Last Ounce of Courage (2012) Poster

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3/10
Christian Persecution Fantasy
gunslinger194 February 2016
I know lots of Christians and they really don't seem this dumb or confused about how logic or the world works. This movie is insulting not just to all other beliefs and non-beliefs but it is insulting to Christians by painting them all as drooling morons who don't understand how laws, lawyers, wars, teenagers, plays, politics, or the government works. Fine it is a movie and it isn't suppose to represent reality but if that is the case this movie has the exact same amount of truth and facts in it as Transformers, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles, but it is somehow less entertaining than any of those movies. The movie actually probably deserves 1 star, but in this case I am rewarding this movie for its production value being better than the average Christian movie. Some of the acting was competent and the cinematography seems competent. Now if the Christians can find someone that can write a decent story they may make a movie that will appeal to people that don't even believe in the magical sky daddy.
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3/10
Another AWFUL film with artificially inflated ratings.
doomer-927 November 2012
Honestly, I do not know why I bothered. If you have any appreciation for film, you will avoid this propaganda. Even if you support the message, which I generally do, you should at least give it an honest rating. Rating a low budget, poorly written, poorly acted, poorly directed film as high as Casablanca or Citizen Cane is a travesty. It is just plane WRONG. That being said, how could any intelligent person trust the truthfulness of the film's message if it is so blatantly wrapped in lies and deceit by the so-called "reviewers"? Al Qaeda techniques by those who claim to appose them. I struggled with the rating I chose, because my initial thought was to vote it a 1 in order to help balance the skewed ratings, but I didn't. That would be basically the same crime. No matter how those who falsely inflated the rating feel about the message, as a film it is still just plain bad.
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3/10
You can agree with the filmmakers and loathe the product
StevePulaski30 November 2012
If you've seen the trailer for Last Ounce of Courage, then you know the roots and the morals of the entire picture. Some films like to persuade the audience down a different direction and have them possess a different idea of the film in their trailers. Not this one. This film blatantly comes out and tells you what it is, what it strives to be, and what lies behind its morality and its filmmakers' cores all in the trailer. It's one of the most unsubtle films I've seen in years.

Let me give you an idea of how patriotic this film is; in the one minute and fifty-one second trailer I counted fifteen shots where the American flag was clearly visible, thirteen of them in the first minute. There's also an unintentionally corny sequence of Marshall R. Teague's character riding a motorcycle, draped in leather apparel, and proudly letting the American flag flow in the wind of the air. There's nothing particularly wrong with that, but as a whole, this is another tired, worn entry in the almost hopeless genre of American cinema, and when I say "American cinema," I mean cinema that comes from this country boasting nationalism and simple, earnest, life-affirming values. See Broken Bridges and Seven Days in Utopia for schooling in the field.

We begin on an offbeat note that could've been keenly directed into passable territory with development and humanity. The first character we see is Thomas Revere, a man who has a patriotic father named Bob (Marshall R. Teague), a loving mother (Jennifer O'Neill), a young wife (Nikki Novak), and a young son on the way. He enlists in the war to fight for his country, like his father did, and writes letters and sends videos back to his wife and infant son during his deployment. Later on, in the middle of a normal day, Thomas's mom is greeted by the sight of two military men, in uniform, with an American flag and a wreath on her doorstep. Thomas's wife is now a widower with a young child. If this happened twenty minutes into the picture, and we had more development and interest in the character of Thomas, having him die would be a monumentally depressing plot-point. To have him die minutes after meeting him leaves the viewer emotionally deprived when it should leave us emotionally drained.

We move several years later, where Thomas's son Christian (whether the name is supposed to be coincidental or unintentional I can't say), played by Hunter Gomez, is a bright and curious fourteen year old boy, who is suddenly interested in all that has happened to his father, as if a fatherless kid never asked his mother just what happened to daddy. He digs through an old chest of his grandfather's to try and find more facts about him, and gets his family to watch old videos of Thomas's love letters to his mother.

Then we take the incredibly abrupt topic of how Christmas has become a greatly limited holiday in the states, what with political correctness and the recognition of other holidays around the same time. Bob, who is the mayor of the small town of Mount Columbus, is sickened at how America has neglected the fact that Christmas is a national holiday, and while it isn't celebrated by every American in the country, it should nonetheless be recognized and we should have the broad freedom to wish people a "Merry Christmas" without being scolded for arrogance.

I've noticed a barrage of online reviewers claiming those who will hate this movie are liberals and that's because they are not true Americans. I'm not so sure about that. I consider myself a hardcore Libertarian, who has an immense amount of pride and respect for the United States, possesses a large amount of individualist opinions, and shares the same views as Bob on the idea of Christmas; we live in America, and saying "Merry Christmas" on Television or in public schools shouldn't be the big deal that it is. I'm living proof you can share the same opinion as the filmmakers and not be a fan of the film.

The main reason is for the heavy-handedness of the topic at hand, and the complete bleeding heart, Christian-Conservative propaganda that becomes nauseatingly obvious and brutally contrived throughout the whole film. This is a picture that completely shortchanges character relations and depth in order to promote its ideology. It features capable acting by Marshall R. Teague and Hunter Gomez, but uninspired, wooden performances from the majority of its actor, and screenwriter that ultimately could pass for a heavily biased lecture.

I suppose my main quibble with the film is that it makes an issue out of something that is so petty and foolish in real life that seeing a film pound in the morals and someone's biased ideology of the event makes it just as painful to listen to. I respect the filmmakers involved, I wouldn't object to watching other films by them, and I feel that with great material, they could all work wonders. But to make a ninety-eight minute film that does nothing more than paint an oppressive picture of an opinion held by the people involved, and utilize it as an attack for anyone on the opposite side of the coin is a colossal miscalculation in terms of a way going about an argument and in terms of filmmaking.

Starring: Marshall R. Teague, Jennifer O'Neill, Fred Williamson, Nikki Novak, Hunter Gomez, and Jenna Boyd. Directed by: Darrel Campbell and Kevin McAfee.
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1/10
Obvious agenda is obvious.
Java_Joe13 September 2017
This movie has come back in the news namely because the court case where Mike Huckabee robocalled everybody to promote this movie finally was decided and the makers need to pay out some $32 million dollars in damages. That's a little more than $10.00 per person though but it made me remember this movie all over again.

This takes place in an America that never was. It's an America where kids aren't allowed to bring bibles to school. There's never been any law like this on the books except you can't read from the bible in class nor can you teach the bible instead of actual history or science. It's a world where you can't have Christmas decorations anywhere. It's a world where kids never heard of Christmas carols because they don't play them on the radio anymore. In short, this is not happening anywhere in this country.

But that never stopped people with an agenda from pushing it and acting like they're the persecuted minority when last time I checked just about everybody in this country celebrates Christmas to one degree or another.

It's badly acted, poorly produced and has elements in it that simply aren't true no matter how much the makers want it to be true.

Avoid this unless you happen to like that kind of thing. Or even better, try to find a real Christmas movie if you're in the mood for one.
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1/10
This was a bad movie, by jingo!
lynnem-7185621 October 2015
This movie is a Fox News viewer's wet dream: factually inaccurate, racially insensitive, and wallowing in manufactured Christian persecution and martyrdom. We're so oppressed! We are only allowed to have our Christmas decorations prominently displayed in our homes and places of worship. They are stripping us of our right to force everyone in the country to acknowledge our religion too!

The guys at God Awful Movies podcast put it best: Will America Freedom Jesus? Will Jesus Freedom America? Will Freedom Freedom Freedom? Find out the Jesus to America Questions and Freedom, when we Jesus back for act Freedom of America America Jesus!
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1/10
In a Land of Make Believe
twilliams7626 February 2013
Last Ounce of Courage takes place in a skewed, alternate reality where everyday freedoms HAVE been taken away and Christmas is actually threatened by people such as an African-American man from Washington DC (seriously ... the film went there). There is NOTHING subtle about this movie (the "TRUE" patriotic hero of the film has a last name of Revere) and it is comprised of nothing but false talking points that aren't even close to being true or becoming a reality. There are so many furrowed brows on display here the fictional town of Mt. Columbus appears to be among the angriest in film history. It is all balderdash.

Even with these preposterous assertions, what truly makes the film a disaster are the low production values, the over-the-top-hoping-for-an-Oscar acting, the blatant vilifying of select minorities and its sense of smugness that it has throughout for anybody with a differing opinion.

It is either this or a brilliant satire of the fanatical right ... in which case it may be genius.
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1/10
I knew it would be bad, but geez
xlogan12323 January 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Hands down, the worst movie I've ever seen. If I could give it less than one star, I would.

I knew it was propaganda when I started, but the depiction of Christians as being so oppressed that a bible in a student's locker warrants a trip to the principle's office is such a ridiculous persecution fantasy that it's offensive to rational Christians.

If you're a fan of Bill O'Reilly, you will enjoy this film. If you have any common sense, this movie is nothing short of an awkward, obnoxious fantasy.

Ignoring the message, though, the movie was still bad. The acting is flat and awkward, the characters are unrealistic (seriously, is the reputable and world-renowned attorney so incompetent in his own field that some old fart can beat him in his own game with nothing more than a night of reading?), and every scene they tried to make touching felt clumsy. The protagonist is so over-the-top patriotic it's hard not to laugh at him a little. (Come on, using a giant American flag as a motorcycle cover? Really?)
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1/10
Unendurable Persecution/Victimization Fantasy
jdennist18 September 2012
LAST OUNCE OF COURAGE is so over-the-top that one is tempted to brand it a parody: the heavy use of military march music to suggest patriotic resolution, the ham-fisted speechifying, the slimy cigar-smoking villain...but then there are the elements which are clearly meant to be funny, like the fey theater director (ha, ha) or the bumbling biker gang (who look tough, but are, of course, just a bunch of softies).

But what really makes the film a chore to watch is how weak a piece of propaganda it is. The villains never make a remotely rounded case for themselves; the (hilariously exaggerated) actions on the part of those who try to repress Christmas and religious expression are based on vague fear alone, and while vague fear has inspired many a misguided action, when there's a message to be conveyed (I assume that's what they were trying to do), there needs to be either something concrete to react against, or an actual nuanced exploration of the issues. In a general sense, liberals seem to be the antagonistic force here, but the film doesn't take an actual stand against anything.

It's also one of the most pandering films I've ever seen, using the Army, the Bible, Christmas trees, motorcycles, the word "freedom", the American flag, and the cross as grossly blunt symbols of what this film means to honor. But it's so empty-minded that these symbols do not elevate the film or its themes; they just underscore its total lack of substance.

The acting doesn't help. Marshall Teague was far more convincing as a psychotic henchman in ROAD HOUSE; he has one line in particular that would turn off this film's target audience. The character of Bob Revere is a hard one to really like (he's awfully self-righteous), and Teague's performance doesn't help matters. Jennifer O'Neill, a long, long time after SCANNERS or SUMMER OF '42, can do little with the role of Teague's wife. Fred Williamson, as the aforementioned villain, seems to realize how awful the film he's in is, and manages to bring a little more pizazz to his one-dimensional role. Not enough to make it a memorable performance, really, but he's definitely the best thing in the film.

Add to the leaden script and flat performances a cheap production and sloppy directing, and you've got one big steaming pile of film. Not recommended. Oh, wait--it IS "Chuck Norris approved". Make of that what you will.
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10/10
Wholesome American Film
Bro_soup18 September 2012
The heart of this movie is evident. It shares a message that will ring true for years to come. I realize that the "critics" have been taking this movie to the woodshed, but there are loads of positive reports that have come from the theaters. My favorite, one group of movie-goers started singing "God Bless America" after the credits. When I watched the film, the theater applauded in roughly five different areas. I don't remember the last time I went to a film where the audience actually applauded throughout. I don't think there was a dry eye in the theater! So... don't go into this movie thinking you're going to be blown away by the production value and cinematography, go into this movie with an open-mind ready to hear a great and touching story. Oh, and take some tissues. (:
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1/10
So many 9+/10 scores, yet it gets 3.8. Shocker.
Jam_Man_UK1 December 2012
Why do people insist on leaving fake reviews. Pages of reviews within a week giving higher ratings than some of the classic movies of all time, yet the overall score is 3.8.

Well I don't have anything to do with the film, am not American and am an atheist, and when I watched it I thought it was awful.

As film from a complete neutral it was terrible, patronising and laughable.

The film deserves to be on some Z-grade cable channel on a Wednesday afternoon.

Fortunately the scoring on IMDb shows the true picture, its a terrible low budget movie with nothing to warrant a viewing.
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9/10
Moving call to action
r-lthatcher14 September 2012
Our family was given the amazing opportunity to be at one of the premieres of The Last Ounce of Courage. I found the movie to be more than something to consider - but a call to action regarding the civil liberties that are being challenged (and that have been lost) in the tireless assault of political correctness and the perceived "need" to not offend.

I did not find the movie to be heavy-handed in national or religious sentiment but these are certainly a thread through the movie (courage, character and conviction are the core elements of the filmmakers). We learned at the premiere that this is the second largest opening of an independent film (behind Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ).

Our family has recently learned that as private citizens it impossible to violate the Constitution of the United States - the Constitution serves as boundaries of all government officials - a rare protection of citizenry of a country. The truth is the United States IS different than other countries in the world. This is not something to take for granted or to apologize for.

This movie calls to action its citizenry, taking into account the cost for that freedom as well as the price of not doing anything. I am hopeful that you enjoy the movie and are moved - as my family is - to not only learn of our rights but our responsibilities as a US citizen.
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6/10
Powerful, and daring...NOT from Hollywood!
bonepilot14 September 2012
Warning: Spoilers
This independent film is a daring break from the typical messages sent from Hollywood. Hollywood's messages often confound the American viewer with their slant towards their understanding what our freedoms are, and how they are acceptably given up for causes that only certain liberal elitists agree with. Not so, with the "Last Ounce Of Courage". This film depicts the emotional struggle between a Vietnam veteran and a representative from Washington D.C. sent to "advise" the veteran he cannot set up Christmas decorations on the court house lawn in his small town. The plot tracks through some other controversial issues, such as understanding what freedom is, how those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom are often ignored, and the true meaning of Christmas. Admittedly, there are flaws with this low budget film that have to do more with how the characters are developed, and the sometimes overly saccharine and heavy handed way the actors are portrayed in this drama. My greatest criticisms are, why was the Washington D.C. representative portrayed by an African American,and why was the Vietnam War veteran (highly decorated for valor) "suddenly" called a fraud? Aside from these flaws, the film still boasts a potential in its message that, in my opinion, no American should turn away from. I recommend everyone see this film, if for no other reason than to witness what an underfunded independent can do to shame Hollywood in the political awareness arena.
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1/10
great movie for privileged martyrs
shuttfupmom22 December 2019
This is what happens when a film's key theme is to illustrate the hardship middle class majority families endure due to the existence of non profit civil liberty advocacy groups. /s it's unbearable if you go in thinking it's a corny christmas movie to enjoy with the family. however, if you watch this w/ a group of semi-informed reasonable adult humans, it can be pretty entertaining, kind of like how The Room is now an enjoyable experience for most viewers.
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1/10
Freedom
DogFilmCritic26 April 2015
If this movie was set on an alternative universe were in the U.S. freedom didn't exist at all, it would make a far more interesting film that this.

Another entry in the beautiful American Evangelical pastime of "making stuff up so we can feel persecuted." Other groups may try their hand at it every so often, but no one else has it on lock quite like them.

Last Ounce Of Courage is about the son of a fallen soldier trying to reconnect with his grandfather, who is still grieving over the loss of his son. If you watched that trailer up there you can see that is not the case. The movie is actually about the mayor of a small town fighting to bring Christmas back to his town where is has been outlawed by the government...for reasons.

As usual conservatives. Don't have a brain in their head. There are more churches than homes. Not a single conversation can be had without God/Jesus being given full praise. Christmas is the greatess yielding time of the year with an explosive church attendance. The only people trying to take freedoms away ARE the conservatives.

You know, my big question is: what is that dumb mophead kid's motivation for even caring about anything rather than the script says so even worst his name is Christian!

The Christian and conservative propaganda is painfully everywhere, sending the message that if your Christian in the united states your being oppressed by the government, it's a fact no everyone celebrates the same holidays during Christmas, it makes sense to generalize it, instead of saying marry Christmas , happy holidays is OK, the antagonist represents some group. It never says what group or organization, but it becomes very clear very fast that the group is democrats; It also says that if you believe in the separation of church and state then you are non American.

The thing that really put this movie over the edge in terms of being terrible was the way they used soldiers dying in the middle east to manipulate the audiences feelings to support their message, even worst was that lame mophead kid idea of showing that tape were it shows his father dying...Way to show your respect for your fallen parent just let everyone in the podium witness your father getting killed, why not have some dignity and keep that to yourself.

The only thing that makes this movie watchable is the unintentional funny humor in it
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1/10
Conservative Christian propaganda
nuhc30 December 2012
I sat through this awful movie because my conservative Republican in-laws rented it. When I saw the subtitle which mentioned family, faith, and freedom, I just knew it was going to be an hour and a half of conservative propaganda. And I was right.

The movie takes place in some bizarre alternate universe where Americans aren't allowed to celebrate Christmas under penalty of law, school kids get suspended for taking bibles to school, Christmas trees are declared unconstitutional, people actually protest Christmas, and Christians get arrested & thrown into jail for hanging a cross on the side of a building which houses a religious mission. I know that a lot of conservatives actually believe that this is how America is today, but nothing could be further from the truth. And this is really what ruined the entire movie. Since the premise was flawed, the entire movie was flawed.

So the hero's son dies in a war apparently in the Middle East, and of course the movie's message is that he and all American soldiers who have died in the Middle East died to protect our freedom, freedom we're taking for granted because we're not forcing kids to pray in school and allowing non-Christians to celebrate Christmas without acknowledging Jesus and evil black liberal lawyers like to push their weight around with that pesky separation of church & state thing.

So some of the school kids decide to fight back by changing the non-Christmas play the (obviously gay) school play director wrote. They change it into a Charlie Brown Christmas-type play until the one kid shows the video of his dad getting blown away in Iraq or Afghanistan or wherever, which apparently endears everyone to the cause of dying for your country.

There are just too many plot holes to make this a good movie. For example, the first part of the movie takes place during a time when the United States is involved in a war in the Middle East, and then a few scenes later it's 14 years later. So if the latter part of the movie is supposed to be happening now in 2012, then that means the US was at war in the Middle East in 1998. Either that or the first part of the movie takes place now or some time between 2001 and the present, and the latter part of the movie is a few years in the future. At any rate, this isn't made clear and I think was a mistake by those writing the script so that a teenager who lost his dad in a war could be involved in the story. I suppose the first part of the movie could have taken place during Desert Storm and the latter half during 2005, but I don't think they were intending that. Then there's the plot hole where the main hero's military service record was being questioned, even though he won the Congressional Medal of Honor which would be in the public record. Not to mention the biggest plot hole of everyone hating Christmas because the government isn't allowed to erect Christmas symbols on government property, and cities "passing laws banning Christmas" which would be unconstitutional in real life.

Plot holes notwithstanding, the rest of the screenplay is just as lousy. For instance, two of the main character's names: "Bob Revere" and his grandson "Christian." Subtlety just doesn't exist in Christian films.

So in total, the movie totally sucks donkey butt. The acting isn't nearly as atrocious as other pro-Christian movies like Fireproof, but the anemic and totally implausible plot means that unless you're a regular Fox News viewer (and in that case you'll be thrilled by the brief footage of Bill O'Rielly), you won't like this movie at all. I'm tempted to rate this movie higher due to the cinematic work and acting not being totally bad, but the overall heavy-handedness of the "them evil, godless liberals is destroying our country" message ruined any enjoyment to be had by this movie. So 1 out of 10.
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1/10
Facepalm
pattyp-725-5824928 July 2016
How anyone rated this more than 1 is beyond me. Hamfisted Christian persecution complex propaganda.

They would have had to make a strong effort to make it worse.

Seriously? Anyone who gave this a 2 or more, have you seen a movie before?

Embarrassing for Christians, infuriating for the sane.

I'd rather have a sulfuric acid enema than watch this again.

I'd rather watch a soccer match than watch this again.

I'd rather have my appendage slammed between two biology textbooks than watch this again.
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1/10
Another grand delusion brought to you by more phony Christians
johann_hollar22 October 2016
Once more a movie is made to make Christians like myself have me want to hide my faith and have me be reluctant to call myself a Christian.

It's bad enough we have straw man crap films about the existence of God in the God's Not Dead films or flawed arguments about creation like Matter of Faith, but when it comes to the whole stupid taking away Christmas angle, this piece of crap film takes the cake when it comes to the whole stupid persecution angle.

Why the hell would politicians take away Christmas? Would the same morons who are protesting about Christmas do the same thing for Non- Christian holidays? What right do they have to go waving around the American flag on their advertisement, when the film is fighting against the church/state separation, the core foundation of this country? and on a final note: what the hell is with the ACLU like organization doing being depicted as the bad guys?

I would expect some kind of answer, but then again with a film that's been approved by Chuck Norris, I might not want an answer.
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1/10
Severely cringe-worthy.
stressfulsebby8 April 2013
Bad plot, Bad acting, cheesy dialogue, cheesy plot. I agree with some of the other reviews in that it should be aired on late night TV on a budget TV station.

I watched this film just to make sure that the trailer didn't just give it a bad wrap. Well it turns out that the movie is even worse than the trailer. I'll definitely never be watching this again, unless I commit some atrocious crime, in which case watching it would serve as more than enough punishment.

No, but in all seriousness; worst film i have seen in a very very long time. Thank god I pirated the movie and didn't spend a cent. *delete, empty trash, reformat drive, smash drive*
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10/10
Outstanding film
fixer1360514 September 2012
My wife and I took our two teenage grandchildren to see this new movie "Last Ounce of Courage" tonight, I can't speak highly enough about this movie and suggest that everyone from adolescents through adults go and see this moving and inspiring movie.

It took me back to when movies actually made you think and feel and did not just entertain you with action scenes. It's about freedom, family, faith and values. Those same things that built this country into the great nation that it once was and can be again. The film addresses the concerns that many of us have about the way our individual freedoms are being taken away from us ever so slowly until one day we will wake up and find them all gone.

It is a must see!!!
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2/10
Limited understanding of separation between church and State
soccerstrike8531 December 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Saw the whole movie on you tube so if your interested you can watch it.

Not much to say about this movie First of the acting was mediocre but if feel the actors couldn't have done better since the characters have very little development and are pretty one dimensional.

Kids can't take a bible to school? In the movie Christians have had freedoms taken away but its nothing like reality. The ACLU-big shot lawyer villain has the debating skills of a 6th grader. Christmas trees unconstitutional ...why? the trees are completely secular and have nothing to do with religion. This whole war on Christmas is such a joke that it makes this movie a joke. I say Merry Christmas to everyone and sometimes I get a happy holiday back but my Merry Christmas hasn't bothered anyone and their happy holiday doesn't bother me both people wish each other well is a good thing no matter what is said. Should I feel offended if some one wish me Happy Hanukkah.

This movie has no understanding of the First Amendment "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

can't have teachers leading prayers in school but you can't keep kids from praying in school as long as it done in there own time. Also the makers of this film seem to forget that separation of church and state while not directly said in the First Amendment but that Thomas Jefferson wrote that "...thus building a wall of separation between church and State" and that this was first used in the supreme court back in 1879.

U.S. Supreme Court. In Reynolds v. United States (1879) the Court wrote that Jefferson's comments "may be accepted almost as an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect of the First Amendment." So I guess the this film knows better then one of our founding fathers.
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8/10
Amusing Bit of Propaganda
jduncan95711 September 2012
I learned of this movie while watching Monday Night Raw. As an avid follower of all things out-there, I had no problem picking up on its heavily veiled intentions. When I looked it up online and saw the full trailer, I felt like I had struck ideological gold. Add the presence of Fred Williamson, introduced as The Hammer, no less, and I had all the motivation I needed to order a ticket for a Patriot Day screening.

The movie is a lot of fun, for reasons both intentional and unintentional. Some of the things that got me laughing were all the images conflating religion and patriotism, particularly the American flag with the cross on the top on the back of Bob Revere's motorcycle. There's some pretty hilariously poor CG involving exploding Christmas bulbs. Occasionally there are odd establishing/transition shots that are held way too briefly. I particularly enjoyed the David Barton moment of awkwardly identifying the son's bible to be a Gideon Bible. The broadly drawn stereotypes of the tyrannical liberal lawyer and flaming gay theater director were amusing, and I loved the absurd nightmare world they construct with the Winter Odyssey play, and would have loved to see more of that.

My strongest criticism of the movie is that it didn't go far enough. There's too much disconnect between the world of the school, which is a hyper liberal alternate universe in which children in a conservative town are completely unfamiliar with the Nativity story, and the rest of the town. Kind of like the Apocalypse series from the Lalondes, there's a certain inability to see their ideas through to their necessary magnitude in a manner that's truly believable. The moments that are blissfully irreverent, such as the alien play, stand out too starkly against the rest of the milieu.

I'm still waiting to see one of these movies understand that they're essentially working with a comic book concept and truly build a consistent fantasy world in which all of their worst fears are projected and then overcame. This is far from a poor effort, and I hope it performs well enough that there might be more films to follow in its wake.

In a curious bit of trivia, when I was reading the credits I noticed the name of Gen Fukunaga. As a massive fan of the Dragon Ball franchise, that's a name I'm very familiar with. Who knew that all the money we've given to them over the years would yield such unusual fruit. I look forward to a new faith friendly DBZ in which the trials of Goku and company are presented within the framework of spiritual warfare and Vegeta does not seek to destroy the Earth but rather prevent people from reading the King James Bible.
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"Last Ounce of Courage"
kathie-481-45146920 September 2012
It is time for us to take a stand! This movie will make you aware of the condition that our country is in and now it is only going to get worse unless we do "take a stand" and take our freedoms back! Our rights as Americans have been taken away and we have sit by and let this happen! This movie gives us hope and challenges us to use our very "last ounce of courage" to take back what is rightfully ours and what our forefathers fought and died for and what our soldiers today are fighting and dying for...our freedom!I applaud the writers and producers of this movie for having the courage to take a stand and now it is our turn...we can make a difference!!!
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6/10
Last Ounce of Confusion
DeusWar30 July 2019
Quite an interesting film to say the least. Is it a Christian film? a Christmas film? a Patriotic film? A civil rights/political film? By blending all of these elements together loosely we are treated with the Last Ounce of Confusion!

From a political standpoint this film could be seen as 'conservative propaganda' by setting up a scenario in which religious civil rights are violated over the Christmas tree being placed in the town square and later removed during the Christmas season by a menacing lawyer. In the American culture war this film really attempts to demonstrate the real fear perpetrated by the shifting of the American culture away from its Christian heritage. For that reason many traditional Americans may appreciate this film's call to arms to 'fight for our rights'. But, what are they fighting for? Cultural Christianity?

From a Christian standpoint this film is quite silly. It has more of a sense of fighting for 'rights' than to live for God. The message seems to be, if we can only fight to preserve our rights everything will be okay. There is little to no sense of scriptural teachings, scriptures, or spirituality for that matter throughout this film. Sure there is an awakening of one of the main characters, sure there is some bravado, sure there is a touching scene of a biker coming to help, but that is it. There is no sense of Christian living, but rather a push for 'it's my right' kind of attitude. Any semblance of spirituality is very thinly veiled and overshadowed by the heavy patriotic elements. This is best portrayed near the end of the film when the manger scene is overshadowed by a film of a military man talking about our freedoms and dying -- following by salutes from the crowd. The real message is patriotism not Christianity. There is no questioning of the Iraq War and its actual relation to freedom. In fact, that man in the film is dying for our freedoms somehow. No one even questions that assumption in this film. For these reasons this film is sad as it blends politics and religion together for the purpose of furthering 'cultural Christianity' like the 'good ol' days'.

Judging by the comments on this film it does not seem to be helping the culture war, only furthering the cause of alienation.
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1/10
Reality of dead soldiers to fuel an oppressed fantasy world
theunthinkable9 January 2014
Last Ounce of Courage attempts to tell a story about a community taking back Christmas and other Republican values.

The first thing you'll notice is the lack of detail to the story, characters, and basically everything that isn't a Christian talking point. In this story the Christian protagonists have been oppressed because just about everything religious has been banned. Fortunately for this community of Christians, this ban was never even a law! All this time they were abiding by these stupid bans, and now that they realize the bans have no merit, nothing will get in their way! How convenient.

And who better to take on this ill-founded ban than a wholesome American patriot riding a motorcycle painted as a bald eagle with a giant American flag attached to the back and a Jesus Saves vest. He even uses an American flag as a dust cover. If that's not enough, he's the mayor, ex-military and has a medal of honor! These pseudo-bans on religion pose no match to this newly-acknowledged super patriot!

Last Ounce of Courage does pay attention to detail, albeit in a way that's painfully Christian. For example, the family is watching an old home video of their deceased soldier son, and the only thing they have to say is "Oh THAT'S the bible he decided to take with him." They actually use the reality of dead soldiers to fuel the fire of their oppressed fantasy world.

This movie does everything short of telling you to vote against the man resembling the outrageously stupid black antagonist. If you want a story about losing Christmas and getting it back again watch the original Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

The CGI was terrible too.
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1/10
The War on Christmas: The Movie
BushidoHacks11 September 2012
Warning: Spoilers
It is a terrible thing when a family member dies in battle in the name of protecting the freedoms that we have. It's just as terrible when a movie tries to capitalize on such a terrible tragedy by making it into the dumbest political football since Gerald Ford's clumsiness.

I'm talking about Bill O'Reilly's "War on Christmas"(R)(C)(tm)(sm) etc.

This was supposed to be a movie about how a war hero dad tries to honor his son's legacy. Instead it becomes some neo-conservative propaganda film that makes D.W. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation" look like "The Care Bears Movie". And to release it on September 11th of all days. Like that isn't so cliché of the neo-conservative agenda. In fact that the sort of thing that motivated me to become a democrat as it became as clear as 2005 there was no more room for moderate conservatives.

At any rate, this film is so full of neo-con crap that the message of honoring a lost loved one is buried under "Christian morals" and "conservative principles" rather than love, legacy, and a respect for honor.

Even the trailers exuded a hammy image imposing that if you wanted to be a man, you had to fight a war then someday come back and own a big motorcycle with a flag sticking out of the back. (Which although patriotic, is illegal in many states as the flag could fly off, cover someones windshield and cause a fatal car accident.)

TLDR: If you love someone who has passed, don't be Colonel Neocon and get on the roof and shout "The ACLU is trying to take away our freedom!". Heck, that's not what anyone in Florissant Missouri did after the 1998 decision of ACLU v. Florissant, and I would assume that if anyone loves their country and their troops, they would have enough common sense to realize how much baloney is in this film and how it was put out on September 11th during an election year by a studio that made two other box office bombs with neo-con messages in the past year ("Atlas Shrugged: Part 1" and "Obama 2016")

Embrace reality. Don't watch this film.

Follow up: Anyone noticed the motorcycle carrying a cross and a flag so big you could wrap yourself in it? Sure, you can say he is expressing both is faith and his patriotism but as Sinclair Lewis once said "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the American flag and carrying a cross." I hope the audience know the difference between fascism and expressing ones patriotism and faith.
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