Two Uplifting Movies

About a week ago, I went to see The Senior, not my first movie out of Angel Studios. Previous ones I've checked out included Sound of Freedom – that Jim Caviezel vehicle about child trafficking; The Last Rodeo – the Neal McDonough flick about the washed-up bull rider who goes back to the mad and hairy to raise money for his grandson's operation; and Sketch, the Tony Hale picture about a kid whose drawings came to monstrous life. Others that I did not see included Cabrini, Sight and Bonhoeffer, all screened in my local small-town movie theater, which I think has something to do with the owners' Christian faith commitments. Other evidence of this passion is their showing of such faith-friendly flicks as Father Stu, Light of the World and Ordinary Angels and, I guess, the second movie in this twofer reviewfer.

Something many, but not necessarily all, of these films have in common is their success at tugging at the heart strings, bringing tears to my cheeks, without actually beating me over the head with a sectarian message. In fact, you could actually look pretty hard for anything specifically Christian in many of these films, apart from the fact that ministers and churchgoers in general are depicted as OK folks. This movie's foray into Christian evangelism goes as deep as showing the main character discovering his late father's Bible (not having known the old man even had one) and having a personal epiphany connected with the prayer for forgiveness handwritten in it. Mention is made of faith being restored and becoming important in the main character's life (a real-life person named Mike Flynt who, at age 59, became the oldest college football player to actually play in an official game).

This movie features Michael Chiklis as Flynt, a scrappy fellow who got kicked out of college football during his senior year for fighting. Not just off the football team, of which he was the captain; out of college altogether. One day he realizes he could go back to complete his senior year and be eligible to play one last season, and he decides that's what he needs to do to lay his personal demons, etc. Other cast members include Mary Stuart Masterson as Flynt's longsuffering wife, Rob Corddry as the head coach who could be described with the same adjective and up and coming TV star Brandon Flynn as his estranged son.

A bit of the movie focuses on the problematic way fathers (try to) pass fisty tendencies onto their sons, and the various ways that screws things up between generations and for their lives in general. Then there's a bit of fighting your way back against tremendous odds (including an almost season-ending injury during the preseason). And finally, actually spoken out loud in the movie, there's the scent of "a 59-year-old Rudy" to it, complete with a season-long struggle for Flynt to earn his spot on the field, only to save the last game of the season at the last moment. And miraculously heal the schism between him and his son. You know. Some moving, inspirational stuff. And also, plenty of football.

Don't get me wrong. I didn't come out of the theater dry-eyed. But you know what? That's usually how sports movies take me. Field of Dreams? Remember the Titans? Hoosiers? You name it. I cried during it, exactly when called upon. It wasn't the Christian message that did it for me. And I think Mike Flynt wanted to say something more specifically Christian than the movie actually did. See the advertisy bit at the end. So I can say with a clear conscience that the Three Scenes That Made It For Me were not the result of a theological bias. This is pure cinephile stuff. (1) Masterson goes to bat (to risk mixing sports metaphors) for her husband with Corddry, telling him to put her husband in the game. A moment later, by chance, Chiklis crosses her so hard that it almost ends their marriage – leading to a moment of truth between them. (2) Corddry puts Chiklis in charge of the locker room at halftime of their last game of the season – opening the way for a pep talk that turns the tide of the game. (3) Well, that last play, right? I don't want to spoil it for you. It's pretty awesome.

Not an Angel film, but also a piece of vaguely faith-related inspiration, Soul on Fire features Joel Courtney (remember the hero kid from Super 8?) as the grown-up version of a kid who, at age 9, burned down his family home and suffered burns over 100 percent of his body, many of them third-degree. After barely surviving, he fights through a long, agonizing rehab process, learning to walk, feed himself and, despite having all his fingers amputated, play the piano a little. His spiritual journey continues to have ups and downs, but he eventually becomes an again real-life motivational speaker and author. You might know him as John O'Leary, author of On Fire: The 7 Choices to Ignite a Radically Inspired Life, on which the movie was based.

Also featured in the movie are John Corbett as John's dad, whose promise, "I love you and there's nothing you can do about it," has a profound effect on the son. And also William H. Macy as St. Louis Cardinals commentator Jack Buck, who heard about John's predicament and decided to take on encouraging the kid as a personal project. As a longtime resident of St. Louis, I of course appreciated the city's role as a character in the movie. Whoever I didn't mention in the cast, you can look up for yourself.

Without going into spoiler, or even non-spoiler, detail about the storyline, let me just say parts of this movie did legitimately get me in the feels. Nevertheless, I didn't think it was a particularly well structured film. The ending came across as weak, in my opinion. But it does dramatize the moving conclusion Courtney's character himself draws – that had it not been for his horrible accident, he might not have enjoyed the greatest blessings in his life. Such as, for starters, marrying his best friend and starting a big family with her. So let's close straight in on the Three Scenes That Made It For Me: (1) Courtney acknowledges all the people to whom he owes his life, from the big brother who smothered the flames on his poor little body (suffering burns of his own) to the little sister who ran back into the burning house three times to fill glasses of water to dash in his face, all the way to the janitor who kept his hospital room clean so he wouldn't develop an infection. It's a bit repetitive of previously established material, but it shows his maturity as he puts it together. (2) The scene in which boy and girl decisively exit the Friend Zone. You'll know it if and when you see it. (3) Everything Corbett does, but perhaps especially his line, "You've been running from that gas can for 25 years. When are you going to realize it isn't chasing you?"

Dead to Me

Dead to Me
by Anton Strout
Recommended Ages: 14+

Simon Canderous used to use his weird power of psychometry – the ability to read the history of objects by touching them – to leverage a lucrative life of crime. Now he mostly uses it for good, working for New York City's Department of Extraordinary Affairs, Other Division. To be sure, he still cruises swap meets, looking for items charged with sentimental value so he can sell them back to their original owners – it helps pay the rent. He isn't really looking to mix with the restless dead or the brain-munching undead. But sometimes, duty calls.

Duty calls when Simon and his DEA mentor, Connor, are faced by an aggressive ghost in a back alley. The plot darkens when an attractive female ghost shows up at their workplace, strangely lifelike despite being dead. The trail of clues leads to a group of cultists (a.k.a. the Forces of Darkness) who have somehow managed to achieve government recognition as an alternative lifestyle. Something they're doing is keeping Irene, the ghost, tethered to the physical plane, and is driving other ghosts insane. Something that soon costs Simon's ex-girlfriend her life and puts another beautiful (but perhaps evil) woman in mortal danger. And even though Simon is only starting to understand how to control his powers, they will become crucial in the coming showdown with evil, as well as some hilarious scenes of paranormal action and danger.

The nearest comparison I can make with this book is Jim Butcher's Dresden Files. Simon Canderous is a young, hot-headed everydude who happens to have a rare magical talent, a roguish streak, a goofy sense of humor and tastes that range from knee-length leather jackets to Count Chocula action figures. He works on the side of Good but sometimes lets himself get too close to the forces of darkness, perhaps because his own unsavory background gives him an insight into what's up with them. He has a certain sex appeal, but he somehow isn't very successful with the ladies. He has power, vulnerability, dorkiness and cool all wrapped up in a self-deprecating package. He's honest but he also guards some heavy secrets. His appeal as a lead character and narrator would draw me into a long, open ended series. Alas, it isn't a long one, and again alas, it's now firmly closed.

This is the first book in the four-book Simon Canderous series by Anton Strout, an urban fantasy author, podcaster and blogger who, sadly, died in 2020 at age 50. Other titles in the series include Deader Still, Dead Matter and Dead Waters. He also wrote the Spellmason Chronicle trilogy of Alchemystic, Stonecast and Incarnate and a baker's dozen of short stories, including several Simon Canderous tales. Alas, his personal website now redirects to a Korean massage site. He left behind a wife, two kids and seven novels. Bookwise, not much. I'm sorry I encountered him too late to look forward to more. But through Simon (sniffle) he's alive to me.

BONUS NONSENSE: From the "not to be confused with" department, here are some other books titled Dead to Me or close to it, according to Fantastic Fiction: Dead to Me, a 2025 mystery by Gytha Lodge; You're So Dead to Me, a 2023 Grimdale Graveyard mystery by Steffanie Holmes; Dead to Me, a 2020 Grave Talker novel by Annie Anderson; a 2026 mystery of the same name by Jessie Keane; a 2023 Hidden Norfolk murder mystery by J.M. Dalgliesh; a 2024 Kelsey Hawk mystery by Kate Bold; a 2012 Scott & Bailey mystery by Cath Staincliffe; a 2021 urban fantasy by Rachel Morton and Mason Sabre; a 2023 Thornwood Academy young adult fantasy by LJ Swallow; a 2017 Kate Matthews mystery by Stephen Edger; a 2026 Gulf Coast Reaper urban fantasy by Tegan Maher; a 2024 Mountain Shadow cozy mystery by Tarah Benner; a 2016 historical mystery by Lesley Pearse; a 2015 young adult novel by Mary McCoy; a 2016 young adult novel by Cristy Watson; a 2017 mystery collection by Dean Wesley Smith; Jack Kerouac Is Dead to Me, a 2020 young adult romance by Gae Polisner; Dead to Me, a 2018 Cold Case Psychic gay romance by Pandora Pine; a 2018 Harry Russo Diaries urban fantasy by Lisa Emme; You're Dead to Me, a 2024 young adult fantasy by Amy Christine Parker; Dead to Me, a 2025 paranormal romance by Jeanette Clarke; and possibly a 2022 Burton and Fielding mystery by Pamela Murray called Signs, for which Dead to Me seems to be either a subtitle or an alternate title. This book is well down the list, so perhaps you'll recognize one or more of these titles. Comment if you dare.

Two Indie Films

A couple weekends ago, I was comped a ticket to this independent documentary about the American Basketball Association – a small-market competitor of the NBA that disappeared in 1976 after the NBA took in four of its teams in a league expansion – easily confused for a merger, but importantly not a merger. The result, this film argues, was decades of economic injustice against players who pioneered a style of play that made the NBA much more entertaining to watch. Director/narrator Michael Husain follows an Indianpolis mergers and acquisitions lawyer named Scott Tarter as he fights a years-long, pro bono battle to convince the NBA to give those players their due, culminating after many frustrating delays in a settlement described as recognition payments – not a pension – and only a faint, partial semblance of justice for the now elderly, physically and financially ailing players.

IMDB only lists one cast member: sportscaster Bob Costas, who covered the ABA in the early days of his career. But it features a lot of basketball greats and near-greats, some of them struggling toward the end of their life. The screening I attended was followed by a Zoom Q&A with Husain and ABA player Ron Perry. It was interesting to hear about the process of putting the film together, and how the story evolved from what was expected to be a feel-good short about sports history to an emotionally gripping, personal journey. But it's been weeks since I saw it, so I'll move on lightly to the Three Scenes That Made It For Me: (1) Tarter photographs Sam Smith on his deathbed, lying next to a replica ABA basketball (you'd know it by its red, white and blue segments), and that pic's publication prompts the NBA players' union to press for change. (2) Tarter, left cooling his heels for hours while the NBA team owners haggle out a settlement with the surviving ABA players, picks up the phone saying, "It's either the NBA or it's pizza." Of course, it's pizza. (3) An NBA bureaucrat explains why the resolution was so long coming – an explanation that made the audience with me that night audibly angry.

This is definitely a movie that will get you in the feels, even if you're not particularly into basketball. The idea, forcefully driven home, that ABA players agreed to the "merger" (sic) based on a false understanding that their pensions would survive the extinction of their league, will definitely make you mad and the cheapness of the league that left them in the cold will charge that anger up to a whole new energy level. My big takeaway from this movie is that the documentary is definitely a category of film that I haven't properly appreciated.

Last weekend's concluding installment in the local movie house's month-long independent film festival was this Minnesota-made crime thriller, in which a small-town police chief realizes that his best friend, the local dentist, is a serial killer. Paul, the dentist, has a dark past related to clergy sexual abuse and an older brother's suicide. The victims include the priest who abused him and his brother and other reverends implicated in the tragedy. None of this is a spoiler; the film reveals this all along. The interesting bit is how the trail of evidence leads Paul's buddy, the cop, to become convinced he's the guy.

The movie builds a lot of dark tension, with some Minnesota local color woven in – always fun for Greater Minnesota audiences, who might suspect the fictional town of Scandia to be right around the corner. The grim theme of child sex abuse is lightened (a bit) by some wholesome family drama, the razor wit of a Bureau of Criminal Apprehension detective grown moody while trying to quit smoking, a cute dog (who in a lowkey way is also a witness to murder) and a side plot about a police secretary with a violently jealous husband. While the cast doesn't have any familiar names in it, save Vincent Kartheiser of 1990s child star fame (and later TV's Mad Men and Angel), one standout, in my opinion, is the third, elderly priest, who defies his killer. That was one tough guy, for a hospice patient with a death sentence looming over him regardless; his refusal to "take, eat" of the blasphemous communion that Paul offered left me kind of admiring him.

Three Scenes That Made It For Me, besides the one just described: (1) "I'm a monster." Paul actually says this in two scenes, but I'll let it count as one. (2) The cop and his kids discover Mrs. Cop cuddling the dog in the middle of the night, after she had put her foot down about adopting him. (3) The dog growls at the sound of Paul's voice on the cop's voicemail. All right, so some scenes made it for me. But full disclosure: The movie left me a little disappointed. I thought the ending was weak. Don't want to spoil it, but I think it let Paul off easy and resulted in less of a denoument and more of a limp, petering out. Cop guy keeps saying Paul was his friend, and an ambiguous trans-woman says something about people surprising you, but I felt like with more circumstantial detail and dramatic punch, those last couple of scenes could have been better written. Just sayin'.

A Quiche Before Dying

A Quiche Before Dying
by Jill Churchill
Recommended Ages: 15+

Jane Jeffry is a widowed mother of three in a Chicago suburb who has an on-and-off romance with a police detective named Mel, with whom she has already solved a couple of crimes. One summer week while two of her kids are away from home and her too-perfect mother has dropped in for a visit, Jane decides to take a neighborhood writing class focusing on autobiographies. But instead of writing her own life story, she starts the memoir of a fictional character. Also, she gets sidetracked when a horrid woman gets murdered on the second night of the class.

Mrs. General Pryce – I don't know how she's styled to her friends, because she doesn't have any – is as battle-axy as they come, but even she isn't equal to a stiff snort of poison. It apparently got into her system through a quiche that Jane brought to the dinner party, attended only by members of the writing class. Difficult as it is her for her to suspect her friends and neighbors, Jane must wrestle with the fact that someone in that class is a murderer – and having killed once, they may kill again. And with the police making little apparent progress, Jane feels responsible to solve the crime before the week is up, and the class ends, and the suspect gets away.

This is a quick-paced, cheerful murder mystery with vivid characters, crisp dialogue, a bright streak of humor and some romance as well. Despite her self-image as a domestic frump, Jane proves to be a dangerous opponent for a killer to tangle with. It's a warm, cozy, down-to-earth mystery populated by suburban moms, teenagers, pets, appetizing dishes – and I'm not just talking about Detective Mel here – all livened up by one dastardly character and a murder that you almost don't feel bad about, except that it means there's a murderer about.

This 1993 novel, not to be confused with a mystery of the same name by Joanne Pence, is the third of 16 books in the "Jane Jeffry" series by Jill Churchill (1943-2023), an award-winning, Kansas City-based mystery author. It feels weird to say this about an era I lived through (I was in college in 1993), but these days this book reads like a period piece. Some other titles in the series include Grime and Punishment, The Class Menagerie, Silence of the Hams, War and Peas, Fear of Frying, Mulch Ado About Nothing and The Accidental Florist. From the 1970s to 2013, Churchill also wrote three "Lady of Fire" novels under the pen name Valerie Vayle, seven "Grace and Favor" novels," and around 15 other novels, often under the pen names of Vayle, Amanda Singer and Janice Young Brooks.

Adventure Tom

Let's call this a diary entry in my career as a movie-goer. If I reviewed this movie, even under what protection critical comment provides, I'd probably end up sued or slapped with a cease-and-desist. So, this was week 2 of a month-long independent film showcase at the local movie theater, and I'm planning to hit all four shows. But Adventure Tom did not meet the expectations I imagined from, like, the title of the movie.

It was not thrilling or even particularly fun. It had a few scenes featuring animation akin to early sketches for a comic book, and a little excitement like when the main characters inadvertently picked a bar fight. It had a cross-country trek during which the hero and heroine stopped to look at a variety of scenic attractions, from Devil's Tower to a life-sized model of the Town of Bedrock, yabba dabba doo and whatnot. Otherwise it was pretty much a road trip in which a guy and a gal talk amongst themselves. And talk and talk and talk some more. Their relationship goes through a bout of Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome. The boy looks for places to scatter portions of his mother's ashes. (The road trip is partly about disposing of a portion of the hero guy's mom's ashes.) A persistent pall of unhappiness drapes over it all.

One of my coworkers, who actually had to sit through this movie for work reasons, is calling it the worst movie she's ever seen. I don't think it was that bad. But it did nothing to lighten my mood after a week full of bad news. Cancer in the family. Both sets of parents fixing to move (in one case, much farther away). A stern coaching at work, etc., etc. My response when a theater employee asked what I thought was, "Meh. It's a bit of a downer." On further reflection, I recall having some mean thoughts during it – like wondering how the supposedly successful main characters could actually function in the adult world, wired as they are.

The ending may be intended to uplift, but for me it didn't. In the rear-view mirror, it all fades into a haze of a way-too-long and not particularly eventful road trip, stuck in an SUV with two bland characters who really should probably live with their (surviving) parents, rather than half a continent away. They even manage to have sex without making it look fun.

The writer and director responsible for this, um, low-key film is Miguel Duran, who has a short list of credits none of which I know anything about. The male lead is played by Graham Patrick Martin, whose face rings a bell; I've apparently seen him in the TV miniseries version of Catch-22 (2019), but none of his other credits are things I've seen. I've looked up other cast members to see if I've seen them in something before, and the answer is a firm no. So, look them up for yourselves if you're interested. I've never measured up as a prophet when it comes to predicting, based on a movie role, whether actors are going places, but I frankly don't think this movie is going to launch anyone into stardom. I recommend it in case you want to study a use case for taking the scenic, South Dakota-Wyoming route from Minneapolis to Phoenix, before most likely flipping a coin between the Nebraska or the Kansas route.

If I were to bother with Three Scenes That Made It For Me, I'd probably mention the one where the flight attendant makes the hero girl wet her pants. It made me angry on her behalf, a strong reaction that came early in the movie but wasn't the sign one might expect of an impending deep connection to the characters. That's about it for scenes that made it for me, and the rest of the movie just didn't do it for me. Oh, well. You can't love them all.

Project Hail Mary

Project Hail Mary
by Andy Weir
Recommended Ages: 13+

Ryland Grace wakes up in a weird, mechanized hospital with no memory of how he got there. In the neighboring beds are two dead bodies. To start, he can't even remember his name. He applies a little science and math – things he's evidently good at – to figure out that he's on a spaceship traveling at high speed, far from Earth. And he's been put in a medically induced coma to pass the time before arriving ... where? And for sake's sake, why?

The pieces slowly fall into place. Grace is a sometime middle school science teacher who, before he was that, wrote a major paper in which he rudely told off the entire scientific community and declared that alien life didn't have to be water-based. Then a threat to all life on earth pops up – little alien microbes that are stealing energy from the sun. Given enough time, their effect on the sun will cool the earth to the point where crops will fail and billions of people will die. Because of the strangeness of these bitty bugs, which Grace dubs Astrophage, that rude paper of his suddenly becomes very relevant, and – well, to make a long story short, he finds himself second in command of a mission to save the planet that has a blank check from every country on Earth. A mission from which there can be no return.

They've spotted similar issues of stars going dim all over the galaxy – and exactly one star, Tau Ceti, that should be dimming but isn't. So that's where the starship Hail Mary has to go, powered by brand-new technology (such as a propulsion system that uses Astrophage for fuel – I don't know, read the book for more details). But only a tiny minority of would-be astronauts can survive the trip, thanks to a rare gene that gives them a better-than-even chance of surviving years in a medical coma. And though he wasn't supposed to be one of those astronauts – how he got on the ship at all is the very last memory to come back – Grace is, fortunately or otherwise, the only crew member who actually woke up. The fate of humanity depends entirely on him. He isn't alone for long, however. Almost as soon as he arrives in Tau Ceti orbit, he encounters a ship from Epsilon Eridani that has come for the same reason. Like (gulp) first contact with aliens and whatnot.

So much for the blow-by-blow synopsis. It's generalities from here, so you don't get bored and go read something else, or so I don't spoil the whole book for you. Grace and Rocky, the sole Eridian to survive his planet's mission to discover what makes Tau Ceti special and how to use it to save his world, hit it off and quickly form a touching friendship, despite Rocky being the least anthropomorphic alien you've ever met in sci-fi. What sets him apart from humankind? A better question would be, what doesn't? Despite the challenges of communicating and working together – such as mutually unpronounceable languages and life-support environments that would almost instantly kill each other if they went over for a visit – they form a highly productive partnership and get right to work cracking the problem of how to save their worlds from the Astrophage. Whenever everything seems to be going well for a moment, a disastrous setback almost destroys all hope. And then, like the STEM heroes they are, they fight back with science, tech, engineering and math. Big time.

It's a novel teeming with thought-provoking speculative concepts, mind-expanding scientific facts, heartstring-tugging emotions, excitement, humor and suspense. It's written like a science fiction twist on Raymond Chandler's recipe for a hardboiled detective story: whenever the plot stalls, bring in a guy with a gun. Only in this genre, the "guy with a gun" is just space with its endlessly creative ways to kill you, your whole family, and the planet you rode in on. It has some characters, most of them only seen in flashbacks, whom you won't quickly forget, such as the all-powerful Ms. Stratt (Project H.M.'s first-in-command), and a devastating twist toward the end ... and another ... and another ... some of which you'll start to anticipate (I remember counting the paragraphs until one particular penny dropped) while some will keep you guessing until the end. It's good stuff. It definitely makes me keen to see what Hollywood does with it.

I went in search of this book after I saw a trailer for the (at this writing) upcoming film adaptation, featuring Ryan Gosling as Ryland Grace. It may be unwise to judge such things from a film trailer, but it looks like the movie might preserve some of the non-sequential narrative structure of the book. Andy Weir is also the author of the fantastic novel The Martian, previously made into a terrific movie starring Matt Damon, and a heist-on-the-moon novel titled Artemis, which I haven't read. Yet. His short stories/novellas include The Egg and James Moriarty, Consulting Criminal. From the two works of his that I've read, I gather that he's a highly intelligent guy who does tons of research and, at the same time, doesn't lack a popular touch. These are, bottom line, fun books to read.

525. Hymn in a Time of Public Unrest

Shelter, Lord! Give shelter!
Be Your doors unclosed
When to storm and welter
Your lambs lie exposed:

When the hateful neighbor
Thirsts for blameless blood;
When with cries of labor
Evil bears her brood:

When our faithful actions
Men but count as crime;
When fanatic factions
Seize and rule our time:

When the world surrenders
Reason, rule and right;
When deceitful splendors
Squelch Your truth and light:

Let Your cross stand o'er us,
Nerving us to stand,
As the martyr chorus
Bravely bore its brand.

Let Your blood-bought pardon
And the hope of life
With steadfastness harden
All who face this strife.

Feed us the Passover
Of Your flesh and blood,
Promiser and Prover
That all works for good.

Through the bath You bathed in,
Cup whereof You drank,
Raise us up, unscathed in
Saints' and angels' flank.

Even as we suffer
Threat or pain or loss,
We as shield and buffer
Will hold up Your cross.

Why should death appal us,
Bringing us to You?
Christ, what may befall us,
Be our Shelter true!

While writing this, I had in mind not only a certain Christian's vile political assassination in the recent news, but the disgusting rhetoric flooding social media right now. But no tune in particular. That can come later. Art: the Stoning of St. Stephen by Carlo Crivelli, Demidoff Altarpiece, public domain.