 The Regal Theater Chained is a thing on occasion where they'll have a Monday mystery movie you can go to. I think it's usually at seven o'clock. I go to them, typically I'm really disappointed. On occasion, it's something pretty great. I get to review it and have a good time seeing it. In this instance, the film was Ordinary Angels, a movie set in what I'm calling the Christian Cinematic Universe of Lionsgate Films. I can only imagine, came out a couple years back. They have another one on the way. They have several on the way, actually. They're inspiring films with a little bit of a Christian twist to them. So I'm not really the target demographic for this film, but I did give it a chance. I stuck it out even though I knew this movie existed going in. I was a little worried this was going to be the film, and I was actually pleasantly surprised. Ordinary Angels is directed by John Gunn. Gunn with two ends, just like James Gunn, although I don't think there's any relation. There's just a lot of guns working in Hollywood, I guess. It stars Amy Acker, Alan Richardson, and Hilary Swank. Swank, I haven't seen in a while. It was refreshing to see her back on the big screen again, and I'm sure she's doing steady work. I'm just not familiar with anything as of lately. Here she plays Sharon Stevens, a hairdresser who's hidden the bottle pretty hard, kind of down on her luck, and she comes across a family that has things worse off than she does, so she's going to intervene, not knowing these complete strangers, and the rest is history. And this is loosely based on a true story, which I am a sucker for. I like these kind of films, they're inspirational, they're uplifting, yada yada yada. Oh, this will be spoiler free, so don't worry about me giving any details. In fact, I'm not really going to go much into the story at all. I just want to say I don't like preachy movies, and that comes from any side of things, religious, social, whatever. They're there, and that's fine. There should be messages in films, that's what makes the story interesting, typically, and if the perspective is coming from a different angle and it's challenging you and whatnot, that's great as well. This is not a movie that challenges you, but this is a very entertaining, engaging film. It's very stock, yes. It's kind of got a hallmark feel to it, but I think it's much better directed than like a schlocky hallmark flick. The acting across the board's really good, especially with the little girls in the movie. They were great, lovable, really likable family. The father Ed is played by Alan Richardson. He looks like Chris Pratt's older brother that hits the gym several times a day and has a steady diet of whey protein and basically eggs, and that's it. This guy is a tank, but this guy's also making me believe in the character as a very chipsar down father who's just trying to make ends meet with hospital bills piling up. As I stated, this is part of the Lionsgate Christian Cinematic Universe, as I'm calling it, the LCCU, because every one of these films has that little bit of a God's slant. It seems like it's mandatory to have two or three scenes where the protagonist is sitting around with someone and they're like, how about you talk to the big man upstairs and the guy's like, he hasn't done anything for me lately. I don't think he's even listening. You know, just kind of these generic bits of dialogue that has you think like, oh, I hope he goes back to God and oh, no, what's going to happen? Is he going to lose his faith? And it's all very basic crap and that stuff annoys me. But even though there is a couple of those scenes in this film, they weren't heavy-handed and I was actually really appreciative that the message at the end wasn't like, God is great and good and everything can be done through him. No, it really was just people coming together, getting something solved and figured out and you can attribute it to whatever you want. I appreciated that about the movie. It was not so smashed over your head because then it just becomes propaganda to me, regardless of how I feel about any of it. There's a lot of people from different walks of life that don't want to be just heavy-handed, hit with stuff. And that's the main problem a lot of people have with Disney and all this stuff. And so I definitely get it. I just don't make it a focus of my channel. I say my piece and I move on. Let's talk about the pros and cons of this movie. Number one, for the most part, it's shot very well. It looks really good. I say for the most part because there is a few of the scenes at night in the house and in the car where there's a lot of artifacting, there's a lot of debris on the camera. I don't know if it was artificially added to give it a more realistic, gritty look, but it seemed inconsistent throughout the film. Sometimes it's very sharp, like high-res visuals. Other times there's a little bit of a B-team camera work going on there. I already mentioned the performances, which are great. Hillary Swank, of course, nailing it here as this overbearing woman who is going to do whatever it takes to help this family out. This movie really reminded me of The Blind Side, both because these characters are both kind of in your face, aggressive, but also very nice people. They're going out of their way to help a stranger. They're rallying the people together around them and really getting stuff done. I also like The Blind Side. I'm a basic bitch. What can I say? I am a sucker for a feel good film. If this sounds like something you're interested in, I still wouldn't rush out to see it in theaters. This is not theater-worthy because movies are expensive, dude. But if you have a grandparent or you are a grandparent or of the older ilk, this seems to be a movie that's really catered to them. My theater was full of older people. They were laughing. They were crying. This is a tear-jerker. It's an emotional movie, and they seem to be very happy with the final product. It also takes place in the early 90s, which I appreciate it. I love the 90s. It's around 93. And what impressed me about this one is it does not go out of its way to point out all the stuff, all the references of the 90s. People aren't walking around with no fear trapper keepers and a body glove t-shirt and using the Easy Bake Oven. That's older than the 90s. But you get my point. It doesn't seem egregious because of the time period. It just, the clothing, the look of the houses, the vehicles, everything lined up very well. The music, of course, on point. Yeah, I just, I don't really have anything bad to say about the movie. Is it going to be setting the world ablaze? No. It's just your standard kind of meat and potatoes film about a family struggling, coping with loss, coping with the future, and having to rely on a stranger to get things done. And it's a, it's a good message. It's a good message of unity, of bringing people together, championing a culture where we're helping out our neighbor. And it's a nice film to watch in a time where everybody's so disconnected from each other. They're so online now and not willing to get out there and meet your fellow neighbor. It just, it was a nice time. But like I said, movies are expensive. If you don't have a Regal Pass or an AMC Pass, you're dropping probably $14 for a movie ticket. And if you want to get a drink or whatever, it's a $30 situation. And I don't think this is something that I would rush out to spend that kind of money on. Again, unless you have a grandma or grandpa you want to take out, or you just really are a sucker for this type of movie, I don't think you'll be disappointed with it. It's just when I look at movies on the big screen now, it really has to be an event or some larger than life scenario like a Dune 2 that's coming out next week, which I will review. So if you like what I'm doing here, please subscribe to the channel. Like the video. There's a notification bell you can hit. And if you really like what I'm doing, you can leave a super thanks. There's a, there's a little couple of dots, a little menu that you can click and say, Hey, Adam, here's a couple of bucks. Keep up the good work. And I appreciate it. All right, let me know if you saw ordinary angels. If you went to the sneak showing the Monday mystery thingy Mabobber for Regal. And if you're in the same boat as me, you kind of rolled your eyes thinking, Oh God, it's going to be another one of these like preachy ass films with, with cheesy acting and overbearing dialogue. No, it really wasn't that at all. It was just a good movie, just a solid good flick with a nice story. I do, I have to point out one thing. This isn't a spoiler. I'm just going to say there's a scene in the film that's very dramatic. It's nighttime. It's snowing out. It's very intense and time is of the essence. And then at the end of the film and the credits roll, they actually show the real scene and it's daytime and there's no storm. And it was just funny. It was such a funny contrast. It's like based on a true story, but not really. We're really pumping up the drama. Here's how we're going to take it. Here's what really happened. It like loses 50% of the intensity. Fair enough. It's still the point is to just entertain at the end of the day and this movie did that for me. So again, let me know your thoughts in the comments and hopefully I see you next time. Take care.