Favorite Secular Movie

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"Santa Fe Trail" with Ronald Reagan and Errol Flynn is a great movie. It has a happy ending. John Brown gets hanged.
 
I can't believe no one has mentioned the Bourne Identity, Supremacy, or Ultimatum.

Well paced action films, but I do flinch at the not infrequent use of the Lord's name in vain.

I really have a hard time believing that anyone can watch the Rocky Horror Picture Show

Not a Meatloaf fan?

You left off the operative words "With a clean conscience."

I've seen Rocky Horror Picture Show in my pre-conversion days and I've also seen Pulp Fiction.... Not wanting to be the kill-joy (and I'm certainly not perfect) but it seems to me that there's not much sense in getting upset about Driscoll's theology on the gifts or the elephant room's waffling on the trinity, or really any other theological discussion if we're going to say that our favorite movie is one that is disgustingly blasphemous, promotes all that is ungodly, is laiden with nudity, sex, drug use, etc. etc. etc. etc. I understand Christian liberty and not binding another person's conscience by my own. But as one preacher said "Are you laughing at what God hates?" Or to put it another way, Are we watching and enjoying movies that celebrate that for which the Son shed His blood? Just a question. I've just been a bit surprised by some of the films in this list....
 
I was quite regular in my attendance at Rocky Horror (pre-conversion). I saw Pulp Fiction once (post-conversion).

I can't understand why anyone would like Rocky Horror. It is, in my recollection, just a celebration of deviant sex. Meatloaf's cameo is fairly clean, actually.

Pulp Fiction is filled with bad language, but also, interestingly, Scripture. There is a good/evil struggle going on. One Scripture-quoting hit man makes it out of his deathstyle/the other doesn't. There actually is repentance. Those getting killed are not, as I remember, innocent victims. Drug abuse is portrayed as deadly. So while I don't recommend Pulp Fiction, mostly because of its incredibly vulgar language, at least there is a there there.
 
It very well could be the perfect movie.

I think what makes it so good is the fact that it's not so much a deconstruction of fairy tales as a reconstruction. It's incredibly silly, but in all the ways you want it to be. Peter Falk's narration just seals the deal.
 
Overall: Saving Private Ryan

However, I have to say that from a writer's standpoint, I absolutely love the concept of "Vantage Point" with the way they handled each point of view and the little bit of information you got from each person to put the whole story together.

It's difficult to pull that off, but when done right, it produces cliffhanger after cliffhanger that keeps you in until the very end.
 
However, I have to say that from a writer's standpoint, I absolutely love the concept of "Vantage Point" with the way they handled each point of view and the little bit of information you got from each person to put the whole story together.

That was a cool movie...I think. I know I was really intrigued by the concept of that movie and thought it was well done, but at the end of it I don't know if I really liked that actual movie. What did you think?
 
However, I have to say that from a writer's standpoint, I absolutely love the concept of "Vantage Point" with the way they handled each point of view and the little bit of information you got from each person to put the whole story together.

That was a cool movie...I think. I know I was really intrigued by the concept of that movie and thought it was well done, but at the end of it I don't know if I really liked that actual movie. What did you think?

The ending almost didn't do the movie justice. We can talk specifics via PM if you want (since I have to assume not everyone reading this has seen it), but from the amount of intensity it created, the ending we were expecting never really delivered.

Maybe they overkilled all of the drama?
 
However, I have to say that from a writer's standpoint, I absolutely love the concept of "Vantage Point" with the way they handled each point of view and the little bit of information you got from each person to put the whole story together.

That was a cool movie...I think. I know I was really intrigued by the concept of that movie and thought it was well done, but at the end of it I don't know if I really liked that actual movie. What did you think?

The ending almost didn't do the movie justice. We can talk specifics via PM if you want (since I have to assume not everyone reading this has seen it), but from the amount of intensity it created, the ending we were expecting never really delivered.

Maybe they overkilled all of the drama?

Completely agree with you. But yes, don't want to spoil it for anyone so that's all we will say! :) But I would recommend it to anyone for the fun concept alone.
 
Pulp Fiction is filled with bad language, but also, interestingly, Scripture. There is a good/evil struggle going on. One Scripture-quoting hit man makes it out of his deathstyle/the other doesn't. There actually is repentance. Those getting killed are not, as I remember, innocent victims. Drug abuse is portrayed as deadly. So while I don't recommend Pulp Fiction, mostly because of its incredibly vulgar language, at least there is a there there.

Actually the "scripture" that Samuel L. Jackson quotes was written by Quentin Tarantino. If you look up Ezekiel 25:17, you will see that the only part of that quotation that is actually in the Bible is the last sentence.
 
1) God's & Generals
2) Talk of the Town (1942)
3) Unconquered (1947) an epic movie
4) Captain Blood (1935)
5) Fire and Ice "The winter War with Finland and Russia" (Fantastic Documentary)
6) Battleground (1944) Cast includes the Original 101st Airborne
7) Battle of the Bulge (1965) epic
8) How the West Was Won (1962)
9) Braveheart "Although rather historically inaccruate"
10) My Fair Lady (1964)
11) The Sound of Music (1965)
12) Fiddler On the Roof (1971)
13) Sink the Bismarck (1960)
14) Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
15) To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
16) Paths of Glory (1957)
17) Popeye (1980)
18) Where the River Bends: A History of Northern Kentucky (2007)
19) Last Stand of the Tin Can Salors (2005)
20) Warriors of Honor (2004)
21) Still Standing: The Stonewall Jackson Story (2003)

Fabulous list!

My family has been enjoying the pixar movies right now. And the old Star Wars (my son Noah was blown away....that's Obi Wan when he is old?)....

Also, my kids like the Muppet movie about the Dark Crystal. And the Neverending Story.

We also like Sergeant York.

And of course, the Princess Bride.

My wife and I just watched the BBC series of Pride and Prejudice and I lived through it...and actually Really, really liked it (and I don't think my estrogen levels rose too much)....

We watched a few Disney movies of late and threw them away due to the scenes of disobedience to parents and inversed gender-roles.

We like the old series Combat. And the old Twilight Zones.
 
I'd forgetten about Platoon, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Shipping News "If a piece of knotted string can unleash the wind and if..."
 
Pulp Fiction is filled with bad language, but also, interestingly, Scripture. There is a good/evil struggle going on. One Scripture-quoting hit man makes it out of his deathstyle/the other doesn't. There actually is repentance. Those getting killed are not, as I remember, innocent victims. Drug abuse is portrayed as deadly. So while I don't recommend Pulp Fiction, mostly because of its incredibly vulgar language, at least there is a there there.

Actually the "scripture" that Samuel L. Jackson quotes was written by Quentin Tarantino. If you look up Ezekiel 25:17, you will see that the only part of that quotation that is actually in the Bible is the last sentence.

I was unaware, thank you for this info.
 
Agreed on Green Mile and Shawshank. King is a gifted writer and does not just write horror. His "Stand By Me" is a beautiful novella.

Stephen King, despite some of the things he writes (like part of IT) is a writer par excellance. When I first read his work, I said "I want to write like that" because he makes the reader envision everything in terrific detail.

Back on topic, movies:

Favorite classics-High noon, El Dorado (with John Wayne and James Caan), Run Silent, Run Deep; The Magnificent Seven, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

Favorite moderns: The Matrix, Inception, Frequency, Iron Man (I and II), Thor, Captain America, Spiderman, Superman I and II, Shadowlands (See? I'm not a totally insensitive guy!), A River Runs through it (not a Christian movie per se, but it has a very postitive portrayal of Christianity in it ni the form of the Presbyterian pastor/father), Live Free or Die Hard, Star Wars (the prequels to a lesser extent), LOTR, Sunshine (more for the f/x than the plot, which unfortunately is very atheistic), Braveheart, Star Trek II and VI (I think I'm the only person who did not like STIV)

Oh... and I like The Incredibles as well.
 
Top 5
Gettysburg
A River Runs Through It
Gods and Generals
The Outlaw Josey Wales
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Next 5
The Patriot
Star Wars (Original 3)
Shawshank Redemption
Green Mile
Forrest Gump

Honorable Mention
The Last of the Mohicans
Sheffey
Lonesome Dove
Braveheart
Luther
Dances with Wolves
Saving Private Ryan
 
The Truman Show
Reign Over Me
Benny & Joon
The Truman Show (I list it twice because it deserves it)
 
I wish I had not neglected to mention The Painted Veil, Winter's Bone, and 3:10 to Yuma.
 
I've been known to appreciate The Big Lebowski on occasion...

Great choice! :)

I want to add another movie. "The Goonies"... It might a generational thing..
Indeed. I'd add Stand By Me for several reasons.... Not one for language-faint of heart, and one I'd wait a bit for my children to watch, but a movie that's really good (in my opinion).

In a similar vein, I'd add Super 8 to the list.... and anything by Pixar.
 
Forbidden Planet
Tess of the Durbervilles (not the A&E version)
Sara Plain and Tall/Skylark/Winter's End (Hallmark Trilogy)
Angela's Ashes
A Summer Place
 
I'd like to add It's A Wonderful Life and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers.

If anyone on the Puritan Board has not seen one or both of these movies, do yourself a favor. Great stuff.
 
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