One of the most searched topics (related to Christianity) is Why Christian Movies Are Bad. Using their backgrounds in film theory, …
22 COMMENTS
I watched God's not Dead at my Christian school and besides the fact that every non-christian is Satan incarnate, the movie was objectively terrible. They literally had a story about the college kid, his professor, the professors girlfriend, a pastor and his friend, a Muslim girl, an Asian guy, a woman with cancer and some other girl. It was all over the place and stories would be dropped as soon as they where picked up.
Some of the best Christian movies were made by non-Christians. For example Dead Man Walking is a powerful movie (not family friendly).
I've read hundreds of great novels written by Christians but no one makes them into movies and if they did the screen writer would destroy it. We need better scripts.
I think too many of them are too formulaic. Formula: intro to characters, show their trial, characters turn back to God, everything is solved (and "happy or blessed") before the credits roll. Now, some of them I have liked. Many of them I will never watch. Come to think about it: I bet it will be cool to see Wise Disciple (Logan and Nate, maybe my brother, Gene, will be back) will write, produce, and create their own "Christian" film some day.
OMG! (Gosh) I'm a fiction reader! I will look you up, the only author in currently following is Brandon Sanderson and patcick rothfuss (release book three already!)
If there actually were a professor like the one in "God's Not Dead," the atheists would be at the head of the line protesting his actions to the dean. The unrealism of the plot is the biggest problem. Sorry, Christians, everyone isn't determined to be mean to you.
Let's thank God for good Christian movies. Some being The Mission, Prince of Egypt, the chosen, The Hurd movies, list GOOD Christian movies that are good at expressing the Glory of God.
Regarding the reason for the poor quality of Christian movies, everyone is expressing the symptoms, not the root cause. The root cause of poor quality is less resources and money. If a movie has a 50 million budget, it's not hard to achieve some high quality, because you can hire the best writers, directors and actors. But a half million budget, not so much. Christian movies cannot command that kind of money, simple as that. And so you tend to get an inferior product.
As a non-Christian, I have to say that my favorite "Christian" movies are Noah, Samson, and The Prince of Egypt. I know that Noah was given flack for not being 100% Biblical, but I feel like the fact that it took liberties, like how all movies that are based on various mythologies do, actually made it better. Samson was decent, could have been better if they went for more of an R-rating as, let's be honest, any accurate portrayal of Samson requires. It was still decent though. Some editing mistakes and not as bloody as it should have been, but still an alright movie. And Prince of Egypt just is a classic, how can you not love it. Every other "Christian" film I have watched, however, was just awful.
If they are to be good movies then they should be enjoyable by non-Christians as well.
the problem is these movies are for Christians and exist as validation to their beliefs. They just do rah rah movie where those watching eat it up. Plus all the non Christians are the most miserable people.
Too many Christian movies pander to the soccer mom demographic. The Cross and the Switchblade would be a good remake. Maybe showing true life testimonies uncensored of real life people that come from rough backgrounds such as gangs, for example, would be a good direction to take. Ragamuffin, the true life story of Rich Mullins, was a good example of visceral faith and real life struggles.
The older movies of Jesus depict His Authority much much more than modern ones. Greatest Story Ever Told, The Living Christ Series, Jesus of Nazereth… they always highlight the power Christ has.
Gods Not Dead 2, was actually fairly decent. Because it addresses Wokism and serious societal issues. As for the music and the worship, that’s something I had to overlook due to how I myself don’t take any liking to the CCM culture, yet I also don’t believe it’s sinful and I think it’s based on preference, so long as the lyrics are Biblically based and have true doctrine.
It would be great to see truly well done entertaining movies about;
Arius vs Athanasius period
Life of Calvin
Nimrod and Tower of Babel
The Nephilim pre flood period
and also in my opinion it’s a terrible shame there is no movie about Charles Spurgeon.
As Christians, we think we have our audiences in mind when we make movies, but we forget that they are looking for entertainment. I think the problem is subconsciously we believe that entertainment is not serious or important.
I watched God's not Dead at my Christian school and besides the fact that every non-christian is Satan incarnate, the movie was objectively terrible. They literally had a story about the college kid, his professor, the professors girlfriend, a pastor and his friend, a Muslim girl, an Asian guy, a woman with cancer and some other girl. It was all over the place and stories would be dropped as soon as they where picked up.
I think the only Christian film that I've ever seen that was real was Ragimuffin. Which is about Rich Mullins. Good movie.
Christian Movies are so terrible, that it makes me suspicous of the actual intent behind them.
By the way, the moustache looks great!
Marcus Pittman talks a whole lot about this subject, maybe a discussion with him would be interesting!
Some of the best Christian movies were made by non-Christians. For example Dead Man Walking is a powerful movie (not family friendly).
I've read hundreds of great novels written by Christians but no one makes them into movies and if they did the screen writer would destroy it. We need better scripts.
I think too many of them are too formulaic. Formula: intro to characters, show their trial, characters turn back to God, everything is solved (and "happy or blessed") before the credits roll.
Now, some of them I have liked. Many of them I will never watch.
Come to think about it: I bet it will be cool to see Wise Disciple (Logan and Nate, maybe my brother, Gene, will be back) will write, produce, and create their own "Christian" film some day.
I wrote a Harry Potter fan fiction that suffers from all these problems.
You 2 need to write a awesome movie 😎😎😎👍👍👍
I'd love to hear y'all's take on my two favorite Christian movies "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs" and "Hail Ceaser"
OMG! (Gosh) I'm a fiction reader! I will look you up, the only author in currently following is Brandon Sanderson and patcick rothfuss (release book three already!)
I don't think they're bad.
If there actually were a professor like the one in "God's Not Dead," the atheists would be at the head of the line protesting his actions to the dean. The unrealism of the plot is the biggest problem. Sorry, Christians, everyone isn't determined to be mean to you.
Though they are often a bit hokey, Christian movies make me feel closer to God.
Let's thank God for good Christian movies. Some being The Mission, Prince of Egypt, the chosen, The Hurd movies, list GOOD Christian movies that are good at expressing the Glory of God.
Regarding the reason for the poor quality of Christian movies, everyone is expressing the symptoms, not the root cause. The root cause of poor quality is less resources and money. If a movie has a 50 million budget, it's not hard to achieve some high quality, because you can hire the best writers, directors and actors. But a half million budget, not so much. Christian movies cannot command that kind of money, simple as that. And so you tend to get an inferior product.
As a non-Christian, I have to say that my favorite "Christian" movies are Noah, Samson, and The Prince of Egypt.
I know that Noah was given flack for not being 100% Biblical, but I feel like the fact that it took liberties, like how all movies that are based on various mythologies do, actually made it better.
Samson was decent, could have been better if they went for more of an R-rating as, let's be honest, any accurate portrayal of Samson requires. It was still decent though. Some editing mistakes and not as bloody as it should have been, but still an alright movie.
And Prince of Egypt just is a classic, how can you not love it.
Every other "Christian" film I have watched, however, was just awful.
If they are to be good movies then they should be enjoyable by non-Christians as well.
the problem is these movies are for Christians and exist as validation to their beliefs. They just do rah rah movie where those watching eat it up. Plus all the non Christians are the most miserable people.
Too many Christian movies pander to the soccer mom demographic. The Cross and the Switchblade would be a good remake. Maybe showing true life testimonies uncensored of real life people that come from rough backgrounds such as gangs, for example, would be a good direction to take. Ragamuffin, the true life story of Rich Mullins, was a good example of visceral faith and real life struggles.
The older movies of Jesus depict His Authority much much more than modern ones. Greatest Story Ever Told, The Living Christ Series, Jesus of Nazereth… they always highlight the power Christ has.
Gods Not Dead 2, was actually fairly decent. Because it addresses Wokism and serious societal issues. As for the music and the worship, that’s something I had to overlook due to how I myself don’t take any liking to the CCM culture, yet I also don’t believe it’s sinful and I think it’s based on preference, so long as the lyrics are Biblically based and have true doctrine.
It would be great to see truly well done entertaining movies about;
Arius vs Athanasius period
Life of Calvin
Nimrod and Tower of Babel
The Nephilim pre flood period
and also in my opinion it’s a terrible shame there is no movie about Charles Spurgeon.
We need more Christian cinema
The absolute worst ones left behind.
As Christians, we think we have our audiences in mind when we make movies, but we forget that they are looking for entertainment. I think the problem is subconsciously we believe that entertainment is not serious or important.