Which Movies

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Peace-bwu:
I enjoyed Spirited Away, we have the DVD, but it scared the pants off my little kids. They won’t watch it again! Just to let you know, it’s a great movie, but based on Japanese folklore about spirits etc. If it will bother you to watch a movie that doesn’t fit entirely with Catholic theology, then you might not be able to get past that. I consider myself a devout Catholic and am able to enjoy stories from other cultures. If you like it there are some others I could recommend by Miyazaki:

Graveyard of the Fireflies is jawdropping
**Castle in the Sky **

Some of his other films Tortoro and Kiki’s great adventure are a little more childlike.
I am a big fan of Hayao Miyzaki! 👍 I loved Spirited Away, the animation was amazing. *Kiki’s Delivery Service *was also excellent.
 
since I can’t stand wasting money on tripe and sitting in dirty seats with my feet on a sticky floor while I do it, I go to maybe one movie a year. Most releases eventually make it to DSS and even then I have only paid for maybe 5 movies since we got satellite several years ago.

The last movie we saw together was the Incredibles, because we were stuck on S Padre Island on a rainy weekend and it was the only thing in the theater remotely appealing - great flick, great message. Grandkids have most of the Pixar things on DVD so watched a lot of them, never saw a bad one (I love the little cartoon about the cactus and the jackrabbit at the beginning of incredibles, and I might go see the movie about the cars that was advertised on the DVD).

I am a fan of really good animation, something we have not seen since the classic years from Disney, so I really like Pixar and the other one that does the computer animation.

I very rarely watch anything on HBO or the other movie channels either, usually TCM or FMC, don’t watch AMC anymore since the started showing “the Worst of the 70s & 80s” with commercials.

Cary Grant comedies, Bringing up Baby is best comedy of all time, particularly as it shows katherine hepburn at her whiniest and most obnoxious.

Just saw an old Doris Day-James Garner movie about the wife of an OB doc who gets a job advertising soap on TV and all the problems it causes, but the subplot about the couple who has been trying for 20 years and finally gets pregnant and she has the baby in a limo in the last seen is a real blast from the past, as the opening scenes of the movie have the mom to be actually giggling in joy and happiness, and the dad ecstatic at the good news. The positive view of life, pregnancy and marriage are downright shocking when compared to the Hollyrot of today.
 
I agree with the person who said The Maldonado Miracle, excellent movie, very uplifting and Catholic.

Others:

The Passion of the Christ
Return to Me
The Incredibles
Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events
Love Comes Softly and Love’s Enduring Promise (TV movies, but available on DVD)
 
God’s pornography? That sounds wrong. Should we show God’s pornography to all the porn addicts? That will fill them with holiness.

God does work through such bad things, but those bad things aren’t his fault, He does the best he can to work through sin to touch people, it doesn’t mean it’s ok to disobey moral law to preach law.
God bless you
 
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filmmaker:
God’s pornography? That sounds wrong. Should we show God’s pornography to all the porn addicts? That will fill them with holiness.

God does work through such bad things, but those bad things aren’t his fault, He does the best he can to work through sin to touch people, it doesn’t mean it’s ok to disobey moral law to preach law.
God bless you
I know, it does sound wrong. But lo, it’s working. I know of lesbians who at first thought they loved MD for it’s ‘lesbianism’, but the movie changed them inside. What did it change them into? They seem to have fallen in love with God instead.

MD gets inside of us (and it takes our volunteering for it to do so = free will/ free choice) and sanctifies us. I see it happening everywhere. It’s like being tricked into reading the entire Bible. 🙂
 
I watched** Ladder 49** last night. My husband and I were moved to tears. My favorite scene involves a Baptism. The Catholic Faith of the firefighters is clearly interwoven throughout the movie. It is extrememly well- written and the best firefighter movie I have ever seen. It seeks the core of these ordinary men who have a passion for an extrodinary self- sacrificing job to save lives. Joaquin Phoenix is an extremely talented actor. This film portrays the dignity and value of one man’s life, and the human spirit.
 
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JMJ_Pinoy:
I am a big fan of Hayao Miyzaki! 👍 I loved Spirited Away, the animation was amazing. *Kiki’s Delivery Service *was also excellent.
LOL, sorry as I was typing “Kiki’s great adventure” I knew it didn’t sound right… ***Kiki’s Delivery Service . ***As I said, some of the others were a litte too intense for my kids, but they all liked Tortoro and Kiki’s Delivery Service. The animation is gorgeous and the stories are refreshingly new compared to many American themes.
 
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MEP:
Graveyard of the Firefiles isn’t by Miyazaki. It was made by the other cofunder of studio Ghibli, Isao Takahata. It is also not child friendly, but still a great movie (about two children who wind up orphaned after the many firebombings of Japan during WWII, it’s a really tragic movie whereas Miyazaki’s stuff is usually much more heartwarming like My Nieghbor Totoro which is about two little kids whose mother is in the hospital, but they find a way to get through it all thanks to an adorably cute nature spirit (it is never established whether the spirit is real or a figment of their imaginiation, but either way, it’s really heartwarming)).

Miyazaki’s work is inspired by Japanese spiritual tradition in much the same that Van Helsing was a movie about Catholicism. The imagery is very Japanese (Shinto), but he never really expressly uses any specific religious doctrine or tradition to explain the fantasies in his movies. It’s really fantasy, but it’s an Asian fantasy.
Sorry, I’m not a Japanese animation expert. :o I assumed Graveyard of the fireflies was Miyazaki because the DVD belonged to my brother and he is a big fan of his.
Miyazaki’s work is inspired by Japanese spiritual tradition in much the same that Van Helsing was a movie about Catholicism. The imagery is very Japanese (Shinto), but he never really expressly uses any specific religious doctrine or tradition to explain the fantasies in his movies. It’s really fantasy, but it’s an Asian fantasy.
I agree, just wanted to give a heads up to the scrupulous person I was recommending this movie to. I wanted the thead starter to have a heads up. I enjoyed all of these movies.
 
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MEP:
What I don’t get is why Spirited Away is spiritually sketchy and Lord of the Rings isn’t. They’re both pure fantasy. As a student of Asian culture (and Japanese language and culture in particular) I can tell you there’s nothing truly religious in Spirited Away any more than there is in LOTR. It’s fantasy, pure and simple, a fairy tale. I think Americans are so unfamiliar with real Japanese spirituality that they can’t tell the difference between the fantasy and the religion. Spirited Away is simply a coming of age tale set in a fantastic world, and a brilliant one at that.
I enjoyed it but it scared the begeebees out of my kids. I think it may also have been confusing for my daughter who was only 7 when we bought it and kept asking theological questions like she needed reassurance. I enjoyed it, but for someone who is looking for a Catholic-friendly movie, they would need a head’s up, and prepare for a lot of splain’in to do if you watch it with your kids.
 
I’m not sure if my picks would sit well with you, but I try to maintain a delicate catholic conscience myself. For what it’s worth, here are my recommendations:

The Last of the Mohicans
The Count of Monte Cristo
Frequency
Braveheart
The Last Samurai
Equilibrium
The Matrix
The Emperor’s New Groove
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
 
QuoVadis?:
… I try to maintain a delicate catholic conscience myself.

The Last of the Mohicans
The Count of Monte Cristo
Frequency
Braveheart
The Last Samurai
Equilibrium
The Matrix
The Emperor’s New Groove
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Could you explain what you mean by “maintain a delicate catholic conscience”?
 
a Few Good ones:

Warriors of the Wind, done by Myazaki. LOVED it as a kid, still do.
Spirited Away. Strange at first but meaningful as you go along.
**The Incredibles. **Very cute.
Emperorers New Groove. Funniest disney animated movie ever!
Monsters Inc. Adorable.
The Passion of the Christ. Of course.
Brother Sun, Sister Moon. About Saint Francis and Saint Clare, it’s not terribly accurate, and it has some ‘hippy’ elements, but overall the spirit of the movie is right. And it’s good, endearing. While it shows the bishop as gluttonous and lazy, he has a good heart, as does the Pope in the movie.
A Beautiful Mind. A very interesting, very well made movie. Nothing immoral I can think of except maybe some brief ‘cruising’ of girls in a bar. Ultimately the story is an affirmation of the power of love and marriage.
East of Eden. Loosely based on the biblical story of Cain and Abel. Loosely. It’s a movie from the 50’s so it’s pretty safe.
The Philidelphia Story. Awesome comedy with Jimmy Stewart, Katherine Hepburn, and Carey Grant.
Gone with the Wind. One of my all time favorite movies. A must see. Good Catholic parts and role models (in Scarletts mother and also a good Christian in her friend).
The Count of Monte Cristo. I second this one!
Return to Me. Second this one too. Good romance.

Lot’s of good older movies if you know where to look. I can’t think of that many recent ones. I just watched Sin City, and of course you can guess from the title, it was TERRIBLE. The last movie I saw in the theatre was Batman Begins, and I liked that one. I also saw Star Wars Episode 3, and it was good!
 
2 excellent choices are:

The Sound of Music

and

The Song of Bernadette

Of course, The Sound of Music isn’t all out Catholicism, but it’s a great movie about life, with a strong Catholic background of the convent and praying before meals, and good clean music.

The Song of Bernadette is about St. Bernadette of Lourdes. It is “all out Catholicism” no holds barred. The Immaculate Conception, vows of virginity, and everything!
 
Hotel Rwanda was a pretty decent movie. My wife and I watched it last night. It has some realistic depections of attrocites so maybe the little ones could go to bed first. But all in all it was a good drama. (I dont usualy like dramas very much). I liked Tears Of the Sun with Bruce Willis. Anybody see issues with this movie on a Christian level? I’m curious.

-D
 
I have a date set to go see THE ISLAND. The critics panned it but the website of N. Right to Life has a review on it and highly recommends it. Friends of mine have seen it and were rivited. Story takes place in the future and deals with cloning.
 
Peace-bwu said:
Life is Beautiful is one of my all time favorite movies.

Someone told me that was was Pope JPII 's fav movie also? Not sure if that’s true… anyone else ever heard that?

(I also LOVED this movie)
 
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Darrel:
Hotel Rwanda was a pretty decent movie. My wife and I watched it last night. It has some realistic depections of attrocites so maybe the little ones could go to bed first. But all in all it was a good drama. (I dont usualy like dramas very much). I liked Tears Of the Sun with Bruce Willis. Anybody see issues with this movie on a Christian level? I’m curious.

-D
issues regarding Tears of the Sun or Hotel Rwanda?
 
I like A Beautiful Mind it is a great movie and I like the way it shows a mentally ill man with dignity and capable of accomplishment. As the sister of somone who stuggles with mental illness, I really appreciate this!

Remember it is a Hollywood Stroy with a Hollywood ending the true story John Nash is much more tragic. All in all it is a great movie, but if you are interested you could find more information on his true story
 
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