Two years ago I gave away a game I made combining audio clips from different movies. The idea is to have youth group kids pair up with a piece of paper and pencil and, as a team, try to correctly identify as many movies as they can. The winning team get some candy or a cheap prize.
I created another one and played it with our youth group last week. Apparently it’s a bit harder than I thought it would be.
First, here’s the answer key:
1. Napoleon Dynamite 2. Incredibles 3. Finding Nemo 4. Shrek 2 5. 50 first dates 6. Night at the museum 7. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory 8. Toy Story 9. Ice Age 10. Madagascar 11. Elf 12. Mrs. Doubtfire 13. Nacho Libre 14. Prince of Egypt 15. Wizard of Oz 16. Transformers: revenge of the fallen 17. Up 18. Star Trek 19. Open Season 2 20. Kung Fu Panda 21. Bolt 22. The Dark Knight 23. Wall-E 24. Cars 25. Lord of the Rings: Two Towers 26. National Treasure 2 27. Indiana Jones: Temple of Doom 28. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End 29. Spiderman 3 30. Robots
There’s two options for downloading the audio file. You can download it in iTunes or download the mp3 directly below:
———————————————————————- Join us for LIVE YM Talk this Monday, February 8! The “The “Youth Ministry Advance Team: Haiti” members will discuss their upcoming missions work.” Our guests will include Adam McLane, Anne Jackson, Jeremy Zach, Jeff Goins, and others. We’d love to have you join us! The live conversation starts at 2:00 PM eastern time! See our LIVE YM Talk page for details.
Two weeks ago I had the privilege to watch an advanced screening of the movie, To Save A Life. They have a pretty agressive marketing campaign among the Christian community, so you’ve no-doubt heard of it and either dismissed it because it’s a “Christian film” and thought, “Please, no more Kirk Cameron!,” or, like me, you just put it on a back burner due to all the other demands of your time. Here are my thoughts after watching the film:
Plot
The story starts at the grave side of a high school student who committed suicide. A few of his family and friends are present, including Jake Taylor, the high school senior the movie shadows for the next two hours. For a number of reasons, Jake is devastated by the tragedy and, through his search for answers, he meets a youth pastor, Chris, who becomes a trusted friend. As Jake wrestles through issues like popularity, cutting, abortion, sex, divorce, drugs and relationships, his life eventually hits rock bottom. One might expect that this is the point when he turns to Christ, but the story is thankfully a bit more real than that. The truth is, Jake decided to give God a try early in the film and because of that, combined with the consequences of his past mistakes, he hits bottom, thinking that God was supposed to make everything better.
The plot is very heavy for two hours straight and has almost no comic relief. I was craving a break in the tension after about an hour or so, but none came, leaving me pretty emotionally worn out by the end, but fortunately it has a positive ending. A normal Christian film might try to wrap up all the teen issues with an over-simplistic and unbiblical, “Jesus can make your life happy and perfect!” but instead To Save A Life ends with the more realistic, “Life is hard, there are no simple answers, and a relationship with Christ is the only way to navigate it all.”
Quality
The film is surprisingly very well done. I was expecting a lot of cheesy moments from poor acting and churchiness, but the cheese-factor was kept to a minimum. In fact, there’s only one or two places that make you roll your eyes a bit, but even then it’s not big enough to make you laugh or grin.
Overall, the acting was a solid performance. They hired people who have experience in various other films and TV shows, which was probably a good move, regardless of if most of them are unbelievers. In my opinion, a movie that’s professionally done and credible trumps whether or not the actors on the screen actually know Christ or not. Hopefully this film is one that brings them one step closer in that direction!
My only gripe with the acting is that the main character, played by Randy Wayne, had this, “I’m deep in thought” look on his face for the first three-quarters of the movie. Granted, he was thinking through a lot of issues in the film, but a slightly different “deep in thought” face would’ve been nice. After a while, it kinda looked like his face was stuck like that.
His girlfriend in the movie, played by Deja Kreutzberg, did an outstanding job, though. I was thoroughly impressed with her performance despite her more limited film career.
Content
True to it’s marketing hype, the film discusses many teen issues like cutting, suicide, school shootings, abortion, divorce, cliques, drinking, peer pressure, dating, sex, and a lot more. Impressively, none of these issues feel forced into the story — they all feel like a natural part of Jake Taylor’s life and experiences.
However, I would opt to change some of the wording I read in other reviews and promotional pieces: the film doesn’t “deal” with all of these issues as much as it just highlights them and brings attention to how they’re often all integrated. That said, it does give more treatment to some of the issues than others, especially cliques and peer pressure, but I’m not sure I’d say it deals with every issue.
You should also be aware that, although it is a Christian film, it is not overtly so. My impression is that the producer wanted to demonstrate the power of a changed life through Christ without getting too churchy, which is good, but I would’ve liked to see the gospel communicated more clearly at the end. If there was ever a film to pull it off without being weird or tacky about it, this film could’ve done it very successfully. Instead, we just see a glimpse into what a changed life looks like.
The other thing about not being an overtly Christian film is that there is some swearing, an implied sex scene, and some of the normal graphic footage you might expect to see in a film that contains cutting and alcohol. It’s probably nothing “worse” than what you’d normally see on network TV, though. I wasn’t offended by it at all. In fact, it almost gave the film more credibility in the sense that we should never expect unbelievers to act like believers, and most of the characters in the film are definitely unbelievers. They’re just living the way they know how, and that transparency is communicated on the screen.
Bottom Line
So the million dollar question: Should you take your church’s youth group to see this film? For high school students, absolutely! For jr. high students, probably. The only reason I hesitate with jr. highers is because of the power of suggestion for them. Most, if not all, high school students have had first- or second-hand experience with the issues that are visually highlighted in the film. Some jr. highers, on the other hand, have a chance of still being a little more innocent (albiet, a small chance). They definitely need to be exposed to these issues around this age and doing it within the safety and wisdom of adults in a faith-based context is the best place to do it, but it is an emotionally taxing movie. I’d advise that you take a couple weeks to talk through these teen issues with jr. highers first, then go see the movie together. With sr. high, I’d probably do just the reverse: see the movie together first, then discuss it.
To Save A Life has youth group curriculum to accompany the movie, which you can purchase for $59.99 right now. I haven’t used it yet, but will probably pick it up soon for some of the high school small groups in my church after some further input from the adult and student leaders.
The movie is playing in theaters starting TODAY! Check out ToSaveALifeMovie.com for more information about the movie and to find a theater near you.
Win a free “To Save A Life” fan pack!
The people at To Save A Life have graciously given me 1 fan pack of schwag to give away for FREE to a lucky random person! The fan pack contains:
Limited Edition Hoodie
Printed novel
A slap bracelet
Pens
and other fun movie stuff
All you have to do is use the Twitter or Facebook Share buttons at the top of this page to help spread the word about this film and review! Next Friday, January 29, I will select one person at random and award them with the fan pack. (Note: you may tweet and post this review multiple times if you want, but doing so will not increase your chances of winning.) Enjoy!
Today’s freebie is contributed by Interlinc. Here’s their summary of the freebie:
Most of our students are impacted by music, tv, movies and videos games (or a complex combination therein), so when we have a chance to use one of those media venues for kingdom purpose, it can have a big impact. Disney is releasing A Christmas Carol this weekend. We media-ministry dudes at Interlinc have created a 3-session Youth Leader Guide to help you make the most of a movie that most of your students will probably see.
By the way, it’s an awesome movie – some of our Interlinc staff got a sneak peek on Monday. The 3D is amazing and helps communicate the story that much more. We decided to help with this movie since it is a wonderful story of life-evaluation and redemption.
So go download the 3-session Bible study lesson guide today and put Scrooge to work for you. Enjoy the Freebie on us, and enjoy A Christmas Carol.
———————————————————————- LIVE YM Talk this Monday, November 9, YOU are the featured guest. We will have an open discussion where you can ask questions, seek advice, share prayer concerns, vent, share stories, whatever you want with other youth workers. We’d love to have you join us for the live conversation at 2:00 PM eastern time! See our LIVE YM Talk page for details.
This guest post is contributed by Chris Szulwach. We all love movie nights with the youth group, but most of us are unaware of the legal issues surrounding such events. Chris is a youth pastor who has done a lot of research in this area, including consultation with copyright lawyers and experts. The following is a summary of his research.
Ok, raise your hand if you’ve ever actually read that little FBI warning at the beginning of a movie! Well, lucky (and unlucky) for us that little warning has absolutely nothing to do with showing a movie in a youth ministry setting.
Over my years in youth ministry I have moved through the following progression when it comes to the issue of movies and copyrights.
intentional ignorance on the matter of copyright law
learning a little about it and then not really caring too much
taking the copyright issue pretty seriously
About 7 or 8 years ago, when everyone was rocking Napster (the illegal predecessor to napster.com) I began to do some research on the reasons why breaking the music copyright was so bad. Hopefully, all of us are now on board with that issue by now, but that issue got me thinking about other areas of copyright law.
I’ve realized that as a representative of Christ in my community and as a model for my church, I need to “play by the rules” in order to not only live a “life that is above reproach,” but simply so I’m not stealing from others.
On to talking about movies, though…
Common Misconceptions
1. The FBI warning says that I can’t charge money for people to watch the movie so my event is ok.
The FBI warning actually pertains to an individual showing a movie within their home.
2. As long I am using the movie as a church event I am within the copyright laws.
This is a false statement because the only instance in which a movie may be screened, outside of a home, without a license, is in a non-profit educational setting with “face-to-face instruction.”
3. If I make a lesson out of the movie I want to show I will be within the copyright laws.
A non-profit educational setting has previously been specifically defined as a non-profit academic institution. The main activity of a church is not academics.
4. My church has the CVLI license, so we can show movies at any church event that we do.
This license only pertains to a church showing movies “in its facility(ies.)” This means that if you have a current CVLI license, you may show any legally obtained movie in your church property. (See points 1 and 4 on this page at CVLI.com.)
Also, the CVLI license only covers those movies “produced and/or distributed by CVLI affiliated motion picture companies only,” according to point 6. But you may be able to contact the motion picture company and get written permission to show the movie. As the copyright holder, if it is the copyright holder, it can waive its rights and grant a church or ministry permission to show the movie. If you want to do this, do it well in advance, the process is s l o w.
5. I can throw up a sheet, a PA system, and a projector to show the movie in the back yard of the church because I am within the church property.
The CVLI license specifically says that movies can be screened in its facilities. Upon speaking to a representative at CVLI, I pressed for clarification of “in facilities.” The answer that I got was that you would most likely be within the spirit of the agreement if the movie was screened outdoors only if in a secluded area where there was no chance that someone from the general public would see or hear any portion of the movie that was being screened.
6. Since I’m not charging a fee, I am showing the movie inside of my church, and I have the CVLI license, I can advertise my event in any fashion that I want.
In case you missed reading point 4 of the CVLI terms, “No specific titles, or any characters from such titles, or producers’ names will be advertised or publicized to the general public unless authorized by certain producers.”
Make sure that your church has a current CVLI license.
Only show movies at a youth ministry event within your church or at a camp location that has its own license since the license is restricted to a physical location.
Invite a few students over to your house, where you show a movie inside, with out any advertising of any sort through your church.
It is possible to still do a movie event for the public, you’ll need to procure a license from mplc.org but make sure you follow their guidelines.
I hope this helps clear up some of the movie copyright confusion. Of course, there are a ton of other areas that I could have addressed, but I’m not a copyright lawyer, I’m a youth pastor. So, I am not giving you any legal advice on this matter, just a few tips and pointers. If you have questions about your situation it would be best to chat with your church’s attorney or speak directly with an attorney who specializes in copyright law since this is a very in depth area of law (which you noticed if you checked out copyright.gov).
About me: I am married to my beautiful wife, Dana, and together we live in Minnesota where I serve as the youth pastor at our local church. The opinions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my church. More about me...
Two years ago I gave away a game I made combining audio clips from different movies. The idea is to have youth group kids pair up with a piece of paper and pencil and, as a team, try to correctly identify as many movies as they can. The winning team get some candy or a cheap prize.
Join us for LIVE YM Talk this Monday, February 8! The “The “Youth Ministry Advance Team: Haiti” members will discuss their upcoming missions work.” Our guests will include Adam McLane, Anne Jackson, Jeremy Zach, Jeff Goins, and others. We’d love to have you join us! The live conversation starts at 2:00 PM eastern time! See our LIVE YM Talk page for details.
Two weeks ago I had the privilege to watch an advanced screening of the movie, To Save A Life. They have a pretty agressive marketing campaign among the Christian community, so you’ve no-doubt heard of it and either dismissed it because it’s a “Christian film” and thought, “Please, no more Kirk Cameron!,” or, like me, you just put it on a back burner due to all the other demands of your time. Here are my thoughts after watching the film:
Today’s freebie is contributed by 
This guest post is contributed by 
Chris Szulwach is a youth pastor in Liverpool, NY. Chris has 11 years experience as a volunteer, para-church staff, and as a pastor.
About me: I am married to my beautiful wife, 
From Ministry Questions.com...
