All Saints

Everything I was seeing told me to expect another feel good preachy movie. Where folks have an obstacle and overcome it with faith.

It was so much more than that and a great and inspiring message for all of humanity. There indeed obstacles, many major ones. How those obstacles are faced and overcome and how they change people and their community was worth the watch and even worthy of a movie ticket in my opinion.

If you have not seen it please do.

I was pleasantly surprised by the strong acting and professional quality of this film. "All Saints" depicts the struggle of a fledgling pastor to revive a nearly-defunct church, while trying to meet the needs of a wave of refugees from war-torn Burma. While many faith- based films focus on miraculous conversions and battles with the secular, this film dealt with the more prevalent problems many congregations experience. Shrinking membership and aging populations, as well as the financial struggles of maintaining buildings--these are the painful reality for many faith communities. Poised for dissolution, the All Saints Episcopal church is about to be sold off, and the members scattered. Rather than go along with the sale, the people band together--old and new--to try to save the church through growing produce. The story is powerful, and the filmmakers have mixed professional actors and actual congregation members in the cast. This, and the use of the actual church and grounds for the filming location, brings a strong authentic feel to the film. Audiences will resonate with both the dilemma--and the solutions found by the main characters. Kudos to all for a relevant and uplifting film!

This is the true story of Michael Spurlock, a salesman turned Pastor of a small Smyrna Tennessee Episcopal church. It traces what happens after he's been told by the diocese he must close his church due to low attendances. The events that transpire over the difficult months that follow are as unlikely as they are remarkable. Nothing runs smoothly for Michael, his struggling family or his small band of supporters. The hardships they encounter are at times soul destroying but, hardships can also push people to work against impossible odds - in an attempt to turn them into goals that build community bonds. The outcome of this curious story is one that needs to be seen and won't be readily forgotten. What can be achieved by people of different cultures - when their ongoing communal existence is threatened - is powerful indeed. An unusual story of survival against the odds, told with intelligence, quality production values, good performances and a better than average music score.

It is so amazing to see a local story being told in a film. It is even more amazing that our news channels would rather tell you about every house that catches on fire or vandalism in our city rather than tell you about this miracle in our own backyards. Taking place in 2007-2008 in Smyrna, TN this is an inspirational story that seems almost too good to be true. But as you do some digging you will find that almost everything in the film is depicted just like how it happened in real life. It is shocking to learn about the genocide of the Karen people (a state in Burma) and realize that we never hear about this on the national news front. OK, forget the attack on our news channels...this is a fun and family friendly movie. It is so fun to hear about local places constantly in dialogue (Nashville, Franklin, Smyrna, Murfreesboro) and neat to see local areas like the old Music Valley Drive (the Trail West sign can be easily seen) outlet shopping area (boy does something need to be done with that area) being used as a movie location.

See this movie to see what can happen when we start thinking more about others, see it to challenge your faith, but see it because it is a local story that made it to the movie theater!

While Hollywood is loathe to admit it, while the studios often make money, a very large percentage of the public simply never goes to movies. Some of this, no doubt, is because movies often are filled with violence and other offensive content and many choose not to see it and spend their dollars on such films. Fortunately, in recent years various small studios have sprung up to fill this gap...and "All Saints" is among the best of these films I have seen.

This is the inspirational story of All Saints Episcopal Church, which is in rural Tennessee. The church was about to be sold as the membership had dwindled down to almost nothing. Reverend Spurlock (John Corbett) is brought in to close up shop, so to speak, but ended up leading an effort to try to save the church property because it had just become such an important part of a group of Burmese refugees' lives...and with their help he worked himself practically to death to save something many felt wasn't worth saving.

While technically speaking, there are films that look a bit better and feature CGI and huge stars, this one manages to entertain anyway and it sure didn't hurt that the picture had Corbett and a few other familiar faces. Overall, very well made and uplifting...the sort of film you could take anyone to see (unless, perhaps, they are Satan worshipers...I would take them to see "It" instead).