Bear Grylls and The Chosen, an unexpected partnership! They did a show together.
Members of the cast plus director and creator of The Chosen, Dallas Jenkins, were coaxed into scary experiences. Grylls is known for his adventure/survival shows, and it turns out that he is a true fan of the series about the disciples of Jesus Christ, too. Who knew?
Here's the trailer:
"Disclosure Day" came out this month. Its opening was well-timed, since the government has been releasing classified material about Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (formerly called UFO's).
Since it's produced by Steven Spielberg, I hoped for a movie something like "Close Encounters" in quality. Having now seen it, it's just not inspiring.
Oddly, there has been some public controversy about whether faith in God was attacked in the plot. "Odd" I say, because I don't see it, though I would be sensitive to that vibe as a believing Christian.
Was that controversy cooked up to get people into the theatre? That's the opinion of this reviewer.
Follow up to this post
On Saturday, my husband and I brought friends along and saw that movie I recommended to you last week, "A Great Awakening."
As expected, the acting, photography, dialog, music, all the production values were good. In fact, it was so good that I hope many of you will choose to see it.
The story is based on true facts. Ben Franklin was savvy enough in business to take advantage of a trend he saw developing. Though apparently not a Christian, he could see the potential of publishing the schedule and sermons of popular evangelist George Whitefield.
Whitefield represents the message of the Bible very well: Jesus Christ paid the whole price to reconcile us to God. We're not required to clean ourselves up first, but just to trust Him.
Did Franklin eventually turn to God? Maybe. Late in life, at the 1787 Constitutional Convention, he made a famous appeal to the delegates that could have come from Whitefield's influence--and possibly turned around the contentious convention.
Two movie recommendations in one week? I've never done that before. But here's another one that may be worth seeing: "Project Hail Mary." You could take a family to it, though maybe not younger kids. You'll see a cross-species friendship in the context of space and science.
An average man, not a hero of any sort, wakes up in a spaceship, alone and confused, very far from planet Earth. Long flashbacks inform us of what he's doing there. He eventually knows he's on a critical mission against his wishes--as the one hope for the survival of all humanity on Earth. You could call the mission a "hail Mary" because this hope is a long shot.
Market researchers are trying to understand what Generation Z (born 1997 to 2012) people want in retail products, in entertainment, in jobs, etc. -- of course they are. And they're not the only ones. Even members of Gen Z themselves are trying to do that.
One Gen Z writer sees something she doesn't want to be a part of:
"They say my generation are wasting our lives watching mindless entertainment. But I think things are worse than that. We are now turning our lives into mindless entertainment. Not just consuming slop but becoming it."
"Influencers" make their lives into a tv series on social media (photo) complete with trailers, cliffhangers, finales--with wedding episodes, new house episodes, baby episodes, etc. ("I have this horrible feeling now that some of us are having children for views! Babies for clicks!")
For her own life, she wants no camera rolling at important personal moments and no one posting it on Instagram.
from We Are the Slop
People are working hard to bring The Chosen to a billion people around the world, a huge goal, and it's complicated. An organization outside the actual producing of the show was founded with the mission to accomplish that goal. It's called Come and See.
(cont'd from yesterday's post)
Just as Season 5 of "The Chosen" is released on their app, they've completed the filming of Season 6 (that's a wrap). Its focus is the last 24 hours before the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. There will be just one more season to come afterwards.
The production of Season 6 is taking much longer than all the previous ones, Dallas says, because of logistical and physical challenges and because most of the scenes had to be shot overnight. We won't see it until 2027.
Actor Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus, says: "It's brutal. This is the most difficult thing I think I've ever done . . . I don't know anything else that could be more challenging to me as a performer." Making this season took a lot of emotional energy from everyone involved:
Go here to see many short videos on the making of Season 6.
from Forbes
Follow up to this post
Creator of "The Chosen," Dallas Jenkins, has said on multiple occasions that "The Chosen" will always be available to watch for free.
Season 5 opened in theaters last spring. It was exclusively on streaming platform Amazon Prime a couple months later for subscribers. A cost was involved for both of those releases.
Now the free streaming is about to release soon: September 28.
How to watch? It's announced and explained below (3-min video) so that we can all watch for free. The story arc is described here.
(cont'd from yesterday's post)
A lot of new names (288) went on the billionaires list for the first time this year, including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jerry Seinfeld and Bruce Springsteen from the entertainment industry. Investments, added to their performance incomes, got them over the the billion-dollar line.
I have a movie recommendation for you. "Monuments Men" is currently on Netflix, the story of civilian men recruited during World War II to recover works of art and return them whenever possible.
Statues and paintings were stolen by Hitler's armies from museums and churches all over Europe. Locations include Belgian cathedrals and Nazi-occupied France. The cast is full of stars whom you'll recognize.
The leader of these men (played by George Clooney) was passionate about finding these art pieces before they were lost or destroyed and explains why: "You can wipe out a generation of people, you can burn their homes to the ground and somehow they'll still come back. But if you destroy their achievements and their history, then it's like they never existed."
It still happens today. Destroyers want to destroy statues, history, achievements. That's what they do.
If you would like to see a movie in theaters this week, I recommend to you the true story of a Christian hero living during World War II.
Made by Hollywood professionals, it's not directly based on Erik Metaxas' well-known biography of the man, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy. But he's promoting the movie because:
"This is the kind of film you hope someone will make, but they never do. It’s a miracle that it exists. So the fact that it’s not based on my book makes no difference to me. It’s a brilliant film about Bonhoeffer, and I’m simply amazed it exists and want everyone to see it."
It's been fun--mostly--so far to watch seasons 1-4 of The Chosen. But it wasn't all miracles and good times when Jesus Christ walked the earth, and everyone knows it's going to get intense.
Season 5 will focus on Holy Week, the events that led up to the crucifixion of Jesus by the Roman Empire. Just a few days after crowds welcomed Him to Jerusalem (Palm Sunday), Jewish elite cooperated with Rome to have Him killed. And of course there's the infamous betrayal.
Episodes will open in theaters next March, with free streaming to follow.
A one-minute teaser was released this week.
from USA Today
Konstantin Kisin was born in Moscow, but came to Britain at the age of 12 with his parents. Naturally, he has a somewhat different point of view than the average Brit. He's grateful to be there, and published An Immigrant's Love Letter to the West.
It seems to him that his adopted country has turned to "self-loathing." As an "anti-woke" comedian, he offers a different POV.
(cont'd from yesterday's post)
Maher lists "individual liberties, scientific inquiry, rule of law, religious freedom, women's rights, human rights, democracy, trial by jury, freedom of speech" - all these ideals can be found in today's Israel and "virtually nowhere else in the Middle East."
As for the claim that Israel is a colonizer for existing, he says the state was established by the United Nations. "Gaza wasn't seized by Israel, like India or Kenya was by the British Empire, and the partitioning of the region wasn't decided by Jews, but by a vote of the United Nations. But apparently they don't teach this at drag-queen story hour anymore."
The clip is full of his signature killer lines.
He asks a great question for anti-American, anti-Western political and academic activists: "Why is it that every other culture gets a pass, but the West is exclusively the sum of the worst things it has ever done?"
If you listen to Bill Maher, it won't take long to notice that he shows no sign of being a man of faith. But it doesn't take Christian faith to believe in things that most Americans value. So we have some things in common. He posted a clip on X with some observations about Israel that should resonate with Americans.
He starts out with this, "For all the progressives and academics who refer to Israel as an outpost of Western civilization, like it's a bad thing, please note: Western Civilization is what gave the world pretty much every [deleted] liberal precept that liberals are supposed to adore."
True statement. As atheist and historian Tom Holland affirms, those precepts are based on the worldview that built Western Civilization, which is Christianity.
Meta has run into problems since it was introduced by Mark Zuckerberg. Now, in addition to its financial and public image trouble, it's being sued by forty-one states.
This is a big deal. Their claim is that "that Meta knew its “addictive” features were harmful and intentionally misled the public about the safety of its platform." The Attorney General of the state of California says, "Meta has been harming our children and teens, cultivating addiction to boost corporate profits.”
According to the lawsuit, "Meta designed and deployed harmful and psychologically manipulative product features to induce young users’ compulsive and extended Platform use."
Meta is in the crosshairs of the attorneys general of 41 of America's 50 states. That's a lot of firepower.
from Yahoo
But CNN can't or won't recognize what she's doing, so they said she's "soaking it all in." No doubt she is doing that as well, but it's hard to believe they couldn't identify the obvious posture of prayer. Babylon Bee calls it, here 😄
If you've seen "Sound of Freedom," you now know more than you ever wanted to know about child trafficking. The movie was buried for five years until Angel Studios picked it up. To everyone's surprise, it's now in 4000 theatres and has brought in over $130 million on budget costs of $15 million.
Last weekend was the big kick-off of the "Barbie" movie. Hundreds of brands partnered to promote it, so I know you're aware of it (unless you've been camping in the wilderness for a month without electronics). That promotion brought in huge box office.
Wall Street Journal's review summarizes the plot this way: the "iconic doll journeys out of her dreamhouse and into a male-dominated real world." Not surprising, since the director is herself a feminist. Left-winger Whoopi Goldberg liked it.
Elon Musk comments: "If you take a shot every time Barbie says the word "patriarchy", you will pass out before the movie ends." Another commenter recommends "sticking to outfit inspiration and skipping the theater."
Pink is a nice color, but I'm not going to see the "Barbie" movie.
You've probably heard about it, the new film "The Sound of Freedom," opening on July 4. Jim Caviezel stars as Tim Ballard, a man who personally has rescued children caught in trafficking.
Here is Jim being interviewed about the horrific industry and the numbers of kids involved. There was resistance to the making of this movie, and it required some courage.
