Of course some may call us prejudiced, but when we attended the premiere screening for the new movie ‘All Saints’ at the Malco Smryna Cinema in Smyrna, Tennessee, on August 3, 2017 – we were really impressed with how great it turned out to be.
Told from the perspective of the new minister of the All Saints Episcopal Church in Smyrna, the story flowed smoothly – from start to finish – with the leading actor, John Corbett, turning out (what we considered) an award-winning role as the Rev. Michael Spurlock.
The former-salesman-turned-pastor was hired to sell the church because of the low membership and the high mortgage. On the pathway to doing just that, the minister was stopped by various events taking place, such as the influx of several Karen (kuh-REN) refugees from war-torn Burma, who needed a ‘home church’. And from the need of these refugees for places to live, to work, and for food to feed their families.
The membership of the church had dwindled to only about a dozen of the ‘old-timers’, none of whom knew the pastor’s plan to sell the church and church property out from under them, in order to comply with the orders of the Bishop (played by Gregory Alan Williams) and the Conference of the local church Diocese.
Cara Buono shines in the part of the minister’s wife, Aimee. Myles Moore, as their son, is a lonely-boy-in-a-new-town, until he begins making friends with refugee children.
Forrest in the movie is a compilation of several characters, and not just one specific perso; he is a rough-neck old country farmer, played by Barry Corbin.
Nelson Lee is in the part of Ye Win, who was the ‘leader’ and helper of the Karen people in their quest to become Americans.
This is a heart-warming story, with bits of humor throughout. Ably directed by Steve Gomer; the true story is by Steve Armour.
Very family-friendly, a great movie to take the entire family to see when it comes out world-wide on August 25th.
Don’t miss it! For a faith-based movie, it will inspire you, it will make you laugh, and it may even bring you to tears at times. It is a heart-warming story, true and true to life, as we see the daily struggles of this group of people trying to save an almost-defunct church.
[You may see this reviewer a few times in the movie, along with her spouse, as we were both background actors cast by On Location Casting in Nashville, Tennessee. Husband Billy and I played two of the eight original ‘core church members’. (Note: Some of the original church members actually came and played ‘background extras’ in the movie themselves, along with many of the Karen refugees who got to experience being in a movie about their own lives.)]
You can connect with All Saints Movie on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/allsaintsmovie/
Please leave us a comment and let us know if you plan to go see the ‘All Saints’ movie and later on, let us know what your thoughts are about the movie. You can ‘follow’ this writer by clicking on the ‘Follow’ button at bottom right. Thank you for reading. (Photos taken by Nancy P. Goodman, or with Nancy P. Goodman’s iPhone by friends.)
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