Long before "The Passion of the Christ" became a runaway box office hit, raking in more than $370 million domestically since its 2004 debut, Christian films have had a spot in Hollywood history. Faith-based movies have recently enjoyed a resurrection. Audiences looking to see their own beliefs reflected on the big screen turned out in droves for films like 2014's "Heaven Is for Real" ($91.4 million), 2015's "War Room" ($67.7 million), and this year's "Miracles From Heaven" ($61.7 million). Christianity is still the most common belief system in the United States, not just the world. For example, more than two-thirds of Americans — 68 percent to 75.2 percent or up to 242.72 million people — believe in Christianity, Jesus, and miracles, while up to 86 percent (or about 277.57 million people) believe in God, according to Movieguide, the biggest faith-based, family review service. In contrast to this, only 8 percent to 18 percent of America’s 322.76 million people refuse … [Read more...] about Newsmax’s Top 25 Christian Films of All Time
Top 10 best movies of all time
Newsmax’s Top 25 Conservative Documentaries of All Time
While conservative documentaries are often panned by Hollywood critics and seldom garner film festival awards, many draw impressive crowds to theaters, rack up eye-popping box office totals, and have exerted a significant impact on American culture and politics. For instance, film industry experts say “2016: Obama’s America,” “The Clinton Chronicles,” and “Hillary’s America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party” helped lay the groundwork for the election of Donald Trump as president and other conservatives. “Some of these movies have actually changed the political landscape,” says Dr. Ted Baehr, a media critic and publisher and editor-in-chief of Movieguide, a website and journal that evaluates films and television programs from a conservative Christian perspective. New York Times best-selling author Dinesh D’Souza says his 2012 film “2016: Obama’s America” didn’t keep voters … [Read more...] about Newsmax’s Top 25 Conservative Documentaries of All Time
‘Varsity Blues’ turns 20: The 25 best football movies of all time, ranked
In West Canaan, Texas, football is king. The pigskin's pretty big in Hollywood, too. The best of all sports-movie subgenres, football films have given us great characters – real and fictional – and a bunch of awesome cinematic moments in everything from screwball comedies to real-life narratives. "Varsity Blues," in which James Van Der Beek quarterbacked the feisty West Canaan Coyotes, turns 20 Tuesday. And in honor of the anniversary, we're ranking the 25 best football movies of all time. (Sorry, "Brian's Song" fans: We're only counting theatrical releases, not made-for-TV weepers.) 25. 'Leatherheads' (2008) Square-jawed team captain (George Clooney) recruits a talented World War I hero (John Krasinski) to be the 1920s-era Duluth Bulldogs’ saving grace, but they both fall for the same newspaper reporter (Renee Zellweger). Like a not-as-good “Bull Durham” with more mud and helmets. 24. 'The Waterboy' (1998) Cajun accents and … [Read more...] about ‘Varsity Blues’ turns 20: The 25 best football movies of all time, ranked
The 20 best vampire and werewolf movies of all time
While ghosts and ghouls reign supreme in the scariest movies of all time, the monsters of the old world have not gone out of style on Halloween night, and this list of the 20 best vampires and werewolf movies has few modern takes on the classic beasts. The list stretches from the nearly lost “Nosferatu” to the king of Spanish werewolf movies, Paul Naschy. The list is dominated by vampires because of the dearth of great werewolf movies, but the ones that are great are strong enough to challenge the best vampire movies for the top spots, and a couple of choices feature both tribes of the moon. 20. Subspecies (1991) This is the first film on the list to draw inspiration from the vampire in the 1922 "Nosferatu," with long fingers, monstrous facial features and the ability to move in shadows. “Subspecies” is a film by Full Moon, a studio that produced many low-budget exploitation monster movies (known for featuring stop-motion animation) which went straight to video … [Read more...] about The 20 best vampire and werewolf movies of all time
John Beifuss’ 10 best movies of 2018 (plus a second 10)
The best movie of 2018, according to the voting groups of movie reviewers represented by the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the nine-state region covered by the Southeastern Film Critics Association, is "Roma," now available to anybody with access to Netflix. I agree "Roma" is one of the outstanding films of the year. But it didn't screen in a theater or public venue in Memphis, so I didn't consider it for my annual lists of the best films of the year. Is that wrongheaded? Perverse? You tell me. As usual, my annual 10 Best list (and its complement, the Second 10) is culled entirely from the ranks of feature films that had their local debuts in public venues in Memphis during the past year. In other words, these are films that Memphians had the chance to see in a theater, museum or other public gathering place. Facebook Twitter Google+ LinkedIn John Beifuss' 10 best movies of 2018 Fullscreen … [Read more...] about John Beifuss’ 10 best movies of 2018 (plus a second 10)