Heretic/Greatest Christmas Pagent Ever - Let's Talk Religion

Two movies. Both tackle religion in VASTLY different ways. Let's discuss...

Two young women, members of the Mormon community, are out trying to spread the word of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. The go to the house of a man who expressed interest in learning more about the church. Things do not go as planned.

Hugh Grant did a phenomenal job as the mysterious Mr. Reed. He played the unassuming bad guy until he took a sharp right turn into crazy town. Reed was well studied in all religions as he tried to talk to the young woman, who, by their church rules, should not have been alone with him to begin with.

He went as far as trying to compare the big three religions to Monopoly as a metaphor. Strange as it sounds, it did make sense in the comparison, but wildly myopic.

Each scene goes into the next, building up the tension. The two young women Sister Barnes (Sophie Thatcher) and Sister Paxton (Chloe East) are confronted with their beliefs and how much they truly believe, being tested the whole night.

Chloe's Sister Paxton came across during the film as sweet and a bit naïve, but she was incredibly smart and turned everything around on Grant's Mr. Reed as she worked to find a way out of the maze that was Reed's home.

A24 does one thing well, it creates a new type of horror/thriller. It takes the same tropes that we've seen over the last 60 years in horror and does something new with it. The tension and atmosphere work here and everyone shines in thier roles. This one will probably become a sleeper hit and not remembered as well as Hereditary and Midsomar, but it doesn't discount that it's a pretty good movie.

4/5

Heredity works as a darker look at religion and faith for a Fall movie...lets dive into the Christmas holidays with...!

For those that are unaware, this is based on 1972 children's book of the same name by Barbara Robinson. It was adapted in the early 80s as a tv-movie staring Hot Lips (Loretta Swift) from M*A*S*H.

I remembered how over the top it was and fantastical as it told the story while still staying true to the story. This story did a few things differently than the tv-movie.

The main story is after the usual pageant director gets hurt, the narrator's (Elizabeth Bradley) mom takes over director duties. The town has a group of "bad" kids known as the Herdman's. Everyone in town hates them and they are kind of the worst.

This group of kids take over the roles in the pageant and bring it to complete chaos with their questions and general temperament, but learn a little something along the way.

In this version, its the 75th Anniversary of the town's pageant. Past members are coming up to see it and it's going to be the biggest Christmas Pageant the town has ever seen.

Judy Greer plays the mom and director here. She's up against the entire town who wants her to kick the Herdman's out so it can go off without a hitch. She stands by her decision and let's them stay in the pageant.

You know exactly what you're getting with this. Even if you haven't read the book, you're going into a heartwarming family movie.

While there were again, times where it felt a little over the top in how the Herdman's act and the way they are treated, it was a fun movie. I want to give all the props to the young actress playing Imogene Herdman. Beatrice Schneider absolutely crushed the role. Imogene is supposed to be this big, tough young kid, but as she learns about the Christmas Story, there are moments where she softens.

In the '83 version, there was a moment where Im was sitting in the dressing room, holding the baby Jesus doll, staring up at a small painting of Mary holding her baby. It was a quiet moment before the play began and had so much weight to it.

They had more of those here. In the lobby there's a large painting of Mary and she keeps staring at it. It's those moments that show the small changes to Imogene. The way she stares at it, feeling the weight of the role she forced her way into, wondering at the end if she was right to play this sweet and beautiful woman. You just see it in her eyes. Her look. Her expression.

I highly recommend this beautiful family movie. If it doesn't fill you with some of the Christmas spirit, you're dead inside.

5/5