A new player has arrived in tinsel town. ParablesTV offers 24 by 7 faith based programming—feature films, documentaries, shorts, and TV series. For about $7 a month you can find material that you and your family can watch together. I use the Internet and my computer to get my stream. You can buy a device to hook up to your television to capture broadcast in your living room on the big screen. Logon to http://parables.tv and sign up for a one week trial for one dollar. I did and I signed up for the year. I've been watching lots of movies since. Note: You have to cancel if you don't want to continue.
Here are three short reviews I've written on movies I've seen on Parables.
A Letter to Dad from Skipstone Pictures
Talk about a major flashback. Half of this story takes place in the past as the hero has to consider that he might be like his father – and if so does not want to jeopardize ruining the life of his true love. Gritty and edgy scenes of teenage reality combined with the innocence of childhood and the naïveté of seekers of true love present an interesting contrast. An interesting confrontation between father and son put me through a emotional tug of war. It was evident that both parties were the victim of divorce. It was also very obvious that people can't live in the past and dwell on prior hurts if they wish to lead productive and satisfying lives. The content was obviously not constructed to impress the Dove folks, since there are several scenes that will cause them to use their red pen, though there was nothing that caused me to throw a flag.
Keep in mind that the director/writer/star of this movie was 22-years-old. Also the fact that this is a story of the prodigal son provides a built in spoiler. The main idea is not unique but the implementation of it was. The prodigal son is likeable, and the pain of seeing him walk away from God and his family and his future is palpable. The return was a bit rushed and incomplete, precluding the savoring of the precious moment when the son makes a U-turn. It's extremely difficult to present the story of the prodigal son without showing some of the realities of our world and the temptations that people fall prey to. This movie does not sugarcoat the fall from grace. The steady love of a best friend and roommate help the prodigal keep contact with the world of sanity and decency. The tough love of the father prevents enablement of the son's behavior. A nice balance.
Sarah's Choice from Pure Flix
Abortion is one of those issues that most Christian filmmakers prefer to avoid like poison ivy. This movie took that subject on without flinching. Having never been in a position of either the prospective mother or father, I can only opine that the presentation of this seemed realistic. A lot of reviews have knocked the acting in this movie but I challenge those who slam the acting in this one to provide criteria instead of just a general statement concerning the lameness of the acting. I recently took lessons from a pro. He stressed continually that good acting is not acting at all but being natural. I thought Rebecca St. James was remarkable in her performance. Her timing and pregnant pauses and contemplative truth searching demonstrated through camera shots down into her soul via her eyes. I salute the producer's of this flick for taking on a very controversial subject and handling it with grace. If you're pro-life or pro-choice, you can enjoy this. If you're pro-abortion, this will probably infuriate you.
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