Religious movies

[Trevor]

I was raised Presbyterian and while most religious themed films are a little cringey to me, some aren't.

THE HIDING PLACE
THE CROSS AND THE SWITCHBLADE
JONI
IN SEARCH OF HISTORIC JESUS
SIX: THE MARK UNLEASHED
GOD'S NOT DEAD *

* The issue I have with this movie is it portrays atheists as horrible people which is nonsense: my special younger sister is an atheist.

[claws]

Years of the Beast (1981)

Christian horror sci-fi movie about the rapture. According to reviews, it is more faithful to the bible. IMDb's trivia says Years of the Beast was also shown at churches.
It gives Twilight Zone-ish vibes, is kind of dark and eerie and the horror feels more real.
Unsettling end-of-times movie that gets the message across without preaching. Recommended.

[FatFreddysCat]

"The Gospel Blimp" (1967) is probably the closest thing I've ever seen to a "Christian screwball comedy."

It's a short film (approx. 40 minutes) about a church group that purchases a blimp so they can fly it around town to spread God's word. However, every one of the methods they use -- dropping leaflets, loudly playing Gospel music, mounting a super brightly lit "message board" on its side, etc. -- only serve to p*ss off their neighbors. I guess the message is supposed to be "you shouldn't try to ram the Gospel down people's throats, because it'll annoy them." (A lesson that a lot of the Jesus junkies that I've met in my life must have missed...)

I watched this on YouTube a couple of years ago and it looks and feels like a long lost TV sitcom. It's so weird and silly that it's actually kind of fun:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3nnLpIe9yU

I became familiar with it as a kid in the '70s due to this comic book adaptation, written and drawn by the great Al Hartley of Archie fame. It was part of the legendary "Spire Christian Comics" series that they used to pass out at Sunday school. Even as a 9 year old I knew Spire Comics were kind of schlocky, but I never turned down a free comic back then. :D

[RCMerchant]

Not a fan. Of religion.

[ER]

Does The Golem count?

[Trevor]

Not a fan. Of religion.

The older I get, the more I question my faith.

[M.10rda]

Good thread, Trevor.

I agree there's "an issue" w/ GOD'S NOT DEAD but would counter that there are many issues w/ GOD'S NOT DEAD and only one of those is the portrayal of atheists (though that's a huge one). The producers of GOD'S NOT DEAD should've read or watched THE GOSPEL BLIMP! 

Lifelong Christian and longtime lapsed Catholic, though I like the current Pope, who is highly unpopular w/ the right-wing members of his church. No need for my own personal diatribe here, but everyone's entirely welcome to believe anything they want to believe as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else. You can spread the Gospel of Christ all you want just by acting in the manner of Jesus and treating people w/ kindness and compassion.

Thus my favorite "religious" or spiritual film is probably Michael Tolkin's THE RAPTURE, which is a nice bromide to GOD'S NOT DEAD. In the end nice old Will Patton gets rewarded for his faith but poor (though justly indignant) Mimi Rogers is still welcome to believe what she pleases. To each their own!

[M.10rda]

And of course there's always ANDREI RUBLEV, STALKER, and NOSTALGIA, three films I love more than THE RAPTURE... but Tarkovski's in a category all his own.

[Cult_Moody_Movies]

Not a fan but wouldn't take away these studios right to make what they want. Clearly there is an audience for them. However looking at how Angel Studios operates......it kind of enrages me more moderate filmmakers are not taking note as smaller budgets or funding.

That being said I bought Indicator box set covering the films of Ormond Family.

[Alex]

Dogma.

[RCMerchant]

If you consider Satanism a religion, I love those kinda films!

[Gabriel Knight]

I always enjoyed STIGMATA, mostly because I freaking love Patricia Arquette.

[FatFreddysCat]

Dogma.

Still my fave Kevin Smith movie, and certainly his most ambitious. Wish it were more widely available, but Harvey Weinstein owns it. So far Kev's attempts to buy it back from his organization have been unsuccessful.

[claws]

There's a video on YouTube with two priests reacting to Dogma. They say it is entertaining, but Dogma got many things wrong and made up stuff that isn't in the bible.
It's still a fun movie though.

[Gabriel Knight]

I thought DOGMA was one of the most cringe movies I've seen. Half the dialogue is composed by F bombs and joint jokes, and all the serious stuff was overlook way too fast. It could've been insanely good but I doubt the writer was capable enough for that.