The Town of Odyssey

http://www.facebook.com/tosavealife
http://www.tosavealifemovie.com/

So explaining the movie and all is not what I'm going to do, as the sites above can do that. But I'm plugging it here because it was written by my Senior prom date! How cool, huh? Anyway, check out the links and read about it. I think some of you older teens to young adult age peoples may like it.

I got that "How to Save a Life" song stuck in my head, annoying/catchy as it is.
>_>
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Looks interesting. I'd like to see how well it's made. I'm assuming it's sort of a smaller production? Otherwise I might have heard about it sooner.

Neat, Darcie!

I saw blurb about To Save a Life in a Christian magazine (months ago?) and now I've learned more thanks to Darcie. I'd like to see it!

That's pretty cool!

Oba-rai wrote:I'm assuming it's sort of a smaller production?

It is produced by Samuel Goldwyn Films, the same company that did Fireproof according to press. I'm guessing it was smallish, as it was shot around the San Diego suburb where the screenwriter, Jim Britts, is a youth pastor. It actually seems to be put out by his church in partnership with "real" Hollywood types.

It is small, by the sounds of it. I heard about it on KLOVE tonight. I was like "Dacie's Senior prom date!!!!" lol. it'll be in 400 theaters around the country. people want it in more i hear... I want to see it now.

I heard about it when I went to a Jars of Clay concert and now I'm going to get to actually watch it this Saturday! I can't wait.

darcie wrote:

Oba-rai wrote:I'm assuming it's sort of a smaller production?

It is produced by Samuel Goldwyn Films, the same company that did Fireproof according to press. I'm guessing it was smallish, as it was shot around the San Diego suburb where the screenwriter, Jim Britts, is a youth pastor. It actually seems to be put out by his church in partnership with "real" Hollywood types.

Awesome. The screenwriter's a youth pastor? Hope the movie's good, recently there've been some [sort of?] better films that Christians and churches seem rather invested in.

You went to Senior Prom with Marshall Younger?!?!

When I first saw the preview a while back, (I forget where I first heard about it ) all I could think of was A Lesson From Mike. They have almost eerily similar plot lines. But, you couldn't pick a better writing team to copy off of , so it'll probably be pretty good. It looks worth seeing.

Oba-rai wrote:I got that "How to Save a Life" song stuck in my head, annoying/catchy as it is.

I know, right?

http://www.jimbritt.com/

http://www.jimbritts.com

I just saw the trailer this morning. Looks pretty awesome, however I don't even think it's playing in Canada much less the small town I live in.

I've heard quite a bit about this movie. It's famous for being one of few "Christian" movies to have worldly content (read the PluggedIn review, if you wish). I've been thinking about this. I (and I'm assuming most of us) watch PG & PG-13 movies with miscellaneous bad content (language, mature themes, immodesty, violence, etc.), and don't have a big problem with it. But, as soon as a movie comes along that calls itself "Christian" and yet has the same content, I'm quick to push away from the movie. Double standard?

That doesn't mean the bad content isn't wrong. I don't like that the writer "prayed" about what swear words to include. It's never right to do wrong, to do right. Period. However, I think this film, despite some inappropriate content, still has a great message and I'll probably watch it on DVD.

I saw the trailer for this just the other day and got excited about it. I don't think it'll be playing in a theatre near me, so I'll watch it on DVD. From what I hear, the producers didn't set out to make a Christian movie, but rather one that would draw non-Christians in, as it deals with a lot of the tough issues that are relevant. Anyways, I'll be eagerly awaiting the DVD release.

So Darcie, is the writer a Christian? It seems to not necessarily be a "Christian" film but it has a lot of Christian themes and ideas. And I work in Christian Radio and they have targeted a lot of Christian Radio stations to promote it. I was just wondering if the writer/producers were Christians? Thanks!

The writer is a Christian. Jimmy (ok, I guess he's just Jim now) grew up in the church. His dad is a pastor too, still in our hometown. As a high schooler, I remember him being part of a group that led Tuesday lunchtime Bible study meetings. His church had an awesome youth ministry that invited other friends from outside the church to come and play. (I still remember the mysterious invitation to come and make sure to bring socks! It was a surprise bowling trip.) He came down to Southern CA after high school to attend Biola, a private Christian college. Since then, he's been working as a youth pastor at New Song Community Church.

I think the reason why it seems maybe not necessarily "Christian" is explained best on their site:

We never really set out to just make a movie but instead to start a movement. The truth is there are SO many hurting and lonely teens dealing with a myriad of difficult issues like self injury, suicide, peer pressure, drugs, alcohol, parental divorce and simply just fitting in. We believe this film is going to bring them tons of hope.

Hey, I thought of this thread yesterday - there was an ad in our local paper that it's showing at our small downtown theater.

darcie wrote:The writer is a Christian. Jimmy (ok, I guess he's just Jim now) grew up in the church. His dad is a pastor too, still in our hometown. As a high schooler, I remember him being part of a group that led Tuesday lunchtime Bible study meetings. His church had an awesome youth ministry that invited other friends from outside the church to come and play. (I still remember the mysterious invitation to come and make sure to bring socks! It was a surprise bowling trip.) He came down to Southern CA after high school to attend Biola, a private Christian college. Since then, he's been working as a youth pastor at New Song Community Church.

Thanks, Darcie. That's really cool. Personally, I think it's pretty awesome that they aren't labeling this a Christian film. There's a certain stereotype associated Christian films and I feel that usually turns off the people that need their message the most. I hope this movie does well.

I saw it tonight and was unexpectedly impressed. It very much exceeded my expectations. It was not like A Lesson From Mike much at all; the trailer was pretty misleading. Some of the foreshadowing was too predictable and the plotline wasn't especially original, but its message wasn't as cheesily presented as that of most Christian films are stereotyped to be. It did a good job of having a Christian theme without omitting real world situations that are unfortunately so easy to identify with.

7.5/10

I watched it last night and was very impressed. I loved it and thought it was worth the money to actually go to the theatre and watch it. It was much better then the trailers (and the one sneak peak I found ) made it out to be. Like King Butter Turtle said, it did a good job of having a Christian theme without omitting real world situations that occur so often now-a-days.
And once the DVD comes out my brother's buying it; it was that good ^.^