Movies with theological plots

IMO constantine was great! Im not really a keanu revees fan (he's too monotone with the same emotion in every scene). The only thing I didn't like was the cross-flashlight-gun thing. I've seen it twice already.to answer your question:Ben Hur
The Ten Commandments
Jesus Christ Superstar
The Passion of the Christ
The 7th Sign
The Exorcist
Joan of Arc
im sure there's more...

What I didn't like about Constantine, and about theo-gothic-action movies in general, is this trend nowadays where they oh-so-casually toss off the fact that the Nazis had the Spear of Longinus (Spear of Destiny, Longinus Lance, etc) during WWII, like it's some winking nod to the continuity of a series they've already butchered.It's like geek fan service, and it's getting old. Time to retire this macguffin.

so with that being said you probably do not like the indian jones series for the same reason then? or is that a period piece and ok?

The lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe (TV Movie 1979) - Reference View - IMDbwas a regularly shown on Danish TV around Christmas, (the cartoon)./Soren

You misunderstood. I like battling occult-obsessed Nazi's just fine, and the Indiana Jones movies are the finest example of that.What I don't like is when that occult-Nazi background is exploited in movies that aren't about Nazis, just for the sake of fan service.I mean, the point is to set their treasure-protecting organizations into a historical context, to say "we've been doing this a while; here, look at our museum. Oh, by the way, we recovered the Spear of Longinus from Hitler and won WWII."It's old. It's time that somebody came up with some new fake occult history. Hitler and the Spear have been done to death. Same with the Holy Grail. How about the Shroud of Turin? That would be new. Or the Hope Diamond? It's cursed, you know.

I can't believe that no one has mentioned "Left Behind" or "Tribulation Force". They ARE prophetic movies, ya know. Exactly how things will be during the tribulation.Oh yeah...good movies...sorry.edited to change The into They...Hey! Even Nosy Ned messes up sometimes.This message has been edited by LinearAq, 03-04-2005 09:47 AM

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If faith is "...evidence of things hoped for and the substance of things not seen..." from what material do you build your faith?

Well there's always the big budget remake.The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005) - IMDbThis message has been edited by Trae, 03-03-2005 20:56 AM

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"God and I don't speak much. He never admits to his mistakes and still acts as if his every opinion should be carved in stone. — Trae

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What I don't like is when that occult-Nazi background is exploited in movies that aren't about Nazis, just for the sake of fan service

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Thats a fair point but I have an alternative proposition for you: its no fan service so much as an established element of the Conspiracy genre.The spear and related oddities like Ultima Thule have a life of their own in the endlessly self-recycling world of Conspiracy publishing. And this occurs at two levels, as there is the "real" conspiracy stuff, and then there is secondary fiction that exploits the prominence of conspiracy tropes. Most of the things you mention fal into the latter category - I can see how it can be annoying, but there are many endlessly recycled tropes, and this one does not bother me much.The ones that bug me most are when SF and demonic fantasy are used together, like the movie Event Horizon or the Doom games.
--A friend of mine familiar with the Hellblazer series has now seen Constantine and reports it is not nearly as bad as was feared, and that the whole shotgun thing is understated. So I'll probably be seeing it on the weekend.

I don't think anyone's mentioned one of my favorite theologically based movies...The Rapture, written and directed by Michael Tolkin, starring Mimi Rogers. On a limited budget, there's only so much you can do in depicting the end of the world...but the movie isn't really, quite, about the Rapture. It's complicated. Well, just go see it, it's good. On the other hand, you might hate it, and I could respect that, too.

Hrm, that's a good point. Nonetheless I'd like to see some occult conspiracy movies that drew their macguffins from sources other than Nazis and the Catholic church. You know, I hate that too.

Bad acting, and bad interpretation of prophecy. With all due respect to Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye, I don't know where they got half of their stuff scripturally. That book series went on for way too long.

Have you read Roger Ebert's review of Constantine?

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" Strange that there is a priest, since that opens the door to Catholicism and therefore to the news that Constantine is not doomed unless he wages a lifelong war against demons, but need merely go to confession; three Our Fathers, three Hail Marys, and he's outta there. Strange, that movies about Satan always require Catholics. You never see your Presbyterians or Episcopalians hurling down demons.
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Oh, and the plot also involves the Spear of Destiny, which is the spear that killed Christ, and which has been missing since World War II, which seems to open a window to the possibility of Nazi villains, but no."

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not sure if it should be considered a "theological" plot, but the movie/documentary/post-modern-mental-masturbation-mumbo-jumbo "what the [bleep] do we know?" is coming to video on tuesday.i find it most interesting that one on the special features, there are previews and one is for "i [heart] huckabees." not only do both have weird things in their titles that i had to bracket, but both are blatant postmodern quantum whatever. only huckabess is making fun of that sort of thing.anyhow, what the bleep discusses, among other things, organized religion, concepts of god, and how it relates to self, reality, and quantum mechanics.

Nobody has mentioned the HBO production of Angels in America. It is fantastic.There is also talk of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy being made into a trilogy of films, and you don't get more theological than those books.I hope they get made well, because I loved the books.

I don't think I've seen "The Wicker Man" mentioned by anyone yet.I think it's considered a cult film in the UK, but I don't know if it's very well known in the USA. Basically, it's an unusual film about a devout christian police officer who goes to investigate the disappearance of a young girl on a small island off Scotland. It turns out that the people living on the island are pagans.