Movie Review: ***Once I Was Engaged (2021)

 This movie is a sequel to "Once I Was a Beehive."  However while that story line focuses around the character Lane (Paris Warner) this movie centers around fellow camper Bree (Clare Niederpruem)  and her parents Curt (Bart Anderson) and Carrie Carrington (Lisa Valentine Clark).  Bree goes away to school at BYU Hawaii and is enjoying life.  She works in the aquarium with dolphins.  She has also put in her papers to serve a mission.  However her boyfriend Thys Chesterfield (Tanner Gillman) proposes to her during a performance at the Polynesian Center.  Of course she says yes, but does she really mean it.  Parents fly out from Utah to put in their opinion as she is to go on a mission etc. etc. according to mom.  This leads to a series of tough decisions.  Currently the Carringtons don't have the money to rent the country club, so the cultural hall will have to do.  However the Chesterfields are very rich.  And then the Chesterfields want to invite life long friends, which includes Thys' ex fiancé.  

This movie is fun, and it had different conflict then the Beehive movie.    Lane, the nonmember reminds Bree she has plans to serve a mission.  Beehive was a bit funner with the tensions between the girls, which is eventually resolved.

My nephew has a cameo part.  He plays the Target worker who hands out the Target guns to Bree and her mother with which they choose items for the gifts.  Dustin is a manager at a Target in Provo.

The movie is available on Living Scriptures and Prime.

LDS Movie Review: Jane and Emma (2018)

Jane and Emma  (2018)  This is an historical drama documenting the relationship between Jane Manning (Danielle Deadwyler), an African American convert, and Joseph (Brad Schmidt) and Emma Smith (Emily Goss).  The story particularly deals with the support provided by Manning on the day that Joseph is murdered.  The movie also deals with racial discrimination even among leaders and members of the church.  However Jane remains faithful to the church throughout her life; even traveling to Salt Lake.  A theme of the movie deals with finding your place, and why God leads you to where you are at.  Above all, we must remember that we are all children of God.

Movie Review: ***^Saturday's Warrior (2016)

I have been thinking some on the new Saturday's Warrior movie.  It was a gift for Christmas.  Generally I like it, but I have a couple things I don't like.  The new song for the movie "There's Got to be More" is a lovely song, but I am not sure if it fits.  However the "Line Upon Line" sequence is beautifully done.  One thing I really miss, is the four-way music with Jimmy, his family, his friends and his sisters in heaven.  This is the apex of the musical, and it is replaced by a father's hug.  The hug in its own way is very nice, but not the same.  That said, turning the Flinders into a musical family is a nice touch, and rejecting the nose song another nice touch.  The conflict between music and church is well done.  We have experienced that in our own family as our kids struggled with how they could keep up their music and their religion.
Overall I give this very positive marks, but still doesn't carry the power of seeing the musical for the first time many years ago.  The choir is lacking, maybe that is why.
Cast includes Tod Richards (Mason D. Davis) Jimmy Flinders (Kenny Holland) Pam Flinders (Anne Daines) and Julie Flinders (Monica Moore Smith).  It also includes cameos by Alex Boye as the Heavenly Guide, and the Piano Guys.

Movie Review: Blind Love (1979)

This short move is based on a true story written by Ray H. Walton.  It is an LDS produced movie and tells a very important story of love.  I really like Barta Heiner's portrayal of the wife.  Maikel Justis plays the blind husband, who through surgery is about to see his wife for the first time.  The wife has always considered herself plain, and has been withdrawn.  Somehow she feels her husband might not love her so much if he had his sight.  I like this movie because it lets us know we are all of worth.  We are all Heavenly Father's children.

Movie Review: ***^Once I Was a Beehive (2015)

This movie was surprisingly good.  It is about a group of young women, and their leaders, who struggle with accepting each other, and in the end find much more than they bargained for as they begin to work together.  It is about Young Women's Camp.  It is strange the effect this camp can have on testimony.  Berta Heiner portrays one of the camp directors.  I have enjoyed her work in Mormon movies.  Paris Warner portrays a young woman, Lane, whose father dies of cancer.  She is not Mormon, but reluctantly goes to camp with her new step cousin who is a Beehive.  Clare Niederpruem portrays the youth director, Bree who becomes a rival to Lane.  You add some handsome local rangers, and a bear, and you have a pretty fun camp.  This movie is written and directed by Maclain Nelson.

Once I Was Engaged is the sequel

Movie Short: Toward a Theory of the Evolution of the Turkey

This short is a bit hard for me to wrap my head around.  It is almost more like a 1960s pot trip, centered around the drawing of a turkey.  The turkey happens to have a baritone saxophone attached to his beak, and loves to play.  The girl also draws a turkey spider with a mean kind of bass, and then she plays drums while they perform.  There is something about rescuing the first turkey from a cage, but that is just strange.

Mormon Movie Review: ****The Cokeville Miracle

This is a T.C. Christensen movie, and tells the true story of the Cokeville terrorist attack which took place in May 1986.  The movie is well done for the most part.  There was on line which I thought was odd or out of place, or given with the wrong attitude which is by the police officer when he heard of the hostage situation.
The story is that a former police officer, David Young and his wife, take the rural school of Cokeville, Wyoming hostage and demand a ransom of $2,000,000 per child.  The bomb explodes prematurely, but all of the children and their teachers escape.  Most have burns and other injuries, but it was deemed miraculous that not more died.  Only the hostage takes perished, Young by his own self inflicted bullet.  His wife was severely injured by the blast and he shot her as well before killing himself.
The movie continues after the blast, with the local police officer, who had given up on God, restoring his faith through the stories of the children, as well as attending church and observing the faith of the Children as they sing "Child's Prayer."
The ending of this movie is very well done as it shows the restoration of a family through faith.  I highly recommend this movie.  It has many familiar LDS actors throughout.

Movie Review: *****Meet the Mormons

I want to write my thoughts on this documentary movie purely from an entertainment perspective, then I am gong to write in my other blog about my experience.  This is one of the most motivational movies I have seen in a long time.  It is very uplifting and to me was very entertaining.  I enjoyed each of the six stories presented, and each had an internal effect on my heart.  I could empathize with all of the individuals presented.  I really enjoyed the liveliness of the bishop.  The strength of character of the football coach who has overcome anger, the endurance of the kick boxer and her husband, the lawyer but they pursue their love of martial arts, the service of the candy bomber.  I found lots of strength and wisdom in this story, especially some of this comments of this 92 year old man that he made to a group of young people.  The story of the humanitarian was incredibly done.  I like they way he combined his culture and his religion.  You don't give up who you are when you become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  You just add Christ's love to who you are.  The last story, of the missionary mother I found the most moving. Her is the story of a teen mother.  She had two babies with her boyfriend, who did not stay.  Her second baby passed away.  She was so hurt.  She had been visiting with the missionaries, and by the slimmest margin found the support she needed.  The story of her husband, would have been equally as intriguing.  This film shows them saying goodbye to their oldest as he serves a mission. 
If you are a member of the church, I recommend this movie.  You will find it uplifting and moving.  If you are not a member of the church, I would again recommend this movie.  You will find it insightful and educational.  You will also be moved and inspired by these stories.  I think you will have a greater love for the Savior.  I also know the stories will inspire you to be a better person, to love more, to serve more to do your best.
The David Archuleta song at the end is also very inspiring; 
Glorious
There are times when you might feel aimless
You can't see the places where you belong
But you will find that there is a purpose
It's been there within you all along
and when you're near it
You can almost hear it.

It's like a symphony just keep listening
And pretty soon you'll start to figure out your part
Everyone plays a piece and there are melodies
In each one of us, oh, it's glorious

You will know how to let it ring out
as you discover who you are
Others around you will start to wake up
To the sounds that are in their hearts
It's so amazin', what we're all creatin'

It's like a symphony just keep listenin'
And pretty soon you'll start to figure out yo part
Everyone plays a piece and there are melodies
In each one of us, oh, it's glorious

And as you feel the notes build
You will see

It's like a symphony just keep listenin'
And pretty soon you'll start to figure out yo part
Everyone plays a piece and there are melodies
In each one of us, oh, it's glorious

Movie Review: ***Against a Crooked Sky

This is a Western film with some Mormon influences.  For example the lead is played by Stewart Petersen who is Mormon.  Doug Stewart wrote the script.  It was produced by Feature Films for Families, if not a Mormon Company caters to Mormon families. Lex de Azevedo wrote the music.
The story line goes that older sister is kidnapped by a native American group nobody knows about.  They live in a secluded area and it is hinted they are descended from the ancients.  They use many southern Utah locations like Dead man's Point.  They visit the Shoshone and the Cheyenne seeking information, then go through Apache territory and then find the tribe beyond the crooked sky where the overlook Dead Man's Point.  The cliffs and the terrain have much to do with the story, but the geography of where tribes are located is screwy. 
Sometimes the acting is a little stiff as well.  As is the story.  Turns out, the character played by Petersen, the younger brother Sam, feels guilty about his sister being kidnapped, so takes off trying to find her, and is saved from drowning by Russian, (Richard Boone) an old trapper.  He does find a head band with some secret symbols; and when he tries again this leads him to a mute guide from amongst the Cheyenne, who wants to go home to his people to die.
And so he does, but he is murdered.  The older sister is accused, and Sam has to beat the Crooked Sky in a one-day run, or his sister will be shot with an arrow.
This movie has an emotional ending which depicts a mother's love.  However it does offer much on the way other the the trapper drinking a lot and being mad his dog is killed.  It does show sisterly love between the kidnap victim and the sister of her kidnapper.  They have a relationship based on love.

Movie Review: ****^Jack Weyland's Charly (2002)

This is your classic Mormon love story.  Sam (Jeremy Hoop) falls for his boss' neice who is in town for the weekend.  He was suppose to show her a good time.  Turns out Charly (Heather Beers) returns his affection, even though there is a live-in boyfriend to deal with.  Charly listens to the missionaries, and repents, joining the church.  However Sam has a hard time because her past life style has not been Mormonish.  He has a hard time, and lets her get away.  His mother helps him see his error, and he chases after her, traveling to New York to win her back.
This movie thrills me; maybe not as much as reading the book for the first time which left me in tears.  However it is a good book and movie.  I challenge you not to be in tears for that last Ferris wheel ride.

TV Review: Granite Flats Season 2

This is the second year the BYUtv has sponsored this series.  It just keeps getting better and better, with more and more spies involved.  This year we have CIA vs FBI vs KGB vs out trio of young people, and perhaps even more intrigue.  Arthur Milligan (Jonathan Morgan Heit) goes off on his own with his investigation of the local spy ring, because Madeline (Malia Tyler) and Tim Sanders (Charlie Plummer) develop a romance, and seem less interested.  They become more interested in a different mystery, the real story of Madeline's adoption.  Mrs. Milligan (Annie Tedesco) is working with a behavior experiment on people using drugs and hypnosis.  She works with Madeline's parents.  Tim's father (Richard Gunn) is the chief of police, and active in the hunt for the spies.
There are two new characters this year, teacher Professor Hargraves (Christopher Lloyd) and CIA spy Ashmeade (Cary Elwes)

This is a good time with this series.  It keeps you entertained and has enough suspense.  It seems every episode there is a new problem to solve; and sometimes old issues are resolved.  I also like it because it reminds me of my youth.  Great fun.  You can still see seasons 1 and 2 through BYUtv.  Season 3 has been announced.
http://www.byutv.org/show/0aea4804-47dc-470f-b80a-35c8f23d0f27/granite-flats

**Movie Review: ***^Ephraim's Rescue

Ephraim’s Rescue

This movie tells the story of a very fascinating man, Ephraim Hanks.  It also tells of Thomas Dobson, as he was one of the recipients of Ephraim’s miracles, and responded by dancing a jig.  Ephraim had a sense of listening to the Lord, and knowing what he should be about.  This sense comes to his benefit on several occasions.  He also was prepared to take part in the rescue, by his life and circumstances.  He also had the gift of healing healing, and this gift he was able to use in healing the Saints in his community, the handcart pioneers, and on one occasion an Indian boy. 

I find anything about the handcart pioneers emotional, and this was no different.

Movie Review: **^Outlaw Trail: The Treasure of Butch Cassidy

This is a movie which appears to be Feature Films, but I couldn't find it on their list.  It seems to take its motivation from a couple other movies, "Goonies" and "Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail."  From the "Goonies" it takes the idea of kids seeking treasure to save their town.  In this the group is seeking treasure for the gold, and one to save his reputation and that of Butch Cassidy.  I know, a bit thin.  From the Indiana Jones it takes the first part, where the boy scouts are seeking archeological artifacts.  The bad guys are trying to take them away.  Whether this film has Mormon ties or not I am not certain.  The production company Go Films also made Saints and Soldiers.  This movie was filmed in Utah, Heber Creeper, Bridal Veil Falls, Circleville and Bryce Canyon.
This story has some characters from history, but then makes its own fictional story from them.

Movie Review: ***^The Saratov Approach

This is a Mormon movie, and presents Mormon themes and concepts in an entertaining way.  Two missionaries, Elder Tuttle (Corbin Allred) and Elder Propst (Maclain Nelson) are kidnapped while serving in Russia.  It is based on a true story.  They were kidnapped and held for ransom in 1998.  This is the story from the point of view of the missionaries. 

This movie does a good job of giving insights into the reaction of the missionaries.  It does this by using flashbacks, missionary teaching and in one case a dream.     Some of this is confusing, but it does create a whole that is well done.  The biggest tension is presented when the missionaries must decide whether to make an escape attempt, confronting their captors, or wait things out. 

I enjoyed this movie.  Miranda who is preparing for a mission watched it with us, and seemed to also enjoy it.  It has a very dramatic ending which is very teary.  With a child on a mission, and another a couple months from leaving, I felt for the missionary families.

Mormon Movie Review: ****Johnny Lingo (LDS Church 1969)

This is one of my favorites.  At home, Mahana is basically a servant, or worse than a servant.  We don't see Mahana's mother, but her father calls her, "Mahana, you ugly."  And that is who she is in her father's house, Mahana the ugly, who hugs the shadows of the hut.  However Johnny Lingo pays eight cows for her.  In the community a man can get a good wife for two or three cows, and excellent one for four or five, and never has there been an eight cow wife.  The local merchant assumes Johnny Lingo is just proud.  However he visits the home after they have been away for a year, and finds Mahana to be beautiful.  These are quotes from that meeting as Johhny Lingo explains the change.
Johnny Lingo: Think what it must mean to a woman, her future husband meeting with her father to discuss the lowest price for which she can be bought. And later, when the women of the village gather, they boast of what their husbands paid for them - three cows, or five. How does she feel, the woman who was sold for one, or two? This could not happen to my Mahana.
Trader Harris: Johnny, I've misjudged you. I thought you were thinking only of how important you would look to your friends, paying 8 cows for a wife. I didn't know you wanted to make Mahana happy.
Johnny Lingo: More than happy, Mr. Harris. I wanted her to be an eight-cow woman.
Trader Harris: I see. In her father's hut, Mahana believed she was worth nothing.
Johnny Lingo: Yes, and now she knows she is worth more than any other woman on the island.
 This is a lesson in self-worth, but also in how are actions are reflected in others.

The message is right on.  My only complaints have to do with the music and the acting.
http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/feature-films?lang=eng

Mormon Movie Review: ***Beauty and the Beast: A Latter-day Tale

Also known as "Belle and the Beast: A Christian Romance."  This movie took a long time to get going.  The acting at the first seemed terribly canned and stereotyped.  The beast, Eric (Matthew Reese) is too mean and rude, while Belle (Summer Naomi Smart) is just too forgiving.  They were too much trying to fit into their particular roles, which made for an unbelievable movie.  However, I must admit that before the end of the movie, I was concerned about the characters and what happened to them.  It had a feel good ending that was pleasing. 

Mormon Musical Movie Review: ****Saturday's Warrior 1989

This is a 1989 made for video version of the popular Mormon Musical.  I was once in the chorus, and my bias is that it would have been better had they used a chorus to back up many of the songs.  There is more depth with the chorus, and there were parts where the orchestration was naked.  Maybe they were trying to save money.
The story comes through in both versions.  There were a couple special effects I enjoyed.  Talking through the cloud of heaven at earth didn't work for me.  However when Todd and Julie are singing a duet, even though far apart, their hands are overlapped.  This was very effective.  I enjoyed Julie and Todd the most.  I hadn't realized how whiny Jimmy was.  "Isn't there a some one who will take me as I am, build me up not put me down, make me feel like I'm as good as another.  This just comes off like a complainer.
This movie gives a view of what preexistence may have been like.  However it is not doctrinal, nor meant to be.  It does touch the heart of the LDS community and has done so for many years.

Mormon Movie Review: ****^Legacy

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulLvUw-c96o

This move tells the Mormon story.  It is based on historical happenings, but is told through the eyes of a fictional family, the Williams.  This is the story of Eliza Williams, who is presented as a contemporary of Joseph Smith.  She embraces the gospel as a young girl of 13, is present at the Missouri persecutions, Independence and Haun's Mill.  She receives a blessing from Joseph Smith's hand in Commerce (later to become Nauvoo.)  She participates in the construction of the Nauvoo Temple.  Her boyfriend, husband is a stone cutter recently arrived from England.  She is part of the trek across Iowa and Winter Quarters.  Her husband, David Walker is part of the Mormon Battalion.  She takes the part of Mary Fielding Smith in blessing her ox.
This movie gets me every time when Eliza's father falls in the mud crossing Iowa.  The Tabernacle Choir is singing "Come Come Ye Saints" and that part makes me cry every time.

Movie Review: *****17 Miracles

This movie is very good at telling its story.  I am not sure of the title, 17 miracles.  There were miracles a plenty on this trek, and to limit oneself to number is a disservice.  Of course the film maker may be thinking they are showing only 17, but a miracle to one is not to another, so the number is somewhat arbitrary.  I can think of many other miracles which were not included in the story.  These included: The miracles with regards to food, the stranger giving jerky, and the pots filling with food, or finding food on the plains, rescue from wolves, escape from an abusive husband etc.
My only complaint is the mixture of two stories historically, Martin and Willie handcart companies.  I enjoyed the stories shown, some of which I was already familiar, and others I was not.  Brother Savage, as the narrator used words of many people, including Wallace Stegner, Frances Webster and Josiah Rogerson.  I am sure there were others I did not recognize. 

I was confused at times with the switch from the Martin to the Willie Company.  This also threw the timeline off.  Bodil, who is shown passing away, after the rescuers had reached the Willie Company, and after they had climbed Rocky Ridge.  However they showed the rescue of the Martin Company which was several days later, at Red Buttes.  I liked the bits about the Loader family who were with the Martin Company.  There is a story of the mother, pretending to fall one morning to get her girls up out of bed.  I would have like to have seen that story.  I also missed the Jacksons, whose husband died, but visited her in a dream telling her the rescuers were coming. 

As for my personal connection, I must admit, the story choked me up to the point I was in tears.  Not only for the people portrayed in the movie, but also for my own great-great-aunty Betsy Ashton, who froze her feet at last crossing, and passed away shortly after this.  Her two younger sisters survived the trip.  The youngest, Mary, is my great-great grandmother.  I also watched those digging graves, as my great-great grandfather was also on the trek, dug many graves.

My only objection to the movie is with regards the the written information at the end, which claimed that not many more on the the two treks passed away than with the regular pioneer trips.  Generally it is accepted that six percent of the pioneers passed away on the trips.  With regards to this journey, the number would be between 18 and 20 percent, or three times the normal death rate.  This rate is derived by adding the deaths for the two trips, 65 of the Willie Company and 135-150 of the Martin Company.  The total pioneers was 500 in the Wilie Company and 650 in the Martin Company.

Despite its problems with combining two stories, this movie for me receives the highest marks, and I will be viewing it over and over.

Mormon Movie Review: ***Austenland

Austenland is a different kind of movie.  What would happen if we could go back to the era of the Jane Austen books, and there have interactions and love stories just like in those books, Pride and Prejudice, or Sense and sensibility.  This movie gives us a confusion between what is real and what is not; and then makes an effort at resolving that confusion.  This is a romantic comedy set today but in the past.  This is an enjoyable film.  There is some kissing and some innuendo, but nothing inappropriate.  Kerri Russel plays Jane Hayes.  This should be considered a Mormon movie as it is based on a book written by a Mormon (Shannon Hale), and script co-written by a Mormon (Jerusha Hess) and produced by Jared Hess.