Unwatchable...

As you can tell from my blog, I watch a LOT of movies. Once you spend nine months building a movie room in your house, well, you end up using it quite a bit. Plus, I don't really watch television much, except for the occasional ballgame. So, while most people are channel surfing, I'm watching movies.

I have spent a lot of time researching and trying to support both microcinema filmmakers and Christian filmmakers. Unfortunately, sometimes I'll stumble across a movie that I simply can't finish watching.

I hate to give up on a movie, no matter how low budget. I really hate doing that. I appreciate and understand from first-hand experiences just how difficult it is to make a competent film. But, with all that being said, my time is very precious to me and there have been some films to which I've had to divest my time.

Some mainstream films I've abandoned after hitting Play? Reservoir Dogs (language) and The 40 Year Old Virgin (vulgarity) to name just two. I know my sensibilities have evolved over the years, but I can't really help that. Some films just rub me the wrong way.

Unfortunately, some Christian films have been unwatchable for me as well... Six, Bells of Innocence and, surprisingly, One Night with the King never made it to the closing credits. My daughter and I sat down to watch King this past weekend and there were so many basic elements wrong with the film, I was amazed it got made as it did.

An audience decides within 10 minutes whether they will like a movie or not. If they decide they'll like it, then the filmmaker has to make sure they don't screw that up before the lights come up and the credits roll.

After the first 10 minutes of King, I was confused. My daughter was confused. The story was overly complex and layered... unnecessarily so. Beyond that, the four main characters were miscast. The direction was, along with the story, choppy and the entire beginning of the film was a mess. I was so disappointed. After 30 minutes I turned to my daughter and said "I don't want to watch this anymore." She quickly agreed.

I hated doing it. I wanna be one of those Christian filmmakers who'll need support from other Christian filmmakers. But, you like what you like. You can't change that.

We used it as a good opportunity to talk about all of the variables that make a good film and where King seemed to fail for us, so the movie wasn't a total loss. It was a good learning experience.

And this is just me... my opinion. Others may really enjoy the films I've listed here... who knows.

For every 10 or so films I watch and comment on here, there is another one that just didn't cut it. That's the price of being a film fan, I guess.