Fireproof, the movie Comments

[maryjk]

Well this thread has so far been interesting. I have been thinking of renting this movie but now don`t know if I will but given some of the junk we are being given to choose from in movies today I could probably do far worse. The thing is I always get irritated with movies with the evangelical viewpoint of Christianity even when they mean well or are promoting an otherwise universal value we all have as Christians’ in this case the value and sanctity of marriage, misuse of people for sexual reasons in general.

I am most likely in the minority. My husband and I went to see this movie and paid full price, so we felt like we couldn’t walk out. If we would have rented the movie, we would have never made it to end of the movie.

Although I agree the message is good, we do have to work every day to make a marriage work. The acting was terrible. I know, I know, they used local actors. But I have seen high school plays that had better acting than this movie. It was hard to get through the bad acting, to see the message.

 

[Monsterkittie]

Personally, I didn’t think it was all that bad. Sure, it was low budget, but how hung up are you on glittery effects and big name actors. What the movie portrayed was sometimes a bit far fetched (to my naive eyes) but I realize that there are some families that are struggling with this level of turmoil (or worse) in their marriages. My intended and I watched it together, which kinda scared us into realizing that we could very easily be in the character’s shoes one day if we DIDN’T center our relationship with God.

If you realize and accept and treasure the gift that is your spouse and thank God in heaven daily for that other person in your life, you shouldn’t have need to worry about your marriage.

If you haven’t, maybe you should ask yourself why you don’t.

I’m not married yet, but I am thankful. Constantly.

Maybe the movie’s worth a watch. $2.00 rental…eh…you could do worse with two bucks…
:twocents:my two cents. God bless.

 

[whatevergirl]

I could be wrong, but I remember reading somewhere that there was a Love Dare challenge for Catholics as well. Do not remember where I read it or who wrote it. Even if there’s not a Catholic version, I think the premise behind it is amazing. I’m not married, but it sure opened my eyes to how you have to treat anyone – spouse, parent, friend – any relationship.

My sister bought me the book, Love Dare, for Valentines Day for my hubby and me…and we have been enjoying it. Small everyday assignments that mean so much…in the long run. I recommend it for all married couples. Marriage is more than the Love Dare, certainly, but it definitely gives us daily things to do towards the betterment of our marriage.

 

[Angels_Unaware]

Personally, I didn’t think it was all that bad. Sure, it was low budget, but how hung up are you on glittery effects and big name actors. What the movie portrayed was sometimes a bit far fetched (to my naive eyes) but I realize that there are some families that are struggling with this level of turmoil (or worse) in their marriages. My intended and I watched it together, which kinda scared us into realizing that we could very easily be in the character’s shoes one day if we DIDN’T center our relationship with God.

If you realize and accept and treasure the gift that is your spouse and thank God in heaven daily for that other person in your life, you shouldn’t have need to worry about your marriage.

If you haven’t, maybe you should ask yourself why you don’t.

I’m not married yet, but I am thankful. Constantly.

Maybe the movie’s worth a watch. $2.00 rental…eh…you could do worse with two bucks…

:twocents:my two cents.   God bless.

A husband who is addicted to porn and who cheats on his wife is far-fetched? Are you serious? Have you seen the statistics for these things?

 

[wifenmommy]

Fireproof may not have had fancy smancy special effects, but specail effects does not a good movie make! Are we that shallow that we have to have over paid actors, immoral behaviors, and computer generated special effects to make a movie good? I think the movie was very sweet and a great jumping off point for those who are having a rough time in their marriage. Dh and I are not having a rough time and have a beautiful marriage (we did have troubles in the past) and the movie just really re confirmed the beauty of marriage and making it work regardless of selfish feelings and/or behavior. We have told everyone we know to watch this movie, and dh is even recommending it to a friend who is having trouble with his marriage. I would rather watch a movie of this calaber any day than the garbage that has saturated the screen these days!

 

[maryjk]

I am most likely in the minority. My husband and I went to see this movie and paid full price, so we felt like we couldn’t walk out. If we would have rented the movie, we would have never made it to end of the movie.

Although I agree the message is good, we do have to work every day to make a marriage work. The acting was terrible. I know, I know, they used local actors. But I have seen high school plays that had better acting than this movie. It was hard to get through the bad acting, to see the message.

Fireproof may not have had fancy smancy special effects, but specail effects does not a good movie make! Are we that shallow that we have to have over paid actors, immoral behaviors, and computer generated special effects to make a movie good? I think the movie was very sweet and a great jumping off point for those who are having a rough time in their marriage. Dh and I are not having a rough time and have a beautiful marriage (we did have troubles in the past) and the movie just really re confirmed the beauty of marriage and making it work regardless of selfish feelings and/or behavior. We have told everyone we know to watch this movie, and dh is even recommending it to a friend who is having trouble with his marriage. I would rather watch a movie of this calaber any day than the garbage that has saturated the screen these days!

Guess I am shallow.
No, I don’t need the over paid actors, immoral behaviors or computer special effects. My favorite movies are ones like the original Yours, Mine and Ours; the Song of Bernadette or maybe the Sound of Music.
But if I am going to pay $8 person plus soda and popcorn, the actors shouldn’t look like they are reading from the script. And they did.

 

[wifenmommy]

I read that some of the actors were actually volunteers. I think that it says alot for these people to put forth an effort to make and put out a movie that supports the Christian viewpoint. If society had access to more movies of this type, I’d be willing to bet things these days would not be as they are. I can forgo an Oscar performance in lieu of a movie that I would not be ashamed to have the God, Jesus or Mother Mary catching me watching! I am not particular regarding the talent of actors , but more of the story/point of the movie.

 

[kage_ar]

Fireproof may not have had fancy smancy special effects, but specail effects does not a good movie make! Are we that shallow that we have to have over paid actors, immoral behaviors, and computer generated special effects to make a movie good? I think the movie was very sweet and a great jumping off point for those who are having a rough time in their marriage. Dh and I are not having a rough time and have a beautiful marriage (we did have troubles in the past) and the movie just really re confirmed the beauty of marriage and making it work regardless of selfish feelings and/or behavior. We have told everyone we know to watch this movie, and dh is even recommending it to a friend who is having trouble with his marriage. I would rather watch a movie of this calaber any day than the garbage that has saturated the screen these days!

When we do a meal for the parish, we want the food to be good - we could say “this is for fellowship, so, it should not matter how the food tastes”. When we have Mass, we try to have it in a building that is clean and pretty, we have heat and it is secure -

Why, just because it is a “Christian” movie, is it somehow okay for it to be poorly acted? One does not have to have CGI effects to have a trained actor.

 

[rolltidefan]

wifenmommy…I agree with you 100%

I think it is shame that we think we have to have A+ actors for a movie to be good. Of course the acting could have been better, but you know what, you are not going to get most of the A class actors to come out and do a movie of this caliber without cussing and usually without nudity because it does not sell. So we as Christians have to work with what we got and it SHOULD be supported by Christians. The reason we don’t have more of these movies are because they are not supported. I can’t remember what exactly showed that same weekend with this movie when it hit theaters, but I gaurantee you it was probably something with cussing in it, possibly nudity and not a very good storyline and I bet some Christians went out and supported it and praised it because it had A+ actors in it. When we as Christians stop supporting those types of movies in the theaters maybe more directors will do better family movies like Fireproof. Again, it is a crying shame that most on here are more concerned about whether it showed her practicing NFP, taking birth control, or etc, instead of taking this movie and getting out of it what it was meant to prove and that is that in a marriage we have to work on it and sometimes that is when we don’t want to work on it and we need GOD in it to make it work. It takes three to make a marriage work, you, your spouse and God. Movies cannot show every little detail, but instead of downing a good movie and especially because it was made by “Protestants”, I think we as Christians should support it. Until then we will have the same trash in the theaters that we have and I and my family will not go and support such. Thank God for the actors and directors and the church in Georgia that gave their time and money to support this. Also as far as Kirk Cameron goes, I don’t know alot about what church he attends or anything like that, I do know that the interview I saw with him regarding this movie and the “kiss” at the end…that was his wife, he said that most actors now will kiss and makeout with whoever in a movie and for the sanctity of his marriage, he could not morally do that, so his wife stood in for those parts. And the way I understand it, this was the first time there was every a stunt double for a kissing scene. For that Kirk Cameron, I stand up and applaud you for taking a stand on marriage and his dedication to his wife.

 

[kage_ar]

Movies made by Christians CAN be of high quality. “The Passion” was one of the most successful films of all time, the actors were superb. “Bella” was recognized by awards, and the acting was high quality.

Just because it is made by Christians on a Christian theme does not mean it has to be amature.

 

[YADA]

My personal opinion was that the dialogue andacting was “more realistic” … then most movies …

The characters were more real for the lack of ‘polish’. Have you ever discussed your faith at work? Have you ever worked with people who were “nerdy”? … I have … faith discussions are not always done with high theology and perfect arguements. People do play jokes on one another and they are not always perfect. As such the dialogue between characters was like the dialogues you proabaly have every day.

I think we get used to glitz and perfection … that is one of the ways that hollywood impacts and destroys families … it sets up unrealistic expectations and immoral situations and presents them as the “norm” …

 

[wifenmommy]

wifenmommy…I agree with you 100%

I think it is shame that we think we have to have A+ actors for a movie to be good. Of course the acting could have been better, but you know what, you are not going to get most of the A class actors to come out and do a movie of this caliber without cussing and usually without nudity because it does not sell. So we as Christians have to work with what we got and it SHOULD be supported by Christians. The reason we don’t have more of these movies are because they are not supported. I can’t remember what exactly showed that same weekend with this movie when it hit theaters, but I gaurantee you it was probably something with cussing in it, possibly nudity and not a very good storyline and I bet some Christians went out and supported it and praised it because it had A+ actors in it. When we as Christians stop supporting those types of movies in the theaters maybe more directors will do better family movies like Fireproof. Again, it is a crying shame that most on here are more concerned about whether it showed her practicing NFP, taking birth control, or etc, instead of taking this movie and getting out of it what it was meant to prove and that is that in a marriage we have to work on it and sometimes that is when we don’t want to work on it and we need GOD in it to make it work. It takes three to make a marriage work, you, your spouse and God. Movies cannot show every little detail, but instead of downing a good movie and especially because it was made by “Protestants”, I think we as Christians should support it. Until then we will have the same trash in the theaters that we have and I and my family will not go and support such. Thank God for the actors and directors and the church in Georgia that gave their time and money to support this. Also as far as Kirk Cameron goes, I don’t know alot about what church he attends or anything like that, I do know that the interview I saw with him regarding this movie and the “kiss” at the end…that was his wife, he said that most actors now will kiss and makeout with whoever in a movie and for the sanctity of his marriage, he could not morally do that, so his wife stood in for those parts. And the way I understand it, this was the first time there was every a stunt double for a kissing scene. For that Kirk Cameron, I stand up and applaud you for taking a stand on marriage and his dedication to his wife.

…so well put! My thoughts exactly!

 

[wifenmommy]

My personal opinion was that the dialogue andacting was “more realistic” … then most movies …

The characters were more real for the lack of ‘polish’. Have you ever discussed your faith at work? Have you ever worked with people who were “nerdy”? … I have … faith discussions are not always done with high theology and perfect arguements. People do play jokes on one another and they are not always perfect. As such the dialogue between characters was like the dialogues you proabaly have every day.

I think we get used to glitz and perfection … that is one of the ways that hollywood impacts and destroys families … it sets up unrealistic expectations and immoral situations and presents them as the “norm” …

Awesome point! I think over the years we have been subjected to so much of the “special effects” and actors that push the bar on morality that we have become desensitized to “real life” senerios in movies such as the case in Fireproof. The interaction between Kirk Cameron and his co workers could have come straight from dh work! LOL!

 

[rolltidefan]

Movies made by Christians CAN be of high quality. “The Passion” was one of the most successful films of all time, the actors were superb. “Bella” was recognized by awards, and the acting was high quality.

Just because it is made by Christians on a Christian theme does not mean it has to be amature.

They CAN be, but guess what they are not because Hollywood doesn’t think these type movies will sell. Do you remember the heck Mel Gibson went through to just get the Passion picked up a major film studio?? It was quite a bit because they said it would not sell. Of course the Christians banned together and supported this. Of course the Passion had better acting in it than Fireproof, but even then the actors were still not what Hollywood considers to be top rated but they did a wonderful job. Of course how many movies can you name since The Passion and Fireproof that hit the theater that have been good family films that teach a strong Christian message?? So that is probably 2 movies in how many years, out of how many movies we make and push onto society. I can think of like the Narnia films that were good also but most of them were fantasy land and not true life. They had a “hidden” meaning behind them that was awesome. But I would like my kids to be able to see movies like Fireproof and know that this is the work that goes into a marriage. It is not what we potray in most sleezy movies that Hollywood pushes on our youth. I was talking to some people the other day that was talking about how wonderful that new Clint Eastwood movie was. I think it is Gran Turino or something like that. First thing they said was, gosh that movie is great if you can make it through all the cussing. So that knocked me out of going there. Why can’t movies be made without this type of language in them?? This thread here is a good reason why they can’t be made. They are not supported because the glitz is not there or it is not put out by “their kind”. Bottom line, we as Christians should pull together and support them, not look for every little petty thing in them.

 

[kage_ar]

We have different opinions, I will not spend my very hard earned money on third rate acting just because it has a “nice message”, and I won’t get all gooey on a movie just because it has a Christian “message”. If these movies make $$, it tells those who make them that mediocre is good 'nuf.

Last move I paid to see? Narnia movies and LOTR movies. I told them that I want a good message AND quality. I rented Bella.

I’m also the sort who cringes when I hear much of the Christian music on the raido - I love the really quailty music that a few Christian artists put out.

To paraphrase either Lewis or Chesterton - the world does not need more makers of Christian movies, the world needs more good filmmakers who are Christians.

This is not a point of moral law, so, people of good faith can disagree.

 

[maryjk]

Awesome point! I think over the years we have been subjected to so much of the “special effects” and actors that push the bar on morality that we have become desensitized to “real life” senerios in movies such as the case in Fireproof. The interaction between Kirk Cameron and his co workers could have come straight from dh work! LOL!

Its not the “special effects.” Its the acting, or lack of.

The interaction between Kirk Cameron and his co workers may have come straight from someone’s work. Same thing when his wife, in the movie, was talking to co workers in the cafeteria. But the actors should have memorized their lines. That way they wouldn’t have had to look off to the side or down, to read them. People I know, when they speak to me, speak to my face. They don’t write down what they want to say, then read off their lines as we are talking. That is what it looked like were doing.

Like I said, one of my favorite movies is the original Yours, Mine and Ours. If there are any special effects, I can’t think of any. BUT, they used real actors.

We do not have to love the movie simply because it has a Christian message. Nor should I have to spend top dollar to find out that the acting is no better than a high school play.

 

[rolltidefan]

We have different opinions, I will not spend my very hard earned money on third rate acting just because it has a “nice message”, and I won’t get all gooey on a movie just because it has a Christian “message”. If these movies make $$, it tells those who make them that mediocre is good 'nuf.

Last move I paid to see? Narnia movies and LOTR movies. I told them that I want a good message AND quality. I rented Bella.

I’m also the sort who cringes when I hear much of the Christian music on the raido - I love the really quailty music that a few Christian artists put out.

To paraphrase either Lewis or Chesterton - the world does not need more makers of Christian movies, the world needs more good filmmakers who are Christians.

This is not a point of moral law, so, people of good faith can disagree.

I agree with you…the world is in need of good filmmakers who are Christians. I hope for the sake of my children and future heritage that this ends up being the case. That is not how I see it going because I think Hollywood knows that sex sells and anything associated with it does. As far as my money goes, that yes I and most people who work these days, work hard for it, I chose good message over quality any day. I would prefer both, but until they can produce both, I guess I have to take what I can get. If those same people came out with another movie that did Fireproof with the same actors, I would be at the theater the day it came out to see it and support it. But from my point, I am sending them a message of thank God for good Christian movies. Which I think I did with Fireproof since I saw it twice in the theater and bought in on DVD. I also own their first film they did Flywheel and Facing the Giants…which have most of the same actors in it. Anyway, I agree good faith can disagree. BTW, Loved Narnia and LOTR!

 

[wifenmommy]

JMHO, I did not really pick up on the actors “reading” their lines~I was more focused on the theme of the movie and excited that a moral, Christian themed movie was getting so much good press and attention. I would rather spend my hard earned money on ANY Christian themed film rather than the filthy trash that is put out in the theaters… I would always be more than happy to support a Christian film with Christian actors than anything else. Actually, Fireproof made waaaay more than what it took to make. I think that in it self is a loud message that more Christian/moral movies are wanted and needed.

 

[wifenmommy]

Its not the “special effects.” Its the acting, or lack of.

The interaction between Kirk Cameron and his co workers may have come straight from someone’s work. Same thing when his wife, in the movie, was talking to co workers in the cafeteria. But the actors should have memorized their lines. That way they wouldn’t have had to look off to the side or down, to read them. People I know, when they speak to me, speak to my face.Sometimes people DO look away when talking… They don’t write down what they want to say, then read off their lines as we are talking. That is what it looked like were doing. :shrug:Like I said before, i was more interested in the message. I didnt pick apart every actors performance…

Like I said, one of my favorite movies is the original Yours, Mine and Ours. If there are any special effects, I can’t think of any. BUT, they used real actors.

We do not have to love the movie simply because it has a Christian message. But we all should want to support movies such as these and not get so caught up in how the actors acted. Nor should I have to spend top dollar to find out that the acting is no better than a high school play.I would still rather see a high school play than some of the trash that is put out at the movies…

Then please feel free to support immoral movies/actors. Just because the actors in Fireproof havent won Oscars doesnt make this any less of a good movie…

 

[kage_ar]

Then please feel free to support immoral movies/actors. Just because the actors in Fireproof havent won Oscars doesnt make this any less of a good movie…

It is not a Fireproof or immoral movies choice - one does not HAVE to go to the movies