Tuesday, January 27, 2009

DVD Reviews

We've never had a TV but we do have a "video monitor". In other words, a TV that only works for videos / DVD's. We don't rent movies either so yesterday when we got a set of three videos we ordered to check out for our church library, we were really excited. So last night the guys got done with chores early, Naomi made pizza, Miriam dished up ice cream, and we started our DVD family party. It's been a long time since we've had a nice evening with everyone at home so that made it even more special. We thought you might enjoy hearing about our movie reviews, all of which were presented at the San Antonio Film Festival. The Sword is a 91 minute movie put out by Pointy Stick Productions. You can tell it's "amateur" done but it still good. It tells about a sword that is past down generation after generation from father to son to be used to protect the family. It goes over several of these generation passes but the majority of the film is taken place in 730 AD with a boy who has to protect his mother and sisters in their castle while the father goes off to war. We all enjoyed it and it will be put in the library. If there was anything questionable it was a young lady at the beginning with a low necked dress on and there was a monk in the castle. I guess the key message would be to obey your parents and trust God for protection.

The Widow's Might was put out by HeuMoore Productions. It was good but we agreed that we liked their other movies, Heartstrings, Bubble Trouble, and Siblings What a Blast, better. There was one scene we didn't care for with some music we didn't appreciate and so it probably won't go in the library. It has a good message and I'm sure we'll watch it again with the remote in hand for the one scene. It's 54 minutes long and Gator is entertaining once again.

Pendragon was put out by the Burns Family Studios and is 110 minutes long. This is done by the same family that did Quest for Glory if you've ever seen that. This movie however, was very professionally done. I'm sure for those that watch TV you'll see lots of problems and it might be a bit fakey in parts, but we felt it was excellent. It's a very dramatic story that takes place in the days when the Saxons were invading Britian. For those that don't like war type movies you probably wouldn't enjoy this, but it has a good story line with it's good guys and bad guys. It was a good reminder that in the end, God will prevail. Yes, this will go in the library with a warning for anyone that has young children that might get bothered by violent sword fights.

By the way, for those not familiar with the San Antonio Film Festival, the idea of it was to get people making movies that glorify God and are clean. The top prize this year, $101,000!!! went to the makers of The Widow's Might. (Wow!) Most of the films entered are done by ordinary families or people that are just learning film making so they may not be professional but they are good. Some, like Fireproof, are professionally done. And yes, we were up really late. We had to keep pushing the pause button everytime someone got up so they wouldn't miss anything!

4 comments:

  1. Cool. That last one that you posted sounds really interesting. Where do you buy these movies at? Sounds like a lot of fun! Have you gotten to see fireproof yet? It came out on DVD today, and I think Chris and I are going to go get it tonight. Great movie.

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  2. Hi! We got them at Vision Forum. I think they each have their own website where you can buy them as well. Other than that - I have no idea. No, we haven't seen Fireproof yet. It's sitting in our living room right now so maybe this evening! (Sorry Naomi's never around when you call, Jennie.)

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  3. Thanks for your reviews! We have considered purchasing some of the ones your family watched, and it's nice to hear your opinion.

    Our family plans to watch Fireproof tonight. :)

    Thanks for commenting on our blog!
    We sure would like to meet y'all!

    the 11 Smiths

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  4. Hi Krahn Family! I just found your review of our movie, The Sword, and I'm glad you enjoyed it! It was made totally by homeschool students. Those you see on-screen are also the ones who wrote, filmed, edited and did all the other hard work. Their efforts paid off in that we were able to attend the film fest in San Antonio with all the "big boys".

    As far as your concerns go, which dress did you consider low cut? All the girls are rather modest, so I thought we did a good job with that while still being historically accurate with the costumes. And what was your concern with the monk?

    We have since put out another version of the movie that includes behind the scenes specials such as interviews and bloopers.

    Doug Dunklin, Executive Producer
    producer@pointystickproductions.com

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