Yesterday, Time’s movie critic Richard Corliss released what he considers to be “The 10 Greatest Movies of the Millennium (Thus Far).” The Artist launched the list at No. 10. Corliss named Pixar’s WALL-E as the best of the best.
I love lists like these. It’s great to cruise through things like this and see where you agree (nice that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon got a little love), disagree (Avatar? At No. 3?) and what might be missing. (What? No superheroes?) But this particular list reminded me of another important truth: You don’t need edgy content to tell a fantastic story. When a prominent, secular critic begins a “best-of” list with a charming and mostly clean silent movie and ends with an animated G-rated fable, it’s evidence that sometimes a great family-friendly movie can be great art, too.
But as we’ve seen, the reverse isn’t always true: Great art isn’t always family friendly. It sometimes lacks God-honoring content. And that’s where we as moviegoers can feel some tension.
This Friday marks the official end of a meandering journey through the world of problematic movies. We’ve gone from philosophical to pragmatic; we’ve talked about fallen worlds and frames. We don’t get a chance to talk about some of this stuff very often (being busy counting f-words and all), so this series has been a real treat for us—and hopefully you as well.
I’ve been particularly gratified to hear from you—to hear your passion, your honesty, your willingness to engage with this stuff. Sure, sometimes we all may disagree over what we should or shouldn’t see: You might go to the occasional R-rated movie. You might find the very thought anathema. But to hear from all of you from across the spectrum made for some challenging, fascinating and deeply rewarding conversation. Frankly, I might’ve learned more than I taught here, and that’s a cool thing.
So even while this series is ending, I hope the conversation doesn’t. We love to hear from you, and if you ever have a question you want us to answer, ask it—here, on our Facebook page, via email ([email protected]) or even by writing a letter, taping it to the back of a snail and sending the little guy on his way to our headquarters (Plugged In, Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs, CO 80995).
We all know that entertainment’s important. I wouldn’t be here right now if I didn’t believe that—and frankly, neither would you. But dealing with entertainment … well, it’s an ongoing process—a journey if you will. The movies we see are imperfect products in an imperfect world, and our engagement with them is bound to have a few imperfections, too.
Thank goodness we’re on the road together.
This post is the sixth in a series. Feel free to click on these related posts:
Sorting Out the Good, the Bad and the Excellent
How Come They Get to Watch Bad Movies and I Don’t?
Recent Comments