Resources: Movie Theology: Movie Reviews & Resources

Compiled by Gordon Matties

Finding Movie Reviews

• Internet Movie Database. An excerpt from this site: “The IMDb is the ultimate movie reference source and covers everything you could ever possibly want to know about movies. It’s fully hyperlinked both within the database and to thousands of external sites and is updated continuously.”
• Metacritic. “Metacritic compiles reviews from respected critics and publications for film, video/dvd, music and games.”
• ROTTEN TOMATOES
• The Movie Review Query Engine at Telerama
• Chicago Reader Movie Section—Reviews by Jonathan Rosenbaum
• ReelViews: James Berardinelli’s Movie Reviews
• Roger Ebert on Movies
• Spirituality & Practice. See also DVD releases.

Movie Theology Blogs

• Bible Films Blog by Matt Page
• Decent Films Blog by Steven D. Greydanus
• Film Journey by Doug Cummings (one of the creators of the Masters of Cinema site)
• Filmwell. A daily updated blog interested in cinema off the beaten track, criticism at the margins of the great conversation, and how art points the way to (as Henry Miller says) “life more abundant.”
• Gareth Higgins: Storytelling, Spirituality, Cinema, Violence and Peace. Gareth Higgins is author of How Movies Helped Save My Soul: Finding Spiritual Fingerprints in Culturally Significant Films (Relevant Books, 2003). See also the archive of Higgins’s previous blogs.
• Larsen On Film
• Peter Chattaway’s Filmchat. Chattaway is a film reviewer for Christianity Today’s website and for ChristianWeek, and an occasional contributor to Books & Culture.
• Pop Theology. Poptheology examines the intersection of pop culture and theology, religion, and spirituality.
• Rose Pacatte’s Movie Blog. Sister Rose is coauthor, with Peter Malone, of Lights, Camera... Faith! A Movie Lover’s Guide to Scripture. Her archive of about 475 reviews and postings (since 2003) is at http://rosepacatte.blogspot.com/.
• Soul Food Movies by Ron Reed (founding artistic director of Vancouver’s Pacific Theatre)
• Vic & Walter Thiessen: On Movies. These two brothers like to think about movies and other cultural offerings with some occasional theological and psychological nuances.

Christian Resources

• Australian Catholic Film Office. Reviews by Father Richard Leonard SJ, Father Peter Malone MSC, and Ms Jan Epstein.
• Catholic News Service. Offers a list of the latest movie reviews as well as an alphabetical list of the latest 100 movies reviewed by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops Office of Film and Broadcasting.
• Charles Henderson’s Reviews at Godweb. Reviews on this Web site spring from a “lively faith in which the passions of the heart are brought into harmony with the life of the mind. We prefer to praise films that speak to the point of intersection between the mind and the spirit.” Excellent reviews.
• Christian Spotlight on the Movies. Offers movie reviews from a conservative evangelical perspective. Also, provides a “rating” for each film (e.g., a “1” is very offensive, while a “5” describes a movie containing nothing offensive). Contains interesting comments on its bulletin board.
• Christianity Today’s Movies. Commentaries, reviews and articles on current movies.
• Cinema in Focus. “It is our desire for the reader to explore with us each week the values portrayed in contemporary films, to be drawn into discussions about the deeper experiences of life.” Denny Wayman is pastor of the Free Methodist Church in Santa Barbara, CA (MDiv, Asbury; DMin, Fuller). Hal Conklin is the President of the California Center for Civic Renewal.
• CrossWalk.com From the mission statement: “For many of us, faith is too often something we think or feel while life is something we do. Finding practical, everyday ways to integrate faith into life is the stuff of lessons and sermons for thousands of years past, and it seems to be an increasingly difficult mission in today’s fast-paced, chaotic world.”
• Damaris Media. Serving people of all faiths, and none, as they explore the spiritual and moral issues underlying contemporary popular culture. Damaris offers a variety of resources, including their Film and Bible Blog: Exploring Biblical Spirituality through the Media. This page includes articles and discussion guides. To access resources on the most recent films, click here.
• Decent Films. “A site of film appreciation, information and criticism informed by Christian faith.” Steven D. Greydanus, the creator of the site, is a publishing film critic with degrees in media arts and religious studies.
• Decent Films. “A site of film appreciation, information and criticism informed by Christian faith.” Steven D. Greydanus, the creator of the site, is a publishing film critic with degrees in media arts and religious studies.
• The Dove Foundation’s Home Page. The site includes brief reviews of current movies. Each review includes a paragraph on “Christian worldview,” along with evaluation and warnings regarding sexuality, language, violence, drugs, nudity and occultism. Identifies movies that have received the Dove seal of approval.
• The Fish: A Christian Look @ Pop Culture. Absorbed into CrossWalk.com.
• Hollywood Jesus. Pop Culture from a Spiritual Point of View. Webmaster David Bruce is a pastor who says: “I love to go to church and film festivals. For me they are both spiritual experiences. I believe that our search for God and life’s meaning is reflected in Hollywood films and in our culture. Our reviews are visual and look beyond the surface to the deeper emotional, spiritual, and biblical connections.”
• INTERFILM NORTH AMERICA. An international network that brings together interested individuals and institutions concerned with film and theology, and church and cinema. For the European site, click here. Interfilm participates, with SIGNIS (the World Catholic Association for Communication), in the Ecumenical Juries at about twenty-two international film festivals. The juries give awards to films for their artistic quality; for depicting human attitudes or expressions of the Gospel, and for sensitizing viewers to spiritual and social questions and values. Find listings of Ecumenical Prize winners by clicking on the Festivals link on the European site, and the Awards link on the North American site.
• Longpauses. A fine site with thoughtful, critical commentary, reviews and articles.
• Looking Closer at the Movies. “Movies, like any art form, can reveal for us pieces of the truth, no matter who directed the film, who starred in it, or what it is about. The better the film, the truer the film. All aspects of a film can work towards this revelation.” Jeffrey Overstreet, editor of the site.
• MEDIAFILM A service of the Catholic church in Quebec: MÉDIAFILM est une agence de presse qui regroupe tous les services d’information en cinéma de Communication et société, un organisme à but non lucratif créé en 1956 sous l’appellation Centre Catholique national du cinéma, de la radio et de la télévision, et connu par la suite sous le nom d’Office des communications sociales (OCS).
• Metaphilm: “We Don’t Review Films; We Interpret Them.” This site is creative, thoughtful, and provocative.
• Movie Bible Studies. Discussion guides from Christianity Today.
• Movie Concordance. From The Text This Week site. “This project is a ‘concordance’ of a kind—an attempt to gather together scenes in movies which serve as ‘comparative texts’ in relationship to Biblical/spiritual themes and passages.” Linked to Scripture texts in the Common lectionary. Especially helpful is the Theme Index, which lists over 200 theological themes and biblical motifs.
• Movie Glimpse. “Our desire at Movieglimpse is to help reconnect your heart to the greatest story ever told. How? By revealing it to you in the movies that you love.” A small selection of reviews by Leslie Hand.
• MovieGuide. A sampling of current reviews, along with articles that offer critique of the media. More and fuller reviews are available to subscribers. The site is dedicated to “redeeming the values of the media according to biblical principles.” Reviews movies according to potentially offensive elements, and identifies the movie’s “worldview” as: Christian, environmentalist, humanist or socialist, homosexual, false religion, New Age or Pagan, etc.
• MovieMinistry. A resource site dedicated to providing illustrations from movies for biblical texts and theological themes. Some resources are free; most are by subscription. Free email newsletters. 
• Movies Matter. Resources for group discussions of film and faith.
• Past the Popcorn. “Reviews and essays will attempt a serious analysis of a film’s meaning, both from the audience’s point of view and from the filmmakers’, as much as is critically possible. Recognizing that all films still exist (in part) as entertainment, films will also be subjectively reviewed for ‘nutritainment value’ and audience-appropriateness.”
• Peaceweb—Movies with a Conscience. This site lists suggested “movies with a conscience” by category (e.g. “Antiwar,” “Biography,” “Environment,” “Religion,” etc.).
• Peter Chattaway’s Movie Reviews. Archive of older reviews.
• The Phantom Tollbooth. “We are an on-line magazine that publishes a wide range of album, concert and movie reviews, interviews, features and resource links. We began in December, 1996 and our monthly readership now numbers over five thousand.”
• Plugged In Film Reviews. An on-line version of Focus on the Family’s Plugged In magazine. Reviews offer plot summary, comments about positive elements in the movie, spiritual content, as well as warnings regarding sexual content, violence, language warnings, drug use, etc.
• Ransom Fellowship. See the movies page. “Thinking Christianly about movies and culture.” Some reviews include excellent discussion guides.
• Reel Spirituality: An Institute for Moving Pictures. Codirectors Robert K. Johnston and Barry Taylor and others offer study guides, reviews and essays. The Institute focuses on the “creative encounter between the church and Hollywood... in discovery of common ground as story tellers, image shapers, and culture makers.”
• SIGNIS: the World Catholic Association for Communication. The SIGNIS Television and Film Festivals page includes links to most of the major international film festivals. Check out the reviews by Peter Malone (Signis President).
• The Third Way Café: Media Matters.
• United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Movie Reviews. From the Office of Film and Broadcasting. Includes Vatican Top 45 List.
• Visual Parables. By Edward McNulty, author of two books titled Praying the Movies. McNulty blogs occasionally at Visual Parables Blog.

Film Discussion Groups

• Arts & Faith. Online film discussion forum.

Film Festivals

• City of Angels Film Festival
• Flickerings

Magazines, Journals, etc.

• Alternative Film Guide (AltFG)
• Books & Culture “We need to learn what it means to think like a Christian—to think within a specifically Christian framework—across the whole spectrum of modern learning. Where to begin? One good place is Books & Culture.” Mark Noll, Wheaton College.
• Christian Century’s film section.
• Cinema Scope
• Cinetext: Film & Philosophy
• Film Comment Published by the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
• Film-Philosophy
• The Globe and Mail, Film articles and reviews
• Image Journal
• Journal of Religion and Film An academic journal that offers a wide array of essays and papers on religion and the movies.
• The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture “is a web-based journal committed to the academic exploration, analysis and interpretation, from a variety of disciplinary perspectives, of the interrelations and interactions between religion and religious expression and popular culture, broadly defined as the products of contemporary mass culture.”
• The New York Times
• The New Yorker: Culture Page
• Relevant Magazine’s movies section
• Salon Magazine – Movies
• Scope: An Online Journal of Film Studies
• Screening the Past An international, refereed, electronic journal of visual media and history.
• Senses of Cinema “An online film journal devoted to the serious and eclectic discussion of cinema.”
• Sight & Sound Published by the British Film Institute.
• Watershed Online’s Mythic Movies section

Reviews for Parents

Get the Scoop on Sex, Language, Violence.

• Grading the Movies “Helping Families Find Entertainment with Values”
• Kids In Mind
• ParentsTV Movie Reviews Includes reviews by Michael Medved. The “Clean Films” banner at the top of the page is advertising and does not represent the intent of the reviews listed here. The home page of ParentsTV focuses on Television reviews.
• SCREEN IT! Entertainment Reviews for Parents

Best Films Lists

• Alternative Film Guide’s Compilation of Film Awards from around the world (annually from 2004-present)
• American Film Institute’s 100 Years Lists
• Arts & Faith Top 100 Spiritually Significant Films
• Best of Rotten Tomatoes
• British Film Institute’s 100 Best British Films
• Christianity Today’s Best-of Archive
• David Peebles Williamson’s “Top 10 Spiritual Films”
• Ecumenical Prize winning films listed by festival and year at the InterFilm website and alphabetically from 1947 to 1999 at the SIGNIS website
• “Essential Films for Theologians: The Director’s Cut.” By Tyler Williams.
• “Essential Films of 2005 for Theologians—Extended Edition.” By Tyler Williams.
• Faith & Film list by Daniel B. Clendenin, Ph.D., who writes, “Here are over 110 films that provoked me to think afresh about our human condition and what it means to believe, confess and live the Gospel in our modern world.”
• Jeffrey Overstreet’s Favorite Films Lists
• Metacritic: Awards and Best Movies.
• The National Board of Review (Click on the Awards link)
• Office of Film & Broadcasting, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 10 Best List published annually from 1965.
• Peter Chattaway’s All-Time Movie Favorites
• Ron Reed’s 150 Movies that Feed the Soul
• Rotten Tomatoes Top Movies Lists
• Sight and Sound Best Films of All Time In 1952 Sight & Sound polled the world’s leading film critics to compile a list of the best films of all time. The magazine has repeated this poll every ten years to show which films stand the test of time in the face of shifting critical opinion.
• Tim Dirks—Greatest Films
• Time Magazine’s All Time 100 Best Films Chosen by reviewers Richard Corliss and Richard Schickel.
• Vatican Best Films List  See also “The Vatican Film List” by Steven Greydanus (of Decent Films).

Public Performance Rights in Canada

Schools, churches, and youth groups need permission to view movies. These sites are brokers for public performance rights.

• Audio Cine Films: Public Performance Rights
• Criterion Pictures

Resources by Gordon Matties

• “On Movies as Spiritual Discipline,” Direction 34/2 (2005): 270-86.

Other Resources

• Adherents.com’s Guide to Religious Movies. This page presents “films that adherents and representatives of various specific religious groups have recommended as being possibly instructive about or representative of their specific faith. We have also included films that deal with comparative religion and general religious themes.”
• Cinema Sites
• Facets Multimedia. An excellent source for world cinema news, and purchase of world cinema on DVD.
• FIPRESCI. The International Federation of Film Critics. Film awards and festival reports by professional critics.
• Jesus: Real to Reel. Bibliography and Web Resources for Religion/Theology and Film.
• Masters of Cinema. “We aim to bring pertinent information together in one place for aficionados of World Cinema.”
• The Old Testament on Film. By Tyler Williams, Taylor University College, Edmonton AB, Canada.
• Strictly Film School. Excellent articles and reviews of classic films with listings of directors, genres, themes, and imagery.
• Teach With Movies: A Unique Tool for Teachers & Parents

Printed from: www.cmu.ca/library/resources/film

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