Heaven is for Real

Every year, there are a certain amount of Christian films released. You could say that they are unnoticed or that people forget about them because studios don't seem to have confidence in them to make a profit. No doubt though there have been some religious films that have made their mark on the film industry including The Passion of the Christ in 2004, Jonah: Veggie Tales in 2002 and the famous The Ten Commandments in 1956.

Twenty years down the road, when we look back to the films of 2014, you could say that religion was a theme in some of the films. Even though panned by most people and based off a mini series, Son of God about the life of Jesus was a profitable movie. Noah the Ark with Darren Aronofsky and Russell Crowe about of course the story of Noah the Ark was a blockbuster. The year 2015 will bring us a film about the life of Mary, and also Exodus: Gods and Kings that is in post-production. Only time will tell if there will be more films about religion down the road.

Based off the best selling novel of the same name, Heaven for Real is the true story of Colton Burpo who went through emergency surgery in 2003 and went on a magical journey through heaven during it. It is a journey that left a family in wonder and a small town in Nebraska in a media frenzy .

Even though looked at as a small market film, this film very includes big names. Greg Kinnear plays father and pastor Todd Burpo who is mystified but excited about Colton's experience. Kelly Reilly plays the mother Sonia who takes a more of an emotional approach to the Colton story. Big name actor Thomas Haden Church plays family friend Jay Olson who we can like but really adds nothing to the story.The center of attention to the story is of course Colton with acting by young actor by Connor Corum which is hit or miss and a character that you feel is out of his head. His sister Cassie is played by Lane Style who is given nothing to do and is a character that doesn't add anything to the story. Overall, the cast is kind of a mess.  

This film eventually fails because of it's lack of attention to detail. It just mopes around, gives us no secondary ideas and has a very repetitive in plot. You are left to wonder to as what's more to this story and if this film was a just marketing campaign for the book. You literally leave the theater knowing as much as you did coming in.                                                      

 

Maybe this movie found its audience and I would think most religious people would like it but Heaven for Real is lousy beyond belief. It has an interesting plot to work off of but doesn't do much with it. This is a film with not a lot to it and not for me.

2/5

You've Got Mail

 

It's hard to believe but there was once a time in the dating world where the use of technology didn't have the impact that is does today. With Facebook, Twitter, dating sites and advancements in phone technology, there are now so many ways to connect or make contact with a person where as before you really only had a home telephone or even letters. You've Got Mail was a 1998 romantic comedy that introduced new technology to the dating world and in a very cheesy way. 

Small time book owner Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) is living in the Big Apple and must compete with the opening of the new Fox Books run by the high profile Joe Fox (Tom Hanks). As it turns out, both of these business-owners are instant-messaging each other without realizing who the other is and a love relationship forms.

                     Nothing better than a REALLY dated computer

If anything, this seems very much like a typical relationship film. It is a love story that starts with people not connecting, being enemies and both doing opposite type of things. Even though these ideas are very dated now (when that last time you heard of anyone using AOL?), the instant- messaging is what makes this story. At the time, instant-messaging was somewhat new and I believe AOL may have been using the movie as a marketing idea. The idea that these people are messaging each other without realizing each other is unlikely but we can still very much go with it. It provides us with an ending that we see coming a mile away but there is still something in it to make us like it.

In this love story, there are a lot of hidden messages and surprises offered. Through the book theme, we learn what it means to own a book company whether big or small. We also get to watch life as it was in 1998 which is quite interesting close to twenty years after the fact. Even though it is redundant in every shape of form, we do learn a little about dating and how that works. From Greg Kinnear to Steve Zahn, You've Got Mail has a surprisingly strong supporting cast for a type of film like this. It's a very needed part of a love story that's only half-good.

You've Got Mail is far from an outstanding love story. As mentioned earlier, it's as dated as it ever could be and the leads have done much better romantic films. That said, You've Got Mail is still very much revolutionary while still sappy. It is one of the few tech love stories that men could really enjoy.

3.5/5