Movie Reviews

‘Unsung Hero’: Cheers and tears over God's provision (movie review)

Published

2 years ago

April 16, 2024

Press Room

‘Unsung Hero’: Cheers and tears over God's provision (movie review)

By Susan Seiling, Op-Ed Contributor Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Unsung Hero movie poster | Lionsgate

I had the opportunity to watch a preview of the movie “Unsung Hero” recently. As the movie unfolded, I realized I was watching another family tell a story like my own.

“Unsung Hero” documents the true adventures of David and Helen Smallbone — the parents of Christian music singer Rebecca St. James and Luke and Joel Smallbone from For King & Country. In the early 1990s, David owned a successful music company in Australia until an underperforming tour put him out of business. They lost everything they owned. They moved halfway across the world to Nashville with their six children (and one on the way!) for a new job that never materialized. The movie tells what happened next.

While we don’t work in the music business, Rich and I are creative professionals who spent 20 years building and running a fine art photo lab in California. Our business began in 1997 from a plywood desk in a spare bedroom of our house in Yosemite Valley (we worked at The Ansel Adams Gallery at the time). For its lifetime, we employed dozens and dozens of employees and shipped hundreds of thousands of prints to people across the nation. The prints we made continue to hang in some of the most prestigious galleries and photo collections in the world, including the Smithsonian.

We poured our life into building that business, and it sustained us and our little family (and many others) for many years — until it didn’t. Our business went from the highest sales ever in 2015 to closing its doors in March 2017. The market changed, and it happened fast and decisively. There was no way to downsize quickly enough. Everything we invested our time, money, and effort in was systematically cataloged, valued, and sold.

In July 2017, we found ourselves in Nashville with three kids, two cats, two fish, and no job. How does someone start over in their mid-40s? What do you put on a resume when you’ve spent 20 years working for yourselves in a niche, creative industry? I had a blog when we moved to Tennessee, and it contains accounts of God’s consistent provision through those first few difficult years — including my first job in Nashville and my current job as a writer and editor for our church’s media ministry.

Seven years later, I can see many reasons why God moved each member of our family to Tennessee. But it’s been hard in so many ways. That’s where “Unsung Hero” resonated with me. It perfectly captured the essence of what it is like to have everything of monetary value stripped away from your life and to be left with three things: God, your relationships, and your skills.

It portrayed what it looks like for God’s provision to come from unexpected sources, again, and again, and again.

It captured the feeling of failure and its determination to diminish any sense of hope; the internal battle between despair and perseverance.

It showed the best parts of people — those who stepped in at just the right time to provide encouragement, the necessities, and sometimes even more. And it portrayed the worst parts of people — those who judged, didn’t understand, excluded, or were simply no longer interested in being friendly (let alone friends).

It portrayed what it was like to be a mom navigating extremely challenging circumstances, persevering with as much cheer as possible, for the sake of her family and her children.

It showed parents failing and asking for forgiveness, and what it’s like to be a child, caught up in a significant and difficult family transition.

It captured what it’s like to be married to a creative and adventurous person, and how God will give that couple a path that looks different than traditional routes. Not many people will understand it. Those who do are priceless.

Beyond my own reaction to “Unsung Hero,” the cheers and tears in the audience around me showed the movie has truths to offer everyone: family matters; God provides; God answers prayers; when you fall, do your best to get up; if you see someone fall, help them to stand; persevere; and faith wins!

But my favorite moment happened after the movie. In the lobby of the church, we found large pieces of glossy paper that had the words “Please” printed on the left and “Thank You” on the right. It came with a stack of Post-it notes. When you need God to answer a prayer, you put a post-it note with your prayer in the “Please” column. The “Thank You” section is for answered prayers.

When we arrived home, my 10-year-old son posted the paper on our kitchen wall and sat with the Post-it pad for a bit. After he went to bed, I saw he left a note: “Thank you, God, for providing everything we need. Amen.”

It’s easy to look at our lives and see places where we don’t seem to measure up. It took my 10-year-old to remind me we have everything we need. God is faithful.

I highly recommend going to see “Unsung Hero,” particularly on opening weekend, which is April 26 to 28. With all the trashy content being made by Hollywood, this is the time to vote with your presence in the movie theaters. There are so many amazing God stories for Christian movie producers to tell. Let’s support their efforts so God will be glorified, once again, at the movies.

Susan Seiling is a writer and editor based in Murfeesboro, Tennessee. For more information visit susanseiling.com

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Movie Reviews

Movie Review: AFFECTION – Assignment X

Published

8 hours ago

May 9, 2026

Press Room

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: May 8th, 2026 / 08:34 PM

Rating: Not Rated
Stars: Jessica Rothe, Joseph Cross, Julianna Layne
Writer: BT Meza
Director: BT Meza
Distributor: Brainstorm Media
Release Date: May 8, 2026

AFFECTION is an odd title for this tale. While it is about a number of topics and emotions, fondness isn’t one of them. Obsession, definitely. Love, possibly. The kind of general warm fellow feelings associated with “affection”? No.

There have been a lot of movies lately in which characters – mostly women – are grappling with false identities and/or false memories imposed upon them, mostly by men.

Let us stipulate that the protagonist (Jessica Rothe) in AFFECTION is not an android or in an artificial reality. However, we can tell something is way off from the opening sequence. A car is stalled on a tree-bordered highway. Rothe’s character is lying face down on the asphalt beside it, possibly dead.

But then the young woman rises, dragging a broken ankle. She experiences a full-body seizure. Fighting to recover, she sees oncoming headlights and tries to run, only to be hit by a car.

The woman wakes up in a bed she doesn’t recognize, next to a man (Joseph Cross) she likewise is sure she’s never seen before. One big confrontation later, the man says his name is Bruce – and that the woman is his wife, Ellie.

Ellie insists that her name is Sarah Thompson, and she is married to someone else, with a son. When she sees her reflection in a mirror, she doesn’t relate to the face looking back at her.

Bruce counters that Ellie has a rare neurological condition that causes her to block out her waking life and believe her dreams are real. This is why they agreed, together, to move to this isolated house, without the kinds of interruptions that can hinder Ellie’s recovery.

The set-up is presented in a way where we share Ellie’s skepticism. But Ellie and Bruce’s little daughter Alice (Julianna Layne) immediately identifies Ellie as “Mommy!” Alice appears to be too young to be in on any kind of deception, so what is going on here?

AFFECTION eventually explains this via a helpful videotape, though it’s so convoluted that viewers watching on streaming may want to replay the sequence to make sure they understand the exposition.

Writer/director BT Meza musters a sense of menace and lurking weirdness, as well as making great use of his location.

We still have a lot of questions, many of which are still unanswered by the film’s end. It may not matter to the points AFFECTION is trying to make, but a better sense of exactly how all this started might help our investment.

As it is, despite a heroically versatile performance by Rothe, a credible and anguished turn by Cross and appealing work from Layne, we’re so busy trying to piece together what’s important and what’s not and how we’re supposed to feel about all of it that it can be hard to keep track of the action as it unfolds.

Agree or not, Meza’s arguments are lucid and illustrated clearly by AFFECTION’s events. However, the movie is structured in a way that becomes more frustrating as it goes. We comprehend it intellectually but can’t engage viscerally.

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Movie Reviews

8News Reel Talk: ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ movie review

Published

20 hours ago

May 8, 2026

Press Room

8News Reel Talk: ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ movie review

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — In this episode of 8News Reel Talk, digital producer Julia Broberg is joined by anchor Deanna Allbrittin and reporter Allison Williams to talk about “The Devil Wears Prada 2.”

The hosts gave their reviews and assigned the following star ratings:

Deanna: ★★★★.5

Allison: ★★★.25

Julia: ★★

To watch more livestreams and digital video content, head to the WRIC+ Originals page. You can also watch full on-demand videos on your smart TV using the WRIC+ app.

Movie Reviews

“Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour” Movie Review – Spotlight Report

Published

1 day ago

May 8, 2026

Press Room

“Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour” Movie Review – Spotlight Report

Billie Eilish fans prepare yourself, the much talked about secret project has finally arrived on the big screens!

Billie Eilish has always been about intimacy over artifice, but her latest concert film takes that to a visceral new level. Co-directed by Eilish and James Cameron, Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) manages to bridge the gap between a massive stadium show and the quiet grit of life backstage.

The film starts 18 minutes out from the show and builds the tension until audiences are literally folded into a box with her. Being taken under the stage, passing fans who have no idea she’s inches away, sets a tone of total immersion. What makes this film different is the balance between the spectacle and the behind-the-scenes reality. We see the creative shorthand between Billie and James Cameron as they chase what she calls the “best kind of sensory overload”.

The film is very much fan focussed, with the sound mix being so specific that you can hear individual fans singing along in sync with the visuals.

There are so many standout moments, the handheld camera work during “Bad Guy” that gives a dizzying POV of the band, and the chilling minute of silence Billie requests from the crowd to record a vocal loop.

The film captures her unique stage presence. Influenced by rap culture, Billie refuses to have anyone else on stage, unlike many female artists that use back up dancers. Billie can hold the entire stadium in awe by herself which is incredible to witness, until Finneas joins her for a beautiful, emotional piano set.

Between the high-tech visuals and the “Puppy Room” (where she keeps rescue dogs for staff to decompress), the film feels incredibly personal. While the film doesn’t give us any new insights into Billie, Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D) is an enjoyable experience that elevates the tradition concert film.