Is That Movie Safe to Watch?

From a Christian perspective, choosing movies and videos to watch can be difficult. You want to watch a good, entertaining film, but most movies coming out of Hollywood these days are offensive to Christian values ... but not all. Think you can figure out what's safe by reading the back of the box? Forget it! Even many "Christian" review sites reflect the material provided by the film studio's promotion department rather than the perspective of someone who watched the film.

The lack of good, honest movie reviews has led the folks at Strong Tower Publishing to begin posting reviews of its own. None of these reviews were taken from publicity releases, but are simply our own, personal evaluations of these films from a quality, entertainment, and Christian values viewpoint. This list of movies, which includes both new releases and older films, including classics, is updated regularly. Not all movies were viewed in their entirety. Some were turned off and returned. Others were viewed piecemeal between stops of the fast-forward button. Occasionally, reviews come from movies shown on television, so they contain best guesses based on what portions were shown.

Movies are rated according to basic film quality, including writing, humor, and filmmaking, as well as according to biblical values taken from The Ten Commandments and the teachings of Christ. Material that is considered offensive includes ...

Reviews use a basic five-star system, with the exception of overly offensive films, which are marked with a stop sign. These movies, in the opinion of the reviewers, contain the kind of offensive material that should never - under any circumstances - be viewed by Christian viewers.

The Inside Man. A Spike Lee film with Denzel Washington. A bank robbery apparently goes wrong, but is really a deliberate cover for stealing diamonds from the vault of a Nazi sympathizer who got rich from the wealth extracted from the Jews during WWII. An improbable and very tiring and too-long movie involving bank hostages, negotiations with the head of the robbery gang, the extensive shifting and intermixing of hostages with the gang of perpetrators--all of whom are disguised by the same clothing and face masks. One wonders why they bothered making it. (Reviewer—G.P.)

Blood Diamond (R) Excellent film, with global scale and epic themes. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou (Amistad). Well worth the dramatic violence that comes with the story, though it is always tastefully filmed. Exposes the issue of the corrupt "conflict diamond" trade thriving in the Sudan just a few years ago, as well as the continuing issue of war crimes against children, who are still being used by thuggish gang leaders to inflict murderous raids on innocent villagers. Powerful performances and story line, including the saga of a father (Honunsou) who refuses to lose his son or his family to this practice, and a rogue diamond smuggler (DiCaprio) who is faced with the ultimate choice between self-aggrandizement or self-sacrifice. Clean, but for mature audiences. A memorable film. (Reviewer—G.P.)

The Painted Veil. Based on a Somerset Maugham novel. This is a good film, if rather depressing. A socialite marries a civil servant, a doctor, to spite her mother. He carts her off to remote China/Shanghai to get her away from an adulterous relationship; there, he volunteers both himself and his wife to go to a village suffering from cholera outbreak. Themes of marriage, infidelity, self-sacrifice. But don't expect a happy ending. (Reviewer—G.P.)