Here are today’s dispatches from the crossroads of faith, media and culture.<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0 Family Movie Night<\/em> hits its creative stride.<\/strong> Game of Your Life<\/a> <\/em>(NBC, Friday 12\/2 @ 8:00 PM ET),\u00a0 the ninth of the impressive P&G-Walmart film series, is perhaps the most creative yet — featuring a genuinely original premise about a class of young video game geniuses taking part in a competitive scholarship program at the prestigious Digital Institute of Game Design.<\/p>\n The story focuses on four of the students who are teamed in a program contest to create the next great video game. Complications arise when Zack (Titus Makin Jr. of Glee<\/em>).\u00a0 the creative heart of the team breaks the rules and secretly accepts an outside gig working with the billionaire gaming icon Marcus Bentton (Tom Nowicki of The Blind Side<\/em>).\u00a0 Though Zack’s motive is good (to help his help widowed dad whose business is struggling), the result of his decision isn’t — as it places his new friends and teammates at risk of being eliminated from the program.<\/p>\n Those team members include Sara, (Dana De La Garza) as the leader (and Zack’s romantic interest), as well the brilliant-but-strange duo of Phillip (Nathan Kress of\u00a0 iCarly) and Donald (Adam Cagley of The Suite Life of Zack and Cody<\/em> and Good Luck Charlie<\/em>). There’s a genuine chemistry between the foursome that could actually carry over well into a series (if ratings justify such consideration).<\/p>\n Setting this apart from previous Family Movie Night<\/em> entries is the fact that the kids are really the focus here.\u00a0 The others films really did keep the action more within a particular family whereas this edition actually sends its young heroes out into the world and forces them to figure things out on their own — with the help of strong role models in the persons of faculty members Dr. Abbie Lambert (Lea Thompson of Back to the Future<\/em> and Caroline in the City<\/em>) and Dean Cameron (Ric Reitz). And, while parents are more in the background than is usual for these films, the relationship between Zack and his father is particularly solid and touching.<\/p>\n Game of Your Life<\/em> certainly has a message to deliver about honesty, loyalty and using one’s talents in a positive way but it’s artfully delivered with a light touch. Recommended.<\/strong><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rb1ymtJmDBE<\/p>\n 2. Matthew West’s song One Last Christmas<\/em> becomes the basis of GMC’s new Christmas movie. <\/strong>The Country songwriter\u00a0 has a role in The Heart of Christmas<\/a> <\/em>(GMC, Sunday 12\/4 @ 7:00 PM & 9:00PM ET), a true-life inspired film which stars Candace Cameron Bure (of <\/em>the recent Family Movie Night<\/em> film Truth Be Told<\/em><\/a>) as\u00a0 Megan, a successful business woman, wife and mother who finds her commitment to faith and family renewed by the online journal of Julie Locke<\/a> about her son Dax who at only 13 months old was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia.<\/p>\n I haven’t actually previewed this one but The Heart of Christmas <\/em>but it appears to deal with genuine human emotions in a way that too few current television dramas dare to. It also\u00a0 deserves viewing consideration<\/strong> for focusing some attention on the good work being done at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital<\/a>.<\/p>\n In a phone conference with with the media (including yours truly), Matthew West offered some valuable insight regarding the value and power of storytelling.\u00a0 “As a songwriter,”<\/em> he said, “I always felt like a storyteller at heart. I believe there\u2019s power in a story.\u00a0 And I believe that sometimes the best stories are are kinda waiting to be told\u2026They\u2019re not always the ones that catch headline news that the whole nation initially hears about. They\u2019re just kind of waiting to be discovered. Everyday people who have a story to tell and I also believe that sometime the best stories, ironically, wind up coming out of some of the more difficult things that we experience throughout the course of our lives \u2013 as is the case in the Locke family\u2019s story.”<\/em><\/p>\n Checkout the film’s Matthew’s One Last Christmas<\/em> music video followed by the movie trailer for The Heart of Christmas<\/em>.<\/p>\n