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Trusting in the Shepherd DVD

Posted by Professor on November 16, 2010
in DVDs & CDs, Movies, Music

Faith and Family Reviews received the following product in exchange for writing a review. While we consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, our reviews are our honest opinion and thoughts of the product.

I was interested in reviewing this DVD with my children because of the content. This product is a wonderful supplement to teaching the words of the Lord; specifically Psalm 23:4.

Dayspring, a Christian company, released the DVD. This 40 minute DVD is a wonderful diversion from the everyday cartoons on the television. The DVD focuses on facing your fears and trusting in Jesus. I know my children are like sponges and soak up everything their little minds hear and see, this was a wonderful program for their developing minds.

My children are 6, 4, and 2. Each child liked the DVD. They expressed their likes for the sheep characters and the songs. My 6 year old (and I) liked that the stories were relatable and included children talking to their parents about their fears. This is a great way to reinforce the fact that children should always be able to talk to their parents about anything.

This is a wonderful edition to any family’s library. I would reccomend it to anyone with young children.

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Movie Review Monday: Book Of Ruth

Posted by Bobbie Gould on October 11, 2010
in DVDs & CDs, Movies

The last few versions of Ruth we watched we were slightly disappointed in the discrepancies throughout it. We liked Pureflix’s version because it was right on in their depiction of the story and characters. And because they did not take very many liberties like the other version did. We really liked that.

Our family really enjoyed The Book of Ruth dvd. Parents really do not need to preview this movie beforehand as it is a very family-friendly movie. We loved that the characters were portrayed like their real characters, showing their sorrow, as well as their joy and servitude towards one another.

The Book Of Ruth DVD shows a wonderful relationship between Ruth and her mother-in-law. So many times in the real world, mother-in-laws and daughter-in-laws get a bad rap from one another, but The Book Of Ruth DVD shows how a daughter by marriage can be a devoted and loving daughter – by her choice.

The Book of Ruth characters seemed very authentic, as were the scenes in the movie. We thought it was very well done, in our opinion.

We are very please with the films we have viewed from Pureflix and highly recommend them to families seeking family-friendly entertainment without the use of sensored equipment like Clearplay for bad language etc.

For more family-friendly entertainment, please visit www.PureFlix.com you may purchase Book Of Ruth dvd here for $14.98

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Movie Review Monday- Bridge To Terabithia

Posted by Bobbie Gould on October 4, 2010
in Movie Review Monday, Movies

(BTW: This was written a while back, but was never published.)

This past week we watched a movie called Bridge to Terabithia. It was a wonderful family film! The story starts with Jessie, a young boy who is bullied at school and sort of neglected at home. When Leslie, a new student at the school, moves in next door, Jessie and she become friends. Leslie, who has a very vivid imagination, opens his eyes to a new world called Terabithia. It is a truly wonderful film! Some of the things that I liked about it where:

They portrayed Jessie and Leslie’s friendship as “just a friendship;” there was no boy girl stuff in it.
It portrays family relationships and friendships very well.
It did not really have a lot of mythical creatures in it.
It has many things that you can learn from it.

I would reccomend parents with young children previewing it as has some intense parts. Definitely a drama!

All, in all, it was a very good movie! I would give it 10 stars out of 10. I really would encourage you to watch it. It is definitely a “want to watch” again! This movie will make you laugh and cry. And your kids will love it.

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Movie Review Monday: The Widows Might and The Lost and Found Family

Posted by Bobbie Gould on September 27, 2010
in DVDs & CDs, Movies

We watched the Widows Might and The Lost and Found Family. I would give them both 8 out of 10 stars.

The Widows Might was about 3 young men who are filmmakers and their friend who is a widow, who is losing her house due to unfair taxes. The boys set about to help her along with their friends and family. They end up making a great western movie, battling untruthful but hurtful news reports about them, helping a friend with his election campaign and still helping the widow! A really great film!

Here are some other reviews of it here.

The Lost and Found Family is about a family with 5 foster children, who are renting a home from a once wealthy widow. She comes to visit the house and is going to sell it to have some money but after she meets the family, she starts to think of ways to help them. The 2 older children hid some drugs in the house but that was resolved. There was no bad language and really no questionable clothing except that the widow could have worn a more modest dress and the girl could have dressed more like a girl than a punk! But I guess that that was just her character! All in all, it was a great movie!I hope that you and your family will check out these great movies!

You may buy both movies at most movie stores.

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Movie Review Monday- Letters To God

Posted by Bobbie Gould on August 30, 2010
in Movie Review Monday, Movies

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Letters To God

We recently watched Letters To God via Netflix as we had a free one month trial. And we thought that this was a really great movie. This movie is about a young boy with cancer, and how he decides to write letters to God. And how is his family learns to deal with the pain of watching their son, grandson, and brother have cancer. This movie was very moving and you will need a box of tissues. The movie was funny in parts as well as sad in other parts. I highly recommend this movie for familys and children of all ages.

Here is the synopsis:

Tyler Doherty is an extraordinary eight-year-old boy. Surrounded by a loving family and community, and armed with the courage of his faith, he faces his daily battle against cancer with bravery and grace. To Tyler, God is a friend, a teacher and the ultimate pen pal—Tyler’s prayers take the form of letters, which he composes and mails on a daily basis.

The letters find their way into the hands of Brady McDaniels, a beleaguered postman standing at a crossroads in his life. At first, he is confused and conflicted over what to do with the letters. Overtime he begins to form a friendship with the entire Doherty family. Moved by Tyler’s courage, Brady realizes what he must do with the letters, a surprise decision that will transform his heart and uplift his newfound friends and community –in an exhilarating act of testament to the contagious effect of one boy’s unwavering faith against the odds.

Inspired by a true story, Letters to God is an intimate, moving and often funny story about the galvanizing effect one child’s belief can have on his family, friends and community.

You may watch the trailer below:

You can purchase Letters For God for various prices at many different retailers. Be sure to check out the Letters To God website.

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Set Apart DVD

Posted by html404 on May 7, 2010
in DVDs & CDs, Movies

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We requested the movie Set Apart from our library via interlibrary loan. We had read a description of it in the CBD catalog and were intrigued.

Set Apart is about a ministry reaching out to inner city kids who are being tempted all around by negative influences. Four of those kids get an opportunity to escape to the country side to see what life on a ranch is like.

Friendship, trust, action, excitement, comedy make up this poignant drama. It may be a little scary in parts for little ones, so parents be advised you may wish to view it first so you can properly prepare them.

We really enjoyed it as a family, so wanted to be sure to mention it as another family-friendly movie.

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Horse-Boy Review

Posted by html404 on April 20, 2010
in DVDs & CDs, Movies

I received the following book in exchange for writing a review. While I consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of the book.

Horse Boy is a documentary about a boy with autism. His name is Rowan. This DVD is the journey of Rowan and his parents and their search for answers to how to live, deal with and manage Rowan’s autism. Rowan’s father, Rupert Isaacson, is a human rights worker, author and former professional horse trainer, and his mother Kristin Neff, is a psychology professor. Initially, they sought all the normal medical care, but these therapies had little affect on Rowan’s behavior.

In their struggle to make sense of their son’s disorder, they discover an interesting connection between Rowan and horses. It was this connection with a neighbor’s horse that made Mr. Isaacson wonder if he could combine horses with healing. He began researching the origins of horses and where they were first domesticated. What he found led him to Mongolia, where shamanism is known for its healing and is actually their religion. This led Mr. Isaacson to decide to take his family to Mongolia in search of healing Rowan’s autism. Ms. Neff had to be convinced of the feasibility of this trip especially when every day life was a battle, but in the end Mr. Isaacson won her over to the prudence of this decision.

The movie documents the family’s journey to Mongolia. It shows some raw footage (bathroom trips, purification “bath”, which they use a fuzzy image for privacy), but it is reveals their family’s personal journey. I just like to disclose things like this because I prefer to know about these types of things if someone recommends a movie or book to me for the first time. That way viewers can make an informed decision about their family watching the movie. However, I won’t reveal the outcome of their trip overseas in case you want to watch the movie!

I also want you to know that April is Autism Awareness Month, so please be sure to check out the additional resources in the links below for more information about autism.

Watch Horse Boy on PBS!

If you have TV and are so inclined, you may watch Horse Boy on PBS Tuesday, May 11, INDEPENDENT LENS presents The Horse Boy, Michel Orion Scott’s remarkable new documentary about Rupert Isaacson and Kristina Neff’s unorthodox journey with their autistic son and the miracle they find through horses — first on their Texas farm and then in the outer reaches of Mongolia. Rupert Isaacson, who has also written a book about the experience and now runs a learning center, The Horse Boy Foundation.

Resources:

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/horse-boy/

http://www.horseboymovie.com

http://www.autism-society.org/site/

http://exchanges.nyse.com/archives/2008/04/autism_awareness.php

http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer?pagename=research_awareness

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The Book of Ruth DVD

Posted by html404 on April 19, 2010
in DVDs & CDs, Movies

I received the following book in exchange for writing a review. While I consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of the book.

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We had the privilege of reviewing another movie produced by PureFlix Entertainment last weekend called The Book of Ruth. It is interesting that this was the next movie to review because last month our family watched another version of Ruth and were slightly disappointed in the discrepancies throughout it. Pureflix’s version was pretty much right on in their depiction of the biblical story and characters. They did not take liberties like the other version did and we appreciated that fact.

We really enjoyed this movie. With everything going on though, we did not preview it one beforehand but there really wasn’t any need to. It is a very family-friendly movie. We loved that the characters were portrayed like their real characters, showing their sorrow, as well as their joy and servitude towards one another. Just imagine what the world would be like if more people would think of others before themselves, it’d be a whole different place wouldn’t it?

I loved the wonderful relationship between Ruth and her mother-in-law. So often in the real world, mother-in-laws and daughter-in-laws get a bad rap from one another, but this movie showed how a daughter through marriage can be a devoted and loving daughter – by choice, by example and by love.

We have been very pleased with these two films we have received from Pureflix and highly recommend them to families seeking family-friendly, Christian entertainment.

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Home Beyond the Sun – DVD Review

Posted by html404 on April 17, 2010
in DVDs & CDs, Movies

I received the following book in exchange for writing a review. While I consider it a privilege to receive free products to review, my review is my honest opinion and thoughts of the book.

A couple of weekends ago we had the privilege of watching a new movie called, Home Beyond the Sun, put out by PureFlix Entertainment. It was inspired by a true story and explored the social and political realities of China today. PureFlix Entertainment is known for it’s family-friendly Christian films, such as Sarah’s Choice.

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Home Beyond the Sun was very good. We all enjoyed it very much. We previewed it before we let the children watch it and we are glad we did because in a couple of parts the little ones got a little scared. However, because we had viewed it before we knew what scenes were coming up to explain to them what was happening etc.

Movies like this truly show us how thankful we should be for the freedoms we enjoy here in the United States. They also show how little girls are devalued and treated under some officials, but not all of them, as this movie reveals.

The quality of the movie was ok. It wasn’t a Hollywood movie with billions of dollars in their production budget, but it was still well made and the actors/storyline moved me to tears.

If you are looking for a family-friendly movie with a touching story of the fight for freedom, the search for truth and a journey of faith, then I highly recommend, Home Beyond the Sun.

About PureFlix Entertainment

PureFlix Entertainment produces, distributes, acquires and markets Christian and family-friendly films. PureFlix unites some of the most respected and successful members of the Christian Film community with the objective of positioning itself as the industry leader for the production and distribution of high quality, inspiring movies and television programs, while doing so with integrity. Mission Statement: Transforming the human spirit through values based entertainment. For more information, please visit www.pureflixentertainment.com where they also have trailers to many of their movies.

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Homeless to Harvard

Posted by html404 on March 8, 2010
in Movies

Disclaimer: I do not advocate the lifestyle portrayed in this movie or that you allow your children to view it without you having watched it first. And, if you do watch it after reading my review, you do so knowing that it contains vulgarity, drugs, alcohol, fighting and other sensitive subjects that most Christians avoid.

Do you ever get bored or don’t feel like doing anything else but watch a movie? I do. It seems that in the past two years we have more than made up for our TV time (We have never had cable in our home and when we did have TV, we only had about three stations), but with the advent of the Internet – YouTube and other movie sites, it has become pretty easy to access movies whenever we want.

Last night I was procrastinating (bad, bad, bad, I know) on a project that needed to be done by this morning, so what was I doing? Yes, looking for a movie to watch. The movie that caught my attention is called Homeless to Harvard; it’s a documentary style movie and was based on a true story.

I wouldn’t exactly call it a family-friendly movie because of the nature of the lifestyle and topics experienced in Liz Murray’s family. They were extremely poor, basically due to the parents’ addictions. However, contrary to what I have written concerning book reviews etc., we did let our children watch it after we had viewed it. I did fast forward through a sensitive part when Liz’s friend shared with Liz what her own father had done to her, starting at the age of seven. This is a sensitive topic and a new topic that our children have never heard of that I know of and one I didn’t want to discuss at this point in time.

There were no boy/girl relationships in this movie. It was about Liz’s life and her journey to a new beginning when all around her, hope was lost.

What we took away from the movie is that no matter how down and out you think you may be, there is always someone who is going through an even tougher time. We were encouraged by Liz’s determination and work ethic in school and in her job. Our children got to see a girl doing her school work and working at a job without an adult or older sibling urging her to do so.

It amazed our children that people really do live like Liz’s family. It also showed them how our choices – good and bad – affect not only our lives but the lives of those around us.

While the movie starts out very sad and depressing, by the end of the movie we were cheering for the main character, Liz Murray, who achieved her dreams and even honored her parents when most of the world would have written them off as undeserving of anything Liz had to offer them. She displayed Christian character while not claiming to be a Christian and that is an honorable thing because God blesses those who honor their parents.

I chose to share that I watched this movie because I know there are many hurting families out there and sometimes we all need a little shake now and again to realize how much we truly have to be thankful for; I know I needed it.