DISCIPLES IN THE MOONLIGHT is an excellent political thriller with a Christian message. The United States government has created an operation to ban the Bible and create its own “Truth Bible.” An underground Christian activist has asked Christian leader, Nate, to smuggle Bibles to seven churches in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. Nate tries to enlist the help of the activist’s former friend, Jim, to help. However, Jim’s wife was murdered by government agents, and Jim is afraid for his adult daughter’s safety. Can anything convince Jim to help? And, will Nate’s smuggling plan succeed?

DISCIPLES IN THE MOONLIGHT is a superbly written, suspenseful thriller. Writer Josh Strychalski has inserted some really good twists and turns. The performances in DISCIPLES are strong, and the direction by Bret Varvel, who plays Nate, is excellent. DISCIPLES IN THE MOONLIGHT has an inspiring Christian, biblical worldview. It sends a powerful message about protecting, spreading and defending the Word of God. It also sends a strong warning against government tyranny. DISCIPLES IN THE MOONLIGHT is one of the best faith-based movies and best thrillers in recent years.

(CCC, BBB, ACACAC, PPP, V, D, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Very strong Christian, biblical worldview about protecting the Word of God Written, the Bible, spreading its Gospel message and defending the Bible’s views of the effects of sin and the need for salvation through Jesus Christ’s work on the Cross alone (a man shows his younger brother how, if you water down the Bible’s view of sin and eliminate its messages on Hell, Judgment, Justice, and punishment, you do away with Jesus Christ’s death on the Cross for our sins), and movie strongly opposes big government tyranny and defends freedom of speech, freedom of worship and freedom of the press, plus movie overcomes the tyrannical government’s attack on the Bible, Christianity, the Gospel, and Christians, and its universalist, antinomian indoctrination of the American people;

Foul Language:

No obscenities or profanities, but three or four times people pray to God, the Lord and Jesus in an informal way;

Violence:

Light violence includes government agents shoot at people, a man is shot dead and another is seriously wounded in one shooting incident, a Christian is deliberately assassinated off screen, camera cuts away as a speeding train accidentally hits a pickup truck stalled on the tracks, government agents arrest people, woman hits a woman with a shovel as the woman holds a shotgun on two people to earn some bounty money, people run from some pursuers, and brief fighting and punching;

Sex:

No sex;

Nudity:

Image of upper male nudity from afar as man lies in ambulance after being shot;

Alcohol Use:

No alcohol use;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

Woman smokes cigarettes in two scenes, but no drugs; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Tyrannical government lies and creates its own bible, twisting the words of passages such as movie explicitly shows that the government has changed the words of John 3:16 to give a false universalist, antinomian gospel with no Hell and no Justice to deceive the people while it bans the real Bible (the government’s bible is also clearly much smaller).

DISCIPLES IN THE MOONLIGHT is an excellent thriller about seven people intent on smuggling Bibles into Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky when a tyrannical government creates a false flag operation so it can ban the Bible and persecute Christians. DISCIPLES IN THE MOONLIGHT is a superbly written, suspenseful thriller with strong performances and excellent direction, and an inspiring Christian, biblical worldview that sends a powerful message about spreading the Word of God and warning against government tyranny.

A former pastor named Jim Edwards has withdrawn from preaching after an armed government official killed his wife at an anti-government Christian protest in Springfield, Ohio. Since then, the President of the United States has used the protest to ban the Bible and create a government-approved “Truth Bible.” The smaller, government approved Bible has watered down the Word of God. It even rewrote John 3:16 to preach a universalist, antinomian message of tolerance and “inclusion,” eliminating any notion of Justice, Hell, Judgment, or punishment.

Jim used to work with the leader of the Springfield protest, known only as “The Apostle.” The Apostle has reached out to a friend of Jim’s, named Nate Smith. Nate is still part of an underground church. The Apostle asks Nate to smuggle some hard-copy Bibles to seven churches in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.

Nate has a plan, but he needs Jim’s expertise help to help carry it out successfully. However, Jim declines, because he doesn’t want his adult daughter, Ashley to die like his wife did. Ashley wants to help Nate, though, even though her father ties to forbid her.

Can anything convince Jim to help? And, will Nate’s smuggling plan succeed?

DISCIPLES IN THE MOONLIGHT is a superbly written, suspenseful thriller. Writer Josh Strychalski has inserted some really good twists and turns that keep viewers engaged. Josh also plays one of the Bible smugglers, who faces some emotional family obstacles. The performances in DISCIPLES are strong, and the direction by Bret Varvel, who plays Nate, is excellent.

DISCIPLES IN THE MOONLIGHT has an inspiring Christian, biblical worldview. It sends a powerful message about protecting, spreading and defending the Word of God. It also warns against government tyranny. DISCIPLES IN THE MOONLIGHT is one of the best faith-based movies and best thrillers in recent years.

As a faith-based movie, DISCIPLES IN THE MOONLIGHT will be hard to beat when it comes time to hand out awards next year. It should be a contender in the Academy Awards, but Hollywood hates to reward thriller movies, much less thrillers with an overt Christian message about the right to worship.

Aliens Expanded, 2024.

Directed by Ian Nathan.
Featuring James Cameron, Gale Anne Hurd, Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, Paul Reiser, Mark Rolston, Jenette Goldstein, William Hope, Carrie Henn, Alec Gillis, Tom Woodruff Jr., Robert Skotak, John Lee, Graham Hartstone, Alan Dean Foster, Mark Verheiden, V. Castro, Charles de Lauzirika, Derek Dafoe, Drea Letamendi, and James Dyer.

SYNOPSIS:

How much do you love the movie Aliens? If your answer is “It’s one of my favorite movies!” then the new documentary Aliens Expanded is for you. It’s nearly five hours (yes, five hours) long and features plenty of commentary from director James Cameron, producer Gale Anne Hurd, the primary cast members, and plenty of other folks. Highly recommended.

One of the great things about the modern era is the ability for people to be not only fans but super fans of whatever interests them, thanks to the Internet. If you’re one of those Aliens super fans, then you’ll want to check out the nearly five-hour Aliens: Expanded documentary, which plumbs the depths of the film in an exhaustive look at the making of it and its legacy.

Sure, we have Charles de Lauzirika’s excellent Superior Firepower: The Making of Aliens documentary, which has been kicking around on home video since the DVD days (and he shows up in this documentary), but I’m sure you’ll learn some new stuff here and there in Aliens Expanded. I think the running time just about guarantees it.

And even if you already know many of the making-of stories, there’s something to be said for just soaking in a lengthy discussion of a movie you love and revisiting the era in which it came out. I was a teenager when Aliens was released, so I can remember a simpler time when you could go to a movie, enjoy it, and chat about it with people afterward without getting distracted by the Internet, or even seeing spoilers online before you could get to the theater.

The usual suspects show up here, including, of course, writer/director James Cameron, producer Gale Anne Hurd, Sigourney Weaver and the rest of the cast, and some of the special effects guys. However, Aliens Expanded goes beyond that to serve up thoughts from people like Alan Dean Foster, who wrote the novelization (along with the novelizations of many classic science-fiction movies of that era), comic book author Mark Verheiden (he wrote a bunch of Aliens comics for Dark Horse that were, unfortunately, rendered moot by Alien 3), and even psychologist Drea Letamendi.

The documentary takes us through the making of the movie from its earliest days to its release and its legacy. James Cameron in particular doesn’t seem to mind giving his unvarnished thoughts on those days, including his low opinion of producers David Giler and Walter Hill and his observation that the British crew members at Pinewood Studios were “on a different wavelength.”

Cameron is also willing to put some blame at his own feet, however, such as his telling of the story of the tea lady and her trolly. (I won’t spoil it.) He acknowledges that he wasn’t always very diplomatic, an observation echoed by others; however, the consensus seems to be that he could be blunt because he was so obsessed with every detail of making the film.

There are plenty of other great stories told during Aliens Expanded, and there’s even a moment where conflicting tales pop up: Lance Henriksen says that he brought a case full of knives to England so Cameron could choose one for that famous scene, and when he was detained by the authorities, Gale Anne Hurd arrived to save the day. Hurd’s version of the story, though, is one where she was with him at the time but they both worried about the case being opened and were relieved when it wasn’t.

I don’t point that out to throw shade at anyone, of course. It’s now been close to thirty years since that incident happened, along with many others discussed in this documentary. Heck, I can’t always remember what I had for lunch the previous day.

I should also note that the two primary cast members no longer with us — Bill Paxton and Al Mathews — get the recognition they richly deserve.

The framing device for Aliens Expanded revolves around accessing computer files, unsurprisingly, with animations that introduce each chapter and provides bridges to side stories. If I want to pick any nits with this documentary, I’d say that sometimes the transitions between topics are abrupt, and sometimes a topic is discussed before segueing to something else and then looping back around to the original subject.

But those are minor issues. This documentary had to be a huge undertaking, and the fact that it simply exists, with participation from so many key people, is a testament to the filmmakers’ resolve.

The fans also got involved in this one, funding it during the development stage and getting their names in the lengthy end credits. Stick around through the credits to see clips of various fans talking about their love of Aliens.

Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★

Brad Cook

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=embed/playlist

 

Filmmaker Michael Mann is known for his exacting research and exhaustive preparation, work that goes into such moody, existential portraits as “Heat,” “The Insider,” “Ali,” “Miami Vice,” “Blackhat” and the recent “Ferrari.”

Mann is now giving audiences an unprecedented glimpse into his artistic process via the website michaelmannarchives.com. Launching today at noon Pacific time, the website kicks off with a deep dive into the making of “Ferrari,” including 20 video pieces specifically created for the site, previously unseen photographs, annotated script pages and production paperwork including Mann’s working notes, many in his own handwriting.

Access to the “Ferrari” site will cost $65. Following the initial launch, there are plans to eventually continue working through Mann’s filmography, with future pages focused on other films. (Users will need to purchase access to each film’s archive individually.) Fervent online fandom for titles such as “Heat” or “Miami Vice” presumably would generate great interest for this kind of behind-the-scenes exploration.

On a recent afternoon at his longtime offices in West Los Angeles, Mann met with The Times, sitting with the youngest of his four daughters, Becca Mann, who worked closely with her father in organizing the archives.

Mann’s notoriously hard-charging demeanor seems softened by the presence of his daughter; he appears energized by their work together. In conversation, Mann recalls — with startling detail — decades-old pieces of research or specific moments from the production of his older films.

The existence of Mann’s extensive personal archive was the initial impulse behind the online project, the simple fact that all this material was there for the posting. From there, though, it began to take on a larger purpose.

“It is a spectacular, rewarding, creative act to direct a motion picture,” says Mann, 81. “It’s a very large endeavor. The movie is two hours — making it is a year and a half. So much goes into deciding, thinking through what you are going to do.”

Continuing, Mann speaks to something deeper. “Directors have no idea how any other director makes a movie,” he says. “And so we each evolve our own particular process. This is an opportunity to pass that on, convey something I’m just very enthusiastic about. I think it is the best work that any man or woman can do, period. And I’ve thought that since I was 20 years old. And my enthusiasm for it is absolutely unwavering and unremitting.”

“Ferrari,” set in Italy in 1957, tells the story of a turbulent period in the life of Enzo Ferrari, the Italian automaker who created the famed brand. Played by Adam Driver, Ferrari is seen scrambling to keep his business afloat and put together a winning auto racing team all while juggling a personal life that finds him caught between his estranged wife, Laura (Penélope Cruz), still grieving the untimely death of their son Dino, and another woman, Lina Lardi (Shailene Woodley), with whom he secretly has a young son, Piero.

The new website is structured around six scenes in “Ferrari,” including two that Mann describes as the “most pivotal” in the movie, a sequence in which the characters attend an opera performance and a volcanic argument between Enzo and Laura Ferrari at home.

Other sections of the site deal with the re-creation of the Mille Miglia auto race and the horrific, fatal 1957 crash at Guidizzolo, exploring everything from the re-creation of vintage racing cars to the special camera rigs used to capture the stunts.

Some of the most remarkable documents on the site are Mann’s personal handwritten notes, in which he can be seen working through layer upon layer of meaning and intention. “The most critical person for me to direct is myself,” he says.

Those free-flowing comments are then filtered into more formal documents for distribution to other people in the production, as ideas are refined and honed. The continuity of the process is all the more noteworthy in that the date from one page to the next can sometimes jump a number of years. (Mann’s interest in “Ferrari” dates back to the 1990s.)

The site’s video pieces are more extensive and in-depth than those that typically accompany a movie’s promotion. They may toggle between rehearsal footage of Driver and Woodley and the final filmed version of the same scene. Audio sources come from Mann’s rough preproduction recordings, such as when he and Cruz discuss Laura and Enzo’s relationship long before the film’s shoot. (Mann’s preproduction photographs of Cruz in the Ferrari family’s actual apartment may be among the most striking imagery on the entire site.)

Mann‘s archival material has, up to now, been stored in multiple locations, divided among paperwork, film elements and physical objects. Becca Mann began working as an archivist for her father around 10 years ago, at first just to check that the materials were being stored properly, and then saw her involvement grow over time.

“This is what happens if you hang around with him,” Becca Mann, 43, says with an affectionate smile. “I go visit storage to see if it’s dusty and then —”

“In 25 words or less, it turned into this,” adds her father with a laugh.

Becca Mann recalls making discoveries of items that she was personally fascinated by, and knew that other people would appreciate the opportunity to see them too.

“We’d run across some kind of crazy, beautiful document that’s covered in coffee stains and it’s got the whole crux of ‘Heat’ on one page,” she says. “That’s where wheels started turning about how to share it — what’s the best and most appropriate and also most direct thing to do with the stuff.”

Becca Mann notes that, as one goes further back in time, there tends to be less material on each film, which may be challenging for further iterations of the archive website. Mann himself frequently uses his archive for research on projects. For “Ferrari,” Mann’s working process was the same as it has been on previous movies, with the exception that there was even more attention paid to documenting the work along the way.

In explaining his interest in the archives project, he reflected on how other filmmakers have inspired his evolving practice over the years. He cites the deep and ongoing influence of Russian director Sergei Eisenstein, as well as what he learned about storytelling from his friend, filmmaker Sydney Pollack, who collaborated on early versions of the “Ferrari” project.

While working as an assistant to George Cukor in London in the late 1960s on a film that was never made, Mann saw the director of “The Philadelphia Story,” “A Star Is Born” and “My Fair Lady” give an adjustment to an actor during a rehearsal.

“I don’t know what he said, but it lasted about 10 or 15 seconds and he walked away and the performance went from A to Z,” Mann said. “And that instilled in me that if you want to direct, you have to be able to do that. You have to know what to say to get inside a very determined, hardworking actor.”

“Ferrari” was seen as a box office failure, making just over $42 million worldwide on a reported budget of $95 million and earning no major awards recognition. Yet that hasn’t diminished Mann’s feelings toward the decades of work that went into creating it.

“I’m confident in the film’s long-term relevance,” Mann says. “I believe it’s a good film. I think Adam’s work is great. Penélope’s work is great. Shailene. The writing by Troy [Kennedy Martin] is quite terrific. No doubt about that.”

Many of Mann’s films have had a long tail, finding passionate and supportive audiences over time. Just look at recent screenings of “Miami Vice” in New York and Los Angeles or the enthusiasm around a recent 4K disc release of “Blackhat.”

“That’s not a mystery to me,” Mann says of why some of his films take longer to catch on with audiences than others, citing the complex “contrapuntal” ending of “Heat.”

“It’s emotionally conclusive, but it doesn’t leave you with: OK, that’s over, where are we gonna get a pizza?’ It’s not fast food. There are a lot of layers to these things.”

Which Mann classic will the archive explore next? “We don’t know what we want to do next,” Becca Mann says. “We’ll learn a lot about what people respond to. This project has an enormous amount of material in it. The objective is to do something activating and alive with the archive.”

Meanwhile, Mann notes he is deep into writing the screenplay adaptation of his novel “Heat 2,” with a desire to begin shooting at the end of this year or beginning of 2025. On those casting rumors involving the likes of Driver and Austin Butler to step into roles originally played by Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer, Mann says simply, “I can’t talk about that.”

The Michael Mann Archives project provides unique insights into the distinctive working methods of a director who has been at the forefront of Hollywood for more than four decades. Allowing audiences under the hood, as it were, only deepens one’s appreciation for the intensity of work that goes into making one of his films.

“I wouldn’t want to make a movie any other way,” Mann said. “If somebody said, ‘Here’s $20 million, show up three weeks before we start shooting,’ that would not be for me. ‘Make it up as you go’ is not for me.”