Purely Joyful Movie!

Beautiful, moving film.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

I have never written a review on IMDb before but felt compelled to after watching this film. Last night I was looking for a good independent film to watch and this flicked across the screen in my Netflix options. Never having heard of the book and not knowing a thing about what I was getting myself into, I went for it. There were early hints that I had walked myself into a "Christianity is the bestest" type film, but I didn't know for sure until halfway through when the main love interest professes to the main character something along the lines of, "I can't explain it, I just love Jesus!". I recognized this tell-tale sign of propaganda but decided to suspend judgement. I sat through the rest of the film in hopes that there'd be surprise character or plot development in the second half. Unfortunately, there wasn't. The plot is thin and predictable. I find it remarkable that others who have reviewed the film found it thought provoking. In my estimation, those who found it to be this way enjoyed the affirmation that the film provided. Can't fault anyone there: we all like a little positive reinforcement from Hollywood every now and then.For those of us who aren't sold on Christianity, the underlying theme of Christianity being the "right" belief is obvious and more than a little off-putting. In order to be truly thought provoking (to those who aren't already on board with the concept), the message shouldn't have been so obvious and cheesy. If the hope was that this movie would help put Christianity in a better light with non-Christians, the movie misses that mark too. None of the characters exhibited a need for Jesus/the church - at their core they were smart people with good consciouses, and were clearly capable of sorting themselves out without the church. I didn't see or hear any testimony as to why either required religious support to do this, in fact the movie highlighted several good reasons to stay away from the church: priest pedophilia and some mixed up relationships amongst church members. If a salesperson is trying to sell something, they need to talk about the benefits of the product they're pushing at least a little bit, right? All in all, this is probably a great film if you are a "church-every-Sunday" kind of person - this may be just the thing to make you feel great about your beliefs (basing this not on personal experience but on other reviews). But if you are that person, please don't kid yourself that this will be the movie to convince your non-believer friends that they should worship with you. For the non-believers, regardless of your non-believing status, this movie is skippable. The plot, characters, acting and writing is all pretty thin - not a whole lot of meat to chew on here.

If you have seen the trailer for this film then you'd probably be expecting some fun-filled story of coming-of-age that also answers some of those big questions about being young. Well, if these are your expectations, (like they were mine), then prepare to leave unsatisfied. This film isn't really about college life and becoming a new person, its more about accepting the person you already are. Which sounds like a big old stonking stereotype, right?! Well, truth be told, this film kind of is. The trailer might give the impression that you're going to see something hugely original and I don't want to mislead you, you won't, but since when is anything truly original these days? Yep, this film is full to the brim of stereotype. But that's okay because while the story is stereotype its direction and its cast are fresh and bring something to this film which makes you want to stay and pay attention.The story centres around Don (Marshall Allman), a college freshman who comes from a strong Southern Baptist background and is disillusioned by his life and religion. To escape this former life of religious structure and a stifling parent he moves from Texas to a college (that's university to us English folk) in the Pacific Northwest where religion is mocked and his life undergoes a drastic 180 flip. Don decides that the best way of forgetting his affiliation to religion is to join those who mock it and protest its existence, which involves an hilarious scene where himself and the college "Pope" (random guy who dresses like the Pope every single day and is apparently one of the most popular guys at his college…Yep, seemed strange to me too) put a giant condom onto one of the towers of the local church and a banner which reads "Do not let these people reproduce". Tad excessive perhaps? Yep. Harsh? Yep. But of course, that's kind of their point. Which is an aspect of this film that confused me immensely – I constantly questioned why, a: Don could go from the assistant youth pastor in his local church to a willing participant of church defacement and, b: why the people of this college hated religion so much? If you're looking for an answer to this question like I was then you will be disappointed, because one is never really provided. I could only guess that it is borne from the generation in which we live that has built up an intolerance and disillusionment to religion and its politics and hypocrisy.You're probably thinking at this point that the film is a huge middle finger to religion and religious faith but this is where our protagonists love interest and biggest "all-things-religious-and- morally-just" contender turns things up a gear and offers us a different perspective. This character's name is Penny (played by Claire Holt whom some may recognise from The Vampire Diaries) and she is a formidable presence in Don's life who constantly questions his motives and in turn makes him consider these motives and his own beliefs throughout the film. Though this character is necessary within the plot she sometimes comes off as high-and-mighty and frankly I find it hard to believe that a character like her could possibly exist in real life. At least not a 19 year old version embarking on the first (maybe second) year of their college life. I mean this character protests the social injustices of bottled water and its effects on the Indian economy, volunteers in foreign countries during Christmas break and has a freaking statue of Jesus in her college dorm room! Doesn't exactly scream realism now does it? But I digress… My point is that this character adds a depth to the film which stops it from becoming a one-sided debate against the relevance of religion in modern society and instead offers a perspective wherein we get too see the positive effects of religion (shitty politics aside) in modern society. If you're interested in reading the rest of my thoughts on this film then you can visit my blog... (http://www.filmrambler.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/blue-like-jazz.html)

Blue Like Jazz comes out strong, you start and you feel, "this is going to be great", but then it carries on, on weak acting by some of the cast and a very weak script that makes you want to get up and walk away, the movie message is good and it does preach commitment to Christ.The movie message can be easily related to, as a Christian I know of times (when I was new in the faith) that I concealed my identity of being a Christian just to blend in, the movie's message rides on that; it rides on a Christian trying to be part of the world, forgetting that we are but on a pilgrimage in this world and heaven is our final destination.Based on a book of the same name written by Donald Miller, it (the book) is a semi-autobiographical work, and on the cover the book is subtitled "Non-Religious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality," I happen not to have ready the book, but from the movie I believe it is named such because of the protagonist father's love for Jazz, and the fact that he was the person that pointed the protagonist in the direction where doubt looms.The book and movie plot follows the life of Don, a nineteen-year-old sophomore at a Texas junior college. Don moves to Pacific Northwest, where he learns that being a Christian makes you an outcast, so in order to escape his Biblical background and Biblical way of life, Don does everything possible to make sure he is part of the cool kids, even denying his faith.Before watching I did a little research to know what I am getting in to, some people say the movie is a Christian movie, the director claims that it is not, just a regular movie with religious undertones. I have seen the movie and I wonder how people didn't see it in the same view as the director. Also the movie actually came to being from the contributions put together by fans of the book (and more) from the Kickstarter website. The names of the contributors can be seen at the end of the movie, in the credits.In conclusion, the movie message is great as I said before, but the implementation is just canny the director is trying to cover up a Christian film with a lot of worldly additions just to make the movie look secular. He added controversial things like cursing and homosexuality, knowing that many have different views concerning such. This movie could have been better, but since I have not read the book, I can't ascertain that the story in the movie has strayed from the original, but I can ascertain this though I didn't like this film.www.lagsreviews.com

The movie Blue Like Jazz follows the path of discovery of Donald Miller a youngster who tries to escape his Christian upbringing by enrolling himself into a 'liberal' college only to go through the whole process of denying what he was told to believe in all his life. All along one sees him struggling to be somebody he is not... like a dog trying to shake off its own tail!What I liked about the movie was that Don was open to all that he came across. He really did not make a decision about something just because he felt so... he looked for convictions... Another aspect of the movie that I found quite interesting to observe was the influence and role of friends. The impact they had on Don and the things he does in their life... (Penny, Lauryn, Russian, him mom, 'Pope'). And finally I hope Don continues to carry on as 'Pope' for I sincerely believe he'd do a better and greater job being Pope than going out gun-blazing saying that he believes in God and all that goes with it. He truly would be a great help to all those fellow students to help them in their situation than taking a pedestal posture or stance and helping 'from above'!It quite well summarizes the journey of self-discovery, of finding out the value and meaning of real faith... not just 'inheriting faith' but 'earning' it and thereby living it! That I think makes a huge ... huge... difference in reality. Most of us barely manage to graduate to the latter stage of faith. http://www.vcastilino.blogspot.in/