Movies

Mass Media Manifesto

The problem of our culture is "if it isn't on TV it isn't real."

TV is not made for truth; it is made for stirring up emotions.

The makers of media must make money. They must play to the mob. And most people are dominated by concupiscence. Therefore, our media are dominated by concupiscence.

Sin photographs beautifully. Most acts of virtue are interior and leave the virtuous characters looking as though they aren't doing anything. At best, the camera shows lots of anguish in order to represent the interior struggle (Frodo, Harry Potter). It's not great theater.

Filmmakers have found that tales of superheroes sell well. So do ancient Greek myths. So why not exploit the stories of the Bible? Telling a Bible story, complete with God's action in it, does not imply any commitment to the reality of God, any more than the movie Thor implies a commitment to the Gods of Greece. It's just a good story, with interesting characters, beautiful costumes, exotic settings, and lots of action.

These films are not going to preach the gospel for us. They do, however, give us a chance to get a word in edgewise among our unchurched family, friends, and colleagues.

Strategy

GKC.

A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a bad novel tells us the truth about its author.

Don't be like Steve Cichon's first-grade principal, the merciless Mercy sister. Praise all that is praiseworthy.

Commentators

Barbara Nicolosi

Blog: Church of the Masses.

"Theaters are the new Church of he Masses--where people sit huddled in the dark listenin to people in the light tell them what it is to be human" (1930s theater critic).

Script writer, script consultant

Barbara Nicolosi, "A 'Christian' Cinema? An interview with Av Venire."

Movies will rarely fall in the “sacred art” category as they are consitutionally unsuited to liturgical and ecclesial purposes. The notable exception is The Passion of Christ which was an experiment by Mel Gibson to do the Stations of the Cross through cinema.

A movie made by a Christian should work with Catholics on a theological level, and should work with non-believers on an artistic and/or narrative level. It will satisfy their story instincts and their desire for the beautiful, and maybe do something more for them spiritually through the project’s theme. As an example of this kind of cultural success, I would point to the stories of Flannery O’Connor, or the movies A Man for All Seasons or The Passion of Joan of Arc.

Our movies and television are not flowing out of the mysterious impulse to create and connect, which is the hallmark of art, but rather out of the desire to preach and distract.

Ideally, a movie made by Christians should be a marriage of beauty plus one of our defining themes as a subtext. That is, first and foremost a movie made by believers ought to have all its parts present and executed with excellence, and then its meaning should reflect something that only we Christians can say with unique authority. So, some of our defining themes are, “Good and evil are not equal,” and “Joy and sorrow have a necessary and ironic juxtaposition,” and “Death is not the worst thing that can happen to a person,” and “Everything we see is a sign of something we cannot see.” A sign that a movie is really, profoundly Christian, is that it will carry tremendous meaning for non-Christians. Of course, we never see this kind of project from Christian filmmakers today. Not yet any way.

In so far as talented pagan film makers are pursuing wholeness, harmony and radiance in their work – which are the elements of the beautiful – they will be producing stories that far outshine the efforts of Christians who are basically making propaganda and cheap resistance literature for the faithful. Secondly, pagans respect things like artistic principles. They tend to invest seriously in cultural endeavors, and they honor talent and training. In the Church, all that is necessary to get a job as a singer is to own a guitar and have a good heart. It is really very perverse. I think of the loss of the sense of the beautiful as one of the great heresies in the Church in the modern age. It has been devastating particularly because it undermines all of our efforts at evangelization. What good does it do to tell people that the Holy Spirit is Wisdom and Power in a hymn or movie that is lame and pedestrian?

Cinema is perceived by most of the thought leaders in the Church as unserious or as a means of catechesis. We don’t have one Catholic university in the top twenty film programs in the world. Too many of our religious leaders never have a good word for any movie or television and would seem to prefer if we Christians all just lived in caves when they aren’t at church. We need to work with people who have artistic talent, regardless of where they are spiritually, because our working with them might be the way in which God will introduce Himself to the artist, and as a plus, the people of God will get beautiful work done. Too often, I have seen Christians hire bad actors or writers or directors just because they are believers. It always mean ugly movies.

What we really need today are many wonderful parables for the people of our time, that do all the things that Aristotle notes a story should do in his seminal work “The Poetics.” Good parables don’t need to mention God. Jesus told many parables and none of them mention God. I say to my students all the time, “The story is enough.” That is, you shouldn’t need to deliver it with a copy of a homily attached.

As Aristotle said it, human society needs stories to lead people to cathartic experiences of compassion and the fear of evil.

You can’t have a good story without what we call “high stakes.” High stakes means that, in a story, death is always on the table. Stories are better than real life in that way. The most profound kinds of death that human beings experience come through sin – the death of the ability to love, the death of the instinct to care for others, the death of the ability to see and penetrate reality, for example. Hence, you can’t take sin out of storytelling. What Christians could demonstrate to the secular storytellers is how to talk about sin without it becoming an occasion of sin for the audience. The Bible shows us this. It has always high stakes stories of adultery, murder, deceit and betrayal, but never told in a ways that violate the reader.

Some fabulous, powerful movies made by pagans that carry Gospel themes include, The Visitor, Lars and the Real Girl, The Lives of Others, Juno, and Of Gods and Men. I would include nearly everything made by Pixar as something that Christians could look to as a marriage of excellence and deep universal themes.

Again, a beautiful story works because it is beauty married to profound truth. You don’t have to be Christian to do this. Gran Torino was a solid film, and yes, Clint was clearly drawing a parallel to his main character as a Christ-figure. The Christ-figure archetype is well-established in Hollywood lore.

Steve Greydanus

Steven Greydanus, Decent Films.

John Darrouzet

John Darrouzet, "How to Find Faith at the Movies: Using the Decision-Maker's Path."

"John Darrouzet is a successful Hollywood screenwriter, an accomplished lawyer, a student of decision-making, and a deeply committed Roman Catholic layman."

"Simply put, I want to show how to help others find faith by watching movies."

A

Another Perfect Stranger

Sequel to The Perfect Stranger.

2005

B

The Bible

"The Bible" TV miniseries

LightWorkers Media

D

Day of War

About soldiers in David's army.

The cinematic action movie is based upon the biblical characters of King David and his elite warriors known as the Mighty Men. This is a live action, in your face, gritty, major motion picture. David and Goliath, one of the most well-known stories in all of history will be presented to the big screen like never before, according to those behind the film.

"Day of War, author Cliff Graham's first novel, has earned him a film option for the entire book series---Lion of War---from director David L. Cunningham (Path to 9/11) and producer Grant Curtis (Spider-Man films). In ancient Israel, at the crossroads of the great trading routes, a man named Benaiah is searching for a fresh start in life. He has joined a band of soldiers led by a warlord named David, seeking to bury the past that refuses to leave him. Their ragged army is disgruntled and full of reckless men. Some are loyal to David, but others are only with him for the promise of captured wealth. While the ruthless and increasingly mad King Saul marches hopelessly against the powerful Philistines, loyal son Jonathan in tow, the land of the Hebrew tribes has never been more despondent---and more in need of rescue. Over the course of ten days, from snowy mountain passes to sword-wracked battlefields, Benaiah and his fellow mercenaries must call upon every skill they have to survive and establish the throne for David---if they don't kill each other first."

Dogma

Bleaugh.

E

Exodus

IMDB: "Exodus" (a.k.a. "Moses")

Christian Bale

In an interview with Esquire magazine, [the directory] Ridley Scott called religion "the biggest source of evil", explaining, "Everyone is tearing each other apart in the name of their personal god. And the irony is, by definition, they're probably worshiping the same god".

It is further rumored to be more in the vein of "300" than "The Ten Commandments."

F

Faith Like Potatoes

South African farmer lives by faith. Tragedies and miracles.

G

Gimme Shelter

Movie website, 2014.

Based on an inspiring true story.

Opening today (January 24)?

IMDB

A pregnant teenager flees her abusive mother in search of her father, only to be rejected by her dad and forced to survive on the streets until a compassionate stranger offers a hopeful alternative.

Sometimes you have to leave home to find your family.

Give Me Shelter

"Give Me Shelter."

2013 documentary about saving animal species.

pro-life?

Plot Summary: In order to save the rest of the over 100 million different species of animals we share this planet with; something needs to be done on behalf of those with no voice who depend on us to survive. We've seen all of these movies of so many adorable animals doing funny things that make us laugh, but we never dig into the lives of animals behind the scenes and impact viewers with real people who are passionate for this cause. Do we want to be the generation that lets tigers go extinct, or sees the last white rhino? Wouldn't we want to be the generation that stopped the annual dolphin slaughter in Taiji or saved the last orangutans in Indonesia? Their lives are literally in our hands and we can either continue pushing forward to impact and educate the world on what is really going on or we can just give up.

God's Not Dead

IMDB.

College student Josh Wheaton's faith is challenged by his philosophy professor, who believes God does not exist.

Duck Dynasty connection? Willie and Korie Robertson are in the cast!

"After he refuses to disavow his faith, a devout Christian student (Shane Harper) must prove the existence of God or else his college philosophy professor (Kevin Sorbo) will fail him" (Google).

"Duck Dynasty's Willie and Korie Robertson Star in New Movie, 'God's Not Dead.'"

The movie is named after a Newsboys song of the same name, which also features in the film along with the band.

"God is Not Dead" is already gathering interest from churches across the US, and those behind the movie hope it will equip and encourage believers to share their faith and remain steadfast in their beliefs in an increasingly secular society.

The movie will open in over 600 cinemas across the US on 21 March 2014.

Gods of Egypt

Gods of Eqypt (2016)

Gerard Butler, Brenton Thwaites and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau star in the epic fantasy Gods of Egypt, inspired by the classic mythology of Egypt. Australian actress Courtney Eaton (Mad Max: Fury Road) has landed the female lead. Eaton will play a slave girl who Brenton Thwaites’ character falls for. In Gods of Egypt, Bek (Thwaites), a mortal thief, enlists the aid of the powerful god Horus (Coster-Waldau) in an unlikely alliance against Set (Butler), the merciless god of darkness.

Gran Torino

IMDB.

2008

In box office terms, the most successful Clint Eastwood movie ever, both in the U.S. and the U.K, but not with inflation. Taking inflation into account, his most successful films are Every Which Way But Loose (1978) and Any Which Way You Can (1980).

Eastwood's son, Scott Eastwood plays Trey. And his oldest son, Kyle Eastwood provided the music score.

H

Heaven is For Real

Little boy, near death experience

"Heaven is For Real" website.

IMDB

Based on the #1 New York Times best-selling book of the same name, HEAVEN IS FOR REAL brings to the screen the true story of a small-town father who must find the courage and conviction to share his son's extraordinary, life-changing experience with the world. The film stars Academy Award® nominee and Emmy® award winning actor Greg Kinnear as Todd Burpo and co-stars Kelly Reilly as Sonja Burpo, the real-life couple whose son Colton (newcomer Connor Corum) claims to have visited Heaven during a near death experience. Colton recounts the details of his amazing journey with childlike innocence and speaks matter-of-factly about things that happened before his birth ... things he couldn't possibly know. Todd and his family are then challenged to examine the meaning from this remarkable event. Written by Sony Pictures Publicity.

J

"Joseph, King of Dreams"

Dreamworks

Prologue: "While artistic and historical license has been taken, we believe that this film is true to the essence, values and integrity of a story that is a cornerstone of faith for millions of people worldwide."

Judah treated as more important than Reuben.

"Half-brother." -- Four wives.

"I am a Miracle Child": "I am special, I am smart, any rules don't apply, for I am set apart."

Greydanus: B.

"Movie Review / Joseph: King of Dreams."

• Potiphar learns that his wife alleges she is pursued by Joseph. When he asks Joseph about this in front of her, he denies it. When Potiphar looks at his wife h e understands that she was lying and throws Joseph in jail.
• Potiphar later releases Joseph from jail and reconciles with him.
• Joseph gets married and has two kids before his brothers ever come to Egypt.
• Joseph has to learn to forgive his brothers and how to control the anger he had toward them for trying to kill him.
• His brothers reassure Joseph that God had intended what happened for the purpose of saving many people! Talk about backwards!

K

Korean Drama

"Korean Drama: A Refreshing Entertainment Alternative."

L

The Last Song

• "The Last Song: Book and Film Review."
• "Nicholas Sparks: The Spark Behind The Last Song."

Left Behind

Left Behind (remake, 2014)

Lea Thompson has joined her Switched at Birth co-star Cassi Thompson in Left Behind, Samuel Goldwyn Films’ reboot of the apocalyptic film franchise. Thompson (Back to the Future trilogy) will also star opposite Nicolas Cage, Chad Michael Murray, and Jordin Sparks. Based on the popular series of books, the story centers on pilot Rayford Steele (Cage) and journalist Buck Williams (Murray) that lead a group of survivors after thousands of people mysteriously disappear worldwide in an event called “The Rapture.” For those who have been left behind, the apocalypse has just begun.

N

The Nativity Story

IMDB: The Nativity Story

Noah

Survivalist take. If you build an ark, a lot of undeserving people will try to get on it.

From a person who saw the preview: "Told in a fantasy type of way a la Lord of the Rings."

Lots of CGI. Ever since "Independence Day," moviemakers have thoroughly enjoyed destroying the whole earth.

IMDB.

Rediscover the epic story of one man and the most remarkable event in our history.

The end of the world ... is just the beginning.

Russell Crowe, Emma Watson

"With a $125 million budget, the film is said to be more of an edgy action epic that depicts a man who fights off his enemies as he prepares for a coming apocalypse, rather than a story of a 'preacher of righteousness' who calls the world to repentance from sin."

"A number of battle scenes are said to fill the film, which in some aspects are reminiscent of Gladiator. Six-armed angels, known as Watchers, are also introduced, 'who came down from Heaven to help fallen humanity by granting them wonders of knowledge from magic to science to stars, metal, and fire.'" <YUCK!>

O

October Baby

• "Harvesting the Fruits of Contemplation," a review of October Baby.
• "October Baby: A Professionally Produced Pro-Life Film."

P

Passion of the Christ

"The Passion of the Christ."

Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ is the ultimate example of the style which Giotto began. It is also the ultimate in our great contemporary tradition of victim chic. Gibson’s Jesus (James Caviezel) is presented not as godhead but as victimhood incarnate. Nobody — not Marlon Brando in The Chase, not Sylvester Stallone in Rocky, not Denzel Washington in Glory, not even Mel himself in Braveheart is going to take a more impressive beating than Jim’s Jesus does. But without any more of a context than they are given here, his sufferings are merely bewildering, sickening. Surely, whatever other heterodoxy he may be guilty of, Mel cannot believe that pity is the same thing as piety? ...

Mel Gibson must have known that, in taking torture and brutality as his subject in preference to more traditionally spiritual considerations, he ensured that not only those who were implicated in such a crime but also those with a history of being unfairly implicated in it would feel themselves aggrieved. My guess is that he’s not sorry to have stirred up this hornet’s nest. ...

All of which is simply to say that The Passion of the Christ is like every other Mel Gibson picture in being ridiculously overproduced. As the British would say, he has once again over-egged the pudding. The new age music with pan pipes and wordless choruses, the swelling orchestral sounds at moments of significance, the flashbacks cross cut with the main action so as to produce heavy-handed ironies — all these things take us annoyingly out of the period and plonk us down jarringly in the entertainment culture of the present day.

The Perfect Stranger

Official website.

IMDB.

Wikipedia.

The Perfect Stranger is a 2005 Independent Christian film based on the novel Dinner With a Perfect Stranger by David Gregory.[1] A film sequel was created, Another Perfect Stranger . It was featured at the 2005 Western Film and Video Festival,[2] and was released on October 28, 2005. Directed by Jefferson Moore and Shane Sooter,[2] the film starred Pamela Brumley and Jefferson Moore.

Philomena

• Based on The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by Martin Sixsmith.
• IMDB.
• Harvey Weinstein: Priest, The Butcher Boy, and The Magdalene Sisters (2002).
• "Myths of the Magdalene Laundries."

"Philomena and the Pope."

Regarding the so-called meeting of Philomena Lee and Pope Francis, she was denied a private audience; all she got was a pass to join the general audience. According to Vatican Radio, in the nine months that he was the pope in 2013, “over 6.6 million people attended events led by Pope Francis at the Vatican.” Of that number, 1.5 million attended the pope’s weekly general audience. Philomena Lee was one of the 1.5 million people who “met” the pope.

"Philomena Never Found Her Son."

Lee never found her son: he died in 1995 and was buried on the grounds at the very convent that took her in when she was in need. She is lying about this because it fits with the lie about her looking frantically for him for 50 years. In the movie, she is depicted as searching for her son in the United States.

Prince of Egypt

Dreamworks

Prologue: "While artistic and historical license has been taken, we believe that this film is true to the essence, values and integrity of a story that is a cornerstone of faith for millions of people worldwide."

The murder is accidental. Softens the Biblical account: "Ex 2:12 He looked all around, and when he didn’t see anyone, he beat the Egyptian to death and hid the body in the sand."

Moses doesn't stutter.

Greydanus: A+

Irreverrent followup--The Road to El Dorado.

Zipporah replaces Aaron as Moses' sidekick before the Pharaoh.

"No Kingdom should be built on the backs of slaves."

There can be miracles
When you believe
Though hope is frail
Its hard to kill
Who knows what miracles
You can achieve
When you believe
Somehow you will
You will when you believe

S

Son of God

• 24% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes.
• 6.8/10 at IMDB.

Visually beautiful: casting, costumes, cityscapes, and landscapes. Diogo Morgado as Jesus.

Contemporary dialogue. After saying, "I will make you a fisher of men," Jesus invites Peter to come "change the world."

Theological, historical, and scriptural problem: "Son of God" does not mean "God the Son."

"Son of God" (History Channel)

Based on "The Bible" mini-series.

LightWorkers Media

Dialogue from the trailer: "Are you the Son of God?" "I am." "Blasphemer!"

The blasphemy is in the next part of the verse, not in the claim to be "Son of God": "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven" (Mk 14:62).

2 hours, 20 minutes long.

Katherine Monk, "Jesus' Greatest Hits."

"Torture porn."

"The moviemakers fabricate miracles for us to believe in — as though cinematic sleight of hand should be taken as proof of Christ’s holiness."

Daniel Eagan, "Son of God."

Follows the gospel of John. Three-year ministry.

Producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey (who also plays Mary, the mother of Jesus), the creative force behind the hit TV series "Touched by an Angel," deserve credit for their sincere, heartfelt approach to the material. Within reason, they are entitled to their own interpretation of scripture—even if the preponderance of Mary's close-ups threatens to turn this into a vanity project.

Strictly on a moviemaking level, this is routine stuff, poorly paced, weirdly structured, indifferently acted. The story deserves better.

Viewers will either resent or prefer Son of God's easygoing, watered-down message. The hard parts of what the scriptural Christ preached—love your enemies, believe in the unknowable, abandon all earthly things, live a life of sacrifice—are largely missing here.

Keith Phipps, "Son of God."

[Normal path: from movie theaters to TV; this reverses direction, starting life as part of a TV series and now entering the theaters as a movie.]

The most effective parts of Son Of God are the ones that serve the mission of The History Channel, placing Jesus’ mission in the midst of an ongoing conflict between the Roman Empire and Jewish authorities. They’re too brief, however, and the film’s not much more effective when it comes to conveying what Christianity’s about, either. The first recital of The Lord’s Prayer gets cut off before it ends—one of the many moments when Son Of God feels designed to cut to commercial—and a sermon plays out in the background while some disciples chatter with skeptical rabbis in the foreground. Anyone wanting to learn something about Jesus would be better off looking elsewhere.

The Bible played to great ratings on TV, hence this repackaging. If Son Of God finds a similar audience in theaters it will say more about the absence of better, more thoughtful religious films than its own virtues.

Peter Chattaway, "Jesus Returns to the Big Screen in Son of God."]

Son of God works as a pop illustration of certain Bible stories, but it’s not exactly life-changing in and of itself.

My quibbles

Does the movie follow the gospel of John?

The movie opens and ends with John in exile on Patmos, and it has a few Johannine features, but it freely adds in any number of elements from the synoptics: Jesus' baptism by John, parables, miracles, the Sermon on the Mount (beatitudes, Lord's prayer, new commandments), the Agony in the Garden, the Ascension. It leaves John out of key scenes where John's gospel features "the disciple whom Jesus loved": at the Last Supper, in the courtyard of the High Priest's house where Peter denies Jesus three times, and at the empty tomb.

Was John really alone in exile?

Legend has it that he was accompanied by one disciple and that he converted some inhabitants to Christianity during his exile.

Would Joseph have been present at the birth of Jesus?

Almost certainly not. Mary would have been surrounded by women, all things being equal.

Why is there no theophany after Jesus is baptized by John?

This bothers me very much. The movie shows the baptism (full immersion--Protestant-style) in several flashbacks; none of them go beyond the immersion itself. There is no descent of the Holy Spirit nor a voice from Heaven affirming Jesus' sonship.

Are Savior and Messiah interchangeable terms?

No. The kind of salvation the Messiah would bring was military, political, and economic freedom from Roman rule.

Did Jesus go to Jerusalem to "speak the message to the heart of power"?

No. He went to Jerusalem to fulfill His mission of destroying the kingdom of sin and death. Jesus did not aim to overthrow Roman rule!

Did Jesus drink of His own blood before giving the cup to His disciples?

This is a classic Protestant argument against transubstantiation: if the wine had become Jesus' blood, Jesus would not have drunk from the cup with His disciples. The idea that Jesus shared in drinking the wine may come from Mark: "they all drank from it" (Mk 14:23). The next verse in Mark is used to support this theory: "Mark says that Jesus said this is my blood first and then said he wouldn’t drink it again until the kingdom"

No mention of forgiveness of sin in the consecration?

I would have to watch again. This is what my notes suggest.

Why didn't they show the disciples reclining at table?

Too much work, I suppose. The script makes a complete hash out of the dialogue between Peter, John, and Jesus by which Jesus identifies Judas as the betrayer. Instead of giving Judas a morsel from the table, dipped in a savory sauce, Jesus gives Judas another portion of the Eucharist (if I remember correctly).

Is it true that the Jewish priests wanted Jesus killed by the Romans for reasons of political expediency?

This is not what the Scriptures say. The reason for the death penalty from the Sannhedrin was Jesus' claim to be equal in glory with God. The reason they could not stone him to death was that the Romans did not allow their subject peoples to carry out a death sentence. Only the Romans were allowed to put people to death. Therefore the Sanhedrin had to get Jesus convicted of a capital offense against Roman rule.

Why did the authors change the dialogue between Jesus, Mary, and John?

I don't know. This baffles me. Instead of "woman, behold your son" and "behold your mother," the script has Jesus say, "Mother, behold your son" and "John, behold your mother." This is unfortunate. Mary is also called "woman" in her dialogue with Jesus at Cana. I believe Jesus meant something by referring to Mary this way--the new Eve who works with the new Adam to recreate the human race.

Would Mary have washed the body of Jesus in preparation for burial?

The scene of Mary washing Jesus' body has no ground in Scripture. Two of the gospels say that the men prepared the body. Two others say that a group of women not accompanied by Mary went to the tomb to complete the burial ritual.

Was Peter the first of the apostles to believe in the resurrection?

In the movie, yes. In the Gospel of John, no. In the gospel of Luke, Peter probably is the first apostle to see Jesus--but there is no claim that seeing the linens in the empty tomb gave him faith prior to seeing Jesus in person.

Did Peter celebrate the Eucharist before meeting the risen Jesus?

There is no reason to think that this is historically accurate, although we do not have any records when the apostles first obeyed Jesus' command to "do this in memory of me."

Did Jesus appear to the 11 while they were celebrating the Eucharist?

No. That is the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. In His appearance to 10 or 11 disciples, they were "at table."

Were there women among the 12 apostles?

This is what the Ascension scene suggests. The dialogue makes it clear that both men and women are present. After Jesus ascends, Peter says, "We have work to do." The next scene shows twelve people descending from the mountain--both men and women.

Do the producers of the movie believe in the divinity of Jesus?

They present one clue very well: the forgiveness of the sin of the cripple on the stretcher who was let down through the roof. "Only God can forgive sin." The use of "I AM" in the trial scene is another great clue that is included. But they leave out Thomas's act of faith: "My Lord and my God." The movie does begin with a version of John's prologue, but I'm not sure just now whether it has an Arian flavor to it.

Is the depiction of the crucifixion accurate?

No. The death of Jesus on the Cross was a wonderful event, but it makes a horrible script for a movie. The producers don't believe in the deductions drawn from the Shroud of Turin. The crucified are all perfectly upright and do not endure the agony of the dance of the crucified.

R

"Religulous"

Bill Maher

"Lord of the Rings" vs. Godless worldviews

The existence of God is powerfully asserted in The Lord of the Rings, though, if I remember correctly, the word "God" does not appear in The Hobbit or the Trilogy.

I loved the spirituality of "Star Wars" episodes 4-6. There seemed to be room in the theology of the Force to understand it in monotheistic terms. Episode 1 made that charitable interpretation untenable. The Force is a byproduct of symbiosis between midichlorians and humans.

The "Harry Potter" series is also a Godless universe. Christmas is celebrated, but there is no Christian content. It is simply the winter holiday.

Miscellaneous Movies

• Godspel
• Jesus Christ Superstar
• Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
• Passion of the Christ
• Veggie Tales

Sabbatical Movie Festival (2013)

These are the movies that I watched online with Netflix. I also watched six or seven DVDs along with some Amazon on-demand videos.

year	title	comments
3
2011	30 for 30: The Real Rocky	Chuck Wepner--inspired the franchise. Sued, got a settlement.
A
	Argo
2005	As It Is in Heaven	"This Oscar-nominated drama tells the story of Daniel Dareus, a small-town boy who escaped his tiny village to become a famous conductor. A tragic mishap sends him back home in search of a fresh start, and he ends up leading the local choir." "Singing in tongues" at the end. One song from the film became a pop hit, I think.
B
	Babette's Feast
1991	Barton Fink	Coen brothers. Writer's block is just the beginning of the horrors.
	Best in Show
	Best Worst Movie
	Bourne Supremacy (2004)
	Bourne Ultimatum (2012)
2011	Buck	"Buck Brannaman, inspiration for 'The Horse Whisperer,' is revealed as a complex figure in this Sundance Audience Award winner for Best Documentary by Cindy Meehl. The master horseman reveals details of his troubled childhood and his dawning awareness of new ways that humans and horses might work with one another."
C
	California Split	Eliot Gould
2010	Cave of Forgotten Dreams	"Werner Herzog offers an unprecedented examination of the Chauvet Cave, a cavern in southern France that contains the oldest human-painted images yet to be found on Earth."
1988	Cinema Paradiso
2009	Cleanflix
1985	Clue
D
2007	Death at a Funeral
2010	Devil	Shyamalan.
2008	Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog
E
	Everest: Beyond the Limit
	Everest: IMAX
F
	Footnote.
2010	Four Lions	"In a scathingly hilarious indictment of true believers and the social systems that create them, this outrageous comedy follows an inept group of young Islamic Brits who fancy themselves bloodthirsty jihadists of the first order." For good or for ill, the film makes us sympathize with the terrorists and grieve their deaths.
G
	Gates of Heaven	Errol Morris documentary about pet cemeteries. On one critic's top-10 all time list (!).
	Gravity
H
2010	Happy People: A Year in the Taiga	"Venerated documentarian Werner Herzog teams with director Dmitry Vasyukov for this observant look at life along the River Yenisei in northern Russia, where the industrious inhabitants of a rural village truly live off the land." [No, they don't. They are fully armed and mechanized by industrial civilization!]
2007	Helvetica	Story of the ubiquitous type font.
I
2008	I Sell the Dead	"As 19th-century grave robber Arthur Blake faces the guillotine, he confesses his sins to a priest, revealing a life filled with unearthly high jinks in this macabre comedy starring Dominic Monaghan as the doomed digger and Ron Perlman as the cleric." One of the worst movies I saw. Dreadfully bad!
	In a Lonely Place	Produced by and starring Humphrey Bogart. Tragedy. "I was born when you kissed me. I died when you left me. I lived a few weeks while you loved me."
	Inception
2008	In Bruges	An extremely black comedy. A friend gives his life to save his friend. Both are ruthless murderers.
2003	Intolerable Cruelty	Coen brothers. "A revenge-seeking gold digger marries a womanizing Beverly Hills lawyer with the intention of making a killing in the divorce."
J
K
L
2007	Lars and the Real Girl
2010	Life after Django Reinhardt	"Born to Gypsy parents in 1910, musical genius Django Reinhardt is considered by many to be the single most important guitarist in the history of jazz. To honor the legend, a hundred of his disciples gathered for the Django 100 Centennial Tour."
	Life is Beautiful
	Looper.
2012	Lunarcy!	Space dreamers.
M
1979	Manhattan
	Midnight in Paris
1990	Miller's Crossing
2012	Mirror Mirror	"Much darker than the well-known animated Disney version, this remake of the classic Grimm tale follows fair-skinned princess Snow White on a quest to regain her royal throne with help from a team of shady dwarves." I didn't like it at all.
2011	Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol	I enjoyed this more than I thought I would.
2001	Monsoon Wedding	Mira Nair.
	Moon	Duncan Jones
N
	Night Train to Munich
	Noises Off (1992)
O
	Of Gods and Men.
1984	Once Upon a Time in America	Sergio Leone. A former Prohibition-era Jewish gangster returns to the Lower East Side of Manhattan over thirty years later, where he once again must confront the ghosts and regrets of his old life.
1968	Once Upon a Time in the West	Sergio Leone. Classic Spaghetti Western.
P
1998	Pi	Aronofski. Obessive, paranoid "mathematics."
Q
R
	Radio Days
	Return to Everest/Surviving Everest	National Geographic
	Revenge of the Nerds 2.0.1.
S
2005	Serenity	"Malcolm Reynolds, captain of the ship Serenity, picks up two fugitives from the powerful coalition ruling the universe. Mal and his mates find themselves at the center of a cosmic conflict, pursued by military forces and space-roaming savages."
2012	Skyfall	James Bond.
	Something Beautiful for God
T
2010	Tabloid	"Director Errol Morris profiles another intriguingly dysfunctional personality in this complex documentary about Joyce McKinney, a former beauty queen whose lovely exterior hides a genius IQ -- and a criminal disposition."
2009	The Achievers: The Story of the Lebowski Fans	All about Lebowski fest.
2011	The Artist	"Winner of five Oscars, this artful black-and-white silent film follows the romance between a silent-era superstar on a downward spiral and a rising young starlet who embraces the future of cinema at the dawn of the 'talkies.'"
1989	The Dream Team	"While escorting four of his patients to a Yankees game, a shrink (Dennis Boutsikaris) gets waylaid by crooked cops, and his quartet of crazies is unleashed on the streets of New York City in this comic gem from director Howard Zieff."
1926	The General
	Mountain Men: The ghosts of K2.
2005	The Ice Harvest	"Unethical dim-bulb attorney Charlie Arglist embezzles $2 million from a mobster. Not content with the cash, the sleazy lawyer plans to skip town with pretty club owner Renata Crest -- until the cops and townsfolk grow increasingly suspicious." (R rated--nudity and violence.)
2007	The Island (Ostrov)	"Father Anatoli (portrayed by former Russian rock star Pyotr Mamonov) lives a hermitlike existence in a remote Russian Orthodox monastery, where he's visited by people who believe he has the power to heal, see the future and exorcise demons. But Anatoli's odd behavior confuses his fellow monks, who are unaware that he's tortured by a past sin and considers himself an unworthy fraud. Pavel Lungin directed this poignant parable."
2003	The Italian Job	Team heist with small cars.
1938	The Lady Vanishes	Hitchcock's last British movie.
	The Long Goodbye	Eliot Gould
2011	The Mill & The Cross	Watched this for the love of my friends. Slow, symbolic, surreal.
2009	The People vs. George Lucas	Fan criticism of what Lucas has done to Star Wars.
1992	The Player	Altman
	AE The Price of Courage.
2009	The Road	Recommended by a friend. The love of the father for his son is edifying. Accepting the conditions under which they suffer and survive is a hard stretch for me. What kind of disaster would kill virtually all animal life but allow dogs and humans to survive?
1986	Offret (The Sacrifice)	Andrei Tarkovsky's final film. Dedicated to his son. "A birthday party is interrupted by news that World War III has begun and mankind faces annihilation." I did not like the "sacrifice" that is made at the end.
	The Talented Mr Ripley.	A horror story.
1988	The Thin Blue Line	"Filmmaker Errol Morris's gripping investigation into the murder of a Dallas police officer was responsible for freeing the man who was originally -- and erroneously -- charged with and convicted of the crime."
	The Village	Shyamalan
2010	The Way Back	"After narrowly escaping from a wretched World War II Siberian labor camp, a small band of multinational soldiers desperately undertakes a harrowing journey to traverse Siberia, the Gobi Desert and the Himalayas on foot."
1999	Topsy-Turvy
	The Triumph of the Nerds.	Robert X. Cringely.
U
	Unbreakable	Shyamalan.
V
1981	Vernon, Florida	Errol Morris.
2009	Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen
W
	Wall of Death
	Water
	Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe.
2010	Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin' About Him?)	Nilsson wrote "Everybody's Talking" from Midnight Cowboy. Huge talent, party animal, admired by the greats, peaked in 1969-1972, seems to have lost his way, became a family man, died with work unfinished.
2010	Windfall	The downside of wind turbines.
2011	Woody Allen: A Documentary: Part 1
2011	Woody Allen: A Documentary: Part 2
X
Y
Z

Film Festival

• Do you want it to be something canned? Just me and Mike? Me and Mike and open lines?

• Do you have in idea where you would like it to be in the show? I guess the basic options are first, middle, last.

• Classic movies or what's playing in the theaters now?

• The baby needs a name:

- Focus on Films

- Faith 'n' Films

- Finding Faith in Film

- Friday Film Festival

- Faith 'n' Reason Film Festival

- Heroes and Heroines

- The Moral of the Story

- The True, the Beautiful, and the Good

- Creative Thinking

• Watch the clock. Assign a time limit for the segment--10 minutes? 15 minutes? Keep calls on the segment during the segment; anything goes afterward.

Links

• Barbara Nicolosi, "A “Christian” Cinema? An interview with Av Venire."
• Steven D. Greydanus, "Decent Films Guide."