@Tooky: Well, I knew he died. I sort of meant if he hadn't already died. 😆
@Ariel: Oh, my mom really wants to see "The Case for Christ".

@Tooky: Yeah, I realized that, hence the "would have". Still, I would have loved to see him in the role after seeing him in a few things. Brilliant actor, Rickman. RIP.

@Ariel: I saw that; my parents and I really liked it, too.

So I finally watched Rouge One last night

And it was...OK. There were parts that I really liked and the pacing of the /story/ was good. Actually, the story itself was good. There just seemed to be too many characters that were really quite good characters, the movie just seemed too short to develop all of them fully.

I think I've been watching too much TV lately. I want all of my characters to have time devoted to their development and each get an episode of backstory.

@Tooky: I know what you mean!

@Tooky: Yeah, I agree that RO could have had stronger character development. However, I still loved it. 😉

Anyway. I really liked that Case for Christ does not have the issues that God's Not Dead does in its portrayal of Christians or non-believers. Everybody is flawed, everybody is sympathetic, everybody struggles.

Oh, that is very good. It makes me want to see the movie more. I was kind of disappointed in the God's Not Dead movie, I think it is too fatalistic to really succeed as a witnessing tool although it does make you feel like you're not alone if you've been shamed by professors for being a Christian.

I can also say that I don't recommend BBC Atlantis. I thought it would be like BBC Merlin, and the first season was like a more mature version of Merlin but the second season is dark. I don't recommend it.

Case for Christ has an easier time with avoiding certain pitfalls because it is a true story (as opposed to a work of idealized fiction with inspiration drawn from real events). Plus, the main character is an atheist who comes to faith, so you have to empathize with his side of the story in order to really appreciate the moment he decides to stop fighting.

I don't think that I'd heard of "Case for Christ" before, but from your description, it actually sounds like something I wouldn't mind watching. I refuse to watch "God's Not Dead" because I avoid Christian movies that are made to make Christians feel good about themselves without bothering to portray non-Christians in a way that wouldn't alienate a non-Christian before a gospel message is preached like the plague. I'm actually not a big fan of evangelistic films in general, I feel like movies that have a lot of symbolism can be a lot better because A. They normally aren't made for a "Christian" niche and can have value as movies themselves. And B. They offer the opportunity for two humans to have a discussion as opposed to letting the movie do all of the talking. I do however make an exception for documentaries, or films that follow a real story. Because those are more like a memoir or a history film, something more human than someone coming up with a moral and then trying to make a story around it.

This isn't to say that I hate all Christians films. I actually find ones that try to just speak to everyday needs without trying to evangelize outright can be decent. War Room had a good message, I can overlook it's flaws because it was meant for Christians and had focus. It's been awhile since I've been Courageous, but I remember that actually having realistic dialogue and it focused more on the family aspect. I also love programs like Adventures in Odyssey.

...OK, really long-winded way to say that yeah, I think that documentaries by Christians can be cool and Case for Christ sounds like it would scratch an itch for going through Christianity through a purely logical lense. I get that itch sometimes. I'm all for childlike faith, but sometimes I just want to see some cold, hard facts to remind myself that what I believe actually makes sense. Movies written for evangelism are lame. If you want to watch a movie and then talk about Jesus just watch LWW, it'll probably be a better conversation.

......
[ Rouge One Spoilers ]

Another thing about Rouge One. That ending. I'm fine with the ending that the characters had. It was sad, but it fit the tone that the movie was going for and it gave everyone closure. Everyone's story was over, they were heroes. However, while I am OK with the characters fates, I actually wish that in the case of Jyn and Cassian it was left more ambiguous. Not because I wish something else happened to their characters, sure, that would be nice, but what happened made sense too.

Oh no, I was disappointed that they erased all doubt as to if Jyn could have been Rey's Mom or not. I needed more options to talk over with coworkers during dead times.

I still think she's Obi Wan's granddaughter. But I still wanted more options to pick around.

[/spoiler]

Saw Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children last night. I love it. I wish there was more.

Just saw this going through old pages. I saw it on the plane back from London. Thought it was pretty good. Little distracted by Asa Butterfield as an American, but that's only because I know he's British and saw him in Merlin.

Just needed to make a note that there is more. There are books. I haven't read them, though they are on my "probably will read" list, but there are three. Like I said, I haven't read them myself yet so I can't vouch for the content, but you know, if you want more just head over to your local library and pick up the book.

[ Rouge One Spoilers ]

Another thing about Rouge One. That ending. I'm fine with the ending that the characters had. It was sad, but it fit the tone that the movie was going for and it gave everyone closure. Everyone's story was over, they were heroes. However, while I am OK with the characters fates, I actually wish that in the case of Jyn and Cassian it was left more ambiguous. Not because I wish something else happened to their characters, sure, that would be nice, but what happened made sense too.

Oh no, I was disappointed that they erased all doubt as to if Jyn could have been Rey's Mom or not. I needed more options to talk over with coworkers during dead times.

I still think she's Obi Wan's granddaughter. But I still wanted more options to pick around.

[/spoiler]

Well, some people think they escaped. (Personally, I think that's dumb. Note what happened to Jedha...)

I agree that the deaths, for the most part, were fine, since they were almost all while doing heroic, accomplishing-the-mission tasks (looking at you, Baze Malbus, as the exception...).

I wanted Jyn to be Rey's mom, too, so that was disappointing.

I still think she's Luke's daughter (Jyn could still have been her mom, pre-RO 😉 ). 😛

I don't do Star Wars, but SuperCarlinBrothers on YouTube has a theory about the Rogue One characters, if ya'll are interested. 😉 (SuperCarlinBrothers are not associated with TLC, check out at your own risk (bonus being that they are very clean).)

Watched Star Trek Beyond (better then the first two maybe because they had a diffrent director.)

Just watched Inception for the first time. It's... interesting. It's... I don't really know. It's like Alice in Wonderland, only less bizarre. Except that it actually kinda is just as bizarre. Just no smoking caterpillars or un-birthdays. I don't quite know what to make of it, haha. Get back to me after a while.
It did have some of the philosophical question-asking I like, but, of the Christopher Nolan films I've seen, I still like The Prestige the best. Inception, while it does have things to think about, I think it gives more to think about in the story and plot department than in the philosophical. Not that it's a bad thing. Just different.
And I can see now why people are divided on the ending. I think I know which conclusion I lean toward, but... yeah, I'll be puzzling over that some more. After a second viewing.
Putting it out there, it's not everybody's cup of tea. But if you're into more-or-less convoluted sci-fi movies... 😀 (Also, funny thing, it felt like a long movie. I was surprised when I paused it briefly after the 30-minute mark. It has this funny mix of slow pace and action-speed. I think it worked, especially with something that comes up several times in the film. Just another funny quirk.)
Fair warning: Inception is rated PG-13 for the violence, the use of sedatives, and some language (which *wince* includes the misuse of Jesus' name a few times).

So Rouge One was interesting.
Quite interesting.
As a movie alone it would be weird and not very good. But, when placed in the whole series, it is awesome and is a great piece of history.

Want to see the new King Arthur, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. XD But those aren't exactly "family friendly", any of them.

So yes, I watched BoFA

I kept wondering when the Master of Laketown was going to show up again. Did they split the character of the Master into the Master and Alfrid?
Oh, but speaking of Alfrid...he was...soooo...unnecessary. That's all I've got to say about him.
The only moment in the entire movie where we get to see Thorin smiling a real smile was when he was talking to Bilbo about the acorn. Which really bummed me out. He has a good smile.
It was absolutely great to see Elrond show up in golden armor and all at Dol Guldur, but literally everything else about that scene felt kind of strange,...even the quality of the animation was worse than usual. (Fun to think, though, that all three Elven rings were there in that scene and Sauron didn't even notice.)
When Legolas drew his daggers, he looked almost straight at the camera with this look on his face like, "Okay, 75% of the teenage female audience, don't even try to pretend that this isn't why you're watching this movie. So here's that dagger thing I did earlier..."
Orcs sure are hard to kill, considering how much if them is completely unarmored while elves, on the other hand, are pathetically easy to kill even when they're completely armored from head to foot. Especially when, actually. Legolas and Tauriel and Thranduil survived despite wearing next to no armor whatsoever.
I was sad, of course, when Thorin and Fili and Kill died, but I didn't get even close to crying with any of the deaths. BUT...I did get a rather strong moment of "the feels" when Bilbo was talking to Thorin trying to keep him alive. I think it might have been my favorite scene. That kind of thing is one of those that can touch my emotions almost every time. (But really, though...Fili's death is waaaaaaaaay underdone. The other two get these emotional other-charcters-mourning-over-them scenes, and Fili just gets dumped off a tower after he's dead. For real???)
Thorin's death was very unnecessary. He was just casually strolling along above the "dead" Azog just looking down at him, when he's always struck me as the kind of guy who, as soon as he saw Azog's face down there, would start stabbing it through the ice like, "HAHA, DIE, YOU STUPID ORC!! I'VE BEEN WANTING TO DO THIS FOR YEARS YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW REWARDING THIS IS!!!!" But NOOOOOOOOO, he must keep following him along until he gets stabbed in the foot. *facepalm*
Thranduil was cool, though not as cool, in my opinion, as some people make out. I did think, however, that both parts of his final scene (the conversation with Legolas and the conversation with Tauriel) felt a bit forced. And...well...the whole bit about Aragorn felt kind of tacked-on.
BILBO'S DWARF-GLOVES AT THE END, THOUGH!!!!!!

Okay, those are my thoughts. Kind of rambling, extremely rambling, but I was really, really tired when I was watching it, so maybe that's an okay excuse.