The Shack Review Hollywood Reporter. With The Shack, a numbingly earnest Easter season offering, Octavia Spencer joins the ranks of performers who have played God. Trapped movie review Shaurya Rajkummar Rao gets inveigled into an unfinished apartment in an uninhabited building. Hers is a Supreme Being with none of the winking, kvetching or bossiness weve seen in versions rendered by Morgan Freeman, George Burns, Ralph Richardson and Alanis Morissette, to name a few. The warm, maternal Papa portrayed by Spencer is all loving magnanimity the movie is, like the publishing phenomenon novel on which its based, essentially a theodicy, or defense of Gods goodness. And given that William Paul Youngs book has sold many millions of copies, Lionsgate can expect an eager flock in theaters fans will want to see how the story of a grief crippled mans weekend long encounter with the Almighty translates to the big screen. For those who come to the material not as devotees, that translation unfolds with a Bible study meets Esalen awkwardness. Its hard to imagine the feature generating the same word of mouth that turned a self published story into an international best seller. With its sparkly spin on the New Testament, the film will be too New Agey for those who hew closely to doctrine some conservative Christians have criticized the novel as a work of misguided heresy. But beyond theological debates, the feature is a leaden, belabored affair. The first image from Ridley Scotts Prometheus sequel, Alien Covenant, reveals that WeylandYutani is behind the Covenants mission. Directed by Randal Kleiser. With Amanda Bynes, Chris Carmack, Jonathan Bennett, JamieLynn Sigler. On a Caribbean cruise, Jenny is marooned on a beach with her rock. Meters Down. All clips are collected from outside sources. No videos are hosted on this server. However universal the perennial questions and struggles that The Shack illuminates, under Stuart Hazeldines plodding direction, its faith based brand of self help feels like being trapped in someone elses spiritual retreat in real time. Hazeldine, whose only previous feature is the 2. Exam, bungles crucial transitions, especially in the early sequences that shift between past and present to set up the story of Mackenzie Phillips Sam Worthington. A married father of three in Oregon, Mack has succumbed to a great sadness when he receives a mysterious note inviting him to the mountain shack where his youngest daughter, Missy Amelie Eve, was murdered after being abducted during a camping trip. Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season 2 Episode 3 Online on this page. The note is signed Papa, as his wife, Nan Radha Mitchell, likes to call God. Nan, were told in the voiceover narration by Macks neighbor Willie Tim Mc. Graw, has a strong and abiding relationship with God which presumably accounts for her preternatural calm in the direst of circumstances. In the depths of winter, the uninhabited shack still bears the stains of Missys blood. Yp72Iv2uOgzg6tshCK6i5eAx.jpg' alt='Uninhabited Full Movie' title='Uninhabited Full Movie' />But before long the suicidal Mack finds himself welcomed into a sun washed glen, the kind of place where brutality and suffering are unimaginable. Filled with ferns, spring flowers and chirping birds, it has a Disney cartoon sheen and is occupied by the Holy Trinity Spencers biscuit baking, African American Papa I have a lot of names the Middle Eastern carpenter Jesus Avraham Aviv Alush, an Israeli actor in his first English language role and Sarayu Japanese pop star Sumire, a spirit of creativity in the form of an Asian woman who gardens and collects tears in delicate little bottles. Theres a scented candle, lifestyle aspect to the lessons that ensue. Determined to heal Mack and resolve his doubts about Gods love, the Trinity, in their flowy Eileen Fisherish neutrals and comfy Pottery Barn cottage, are infinitely kind and patient, and mostly insufferable for it. As Sophia, or wisdom personified, Alice Braga dispenses a slightly tougher form of love, but one thats no less maddening in its sermon y monotone. Watch Full Episode Of American Idol Finale 2014 there. Hazeldine and his design team clearly wanted to cast these supernatural encounters in a super relatable light, an approach thats echoed in the screenplay. Credited to three screenwriters John Fusco, Andrew Lanham and Destin Cretton, the adaptation interweaves the homespun clichs of Willies narration around the main event a series of colloquies that tackle timeless questions about the nature of evil, the power of forgiveness and humankinds place in the universe. The view of a personal God as a gender fluid shape shifter Graham Greene appears as a male version of Papa will be inspiring to some, anathema to others. The same goes for the multicultural Trinity. In its stereotype trafficking way, The Shack challenges narrow conceptions of what a Christian and perhaps, by extension, an American looks or sounds like. Its not the films ideas that are its problem, but the heavy handed literalness with which theyre explored. Theres a little boy openness to Worthingtons features that suits the role of Mack, a man understandably struggling with a lifetimes worth of loss and guilt, but theres only so much he can do with material so lacking in subtlety. Spencer, who can say more with a glance than most, radiates the requisite affection, however contrived the setup. She delivers a piercing moment of compassion in a flashback to Macks troubled childhood, and a priceless quip in one of the films rare instances of humor. Visually, Macks sacred encounters are pretty but never soul stirring, even with ace cinematographer Declan Quinn on hand. Among Quinns many credits are a couple of Jonathan Demmes documentaries on Neil Young, which might explain why the musician gets an aint I hip shout out from Papa. Hazeldine leaves the potential dramatic power of the natural setting shooting took place primarily in Vancouver mostly unfulfilled. The movies only truly affecting encounter is a brief, direct and visually unadorned exchange between Mack and his older daughter, Kate Megan Charpentier, who has been at least as wracked by pain and self reproach over Missys death as Mack. Otherwise, from Missys precociously discerning questions about God to the constant coaxing of Aaron Zigmans score to a strained depiction of closure between Mack and his abusive father Derek Hamilton, what should be deeply touching is merely forced. Mc. Graws voiceover may assure us that youll have to decide for yourself. But room for contemplation is nowhere to be found in The Shack. Production companies Summit Entertainment, Gil Netter Productions, Windblown Media, TIK Films. Distributor LionsgateSummit. Cast Sam Worthington, Octavia Spencer, Avraham Aviv Alush, Radha Mitchell, Alice Braga, Graham Greene, Tim Mc. Graw, Sumire, Amelie Eve, Megan Charpentier, Gage Munroe, Derek Hamilton. Director Stuart Hazeldine. Screenwriters John Fusco, Andrew Lanham, Destin Cretton. Based on the book by William Paul Young, in collaboration with Wayne Jacobsen and Brad Cummings. Producers Gil Netter, Brad Cummings. Executive producers Mike Drake, Qiuyun Long. Director of photography Declan Quinn. Production designer Joseph Nemec. Costume designers Stacy Caballero, Karin Nosella. Editor William Steinkamp. Composer Aaron Zigman. Casting Deborah Aquila, Tricia Wood Rated PG 1. Love Wrecked 2. 00. IMDb. Quotes. Ryan sits down next to Ben, Jennys father. Sir, I uh. I hope youre going to be okay with the, um, situationin St. Lucius this summer. The, um, living situation. Jenny and me. Oh, you mean the two of you being roomiesCome on, Ryan. Youre the last guy in the world Im worried about. The ead last guyId be more worried about that rat faced kid, Lenny, the guy with the lazy eye and the boils on his chin.