Aroused (FILM REVIEW)

Aroused

Film Review by Kam Williams

Popular Porn Stars Bare Their Bodies and Souls in Revealing Documentary

            Have you ever been curious about how a woman became a porn star? Was it because of a drug habit? Or maybe out of desperation for money? How did she pick her stage name? Does she feel any shame about such a taboo line of work?

            Is she really a nymphomaniac, or just a bad actress? Does she enjoy having sex with total strangers in front of the camera? Is there a stigma attached to her profession, or is she able to enjoy a normal romantic relationship in her private life? Is she worried about STDs? What does she think of her fans? Does she have an exit plan, or is she just winging it?

            These are among the topics discussed by 16 of the most successful porn stars in Aroused, an intimate biopic directed by Deborah Anderson. Don’t be surprised if none of their sultry sobriquets rings a bell, since one of the fascinating factoids shared here is that their careers are of terribly short duration.

            “The porn stars of 2005 are already gone,” one remarks. “They’re shot out,” which is how industry insiders refer to over the hill performers.

            But the bevy of curvaceous beauties interviewed in Aroused represents the current cream of the crop. That includes Misty Stone, Ash Hollywood, Asphyxia Noir, Belladonna, Kayden Kross, Lisa Ann, Katsuni, Lexi Belle, Brooklyn Lee, Allie Haze, April O’Neil, Jesse Jane, Alexis Texas, Francesca Le, Tanya Tate and Teagan Presley.

            The film is far from explicit, though it does feature each subject in a state of undress as she prepares for a still photo shoot for a relatively-tasteful coffee table book, clad in nothing but a pair of high heels by shoe designer Jimmy Choo. What proves far more compelling than seeing a little skin is hearing what makes each of them tick.

            Money seems to be the common motivation, although they admit that once you go XXX you can’t go back, because being in pornography leaves a scarlet letter on you socially. It’s also interesting that most of these females crave attention more than casual carnality, with an absentee father during childhood being credited as a contributor factor.

            They generally don’t date “civilians,” meaning people outside the porn industry, since ordinary people tend to be prudes about promiscuity, even when their mate explains that it’s just a job. By film’s end, you feel sorry for these females in denial, despite defensive-sounding statements like, “I get paid to have sex. Why doesn’t everybody do that?” Maybe because some of you admit to needing a steady flow of narcotics to mask the shame and the pain.

            An eye-opening expose about the surprisingly-conventional concerns of some of the most hyper-sexualized women in the world.  

Very Good (3 stars)

Unrated

In English and French with subtitles

Running time: 73 minutes

Distributor: Ketchup Entertainment

To see a trailer for Aroused, visit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-V_WVuNPEA

Mimi's Village (BOOK REVIEW)

Mimi's Village and How Basic Health Care Transformed It

by Katie Smith Milway

Illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes

Kids Can Press

Hardcover, $18.95

32 pages, Illustrated

ISBN: 978-1-55453-722-8  

Book Review by Kam Williams

“Mimi’s fictional village is like thousands of real villages in the developing world, where health care, especially among infants and children, is poor or uneven. As a result, every day, 21,000 children under the age of five die, most of them from diseases that could have been prevented with basic health care.

Mimi’s Village is ultimately a story of hope and a vision of a better future. It shows how people working together can make changes for the better, and it gives young readers tools to help them improve the health of villages half a world away.” 

-- Excerpted from the Introduction  

           

            When I was growing up, my well-meaning parents often relied on the mantra “Don’t you know there are children starving in Africa!” to get me to finish my dinner. But I’m not sure whether that message or my relatively-privileged quality of life ever really registered. All I knew was that I was expected to clean my plate before I’d be allowed to proceed on to my favorite course, dessert.

             Too bad my frustrated folks didn’t have a companion tool like Mimi’s Village at their disposal back then. For this entertaining and informative picture book would undoubtedly have captured my imagination while simultaneously helping me understand the deeper message they were desperately trying to convey.

            Written by Katie Smith Milway and delightfully illustrated by Eugenie Fernandes, the story is set in rural Kenya where it revolves around a cute little girl with cornrows called Mimi Malaho. As the tale unfolds, we find the women of her village weeping and eating from a common bowl as they mourn the passing the previous night of a baby named Kanzi.

            The death concerns Mimi, since her mother is pregnant. After all, their country has a high rate of infant mortality as a result of combination of poor sanitation, malnutrition, contaminated drinking water, disease-carrying mosquitoes, a need for vaccinations and more.

            The narrative proceeds to delineate each of the aforementioned dangers before discussing some simple solutions, such as inoculations, sleeping under netting and boiling water. Plus, after the optimistic ending, the author shows where you can send donations, and exactly what that money will do. For example, $18 buys three bed nets and just $8 can save a hundred kids from dehydration. 

            An inspirational opus likely to inspire your spoiled-rotten, little monsters to appreciate that they have a lot to be thankful for and maybe even motivate them to minister to the needs of the least of their brethren.

Anthony Mackie (INTERVIEW)

Anthony Mackie

The “Pain & Gain” Interview

with Kam Williams

No Pain, No Gain! Anthony Philosophizes about Making It

            Born in New Orleans on September 23, 1979, Anthony Mackie attended the Julliard School of Drama. He was discovered after receiving rave reviews for playing Tupac Shakur in the off-Broadway play “Up Against the Wind.”

            Immediately following, Anthony made an auspicious film debut as Eminem’s nemesis, Papa Doc, in Curtis Hanson’s “8 Mile.” His performance caught the attention of Spike Lee, who subsequently cast him in “Sucker Free City” and “She Hate Me.” He also appeared in Clint Eastwood’s “Million Dollar Baby” as well as in Jonathan Demme’s “The Manchurian Candidate.”

            Anthony had five features on movie screens in 2006. In addition to “We Are Marshall,” he starred in “Half Nelson,” with Ryan Gosling, adapted from director Ryan Fleck’s Sundance-winning short “Gowanus Brooklyn;” in Preston Whitmore’s “Crossover;” in Frank E. Flowers ensemble crime drama “Haven,” opposite Orlando Bloom and Bill Paxton; and in the film adaptation of Richard Price’s “Freedomland,” starring Samuel L. Jackson.

            Besides an impressive film career, the gap-toothed thespian has performed both on and off Broadway, making his Broadway debut as the stuttering nephew, Sylvester, alongside Whoopi Goldberg in August Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Next he was seen as the lead in Regina King’s modern retelling of Chekov’s “The Seagull,” in Stephen Belber’s “McReele,” and in the Pulitzer Prize-winning “A Soldier’s Play.”

            More recently, Anthony participated in the Kennedy Center’s presentation of “August Wilson’s 20th Century.” As one of more than 30 renowned stars of stage and screen, he performed in three readings of Wilson’s cycle of ten plays chronicling the African-American experience, each set in a different decade of the 20th century. A true aficionado of live theatre, he hopes to return to the stage soon.

            In 2009, he played Sgt. JT Sanborn on the big screen in Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Hurt Locker,” a film which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. That same year, he reprised his role as Tupac Shakur in “Notorious,” the biopic of Notorious B.I.G.

            In 2010, he took a break from film to return to Broadway where he starred in “A Behanding in Spokane.” He subsequently returned to Hollywood to appear opposite Kerry Washington in “Night Catches Us.” Then he appeared in “The Adjustment Bureau” and “Real Steel.” Last year, he made several movies, including “Man on a Ledge,” “10 Years” and “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.”

            2013 is proving very productive for Anthony, with the horror thriller “Vipaka,” the coming of age drama “The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete,” the crime thriller “Runner, Runner” and “Bolden” being among his offerings. Here, he talks about his new movie, “Pain & Gain,” a fact-based crime comedy co-starring Dwayne Johnson and Mark Wahlberg.

Kam Williams: Hi Anthony, thanks for another interview.

Anthony Mackie: What’s going on, my man?

KW: Nothing much, brother. What an impressive resume you’ve compiled for someone so young: The Hurt Locker, The Manchurian Candidate, Notorious, We Are Marshall, Half Nelson, 8 Mile, American Violet, The Adjustment Bureau, Gangster Squad, Night Catches Us, etcetera, etcetera...  

AM: Thanks a lot, Kam. I’ve been very fortunate to land all the projects that I’ve done. I have a great team of people working with me.

KW: So, what interested you in Pain & Gain?

AM: It was the script. I was really psyched about Michael [director Michael Bay] doing a story with three-dimensional characters like these who you could real delve into to see what makes them tick.

KW: A Michael Bay flick with both that trademark action as well as some complex character development. It felt almost like I was watching a new genre of film.

AM: That’s what made me so happy about it. When he explained to me what he was trying to do with this movie, it was something that I felt was right up my alley and that I wanted to be a part of.

KW: I have a lot of questions sent in to you by readers. Editor/Legist Patricia Turnier asks: How would you describe your character, Adrian? Are you anything like him in real life?

AM: [Chuckles] That’s funny! No, I’m not anything like him at all. The thing that I enjoyed about doing Adrian was that he never backed down. He admired Daniel [played by Mark Wahlberg] so much and just wanted his friend to succeed. And he also wanted to achieve The American Dream.

KW: I saw you on several talk shows over the last couple of weeks, and between being pumped up from the weightlifting and the way you trash-talked like you were shot out of a cannon, you seemed almost like a different person, or as if you were still in character.

AM: [LOL] I really enjoyed this character and talking about him. I’m lucky because I get to do projects I like and believe in. And it’s exciting to see people react positively to your work, to something you’ve invested so much time and so much of yourself into. 

KW: How much time did you devote to the exercise regimen to get yourself in such great shape?

AM: About four months. I worked out for six weeks before we started shooting, and then every day on location. To get in shape like that involves a whole lifestyle change. It’s not just going to the gym. It’s also eating and sleeping differently, and spending your time differently.    

KW: I heard that you and Mark Wahlberg even trained together.

AM: Yeah, we worked out together every day, once we arrived on set. I think that’s why we subsequently became such good friends. He appreciated the fact that I wasn’t taking this opportunity lightly, since he’s not the type of person who takes the stature he’s achieved for granted. He’s a leader and a hard worker. He liked my dedication to the project which was reflected in how I accompanied him daily to the gym to push it as hard as we could.

KW: Harriet Pakula-Teweles says: Thanks for the wonderful performance in A Behanding in Spokane. You’re obviously comfortable on stage and also doing great work on screen. How do you approach each as an actor?

AM: First, let me say thank you, Harriet. It’s great that you saw and enjoyed that play. Stage and screen are completely different. Stage is like a marathon. It’s more of a physical muscle because you have to do eight shows a week. With a movie, you do it once, it’s in the can, and you move on. On the stage, you have to recreate that moment every night. You have to figure out a way, mentally, to find yourself in the same place every performance. You have to believe that whatever’s happening in that world is actually happening every night, whereas with film you just have to believe it once before you move on. So, stage is really difficult but, at the same time, it’s much more gratifying than film. So many people have a hand in your screen performance whereas, when you step on the stage, no one tells you what you can and can’t do.   

KW: Harriet also asks: Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans?

AM: [LOL] That’s a great song!

KW: Larry Greenberg says: It seems to me like the film actually has a message about the growing distance between classes in America. Or am I asking too much from a spring blockbuster?

AM: I think the movie deals more with The American Dream, and the skewed perception of it in our generation. The idea used to be that you worked hard to achieve more. Now, it’s “Do as little as you can to achieve as much as you can.” 

KW: Richie the intern says: You have played Tupac Shakur twice, once, Off-Off Broadway, and also in the film Notorious. Did you listen to a lot of his music growing up?

AM: Definitely! The very first CD I ever owned, was a Tupac CD. He’s one of my all-time favorites. I have every CD and bootleg CD of his. He was a huge inspiration of mine. Since my parents didn’t allow me to hang out on the streets as a child, my way of experiencing the streets was by listening to Tupac.

KW: Patricia says: I loved your performance in Desert Flower, which brings to mind this saying: “There are no small parts, only small actors.”

AM: Thank you, Patricia. I agree. That’s one of the reasons I did Desert Flower. I feel very strongly about that picture’s subject-matter [female circumcision]. So, I did the film even though I knew I wouldn’t get any fanfare or recognition from it, because its message was important to me.    

KW: Did you meet naysayers before your first big break as an actor. There are people who do not give themselves permission to pursue their dreams. What advice do you have for them? 

AM: [Chuckles] I still meet naysayers every day. This business is funny. It’s all about your journey and the road that you’re on. There are so many people who like to comment on my career and on what I am or am not doing. But I know that it’s my path, and I’m going to decide for myself which direction I want to go. When I meet naysayers, I just thank them politely for acknowledging my career and I wish them many blessings on the success of their own careers.      

KW: Marcia Evans says: I have been following your career and I appreciate the choices you have made as an artist. Do you have any interest in bringing any historical or cultural stories about Louisiana to the screen? 

AM: Of course! One of the biggest projects I’ve been working on, for about six years now, has been a movie about the jazz musician Buddy Bolden. Louisiana is near and dear to my heart. I moved back to New Orleans five years ago, because I realize that New Orleans is what made me into something that I cherish. 

KW: Are you attached to any post-Katrina rehabilitation project in New Orleans?

AM: No, I’ve been staying away from the revitalization of New Orleans, because it’s not New Orleanians who are behind it. And that’s the problem. Every time a New Orleanian tries to get behind a project, it gets shot down. But you have all these folks from outside the state trying to change the culture. That’s what the backlash is all about right now. We want to keep the city the way it was. New Orleans is not New York, L.A. or Las Vegas, and we want to push all the outsiders out in order to get back to where we were before Hurricane Katrina.   

KW: Marcia also says that she’s a closet chef who plans to study the wonderful New Orleans cuisine. She was wondering whether the local fiddles helped you pack on the pounds for this film.

AM: [Laughs heartily] No, it was staying away from that stuff that enabled me to bulk up.  

KW: Marcia then asks: Do you know how to make noise in the kitchen?

AM: I’ll say this: I’ve never met a woman who wasn’t somebody’s momma who could cook better than me.

KW: What is your favorite dish to cook?

AM: My #1 killer dish is stuffed prawns with crabmeat dressing over teriyaki rice with pan-fried asparagus. That’s my game-over, you know you’re in for the night, you’re in trouble situation dish.

KW: Marcia also asks: Do you like Crawfish Etouffee? [Badly mispronounced]

AM: [Laughs, and corrects me] It’s Etouffee. I like it if the roux is made right. A lot of people burn their roux, and I can’t eat their etouffee.

KW: Lastly, Marcia asks: Does your bar down there serve some finger-lickin’, smack yo’ momma cuisine?

AM: [LOL] We serve our food with a band aid, because you’re definitely going to bite your finger.

KW: What is your guiltiest pleasure?

AM: Butter pecan ice cream.

KW: Mike Pittman asks: What was your wisest career move?

AM: Not doing a TV show.

KW: When you look in the mirror, what do you see?

AM: Success

KW: If you could have one wish instantly granted, what would that be for?

AM: To do a movie co-starring opposite Denzel Washington.

KW: The Kerry Washington question: If you were an animal, what animal would you be?

AM: A panther.

KW: The Ling-Ju Yen question: What is your earliest childhood memory?

AM: It’s from when I was 3. My dad was building the house that I would grow-up in and spend my entire childhood in. I took a laundry basket and tried to bobsled down the stairs but went though the wall about halfway down and landed in the next room. [Laughs]

KW: The Jamie Foxx question: If you only had 24 hours to live, what would you do? Would you do the bad stuff, you never got a chance to do, or would you do good stuff to make sure you make it into heaven?

AM: I’d get my family together and spend those 24 hours at home with them.

KW: The Viola Davis question: Who do you really believe you are when you go home as opposed to the person you pretend to be on the red carpet?

AM: At home, I’m a very, deliberate, opinionated and outspoken person. You have to soften yourself on the red carpet, because no one wants to think you have an opinion anymore.

KW: The Anthony Anderson question: If you could have a superpower, which one would you choose?

AM: I would want to be a genie who could grant wishes.

KW: The Judyth Piazza question: What key quality do you believe all successful people share? 

AM: Determination. A lot of people say they have drive and determination, but most people aren’t willing to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve great success.  

KW: Lastly, can you give me an Anthony Mackie question I can ask other celebrities?

AM: Yeah, is there something that you promised to do if you became famous, that you still haven’t done yet?

KW: Thanks again for the time, Anthony, and best of luck with the film.

AM: Thanks a lot, Kam, I really appreciate it.

To see a trailer for Pain & Gain, visit:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEQ8jyvmYtw 

The Impossible (DVD REVIEW)

The Impossible

DVD Review by Kam Williams

Oscar-Nominee Naomi Watts Stars in Real-Life Tsunami Drama 

            On the day after Christmas in 2004, a magnitude 9.3 earthquake, the third largest ever measured on the Richter scale, triggered a mammoth tsunami in the Indian Ocean which cost a quarter million people their lives. Thanks to the ubiquity of surveillance and cell phone cameras, the world was able to witness much of the tragedy, including tidal waves crashing ashore and creeping deep inland before sweeping humans, cars and everything else in its path back out to sea.

            Maria (Naomi Watts in an Oscar-nominated performance) and Henry Belon (Ewan McGregor), a married couple from Spain, had the misfortune to be vacationing in Thailand with their three sons (Tom Holland, Samuel Joslin and Oaklee Pendergast) that fateful day. Because they had rented a ground level cottage at a luxurious beachfront resort, they were engulfed by water and separated from each other the moment disaster struck.

            The family’s ensuing ordeal is the subject of The Impossible, a harrowing tale of survival directed by Juan Antonia Bayona (The Orphanage). The Belons’ nationality has admittedly been changed from Spanish to British for the sake of the film, but one can only assume that the rest of their terrifying experience has been accurately recreated here.

            The film opens with a relatively serene tableau covering their uneventful, Christmas Eve flight to Khao Lak as well as their subsequent celebration of the holiday opening presents and snorkeling. Of course, that deceptively idyllic setup is just the quiet before the storm.

            When the tsunami hits the following morning, their hotel is engulfed, and from that point forward the picture is presented primarily from Maria’s point of view. We first witness her clinging to a palm tree, and then saving eldest son Lucas (Holland).

            The kid eventually escorts his profusely-bleeding mother through the chaos to a makeshift hospital for some urgently-needed medical attention. While she teeters between life and death, Lucas perambulates the devastated region for any sign, living or dead, of his missing father and siblings.

            A disaster flick chronicling a dream getaway that turned into a never-ending nightmare in the blink of an eye!

Very Good (3 stars)

Rated PG-13 for brief nudity, disturbing images and intense disaster sequences

In English and Thai with subtitles

Running time: 114 minutes

Distributor: Summit Entertainment 

DVD Extras: Deleted scenes; Casting The Impossible; Realizing The Impossible; and audio commentary with the director, scriptwriter, producer and survivor.  

To see a trailer for The Impossible, visit:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU4mXJRHIcQ 

Top Ten DVD Releases for 4-30-13

This Week’s DVD Releases

by Kam Williams

Top Ten DVD List for April 30, 2013                       

Silver Linings Playbook

 
 

The Big Boss / Fist of Fury [Bruce Lee Double Feature]

The Way of the Dragon / Game of Death [Bruce Lee Double Feature]

Wagner & Me

Only the Young / Tchoupitoulas [Double Feature]

G-Dog

Funny Girl

The Power Broker: Whitney Young’s Fight for Civil Rights

Not Fade Away

Nurses: If Florence Nightingale Could See Us Now

 

Honorary Mention

Earth from Space

Wasted on the Young

If You Really Love Me

Dangerous Edge: A Life of Graham Greene

Tom and Jerry Kids Show: The Complete Season One

Vito

Ben Hur: The Epic Miniseries Event

Nickelodeon Favorites: Once upon a Rhyme

The Wicked

Broken City

The Big Wedding (FILM REVIEW)

The Big Wedding

Film Review by Kam Williams

A-List Cast Can’t Save Atrocious Adaptation of French Farce

            This picture is such a wholesale disaster that it’s hard to decide where to start in critiquing it. I could talk about how it is just the latest case of Hollywood remaking a French farce (Mon Frère se Marie) which somehow lost all of its charm in the translation into English. Or I could point out how it’s a slight variation of Meet the Parents and even has Robert De Niro reprising his role as a macho father-in-law less inclined to reason than to threaten to bust a kneecap or tweeze a guy’s gonads off.

            Or I could focus on how the production squandered the services of a talented cast including a quartet of Oscar-winners in De Niro, Susan Sarandon, Robin Williams and Diane Keaton, as well as that of such seasoned comedians as Topher Grace, Katherine Heigl, Amanda Seyfried and SNL alum Christine Ebersole. Or I might mention the telling fact that the movie sat on the shelf for over a year before the studio made the ill-advised decision to pump up the marketing and dump it on the gullible public.

            Then there’s the homophobia and racism, reflected in disparaging offhand, remarks about lesbian and Colombian characters. Equally-objectionable is the picture’s frequent resort to sophomoric sight gags ranging from projectile vomiting to sucker punches to the face.

            Perhaps most offensive of all is the film’s coarse, off-color humor featuring a life-size sculpture of a nude woman masturbating, a seductive wedding guest pleasuring her seatmate under the table during the reception, and a relentlessly-lurid script laced with salacious lines like “I can’t believe I’m being cock-blocked by my own mom,” “Go [expletive] a yak!” and “My father had his penis in your mom.”

            All of the above amounts to a bitter disappointment, especially given the pedigree of the elite ensemble. Blame for this fiasco rests squarely on the shoulders of writer/director/producer Justin Zackham, who ostensibly was trying to replicate the lowbrow nature of his only other feature-length offering, Going Greek, a raunchy teensploitation flick released back in 2001. 

            As for the storyline, Mr. Zackham lazy relies on “The Big Lie” cliché, a hackneyed plot device popular on TV sitcoms since the Golden Age of Television. It basically revolves around characters going to increasingly great lengths to hide an embarrassing fact from someone until the ruse blows up in their faces and the truth comes out anyway.

            Here, we have Missy (Amanda Seyfried) and Alejandro (Ben Barnes) on the verge of tying the knot in Connecticut, when they learn that his birth mother, Madonna (Patricia Rae), is unexpectedly flying in from Colombia to attend the wedding. Because she’s a devout Catholic, they don’t want her to know that the adoptive parents (De Niro and Keaton) have been divorced for a decade.     

            So, instead of simply explaining the changed state of affairs to Madonna, everybody agrees to participate in an elaborate cover-up to make it appear that Don and Ellie are still together, even though he’s currently in a committed, long-term relationship with Bebe (Sarandon). What a patently-preposterous premise!  

            The escalating concatenation of calamities adds-up less to a sidesplitting, screwball comedy than to an incoherent string of crude skits, the crudest being a scene where an undignified De Niro sheepishly sports a substance-eating grin after getting caught in the act of performing cunnilingus between a widespread pair of naked legs.

            Look! A falling star! Make a wish!

Poor (0 stars)

Rated R for profanity, sexuality and brief nudity

In English and Spanish with subtitles

Running time: 90 minutes

Distributor: Lionsgate Films  

To see a trailer for The Big Wedding, visit:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt9iqJA6RZM 

King's Faith (FILM REVIEW)

King's Faith

Film Review by Kam Williams

Headline: Reformed Gangsta Seeks Redemption in Modern Morality Play

            Brendan King (Crawford Wilson), a kid raised in the foster care system, was sent away at the age of 15 after being caught dealing drugs and running guns as a member of a notorious gang known as Avenue D. Upon parole a few years later, the juvenile offender was released to the custody of Vanessa (Lynn Whitfield) and Mike Stubbs (James McDaniel), a couple still struggling with the loss of their police officer son in a senseless act of violence while he was on duty.

            The emotionally-wounded foster parents see taking Brendan in as an opportunity to not only help rehabilitate an at-risk youth but to perhaps restore their faith in humanity, too. Because the boy became Born Again behind bars, the prospects for his future are very bright indeed, despite a checkered past marked by 18 different foster home placements, 9 felony and 11 misdemeanor arrests, and 4 convictions.

            After all, he’s now settling into a new school, Northside High, and living in a relatively-upscale suburban enclave located a safe distance from the bad influences rampant around the ‘hood. Furthermore, to keep Brendan on the straight and narrow, the Stubbs give him a curfew, find him a part-time job, and even encourage him to join The Seekers, a Christian community service group for teenagers.

            Everything goes well until the fateful day he rescues a classmate from a car wreck. Natalie (Kayla Compton), a girl most likely-type, happens to be president of the school’s student council. However, she ends up in trouble when the police find drugs in the car at the scene of the accident.

            But Brendan’s role as the hero lands him in the limelight, which has the unfortunate side effect of notifying his former partners in crime of his present whereabouts. Soon, they show up looking for the fruit of the valuable contraband he’d hidden before being sent up the river, and they threaten to put a hurtin’ on him if he doesn’t deliver or rejoin their ranks.

            Will Brendan revert to his old outlaw ways? Or will the convert put his trust in the Lord and avoid temptation this time around? Thus unfolds King’s Faith, a very relevant morality play written and directed by Nicholas DiBella.

            Carefully crafted with Evangelicals in mind, this modern parable will certainly resonate with the faith-based demographic as well as secular individuals interested in an entertaining, wholesome family flick with a sobering message. The cinematic equivalent of a thought-provoking Bible study likely to ignite further discussion about a variety of real-life challenges folks face today. 

Very Good (3 stars)

Rated PG-13 for violence, drug use and mature themes

Running time: 107 minutes

Distributor: Faith Street Film Partners

To see a trailer for King's Faith, visit: http://vimeo.com/62743442