One word -- Netflix. Don't know how I lived without it. I never thought this movie in the mail service would have any effect on my spiritual life, but it has, because it has called my attention to movies that either never came to our small town cinema or our local video rental stores or that I just walked past because I didn't recognize the title. Netflix has a suggestion system based on previous movies that you rated, so I took a chance and rented several movies that I would not have noticed before. I'm glad I did.
Bella is a heart-warming film of life, love, and forgiveness with a profound pro-life message. A troubled cook reaches out to a pregnant and unmarried waitress and changes both of their lives forever.
Juno is another strong pro-life movie that came out last year and became a sleeper hit nation-wide. Although it contains some objectionable material, most notably language and sexual references, it tells the story of an unmarried pregnant teenager who seeks the perfect parents to adopt her baby.
Strange as it may seem,
Lars and the Real Girl was one of the most heart-warming movies that I watched this year. Christianity Today promoted this movie as one of the year's most redeeming films, and since it involves the premise of a guy who purchases a life-like sex doll as a companion, I just had to see for myself if the Christianity Today editors had lost their mind or not. They had not. It was a great movie about a community coming together to care for Lars, a loveable loner in a small town who is unable to form a relationship with anyone, including his brother and sister-in-law. The "real girl" comes onto the scene to draw Lars and the town out of their proverbial shell and into reality together.
Time Changer is the story of a nineteenth century seminary professor who has written a book asserting that the teaching of morals is of more importance than teaching the source of those morals to the general public. Challenged by a colleague, Professor Carlisle is transported into the future -- our present day -- to see the results of such a teaching. In his time in our day, Professor Carlisle sees the current state of religion and morals and returns to his day aghast at his erroneous thesis in his book. A lot of Christian movies are, honestly, horrible. They are not well-written and have horrible acting. But this one is different. With the sole exception of Professor Carlisle looking suspiciously like Will Ferrell in a Saturday Night Live skit, this was a great movie and a great indictment on the lack of commitment in our churches today.
Although this movie is a couple of years old, I just got the chance to see
Chocolat recently. While this movie has some objectionable material, most notably the not-shown but obvious tryst between Juliette Binoche as a senuous creator of chocolate desserts and Johnny Depp as a traveling gypsy, it is a superbly acted and compelling story. The most interesting facet of this movie for me was the interaction between the dessert maker and the lay leader of the local church and the not-so-subtle indictment of religious legalism. This movie raises questions about the church's image in the public eye and how we really live out the grace of Christ in our lives.
Bella is a heart-warming film of life, love, and forgiveness with a profound pro-life message. A troubled cook reaches out to a pregnant and unmarried waitress and changes both of their lives forever.
Juno is another strong pro-life movie that came out last year and became a sleeper hit nation-wide. Although it contains some objectionable material, most notably language and sexual references, it tells the story of an unmarried pregnant teenager who seeks the perfect parents to adopt her baby. 
Strange as it may seem, Lars and the Real Girl was one of the most heart-warming movies that I watched this year. Christianity Today promoted this movie as one of the year's most redeeming films, and since it involves the premise of a guy who purchases a life-like sex doll as a companion, I just had to see for myself if the Christianity Today editors had lost their mind or not. They had not. It was a great movie about a community coming together to care for Lars, a loveable loner in a small town who is unable to form a relationship with anyone, including his brother and sister-in-law. The "real girl" comes onto the scene to draw Lars and the town out of their proverbial shell and into reality together.
Time Changer is the story of a nineteenth century seminary professor who has written a book asserting that the teaching of morals is of more importance than teaching the source of those morals to the general public. Challenged by a colleague, Professor Carlisle is transported into the future -- our present day -- to see the results of such a teaching. In his time in our day, Professor Carlisle sees the current state of religion and morals and returns to his day aghast at his erroneous thesis in his book. A lot of Christian movies are, honestly, horrible. They are not well-written and have horrible acting. But this one is different. With the sole exception of Professor Carlisle looking suspiciously like Will Ferrell in a Saturday Night Live skit, this was a great movie and a great indictment on the lack of commitment in our churches today.
Although this movie is a couple of years old, I just got the chance to see Chocolat recently. While this movie has some objectionable material, most notably the not-shown but obvious tryst between Juliette Binoche as a senuous creator of chocolate desserts and Johnny Depp as a traveling gypsy, it is a superbly acted and compelling story. The most interesting facet of this movie for me was the interaction between the dessert maker and the lay leader of the local church and the not-so-subtle indictment of religious legalism. This movie raises questions about the church's image in the public eye and how we really live out the grace of Christ in our lives.
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