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Bishop Carlton Pearson, a renowned preacher, singer and composer, known for his Live At Azusa albums, died on November 19 after a battle with cancer in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

His theology, known as the “gospel of inclusion,” preached against homophobia and embraced the LGBTQ community, but cost him his congregation and approval within the evangelical community. However, his message of inclusion and his denial of hell has become a model, and his impact in gospel music continues to inspire new generations of artists.

“He has an album of hymns that people would...

John Goodman has a lot of catching up to do. Over the past six years, the renowned actor has been so busy rebooting his role as Dan Conner on Roseanne and The Conners, and establishing himself as televangelist patriarch Eli Gemstone on the fantastic HBO series The Righteous Gemstones, he hasn’t had time for the little things, like following up on medical appointments and getting back to the boxing gym, just a few years after he shed more than 200 pounds. “It’s like I didn’t have any time off,...

It’s been a long road to Omaha, but the 2023 NCAA Men’s College World Series is finally here! Starting Friday, June 16 at 2 p.m. Et on ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN+, the top college baseball teams in the country will converge on Omaha, Nebraska. Eight clubs will pitch, run, and slug it out to determine who will be the 2023 national champion! See every game of the 2023 NCAA Men’s College World Series with a Subscription to Sling TV (50% Off).

How to Watch the 2023 Men’s College World Series When: Starts Friday, June 16 at 2 p.m. Et TV: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN+ Stream: Watch with a Subscription to Sling TV (50% Off).

All games of the 2023 NCAA Men’s College World Series will be simulcast live on ESPN+.

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About 2023 NCAA Men’s College World Series

Five nationally-seeded...

The NCAA baseball regular season has finally come to a close, and it’s time to see which teams can survive the Super Regionals and head to Omaha. Sixteen teams duke it out to determine who will play for the College World Series, including top-ranked Wake Forest, the red-hot Oral Roberts, and a record-setting six SEC teams. The NCAA Baseball Super Regionals begin this Friday, June 9 at 12 noon Et and continue until Monday, June 12 on the ESPN family of networks — ESPN, ESPN2, Espnu, and streaming live on ESPN+. You can watch with a Subscription to Sling TV (50% Off).

How to Watch the 2023 NCAA Baseball Super Regionals When: June 9 - 12 TV: ESPN, ESPN2, Espnu, ESPN+ Streaming: Watch with a Subscription to Sling TV (50% Off) and a subscription to ESPN+. Get 50% Off $40 / month sling.com

Limited Time: Get 50% Off Your First Month of Sling TV (Just $20)

About the 2023 NCAA Baseball Super Regionals...

In an interview on a Christian nationalist broadcast, Donald Trump vowed to empower religious leaders politically, by permanently ending restrictions against churches that weigh in on elections. “They’ve silenced you,” said Trump. “Christianity, I believe is being hit much harder than any other religion is.”

In his comments, aired Tuesday night, Trump blasted the so-called Johnson amendment, which dictates that nonprofits, including churches, lose their tax-free status if they weigh in directly on politics. “We never enforced it. We essentially ended it,” Trump bragged of his time in the White House,...

“Hello, Atlanta!” Bobcat Goldthwait greets his enthusiastic audience in a small comedy club at the start of “Joy Ride.” “A funny thing happened on the way to the show.” Actually, what happened was a near-fatal 2019 automobile accident that, contrary to contemporary news reports of the mishap, seriously injured Goldthwait and fellow comic Dana Gould while they were driving to a joint stand-up gig. But as this engagingly intimate documentary makes clear: They’re still standing. And doing stand-up.

Goldthwait and Gould prove to be engaging traveling companions offstage and amusing performers in the spotlight throughout “Joy Ride,” Goldthwait’s amiably no-frills account of their 2020 tour of comedy clubs in Los Angeles, Georgia and North Carolina.

The venues where they perform are a few steps short of world-renowned showcases, something Goldthwait indirectly acknowledges during a bit in which he dismisses “fans” who unfollowed him on Twitter after learning of his left-leaning...

Ralph Carmichael, a prolific composer and arranger of film and TV scores whose writing or arranging credits include I Love Lucy, Bonanza, My Mother the Car, the sci-fi classic The Blob and some of the most beloved and enduring Christmas recordings ever made, died Monday in Camarillo, Calif. He was 94.

His death was announced by family spokesperson Jim Pedersen. A cause was not specified.

A pioneering figure in contemporary Christian music, Carmichael began a long career in television and film in the early 1950s when he headed the music department of his alma mater, the Southern California Bible College, and his school band was featured on the local Los Angeles TV program Campus Christian Hour. The show won an Emmy Award in 1951.

Around the same time, he began writing incidental music charts for I Love Lucy, a role he’d also fill on December Bride, Bonanza and The Frankie Lane Show,...

Following a Sundance Film Festival debut in January, Netflix unveiled Come Sunday, its true-life religious story of the Rev. Carlton Pearson, over the weekend on its streaming service and in some theaters. I caught it Sunday (naturally), but the low-energy dramatics didn’t grab me, with the exception of the lead performance from the always reliable Chiwetel Ejiofor as Pearson, a media-age preacher caught up in a crisis of conscience.

Based on This American Life’s segment entitled “Heretics” that focused on Pearson and the controversial decision to tell his flock that Hell doesn’t exist, director Joshua Marston (who made an impressive first film in 2004 with Maria Full of Grace but has largely worked in television since) and screenwriter Marcus Hinchey struggle to give the compelling true story of Pearson some much-needed dramatic mojo. A little more life should have been poured into the biopic which, appropriately for Netflix if not Sundance,...

Matthew 4:16: “The people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” That Bible passage was written about Jesus Christ’s return from Galilee after the arrest of John the Baptist, but it could just as easily have preordained the glory of Jesus Christ’s return to movie screens after the pre-Easter rash of faith-based faff like “I Can Only Imagine” and “God’s Not Dead: Light in Darkness.”

Now that the lord hath risen, the quality of movies about him is set to rise as well. While Paul Schrader’s transcendent “First Reformed” is still waiting in the wings, “Maria Full of Grace” director Joshua Marston’s safe but stirring “Come Sunday” is a big step back towards grace, and a necessary reminder that spiritual crises are always more engaging for the questions...

It’s rare that mainstream filmmakers attempt to take seriously matters of faith – a subject personal to a majority of people but which movies have historically handled clumsily. This perhaps exposes the gap in the competencies between the greats and the merely good, Ok, or less. It takes a true understanding of an art form to use it to express the ineffable, spiritual aspects of human experience. The ways of doing so do not exist in the conventional toolkit. Come Sunday makes an admirable effort to delve into religious conviction and changes in faith, but comes up feeling too normal and disconnected from those matters.

The film dramatizes the true story of Carlton Pearson (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a celebrated Church of God in Christ bishop who at the height of his power in the ‘90s preached to a congregation of over 6,000 and reached millions more through television broadcasts and revival tours.

Ejiofor is superb in this biopic of ousted Pentecostalist minister Carlton Pearson, but his moral conversion doesn’t go nearly far enough

Chiwetel Ejiofor is electrifying from the pulpit in this biopic of Pentecostal bishop Carlton Pearson. It’s no wonder that Pearson’s ministry packed them in each week, television cameras in tow. When we first meet him he is a devout born-again Christian, and even if he’s exhausted on a late night flight he’ll save the soul of his seat passenger is she happens to be a lapsed Catholic at wits’ end and hungry for purpose.

Though strict in his beliefs and a protege of the renown huckster Oral Roberts (who once told his congregation that God would strike him dead if he couldn’t raise $8m to bail out a real estate deal) it is clear that Bishop Pearson is a good man. It’s...

Chiwetel Ejiofor stars in the true-life tale of a renowned pastor in the midst of a crisis of faith in Come Sunday, the new film from Sundance Film Festival alum Joshua Marston that is having its world premiere tonight at the Eccles in the fest’s Premieres section. The Netflix drama bows on the streaming service April 13. Based on the This American Life story “Heretics,” Ejiofor is Carlton Pearson, an evangelical star whose mentor is Oral Roberts (Martin Sheen) and who…...

Martin Sheen will play televangelist Oral Roberts in Netflix's real-life drama Come Sunday.

The feature, based on a 2005 This American Life segment titled "Heretics," will star Chiwetel Ejiofor as a minister in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who loses his congregation of thousands following the revelation that he no longer believes in hell.  

Atlanta break-out Lakeith Stanfield will also star in the feature that will be directed by Joshua Marston.

In 2010, the feature was originally set up as a directing vehicle for World War Z helmer Marc Forster, but the directing reins have since been handed over to Marston....

Exclusive: Martin Sheen is taking on the role of famed Pentecostal televangelist Oral Roberts in Come Sunday, the film based on a true story which stars Chiwetel Ejiofor as a renowned evangelical minister in Tulsa, Ok who stirs up controversy with his revelation that there is no hell. The film is being directed by Joshua Marston from a script by Marcus Hinchey. The movie is based on a 2005 This American Life radio episode. The film also co-stars Broadway’s Condola Rashad…...

Danny Glover has joined the cast of Come Sunday – the upcoming Netflix film that tells the true story of evangelical minister Carlton Pearson, who built one of the largest churches in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and then lost everything as a result of his evolving faith. The tale was explored in a 2005 episode of This American Life, and it is this work that Come Sunday will largely use as source material.

Carlton Pearson became a renowned evangelical minister in Tulsa, having been mentored by televangelist Oral Roberts. At the height of its success, during the 1990s, the church that Pearson formed had a congregation estimated at over 6000 people. That congregation began to dwindle, however, when Pearson changed his teachings – asserting that hell did not exist in the traditionally taught sense.

Pearson publicly declared that, rather than being an eternity of pain and suffering, he believed that hell is created during our lifetimes,...

Before he gets biblical in Mary Magdalene, Chiwetel Ejiofor is going to play… an evangelical minister. The Netflix-distributed Come Sunday is based off an episode of This American Life from 2005, THR reports, and follows celebrated pastor Carlton Pearson, who causes quite the huff in Oklahoma when he states his profound revelation that there is no Hell. With Ejiofor as Pearson, he would play opposite Robert Redford, who will take the role of Oral Roberts. The film is helmed by Joshua Marston, whose latest film Complete Unknown is slated for a release next month. Ejiofor can be seen next in Marvel’s Doctor Strange.

In more Netflix news, they have teamed with John Wells (The Company Men: August: Osage County) for a film about the infamous Panama Papers, Deadline reports. They have secured the rights to the book Panama Papers: Breaking The Story Of How The World’s Rich And Powerful Hide Their Money,...

Nick Harley Jul 27, 2016

Upcoming Netflix drama Come Sunday attracts director Joshua Marston, and stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Robert Redford.

Chiwetel Ejiofor and Robert Redford are the latest actors taking their talents to Netflix. The pair are set to star in the faith-based drama Come Sunday for the streaming service.

Come Sunday is the story of Carlton Pearson (Ejiofor), an evangelical preacher from Tulsa, Oklahoma who creates a storm of controversy when he declares to his congregation that there is no hell after a personal realisation. After losing everything, Pearson has to rebuild his church and repair his family while learning to embrace his own personal faith.

Redford will co-star as famed American controversial television evangelist Oral Roberts. Roberts served as Pearson’s mentor in real life.

Come Sunday is based on a This American Life episode from 2005, and This American Life host Ira Glass and producer Alissa Ship will produce...

The Lear jet crash, which killed the prominent Pastor Myles Munroe and his wife Ruth as well as everyone else on board, will be investigated by authorities.

Myles Munroe Lear Jet Crash

On Sunday, the Lear jet crash-landed near Grand Bahamas International Airport, killing the nine passengers on board, according to the Royal Bahamas Police Force. The deaths of Munroe, the founder of Bahamas Faith Ministries International Fellowship, and his wife, who served as a co-senior pastor, were among the victims of the accident, according to Andrew J. Young Foundation spokesperson Kelley Jackson, reported ABC News.

"Ambassador Young expresses his deep sadness over the tragic death of his friends Dr. Myles and Mrs. Ruth Munroe," the organization posted on its Facebook page. "He offers condolences to the Munroe family and the families of the other souls who lost their lives as a result of this shocking plane crash."

The Munroes,...

Last year, Robert Redford took on an incredibly demanding solo-role in the shipwreck drama All is Lost. Now, as follow-up to his gritty performance in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and his upcoming A Walk In the Woods, Redford is considering joining a biopic that would have him playing charismatic preacher Oral Roberts. Robert Redford has entered into negotiations to play the late controversial televangelist in the Jonathan Demme-directed Come Sunday. But should he sign on, he won't be the film's star. That honor and responsibility could well go to Jeffrey Wright, who is in talks to portray the lesser known but even more controversial Carlton Pearson. Before we get into the plot details, how about some history for those unfamiliar with Roberts and Pearson? As an early pioneer of televangelism, Oral Roberts is often credited as bringing American Pentecostalism into the mainstream. He not only reached countless Christians...

The Silence Of The Lambs director Jonathan Demme has helmed a number of different documentaries and TV shows over the last little while, but believe it or not, he hasn’t made a feature film in six years. Of course, that’s not for lack of trying. He’s attached himself to various projects here and there, but nothing substantial seemed to have come out of any of them. At least, until now.

According to THR, Demme has been developing a project titled Come Sunday with producers Ira Glass and Alissa Ship. The film will tell the true story of Oklahoman evangelical minister Carlton Pearson, who made controversy over his revelation that there is no hell. The ensuing outcry resulted in Pearson losing everything he owned and leaving his job to rediscover his personal faith while rebuilding his church and family.

The most interesting part about this project though is the casting,...

Magic in the Moonlight Trailer: Emma Stone heads to the French Riviera in the 1920s in the charming first trailer for Woody Allen's Magic in the Moonlight. Stone plays a spiritualist who may or may not be conning rich people; Colin Firth is brought in to uncover the truth. Marcia Gay Harden and Jacki Weaver also star; the movie opens in theaters on July 25. [Yahoo]   Come Sunday: Robert Redford is in talks to play famed television evangelist Oral Roberts in Come Sunday, to be directed by Academy Award-winning Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs). Jeffrey Wright is in talks to star as another real-life evangelical minister, Carlton Pearson; Roberts became his mentor. Production is tentatively scheduled to begin in the spring of 2015. [The Hollywood...

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Magic in the Moonlight Trailer: Emma Stone heads to the French Riviera in the 1920s in the charming first trailer for Woody Allen's Magic in the Moonlight. Stone plays a spiritualist who may or may not be conning rich people; Colin Firth is brought in to uncover the truth. Marcia Gay Harden and Jacki Weaver also star; the movie opens in theaters on July 25. [Yahoo]   Come Sunday: Robert Redford is in talks to play famed television evangelist Oral Roberts in Come Sunday, to be directed by Academy Award-winning Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs). Jeffrey Wright is in talks to star as another real-life evangelical minister, Carlton Pearson; Roberts became his mentor. Production is tentatively scheduled to begin in the spring of 2015. [The Hollywood...

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Jeffrey Wright is in talks to play Carlton Pearson and Robert Redford is "in discussions" to star as Oral Roberts in the Jonathan Demme-helmed true story drama "Come Sunday" for Endgame Entertainment.

Formerly titled "Heretics" when it was setup with Marc Forster as helmer, the film chronicles Pearson, a renowned Oklahamoa evangelical minister who stirs up controversy with his revelation that there is no hell.

He loses everything and must rebuild his church and his family and find his own personal faith. Roberts, an early pioneer of TV evangelism, served as Pearson's mentor.

Marcus Hinchey ("All Good Things") wrote the screenplay based on a 2005 This American Life broadcast. James D. Stern, Ira Glass and Alissa Shipp will produce.

Filming aims to begin in Spring 2015.

Source: THR...

Magic in the Moonlight Trailer: Emma Stone heads to the French Riviera in the 1920s in the charming first trailer for Woody Allen's Magic in the Moonlight. Stone plays a spiritualist who may or may not be conning rich people; Colin Firth is brought in to uncover the truth. Marcia Gay Harden and Jacki Weaver also star; the movie opens in theaters on July 25. [Yahoo]   Come Sunday: Robert Redford is in talks to play famed television evangelist Oral Roberts in Come Sunday, to be directed by Academy Award-winning Jonathan Demme (The Silence of the Lambs). Jeffrey Wright is in talks to star as another real-life evangelical minister, Carlton Pearson; Roberts became his mentor. Production is tentatively scheduled to begin in the spring of 2015. [The Hollywood Reporter]...

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• Benedict Cumberbatch (The Imitation Game) will replace Guy Pearce (The Rover) in the upcoming Whitey Bulger biopic starring Johnny Depp (Transcendence). According to Cross Creek Pictures president Brian Oliver, Pearce dropped out of the upcoming crime drama, which has already started filming in Boston, due to scheduling conflicts. Cumberbatch will take over the role of Billy Bulger, Whitey’s (Depp) law-abiding brother, in the upcoming film, which tells the true story of the FBI’s unconventional alliance with the Irish Mob. [Variety]

• Parks and Recreation’s Adam Scott will star opposite Johnny Depp (Transcendence) in the Warner Bros. crime drama Black Mass.

Robert Redford is currently taking A Walk In The Woods (that's his long-planned adaptation of Bill Bryson’s book, not just a quick ramble), but a potential new film could see him shoulder the mantle of an evangelical minister. Jonathan Demme is looking to secure Redford’s services for Come Sunday.The film, which was originally called Heretics back in 2010 when Marc Foster was considering it, tracks the true story of Carlton Pearson, an up-and-coming preacher and something of a rock star amongst the evangelical Christians at his Oklahoma church. Until, that is, he began to suggest that there’s no hell. His reputation among the faithful in tatters, Pearson had to rebuild his church.Demme has Jeffrey Wright in talks to play Pearson, while Redford is figuring out a deal to be pioneering TV evangelist Oral Roberts, who served as the preacher’s mentor. Marcus Hinchey adapted the script...

Jonathan Demme is set to tackle the world of evangelical ministers with the film Come Sunday and is enlisting Robert Redford to play the late Oral Roberts. The film, which will be financed and produced by Endgame Entertainment (Looper), chronicles the true story of Carlton Pearson, a renowned evangelical minister in Tulsa, Okla., who stirs up controversy with his revelation that there is no hell. He loses everything and must rebuild his church and his family and find his own personal faith. Jeffrey Wright (Quantum of Solace) is in talks to take on the starring role of Pearson. Exclusive Photos: Robert

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Birthday shoutouts go to Eric Sheffer Stevens (above), who is 40, Kathleen Turner is 58, Paula Abdul is 50, Hugh Dancy is 37, and Ann Wilson is 62. We did a top Heart list a few months ago for Nancy's birthday, but since my top ten changes all the time, let's do it again! 10. "Almost Paradise (Ann and Mike Reno)," 9. "Barracuda," 8. "Dog & Butterfly," 7. "How Can I Refuse," 6. "Even It Up," 5."The Best Man In The World (Ann solo song)." 4. "Dreamboat Annie", 3. "Crazy On You" 2. "What About Love," 1. "Love Alive"

Did Channing Tatum Steal The Plot For Magic Mike? Wait ... there's a plot?153 of the Most Glbt-Friendly Hospitals. My all-time favorite cuckoo-bananas actress has died. Susan Tyrell passed away yesterday at the age of 67. She got an Oscar nomination for Fat City, and starred in two of the greatest films of the 80's, Angel, and its sequel. She was a force of nature in every film she made,...

On Monday, Republican hopeful Newt Gingrich spoke at a town hall at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and criticized the Obama Administration for encouraging Americans to buy more fuel-economical vehicles. "The President has said, you know, you ought to buy smaller cars," Gingrich quipped. "Now, let me start with a simple premise that most Oklahomans will understand: You cannot put a gun rack in a Volt!"...

The Young and the Restless star Billy Miller, owner of the best nipples in daytime, has signed on for a recurring role on Ringer as a recovering addict who acts as a resource when Sarah Michelle Gellar's regular sponsor isn't available.

Sara Gilbert and her partner Allison Adler have split up after 10 years together. The split is being called amicable, and they will share custody of their two kids.

Eric Stoltz has snagged the lead role of an advice columnist in a disintegrating marriage in Lifetime's pilot of Modern Love.

Rod 2.0 has an update on Bishop Eddie Long, as two of his accusers break their silence about the disgraced mega-church leader, saying the money isn't worth their ability to sleep at night.

Forbes has released their list of the most powerful women in the world. German Chancellor Angela Merkel tops the list, followed by nine more political and business...

Her anti-gay platform has alienated parts of her family. A mentor she described as a "great influence" has a history of addresses to white supremacists. A book she collaborated on advocates theocracy. Rep. Michele Bachmann's impressive performance at Monday's debate has catapulted her near the front of the Gop pack, but the radical roots of her ideology remain poorly understood. The Daily Beast's Michelle Goldberg reports.

In April 2005, Pamela Arnold wanted to talk to her state senator, Michele Bachmann, who was then running for Congress. A 46-year-old who worked at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Arnold lived with her partner, the famed Arctic explorer Ann Bancroft, on a farm in Scandia, Minnesota. Bachmann was then leading the fight against gay marriage in the state. She'd recently been in the news for hiding in the bushes to observe a gay-rights rally at the Capitol. So when members of...

Though Forster’s next project be the Gerard Butler-starring drama Machine Gun Preacher, he’s preparing for the future. On the horizon may be Heretics, written by Marcus Hinchey (All Good Things), a film based on the “This American Life” podcast episode of the same name. [The Playlist]

Here’s the episode logline of the site:

“The story of Reverend Carlton Pearson, a renowned evangelical pastor in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who cast aside the idea of Hell, and with it everything he’d worked for over his entire life.”

Pearson built a 5,000 member congregation at an impressively young age. Between television appearances and friendships with people like Oral Roberts and acquaintances who included the President, Pearson was an up-and-coming Evangelical star – until he stopped believing in Hell. Preaching this new sermon, Pearson soon lost the majority of his congregation, the majority of his funding and the majority of his Evangelical street-cred. And for what?...

The Sex Comedy genre does not inspire a lot of confidence in me. Probably because those two words don’t sound right together, like “pump nuggets” or “bad sex.” Of course there are exceptions. Some people would argue Revenge of the Nerds belongs to that genre, like the way the Golden Globes nominated It’s Complicated as a comedy even though, from the trailer, it looks like they trapped three great actors inside a horror movie. Web series Sex Ed is the latest online iteration of the Sex Comedy since Blue Movies. An ensemble cast play eight students all in the same college sex education class. I had no idea colleges offered sex education as part of their curriculum, but then again I got treated for hysterical blindness as a result of excessive masturbation my freshman year at Oral Roberts. (By the way, I understand those jokes now I heard...

I count myself among the few, the proud, and the lucky who have never seen any of the recent Jason Friedberg/Aaron Seltzer productions (the men behind Epic Movie, Disaster Movie, so on and so forth), primarily because I don’t feel the need to. I know exactly what’s going to happen once I’ve seen the trailer, and I have as much understanding of the parodied subjects as the writers and directors (most of the referenced films have not even been released when the scripts are written). The problem, by and large, seems to be that they have no real understanding of what they’re parodying, and just slap together the basest resemblance of a narrative to string them together. I’m guessing. I haven’t actually seen them.

So what are we to make of Repossessed as a relic from the years of the first Bush that...

From Politico:

Back in September Anne Schroder reported that actor Val Kilmer was mulling a New Mexico Governor's run.

And now that Bill "Bolo Tie" Richardson is Commerce Secretary to Be, well....there's an opening.

Folks in Albuquerque spotted the bloated star at a basketball game last night.

The Albuquerque Journal's caption: What was a movie star doing at the Lobo game vs. Oral Roberts? Especially in the company of former Gop state Rep. and lobbyist Joe Thompson, left, and Santa Fe businessman Jerry Peters, a friend of Gov. Bill Richardson, to Kilmer's right?

Admit it. You'd forgotten he'd played Batman, didn't you? You just saw the post headline and thought this was some new hallucination of Grant Morrison's.

The sense of place is the best thing about "Haven", whose title refers to the Cayman Islands' famous tax-free policy and its natural paradise. Young first-time writer-director Frank E. Flowers, who shot the film entirely on his native Caymans, reaches for high drama but hasn't the grasp to achieve it in this multi-threaded tale of gangster drugs and bling, shady white-collar finances and young love. The presence in the ensemble of Orlando Bloom, who also serves as a producer, could be an initial enticement, but his performance is one of the weakest in a mixed bag. Taking a long-delayed theatrical bow today after screening at the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival, "Haven" is unlikely to find shelter in cinemas.

Recent news about spring-break tragedies and the dark underside of tropical getaways lend a certain resonance to Flowers' ambitious story, which taps into the divide between sunny appearances and shadowy deals, encroaching haves and native have-nots -- between Grand Cayman Island's Oral Roberts International Airport and its town named Hell. Although there are glimpses of promise in Flowers' work, too often style trumps substance. "Haven" circles around, backtracks and fractures time, but all the Tarantinoesque fancy footwork doesn't give it urgency.

As characters at opposite ends of the Cayman social spectrum, Stephen Dillane and Victor Rasuk deliver the film's best performances. The former is an attorney who's deep into a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue and choreographing his escape; U.S. feds are closing in on the tax shelters he arranges for investors like Carl Ridley (Bill Paxton), a widower who flees his Miami mansion with his 18-year-old daughter, Pippa (Agnes Bruckner), and a million bucks in cash. Carl finds the Cayman banks closing left and right, while Pippa finds charmer Fritz (Rasuk) in her condo bedroom and heads out for a night of partying that turns disastrous.

A parallel story -- and the least convincing script element -- involves Andrea (Zoe Saldana), another beauty who has just turned 18. Her star-crossed romance with sweet, aimless dock hand Shy (Bloom) aims for Shakespearean tragedy but feels anachronistic and, like much of the film, overheated. Furiously crossing and double-crossing, the two main story lines never quite fuse or comment on each other.