In the light of the success of The Hunger Games comes the first of a series of films based on another young adult trilogy about a teenage heroine. Like The Hunger Games, the last book of the Divergent trilogy will be split into two films.

The plot of Divergent is similar to that of The Hunger Games in that it takes place in a future world in which society is split into different groups with a seemingly caring leader with murderous intentions. In this case the leader is a woman, played by Oscar winner Kate Winslet. The heroine is fast-rising star Shailene Woodley as the girl who, along with her twin brother, must take a test at the age of 16 to determine which of five factions she is best suited for. The sects include her own Abnegation sect responsible for the care of others; the Amity or agricultural faction; the candor or truthful faction; the Dauntless or heroic faction; and the Erudite or smart faction. The test is inconclusive meaning she could fit in any or none the factions. If none, then she would be faction-less or homeless and the scourge of all the factions.

Woodley chooses the Dauntless faction while her brother chooses the Erudite faction. There, she is trained to become a sort of cross between a policeman and a soldier. She falls in love with her instructor (Theo James) while one of her most competitive classmates is played by Miles Teller, her boyfriend in The Spectacular Now. Her brother is played by Ansel Elgort, her boyfriend in The Fault in Our Stars. Her parents are played by Ashley Judd and Tony Goldwyn.

While the film moves along at a respectable pace and features the twists and turns we have come to expect from such sci-fi action films, there is nothing here to really lift it above the pack of similar films and TV shows that have become the norm. Nevertheless, it’s a painless way to spend two hours and twenty minutes if you’re not too demanding.

Divergent is available on both Blu-ray and standard DVD.

Also available in both formats is God’s Not Dead, a so-called faith-based film that is one of the hokiest time-wasters I’ve ever had the unpleasant experience of sitting through. This film is not only stupid and insulting it is a slap in the face to more than a hundred years of film history in which faith-based films have been inclusive and respectful to both believers and non-believers alike. This poorly written, directed and acted piece of garbage with its message that you can’t die peacefully unless you accept Jesus not only portrays atheists as shallow, worthless human beings, it makes a mockery of the lives of anyone who practices a religion outside of Christianity.

The film’s main storyline is about an atheistic philosophy professor who demands his freshman class sign statements that “God is dead” so that the class can avoid stuffy religious discussions. Only one brave young man refuses to do so and the professor challenges him to make his argument before the class that “God is not dead.” Actually the class discussions in which the young man persuasively argues that while science can’t prove the existence of God, neither can it disprove it, is almost as compelling as the arguments in Inherit the Wind. It’s outside the classroom that the film runs amok.

Only two of the film’s mostly unknown actors give anything that approaches a decent performance. Kevin Sorbo as the professor and Hadeel Sittu as a Christian convert who hides her religion from her strict Muslim family, are effective in their roles. The film’s lead, Shane Harper, is earnest but aside from the classroom discussions doesn’t have anything to sink his teeth into. The rest of the cast is either amateurish or downright embarrassing.

There are a couple of characters who I thought were parodying TV’s Duck Dynasty. I was shocked to find out that they were the show’s actual stars playing themselves. Dean Cain, the best known actor in the film next to Sorbo, is a self-absorbed jackass who dumps his girlfriend the minute she tells him that she has cancer. He gets his comeuppance from his mother in her sixth year of dementia in a scene in which she has a lucid moment where she tells him, in essence, that God will get him. We eventually learn that Sorbo’s character was a believer but lost his faith when he prayed to God to save his mother from dying when he was 12 and God said “no”. He regains his faith while dying in the arms of the preacher who converted the Muslim girl. The girl’s religious father is, true to the film’s lopsided concepts, shown to be a wicked cretin when he beats her and then throws her out of the house for disavowing his Muslim faith.

I occasionally buy a DVD blindly that I dislike so much I give it away. This one is so vile and disgusting I wouldn’t insult anyone by giving it to them. It’s headed straight for the shredder. Do not waste your time or money on this trash. If you want to see a good faith-based film, watch or re-watch The Keys of the Kingdom in which there are good and bad Christians and non-Christians alike and the dedicated priest’s best friend, a doctor, is an atheist. It also happens to be acted by an extraordinary cast led by Oscar-nominated Gregory Peck as the priest and Thomas Mitchell as the doctor.

Paramount and CBS DVD have released Perry Mason Movie Collection Volume 3 containing the series’ double feature volumes 7-9. There are eight remaining Perry Mason films made by Raymond Burr between 1985 and his death in 1993. This release features The Case of the Poisoned Pen with Barbara Hale, William R. Moses, Cindy Williams and Barbara Babcock; The Case of the Desperate Deception with Hale, Moses, Ian Bannen, Ian McShane, Yvette Mimieux and Teresa Wright; The Case of the Silenced Singer with Hale, Moses, Vanessa Williams and Angela Bassett; The Case of the Defiant Daughter with Hale, Moses, Robert Culp and Robert Vaughn; The Case of the Ruthless Reporter with Hale, Moses, John James, Jerry Orbach and Susan Sullivan; and The Case of the Maligned Mobster with Hale, Moses, Mason Adams, Michael Nader and Paul Anka.

Paramount and CBS DVD will release six of the remaining eight Raymond Burr Perry Mason films as Perry Mason Movie Collection Volume 4 on October 7th.

This week’s new releases include the Blu-ray upgrades of Bedknobs and Broomsticks and The Children’s Hour.