TWIN CITIES LIVE--April 23, 2014

TWIN CITIES LIVE
April 23, 2014

It was another great day today at Twin Cities Live with Elizabeth Reis and guest co-host Ben Leber, a former player for the Minnesota Vikings.

Today's movies:
-Transcendence starring Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany, and Morgan Freeman
-Heaven is for Real starring Greg Kinnear, Kelly Reilly, Margo Martindale, and Thomas Hayden Church
-The Secret Life of Walter Mitty starring Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Adam Scott, and Shirley MacLaine



Video courtesy of Twin Cities Live and ABC

Thanks for watching!

Movie Review: HEAVEN IS FOR REAL

HEAVEN IS FOR REAL
Director: Randall Wallace
Starring: Greg Kinnear, Kelly Reilly, Thomas Hayden Church, Margo Martindale, Connor Corum, Lane Styles

There seem to be quite a fair amount of faith based movies out in theaters right now. Between Noah, God’s Not Dead, Son of God, and now Heaven is for Real, there is a market for this genre as they seem to be doing well at the box office. I haven’t seen all of these movies, but they each seem to take a different approach and angle. Heaven is for Real is based on a remarkable true story that first caught people’s attention as a book by Todd Burpo recounting his son’s story.

The Burpo family lives in the kind of small Nebraska town where everyone knows each other and is willing to help each other out when in need. Todd Burpo (Kinnear) is the local pastor and a volunteer fireman, and his wife Sonja (Reilly) is a stay at home mom to their two kids, Cassie (Styles) and Colton (Corum). After a family trip to Denver, four year old Colton is rushed to the hospital due to a ruptured appendix. Their friends and other people in town gather for group prayers as Colton’s outlook looks grim. He survives the surgery and goes through a miraculous and unbelievable journey in the process.

When he starts to get his energy back up, Colton describes to his dad about his trip to heaven. The odd thing is that he never died while in surgery as his heart never stopped beating. Even as a man with a strong faith, Todd starts to question how any of this is even possible. Colton starts telling stories of seeing angels and how he met Jesus and sat on His lap. Todd starts to believe Colton when he starts opening up about meeting people like his great-grandfather and sister who died before she was born. Word spreads about Colton’s supposed trip to heaven after a reporter interviews them for the local newspaper.

Director Randall Wallace (Secretariat, We Were Soldiers) co-wrote the screenplay with Chris Parker. The film plays it far too safe and simple without delving into some of the meatier themes and questions it poses for the characters and its audience. There is a lack of tension and conflict throughout that really slows down the pacing of the movie. One of the odd angles the movie seems to spend so much time on is how broke the family is throughout their whole ordeal. Was Colton’s spiritual journey supposed to remind them that everything was going to be alright? For a pastor, Todd starts to have a crisis of faith when Colton starts recounting his time in heaven. The same thing happens with many of the townspeople who seem devoted to their religion, yet they have a hard time believing in Colton. The film could have delved more into the mixed emotional and spiritual responses these people have, yet we only get one insightful scene involving Todd and a few parishioners discussing why this subjects strikes a nerve inside them. The film also shies away from discussing any of the medical and scientific explanations for what happened to Colton during the surgery. There could have been thought-provoking opportunities to discuss the role faith has in people when science can’t be explained.

When you have spiritual films regarding any sort of divine intervention, you have to go in with a bit of an open mind that this story could actually be true. If you don't, you have a hard time connecting with the story. It’s up to a good director and a smart script to turn those skeptics into believers. If you don’t strive for that, you are essentially preaching to the choir. I can understand why good actors like Greg Kinnear (As Good As It Gets), Kelly Reilly (Flight), and Margo Martindale (August: Osage County) were interested in this story. Unfortunately, this film seems to only scratch the surface and misses many opportunities along the way. I’ve heard the book goes into far more detail, and I would be interested in reading it to see if it answers some of those questions the film glosses over.

Is it worth your trip to the movies? The film will appeal to many people, but it won’t win over any skeptics.

RATING: 2.5 out of 5 Ticket Stubs

Movie Review: FLIGHT

FLIGHT
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, Kelly Reilly, Tamara Tunie, John Goodman, Bruce Greenwood

I do not think people realize how much faith they are putting in their pilot every time they board a plane. It may become more apparent after seeing Flight, Robert Zemeckis’ first live action movie since 2000's Cast Away. It is another day on the job for William “Whip” Whitaker (Washington), a pilot at the top of his game. It is severely raining outside but that does not seem to be of any alarm for Whip. He does his routine checks and is ready to face the sky like any other flight he has piloted. The plane lifts off and continues until the storm becomes worse and proves to be too powerful for the plane. The plane goes into a steep dive forcing Whip and his co-pilot to maneuver it to avoid crashing and killing every passenger on board. They are able to control it by inverting it and guiding it closer to an open landing field. The crash landing is nowhere near as horrendous as it could have been. Six people total, four passengers and two crew members, perish during the crash. Whip is taken to the hospital and proclaimed a hero. No one could have landed the plane the way he did.

Little does everyone know that previous to boarding the plane, Whip did not sleep, got drunk, and snorted lines of cocaine with one of the flight attendants. He awakens from a concussion in the hospital and is surrounded by Charlie Anderson (Greenwood) a long time friend and representative of the union as well as members for the NTSB, National Transportation Safety Board. An investigation into the accident will occur as six people died in the crash. His friend and drug dealer Harling Mays (Goodman) picks him up when he is released and takes him to his father’s farm to avoid the media circus that is awaiting him at his own apartment. He sees the accident as a calling and promptly dumps any and all traces of liquor and drugs found in his place. While at the hospital, he meets fellow drug addict Nicole (Reilly) and invites her to stay with him at the farm.

Toxicology results come back positive for Whip showing the alcohol and drugs that were in his system while he was flying the plane. Attorney Hugh Lang (Cheadle) is hired as Whip’s lawyer to deal with the new predicament. Whip could face the rest of his life in jail as the deaths of the crash are now being investigated for manslaughter. With these new allegations, Whip returns to bottle as his coping mechanism.

Movies about alcoholics are never easy to watch. Even if you do not have any personal experience with knowing an alcoholic, the concept still manages to punch you in the gut. Denzel Washington is so good at these types of damaged characters that it makes it so much harder for the audience. I mean that in a good way. Whip is such an unapologetic and bullheaded character that every time he reaches for that bottle, you cringe in your seat. You just wish that for once he would hold himself accountable and make the better choice. I wish the costume and make-up designers would have roughened up Whip and Nicole a bit more. They both seem too pretty and put together for two characters that are that deep into addiction.

Despite Zemeckis' twelve year hiatus from live action movies, Flight proves that he still can deliver a top notch, well-executed movie. Once the storm is brewing, you are put in the co-pilot's chair until the very end of the crash. It is one nail biting, gut wrenching scene. Washington and the rest of the cast all deliver outstanding performances never trying to play the "drunk" or "victim" card. Tamara Tunie has a touching scene with Washington during the funeral as she stands up for her morals over her long friendship with Whip. John Goodman excels at his usual sidekick character as the Hawaiian shirt wearing dealer of Whip’s. He is a good comedic break that the movie needs so it doesn’t feel too bogged down in heavy topic of addiction. The story provides such interesting moral dilemmas. The plane malfunction was proven to be the fault of the accident, but do you still hold Whip accountable due to his poor choices? Can you still consider Whip a hero?

RATING: **** 1/2 (4.5 out of 5 stars)