DVD - Saving Sarah Cain (B-)

Starring: Lisa Pepper, Abigail Mason, Soren Fulton, Danielle Chuchran, Tanner Maguire, Bailee Madison, Elliott Gould
Written by: Brian Bird and Cindy Kelley
Directed by: Michael Landon, Jr.

Buy it

This adaptation of Beverly Lewis' novel The Redemption of Sarah Cain is another commendable addition to the oeuvre of family telefilm producer/director Michael Landon, Jr. Taking great liberties with the plot of the novel, the picture turns the usual Witness-esque story of the 'English' trying to adapt to the life of the Amish on its head. It places the devout orphans of the protagonist's recently departed sister in the heart of a major city and explores the effect it has on their hearts and their family dynamic.

The beginning of the film is worrisome due to extremely clunky, high school drama level dialogue that sounds like it was cobbled from a book of newspaper office cliches. All the editor (played with sorely-needed light humor by Elliott Gould of M*A*S*H and Ocean's 11 fame) needed was a cigar to chomp on and he'd be straight out of a comic book.

Fortunately, things improve dramatically once columnist Sarah Cain starts interacting earnestly with her sister's children. Landon's skill at drawing convincing performances from talented kids is highlighted throughout the rest of the film and, by the end, YOU may want to adopt some of them! And leading lady Lisa Pepper (unsung star of Anthony Hopkins' indie film Slipstream) is frequently good and shows great potential for success. She's very easy on the eyes (it's part of the Hollywood equation, folks) and definitely plays well opposite children.

My favorite part may be the flashback sequence at the end. I won't spoil it for you but it's very appropriate to the character and is beautiful, ethereal, evocative, and expertly photographed and edited.

Final score: B minus

Preview - The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (A)

This needs no commentary except that it is going to ROCK!

Download hi-def at Narniaweb.

CD/DVD - Greatest Hits Special Edition (A-)

Artist: Amy Grant
Buy it

This compilation was not exactly necessary. Grant's last greatest hits album came out only three years ago. It's primary purpose is as a sampler of the brighter sound of her recently recently reissued, newly remastered back catalog. There are two different versions of this set running around: A straightforward CD version and a CD/DVD Special Edition. This review is of the latter.

I am an Amy completist, so I already own every song and music video on this special edition set. It's difficult for me to judge the strength of the track selection because even though I love them all, there are dozens of favorite songs that aren't on it. That's just going to happen when trying to boil 30 years and 20-odd albums down into 19 songs.

I will say to the new or casual fan who is looking for a greatest hits CD to start their AG collection that this is a pretty good place to start. Her first compilation, The Collection was a good, relatively deep summation of Amy's purely Contemporary Christian period and is a great choice for those who want to focus solely on that era. Greatest Hits 1986-2004 covers her crossover and pop hit periods fairly well.

This CD is an extremely broad sampling of both eras but skews to the lite pop - with better remastered sound quality for current systems. The mix of cheery 70s-style acoustics and string sections with 80s synthesizers and 90s adult pop can be a bit jarring but it's all part of Amy's growth over the decades. My only real gripe is the underrepresentation of her introspective and gut-wrenchingly honest work from Lead Me On and Behind the Eyes, which may be regarded by posterity as her two best albums.

The greatest benefit (for new Amy fans and old) of this 2-disc Special Edition - in my humble opinion - is the nearly half hour of interview footage she provides (Preview). Just sitting on the couch with a mug of coffee, reminiscing and vividly describing the hows and whys of the peaks and valleys of her recording career and her life, Amy demonstrates exactly why she has touched audiences and made devoted fans for three decades. It's nearly impossible not to like such an earthy, gentle person who is openly alloyed with the wonderment and messiness of real life. She's like an ideal next door neighbor that you'd love to sit around and discuss life, love, and faith with. And in some ways we already have because it's all there in her songs.

CD - Time Again ... Live (B+)

Artist: Amy Grant
Buy it

And the kids wonder why she's still a dominant force in Christian music, even though she hasn't had a number one pop hit in years. Well, Grant has a back catalog of 200-plus quality, honest, lived-in songs and a charming and lovably unadorned "Ideal Friend" public persona that no other CCM artist can touch. And she's always been a formidable vocal stylist. That's why.

As others have noted, her singing and songwriting abilities were frequently overlooked because of her unmatched popularity and her looks. But time has proven her impressively capable in both arenas. In fact, some of her lyrics are revealed as prescient and are even more powerful as she (actually, we) go through midlife. Her voice? Possibly the easiest to listen to for extended periods that I've ever heard. Historically gentle and flawed but packed with emotional precision. Sandi Patti may have been the premiere Christian vocalist in the 1980s but Amy Grant was the impassioned voice of everyone's hopes and doubts.

Appearing in the same city (but not the same venue!) where she gave her first professional concert 29 years ago, Grant is light years removed from that gawky, whispery teenaged girl hiding behind a guitar on a Fort Worth stage in 1978. Still sweet and self-effacing, she's an accomplished musician and a confident entertainer joyfully leading a band instead of being instructed by one. [Side note: Yes. We're that old.]

A word of caution: If you're fixated on being able to sing along note-for-note with these classic songs, you may be in for a disappointment with this 17-song live set. Not only have the arrangements and instrumentation of her older synth-pop tunes been altered for a casual stripped-down feel but Amy is more experimental in her phrasing these days. If you appreciate the Frank Sinatra/Willie Nelson school of reinterpretation with each performance, you'll love this set. If you're interested in a perfectly recreated nostalgia session, not so much.

The constraints of the single-CD format cause some of Amy's trademark just-folks banter and pindrop-quiet stories of the superior DVD presentation to be lost. The cheerful stage presence that masks some of her vocal missteps isn't there to help her, either. A few very good songs are left out. I'd recommend getting the DVD, too, if you can afford both. But this is a good audio version for the car and iPod.

Final score: B plus

Book - Blue Like Jazz (B+)

Author: Donald Miller

Though I don't see eye-to-eye with Don Miller on everything, I can't help but like the guy. He is so candid about his thought life, his doubts, his shortcomings, his vices, and his all-around goofiness that he's like a favorite cousin you find both cool and amusingly befuddling.

Miller's self-deprecating wit, his conversational style, and his arms-length relationship with his evangelical background are his trademarks. Most of the chapters in "Jazz" are about mini-epiphanies he's had along his spiritual journey. You feel like he's hanging out with you at dusk, sitting on the hood of a car, swapping life stories and wondering about why crap works the way it does. It's like he circles around things in life until it dawns on him that - even though its representatives are often lame and its concepts seem outdated - Christian spirirtuality actually had the answers he was looking for.

Even though he tries to maintain a fairly liberal and liberated life, deep down he's fairly orthodox in his beliefs. He just doesn't dress them up in 19th century traditions, rules and regulations, and both fear- and comfort-based judgmentalism.

Take it out for a spin.

Final score: B+

DVD - The Best of Janet Paschal (A-)

I'm not a huge fan of the genre but I have a genuine appreciation for Southern Gospel, not least because of my childhood exposure to it. Well, in my limited experience, one of the greatest vocalists ever across any style is Janet Paschal. She has been a favorite of mine since the early 1980s when she toured with tenor John Starnes in Jimmy Swaggart's band. Within a few years she went entirely solo and soon became (and remains) a fixture in uberproducer Bill Gaither's series of video specials. This DVD is a collection of Paschal's most popular moments from those shows over the past two decades.

Paschal has always been a much better performer live than she is in the studio. The audience and the opportunity to physically embody the song for them energize her in ways that a sound-proofed room could never do. And at the half-century mark, she still has the broadest smile and her eyes still have the brightest sparkle I've ever seen onstage.

Between songs, Gaither and Pashcal discuss her feelings for each song and they share memories of the Homecoming tours. Gaither reiterates her reputation as a perpetually positive and thoughtful person and she giggles in response. In an understated moment, Janet also recounts her recent battle with breast cancer and her tortuous rounds of intensive chemotherapy. She has been cancer-free for a year or so and is now touring again.

Here, in a low-quality version of a highlight from the early '90s, Janet floors George Younce, Jessy Dixon, Vestal Goodman and a host of other Gospel legends with a gotta-shout, gotta-dance rendition of "Born Again". If this don't light your fire, your wood's wet!



In this clip, she acts as worship leader to the Homecoming team and ends in a moving duet with gospel pioneer Vestal Goodman.



If I have any complaint, it's that the second half of the disc contains virtually no uptempo numbers and this breaks up the rhythm of the package.

Final score: A minus

CD - Postcards (A-)

Artist: Cindy Morgan
Producer: Wayne Kirkpatrick
Buy it

Perhaps the most underrated singer/songwriter in CCM's postmodern era, Cindy Morgan is still as strong an artist as ever. Although she's a fifteen-year, nine-album veteran in an industry with an average life-expectancy of fifteen months and one album, Morgan is not merely a survivor. She has matured and improved, experimented and learned, and never stopped taking risks.

Her clear, strong voice and cover girl looks had the label stuffing her into the Dance/Pop Diva mold on her debut CD - but her true colors shone through even then. The haunting, worshipful, self-penned piano ballad at its close ("How Could I Ask for More") marked her as a sonic and lyrical force to be reckoned with. That talented young woman has become a truly unique voice in the world of Christian music and Postcards shows how.

After a five year break between albums (Morgan became a mom again after her last), Postcards is a breath of fresh air. In addition to her piano-driven center, Morgan here tries her hand at roots music and semi-industrial pop to largely successful effect.

And she continues to grow lyrically. On 'Enough' she really takes on a confrontational edge worthy of classic troublemaker Steve Taylor. And then there's the jaw-dropping honesty of "Mother," which is a cry to Morgan's own mother over the recent breakdown of their relationship. It is a heartstopper. The urgency of approaching middle age really strips off the nonsense in one's life - and it sure show on this album.

This is certainly among her best albums and improves with successive listens.

Final score: A minus

DVD - The Second Chance (B)

Starring jeff obafemi carr, Michael W. Smith
Directed by Steve Taylor
PG-13 for language and violence
Buy it

Let me get this out of the way: I do not automatically give all Christian movies an A merely to "give them support." As the leader of my church's drama ministry I believe we are responsible to pursue and promote excellence in the arts. Poor craftsmanship implies poor effort and lacks credibility. Trust me, the makers of this film feel the same way.

When I saw this was a film by Steve Taylor, I knew I had to see this movie.

When I heard singer Michael W. Smith was in the lead role, I wasn't so sure I wanted to see this movie.

Well, I was pleased with much of it, challenged as a Christian by parts of it, and disappointed with lots of it. As with his cutting edge music, Taylor pushed some buttons that definitely needed to be pushed (punched and smashed, too) about the marketing mentality within the church, the social laziness we ignore, the racial ignorance we tolerate (on both sides), and the flawless facade we try to project. As for the occasional swearing the pastor does, that's just real life. Preachers are fallible. Alert the media!

As for Smitty, all I can say is, "He obviously worked very hard on this and there were times when he was very effective." That's nicer than saying, "Don't quit your day job." And more honest, really. He didn't stink at it. But I doubt he'll ever be on Martin Scorsese's speed dial.

jeff obafemi carr (the lowercase thing is his idea) is pretty darn good, though. Hope to see him again.

The great, glaring weakness of 'Second Chance' is in the retreaded plots: Plot A: A small, faithful inner city church is financially strapped and the administrative board plans to shut it down if its fortunes don't turn around, so the congregation rallies to save it. Plot B: A rebellious, successful son is resistant about taking over the reins of a church from his kindly old father, the senior pastor who is beloved by everyone. Heard either of those plots before? Sure, in just about every story about a church that you've ever seen from 'The Preacher's Wife', 'Sister Act,' and 'The Gospel' to dozens of episodes of 'Highway to Heaven' and 'Touched by An Angel.' Is there no other story out there?

I really feel Taylor missed an opportunity by not trying for a more original story to tell, one that the average person could identify with. And hadn't seen before. But this is still a good first effort by Steve.

Final score: B