Sunday School Music - Another piece of Crap from Christian cinema

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

http://www.faithfilms.cc/

This is the reason no one takes Christians seriously.
Talk about a lack of creativity.
The most exciting musical of the year, my butt!
I've only watched the trailer but it makes me want to pull out my eyes.

Let's discuss crap Christian cinema. There's plenty to discuss.

[mechana2015]

This is terrible. This is almost as bad as the Star Wars Holiday Special. Almost.

[rocklobster]

Hey, not all Christian movies are bad. The Passion certainly wasn't! And you need to look at Walden Media's movies. They're Christian, and very entertaining to boot.

[LadyRushia]

. . .
Just when I thought nothing could be worse than HSM.

Ugh, this "Christian alternative" crap needs to stop right now. Just make original stories that don't sacrifice quality for God or vice versa.

Epic fail? I think so.

[Peanut]

. . .
Just when I thought nothing could be worse than HSM.

Ugh, this "Christian alternative" crap needs to stop right now. Just make original stories that don't sacrifice quality for God or vice versa.

Epic fail? I think so.

I couldn't of summed up my thoughts about this movie any better...

In general Christian cinema has just failed...there are good movies out there (the Passion, Luther, and The Prince of Egypt to name a few) however, in general, most of them appear to be like this. I really don't know why Christian media in general tries to just copy whatever is popular at the time and add a Christian message to it...seriously folks, we are sitting on the greatest story ever told (which has been ripped off in numerous books and movies as well) and we aren't able to come up with intelligent original ways to tell it? Of course maybe those ideas are out there and they just aren't being picked up by Christian media companies think they are to "edgy" or something. It really is sad though and I wish this wasn't the case.

Edit: On a random side note, I checked out some of the other films these guys did and the trailer for Evil made me laugh quite a bit...they put Jesus on the cross betwen "three nights of horror" and "Evil"...don't know what they are saying there...

[Etoh*the*Greato]

Edit: On a random side note, I checked out some of the other films these guys did and the trailer for Evil made me laugh quite a bit...they put Jesus on the cross betwen "three nights of horror" and "Evil"...don't know what they are saying there...

Of course the constant chanting of "E! VIL! E! VIL! E! VIL!" makes it a little hard to take the trailer seriously.

[ich1990]

I would think this is a joke, but it is not April 1st.

Anything that claims to be "inspirational" has a 99% chance of failing profoundly.

[chibiphonebooth]

[Etoh*the*Greato]

You've been waiting a while to use that one, haven't you? XD

[Radical Dreamer]

I'm pretty sure there was another thread on this, but yeah, it's horrible. The people who made this need to go read Imagine, by Steve Turner (and so do the rest of you it's so good! LOL). It talks about this very subject.

But yeah, HSM is crappy as it is. It's not something to be duplicated, God help us all. XD

[ShiroiHikari]

I will never understand why the Christian media industry is content to just rip off everything ever made. I kinda wish somebody would sue them for plagiarism so maybe they'd get the message.

[Shao Feng-Li]

[Danderson]

Hey, not all Christian movies are bad. The Passion certainly wasn't! And you need to look at Walden Media's movies. They're Christian, and very entertaining to boot.

I think the difference here, though, is that the Christians who worked within those projects were working with hollywood as opposed to trying to create a safee, alternative....I think that's where alot of the fault lies: that we don't want to comprimise by working with sinners, but we want a good story and don't have the equiptment or the experiance neccesary to really fly off with that....



...If we really want more films like The Passion of the Christ or Prince of Egypt, then we need more Christians who are willing to work in Hollywood, as opposed to seeing at as a fight between "us" and "them..." This is the reason that Hollywood portrays Christians as either weak or angry all the time....cause that's all they see....But if they had real christians working alongside them, they'd hopefully see the real love of Christ...

and I'm done with my rant....Being one who believes his calling is to make films, this subject has begun to hit home more with me alot recently...

But let's be careful how we critisize fellow brothers or sisters who want to start an alternative industry. We still need to show them love, as they're still apart of our spiritual family, even if they feel that their calling is different then ours....I mean, think about films like Fireproof...that was made in the Christian alternative industry and has done very well, despite this...

[ChristianKitsune]

I don't really feel like bashing fellow Christians, although when I read about this a few weeks ago I wanted to rip my eyes, out... I think they MEAN well...but their products come across as as ShiroiHikari said, "EpicFail"

Although I believe that some Christians are starting to get the message that we can't just do subpar productions and storylines.

So there's a new Jesus animated film that is being worked on, and I think so far that it looks pretty good... judging only on the conceptual things they have to share

EDIT: Eh, I too much information for just one post XD I'm gonna go ahead and see if I can make a new thread about this... if there isn't one already.

This and of course the remaking of Super Book (which doesn't look too bad IMhO) I think is showing that not all Christian Media looks like it was made for the LULZ

[LadyRushia]

Yes, things are getting better in the Christian media industry. I think they're definitely starting to realize that God and quality story telling go hand in hand, even if things like this and Christian DDR still exist, XD.

[Raiden no Kishi]

You know, I've heard stress defined as "confusion created when the mind must override the body's overwhelming desire to throttle some miscreant who desperately deserves it."

I'm feeling very stressed right now.

.rai//

[ChristianKitsune]

Yes, things are getting better in the Christian media industry. I think they're definitely starting to realize that God and quality story telling go hand in hand, even if things like this and Christian DDR still exist, XD.

Christian DDR? o.O
Okay I guess that sounds KIND of interesting because I know more christian songs than secular XD but I take it the quality isn't NEARLY as good?

[Fish and Chips]

I will never understand why the Christian media industry is content to just rip off everything ever made. I kinda wish somebody would sue them for plagiarism so maybe they'd get the message.

It's an appeal to sensationalism, what's popular, what's perceived as hip and happenin' with the younger generation. Doesn't matter that High School Musical and all its derivatives are basically trash, lots of people are in on it, enough to justify two sequels and a charitable amount of merchandising. They see this and, in this world where our generation is apparently Further From Christ Than Any Generation Before It, think this is what works.

The killer here is that it's playing off a fad to try and rope viewers in, as opposed to actual faith argument or convincing rational for Christianity. There are few serious Christian efforts in the realm of Entertainment, most settling for a child-proof cap mentality.

[ChristianKitsune]

It's an appeal to sensationalism, what's popular, what's perceived as hip and happenin' with the younger generation. Doesn't matter that High School Musical and all its derivatives are basically trash, lots of people are in on it, enough to justify two sequels and a charitable amount of merchandising. They see this and, in this world where our generation is apparently Further From Christ Than Any Generation Before It, think this is what works.

The killer here is that it's playing off a fad to try and rope viewers in, as opposed to actual faith argument or convincing rational for Christianity. There are few serious Christian efforts in the realm of Entertainment, most settling for a child-proof cap mentality.

But at the same time, "fads" with GOOD messages are a good way to reach others... which is why I know a lot of people who want to use anime and comics to reach kids... I know I'm one of them... ^^;


But I think that we should stick with more original ideas and not RELY so heavily on stuff like HSM and DDR to do OUR job for us. Does that make sense?

I mean do people actually take things like this seriously? Even Christians laugh at stuff like this... =_=

[Fish and Chips]

[quote="ChristianKitsune (post: 1271053)"]But at the same time, "fads" with GOOD messages are a good way to reach others... which is why I know a lot of people who want to use anime and comics to reach kids... I know I'm one of them... ^^]No, social trends are a terrible way to do outreach, considering their short-lived lifespans and general inanity. It looks like we're playing catch-up, the child on the playground who really wants to play with all the cool kids.

People use comics and animation because its a stylistic choice, a medium, not a fad.

[LadyRushia]

Fish has a good point. Instead of focusing on the fad, it would be better to focus on the content itself.

As for the Christian DDR thing, it's real and it has nothing but CCM and worship music on it. So, no happy techno songs or anything like that.

Anyway, yeah, comics and animation aren't fads since they've now become set mediums for storytelling. Using a comic to portray Christianity is quite different from ripping off of a popular franchise and slapping a Christian label on it.

[GeneD]

I'm disappointed with this. The fact that it's a blatant rip off of HSM kills any credibility it may have had IMO. Frankly I think if I was a non-Christian this would not encourage me in the right direction.

[Stephen]

....You mean I could be DDRing to Stephen Curtis Chapman!!!?!??! My life is complete.

[goldenspines]

And here I thought a majority of christians liked HSM and thought it portrayed good morals and all that(something christian-like, in a sense), why do they have to rip it off? XD;

And, I'm sorry, but HSM had better music than this one does(comparing trailers, at least). XDD


I tried watching the trailer, but they lost me at "In a world of high school choirs..." >_>

[Raiden no Kishi]

As for the Christian DDR thing, it's real and it has nothing but CCM and worship music on it. So, no happy techno songs or anything like that.

How the heck does one dance to softly strummed acoustic guitars playing nothing but chords? I need my bass!

.rai//

[ShiroiHikari]

DDR needs to have eurobeat or it just ain't DDR. CCM DDR LOL. And with that, I have met my acronym/abbreviation quota for the day.

I've been working on a story that is explicitly Christian but also does not shy away from "worldly" issues and content. It sure would be nice if someday I had a chance of actually publishing it. But I don't see that happening. :[

[CAAOutkast]

The only good Christian entertainment is fan made Christian entertainment. I love reading Christian Manga..and comics.

[Danderson]

Looking back at my post, and the posts of others, as well as after looking at the production site of SSM and watching Left Behind III: World at War, I think we should at least give credit where credit is due....they are getting better...
...They're learning the trade, they're slowly learning that good entertainment is more then good well meaning words. While I admit that the Left Behind series in general is not one of my favourites, the third (and so far final) one, is giving me the impression that are brothers are starting to learn quality control. While some of the CGI effects need some work(if u look carefully enough, u can tell...but only if ur a perfectionist about it), as well as a few roughly overly blunt diolouge spots in the script, it was much better quality wise then previous efforts, and for that they should be commended, as well as encouraged to keep improving...

As for the movies from Faith Films, the one called "Evil" looked particularly interesting...

[Tommy]

....You mean I could be DDRing to Stephen Curtis Chapman!!!?!??! My life is complete.

This comment made me lawl.

As for this movie, it actually looks better than HSM.

Unfortunately, it still likes an absolute mess and the fact it exists is laughable.

[Maledicte]

There's a Christian "Guitar Hero" as well. Would probably be easier to just learn three chords on an actual guitar. /end dig at most "worship" music

Danderson's right, Christians need to start working with Hollywood and other companies if they want to gain credibility. Also, Christians need to start mining their own history for artistic inspiration - from the Temple and the Tabernacle to Rembrandt and Gustave Dore, Christianity has been a cornerstone in western art. This past century we've dropped off drastically. "Family friendly" entertainment, commercialism and irrational fear of the world (we have God on our side!) seems to have put Christians a mile backward. We could be touching so many lives, but for the most part Christians are content with pandering to their own exclusive group.