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goblinteacupsmith
Reviews
Remember the Goal (2016)
Glorifies arrogance and faith in what doesn't make sense
As a former runner, I did not enjoy this movie. The coach had a God complex, feigning humility and suffering for Christ, while being sooo arrogant and arguing with basically every parent and athletic official she comes across. No discussions with the runners, she was the authority! The coach's master plan for winning state was to consistently make all the girls slow down their running, in practices and meets. The ideas of pacing and not going out too fast are legit, but the way they were presented in this movie was very unrealistic. The girls really were amazing runners to be able to keep the exact pacing the coach asks them to every time they run, though! She told each one exactly what time to run from their first practice, miraculously knowing both what kind of shape they were in and deciding what time each was capable of based on their time from a race the previous year, I guess. No growth or progress allowed, ever, until state meet! When... drumroll... they win (all because they were not worn out from racing any other times this season like the other teams)!
The heartwarming moment, though, is that the coach left the meet before the results came in, I guess because she suddenly found humility and was giving the glory to God? I'm not sure because the message alongside "slipping out the back door" eluded me, probably because it "didn't make sense" (one of the main messages of the movie was to glorify faith in things that don't make sense).
This movie idealizes this harmful and confusing view of faith, distorts arrogance to look like wisdom, and shows holier than thou lectures changing others' hearts. It was cotton candy sweet and just as full of fakeness and junk. Overall, gross.
Princess Cut (2015)
Heartbreaking,
I won't get started on the purity culture and patriarchal views that make up the entire premise of this movie. They're as expected, with the adult main character getting kissed causing a full-on hysterical breakdown and from there forward her dad being in charge of any future dating. As toxic, and potentially even more harmful, it is full of demonizing and stereotyping those outside of their quite insular little world. The two presumably non-Christian supporting characters, who we know (gasp) kiss before marriage, are shown as malicious villains, and the therapist is made out to be a clown, proving the heroine's hesitancy to see one correct. I was so, so sad to see these ideas being pushed and have never understood why a powerful God who wants the heart of a faithful person could not overcome the "danger" of that person getting to know someone outside of their church, or working on themselves in other ways in addition to prayer.
The production value and acting were better than many Christian films out there, so aside from being one of the most heartbreaking and toxic movies I have ever seen, it was watchable enough. My favorite part of the movie was the beginning when the main character, after shopping for engagement rings, heads out hopefully for her "date", which ends up being a group hangout during which the person she thought she was dating announces his engagement to someone else. Ironic and telling- kudos writers.