For some other good options, support the little guys. Movies like the upcoming Bringing up Bobby (www.bringingupbobby.com), Between the Walls (betweenthewallsthemovie.com), Mercy Streets, Standing Firm, and the list goes on. Help us filmmakers to spread the word and you will see the quality improve, guaranteed. If we all keep sitting on our hands, we’ll never get anything worth watching.

To End All Wars is a classic example of a relatively expensive production that didn’t understand its market. Why all the swear words? Especially copious use of the F bomb. It’s decisions like these that baffle me. It’s not to say a Christian movie shouldn’t have swear words — but in the context of a WWII movie it was totally unwarrented in my opinion. The bottom line, this movie isn’t close to recouping on it’s original investment and in the economy of this industry that really hurts.

I think the Evangelical mainstream will embrace certain types of raw portrayals of sin and violence. I mean it doesn’t get more violent than The Passion of the Christ. However, when you’re already dealing with a niche audience it is close to impossible to expect them to embrace movies with a lot of swearing and sex and have it be commercially viable. Hey, but violence is noooo problem.

I’ve come to realize the best way to produce a truly honest portrayal of sin, doubt, faith, etc., is to target the mainstream. Crash is a great example of something both honest and yet inspiring.

Thanks for your interaction. Your points are excellent.

I also assume that criticism of the film by Christians is acceptable? When a film makes it into the major market it represents all of us who are evangelicals, and not all evangelicals are on the same page in terms of art, esp film.

I applaud the church’s verve and vision. The theology of the film represents a branch of evangelicalism I know well, and that I respect. But respect doesn’t mean agreement.

Again, thanks for your comments.

First and foremost, the goal of Giants was not to share the Gospel to unbelievers. That may strike you as strange, given its overt message. According to writer/director/actor Alex Kendrick and his brother Stephen their goal is to inspire believers to live up to their full potential as Christians, if unbelievers should happen to get saved that’s a wonderful bonus.

That is what separates Giants from almost any other Christian movie that has been produced to date. For example, your classic Billy Graham movie tries to pass itself off as a generic story and then somewhere toward the end of the movie you’re presented the plan of salvation with no less than Billy or Franklin Graham delivering the 4 steps (talk about a bait and switch).

Barbary Nicolosi really missed the whole plot point of why the coach was driven to reading the Bible and went to his knees during his moment of crisis. The coach’s world was coming apart and the only solace he could find was in the Word of God and that his fate was in the Hands of a loving God. As a Christian, sometimes that’s the only refuge we have when our world is crumbling all around us. That’s why this movie resonates with so many Evangelical Christians — we’ve been there.

Then there are all those almost embarrassingly obvious Evangelical scenes in the movie.
- The old man that prays for the kids in the school.
- The revival that breaks out.
- The coach’s inspiring speech to the players with overt references to scriptures and Jesus Christ.

Who would dare be so blatant, so early in the story? Well as it turns out, someone who produced a film that reflected his own very personal faith in God. Now that’s what I call honest. A story that encourages believers to trust God no matter how bad things look.

Now as to the criticism that everything works out in the end, that’s probably not the way I would have produced it either. But, you could say that about almost any popular sports movie that Hollywood has produced.

The reality is almost everyone likes stories with happy endings. Is that so bad? Don’t we get a belly full of tragedy, misfortune and injustice by just living in this sin-drenched world? Isn’t that why our hearts soar when the good guy wins in the end?

I wonder how many would take issue with God’s plan for the resurrection of His Son. I mean, shouldn’t God have ended the story with His sacrificial death on the cross. Wouldn’t have that been what we would call “honest?” But, the reality is, without the resurrection, our faith is in vain. So maybe that’s why we like happy endings. It calls to that part of us yearning for justice and hope in this bleak world.

So, Alex produced the kind of movie he wanted to see. He didn’t care if it would cross over, or had too happy an ending. This was his film and as it turns out, there are a whole lot of people who loved what he was able to do for a little over $100,000.

While we’re at it ,let’s bash reruns of the Waltons and Little House On The Prairie for its sickening positivity.

Cynicism is a revolt against all things that are beautiful. Sadly for you some things that are beautiful are also boring.

For those who have eyes to see, the LOTR story, conveys great truths without hitting the reader over the head with heavy handed attempts to ’sell’ an idea or push an agenda. Even though LOTR was by no means Christian allegory, I get much more of a feel of the Reality of the Christian walk from it than I do from most Christian films. Along Frodo’s journey there are temptations, glimpses of beauty, horrible struggles, restful havens, victories, defeats, injuries that will not be healed in this life, sacrifice, the comfort of friends, and the need for the hand of Providence to achieve the final destruction of the ring.

Feel good, happy ending movies where coming to Christ leads to earthly, as well as spiritual, triumph are nice fairy tale entertainment. I love ‘It’s a Wonderful Life!’ and other movies that reassure that Good does ultimately win. But none of these should be taken as a real life depiction of our walk here on earth. The real ‘happy endings’ do not come this side of the Western Sea.