List: Crunchy Conservative Movies

Posted on April 12, 2009 at 8:11 am

My fellow blogger (and movie maven) Ron Dreher is compiling a list of Crunchy Con movies on his blog, which promotes the ideas of traditionalist conservatives who support environmental conservation, frugal living, and the preservation of traditional family values. Take a look at what he has come up with and some of the ideas from commenters. Just about all the movies are great choices, especially if they lead to a debate about the validity of their being interpreted as “conservative” or “liberal.”

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For Your Netflix Queue

Beliefnet Movie Awards

Posted on February 20, 2009 at 2:00 pm

Congratulations to Beliefnet judges and community members for selecting an outstanding group of winners for the Beliefnet movie awards.

Judges

Best Spiritual Film: The Road
Best Inspirational Film: Precious and Up (Tie)
Best Spiritual Documentary: ‘More Than a Game’

People’s Choice
Best Spiritual Film: The Blind Side
Best Inspirational Film: Precious
Best Spiritual Documentary: Earth

And check out the gallery of lessons from Oscar-nominated films, too!

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Awards

‘Haunting’ Movie Moments from Idol Chatter

Posted on February 8, 2009 at 10:00 am

On Idol Chatter, Kris Rasmussen has come up with a two-part list of haunting moments in movies that is well worth exploring and every one of the films and those added by the commenters is a worthy addition to your Netflix queue.

I like her definition of “haunting” — “cinematic points in time that bring revelation to our souls in some big or small way.”

The moments that haunt me tend to involve extraordinary kindness or devotion. Some that I would add:

1. The last moment in Charlie Chaplin’s City Lights. He has sacrificed everything to pay for an operation to restore the sight of a young woman who believed he was wealthy. In the last moment of the film, she touches his hand and realizes the tattered and almost broken man before her is her benefactor.

2. “Miss Jean Louise, stand up. Your father’s passin.'” In To Kill a Mockingbird the children of Atticus Finch are sitting in the balcony of the courthouse with members of the African-American community and learn from the way they respond to him how important and meaningful his integrity is.

3. Helen Keller learns about language in The Miracle Worker. Teacher Annie Sullivan shows the blind and deaf girl that she can communicate.

4. A family farewell in A Man for All Seasons. Sir Thomas More’s family comes to say goodbye to him in prison after he has chosen almost certain death rather than compromise his principles.

5. Erin Brockovich visits the families. At one home she smiles at a terribly sick little girl and gently teases her about how she is so pretty she must be driving the boys crazy. For one moment the girl and her family get a glimpse of a life in which they have the luxury of worrying about boys instead of worrying about chemo.

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For Your Netflix Queue Great Movie Moments Lists
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