SHINE A LIGHT TODAY. AKA: SALT
The Christian & Faith-Based go-to media review series that spotlights faith-driven books, films, and podcasts worth your time.
Tina (2024)
Tinā is a 2024 New Zealand choral-themed drama film set three years after the devastating 2011 Christchurch earthquake. In it, Mareta Percival must struggle to survive in the wake of losing her only daughter in a building collapse. Shut down from the world around her, Mareta finds herself working at a substitute teacher in a snobbish boarding school, wrangling kids that may seem perfect on the outside, but underneath are dealing with a variety of their own traumas and pains.
Solo Mio (2026)
SOLO MIO is a new rom-com from Angel Studios starring Kevin James, Nicole Grimaudo, Kim Coates, Alyson Hannigan, and Jonathan Roumie. Left at the altar and saddled with a comprehensive Italian honeymoon tour package he can’t get a refund for, fourth grade art teacher Matt Taylor decides to see Italy for himself, grieving the relationship he lost. With the help of two unlikely — and somewhat unwanted — new friends, Matt’s solo tour of Italy comes with more than he bargained for.
Sketch (2024)
Sketch is a family friendly psychological “horror” adventure movie produced by Angel Studios. The story follows a widowed father, Taylor, and his two children, Jack and Amber, as they navigate the grief that has followed their recent loss. Amber’s dark, expressive drawings step into the real world when Jack discovers a pond with the mystical ability to bring things to life. In a story of healing, sass, and glitter-covered bogeys the Wyatts must learn to navigate their grief in a healthy way…and defeat giant monsters using really cool swords.
The Last Rodeo
The Last Rodeo, produced by Angel Studios and starring Neal McDonough, is a heartfelt contemporary western movie. After a medical disaster threatens to throw the Wainright family under mountains of debt, retired bull rider Joe Wainright decides to enter the ring once again to win the prize money and save his daughter and grandson from financial ruin.
Greater (2016)
Greater (2016) is a biographical film based on the life of Brandon Burlsworth, rising football star for the Arkansas Razorbacks, who died tragically in a car accident before he could sign onto the NFL. The movie is focused on how he lived his life as a faithful Christian through hard work and impacting others with not just his kindness, but also the high — but not unfair — expectations he had for his fellow Christians and teammates.
The Ultimate Gift
The Ultimate Gift is a 2006 movie starring Drew Fuller based on the novel by Jim Stovall. In this story, a spoiled grandson must navigate a series of odd tasks in order to receive his inheritance from his grandfather.
The Shift
The Shift by Angel Studios is a genre-breaking tale of endurance and faithfulness through trials on a dystopic backdrop. Part multiverse-hopping quest, part underdog rebellion, part romance, this Job-influenced epic is sorrowful, joyful, and has set a new standard for Christian speculative fiction in movies.
Bonus: Sight
Sight is the most recent feature film to come from Angel Studios (The Chosen, The Shift, Cabrini). This biography focuses on the life of Dr. Ming Wang, a renown ocular surgeon, from his earliest years in tumultuous, Cultural Revolution China to his struggles with overwork, chasing the world’s accolades, and finding faith in his laboratory in Nashville, Tennessee.
Bonus: Cabrini (2024)
This movie has a timeless quality that shines a brilliant, warm spotlight on American’s first saint. This era of the United States was marked by both incredible growth and significant turmoil as nearly 2 million Italian immigrants settled into the country. These immigrants were often treated horribly, and Italian orphans were typically forced to live in the sewers and storm drains beneath the city streets. Cabrini, who steps into New York with her eyes on a future “empire of hope”, starts with one small, rundown orphanage in the worst part of town.
Godzilla: Minus One
Now, I have to admit that I am a bit biased when it comes to Godzilla movies. I have been an avid fan of the franchise since 2017 and a fan of kaiju — that is, “big monster” — movies since Pacific Rim came out in 2013.