One of my favourite (possibly even my very favourite-est) Christmas shows EVER: Christmas Shoes!
~The Trailer~
Summary
Two separate stories mesh - in the first, a young music teacher, Maggie Andrews, begins dying of a heart condition and her son Nathan tries to get a pair of Christmas shoes for her before she dies. In the second, lawyer Robert Layton and his wife Kate are slowly drifting apart and the matter comes to a head during Christmas when Kate takes over for Maggie for the school choir and declines a job in Robert's firm. When Robert's mother passes away, he begins to reconsider things and his and Nathan's paths cross on Christmas Eve as Nathan tries to raise the money for the shoes and Robert tries to get a present for his daughter.
My Review
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I haven't seen this movie in a few years, but the memory of it has stuck with me. And the one thing I remember so clearly about this is how hard I was crying when we got near the end. I was just crying SO hard, it was sooo sad and beautiful and - SAD.
The actors are all amazing and fit their roles really well. My favourite character was probably Maggie Andrews (Kimberly Williams), with Nathan Andrews (Max Morrow) as a close second. Maggie was so sweet and quiet and gentle and ahh...she's amazing. And Nathan - the scene where he buys the shoes - he is so good! I'm always awed at young children actors, I mean, how do they do it so well? (this coming from the girl who can't act to save her life ;))
The struggle Robert Layton (Rob Lowe) has with his selfishness is real and easy to relate to. But the Christmas story is portrayed so wonderfully here. Christ coming down from Heaven to earth for our sake; pure selflessness. And that's what the Andrews gradually show Robert as they get to know each other better.
And Nathan's work just to get shoes for his mother - he's such a sweet boy!
Really, if you haven't seen this movie before, you really, really should! For the most part, it's pretty family friendly. One warning though, there is a very little bit of mild swearing, other than that, everything else is really good! :)
And to end this post, here's the song Christmas Shoes. Gives me the shivers every time I listen to it; it's so beautiful! :)
My family finally watched War Room. . . and I LOVED IT. The Kendrick Brothers never disappoint, that's for sure!
I've never done a movie review before, so bear with me ;) I just enjoyed this movie so much I feel like I gotta write down my thoughts on the movie before I burst. Or my mind explodes. Whichever one comes first ;)
Anyway, let's get onto the review, shall we?
Look! They even have their own whatchamacallit now! :D Loooovveeee it!
(*afterthought* what is it called, exactly? Symbol? Someone help me...)
~ Ze Trailer ~
~ My Review ~
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I was a little apprehensive at first because I honestly had no idea how this movie was going to turn out. I had heard that it was about people in a room praying and somehow got this idea that the entire movie was going to be in a room with people silently praying together. Which could, especially to those who might not know what praying is, be seen as just a bunch of people sitting in a room. And seeing that for 2 hours or so doesn't sound very exciting, if you know what I mean.
But from past experience with the Kendrick Brothers, I can't believe I actually let myself think that they would have directed any kind of movie like that. They completely blew me away with their new masterpiece.
And there wasn't anything fake about War Room either. They didn't try to portray prayer as some magical thing where you wish for something (kinda like a genie) and poof everything's good. Uh uh. Not the Kendrick brothers. They used a real life example, complete with all the struggles of keeping a family together, and fighting for a marriage. War Room shows how powerful a weapon prayer can be and that we shouldn't take this privilege for granted.
There were some very intense scenes, like the very last one with Miss Clara praying. Whew, was that intense! And the one where Elizabeth was praying for Tony for the first time...almost cried there too. But of course, there was the humour that the Kendrick brothers are just so good at. It really helped to lighten up the movie.
I love the actors! They all fit their roles perfectly and gah, it's awesome. One thing that surprised me though was that Alex Kendrick wasn't one of the main characters in this movie. War Room is the first Kendrick movie I've ever seen where he isn't the main character . . . ;)
All in all, I really enjoyed this movie. It's amazing, people. If you haven't seen it already, go do so. Please. You'll be glad you did. Promise.
~ Quotes ~
~ Characters ~
Elizabeth Jordanis played by Priscilla Shirer. She is a real-estate agent, wife, mother and friend. She struggles with her marriage and prayer-life until she meets one of her clients, Ms. Clara. Then her life is changed forever.
Tony Jordon is played by T.C. Stallings. When I first saw him in the movie, I had this really bad feeling about him. Not because of the movie, more like I had seen him before and he was - bad :P A little more into the movie, we finally figured out he played T. J. in Courageous. You know that gangster in the black do-rag and baggy clothes and yeah ;) He looks a lot different here, all spruced up as a his pharmaceutical company's top salesman. But he plays his part very well. No fake acting here, peoples ;)
Mike is played by Michael Jr. He's a good friend of Toby. And he's just plain hilarious, both in the movie and in real-life.
After we watched the movie, we watched the bloopers and BTS and killed ourselves laughing at his antics. There was this one time they were filming and the camera mic came down into the screen. He looks up and goes, "Oh hey black mic. I'm a black Mike too." xD This guy is just hilarious.
Mandy is played by Beth Moore. Some of you might have heard of her before, or read some of her books perhaps? :) She (Mandy, in case you were getting lost with all them pronouns ;)) works with Elizabeth at the real estate agency.
Miss Clara is played by Karen Abercrombie and does she ever do such a good job!!! Her fervency and passion is so clear and eekks, I love her so much! She mentors Elizabeth and she's so funny too. Couldn't help myself, so I added a clip from the movie. Go watch it. . . . Please :D
Coleman is played by guess who?! Alex Kendrick! Whoot whoot! He's awesome. Some of you please tell me you've seen his other movies? Flywheel, Courageous, Facing the Giants. They are all awesomely amazing and so inspiring and yeah, I love them all so much. I know he directed Fireproof but I don't know if he acted in it. Haven't seen it yet, but I'd like to some time :)
*All images taken from Facebook. You can check out their FB page here: War Room
Have you watched War Room?
Did you like it?
What's your favourite Kendrick Brother's movie?
It's that time of the month again! How did April go by so fast? Time really does seem to fly!
Life
Where oh where to start? April's been busy - but then when isn't life busy? ;)
As you might have guessed by the cover photo, I got my G1 license!!! I was super nervous, but there really wasn't anything to worry about. The questions were super easy; studying well works well ;) But just the same, I was very happy when I found out that I'd passed! :D
That day, I had to take my picture a couple of times too. Once for the licence, another for my health card. Dad gave me warning before we left to "go get ready; you'll have these pictures for a long time!" I had to tell him there wasn't really much that I could do to "get ready". He was like "Oh, right" -_- I don't wear make-up, so the only thing I could really do was brush my hair. Which was what I had already done :P
First time driving down the country roads was fun, but nerve-racking too. We were approaching a stop sign and Dad said "Okay, now ease slowly on the brakes. That's it. . . Now ST- . . . op"
Yep, I eased. Yep, I went slowly. Yep, I all of a sudden slammed on the brake. Oops ;)
But it's gotten a little tiny bit better. I'm able to drive around the block without jerking so much anymore. I'm so glad we're in the country though. The roads are so nice and empty, I don't have to worry about cars - for now ;) Dad just taught me how to do a 3 point turn today. On a narrow road with ditches on both sides. Not THE best place to learn, just to let you know. But we didn't fall in :P
Oh, another exciting thing that happened! Snow White got her new doll, Saila!
She's been very happy with her new doll. Been doing a lot of things together! Including flower dissections, which you'll see later :-)
We watched Woodlawn yesterday night and today I was looking at the cast. I like to do that for some random reason. Don't you find it fun if you recognize characters from another movie? Anyway, there was this one particular man who had played a coach in Woodlawn, and I was wondering which other movie I had seen him in before. I was at the point where the name was on the tip of my tongue, yet it just. wasn't. coming. Then Tiger Lily came in. Conversation went something like this:
Me: Doesn't this man look familiar?
Tiger Lily: YES!!
Me: Which movie did he come from?!?
Tiger Lily: Woodlawn!
Baking
Not too much baking done this month. Just two chocolate layer cakes :) One for Dad's birthday and one for my English assignment. Which cake do you like the best?
Couple posts ago, I mentioned that I was baking something, and I left you all with a hint. Rebekah guessed a cupcake, which was pretty close! That picture was actually the imprint of these red flowers on the top of this cake!
My English project was to create something that had to do with one of the books that we had read that year. I chose The Scarlet Pimpernel.
I might do a separate post on this cake with more specific details :D We'll have to see!
OH, and then with the scraps left over from the scarlet pimpernel cake, Tiger Lily and I constructed a mini "garden" cake. I was practicing with my piping tips and made a tiny little rose and leaves.
Tiger Lily made a beautiful piece of wood with brown frosting. Doesn't it look amazing?
Tiger Lily and I have also taken over a major part of the cooking. One of the meals we concocted: Shepherd's Pie!
School
TIGER LILY AND I GOT GOLD MEDALS FOR OUR NATIONAL LATIN EXAM!!!! And I got an absolute 100% perfect paper on the NLE!! It was sooooo exciting to hear Mrs. Barr (my Latin teacher) announce the results *does the happy dance*
I also did a frog dissection last night. It smelled - BAD. *shudders*
I'm taking a live virtual biology course, so my teacher is on my computer. But she used her camera so that everyone could see what she was doing. It was kind of gross watching her do it. She didn't use gloves. She moved her thumb and fingers over and under and into the frog's guts. Down its mouth. Under the liver. Through the intestines. It was gross.
Whilst cutting it, I apologized multiple times to the poor frog. Went something like this:
Teacher: Cut through the skin and muscle tissue Snip
"Sorry frog!"
Teacher: Now use your scissors, insert above the sternum and close until you hear a crack. That's the bone Crack
"SO sorry, frog!"
It was a girl.
Snow White and DareDevil are also doing a botany course with me. We're using Apologia and it's been super fun!
Drawing plants.
And we also did a dissection! (But a MUCH nicer one than the frog :D)
Ripping off Peeling off the petals
Removing the corona
Snow White: Queen Saila!
Gluing on the stamen!
Snow White also had her first test! She was really interested and excited about taking tests, so I came up with some questions and made up a test for her. (playing school and pretending to be teacher when I was younger all of a sudden came in handy ;))
100% on her first one! YAHOO!!!
The Disappearing Stranger
The Hidden Message
The Creeping Shadows
The Vanishing Footprints
Trouble at Wild River
The Mysterious Hideaway
Grandpa's Stolen Treasure
The Runaway Clown
Mystery of the Missing Map
Disaster on Windy Hill
Town Thrift Store ($8 total)
Return of the Indian
Secret of the Indian
Mockingjay
The Upstairs Room
The Golden Road
Music
I have listened to sooo many songs this month, but I think my absolute favourite would be All This Time by the Willis Clan!
Ever since the song came out, I've listened to it every. single. day.
Here's a question for all of you: Can you listen to music and still concentrate on school/work? If yes, what kind of music? Classical, contemporary?
Movies
These would have to be my two favourite movies from this month!
The Scarlet Pimpernel
You're all probably tired of hearing me saying this, but IT'S AMAZING! It's so much FUN! I get shivers of delight just thinking about it! The costumes, though some of the women's are rather low, are so beautiful! The disguises, the acting, the balls, the accents, the poems, that drawl, the escapades, and THE DUEL!! It was hilarious! I love the whole movie to bits!! :D Seriously, if you haven't watched it before, you really should!!!
Woodlawn
Just watched this movie last night. Thanks to Dad for finding it! I'm not really into football movies - all that head crashing and body crashing and everything crashing :P, but I actually didn't mind this one too much. The story went so much deeper than just playing football. It's an amazing and really inspiring movie. And it's a Christian one, which is a big bonus! :D
Oh, and you remember last month I said that there was some big news? A wonderful surprise? Something SUPER EXCITING?
