Miracles From Heaven

For F*** Magazine

MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN

Director : Patricia Riggen

Cast : Jennifer Garner, Kylie Rogers, Martin Henderson, Eugenio Derbez, Queen Latifah, Brighton Sharbino, Courtney Fansler, John Carroll Lynch

Genre : Drama

Run Time : 109 mins

Opens : 21 April 2016

Rating : PG

Watching a child suffer through a chronic illness is torturous for any parent, and Christy Beam (Garner) knows what the process is like. Christy and her husband Kevin are the parents of three daughters: Abbie (Sharbino), Anna (Rogers) and Adelynn (Fansler). Anna begins having severe stomach pains and doctors are initially unable to diagnose her, causing Christy and Kevin much anguish. Eventually, it is discovered that Anna suffers from an incurable stomach condition known as pseudo-obstruction motility disorder, leaving the 12-year-old girl unable to digest food. Christy and Anna fly out to Boston to seek the help of Dr. Samuel Nurko, a renowned paediatric gastroenterologist. As the expensive treatment and flights out to Boston begin to empty out the family’s bank account, Christy finds her faith wearing thin, and is also troubled by some congregation members in her church who blame Anna’s illness on sin in the lives of Christy and her family. She finds herself asking the age-old question: “where is God in times of crisis?”

            Miracles From Heaven is based on the real-life Christy Beam’s memoirs of the same name, subtitled “A Little Girl, Her Journey to Heaven, and Her Amazing Story of Healing”. It’s no secret that the story has a happy ending, with Anna coming back from a near-death experience in which she meets with God, with her illness completely cured. This is exactly what it says on the tin, packed with inspirational uplift and aimed squarely at evangelical Christians. Director Riggen’s previous film was The 33, based on the true story of the trapped Chilean miners. That film was overly schmaltzy and cheesy, as is Miracles From Heaven. Lest we sound like crusty-hearted monsters, it is affecting whenever one sees a child in discomfort, let alone suffering from as painful an illness as the one that afflicts Anna. However, the treacly gloss, clunky dialogue and multiple moments of unintentional hilarity severely undercut the emotional heft of the story.

            The main production company involved in making Miracles From Heaven is Affirm Films, an imprint of Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions. Now, we’re aware that what we’re about to say will sound very cynical indeed, and yes, most if not all movies are made with the hope that they will turn a profit. However, it’s impossible to ignore that the main reason Miracles From Heaven got made is that faith-based films made on a small budget have become box offices successes in the U.S., with recent examples God’s Not Dead and War Room outpacing more costly films in sales. 2014’s Heaven is For Real, from the same producers as Miracles From Heaven, also turned a significant profit, making $101.3 million on a $12 million budget. Once the commercial impetus becomes clear, one can’t help but find the movie at least a little insincere.

            Garner lends the movie some star power and puts in a competent, if not spectacularly powerful performance as the steadfast, loving mother who puts it all on the line for her daughter’s well-being. The Texas twang comes and goes, but Garner is investing enough of her energy in the part that the performance works. The three daughters do come off as precocious Disney Channel moppets, with the oldest having the sole defining trait of being a soccer player. Rogers is reasonably convincing as a kid in quite the state of misery, and scenes of her in treatment are difficult to watch. Dependable character actor Lynch is fine as the stock cheery pastor, who incorporates prop comedy into his sermons. Derbez goes all Patch Adams as Dr. Nurko – it’s cringe-worthy, but as a performer he does have a warmth and likeability to him. Latifah makes a brief appearance as a kindly Boston waitress who befriends Christy and Anna. It doesn’t make much difference to the story, but it’s worth noting that the real woman on whom Latifah’s character was based is white.

            Leaving aside how difficult it is to get invested in a story knowing exactly how it ends, Miracles From Heaven contains nothing of substance that would make a sceptic even briefly consider turning towards faith. Riggen zeroes in on the tear ducts at every given opportunity, and the undercurrent of unsubtle emotional manipulation means the remarkable true story is never given a chance to speak for itself.

Summary: Heavy-handed and often unintentionally funny, Miracles From Heaven sees a solid turn from Jennifer Garner and some genuinely affecting moments get lost in the predictable, pandering shuffle.

RATING: 2 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong

Left Behind

For F*** Magazine

LEFT BEHIND

Director : Vic Armstrong

Cast : Nicolas Cage, Nicky Whelan, Chad Michael Murray, Cassi Thomson, Nicky Whelan, Lea Thompson, Jordin Sparks

Genre : Action, Sci-fi, Thriller

Opens : 2 Oct 2014

Rating : PG

Running time: 110 mins

Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins’ best-selling 1995 novel Left Behind has spawned a successful franchise including 15 further books, a young adult spin-off series and three films. Dissatisfied with how the movies turned out, LaHaye sought to remake the film series – he’s gotten his wish of a remake, but not of a “first-class, high-quality movie” as he desired. Airline pilot Rayford Steele (Cage) is stuck in an unhappy marriage, his wife Irene’s (Thompson) Christian beliefs driving both Rayford and their daughter Chloe (Thomson) away. TV news reporter Cameron “Buck” Williams (Murray) meets Chloe at the airport and takes a liking to her, coincidentally boarding the plane her father is flying. In the midst of the trans-Atlantic flight, passengers suddenly vanish. This seems to be a worldwide occurrence, with Christians and all children disappearing. With his co-pilot also gone, Captain Steele must land the jeopardised flight as those left behind struggle to figure out what has taken place.

            We have to feel sorry for whoever went “right, we’re rebooting Left Behind and we want people to take it seriously this time. I know, we’ll get Nicolas Cage!” The three films, starring actor/evangelist Kirk Cameron, were low-budget affairs that flew mostly under the mainstream radar. The thing is, whether one agrees with the eschatological viewpoint within or not, there’s potential in the story for a thrilling, intriguing film. Among Left Behind’s myriad problems is how this potential is squandered with its small scope and poor production values. Director Vic Armstrong is a respected stunt coordinator and second unit director, known for being Harrison Ford’s stunt double in the first three Indiana Jones movies. It’s a shame to see him directing something as embarrassing as this; the vehicular action carrying a distinctly artificial “stunt show” feel about it. At no point does it actually seem like this sudden global catastrophe is really that big of a deal; the budget not allowing for any Roland Emmerich-style vistas of destructive spectacle. The film also ditches the character of Nicolae Carpathia, the Antichrist, losing the international thriller aspect of the book.

            Instead, the film puts its focus squarely on the Rayford Steele character; Nicolas Cage really looking like he’d rather not be in this – and that’s saying something, given this is Nicolas Cage we’re talking about. Anyone coming into this purely to see Cage deliver some of his signature so-bad-it’s-good overacting will be disappointed – you’d think there would be at least one big freaking out scene. Chad Michael Murray, playing the role Kirk Cameron did in the previous films, seems to have difficulty figuring out how to go about his post-teen idol career. Cassi Thomson is bland and whiny as Chloe, but she’s still not as annoying as every last one of the stereotypical passengers on board Rayford’s flight. Nicky Whelan is the pretty blonde flight attendant Rayford plans on cheating on his wife with and there is very little more to her than that.

            From the moment we get a long look at a horribly-Photoshopped family photo, the film is a parade of unintentional comedy. That melodrama is exacerbated by Jack Lenz’s atrocious score, all the music cues overly-maudlin, obvious and cheap. It’s also a drag, the Rapture only actually occurring at around 35 minutes in. At some points, the filmmakers seem oddly out of touch – one character is surprised that another owns a mobile phone, yet the devices depicted are modern-day smartphones. Let’s face it, films catering especially to Christian audiences have generally been poorly-made and cringe-worthy. Unfortunately, the new Left Behind is no exception. The worst part of it all is that it didn’t need to be this way – after all, the HBO drama The Leftovers, set after the Rapture (albeit without the evangelical Christian focus), has managed to be thought-provoking, intelligent and sombre, if often downright depressing. Calling a Christian film “preachy” may sound like a moot point, but a subtler touch could have done Left Behind a world of good. We reckon audiences will be too busy laughing to do any real soul-searching.

Summary: In the Bible, 2 Peter 3:3 warns that “in the last days scoffers will come, mocking the truth…” – well, the ineptly-made Left Behind will only serve as a giant scoffer magnet.

RATING: 1.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong