Film
Film may be the reigning art form of the twenty-first century. Not only the most accessible, it embodies a collaborative creation, employing a variety of occupations: actors, writers, composers, costume designers, sound technicians and construction workers. The list (as film credits attest) is nearly endless. A movie is the result of a diverse community coming together in the attempt to create something beautiful. As man's desire to create via narrative springs from being made in God's image, these cinematic explorations inevitably express truths related to the One True Narrative: whether it's the nature of the divine, the consequences of sin, or another issue, filmmakers-- directly or indirectly-- often touch on these themes. As people flock to their local cineplex or rent a DVD, soaking up dramatized life lessons and morals, believers should engage this art form also-- speaking to it and through it-- bringing to light where it rings true and where it rings false. What does the movie say about human existence, the supernatural, the cycle of life and afterlife, or our need for redemption? If you look closely, many films are saying a lot more than you may realize...
Reasons & Purposes
Everyone is watching movies discerningly or not; actively or passively. The Church therefore has a vital role in promoting critical thinking skills that will inform the viewer how they watch movies. Wanting to avoid both naïve reactionism and foolish accommodationism, the series provides a venue for healthy discussion, which thereby enables us to become wiser in our dialogue regarding different worldviews and philosophies that are preached using the medium of film.
The purpose of this series is to engage our movie culture from a Christian Theological perspective. Film and video have replaced literature as the primary medium of storytelling and together exercise an influence on the shape of North American thought and life. For the average American, movies have replaced religious groups as the place where significant encounter with the 'transcendent' takes place; it is in this temple of the theater where meaning is preached.
What does Jason Bourne Want?
What keeps our attention in the Bourne films, along with the outrageously slick fight scenes and Bourne's uncanny ability to stay one-step-ahead of his pursuers, is that he's actually on a very human mission - a journey, if you will, to find out who he really is. Despite the fact that he has amnesia blocking his deeper, more intense memories, and more passports and fake id's than any agent could ever need, we can't help but get caught up in his real quest: will he ever learn his true identity?
City of Men (Cidade dos Homens)
Best buddies Acerola and Laranjinha, about to turn 18, discover things about their missing fathers' pasts which will shatter their solid friendship, in the middle of a war between rival drug gangs from Rio's favelas.
The Counterfeiters
The Counterfeiters is the true story of the largest counterfeiting operation in history, set up by the Nazis in 1936.
The Band's Visit
A band comprised of members of the Egyptian police force head to Israel to play at the inaugural ceremony of an Arab arts center, only to find themselves lost in the wrong town.
There Will Be Blood
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If you had never heard of the film There Will Be Blood you might guess by the title alone that it was a horror film. Even the eerie music that accompanies the first frames of the film instills a kind of dread in the viewer.
27 Dresses
After serving as a bridesmaid 27 times, a young woman (Heigl) wrestles with the idea of standing by her sister's side as her sibling marries the man she's secretly in love with.
Cloverfield
Five young New Yorkers throw their friend a going-away party the night that a monster the size of a skyscraper descends upon the city. Told from the point of view of their video camera, the film is a document of their attempt to survive the most surreal, horrifying event of their lives.
Sharkwater
"The animal we fear the most is the one we can't live without"-so the movie begins. Right away we enter into Rob Stewart's world of sharks, and his obvious love affair with the species.
Blame it on Fidel
Blame it on Fidel is a delightful film about a precocious nine year old girl named Anna (Nina Kervel) trying to make sense of her vastly changing world. The time set is 1970 at the zenith of a massive socio-political changes in Europe and America.
Outsourced
Outsourced is a romantic, cross-cultural comedy about Todd Anderson a manager of a Seattle based customer call center until his job and the entire office is outsourced to Mumbai India.
The Hip Hop Project
The Hip Hop Project is the dynamic and inspirational story of a group of New York City teenagers who transform their life stories into powerful works of art, using hip hop as a vehicle for self-development and personal discovery.
Spiderman 3
A strange black entity from another world bonds with Peter Parker and causes inner turmoil as he contends with new villains, temptations, and revenge.
Zodiac
A serial killer in the San Francisco Bay Area taunts police with his letters and cryptic messages. We follow the investigators and reporters in this lightly fictionalized account of the true 1970's case as they search for the murderer, becoming obsessed with the case. Based on Robert Graysmith's book, the movie's focus is the lives and careers of the detectives and newspaper people
Black Snake Moan
A God-fearing bluesman (Jackson) takes to a wild young woman (Ricci) who, as a victim of childhood sexual abuse, looks everywhere for love, never quite finding it.
Because I Said So
A meddling mother (Keaton) tries to set her daughter (Moore) up with the right man so her kid won't follow in her footsteps.
Music and Lyrics
A washed up singer (Grant) is given a couple days to compose a chart-topping hit for an aspiring teen sensation. Though he's never written lyrics in his life, he sparks with an offbeat younger woman (Barrymore) with a flair for words.
Breach
Based on the true story, FBI upstart Eric O'Neill enters into a power game with his boss, Robert Hanssen, an agent who was ultimately convicted of selling secrets to the Soviet Union.
Catch and Release
A woman struggles to accept the death of her fiancé and the secrets he kept from her as she rebuilds her life.
World Trade Center
True story of Will Jimeno and John McLoughlin, two Port Authority police officers who rushed into the burning World Trade Center on 9/11 to help rescue people, but became trapped themselves when the tower collapsed. A race against time ensued to free them before their air ran out.
Barnyard
When the farmer's away, all the animals play ... and sing, and dance. Eventually, though, someone has to step in and run things, a responsibility that ends up going to Otis (James), a carefree cow.
The Da Vinci Code
A murder inside the Louvre and clues in Da Vinci paintings lead to the discovery of a religious mystery protected by a secret society for two thousand years -- which could shake the foundations of Christianity.
Serenity
This big-screen version of the short-lived TV series Firefly is set 500 years in the future and focuses on space captain Malcolm Reynolds and his crew, who make a living with petty crime and transporting people throughout space. After they pick up their latest passengers — a doctor and his mentally unstable, telepathic sister — they realize that they're now being hunted by the Alliance, an out-of-control government that's out to bring the rogue sections of the galaxy under control.
What Would Spike Say
Spike Lee has created important, meaningful projects (not including He Got Game), but has been pretty much ignored at both the box office and the Oscars. Why is that so?
Sin City
Set in a rain-swept place called Sin City, this comic book adaptation follows three stories that interconnect. Hartigan is a cop who has sworn to protect stripper Nancy; Marv is a tough guy who meets the girl of his dreams, Goldie, only to see her murdered on that same night; and Dwight fights to protect the Old Towne Girls from violent tough Jackie.
Napoleon Dynamite
Napoleon Dynamite is an unusual (some might say geeky) teen living in the backwater town of Preston, Idaho, with his grandmother and unemployed older brother. Granny skips town, so Napoleon's uncle Rico comes to stay with them and proceeds to interfere in their lives. Meanwhile, Napoleon's busy trying to help his best friend, Pedro, get elected class president.
Motorcycle Diaries, The
In 1952, two young Argentine men, Ernesto "Che" Guevara and his best friend, Alberto Granado, embark on a road trip to discover the real Latin America.
Garden State
After his mother dies, a Los Angeles actor (Zach Braff) comes home to New Jersey to see his family and old friends for the first time in 10 years. When he meets a young woman (Natalie Portman), he reconsiders his life and the choices he's made, while making tentative steps to reconcile with his father (Ian Holm).
Life of Brian (Monty Python)
Taking place in Galilee more than 2,000 years ago, the Monty Python religious satire Life of Brian follows Brian, a hapless guy who keeps getting mistaken for a messiah. He teams up with a radical anti-Roman sect and tries to avoid his growing mass of followers. Ultimately unsuccessful, he's sentenced to crucifixion by Pontius Pilate (who sports an Elmer Fudd speech impediment).
Matrix Revolutions
The concluding chapter of the Matrix trilogy finds Neo trapped between the real world and the computer-generated Matrix. After being rescued by Trinity and Morpheus, he sets off to confront his nemesis, Agent Smith. But to do so, he first must make a nearly impossible journey to the machine city to strike a bargain that may end the war and save Zion, which is under attack by sentinels, fierce battle droids sent by the thousands to wipe out the humans' last line of defense.
The Station Agent
A man born with dwarfism retreats from society and becomes a loner. When he finds himself stranded at an abandoned train depot in New Jersey, he's forced to come to terms with his shy nature, and in the process meets up with two other like-minded loners and relationship develop.
Love Actually
This ensemble comedy tells ten separate (but intertwining) stories of love in London (with a small portion set in France), leading up to a big climax on Christmas Eve.
Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)
"On his way, David encounters and travels with a male prostitute mecha named “Gigolo Joe”, who pontificates quite poetically about how robots do it better—no pain, no emotional scars, all giving and no selfish interest—which, in our age of internet porn and other mechanized means by which to fulfill our self-involved lusts, is a chilling expose of things to come."
Passion of the Christ, The
The Passion of The Christ focusses on the last twelve hours of Jesus of Nazareth's life. The film begins in the Garden of Olives where Jesus has gone to pray after sitting the Last Supper. Jesus must resist the temptations of Satan. Betrayed by Judas Iscariot, Jesus is then arrested and taken within the city walls of Jerusalem where leaders of the Pharisees confront him with accusations of blasphemy and his trial results in a condemnation to death.
Frailty
The FBI must track down a Texas serial killer who goes by the self-given nickname God's Hands.
Fight Club
This disturbing film is shunned by some Christians during its theatrical release, Taylor argues that it is a powerful film with an important message vital for evangelism in contemporary culture.
Lost in Translation
Two bored, melancholy Americans — a fading movie star (Bill Murray) and a young married woman (Scarlett Johansson) with an ambitious, neglectful husband (Giovanni Ribisi) — become fast friends after meeting in a hotel bar. The two spend an adventure-filled week together taking in the sights and getting to know each other.
Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers
Picking up where The Fellowship of the Ring ends, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers is the second film in Peter Jackson's epic adaptation of the J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy trilogy.
Hulk
Amidst the sudden glut of cinema plundering the vast source medium of comic books, director Ang Lee has delivered something truly unique to theatres everywhere; he’s offered us a film that breaks the “rules” that people who don’t actually read comics expect a “comic-book movie” to follow.
Hannibal
Guilt and morality are key issues in the third—yes, third—film featuring the insidious cannibal killer, and this time around Ridley Scott has crafted a thought-provoking, subtle ensemble piece... most of which will likely be missed by biased viewers.
Moulin Rouge
More interesting, perhaps, is Christian’s jealousy in the film ... in [this] age where people like to say that jealously has no place in love, and then rail against the Christian God, who is described all throughout scripture as a “jealous God” (some believers even try to deny this), it is nice to see a film empathize with a character whose jealousy—like all emotion—does have its proper place. God is jealous of our worship, and does not want us serving other masters.
Minority Report
It's refreshing to see a tight, well-executed detective thriller set against a speculative future landscape (think “Blade Runner”, but only superficially—both films are based on stories by Philip K. Dick) from which interesting philosophies and moralizing are culled merely as a byproduct of the polished narrative.
Memento
'Memento' is a sterling success, difficult yet comprehensible for the viewer; a welcome strain on one's mental acuity.
Pearl Harbor
3 hours and poor Cuba Gooding Jr. (brilliant when onscreen) is wasted in a ten-minute part and Affleck's equally unmoving romance from 'Armageddon' inflated to an unnecessary ninety minutes.
X-Men 2
Breath in.....Professor Charles Xavier, Wolverine, Rogue, and the one we love to hate, Magneto have decided to welcome us into their world of new age loving, Catholic Church promoting, pro-evolution supporting, drama which continues its quest to make each of us recognize hypocrisy and prejudice in our own lives through the saga of supernaturally talented mutants who are persecuted by a society they're trying to save, breath out.....whew!
Signs
A crop circle appears in a field near Bucks, Pennsylvania, and the owner must cope with the repercussions this has on his family, and eventually the entire world… all heaped on the plethora of deeper problems already festering in his heart.
Spiderman
Sticking to walls, spinning webs, spelunking across the skyline of New York City, one of the world’s most popular superheroes (after decades of legal battles over film rights), finally crawls his way to the big screen.
Bad Santa
Willie Stokes (Billy Bob Thorton) and his elf partner Marcus (hilariously portrayed by Tony Cox) are con-men who tolerate posing day after day with little kids during the Christmas season to reach their ultimate goal and pay-off: ripping off the contents of the store safe.
Changing Lanes
"As a high power New York attorney, Gavin Banek (Ben Affleck) is late for a career-making court appearance. In the midst of swift traffic on FDR Drive, he changes lanes, cuts off Doyle Gipson (Samuel L. Jackson), and causes an accident. And that's where the story picks up. "
Chicago
Watch the razzle-dazzle oscar award winning performances of the likes of Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones. But what is the message behind the glitter?
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
An adaptation of the first of J.K. Rowling’s popular children’s novels about Harry Potter, a boy who learns on his eleventh birthday that he is the orphaned son of two powerful wizards and possesses unique magical powers of his own. He is summoned from his life as an unwanted child to become a student at Hogwarts, an English boarding school for wizards.
Shrek
Set in a strange, colorful land populated by fairy tale characters, SHREK is a hilarious comedy that will win over audiences of children and adults alike. Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers) is a fearsome green ogre living in isolation in his own cozy little swamp.
Star Wars I: Phantom Menace
EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE is set some 30 years before STAR WARS: EPISODE IV - A NEW HOPE in the era of the Republic. Naboo, a peaceful planet governed by the young, but wise Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman), is being threatened by the corrupt Trade Federation, puppets of an evil Sith lord and his terrifying apprentice, Darth Maul (Ray Park).
Solaris
Upon arrival at the space station orbiting an ocean world called Solaris, a psychologist discovers that the commander of an expedition to the planet has died mysteriously. Other strange events soon start happening as well, such as the appearance of old acquaintances of the crew, including some, like the psychiatrist's wife, who are dead...
Bedazzled
A remake of the 1967 comedy classic with Dudley Moore, which playfully updated the central conceit of Goethe's Faust. Geeky, hopelessly shy tech-support drone Elliot (Brendan Fraser) has dreams of romantic bliss with girl-next-door type Allison (Frances O'Connor). How best to woo and win her? Elliot figures his cause is lost until Beelzebub (Elizabeth Hurley) drops in with an offer he can't refuse: seven wishes in exchange for his soul.
Brotherhood of the Wolf
"In 18th-century France, King Louis XV assigns a young detective to investigate a spate of murdered peasants, gruesome crimes that legend says were the work of a mysterious monster."
Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones
Ten years after the events of THE PHANTOM MENACE, not only has the galaxy undergone significant change, but so have our familiar heroes Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor), Padmé Amidala (Natalie Portman) and Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) as they are thrown together again for the first time since the Trade Federation invasion of Naboo.
