Posted on 03/31/2009 1:58:27 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
LONGVIEW — A movie that's being praised as a salvation for relationships drew more than 200 viewers Sunday to First Baptist Church.
"I hope that my son gleans something from this," John Jones said, seated in the downtown church's education center next to his son, Jason, and wife, Donna. "We're very grounded, my wife and I. And, with all you see on TV and so forth, this (movie) may allow him to see something that he wouldn't otherwise see on TV — values, commitment, honoring your commitment, honoring your word."
The movie is "Fireproof" (2008 Provident Films), its title a double reference to the philosophy it espouses and the firefighter career of lead character Caleb Holt. Portrayed by former child actor Kirk Cameron, Holt and his wife, Catherine (Erin Bethea), hit an emotional firewall early in the film and steer toward separation and divorce.
The firefighter finds a path back to his own heart and that of his wife's, thanks to a book, which at the time of the movie's release was fictional. "Fireproof" was released to theaters in fall, but is being reborn in church congregations.
Oakland Heights Baptist Church members watched the movie a week or so ago, but it is not enjoying favor only among Baptists — a Fireproof Catholic Study Guide also can be downloaded from the movie's Web site.
And, the fictional book that shows Holt how to fireproof his marriage is in use as a study guide called "The Love Dare," (B & H Publishing Group, list $14.99).
First Baptist launches a four-week Bible study Wednesday based on the movie and book. It even launched Sunday's movie by inviting a Longview Fire Department unit to park outside briefly for children to tour.
" 'The Love Dare' started as a plot device for the movie," First Baptist Young and Median Adults Minister Kip Salser said. "What started kind of as a plot device became a serious tool for relationships. A friend of mine who went through this, he was actually divorced and split up. He and his ex-wife went through this, 'The Love Dare,' and are reconciled."
Salser said he's seen the movie's impact spreading through reports on his Facebook site.
"Some go to church and some don't, but they have gone through 'The Love Dare' ... and are seeing relationships strengthened," he said. "The target audience would primarily be couples, whether they are Christians or not. We can all improve our marriage."
See also here :
http://www.pratttribune.com/news/x730578345/-Fireproof-film-inspires
‘Fireproof’ film inspires
For a movie to provide an afternoon’s entertainment, drama, excitement, marriage counseling and a message of healing through Jesus Christ is asking a lot. “Fireproof” fills all those roles, according to some who have seen it.
The movie will be shown free of charge at 4 p.m. Sunday, March 29 and April 5 at the Barron Theatre, sponsored by Pratt Christian Fellowship.
“We had a huge turnout,” said Tom Walters, pastor of the First Christian Church in Medicine Lodge. “It’s a good movie to watch; there’s action, ‘guy stuff,’ stuff girls like, a lot of humor and then something (an insight) that hits you in the side of the head.”
A fireman in a failing marriage, played by Kirk Cameron, takes up his father’s challenge to be part of a 40-day “love dare” designed to teach both husband and wife the real meaning of commitment. Christianity “comes in by the back door,” Walters said; movie reviewers draw a parallel between the unconditional love of God and the love between a husband and wife.
Walters recommends the movie for all married couples, and requires it as a part of premarital counseling he does with engaged couples.
“It’s not a preachy movie,” Walters said. “It shows good wholesome values that apply to everybody.”
“Fireproof exposes the isolation that can occur between two people who started out loving each other, but over time disconnect, become self-absorbed and fall into a pattern of hurting each other,” an online blogger wrote. “Help comes in the form of a 40 day dare to love....I was deeply moved...enough to take the dare myself.”
“Fireproof” is the third inspirational drama from Alex and Stephen Kendrick (“Facing the Giants” and “Flywheel”), pastors at the Sherwood Church of Albany, Ga.
It was an awesome movie.
The “hot sauce” scene had me in stitches.
Making a filom is not nearly as expensive as when you are paying a single person $20 million to be the “star”
Here is one of the latest Film reviews ...
Daily Journal
http://www.djournal.com/pages/story.asp?ID=287697&pub=1&div=Lifestyles
Galen Holley
Daily Journal
I don’t often get to play movie critic at the Daily Journal, so I figured I’d have some fun.
“Fireproof” is probably the slickest, most highly produced of the smaller movies named in the feature story on this page. It was shot during the fall of 2007 in Georgia and the cinematography, bathed with warm hues and swaths of honey-colored light give the picture a cinnamon-and-cider feeling evoking the ambiance of Southern life.
Kirk Cameron is convincing as a valiant yet domestically insensitive firefighter. From his Carhart jacket to his ranch style home filled with Pottery Barn kitsch, he really looks the part.
However, the other merrily tubby fellows waddling around the firehouse, probably volunteer actors from Albany, don’t look much like the granite-armed beasts who flip tractor tires up the hill of Tupelo’s training center.
The movie is reasonably free of sanctimony, with the exception of a few pedantic and agonizingly scripted lines uttered by the actor playing Cameron’s father.
That maudlin creeps into the screenplay whenever Cameron and father get near a large outdoor cross that serves as a kind of ritualistic center for the movie’s more theologically weighted sequences.
“Fireproof” also has a couple of tiresome black caricatures. First, there are the finger-snapping, head-weaving female busybodies who work with Cameron’s wife at the hospital. They’re kind of like the Pine-Sol lady and don’t exactly offer a robust view of black womanhood. Then, there’s the theatrical cliché of the sage black friend who arrives in the form of a fireman working under Cameron at the department. The actor is pretty good but the character floats through the movie speaking in lofty analogies and parables: “You see, captain, a woman is like a flower. Water her, and she’ll bloom.” He actually delivers that line with a straight face.
The movie is not without its emotional gravitas. The scenes in which Cameron’s wife catches him viewing online pornography land like a slab of raw meat on a table. Cameron’s touch is deft and subtle in the movie’s later stages as he evokes the shame, brokenness and ultimate conversion of a contrite man.
Growing Pains.
South Ga represent!
The NEW YORK TIMES ACTUALLY REVIEWED THE FILM POSITIVELY.
See here :
http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/09/27/movies/27proof.html?ref=movies
Fireproof (2008)
September 27, 2008
Putting Out House Fires, Reigniting Passions
By NEIL GENZLINGER
Published: September 27, 2008
“Fireproof” may not be the most profound movie ever made, but it does have its commendable elements, including that rarest of creatures on the big (or small) screen: characters with a strong, conservative Christian faith who don’t sound crazy.
The movie is about a firefighter named Caleb (Kirk Cameron) whose loveless marriage to Catherine (Erin Bethea) is headed for divorce court until Caleb’s father (Harris Malcom) talks him into trying a 40-day caring-for-marriage regimen with a Christian underpinning. “The Love Dare,” it’s called.
The screenwriters, the brothers Alex Kendrick (who also directed) and Stephen Kendrick, give the story some pull by not making Catherine into the usual neglected wallflower of a wife. Instead she’s a publicist at a hospital who spends most of the film contemplating whether to hop into bed with one of the doctors.
For two-thirds of the movie, the filmmakers show a restraint rare in the movie-with-a-Message genre, so much so that the two most appealing characters are those nudging Caleb toward Christianity (Mr. Malcom and Ken Bevel as a fellow firefighter).
The story may be a bit gimmicky — yes, there are dramatic firefighter rescues that have little to do with the main plot — and the central couple is thinly drawn. It’s never clear what attracted these two to each other in the first place, and the hard-edged Catherine’s inevitable coming-around hinges, disappointingly, on some simplistic sensitive-male displays. (He does the dishes!)
But the cast of mostly amateurs (Mr. Cameron of “Growing Pains” being the exception) is surprisingly good. And the moments of comic relief are mildly amusing.
Only at the end do the filmmakers get heavy-handed, and they seem not to know when to wrap up, letting the movie run on for several smarmy scenes beyond its natural endpoint. Until then, though, this is a decent attempt to combine faith and storytelling that will certainly register with its target audience.
And maybe with other folks as well: among those caring-for-marriage tips are some that anyone could use to improve any type of relationship, with or without the God part.
“Fireproof” is rated PG (Parental guidance suggested), mostly for some tantrums by Caleb.
When Hollywood actually serves up a high-cost Christian production like Passion of the Christ (thank you Mel Gibson), profits go soaring and people get filthy rich. However, I don't think Hollyweird is interested in making a profit anymore...they have Stuttering Barry the Seaworm to bail them out.
He played Mike Seever on Growing Pains and held court on the “poster wall of teen idols” for a year or so in my room.
Plus the DVD has extras in it, like the cast making bloopers and fun of themselves. Supposedly, Kirk Cameron didn’t want to get paid for the movie but his salary went to a charity of his choosing and most of the cast were volunteers but professional actors.
A great movie. After FREEPERS recommended that piece of crap American Carol, I thought I would never take their advice on movies ever again. It was a horrible movie that most FREEPERS were orgasmic about....taste in movies are different among converatives BIG TIME!!! However, I totally forgave them for that piece of trash after (one more time) FREEPERS recommended Fireproof...WOW!!! A homerun that is for sure!
Saw it, loved it.
This movie was produced for only $500,000, but has thus far, grossed close to $34,000,000
500,000??? Is Kurt Cameron a Z level star or something? I would think he would make a couple million a picture. Certainly he is not a top star, but thought he would be in the lower tier at least.
Too bad Christ and the Bible don’t “inspire” people.
Fireproof trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5lSu6GkC2k
“However, I don’t think Hollyweird is interested in making a profit anymore.”
####
I would tend to agree.
Being hip, showing off for your fellow Hollyweird denizens, and offering celluloid devotions to their anti-Christian secular religion, are much more important than actually producing quality films and making money.
bump
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