Family Friendly Movies

What is and what is not a good movie is often debated among Christian circles.  I'm not here to judge (we love that phrase "don't judge" don't we?! ; )).  My goal in this post is to share some movies my husband and I have enjoyed that I would consider conservative.  Because I am a Christian, I also love faith-centered movies that have a clear Gospel presentation, so I'm going to recommend some of those, too.  Can I take just a few seconds to share my own personal journey concerning movies?  I'll try to be short ; ).

My story....
Basically, I love entertainment.  I love a good book (I read A LOT!) and I love a good movie.  Good music, too.  In my early years, I didn't have a lot of convictions about books or movies.  There weren't a lot of good "Christian" movies and books like there is now, but I honestly didn't try to find them.  I was happy watching pretty much anything.  As a young Christian, these different movies I would watch were starting to affect my heart and mind.  I didn't realize to what extent until I got older, but I was very desensitized to things like bad language, mild sensuality, what most would consider mild sexuality, and violence.  As I grew in my walk with God, and had some strong mentors who challenged my perspective on entertainment, I began to question what I was putting into my mind.  I remember twice one of my good friends walked out of a movie that within the first few minutes had some bad language and sexual innuendo.  I was kind of uncomfortable with her reaction.  But the second time this was a movie that was shown in my home, and she later wrote those of us who were there a long letter explaining why she had to leave and why the words and actions being portrayed were dishonoring to God in the name of entertainment.  Wow.  That was very uncomfortable!  But exactly what I needed.  I was challenged by what she said.  Other friends challenged me on some other movies I had recommended to them.  That was hard for me, too....I realized how unaffected I was by what I was watching, but I was beginning to see that it was an issue I needed to take more seriously.  I began to eliminate rated R movies and some PG-13 out of my life. I began to see the benefits mentally and spiritually.  When I got married, God used my husband to convict me even more.  His perspective on movies seemed incredibly conservative to me!  : )  Honestly, my pride was a little hurt.  I thought I was SO conservative and doing so well guarding my heart and mind...then I marry a guy who even refused some of the movies I thought were ok.  That was tough.  But I'm so glad that God used him to help me grow even more.  We both love to watch movies, but guarding our minds and hearts are of utmost importance.

With that said, this is what I do when a new movie comes out.  I go directly to the website Plugged In.  It is basically a Christian-based site that reviews contemporary movies, tv shows, games, music, and videos.  It breaks down different aspects of the movie that I'm looking out for: language, violence, sexuality, and a few others.  I will say that Plugged In RARELY gives a top rating to any movie.  I mainly use this site as a tool.  If a movie doesn't get a great review for plot but is reasonably conservative on the areas that are important to me and my hubby, then we try it.  We've had great success with this.  We've been surprised both ways with some of our choices, but for the most part we've been on target.

Movies we enjoy...
As I mentioned, I love the movies that have been recently put out by Christian-based film companies. Some of these movies do tackle difficult subject matters, so even though they are "Christian" you may not want your young children watching. Some of my favorites are:
Christian
*Fireproof (marriage)
*Courageous (family/fatherhood)
*Facing the Giants (faith/trusting God)
*October Baby (abortion/life)
*Seasons of Gray (modern day retelling of Joseph--seen on INSP channel)
*Homerun (alcoholism/family/abuse/Celebrate Recovery program)
*Grace Unplugged (fame/family)
*Love Comes Softly and others in the series...great family-friendly love stories set in the west based on books by Christian fiction author Janette Oke
*The Last Sin Eater...based on a book by Francine Rivers
*I want to see "Mom's Night Out"--I've heard it's hilarious and from a Christian movie company.
*I know there's more I'm probably forgetting.  If you have some you enjoy...please comment!

Secular
*When Calls the Heart--series on Hallmark and made for tv movie (love this!)...also based on books by Janette Oke
*Of course, the movies on Hallmark and INSP are always fun to watch : )
*Here Comes the Boom--y'all...this movie is HILARIOUS!  And guy-friendly.  Kevin James is a trip! This movie is all about Mixed Marshall Arts and also has a nice romantic, family friendly element to it.  It does have a few profanities.  Here's a clip:

A recent favorite of Joe and I's is The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.  We love it!  It does have a few profanities, but we walked away really enjoying this one.  It's about Walter, a kind of sedate guy who dreams of adventures but never actually has one.  Then his life changes...(this is a long trailer...)

*I'm a big Pride and Prejudice fan, so I like all of those types of movies and consider them great for any age.  Here are my favs in that genre: Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Persuasion, Sense and Sensibility,  and Emma.  The BBC did remakes of several of these not too long ago and I thought they were very well done.  The BBC also has older versions of Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice that are wonderful...classics and very detailed.  The newer versions of Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice (done by Focus Features) are also well done in my opinion, but they have to cut a lot of the detail to fit it into a 2 hour movie.  The settings and costuming is excellent, though.  Even more so than the more detailed versions.  I also think the soundtracks from both are excellent.
*Along the lines of historical, I must recommend North and South with Richard Armitage.  It's a little slow in some parts, but the chemistry between him and the lead actress is awesome.  It also gives a historical look into the cotton mills that were prevalent during the Industrial Revolution.
*I can't neglect to say that my hubby and I are big action movie fans.  We loved the first Captain America movie, although there is some violence and a scary looking bad guy.  We also like the new and older Spider Man movies and I honestly love Man of Steel, the newer Superman movie, although there is violence and some profanity.  We also enjoyed the newer Batman movies, specifically the first and third, but the second was a little too dark for our preference.
*The new dystopian trend hasn't escaped me, either.  I read The Hunger Games series and I know that the movies are popular.  They are, however, quite violent, specifically the first one.  It's hard to stomach children killing children, but I did watch the movie.  I honestly liked Catching Fire better, but there's still a strong violence element.  I really enjoyed the newest movie in that genre, Divergent.  I really liked the story line and thought the violence was not quite as intense as Hunger Games.  The hubby isn't a big fan of these types of movies, and you may want to look them up on Plugged In to see if these are good movies for you and/or your family.
*The Majestic...one of the few Jim Carey movies I enjoy.  It is a PG movie, but I regret that there is a harsh word of profanity (totally unnecessary!) that stands out.  Other than that, it is a very entertaining movie.
*Bedtime Stories...one of the few Adam Sandler movies that's family appropriate.  This movie is funny, heartwarming, and I would even say "clean"! : )  It's an older movie, but it would be worth looking it up!

Again, there are many more movies out there that are family-friendly.  This post would be so long if I continued on, but I just wanted to point out a few of our favorites.  If you have any other recommendations, I'd love to hear about them!

As always....God bless!  My next post will be a review of the book I just finished...and couldn't put down...Full Steam Ahead by Karen Witemeyer!