![\"\"](\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_MwnH1kpbPRM\/RjbcenkO0DI\/AAAAAAAAARk\/cPXJFjsMF9g\/s1600-h\/midnightclear.jpg\"){kind=spacer}
<\/a>Robert Koehler<\/a> of Variety<\/i> reviews Midnight Clear<\/a><\/i>, the latest movie to be produced by Left Behind<\/a><\/i> co-author Jerry B. Jenkins:<\/span><\/p>\n
Until it reveals its actual Christian purpose in the final minutes, \u201cMidnight Clear\u201d will easily fool many viewers into thinking they\u2019re watching a modest Coen brothers-style comedy-thriller. This conventional but sensitively observed tale, drawing together disparate and mostly lonely lives on Christmas Eve, is a religiously motivated pic (and winner of the debut film prize at Cinequest) that could play with crowds put off by much contempo cinema, pointing to unlikely theatrical sale but fair vid and cable biz.<\/p>\n
It may also draw those curious about what Stephen Baldwin has been up to since becoming a strong Christian advocate. Unlike, say, Val Kilmer (who has yet to do a Christian Science-themed movie), Baldwin has evidently put his career where his beliefs are, giving one of his better perfs as a sad-sack loser and divorcee at the end of his rope who experiences a touch of kindness. . . .<\/p>\n
A certain Pollyannaish aura descends over \u201cMidnight Clear\u201d just when it seems to be turning into a movie about the real lives of Americans barely holding on emotionally and economically. The third act\u2019s blunt message \u2014 that a few selfless acts of kindness are enough to transform lives, capped by a visit to church \u2014 is the kind of optimism that\u2019s unearned, based on the difficulties several characters have been enduring. . . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Robert Koehler of Variety reviews Midnight Clear, the latest movie to be produced by Left Behind co-author Jerry B. Jenkins: Until it reveals its actual Christian purpose in the final minutes, \u201cMidnight Clear\u201d will easily fool many viewers into thinking they\u2019re watching a modest Coen brothers-style comedy-thriller. This conventional but sensitively observed tale, drawing together […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Midnight Clear -- conventional, sensitive, blunt<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Robert Koehler of Variety reviews Midnight Clear, the latest movie to be produced by Left Behind co-author Jerry B. Jenkins:Until it reveals its actual\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/midnight-clear-conventional-sensitive-blunt.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Midnight Clear -- conventional, sensitive, blunt\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Robert Koehler of Variety reviews Midnight Clear, the latest movie to be produced by Left Behind co-author Jerry B. Jenkins:Until it reveals its actual\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/midnight-clear-conventional-sensitive-blunt.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-04-30T23:17:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_MwnH1kpbPRM\/RjbcenkO0DI\/AAAAAAAAARk\/cPXJFjsMF9g\/s400\/midnightclear.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. Chattaway\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter T. Chattaway\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/midnight-clear-conventional-sensitive-blunt.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/midnight-clear-conventional-sensitive-blunt.html\",\"name\":\"Midnight Clear -- conventional, sensitive, blunt\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-04-30T23:17:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2007-04-30T23:17:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde\"},\"description\":\"Robert Koehler of Variety reviews Midnight Clear, the latest movie to be produced by Left Behind co-author Jerry B. Jenkins:Until it reveals its actual\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/midnight-clear-conventional-sensitive-blunt.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/midnight-clear-conventional-sensitive-blunt.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/midnight-clear-conventional-sensitive-blunt.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Midnight Clear — conventional, sensitive, blunt\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/\",\"name\":\"FilmChat\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde\",\"name\":\"Peter T. Chattaway\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Peter T. Chattaway\"},\"description\":\"Peter T. Chattaway was the regular film critic for BC Christian News from 1992 to 2011. In addition to his award-winning film column for that paper, his news and opinion pieces have appeared in such publications as Books & Culture, Christianity Today, Bible Review and the Vancouver Sun. He has also contributed essays to the books Re-Viewing The Passion: Mel Gibson\u2019s Film and Its Critics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), Scandalizing Jesus?: Kazantzakis\u2019s The Last Temptation of Christ Fifty Years on (Continuum, 2005) and The Bible in Motion: A Handbook of the Bible and Its Reception in Film (De Gruyter, 2016).\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/author\/peterchattaway\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Midnight Clear -- conventional, sensitive, blunt","description":"Robert Koehler of Variety reviews Midnight Clear, the latest movie to be produced by Left Behind co-author Jerry B. Jenkins:Until it reveals its actual","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/midnight-clear-conventional-sensitive-blunt.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Midnight Clear -- conventional, sensitive, blunt","og_description":"Robert Koehler of Variety reviews Midnight Clear, the latest movie to be produced by Left Behind co-author Jerry B. Jenkins:Until it reveals its actual","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/midnight-clear-conventional-sensitive-blunt.html","og_site_name":"FilmChat","article_published_time":"2007-04-30T23:17:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_MwnH1kpbPRM\/RjbcenkO0DI\/AAAAAAAAARk\/cPXJFjsMF9g\/s400\/midnightclear.jpg"}],"author":"Peter T. Chattaway","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter T. Chattaway","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/midnight-clear-conventional-sensitive-blunt.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/midnight-clear-conventional-sensitive-blunt.html","name":"Midnight Clear -- conventional, sensitive, blunt","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-04-30T23:17:00+00:00","dateModified":"2007-04-30T23:17:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde"},"description":"Robert Koehler of Variety reviews Midnight Clear, the latest movie to be produced by Left Behind co-author Jerry B. Jenkins:Until it reveals its actual","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/midnight-clear-conventional-sensitive-blunt.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/midnight-clear-conventional-sensitive-blunt.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/midnight-clear-conventional-sensitive-blunt.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Midnight Clear — conventional, sensitive, blunt"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/","name":"FilmChat","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde","name":"Peter T. Chattaway","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Peter T. Chattaway"},"description":"Peter T. Chattaway was the regular film critic for BC Christian News from 1992 to 2011. In addition to his award-winning film column for that paper, his news and opinion pieces have appeared in such publications as Books & Culture, Christianity Today, Bible Review and the Vancouver Sun. He has also contributed essays to the books Re-Viewing The Passion: Mel Gibson\u2019s Film and Its Critics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), Scandalizing Jesus?: Kazantzakis\u2019s The Last Temptation of Christ Fifty Years on (Continuum, 2005) and The Bible in Motion: A Handbook of the Bible and Its Reception in Film (De Gruyter, 2016).","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/author\/peterchattaway"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1601\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}