jimmyboy13 Reviews

The Gospel of John (2003)

Excellent! The way a Bible movie should be done.

[3 April 2004]

I saw this movie last weekend. The weekend before I saw "Passion of the Christ". The "Gospel of John" is truly a line-by-line presentation of the Gospel of John, and I thought the actors did an excellent job. The movie was top-quality in all aspects, which was a pleasant surprise. Too many past Christian-produced films have been pretty low on the quality standard. Anyway, the best part of this movie is that the spoken dialogue and the narration is actually what's written in the English translation of the Bible, and that is the most important thing here. God says that it's "his word that goes out and does the work it was sent to do", and that "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." People don't need to hear opinions, variations, or whatever. The world's full of that stuff, and yes there's a place for it. However, what will be most effective in touching people's hearts is for them to read/hear the word of God, and that is the main reason why this film is most excellent.

Everyone should see this film.

School of Rock (2003)

Spot-on about metal/rock fans.

[3 April 2004]

The best part about "School of Rock" is that it hits home when it spoofs metal/rock fans, which is also what makes it funny. I remember my own days in high school and early college when I thought certain rock bands were "it". I wasn't hard-core like Jack Black's character in the movie, but I did have some friends who were, and this is exactly how they were (or still are). To them, "ROCK is life!" It's the only thing that really matters, and it's the coolest thing since...well, EVER!! Without it they'd have no purpose in life. Whether or not that's a good thing, or if it's sad or whatever, isn't the point. The point is that this is exactly how many metal-heads are!

In my opinion, the movie isn't funny all the way through; it's mostly just amusing, cliched, or sort-of entertaining, but there are a few parts that made me laugh so hard for minutes at a time that I was crying and could hardly breathe! It was worth watching, for sure. One of the best parts (SPOILER WARNING...) is where he demonstrates how important it is for a rock guitarist to have "an awesome stance". Another is when he shows his students actual video clips of Hendrix, Townshend, and others going berserk on stage, implying that this is the way a cool guitarist should be. Another funny part is where he tells three innocent little girls that, "uh, you can be groupies", as they are assigned parts in the class's new Band. He essentially tells them that their role is to worship the Band. I almost died laughing! Yes, such things are a suggestive sexually, but it wasn't inappropriate or tasteless and it wasn't meant to be suggestive to these particular girls; only that it's the way it is. Furthermore, it does fit right in with the whole "rock" mentality, and hence fits right in with this movie.

I do recommend this film to adult viewers, especially anyone who grew up in the Seventies or Eighties, though I certainly wouldn't want any impressionable kids to see it. (Unless parents want them to become hard-core rock fans or rock stars...)