• GENRE: Horror, Science Fiction
• ACTORS: Lou Taylor Pucci, Chris Pine, Piper Perabo, Emily VanCamp, Kiernan Shipka , Christopher Meloni, Dale Malley, Stacy Marie Warden, Dylan Kenin, Josh Berry
• RATING: PG-13
• PARENTAL NOTE: Not intended for children. Bad language and questionable situations. Violence.
• INTENDED AUDIENCE: This movie is intended for fans of the genre, and may not be appreciated by others.
• GENERAL PLOT: (No spoilers) Uncle Josh[1. Cal Stewart (1856-1919) was a pioneer in vaudeville and early sound recordings. He is best remembered for his comic monologues in which he played “Uncle Josh” Weathersby, a resident of a mythical New England farming town called “Punkin Center.”] once quipped that all paths lead to the grave. In CARRIERS, as in THE ROAD (another recently released on DVD end of the world story), it turns out that ALMOST ALL paths and/or roads lead to the grave.[2. Of course, no one in these movies literally makes to an actual grave. The people who die mainly just drop and rot where the body lies (instances of cannibalism excluded).] However, ALL paths do seem to lead to the beach. The plot of CARRIERS isn’t so exceptional. Four people on a road trip to the Pacific Ocean try to avoid catching a highly contagious virus which has killed off most of the human population. Their adventures, reactions, and the folks they meet along the path make an entertaining tale.
• REVIEW: As stated above, the simple plot is not what drives this movie. This is a well stated tale of what could happen when the end of the world gets around to happening. Human nature being what it is, not all of the actions and reactions of the characters present the human race at it finest. Frankly some of the main characters’ decisions seem directly at odds with their stated goal of staying alive. Yet, I think most, if not all, of their stupid choices are completely consistent with how actual human beings would behave in like circumstances. But the really compelling behavior of these “survivors” involves the moral choices they make–whether they seem wise or stupid to the viewer. In fact, we are presented with apparently good people who react badly when confronted with life and death situations. Some people react more badly than others. From a Christian point of view, I’d caution you to not put too much weight on how well this movie matches up with Biblical prophecy about the end times. Rather, I think the better view is to concede that CARRIERS is fiction. CARRIERS follows in a long tradition of books and movies about the end of the world. I’ve read and seen quite a few of them. This film definitely held my attention. It’s well worth watching, if you’re not put off by the genre.
• RECOMMENDATION:[2. If you wonder why horror films have space on a Christian website like K_Line Christian Online, please see my blog post on point] This is a horror movie. Many people will be highly offended by every movie in this genre because of the graphic violence, gore, language and other questionable elements. However, if you are a fan of this genre–I recommend watching CARRIERS.
• RATING (out of 5 stars): ★★★★★

• GENRE: Thriller / Action
• ACTORS: Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini, Christopher Walken, Gary Oldman, Val Kilmer, Dennis Hopper, Saul Rubinek, Bronson Pinchot, Michael Rapaport, Tom Sizemore. Also a brief appearance by the top grossing actor of all time, Samuel L. Jackson.
• RATING: R [1.  The “Director’s Cut” which I rented from Netflix was UNRATED.]
• PARENTAL NOTE: Not intended for children or teenagers. Bad language and questionable situations. Violence. Sex. Gangsters. Prostitution. Drug usage and sale. Brief nudity. If you can think of any other bad element found in movies, it’s probably in TRUE ROMANCE too, and I just forgot to mention it. The overriding message in this film is: Crime Pays!
• INTENDED AUDIENCE: This movie is intended for fans of the genre, and will almost certainly not be appreciated by others. I’m sure the film makers think this movie is appropriate for adults. I’m not sure that it is.
• GENERAL PLOT: (No spoilers) The two leading characters (played by Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette) meet in a theater, sleep together that night and get married the next day. They end up with a suitcase full of drugs and are on the run, a half step ahead of the gangsters whose drugs they stole, and the cops.
• REVIEW: This film has a lot to offer for fans of the genre. Lots of action. Shooting, fights, reckless car driving, etc. The acting is superb. My review standards are much more foregiving than most Christian film critics. I can look past the cursing (almost non-stop in this movie). I can look past the gratuitous violence, which is, again, almost non-stop. I can see past the initial illicit relationship. Whether their marriage the first day after meeting “cures” the immoral relationship, or just compounds it, is debatable. This film has some really evil characters, balanced by some really likable characters. There are even some characters we can both love and hate. The problem presented with this film is that even the really “nice” people are drug dealers. And without giving any spoilers, it’s fair to say that their life of crime definately DID PAY! This is just the sort of film that respectible Christians say Hollywood should not make. For good reason–it’s trash. Yet, even as trash, it is[3. perhaps unfortunately] completely entertaining.
• RECOMMENDATION: This is an “Action” movie. Many people will be highly offended by every movie in this genre because of the violence, bad language and other questionable elements, as mentioned above. Except for the extreme bad moral message that crime does pay, I could easily rate this movie with 4 or 5 stars. As it is, I’m hard pressed to recommend it for your casual viewing at all.
• RATING (out of 5 stars): ★★★★★

• GENRE: Hard to say. It’s an Anti-Christian rant with a zombie theme.
• ACTORS: Janette Armand, Doug Fahl, Cooper Hopkins, Bill Johns, Russell Hodgkinson, Ali Hamedani, Cornelia Moore, James Mesher, Linda Jensen, Victoria Drake
• RATING: R
• PARENTAL NOTE: Not intended for children. Bad language and questionable situations. Violence. Offensive to several groups, including a strong anti-Christian theme.
• INTENDED AUDIENCE: This movie is intended for fans of the genre, and may not be appreciated by others.
• GENERAL PLOT: (No spoilers) The usual. There is no real plot to speak of in Zombies of Mass Destruction, although having a plot is generally not a prerequisite to a good zombie movie. Zombies get loose. The surviving humans cope. Most of them get bit and turn into zombies. A few get disemboweled in classic zombie fashion.
• REVIEW: I am a Christian who loves zombie movies. However, this film is not so much a zombie movie, as it is an Anti-Christian rant, with a zombie theme. Seriously, you can’t be too thin-skinned if you want to enjoy zombie movies. Many zombie movies depict characters questioning their faith, or have some less than flattering reference to the church. However, in the case of Zombies of Mass Destruction most of the movie is devoted to showing how bad and evil Christians are; and to demonstrate that neither Christians nor Christ Himself have any relevance or worth. To be fair, other groups are attacked as well. There is a school of thought which holds that if you are equally offensive to all groups, that no one should be offended. I don’t agree.
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  The production values, zombie gore, etc. are actually not bad. There are a few quality disembowelings–always the hallmark of a good zombie film. If the producers of this film cut out the offensive, anti-Christian and anti-Other-Group portions, the actual zombie film wouldn’t be too bad, except that you would be left with a short, rather than a feature length film. I read on another web site that Zombies of Mass Destruction is a “social commentary.” I agree. The commentary is basically this: “Christians are no good.”
• RECOMMENDATION:[2. If you wonder why zombie themes and horror films have space on a Christian website like K_Line Christian Online, please see my blog post on point] This is a zombie horror movie. Many people will be highly offended by every movie in this genre because of the graphic violence, gore, language and other questionable elements. However, this film should really per categorized as an anti-Christian rant with a zombie theme. MY RECOMMENDATION: Don’t waste your time.
• RATING (out of 5 stars): ★★★★★ (1/2 star, for production values, and actual zombie elements only)

FOOTNOTE:
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