If you are looking for a good movie to watch during these cold winter days, I suggest The Forge. 

Before providing an explanation for my recommendation I must warn that this review does contain spoilers. Therefore, do not read the rest of this article if you intend to watch the film.

The Forge

A Brief Summary

Under the direction of Alex Kendrick, The Forge is a faith-based movie emphasizing the importance of discipleship. Actors such as Priscilla Shirer,  Cameron Arnett, and Aspen Kennedy bring this theme to life with a passion for God that exudes beyond a typical acting role.

Their passion manifests through the story of Isaiah Wright, a young adult struggling to find direction in life. He focuses on playing video games, hanging out with friends and not handling his responsibilities.

His mother scolds him for his lackadaisical habits but a transformation does not occur until he meets Joshua Moore. Joshua Moore, the owner of Moore Fitness gym, offers Isaiah a job. 

Little does Isaiah know, this opportunity will not only change his financial status but help him draw closer to God. God uses Joshua Moore as a mentor who gives Isaiah professional and personal advice to help him mature.

Over a short period of time, Isaiah decides to stop resisting God and accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior. After hearing the news, Mr. Moore disciples Isaiah and invites him into fellowship with other Christian men. 

This maturation helps Isaiah apologize for past mistakes, forgive his father and become a courageous young professional.

The Forge concludes with Mr. Moore issuing a challenge to his forge (and viewers) to make disciples for Jesus Christ.

Relatable to the African American Community 

Brokenness & Fatherlessness 

Along with a compelling message to go make disciples for Christ, The Forge also highlights themes relatable to the African American Community.

One theme was Isaiah’s brokenness due to the absence of his father. This may seem like a negative depiction of black families because some media platforms associate fatherlessness with African Americans.

However, I see this as a positive since it confronts the realities that many young adults of various ethnic backgrounds face.

Pain Drawing People Closer to God

Another theme Christians in the Black community can relate too is painful situations drawing them closer to God. For Isaiah, pain occurs through fatherlessness and the inability to find direction for his life.

But after surrendering his life to God, Isaiah transforms into a new creation.

For Mr. Moore, tragedy happens through a car accident resulting in his son’s death. Mr. Moore is so distraught, his marriage almost ends. Thankfully, yielding his anger to God helps him become a dynamic mentor for other men.

Ownership & Excellence in Business 

One way Mr. Moore serves as a dynamic mentor is by discipling his employee Joshua. Mr. Moore has the freedom to share his faith with Joshua since he owns Moore Fitness Gym. 

This same freedom appears as Joshua’s mom prays with her employees and friends at Cynthia’s (her hair salon).  

In addition to a gym and hair salon, the film features a black owned coffee shop.

Seeing positive representations of African Americans in business through this film is encouraging for two reasons. 

First, this positive representation shows all Christian’s how we can use employment to glorify God regardless of our job title. Second, this film shows there is a strong sense of work ethic, unity, teamwork and business savvy in black families.

Hopefully, this inspires more Christians to start black owned family businesses that will make a lasting impact in their communities.

The Impact of Discipleship

One way to make a lasting impact in any community is by investing in people. Mr. Moore this by establishing the forge and discipling countless men who then disciple others. 

Through these personal investments, men not only grow spiritually, but in every aspect of their lives. They also gain a health support system that allows them to function in community the way God intends.

Imagine what our churches, families and society will look like if more men accept the responsibility of discipleship. 

3 Things You Might Have Overlooked

The Power of Prayer 

The displays of discipleship prevalent in this film could not be possible without prayer. Isaiah’s mom asks her forge to pray for him on a few occasions.

Prayer is also evident during Isaiah’s conversion experience as well as Mr. and Mrs. Moore’s daily affairs. These examples prove we can not draw closer to God or help others in their relationship with the Lord without prayer.

This is why Paul uses scriptures like 1 Timothy 2:8 to illustrate the importance of prayer.

An Excellent Use of Scripture

Along with illustrating the importance of prayer, The Forge does an excellent job of using scripture in its proper context.  This is seen as Mr. Moore quotes or references the following scriptures to make key points

1. Matthew 28:19.
2. Luke 9:23.
3. Galatians 5:13-14.

This factor stands out to me because I have seen other films use scripture and biblical principles out of context. 

Being contextually accurate with scripture is essential because someone who does not fully understand a scripture may be susceptible to false teachings. God will hold filmmakers who intentionally misuse scripture accountable for making others stumble. 

A Reminder About Sin

Thankfully, instead of making me stumble, The Forge offers a helpful reminder about sin.  Sin is not just acts like using drugs, embezzling money, or committing adultery which are typical in many films.

Instead, The Forge reminds viewers that holding grudges, selfish ambitions, and not consulting God in every decision are also sins. I appreciate this reminder because it’s easy for believers to think they are in right standing with God if they do not commit sins others find unjustifiable.

However, God also takes offense when we act in ways that suggest he is not the Lord of our lives. We must strive to live by Luke 9:23 daily in order to be sincere disciples for Christ.

How do you feel about The Forge? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Your comments and feedback are greatly appreciated!

Badum Dum.

But also: Wow. What an image, to illustrate a man who, we learn, agonized from early childhood as to whether he had “it” — the star quality that could make him famous.

Turns out, he did. Williams became the hugest of stars in his native Britain, making 14 No. 1 singles and performing to screaming crowds And whatever else we learn from director Michael Gracey’s brassy, audacious and sometimes utterly bonkers biopic, the key is that Williams’ need to entertain was primal – so primal that it triumphed over self-doubt, depression and addiction. It should surprise nobody, then, that this film, produced and narrated by Williams , is above all entertaining.

But wait, you may be saying: Five paragraphs in, and you haven’t mentioned the monkey?

Good point. The central conceit of Gracey’s film, you see, is that Williams is represented throughout by a monkey — a CGI monkey, that is . This decision is never explained or even referred to.

There’s a clue, though, in one of Williams’ opening lines: “I want to show you how I really see myself.” Gracey based his film on many hours of taped interviews he did with Williams. He says the pop star told him at one point that he felt like a monkey sent out to entertain the masses — particularly in his teens as a member of the boy band Take That. It was Gracey’s idea to take this idea and run with it.

We begin in 1982, in Stoke-on-Trent, England. Young Robert Williams is bad at football and mercilessly taunted. But there’s no football in his DNA, he explains. There is cabaret.

He gets the performing itch from his father. When Sinatra appears on telly singing “My Way,” little Robert jumps up to join Dad in singing along. But Dad cares more about performing than parenting, and one day just leaves home for good. Robert is raised by his mum and his adoring grandmother, who assures him he’s a somebody, not a nobody.

At 15, flailing in school, Robert auditions for Take That, the boy band, and somehow makes the cut. The band first covers the gay club circuit — until it emerges that girls go wild over these young men.

Director Gracey, who helmed “The Greatest Showman,” is quite the showman himself, never more obviously than in a terrific musical sequence that chronicles the band’s journey to success. Filmed to Williams’ hit “Rock DJ” on London’s Regent Street and featuring some 500 extras, the number starts with the boys hardly noticed by passersby, representing the start of their career. Gracey illustrates their rise to fame with explosive choreography, pogo sticks, scooters, London buses — all ending in a flash mob with hundreds dancing on the famed street.

And now, Robert is forever Robbie – his name changed by the band’s shrewd manager, Nigel. “Where’s my Robert gone?” asks his grandmother , bewildered by the hype. “I’m a pop star now,” he replies.

But fame brings all sorts of trouble for Robbie. Later, he will note that when you become famous, your age freezes – so he never graduates from 15. He sinks into depression and develops alcohol and cocaine habits.

But when the band kicks him out, his competitive fire is stoked: He’s going to have a “massive” solo career. A woman overhears him saying this to himself at a New Year’s party; she turns out to be Nicole Appleton, of the girl band All Saints. Another of Gracey’s grand song and dance numbers covers their troubled relationship, including an abortion.

Nicole ends up leaving Williams , part of a miserable time for the singer, who manages to destroy most of his relationships. But he reaches a career pinnacle, performing at the storied Knebworth Festival to some 375,000 adoring fans.

Gracey punctuates shots of Williams performing with a violent, medieval-style battle between the singer and his demons — other versions of him, essentially. It’s another over-the-top sequence that makes this biopic radically different than most — if also a tad indulgent .

But, hey, it’s all in service of one thing. “Let me entertain you,” Williams seems to be screaming through every scene. Mostly, he succeeds.

“Better Man,” a Paramount release, has been rated R by the Motion Picture Association “for drug use, pervasive language, sexual content, nudity and some violent content.” Running time: 135 minutes. Three stars out of four.

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Making art in the middle of the apocalypse is the literal and figurative ethos of “Grand Theft Hamlet,” one of the cleverest “What can we do during lockdown?” pandemic picture projects.

A couple of British actors — Sam Crane and Mark Ooosterveen –– stared into the same gutting void of everybody who was unable to work during the pandemic lockdowns. As they killed some time meeting in the online gamescape of “Grand Theft Auto,” they stumbled into the Vinewood (Hollywood) Bowl setting of that Greater L.A. killing zone. And like actors since the beginning of time, thought they’d put on a play.

As they wander and ponder this brilliant conceit, they wrestle with whether to attempt casting, setting and directing this play amidst a sea of first-person shooters/stabbers/run-you-over-with-their car. They face fascinating theatrical problem solving. How DO you make art and recruit an online in-the-game audience for Shakespeare in a world of self-absorbed, bloody-minded avatars, some of whom stumble upon their efforts and ignore their “Please don’t shoot me” pleas?

Crane and Oosterveen, both white 40somethings Brits, grapple with “what people are like in here,” as in “people are violent in the game.” VERY violent. But “people are violent in Shakespeare.” Pretty much “everybody dies in ‘Hamlet,’” after all.

Putting on a play in the middle of a real apocalypse set in a CGI generated apocalypse is “a terrible idea,” Oosterveen confesses (in avatar form). “But I definitely want to try to do it.”

Crane, struggling with the same mental health issues tens of millions faced during lockdown, enlists his documentary filmmaker wife Pinny Grylls to enter the game and film all this.

And as their endeavors progress, through trial and many many deaths (“WASTED,” the game’s graphics remind you), everybody interested in their idea trots out favorite couplets from Shakespeare as “auditions.” They round up “actors” from all over (mostly Brits, though), they remind us of the power of Shakespeare’s words.

“To be, or not to be, that is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them. To die—to sleep…”

Dodging would-be gamer/killers and recruiting others, they will see how a marriage can be strained by work or video game addiction and fret over the futility of it all.

The film, co-scripted and directed by Crane and Grylls, with Crane playing Hamlet, and narrated and somewhat driven by Oosterveen, who portrays Polonius, is a mad idea but a great gimmick, one that occasionally transcends that gimmick.

We’re reminded of the visual sophistication of CGI landscapes — they try out a lot of settings, and use more than one, a scene staged on top of a blimp, seaside for a soliloquy. The limitations of jerky-movement video game characters, lips-moving but not syncing up to dialogue, are just as obvious.

And if all the gamescape’s “a stage, and all the men and women merely players,” some folks — MANY folks — need to buy better headset microphones. The distorted audio and staticky dynamic range of such gear spoils a lot of the dialogue.

In a production where the words matter as much as this, as “acting” in avatar form is a catalog of limitless limitations, one becomes ever more grateful that the film is a documentary of the “making” of a “Grand Theft Auto” “Hamlet,” and not merely the play. Because inventive settings and occasional murderous “distractions” aside, that leaves a lot to be desired.

Rating: R, video game violence, profanity

Cast: The voices/avatars of Sam Crane,
Mark Oosterveen, Pinny Grylls, Jen Cohn, Tilly Steele, Lizzie Wofford, Dilo Opa, Sam Forster, Jeremiah O’Connor and Gareth Turkington

Credits: Scripted and directed by Sam Crane and Pinny Grylls, based on “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare. A Mubi release.

Running time: 1:29