Movieguide Awards: Winners Highlighted As 'The Good in Hollywood'

LOS ANGELES, CA — The Boss Baby, Darkest Hour and The Star, where among the movies that took home top prizes at the 26th Annual Movieguide® Awards Gala and Report to the Entertainment in Industry held at the Universal Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles on Friday (Feb. 2, 2018).

BY DAN WOODINGASSIST NEWS SERVICE

The glittering event which recognizes “the good in Hollywood” was started some 26 years ago by Dr. Ted Baehr, founder and publisher of Movieguide®, with a small gathering at the Hollywood Press Club, and has since grown to being one of the top gatherings in Tinsel town.Today, Movieguide®’s Annual Faith & Values Awards Gala is different than any other awards ceremony in Hollywood. It honors the best, most family-friendly movies and television programs honoring God and inspiring audiences with messages of biblical faith, hope, goodness, justice, redemption, forgiveness, and true divine love.The winner of the $25,000 Ware Foundation Prize for the Best Movie for Families -- The Boss Baby (DreamWorks/20th Century Fox) -- is a 2017 American computer-animated comedy film loosely based on the 2010 picture book of the same name by Marla Frazee and produced by DreamWorks Animation. Directed by Tom McGrath and written by Michael McCullers, the film stars the voices of Alec Baldwin as the title character, along with Miles Bakshi, Steve Buscemi, Jimmy Kimmel, Lisa Kudrow, and Tobey Maguire. The plot follows a baby who is a secret agent in the war for adult's love between babies and puppies.If British war-time hero, Winston Churchill was alive today, I am sure he would have be pleased that the Winner for Best Movie for Mature Audiences, was Darkest Hour, a 2017 British war drama film directed by Joe Wright and written by Anthony McCarten. It stars Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill, and follows his early days as Prime Minister, as Hitler closes in on Britain during World War II. The film also stars Ben Mendelsohn, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lily James, Stephen Dillane, and Ronald Pickup.The Epiphany Prize for Most Inspiring Movie of last year went to The Star, an American computer-animated Christian adventure film directed by Timothy Reckart. Based on the Nativity of Jesus, and an original idea by Tom Sheridan, the screenplay was written by Carlos Kotkin and Simon Moore. It is produced by Sony Pictures Animation, with partnership from Walden Media, Affirm Films and The Jim Henson Company. It stars the voices of Steven Yeun, Gina Rodriguez, Zachary Levi, Keegan-Michael Key, Kelly Clarkson, Patricia Heaton,Kristin Chenoweth, Tracy Morgan, Tyler Perry, and Oprah Winfrey.Before the start of the awards show, which will be televised on the REELZ Channel at 4 p.m. on April 1, 2018, I was able to join with journalists from around the world to interview many of the well-known and up-and-coming personalities walking the red carpet, for my “Inside Hollywood with Dan Wooding” TV show on the Holy Spirit Broadcasting Network.I also interviewed another icon of the 50s and 60s, Pat Boone, who joked around with my dear friend, Lance Wilder, a top artist on The Simpsons, pretending to interview him with his electric shaver. Lance later explained how the incident came about, saying, “I've known Pat Boone now for 16-17 years, mainly from walking the red carpet. He was late and was shaving in the limo and accidentally kept it in his hand when he got out. When he saw me, he threatened to shave my beard off, and then just pretended it was a microphone.”Probably, the best-known was Bo Derek, the American film and television actress, movie producer, and model, who is still remembered for her breakthrough role in the 1979 film 10. I was also able to interview famed game show host, Wink Martindale, and his wife, Sandy, who once dated Elvis Presley, and who told me that she felt that if Elvis was still alive, he would have attended a Movieguide® event like this one. Now that would have been something!As during the many times I’ve been to the red carpet event before the start of the Movieguide® awards ceremony, it was lots of fun for me and my cameraman/producer, Tim Hathaway, as endeavored to keep up with the steady stream of people that appeared before us.Now here is the full list of winners and nominees, sponsored by the Christian Film & Television Commission®:The Jeannette Clift George Award for Furthering Entertainment with Faith & Values, was a special award went to Rich Peluso “for his tireless and superior efforts over many years to present the truth of the Gospel through Hollywood movies.” Peluso is the Executive Vice President of AFFIRM Films, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) that is focused on the development, production, acquisition, and marketing of faith-based and inspirational films.Ten Best Movies for FamiliesWinner of the $25,000 Ware Foundation Prize for the Best Movie for Families – The Boss BabyThe Boss Baby (DreamWorks/20th Century Fox)The Star (Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Ent.)Cars 3 (Pixar/Walt Disney Studios)Despicable Me 3 (Illumination/Universal Studios)The Case for Christ (PureFlix Films)The Man Who Invented Christmas (Bleecker Street Media)The LEGO Batman Movie (Warner Bros. Pictures)Smurfs: The Lost Village (Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Ent.)The Emoji Movie (Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures Ent.)Ferdinand (Blue Sky/20th Century Fox)Ten Best Movies for Mature AudiencesWinner for Best Movie for Mature Audiences: Darkest HourDarkest Hour (Focus Features/Comcast)All Saints (Sony Affirm/Sony Pictures Ent.)Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (Walt Disney Studios)Thor: Ragnarok (Marvel/Walt Disney Studios)The Promise (2017) (Open Road Films)Bitter Harvest (Roadhouse Attractions)Wonder (Lionsgate Films)Dunkirk (2017) (Warner Bros. Pictures/Time Warner)Wonder Woman (Warner Bros. Pictures/Time Warner)Justice League (Warner Bros. Pictures/Time Warner)Epiphany Prize for Most Inspiring MovieWinner: The StarNominees:All SaintsBitter HarvestThe Boss BabyThe Case for ChristLet There Be LightThe Promise (2017)The StarEpiphany Prize for Most Inspiring TV ProgramWinner: The Long Road Home: Black Sunday, Part 2Nominees:Blue Bloods: Cutting LossesThe Crown: VergangenheitLast Man Standing: Take Me to ChurchLittle Big Shots: Tiny DancerThe Long Road Home: Black Sunday, Part 2Victoria: An Ordinary Woman and The Queen’s HusbandFaith & Freedom Award for MoviesWinner: The PromiseNominees:Bitter HarvestThe Boss BabyDarkest HourDunkirk (2017)The LEGO Batman MovieThe PromiseWonderFaith & Freedom Award for TVWinner: The Long Road Home: Black Sunday, Part 2Nominees:Blue Bloods: Cutting LossesThe Crown: VergangenheitFive Came BackThe Long Road Home: Black Sunday, Part 2The Middle: The 200thVictoria: An Ordinary Woman and The Queen’s HusbandThe Faith and Freedom Awards are supported by a grant from The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation.Grace Award for Most Inspiring Performance in MoviesWinner: John Corbett for All SaintsNominees:Erika Christensen for The Case for ChristJohn Corbett for All SaintsOscar Isaac for The Promise (2017)Kevin Sorbo for Let There Be LightSam Sorbo for Let There Be LightTerrence Stamp for Bitter HarvestDan Stevens for The Man Who Invented ChristmasMike Vogel for The Case for ChristChristie Peters Grace Award for Most Inspiring Performance in TVWinner: Paul Sparks for The Crown: VergangenheitNominees:Tim Allen for Last Man Standing: Take Me to ChurchLen Cariou for Blue Bloods: Cutting LossesJenna Coleman for Victoria: An Ordinary Woman and The Queen’s HusbandBill Engvall for Last Man Standing: Take Me to ChurchClaire Foy for The Crown: VergangenheitSteve Harvey for Little Big Shots: Tiny DancerTom Hughes for Victoria: An Ordinary Woman and The Queen’s HusbandMichael Kelly for The Long Road Home: Black Sunday, Part 2Tom Selleck for Blue Bloods: Cutting LossesPaul Sparks for The Crown: Vergangenheit$15,000 Kairos Prize for Most Spiritually Uplifting Screenplay by a First-Time or Beginning ScreenwritersWilliam Gebby for North Star$15,000 Kairos Pro Prize for Most Inspiring Screenplay by an Experienced FilmmakerAlexandra Boylan for SwitchedThe Kairos Prizes are supported by a grant from The Timothy Plan.Now in their 33rd year, CFTVC and Movieguide® are the largest, longest-running international, non-profit ministry dedicated to “redeeming the values of the entertainment industry by influencing industry executives and by informing and equipping the public about the influence of the entertainment media.”At the Gala, Dr. Baehr presented highlights from Movieguide®’s Annual Report to the Entertainment Industry, a comprehensive financial analysis of the entertainment business showing that audiences generally prefer movies and television programs with positive, biblical faith and values.For more information about Movieguide® or CFTVC, visit www.movieguide.org or call (805) 383-2000.Photo captions: 1) Poster for Darkest Hour. 2) Dr. Ted Baehr and his daughter, Evy, on the red carpet. 3) Dan Wooding with Wink Martindale with his wife, Sandy, who once dated Elvis Presley. 4) The Promise movie poster. 5) Pat Boone pretending to interview Lance Wilder with his electric shaver. 6) Dan Wooding with Bo Derek. (Photo: Alex Murashko Jr.)About the writer: Dan Wooding, 77, is an award-winning author, broadcaster and journalist who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, Alfred and Anne Wooding, and is now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for nearly 55 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. Dan has written numerous books, the most recent of which is Mary, My Story from Bethlehem to Calvary, a novel about the life of Jesus through the eyes of his beloved mother. It is based on some 365 scriptures. Before he and his family moved to the United States, Dan was a senior reporter with both the Sunday People and the Sunday Mirror and also did interviews for the BBC.The above article was originally published at ASSIST News Service.

Jordin Sparks Hopes to Record Worship Music; 'It's Like Breathing'

A career move to make Los Angeles home a few years ago included a “prodigal son” story for singer/actress Jordin Sparks, who now says she hopes worship music will be a part of her recordings list.“I do sing worship at my church in L.A. I haven’t recorded any worship songs yet, but I’m hopefully going to be starting the process soon. I worship all the time. I have to. It’s like breathing. Singing is like breathing. I wake up and I have to sing and it’s usually a worship song. I know where I’ve been and I know where He’s brought me from so I’m grateful all the time,” Sparks, 27, told Together LA backstage at the recent Harvest America 2017 in Phoenix where she was a guest artist.At age 17, Sparks' rise to fame kicked off in 2007, when she won the sixth season of American Idol, and she became the youngest winner in the series' history. Her self-titled debut studio album, released later that year, was certified platinum and has sold over two million copies worldwide. Sparks' second studio album, Battlefield (2009), debuted at Number 7 on the Billboard 200 chart. Throughout her career, Sparks has won numerous awards, including an NAACP Image Award, a BET Award, an American Music Award, a People's Choice Award, and two Teen Choice Awards. Her third studio album, Right Here Right Now, was released in August 2015.Sparks made her feature film debut playing the lead role in the music-themed "Sparkle," a remake of the 1976 film inspired by the story of The Supremes. Sparkle was filmed in the fall of 2011 and also starred Whitney Houston.“I would love to say that my journey has been amazingly straight, but it’s been up and down and all around in curlie cues and circles, and I think that’s how everybody is, but in terms of music lyrically there are things I try and stay away from,” she told TLA. “I know some things I did were crazy. I see pictures of myself a couple years ago and I don’t even recognize myself and I am like ‘What was I doing?’ Who, where was I? And I was not where I could have been.”[gallery type="slideshow" size="full" ids="2924,2925,2923" orderby="rand"]At Harvest America, Sparks sang “My Redeemer Lives” and also sang Crystal Lewis’ “Come Just as You Are” as part of the call to the field by Harvest pastor Greg Laurie for those making decisions to follow Jesus. She also was able to give a brief testimony of her life from the stage, led by questions from Laurie.“The great thing about Jesus and about God is that he uses you right where you are, as you are, so even if there was a time like I wasn’t really seeking him he was still using me and even now when I am seeking him a lot deeper,” she told TLA.Sparks added, “Not that I did anything crazy, but little compromises, a couple months later and all of a sudden you’re like how did I get here? But God is so good in his grace and pulling you back.”She said that moving to L.A. presented its challenges which she was eventually able to overcome by finding a church family.“I didn’t move there immediately after winning Idol. I moved there about 3-and-a-half years ago and it was difficult because I moved by myself,” Sparks explains. “I do have family there but they’re working, their busy, they have a son in high school, but it was crazy.“I didn’t have a home church. I didn’t have a base. I tried a few churches. It gets a little crazy because just like in Times Square, people are looking for people who do things in the industry so it’s kind of hard to be worshipping when people are trying to film you.“So, there was a few churches that I tried and I was like this isn’t going to work for me. And finally, last year, I went to Angeles Temple in Echo Park, Pastor Matthew Barnett and Tommy Barnett (Phoenix First Assembly). I went and my life was absolutely changed. It was absolutely incredible.“Jesus met me there and I had this moment of ‘Oh, my gosh. What am I doing? This is insane’ and it’s been amazing, diving in, seeking him, trying to get the Jesus who walks next to you,” she said. “I knew God the Creator of all things, but the person that walks right beside you every single day I’ve gotten to know him and it’s the most amazing thing. But there’s always going to be those times when I’m tempted to say ‘yes’ to do something and it’s not easy, but the good path isn’t always the easy path.”When asked about where she is at in terms of the genres of worship and popular music she said, “I go back and forth on that. I think about that a lot. I love the music that I get to do because he’s placed me where I have an amazing platform. I know there are some songs that I did record that I will never sing that song live again.“I will never do that again because the place I was in, where my mind was at, it was almost like I had this haze over everything that I did,” she continued. “But I was also not going to church consistently, I wasn’t diving into the Word, and I wasn’t surrounding myself with people that were like-minded or at least somebody that I could turn and talk to and it was hard to find moving out to L.A. when I did not know anybody.“I finally found those people. It’s been amazing to get back on track. There are things that I try and stay away from lyrically but there are times when there are stories that are part of my testimony that if I want to write about them I’m going to write about them,” Sparks said. “The cool thing about what I do is that a song can reach so many people. It’s like a universal language and to not share some of the things that I’ve gone through I think would not only be a detriment to my testimony but to those people who need to hear it.”She said she is in “this really cool place” where she has the freedom as an independant artist to choose whatever she wants to do musically. “If I want to cover a worship song I’m going to cover a worship song if I want to...Songs I’ve known my entire life but I’ve never performed them.”She adds, “God is so good in that way because I felt so chained down for a long time. And when I say freedom, there’s a boldness for Christ that I got instantly after he hit me with a 2-by-4 last Easter and there’s just a boldness there but in that there’s also freedom."

What a beautiful night @harvestamerica. So many people coming home to Jesus' loving arms. I'm overwhelmed in the best way. 💛💛💛 #harvestamerica

A post shared by Jordin Sparks (@jordinsparks) on Jun 11, 2017 at 9:22pm PDT

Meagan Good Among Speakers at Largest Faith-Based Conference for Entertainment Professionals

LA MIRADA, CALIF. — Biola Media Conference, the largest national event for people of faith working in the entertainment industry, will return after a year hiatus on Saturday (April 29) at Fox Studios in Los Angeles, Calif. Director Destin Daniel Cretton and actress Meagan Good are slated to speak at the conference.The Biola Media Conference, sponsored by Biola University’s Cinema and Media Arts department, is a haven for professionals and students who want to pave a new way forward for quality media-making from a Christian perspective — people who refuse to divorce their faith from their craft, and won’t settle for low-quality, didactic “Christian” media.“The Biola Media Conference was an incredible experience,” said film and television producer, DeVon Franklin. “It was truly an honor to be able to share the power of building a thriving career in Hollywood, without compromising your faith.”The 2017 theme, “No Boundaries,” will explore how saying “Yes” opens doors, allows filmmakers to stretch themselves, and how it changes lives and creates careers.“The Biola Media Conference draws artists from around the world who are trying to step through the open doors that new technology has opened,” said Jack Hafer, professor of cinema and media arts. “Thousands of new jobs are filled this year that didn’t even exist two years ago thanks to Netflix, Amazon, and now Apple and Google searching for original programming to secure their customer base. We’ve booked amazing talent to help you understand how to navigate these new waters.”Cretton is a film director, screenwriter, producer, and editor. He is best known for writing and directing his second feature film, “Short Term 12.” He is the director of the forthcoming adaptation of The Glass Castle set to release in 2017 featuring actress Brie Larson. Cretton co-wrote the screenplay for “The Glass Castle” with Andrew Lanham of “The Shack.” Cretton spoke at the Biola Media Conference in 2013 as well.Good has appeared in numerous television shows, films, and music videos since she started her career in 1985 at the age of four. Earlier this year, Good published her first book, The Wait: A Powerful Practice for Finding the Love of Your Life and the Life You Love, which she co-wrote with her husband, DeVon Franklin. She also guest-starred on CBS’ medical drama Code Black, in which her character had a 3-episode arc. She will star next in the Lifetime movie “The 10th Date” and in the American crime drama “Deuces,” which are both slated for release in 2017.The conference attracts more than 700 industry professionals. Past speakers have included blockbuster producer Ralph Winter, actor Sean Astin, screenwriter Stan Williams, and Franklin.For more information or to register online, visit www.biolamedia.com. General Admission cost is $149. Cost for Biola alumni is $40. High school and non-Biola college student admission is $75. Lunch and coffee bar are included. Limited press passes are available upon request. Email jenna.loumagne@biola.edu for a press pass application.Biola University is a private Christian university located in Southern California on the border of Los Angeles and Orange counties in the city of La Mirada. For more than 100 years, Biola has remained committed to its biblical foundation, integrating biblical principles with every academic program. U.S. News & World Report recognizes Biola as a “National University,” which is considered the “major leagues” of higher education.