Reviews

This story went nowhere over and over again every time you started to hope it was going to make a solid point that didn't end in the wrong orifice.

It's not humorous enough to be Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and it's not clever enough to be The Matrix. It was little better than a silly allegory of itself and its writers-which we would do well to avoid like their proverbial Everything Bagel.

The humor was not merely preadolescent; it subtexted all the sad single-tracked fetish of a sexually abused child.

Speaking of sophomoric things, the visuals, while fascinating enough to be alluring in a trailer, were literally one flashy lighting or Photoshop trick after another, and should earn you no better than a C- in undergraduate film school.

Save yourself, save your daughter, and spare the overplayed multiverse by finding a much better movie to watch.

This is just a personal conversion testimony of Raul Ries put to film. As usual, it's better to read or hear the testimony as described by the person who experienced it, because a movie isn't going to explain what happened inside. The problem with a film that sticks closely to the account of this kind of conversion is it's not going to satisfy the movie watcher who wants a smooth and natural character arc, and the deus ex machina is not going to feel satisfying unless you happen to identify by having experienced the same kind of conversion. Also, most people won't find a sympathetic protagonist. He's literally a character only a mother (and Jesus) could love.

I was drawn to the movie because I recently saw Raul Ries in person and heard his testimony. The movie relayed his account, and I was able to appreciate it for helping visualize that account. The ideal target audience would be a combat veteran or someone who has deep seated anger issues and is at risk of committing physical abuse.

This movie can be seen in context of the recent "Jesus Revolution" movie. It's happening around the same time and place, and Raul Ries and family do become associated with Calvary Chapel and Chuck Smith, who appears on the television Raul Ries sees in t Fury to Freedom. "Jesus Revolution" is far more watchable, but only because it inserted characters with tangible flaws and arc development that didn't occur the way we see in that movie. Sometimes in cinema you have to choose between factually accurate and relatable story.

Actually, this was the best follow up to A Christmas Story you could hope for: original actors like a non-stop cameo, a setting oozing with nostalgia, and a touching story (maybe more so than the original). They pulled off a successful sequel that belongs with the original. I was really getting ready to cringe at a bad holiday sequel, and was pleasantly surprised instead.

Yes, you might feel you've seen all this before (because you kind of did), but that was part of the objective, and it was well met.

First disappointment was that they didn't get the original actor for their mom, but the substitute was well done although the personality was different. And, wow, Ralphie is married to Erinn Hayes! What more could he ask for?

I've seen Matt before, and didn't really appreciate what I felt was lightweight political and social commentary. However, this project was both eye-opening and entertaining. He nailed it so well in this film that I'm now convinced that those people and the topic made his job way too easy. Gone are the days of evenhanded debate where you have to be articulate, educated, and prepared to engage in discussion. In the case of this topic all those assets have become liabilities.

Some issues have become so ridiculous that people can't even answer one basic question - and this documentary demonstrates that sad fact perfectly and humorously. Thirty years ago we would have thought this was a ludicrous SNL skit; now it's just the right point to make that everyone else fails to engage.

This movie can't make up its mind what it wants to be. It obviously doesn't want to be taken seriously and then expects to be a passable tearjerker.

Bad jokes, sloppy dialogue, clumsy acting, goofy plot, empty emotions, and still 346 characters to go to finish this review. Then the obligatory wokeisms play like government public service announcements with no subtlety whatsoever. The film is so self conscious we can't suspend our disbelief for a matter of minutes.

And what's Christian Bale doing here? Watching him play Marvel villain after Batman is like watching Michael Jordan play baseball.

Good as westerns go, but, seriously, way too many missed opportunities to just justifiably shoot them and no explanations or excuses not to.

I suppose that's standard for movies, but I keep hoping for better.

More cornball than a Walt Disney film and more tedious, though some of the sentiments are well taken.

This would have worked better and been more timely if the producers found a way to make it an allegory of the Disney company. Maybe if I think about it a little harder, I'll find way to see it in that light.

Pretty weak as a tearjerker and fantastic as a wicker man with a one-dimensional villain whose only purpose was to vilify the prayerful.

On the other hand, it was a visual delight whose stylized approach was somewhat interrupted by out of place characterizations and dialogue.

Moderately interesting plot with horrible pacing and poor delivery. A Doctor Who fan might like it better but probably not nearly as much.

Maybe the book was better.

If I don't start figuring out the story before the end, then the movie is probably not going to make sense. Not this movie. Kept me guessing all the way through, and logically satisfies at the very end. (To keep it even more mysterious, don't watch the trailer.)

Also the pacing was fantastic. I couldn't look at my phone for 15 seconds without missing something. The direction wasn't just directing the actors and the movie; it was directing the audience to see and feel everything just so.

Needs more hillbilly in its native habitat. Other than that, the portrayal was agonizingly real. I know these people-not specifically, but just like them-and know what it looks like (directly and vicariously) to try to rise out of the mess and still be connected to it. I'd give that part of life 2 stars and don't recommend making people's lives start out like that. Portraying it realistically with a glimmer of hope, 8 stars, and would recommend limiting it to the screen if you have a choice and learning the lessons that way.