Christian flix

[ticker]

Any good Christian/spiritual/religious movies you'd recommend?

Being a movie buff, I've decided to devote a certain part of my DVD library to Christian(-esque) movies. Just reached the number 10 margin...


-Shadowlands (...it's at the top for a reason. My fave)

-The Gospel of John (...more of a study than a feature film)

-The Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe (...that makes 2 so far for Lewis!)

-Da Vinci Code (...controversial, but ripe with talking points)

-Passion of the Christ (...a must have I think)

-Last Temptation of Christ (...probably the best made of all these, although pretty darn "out there")

-The Messenger (...I'm a sucker for director Besson)

-The Jesus Film (...just a bare bones film about Jesus. Badly acted. Badly filmed. But all the goods are there).

-Walk the Line (...God bless you Johnny)

-Luther (...lacking a bit in the historical accuracy dept, but the main message is there. God bless you too Luther!)


I enjoy all these films, and think a lot of them have good messages and themes that are Christian-based. Mostly though, I find it's good that I could lend these out to people (hopefully unbelievers) as a way to possibly engage in conversation about the faith, even if it's with some of the more controversial or unassuming ones (Da Vinci, Narnia).

I'm definitely picking up Prince Caspian when it comes out, and I'm also thinking of adding Million Dollar Baby to my library.

Others?

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

Any good Christian/spiritual/religious movies you'd recommend?

"The 10 Commandments" with Charlston Heston was good.

I also liked "The Robe" with Richard Burton and Victor Mature which I saw when I was fairly young so it might seem a little outdated today. Just a few off the top of my head.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046247/

There seems to be little interest in this movie today but when originally released in 1953, it created a sensation and threatened, for a while, to replace "Gone With the Wind" as the highest-grossing film in history. And it was the first movie in CinemaScope -- "The Modern Entertainment Miracle You See Without the Use of Glasses!" Its opening half still plays well, even some 50 years later, but the second half tries to convincingly present the religious conversion of Marcellus -- a tricky proposition since it deals with an internal process -- and the result plays like a well-intentioned but rather simplistic Sunday sermon.

 

[ticker]

"The 10 Commandments" with Charlston Heston was good.

Of course! I should check that out again...saw it when I was little.

I also liked "The Robe" with Richard Burton and Victor Mature which I saw when I was fairly young so it might seem a little outdated today. Just a few off the top of my head.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046247/

There seems to be little interest in this movie today but when originally released in 1953, it created a sensation and threatened, for a while, to replace "Gone With the Wind" as the highest-grossing film in history. And it was the first movie in CinemaScope -- "The Modern Entertainment Miracle You See Without the Use of Glasses!" Its opening half still plays well, even some 50 years later, but the second half tries to convincingly present the religious conversion of Marcellus -- a tricky proposition since it deals with an internal process -- and the result plays like a well-intentioned but rather simplistic Sunday sermon.

Interesting little tidbit LL...didn't know it was that big. Should check it out.

Have you seen "The Bible"? John Huston I think. DON'T. It was baaaad.


EDIT: The book's better.

 

[LittleLambofJesus]

Of course! I should check that out again...saw it when I was little.


Interesting little tidbit LL...didn't know it was that big. Should check it out.

Have you seen "The Bible"? John Huston I think. DON'T. It was baaaad.


EDIT: The book's better.

I am not really an avid movie buff especially the religious movies of today.I didn't even go see the The Passion as I would break down crying just watching the trailers on TV.

One other movie I really enjoy is "Ben-Hur" and especially the Chariot Race scene

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052618/

I think I can safely say that in my opinion, this is the best movie ever made. Its dramatic value is fantastic, and I've never seen a better storyline. The costumes were also incredible. The actors portrayed the best purest form of both ancient Roman and old Judean culture. This film also had quite an emotional effect. The way that Christ's face is never visible nor his voice audible to the audience creates a feeling of reverence to the actual person of Jesus. Lew Wallace also did an amazing job portraying the innocence, kindness, and mercy of Jesus, and his effect on the main character, Judah Ben Hur. Hur's ending quote, "I felt him take the sword out of my hand" was a wonderful picture of his changing. I admit, I am a Christian, but even for those who are not this is still a great film. The message boards confirm that. I recognize that there are some people that require constant action to keep their attention. If this is your case, than this movie is not for you, as it has a lot of dialogue. But I recommend this movie 100%.

 

[Annolennar]

Yeah, Ben-Hur is a must have.

Also, Stigmata has always been one of my favorites.

Amazing Grace is pretty good.

I'd recommend some others but they're more in the documentary/docudrama genre, and I don't know if that's what you're looking for.

 

[wayseer]

A good selection.

May I add a couple - Dances With Wolves &, (of course) Lord of the Rings - both with profound Christian messages.

 

[E.C.]

"Let My People Go!" ('nuff said)

-Though I have not seen it myself, I have heard that "Ostrov" (The Island - Russian film) is excellent. It is about a small monastery during the Soviet times.

-Ben-Hur is worth seeing for the chariot race were Charlton Heston did his own stunts.

-King of Kings is one of my personal favorites about Christ because most films about Him that I have seen tend to have a very Protestant or Catholic perspective to it. However King of Kings does not and actually depicts things fairly accurately.

-I like The Shawshank Redemption for Andy's story as well as how everything ends.

That's it for now. If I think of anything later I may post.

 

[prodromos]

Definitely Ostrov. Excellent movie.

 

[ToxicReboMan]

Jesus of Nazareth (1977). A 6 and a half hour long film. A must see if you haven't already.

 

[MamaZ]

Joshua is a good movie. I enjoyed it.

 

[ticker]

One other movie I really enjoy is "Ben-Hur" and especially the Chariot Race scene

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052618/

I think I can safely say that in my opinion, this is the best movie ever made. Its dramatic value is fantastic, and I've never seen a better storyline. The costumes were also incredible. The actors portrayed the best purest form of both ancient Roman and old Judean culture. This film also had quite an emotional effect. The way that Christ's face is never visible nor his voice audible to the audience creates a feeling of reverence to the actual person of Jesus. Lew Wallace also did an amazing job portraying the innocence, kindness, and mercy of Jesus, and his effect on the main character, Judah Ben Hur. Hur's ending quote, "I felt him take the sword out of my hand" was a wonderful picture of his changing. I admit, I am a Christian, but even for those who are not this is still a great film. The message boards confirm that. I recognize that there are some people that require constant action to keep their attention. If this is your case, than this movie is not for you, as it has a lot of dialogue. But I recommend this movie 100%.

Another I saw when I was young. All I remember is the chariot scene. Should check it out again. Thanks.

 

[ticker]

Also, Stigmata has always been one of my favorites.

Thanks. Stigmata sounds interesting.

 

[simonthezealot]

Sin eater

 

[Albion]

Hi.

For myself, I would omit DaVinci Code--a fable created to debunk Christianity and full of historical errors--and Walk the Line.

But no one's going to have the same list as the next person, which is why you asked for everyone's own thinking, I realize. In a different way, however, I do like the listing of DaVinci and Walk the Line. That's because they are relevant to and relate in some way to Christianity, even if not so much that they are thought of automatically as religious films.

With that in mind, I'd suggest two others that are not immediately seen as religious stories but actually are.

Those are "Signs" and "Chariots of Fire."

The religious message of Signs is sometimes missed by people upon first viewing. Chariots of Fire's most critical scene is fictional although the overall story of the feelings and decisions of the athlete is historically correct.

 

[ticker]

May I add a couple - Dances With Wolves &, (of course) Lord of the Rings - both with profound Christian messages.

Have seen Dances when it came out. Again...a long time ago. Should check it out again for the Christian element.

I have the LOTR super mega box set, and of course they're classic films. Not sure though if they're what I want in my own, personal Christian movie library, as the film wasn't actually made with Christian themes in mind, and the people involved in making it didn't feel Tolkien was purposely incorporating Christian themes into it (oops) and so they followed suit with that. A film I feel I could compare it to like Narnia on the other hand had more of an awareness of the Christian themes from the film-making end.

Still though, there's no doubt that Christian themes crept into Tolkien’s work, and have read where he's said so himself...but unlike others in my Christian library, I don't think the Christian part is as overt as I'd want it to be from the film-making end.

I feel it lies somewhere between a film that is very, intentionally allegorical (Narnia) and somewhat allegorical (Star Wars, The Matrix). And actually, with a film like the Matrix, it represents for me the closest thing that I see the Christian life as being...(even more than even any of the other films on my list). Still though...not as overt and intentional as I'd want it to be for the purposes of this library.

Great suggestion though.

Thanks

 

[ticker]

"Let My People Go!" ('nuff said)

-Though I have not seen it myself, I have heard that "Ostrov" (The Island - Russian film) is excellent. It is about a small monastery during the Soviet times.

-Ben-Hur is worth seeing for the chariot race were Charlton Heston did his own stunts.

-King of Kings is one of my personal favorites about Christ because most films about Him that I have seen tend to have a very Protestant or Catholic perspective to it. However King of Kings does not and actually depicts things fairly accurately.

-I like The Shawshank Redemption for Andy's story as well as how everything ends.

That's it for now. If I think of anything later I may post.

Shawshank is great. Gotta see it again to see if it's what I wanna add to my library.

Seen King of Kings a long time ago. Again...worth checking out once more.

 

[ticker]

Definitely Ostrov. Excellent movie.

Thanks. Really curious now.

 

[ticker]

Jesus of Nazareth (1977). A 6 and a half hour long film. A must see if you haven't already.

Yeah...Zeffirelli's TV movie. Heard it's probably the best all around Jesus film (taking into account the acting, storytelling, accuracy, etc..). Again...another I saw when I was younger. Gotta see it again.

 

[ticker]

Joshua is a good movie. I enjoyed it.

Which one is that one?

 

[ticker]

Anyone here seen Millions?

Thinking of buying that one too.