Do I have to support or like Christian Movies?

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adawgj

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I’m a huge movie viewer. Over the years I have started to become more of a movie critic type viewer when it comes to movies.

So their have been a lot of Christian movies coming out over the years and I must be honest, they are terrible. The message they promote is great, but the acting, scriptwriting, filming is awful. I’m talking about the movies “To Save a Life”, “Facing the Giants”, “Son of God”, “God’s Not Dead” etc.

The problem I have with these movies is their is nothing artistic worthy about them. Everything is so bland in those movies. Of course not every Christian movie is bad, I’m a big fan of Ignatius Press movies “Restless Heart Story of St. Augustine”, “Mother Teresa”. I guess my movie taste is biased toward Catholic films than evangelical.

Would that be a bad thing? Am I supposed to support and love every evangelical movie that is released because it promotes something Christian?
 
Oh goodness, I sure hope not. I sat through “Fireproof” and it turned out to be preachy (i.e. “who in real life talks like that?”).

It was awful.
 
I know, just watching the trailer it didn’t look good.

I just recently watched “The Cardinal” that was a fantastic film, really helped me spiritually and was well written, acted, and artistic.
 
No, what would be interesting is if we need support or like Catholic movies, there certainly was a golden age of religious movies in mentioning the Cardinal, I think Sidney Potier in Lillies of the field was a big movie.

I have seen one recent Catholic movie that just didn’t strike a chord with me but I would still to a degree support it.
 
I can’t believe they remade “Left Behind” with Nic Cage, so this could be a great movie!
 
I think I’ve seen one explicitly Christian movie that I enjoyed as a movie, and that was because it starred Katherine Heigl and it was a western, which I was utterly in the mood for. The main character also sang “Come Thou Fount”, which is my favorite hymn.

So…I hope not!
 
I completely agree. I sure wish they could get some people to act in these movies. I like the message, but I have to keep from rolling my eyes because of the cheezy acting.

We watched God’s Not Dead recently and It completely baffles me why Willie from Duck Dynasty was in it. Its like they just tried to throw as many celebrities in it hoping that would legitimize it.

I think that movie would have been great if it was just the debate between him and the professor. Like a Rocky movie with a 10 minute “training” montage and a fight at the end. 👍
 
adawgj said:
I’m a huge movie viewer. Over the years I have started to become more of a movie critic type viewer when it comes to movies.

So their have been a lot of Christian movies coming out over the years and I must be honest, they are terrible. The message they promote is great, but the acting, scriptwriting, filming is awful. I’m talking about the movies “To Save a Life”, “Facing the Giants”, “Son of God”, “God’s Not Dead” etc.

The problem I have with these movies is their is nothing artistic worthy about them. Everything is so bland in those movies. Of course not every Christian movie is bad, I’m a big fan of Ignatius Press movies “Restless Heart Story of St. Augustine”, “Mother Teresa”. I guess my movie taste is biased toward Catholic films than evangelical.

Would that be a bad thing? Am I supposed to support and love every evangelical movie that is released because it promotes something Christian?
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I never go to them because I don’t want my " vision " clouded by someone else’s biased opinions, good or bad.

Linus2nd
 
adawgj said:
I’m a huge movie viewer. Over the years I have started to become more of a movie critic type viewer when it comes to movies.

So their have been a lot of Christian movies coming out over the years and I must be honest, they are terrible. The message they promote is great, but the acting, scriptwriting, filming is awful. I’m talking about the movies “To Save a Life”, “Facing the Giants”, “Son of God”, “God’s Not Dead” etc.

The problem I have with these movies is their is nothing artistic worthy about them. Everything is so bland in those movies. Of course not every Christian movie is bad, I’m a big fan of Ignatius Press movies “Restless Heart Story of St. Augustine”, “Mother Teresa”. I guess my movie taste is biased toward Catholic films than evangelical.

Would that be a bad thing? Am I supposed to support and love every evangelical movie that is released because it promotes something Christian?
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Nah, of course you don’t have to like all Christian movies! I mean, I know you’re kind of being facetious… I don’t like the lion’s share of them myself. These are the best I’ve ever seen, the cream of the crop, which I totally recommend:
Diary of a Country Priest, by Robert Bresson
Au revoir les enfants, by Jean-Pierre Melville (Amazing! film)
The Prisoner, by Peter Glenville (Starring the one and only [Roman Catholic] Alec Guinness)
The Passion of Joan of Arc, by Carl Dreyer (It’s a super old silent film with Antonin Artaud)
A lot of Christian films I find kind of tedious, but there are definitely some hidden gems out there. Thank you, by the way, for The Cardinal recommendation; I’d never even heard of that one! It’s on my to watch list now, though.

And by the way, I think this is an excellent idea for a thread. I haven’t even seen The Passion yet…
 
Path_Finder said:
No, what would be interesting is if we need support or like Catholic movies, there certainly was a golden age of religious movies in mentioning the Cardinal, I think Sidney Potier in Lillies of the field was a big movie.

I have seen one recent Catholic movie that just didn’t strike a chord with me but I would still to a degree support it.
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Hey, thanks for the tip! I tend to really love love Sidney Poitier’s films. Lillies of the Field just got added to my list.
 
The argument goes something like this: If we don’t support them, they will never get better.

I think there’s some truth to this, but I wouldn’t call it a moral obligation, unless your vocation is directly related to this.

Too many Christian B-movies, no question, but that’s true of movies in general.
 
Ad_Orientem said:
The argument goes something like this: If we don’t support them, they will never get better.

I think there’s some truth to this, but I wouldn’t call it a moral obligation, unless your vocation is directly related to this.

Too many Christian B-movies, no question, but that’s true of movies in general.
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Yeah but a 1950’s sci fi B- movie is ten times better than a 2006 Christian film.

For some reason the Catholic movies I see are better than the evangelical movies.

I just finished watching a TV movie “Pius XII Under the Roman Sky” and it was a great movie very exciting and teeth gritting.
 
Exiled_Child said:
Nah, of course you don’t have to like all Christian movies! I mean, I know you’re kind of being facetious… I don’t like the lion’s share of them myself. These are the best I’ve ever seen, the cream of the crop, which I totally recommend:
Diary of a Country Priest, by Robert Bresson
Au revoir les enfants, by Jean-Pierre Melville (Amazing! film)
The Prisoner, by Peter Glenville (Starring the one and only [Roman Catholic] Alec Guinness)
The Passion of Joan of Arc, by Carl Dreyer (It’s a super old silent film with Antonin Artaud)
A lot of Christian films I find kind of tedious, but there are definitely some hidden gems out there. Thank you, by the way, for The Cardinal recommendation; I’d never even heard of that one! It’s on my to watch list now, though.

And by the way, I think this is an excellent idea for a thread. I haven’t even seen The Passion yet…
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Everyone I would think knows something like Song of Bernadette which came out cerca 1943 but watching Turner Movie Channel once, they had “Keys to the Kingdom”, that is great. I guess if one talks about classic movies, one can go on forever.

Yes, I am aware of whom Artaud was.

Some movies also are largely Christian I would think even if they are not say, straight ahead a Christian movie, I think Les Miserables sort of is.

Monsieur Vincent, the French film and on the Vatican’s list of suggested movies is indeed worth watching.
 
Well, I am all for supporting Christian businesses, and that includes movies, as long as they are trying to create quality products/services. More money = better actors, better scriptwriters, and better production.

Up to a point. If a company turns out stinker after stinker, or if a Christian business doesn’t deliver the goods, well, I feel fine about saying adios and taking my business elsewhere. (Or not buying any more tickets!)
 
Path_Finder said:
Everyone I would think knows something like Song of Bernadette which came out cerca 1943 but watching Turner Movie Channel once, they had “Keys to the Kingdom”, that is great. I guess if one talks about classic movies, one can go on forever.

Yes, I am aware of whom Artaud was.

Some movies also are largely Christian I would think even if they are not say, straight ahead a Christian movie, I think Les Miserables sort of is.

Monsieur Vincent, the French film and on the Vatican’s list of suggested movies is indeed worth watching.
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Yep, Song of Bernadette is a great one, too. My list was just a distillation of the very best of the best. Bernadette’s great, but not quite top shelf, in my view. Ya gotta check out Au revoir les enfants and Diary of a Country Priest if you really want to be just blown away by how great film can be. Au revoir is probably the coolest WWII movie I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot of cool ones.

Also, I made a typo above. Au revoir is by Louis Malle. Jean-Pierre did Army of Shadows, which is easily the most engaging French Resistance action flick ever!
 
Exiled_Child said:
Yep, Song of Bernadette is a great one, too. My list was just a distillation of the very best of the best. Bernadette’s great, but not quite top shelf, in my view. Ya gotta check out Au revoir les enfants and Diary of a Country Priest if you really want to be just blown away by how great film can be. Au revoir is probably the coolest WWII movie I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen a lot of cool ones.

Also, I made a typo above. Au revoir is by Louis Malle. Jean-Pierre did Army of Shadows, which is easily the most engaging French Resistance action flick ever!
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Perhaps I will write a thread to list one’s favorite 5-10 Christian/Catholic movies, I know it’s come up before.

Among my favorites is the Sean Penn/Robert Deniro movie "We’re no angels’, it doesn’t always get good reviews at places like IMDB and it may not be straight forward Christian and at times, may smack of being irreverent with some people. But to me, it is a very potent and powerful film to those who have a Catholic background, otherwise, someone might not be fully comprehending of the message.

Flowers of war is not straightforward a Catholic movie though Christian Bale plays a Priest and that movie is very moving though, I probably wouldn’t put it in a list of favorite religious films.

Leonardo DeFillipis who hails from the Northwest, Portland or Seattle put his one-man stage show of Maximilian, St. of Auschwitz on film and that is also one of the best movies I have seen.

I think Song of Bernadette still is one of the best, being so well known, one might underestimate it the way, say in music, the Beatles music is so well known though they are obviously masters. Song of Bernadette very much sets a standard and that it was produced way back in 1943 needs to be taken into account.

I’d go with a number of “standards”, the 10 commandments is a great movie, Ben Hur is good though I don’t know it very well, once watched it straight through.

Bells of St. Mary, Going my way, definitely, I’d give them thumbs up too. Passion of the Christ, easily one of the best ever.

Angels with dirty faces with Bogart, Cagney, the dead end kids and Pat O’Brien as the Priest, not straight ahead a Christian movie but very powerful.
 
Sometimes the message is more important than the overall quality. The film about Padre Pio has really annoying music behind it all the way through but the script is good and the portrait is wonderful so worth the wince. The film ‘Scarlet and the Black’ was great in every way. The film about JPII was good and bad. It is probably a blessing in some cases to watch a Christian movie even if the film itself is drab. I have been to plenty of Christian events, for example, and recognised the naffness, but then I know it was important to attend for those people. So watching Christian films with the knowledge that maybe there is less money put into them is a loving thing in itself, but you can’t force yourself to positively adore films that make you wince, so it is not a case of morals. But suffering something to show solidarity or support can be considered a good deed.
 
Path_Finder said:
Perhaps I will write a thread to list one’s favorite 5-10 Christian/Catholic movies, I know it’s come up before.

Among my favorites is the Sean Penn/Robert Deniro movie "We’re no angels’, it doesn’t always get good reviews at places like IMDB and it may not be straight forward Christian and at times, may smack of being irreverent with some people. But to me, it is a very potent and powerful film to those who have a Catholic background, otherwise, someone might not be fully comprehending of the message.

Flowers of war is not straightforward a Catholic movie though Christian Bale plays a Priest and that movie is very moving though, I probably wouldn’t put it in a list of favorite religious films.

Leonardo DeFillipis who hails from the Northwest, Portland or Seattle put his one-man stage show of Maximilian, St. of Auschwitz on film and that is also one of the best movies I have seen.

I think Song of Bernadette still is one of the best, being so well known, one might underestimate it the way, say in music, the Beatles music is so well known though they are obviously masters. Song of Bernadette very much sets a standard and that it was produced way back in 1943 needs to be taken into account.

I’d go with a number of “standards”, the 10 commandments is a great movie, Ben Hur is good though I don’t know it very well, once watched it straight through.

Bells of St. Mary, Going my way, definitely, I’d give them thumbs up too. Passion of the Christ, easily one of the best ever.

Angels with dirty faces with Bogart, Cagney, the dead end kids and Pat O’Brien as the Priest, not straight ahead a Christian movie but very powerful.
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Actually, you’re right about Bernadette. I think I’m just in kind of an action movie mood at the moment. Au revoir has Nazis and terror and beauty and it’s just the kind of poetry I’m drawn to. I really dug We’re No Angels, too. I’d just completely forgotten about that one.

The Mission was also terrific. I recently had a dream which somehow incorporated that part with DeNiro carrying his cumbersome burden up that cliff…🤷
 
I guess “Schindler’s List” is probably looked at as being a great religious movie or at least, I think it is on the Vatican’s list. It’s okay.

“Chariots of Fire” is on the list too and many consider it a religious movie, I’d think it’s a sports movie, for what it is, a movie about the Olympics it is pretty good it’s just that it doesn’t really reach deep into the emotions. But I have it and I read the book on based on the screenplay as well.
 
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