And now for something completely different:
This summer we are turning our living room into a theater. A movie theater to be exact. We will be hosting seminarians (and wives) for a bi-monthly movie event. Since I am illiterate when it comes to movies I am soliciting nominations for what movies to show. Please state why your recommended movie(s) should be added to the list along with a brief discription.
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Who Owes Me Three Dollars? 
Well, if you want a religious theme for the sake of the seminarians, you might want Luther, A Man for All Seasons, Cromwell , One Night with the King, The Apostle, etc.
But since you’re all probably fiercely Two Kingdoms, and reject the assertion that seminarians necessarily need to watch religious movies, off the top of my head, I’d say one of the best possibilities for showing off your home theater is the visually stunning Titus.
Comment by RubeRad — May 10, 2007 @ 7:27 am
Strike that last one–you might not be able to emotionally handle the body count of dead sons and daughters.
Stranger Than Fiction was surprisingly good (and there’s a lot of nice architecture and set design to look at on a big screen), or you could make a great double-feature with The Prestige and The Illusionist.
Comment by RubeRad — May 10, 2007 @ 7:32 am
Although if you are interested in Shakespeare, Richard III is excellent, and Henry V is a perennial favorite.
Comment by RubeRad — May 10, 2007 @ 7:33 am
Have you ever watched that copy of 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould
Comment by RubeRad — May 10, 2007 @ 7:37 am
Yup. That was a long time ago. 2001 or so. As I recall, it was quite somber, depressing even. I may have finished it alone. Or I may have even not finished it. Is that your best recommendation?
Comment by Bruce S. — May 10, 2007 @ 10:14 am
How about Fahrenheit 9/11.
Comment by setty — May 13, 2007 @ 3:52 pm
A few of my all-time favorites in no particular order:
Gladiator
Tombstone
Dances with Wolves (if you don’t have a time limit)
Manchurian Candidate
Untouchables
For Love of the Game
Rudy
Remember the Titans
Comment by Alex — May 14, 2007 @ 1:35 pm
Luther. I have the DVD.
The reasons are obvious.
E
Comment by Echo_ohcE — May 14, 2007 @ 2:34 pm
How ’bout that. You’ll be pleased to learn that Gladiator is first up in the series by personal request.
As for Luther we actually watched that one on the big screen a while back. It was very hard to follow the dialogue due to a very bad mix. Mike S. actually recommends watching it with the subtitles on just to be able to follow things.
I actually didn’t like it all that much since it said virtually nothing about Luther’s theology, as I recall. Maybe that was because I couldn’t actually hear it.
We will only get about 6 or 7 shows in this summer, so I doubt if Fahrenheit 9/11 will crack the list. Gotta’ give the paying customers what they want.
Hoping for full on entertainment movie suggestions, how odd is it that the first two suggestions are documentaries?
Comment by Bruce S. — May 14, 2007 @ 2:49 pm
This time I am serious. I don’t know if there is any theme to the content you are looking for in your showings, but if you want something a little on the light side, let me suggest “Shall We Dance”. It is wholesome and just good entertainment.
Another classic you might consider is “To Kill a Mockingbird”.
Comment by setty — May 14, 2007 @ 5:49 pm
However, it’s depressing to watch the extra features and realize that none of the actors had any understanding of the words they were saying.
Comment by RubeRad — May 15, 2007 @ 7:41 am
Film Snob alert: I’m guessing you mean the American
remake with JLo and Richard Gere. I haven’t seen that one, but I can testify that the Japanese original was excellent! And it would be a great pairing with either another great dancing movie, or the Best Japanese-Icelandic Road Movie Ever!
Comment by RubeRad — May 15, 2007 @ 7:46 am
No more knocking Luther allowed.
Comment by Echo_ohcE — May 15, 2007 @ 11:06 pm
Four choices…
Worlds Fastest Indian.
Really nifty little uplifting story about an old man from new Zealand with a dream to ride his motorcycle very fast in Utah.
Hotel Rwanda.
Not an uplifting story at all but very dramatic and valuable look at the origins of racism and the causes of civil wars in Africa.
Princess Bride.
Enough Said
Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Can’t go wrong with that one.
Personally I have noted on my blog that Gladiator is the most over rated action movie of all time, but you might enjoy it.
Comment by danielbalc — May 22, 2007 @ 1:44 pm
Here are 5:
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
The Bachelor (movie with Chris O’Donnell) – hilarious
Saving Private Ryan
Flight 93
Comment by Albino Hayford — May 23, 2007 @ 2:00 pm
Did you really just recommend the Bachelor?
Run, don’t walk, away from anything with Chris O’Donnell in it. That was one of the all time worst films ever. Albino what were you smoking when you watched that?
Comment by danielbalc — May 23, 2007 @ 3:17 pm
Some of the funniest one-liners ever. Do you remember the proposal scene in the restaurant?
http://a772.g.akamai.net/5/772/51/dcb33b446fb0c6/1a1a1aaa2198c627970773d80669d84574a8d80d3cb12453c02589f25382f668c9329e0375e81785ea61cd36a40938ac1479d83a9bfe66cb37a618/bachelor_T1.mov
Comment by Albino Hayford — May 23, 2007 @ 3:54 pm
Will you be adding a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD player to your theater? If so, please allow me to make some recommendations based on personal experience. All these movies look AMAZING.
Blu-Ray:
1. The Fifth Element
2. March of the Penguins
3. Big Fish
4. The Last Samurai
5. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
HD-DVD:
1. King Kong
2. The Bourne Identity & The Bourne Supremacy
3. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
4. Dragonheart
5. The Matrix
And if you need any advice on hardware for your theater let me know, I’d be glad to help out!
Comment by Pablo Honey — May 25, 2007 @ 10:51 am
Oops. I got a little busy preparing for a final. Sorry to miss the action. I am going with “Gladiator” by request. As you all know I don’t watch any movies so I am pretty much agnostic in this area.
I am kinda’ assuming everyone wants action and sound effects type of stuff since that’s what an 8′ diagonal screen and my not-too-shabby stereo are all about. Movies with moralistic messages will probably get booed here.
I don’t have Blu-ray or HD-DVD. I thought the game there was you have to wait to see which technology wins the standardization war.
What does your crystal ball tell you, Pablo?
As for 5th element, it has always been touted as the quintessential movie for showing off home theater. But girls dressed only in masking tape may not be the right kind of fare for the crowd I cater to around here.
Comment by Bruce S. — May 25, 2007 @ 7:40 pm
As of right now it looks like Blu-Ray holds a slight advantage, but I seriously doubt that either side caves in within the next few years. The good news is that their fierce competition is driving prices down, so much so that you can now pick up a standalone HD-DVD player for only $300. (Blu-Ray is still pretty pricey) If you really want to have it all then I would suggest picking up a Playstation 3 and an XBOX 360 with the HD-DVD peripheral, that way your covered either way! Now if I could only get my wife to buy into that….
Comment by Pablo Honey — May 26, 2007 @ 12:07 pm
My HD projector has HDMI (DVI actually because my audio is getting split off to the amp). Is it, then, all I am going to need for the time being to feed it an HD-BluRay signal?
Comment by Bruce S. — May 26, 2007 @ 4:31 pm
Yes, but if you have more than 1 HDMI source then you are going to need either a receiver that handles HDMI switching or a standalone HDMI switcher.
Comment by Pablo Honey — May 27, 2007 @ 11:34 am
I am the standalone HDMI switcher. Why can’t we continue unplugging and plugging as we do now? IOW, we already go back and forth between the cable box and our DVD player.
Comment by Bruce S. — May 27, 2007 @ 1:44 pm
Wow. And you call yourself an engineer? We have machines to do these things for us!
Comment by Pablo Honey — May 27, 2007 @ 8:27 pm
But that would mean buying a new amp. And I have too much dough tied up in the one I have. Besides, sound not convenience is what I care about.
Comment by Bruce S. — May 27, 2007 @ 8:44 pm
FWIW, 5th Element is not a very good movie. All flash and pretty colors, but not much substance.
Comment by RubeRad — May 28, 2007 @ 4:51 pm
Rube,
You’ve lost your mind. The 5th element is a GREAT movie. How could you not like that movie?
The whole point of the movie is to prove the pagan point that the love (defined as sexual union, balancing the genders, thus striking the balance between yin and yang) between a man and a woman, being beautiful and perfect, is the antidote for evil.
And not only that, but since what’s her name is both beautiful, a sex object, and from a superior race, she clearly is a goddess figure, and meant to inspire us, like Bruce Willis, to devotion to the goddess, as manifested in the women around us. We should all worship women, and strive to find unity with the good forces of the universe and to defeat evil through union with women, who are little goddesses. Love, love is the answer, and not the brotherly love of the Bible, but the lustful adoration and worship of a man for the object of his desire, namely a beautiful woman.
How could you say it lacks substance?
Furthermore, it reaches back into ancient times to tell us that the universe consists of four elements: earth, air, water, fire. These four make up the universe, but as there is also evil in the universe, there is a fifth element that balances out evil and destroys it, namely love, the ultimate good, of which we partake a taste when we make love to a woman.
The message of the movie is identical to that of the Da Vinci Code, imploring you to wanton sexual behavior and goddess worship.
Substance abounds in this movie. Of course, we reject its message as pagan proselytizing, but nonetheless, that counts as substance. Bad substance, but substance.
E
Comment by Echo_ohcE — May 28, 2007 @ 7:36 pm
PS
Great = tongue in cheek.
Comment by Echo_ohcE — May 28, 2007 @ 7:39 pm
I mean come on man, they’ve even got the tiny little pagan sect of priests who pass down the secret knowledge from generation to generation, which ultimately ends up saving the whole world!
And the pagan priest says of the girl that she’s perfect. And Bruce Willis is the hero, just trying to get laid. But when he tries to kiss her, she points a gun at his head and says “not without my permission”. I mean come on, the supremacy of women is clearly the underlying message here. Men are savage beasts with no refinement, while women are in control of sex, and have all the power. Yet in the end, it is he who wins her over, gains her permission, she falls in love, and evil is averted. But he only unlocks the power within HER. She is the real savior of the world, while he is but a catalyst to unlocking the treasures of wisdom and knowledge within her.
I for one enjoy unraveling such puzzles, even though I despise what I discover in the end. It’s the analysis I enjoy.
E
Comment by Echo_ohcE — May 28, 2007 @ 7:45 pm
Well I only saw the movie once, when it was just out, and I only recall finding it vapid. Not to mention Chris Tucker’s voice is intolerable.
If you want big-screen SciFi, I would recommend something more classic, like Blade Runner, or 2001.
Or Brazil — now there’s a great movie!
Comment by RubeRad — May 29, 2007 @ 7:09 am
Ugh! Rube, you’re hopeless!
Dude, Chris Tucker is annoying as can be in that movie, but even that has a point behind it. He’s the effeminate male sex symbol. Androgynous. They’re painting him as what drives women mad. Again, it points us to pagan devotion to the goddess.
All of which is fascinating on the one hand, but totally obnoxious and to be associated with the spirit of antichrist on the other.
But seriously, every last detail of this movie is pagan proselytizing, if you know what to look for. Shameful and abhorrent, but interesting nonetheless.
E
Comment by Echo_ohcE — May 29, 2007 @ 2:46 pm
Just watched Apocalypto last night — now that would be great on the big screen (if you can tolerate jungle nudity, gory tribal warfare, and explicit human sacrifice). And an overarching message that all civilization is wrong — surely we should all return to Rousseau’s state of nature!
Exciting movie, though…
Comment by RubeRad — May 30, 2007 @ 5:44 am
Yeah, exciting, but disgusting, apparently for the sake of being disgusting. Case in point, the scene in the beginning where they eat the…you know. Ugh!
Comment by Echo_ohcE — May 30, 2007 @ 7:57 pm
Wow, Echo goes to town on 5E! That’s a shocker. E, it sounds like you’ve watched this movie at least a dozen times. Why? If you hate is so much why watch it a second, third and fourth time?
For giggles could you do me a favor and give me your take on the Matrix?
Comment by danielbalc — May 31, 2007 @ 7:23 am
Daniel,
I like the Fifth Element. It’s a good movie.
Have you ever read Homer? It’s great literature, but of course, not being pagan polytheists, we don’t buy into all the talk about the gods and goddesses. Yet we can still recognize it to be good literature.
I like Harry Potter too. But I don’t imagine that it’s Christian.
I’ll give you my take on the Matrix some other time. Why not give me your take?
E
Comment by gospelordeath — June 4, 2007 @ 3:34 pm
Movie night #1 is done. Gladiator was it. A good time was had by all, I think.
Next up ?????
Comment by Bruce S. — June 4, 2007 @ 9:46 pm
Hey Dad, Guess who preached at my church Sunday night? Apparently he’s being considered for an internship (or something — is ‘internship’ the right job title for a seminary graduate?) He did a great job (on a fairly easy passage), and I introduced myself, and later talked him up with some elders.
Aaaaanyways, this is not actually a threadjacking; I asked him if he was going to your WSCAL film festival, and he said he hadn’t heard about it. So now you have to call him up and invite him.
Comment by RubeRad — June 5, 2007 @ 6:55 am
Show the Harry Potter Movies. I own all 4.
Comment by gospelordeath — June 5, 2007 @ 8:12 pm
My daughter likes “Over the Hedge”
Comment by Albino Hayford — June 6, 2007 @ 6:09 am
Turns out that 5 comments were spam blocked – all of which came in from RubeRad
Comment by Bruce S. — June 6, 2007 @ 3:22 pm
I just watched Night at the Museum with Ben Stiller and thought it was pretty good.
Gladiator was my recommendation to you and glad to see it made the cut.
How did you like it?
Comment by msamudio — June 6, 2007 @ 7:32 pm
Gladiator was weird since Deb wasn’t sitting next to me. I would have been asking her “What did he say?” or “What happened” all through the movie. As it was I had to sit there confusedly.
But I liked it and the sound-track was pretty good on my system.
Comment by Bruce S. — June 6, 2007 @ 8:26 pm
I thought that the sound track would be good on your system, especially the song in the first battle. Just so you now I watch all my movies with subtitles, otherwise I wouldn’t understand them either. You should try it.
Almost entirely free.
Comment by msamudio — June 7, 2007 @ 6:04 pm
I have to admit I am a subtitle user as well. I wouldn’t get half of the movies I’ve seen if it wasn’t for those subtitles.
Another recommendation has got to be BRAVEHEART. I absolutely love the soundtrack for this movie.
Comment by Alex — June 8, 2007 @ 7:47 am
“Last of the Mohicans” would sound awesome on your system as well.
Comment by Alex — June 8, 2007 @ 7:48 am
So you use subtitles because some of the dialogue is hard to hear/understand at times?
It sure is for me, being an old geezer and all.
I will turn them on.
Last of the Mohicans does sound good. I read the book and it was fantastic. I fear that Hollywood will have perverted it quite badly, though. The book was just outstanding. Thanks for that reminder.
Comment by Bruce S. — June 8, 2007 @ 8:13 am
Yes, especially if you have four kids in the room. There is no chance to understand it without reading the subtitles.
Braveheart is one of my favorites as well.
I forgot about Last of the Mohican’s…maybe I should watch it again.
Comment by msamudio — June 8, 2007 @ 10:01 am
Having gone through three very successful movie nights now, I can report on the theme of the movies we have watched.
Blood
Ranked in order of blood in quarts I would say that coming in third is Gladiator. Second place is Last of the Mohicans. And in first place, thanks to brother Morgan Earp is Tombstone.
Comment by Bruce S. — July 9, 2007 @ 12:23 pm
Tombstone rocks! I’ll be yoah hucklebarrah…
Seriously though, if you want a beautifully crafted movie with lots of blood, maybe you should give Titus a try after all?
Comment by RubeRad — July 10, 2007 @ 5:41 am