my review of The Phantom of the Opera!

The Phantom of the Opera tells the story of a Swedish chorus girl named Christine Daae (pronounced as DIE-EH) who lands the lead role in an opera.  Unbeknownst to anyone else, she has been coached from afar by her “Angel of Music,” who turns out to be a disfigured composer only known as the Phantom.

The Hits
The first half of the film is amazing!  I have always been fascinated by the toxic relationship between Christine and the Phantom.  There’s so much sexual tension without them getting physical.  I think that a relationship that is physically chaste yet emotionally sexual is far more compelling than an explicit sex scene.  Christine is both enamoured with and intimidated by her “Angel of Music.”  The Phantom has a possessive grip on her even when he’s not in the room.  Even if he has his hand on her shoulder or his arm around her waist, there’s a prevailing sense of his dominance and power over her.   I’ve always felt that the most dangerous villain is the villain who the protagonist needs.  Christine needs his instruction to be a better singer.
I really appreciate that the relationship is emotionally abusive and portrayed negatively unlike a more recent film that was based on a certain Twilight fan fiction.  Anyway, there’s a misconception, especially in film and television, that abuse is only physical.  Emotional and psychological abuse are silent forms of violence, like a toad in a pot of boiling water.
All of the actors give top-notch performances.  Emmy Rossum is sweet and sympathetic as Christine, Patrick Wilson brings the kind and passionate Raoul to life, and for the most part, Gerard Butler’s possessive, tormented Phantom is a great antihero.  All of the singing is high quality and professional…well, actually, almost all of the singing.  There is one actor who makes it obvious that he’s not musically trained and had only so much time to prepare…

The Misses
Gerard Butler’s singing…yeah.  Let me put it this way: He sounds great when he sings, “Night time sharpens, heightens each sensation.  Darkness stirs and wakes imagination…” But it’s when he sings “close your eyes and let your spirit start…to…SOAR!” that I rub my ears and say, “Oh, honey, high notes are not up your alley, are they?”  He does get better as the movie progresses, but once you know that he was the only non-musically-trained actor in the PotO cast and you hear him during the first couple of songs, it gets distracting.
The second half of the film is where the story gets formulaic.  Once Raoul steps into the picture…well, is it bad to say that I wish there was no love triangle between Christine, the Phantom and Raoul?   Christine and the Phantom alone make for a great character study of a parasitic semi-romance.  In my opinion, instead of throwing Raoul into the mix, how about have Christine come to realize on her own that she’s a great singer without the Phantom’s help?  Then have Phantom remind her, “I’m the one who made you the star that you are,” and build the story around this psychological conflict?   Christine’s journey could either lead to her breaking free and standing on her own two feet, or she sinks deeper into the depths of Phantom’s manipulation and waltzes with her master to a tragic end.

All that being said, I don’t hate Joel Schumacher’s 2004 version as much as some people do.  For what it is, I think it works.  I have the soundtrack to this film and I listen to it all the time because the music is great.  I like that Christine is younger in this version, and her interaction with the Phantom is riveting to watch.

Saint Clare of Assisi, pray for us.

I don’t want to beat around the bush, so I’m just going to attach a disclaimer from both the CGB Facebook page and my personal profile:

My next review requires a disclaimer.
I will be posting my review of a Christian film called “Right to Believe.” It tells the story of a Christian journalist interviewing a gay man who is organizing an LBGT pride parade in their home town.
I will try to be as charitable to both Christian readers and LGBT readers as possible, but my motto is, “If I was interested in making friends, I wouldn’t blog.” Keep in mind that I am critiquing it as a film and nothing more.
The review will be up soon.

This is my review of Right to Believe!

After journalist Tony Morris is demoted when his high-profile article is discredited, he is assigned to cover a “community fluff piece,” which happens to be a gay pride parade.  Though reluctant, Tony takes the assignment and meets LGBT parade organizer Markus Fry.  The first interview goes smoothly, though it is interrupted when Markus gets a distressing phone call.  However things get complicated when, during the second interview, Markus calls out Tony when he sees how uncomfortable Tony acts around him [Markus].  From there, the next series of interviews are a rigorous discussion/debate between Tony and Markus on the topic of homosexuality and the Bible.

The Hits
In my new movie review notebook (my old one was starting to fall apart), the first thing I wrote down was, “how does this Christian film handle homosexuality?”  I am pleased to say that Right to Believe treats the topic with the best care that it can.  Markus Fry is not a gay stereotype; in fact when we first meet him, you don’t know what his sexual orientation is.  An approachable, mild-mannered man who happens to be gay, Markus is written as a character and not an agenda prop.  I could see myself meeting someone like him at Starbucks or a concert.  His homosexuality is an aspect of who he is, not the entirety of who he is.  The movie makes sure that there is more to him than his sexual preference.
The first half of the film is the strongest.  Tony’s situation is believable; after being demoted, he must take the fluff piece in order to keep his job and lay low.  Also Tony’s pride is the reason behind his hesitance to take the assignment.  This is a guy who does infamous murder trials and political scandals, so to be given a task that is mostly for newbie reporters is, in his eyes, beneath him.  His Christian faith adds to his resigned demeanor when approaching the assignment.  Also I would like to point out that the Christian character [Tony] is shown as being less virtuous than the non-believing character [Markus], which is shockingly rare in a lot of Christian films.  In fact, there are times where the script allows Markus to look more logical than Tony.  Overall Tony and Markus are presented in an honest and humanistic way, which is something to be appreciated.

The Misses
Every story has a formula, and how this type of story usually goes is that the two characters from opposing sides would start out forming a friendship or some form of acquaintanceship before tackling the controversial issues surrounding their identities.  Here, it’s an interviewer-interviewee relationship that jumps right into debate partner mode.  Their debate on the Bible and homosexuality is too rushed and could have use a smoother transition.
The actual debate plays out like a heated discussion you would see between two people talking at a café.  A LOT of the dialogue gets preachy and this criticism goes to both Tony and Markus.  Some of what Tony says about the Bible frustrated me, and Markus became unrealistically nasty from time to time.  Also I would have liked to have seen Tony meeting a friend or boyfriend of Markus, or even having Tony’s wife bump into Markus without Tony present; humanize the opposing characters to each other, show the complexities of their positions by having Tony see Markus happy with a boyfriend or vice versa.  Granted, that doesn’t mean that either man should recant his beliefs, but Christian filmmakers should keep in mind that adult issues are always complicated.
What really bothered me as a Catholic Christian is the “only belief in Jesus will get you to Heaven; good works have no say” rhetoric that Tony preaches.  I’m sorry, but I can’t let this go.  If you believe in Jesus, but your actions contradict His teachings, then that’s hypocrisy.  Saint Paul the Apostle says, “faith without work is dead.”

The final verdict is that Right to Believe handles homosexuality the best way it can.  It’s a noble attempt where even though the agenda gets in the way at times, the filmmakers never forgot to tell a story about two human beings.

Update: I have been corrected.  It wasn’t Paul the Apostle who said, “Faith without works is dead.”  Actually here is the real passage:
“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead. “
–James 2:14-26

Every time I hear someone say, “The Catholic Church is so sexist and prejudiced,” I always respond with, “You should come visit my church, Saint Kateri Parish. Our patron is a Native American woman who had a facial disfigurement and was even partially blind.”  The stunned silence that follows is priceless.

Now I can’t paint with all the colors of the wind, but I can tell you the story of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha!

Okay, I know that this is a more glamorized depiction of her, but she really did have a scarred face and weak eyes.  Before I explain how that happened, let’s go back to the beginning.

Kateri Tekakwitha was born in 1656 in Auriesville, which today is known as upstate New York, so technically she is a New Yorker.  [DISCLAIMER: Get ready for some seriously hard-to-pronounce-words in 3…2…1] She was the daughter of a Mohawk chief and a woman named Tagaskouita, who was an Algonquin Christian.  In her day, small pox was the kiss of death.  If you had it, it was game over for you.  Only the most hardy souls survived, and among them was a four-year old girl.  When small pox wiped out her entire village, including her parents and younger brother, the little girl was adopted by her uncle, an Iroquois chief who was disgusted by her scarred face and poor vision.  As a result, he gave her the derogatory name Tekakwitha, which means, “she who bumps into things.”  The scars on her face made her less attractive to potential suitors, so her uncle felt the need to arrange a marriage for her at the tender age of eight.

In her day, Jesuit missionaries were frequent visitors to that territory due to their mission to convert the Native Americans to Christianity.  As a child, Tekakwitha often had exposure to the words of the humble yet passionate missionaries.  She was moved by the promise of Salvation, and in particular, the emphasis on God’s deep love for each human being.  “Even me,” she probably thought as an outcast in her own tribe.  This led her to open her heart to a God who would accept her when no one else would.  Keep in mind that her mother had been a Christian, so faith was weaved into her youngest memories.  It was the message of the missionaries that has reawakened the faith of her childhood.  Nature was where she felt closest to the Creator, for she would make a cross out of sticks and pray among the trees and woodland creatures.  However she couldn’t be baptized just yet because, well…

In 1666, the Mohawk’s strongholds on the south bank were demolished by a group of French soliders and hostile Natives from Canada.  Tekakwitha and the remaining Mohawks crossed over the north side of the river and sought refuge in a village called Fonda where, at the age of 18, Tekakwitha was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church in secret and took the name Catherine, also known as Kateri.

There was just one major problem: Her uncle was not only repulsed by her, but like Professor Radisson in “God’s Not Dead,” he loathed Christianity.  So when he learned that his niece had become a Christian, he only accepted her decision under the condition that Kateri never leave their tribe.  The Iroquois people may have tolerated her facial disfigurement and blindness before, but now that she was a Christian, the gloves were off and she was made a pariah.  Public ridicule, scornful neighbors, false accusations; Kateri was at the center of the mob mentality.  Yet she never caved or recanted her faith in Jesus.  If anything, the rejection and hate from others only made her stronger.  It assured her that she was on the side of Truth.

Two years after her baptism, Kateri was forced to flee after her life was threatened. She escaped to the Mission of St. Francis Xavier in Caughnawaga, Canada, where she lived with fellow Natives who had converted to Christianity.  She spent the last years of her life here, where she dedicated her days to prayer, self-mortification and acts of charity.   On April 17, 1680, twenty-four year old Kateri Tekakwitha drew her last breath after suffering from a grave illness.  Upon the entrance of her soul into Heaven, the scars on her face faded away, revealing the true beauty of who she was.

On October 21, 2012, Kateri was canonized after prayers to her miraculously healed Jake Finkbonner, whose life had been on the line due to a flesh-eating virus.  She became the first Native American to be declared a Saint.

I think that certainty was Kateri’s defining characteristic.  She was certain that Jesus is Truth.  She was certain that her countercultural faith was worth the scorn of her tribe.  Christianity had empowered her to remove the blanket from her scarred face and shine with the Light of Christ for all to see.

Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, patroness of my home parish and of Catholic Girl Bloggin’, pray for us.

So this is gonna be a short review because it’s almost midnight and I’m tired.  However I can tell you right now that this movie isn’t getting a passing grade.

This is my review of Bad Teacher!

Okay, the misadventures of an obviously unqualified teacher is an interesting premise.  Cameron Diaz’s character Elizabeth is an amoral, self-serving teacher who thinks everyone is enamored with her; that is a creative arch that can be done well.

Unfortunately the writers of this movie were clearly not ready.  The script has a good set-up, but that’s where the creativity ends.  Cameron Diaz does what she can, but batting your eyelashes and sashaying down the halls isn’t character development.  I’m sure she’s very talented, but for a supposedly raunchy teacher, her performance becomes very constrained in the second half.  The same goes for the other actors; Phyllis from The Office only has to say lines awkwardly.  Justin Timberlake looks uncomfortable in his role half of the time.  Jason Seigal, you were in HIMYM; you can do better!

And then there’s Lucy Punch…argh!  I’m sure she’s a funny and talented woman, but holy cow, she is too annoying to put up with.  Obnoxious characters are supposed to annoying the other characters, NOT the audience.

I’m giving Bad Teacher, the stale and half-baked comedy, a D-.

I’ve been getting requests to review this movie since Day 1 of Catholic Girl Bloggin’.  When I started this Christian Movie Marathon, I knew I couldn’t bypass this one.

Without further ado, this is my review of God’s Not Dead.

God’s Not Dead tells the story of Josh Wheaton, a college student who must defend his Christian faith to his philosophy class after refusing to sign a paper with the words “God is Dead.”  He must go up against Professor Jeffrey Radisson, an avowed atheist who forces all the students on the first day of class to sign the “God is Dead” declaration.

I am pleased to announce that this movie is leagues better than Christian Mingle The Movie and Last Ounce of Courage.  However here is my current ranking of Best Christian Movies so far: #1. Grace Unplugged; #2. Soul Surfer; #3. God’s Not Dead.  I will highlight the hits and the misses:

The Hits

I love the rivalry that emerges between Josh and Professor Radisson, and that’s probably because I like rivalry stories.  The scene where Radisson confronts Josh in the hallway and basically tells him that he will ruin him if he continues his arguments is actually kind of terrifying thanks to Kevin Sorbo’s committed performance as Radisson.  My favorite scene between the two characters is the final debate in the classroom.  Josh begins making more personal jabs at Radisson, which keep his character from being completely virtuous.   In turn, we sees Radisson’s composure begin to crack until he finally succumbs to Josh’s emboldened stance.

I found Radisson to be the most compelling character, if not one of my favorite villains.  In fact, I kind of wish the story was told from his point of view.   This is a guy whose disbelief comes from a place of pain.  His atheism is a cover to mask his hatred for God.  He hides behind his intellect to keep his vulnerabilities from coming to light.  Something that my Mother pointed out is that Radisson keeps his relationships superficial; he chooses a circle of shallow intellectuals over deep, personal connections.  The one meaningful romance in his life (his relations with a Christian student named Mina) is one that he puts limits on.  Yes, I will admit that he did come off as the militant atheist stereotype, but I still saw a fully-realized character who undergoes a personal journey that comes full circle in the end.

Alongside the main storyline, there are two subplots: A Muslim girl named Ayisha who is secretly practicing Christianity, and an atheist blogger named Amy whose life comes crashing down after she learns that she is dying from cancer.  Their stories were well-written and could have been their own movies.  The movie never takes any jabs at Islam; in fact there’s one scene where Ayisha’s father tells her, “I know it’s hard to be set apart, but no one here worships God the way He should be worshipped.  You know I love you, Ayisha…” I thought that was a very respectful, human moment.  The scene where her Christianity is discovered and her father kicks her out is a powerful scene.  I appreciate that the father hesitates before kicking her out because it shows that he is torn between his love for his child and his commitment to his own faith.  Meanwhile Amy’s story is a little shaky at first, because she starts off as more of a “militant atheist” caricature than Radisson, but right after the cancer diagnosis, her character begins to develop.  I like when she says, “I don’t have time for cancer” because it tells us that time is the antagonist of her narrative.  I got choked up when the doctor asks, “Is there anyone you would like with you when I tell you this?” “No…there’s no one.” Minutes later the doctor leaves and she’s left sitting in the room, completely alone.  The movie lets the silence of the moment tell us of her pain, and that is more powerful than ten lines of dialogue.

The Misses

What did I say in my review of Christian Mingle The Movie?  (Goes back to the archives) “Yes, I believe that inner peace comes from faith in Jesus, but Christians are allowed to express more than one emotion” (Christian Movie Reviews: Christian Mingle The Movie).  The African preacher Pastor Jude annoyed me.  He was way too happy.  I have nothing against joyful Christians, but even the most joyful and content people can get stressed when the third car from the dealership won’t start.  His friend Pastor Dave is more believable in the situations they find themselves in.   I get that Pastor Jude has an unshakable trust in God, but joy and blind optimism are two different things.

You know how I had so much to say about the peaks and valleys of Professor Radisson’s character?  I wish I could say the same about the main protagonist Josh Wheaton.  Having a character start out as a blank slate and then having him/her progress over time is all fine and good, but when we first meet Josh, his own personal relationship with God is unknown, so his motivations for accepting Radisson’s challenge feels more like a command from the script than an organic decision made by the character.  Also I would like to add that only one person was against his accepting the challenge, and that was his awful girlfriend.  This problem would have been solved if his family knew and were trying to change his mind.  Even better, what if the girlfriend had been Radisson’s daughter?  Don’t be afraid to raise the stakes!   Now to be fair, Josh’s character does evolve especially in the final debate, which is his best moment.  Still I can’t overlook the weak starting points of his arc.

Let’s talk about the ending!  There’s a major spoiler ahead, so if you’re planning on watching the movie, then here is your warning:

[SPOILER ALERT!!!!  5…4…3…2…1] I might be in the minority here, but I really wish that Radisson’s acceptance of God as he is dying was left ambiguous.  As he is dying from internal bleeding, Pastor Dave asks him if he accepts Jesus as his Lord and Savior.  Radisson converts with his last breath.  Though this is how his character comes full circle, which I appreciate, but there is power in the ambiguous ending.  I feel that if Radisson would have died before verbalizing his conversion, it would have given viewers the ability to debate amongst themselves what his decision was.  Given the evolution of his journey, he could have gone either way (accepting or rejecting God).  Ambiguity keeps the viewers coming back for more.

Overall I am happy to say that this movie proves one thing: God and good filmmaking are not dead.  They are very much alive.