Yesterday, Christianity Today unveiled their annual “Critics’ Choice Movie Awards.”
In my opinion, here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly:
The Good:
Well, it’s mostly good! This year, the website’s lists for “Critics’ Choice” and “Most Redeeming” have a similar feel to them. Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life is the critics’ number one choice, and is second for most redeeming. Actually, Malick’s film, which was nominated by the Academy for Best Film this week, is the unanimous pick for Christianity Today, Think Christian, and Looking Closer. Oh, and we thought so, too.
I’m also glad to see Of Gods and Men, Moneyball, and Hugo all bunched together near the top of the list. They were three of my favorites of the year, for sure. Also, it’s good to see Win, Win and The Mill and the Cross receive some recognition. These seem to be overlooked a bit on the year-end lists.
The Bad:
I know: according to Rotten Tomatoes’ top critics, it’s possibly the best movie ever. But I saw the film this week, and, as I mentioned briefly in my column on the Oscar nominees and nostalgia, my first thought was “that’s the frontrunner for best film of the year?” But, it seems CT’s team regards it just as highly. (Shrugs).
I’m also a bit disappointed at a few omissions. Not even an honorable mention for Certified Copy, Buck, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, or Attack the Block? Ok, well maybe the last one is wishful thinking on my part, but the first three? I’m a bit surprised by their total absence.
The Ugly:
Oh, the comments! There’s some cringe-worthy ones under the Most Redeeming List. Three of my personal (least) favorites:
“d b” says: “As usual, CT has borrowed again the Hollywood mantra “unsuited for young viewers.” This means that errotic movie scenes and foul language “may be” detrimental to our children.”
Phillip Henson chimes in: “I tried to refraim from commenting, but the Tree of Life has now taken the number one spot on my list of worst movie’s I’ve ever seen, it had no plot. I fully support an artist taking risks, but I don’t think a movie should get rave reviews only because it was an artistic risk. Really, the movie was like reading only the first page of each chapter of a book and saying it was beautiful. It wasn’t beautiful, it was trying to tell a story but not taking the time to write it, only giving the viewer an idea of it.”
Ricardo Herrera: “I cant bealive they put Harry Potter in the list of reediming films next to real inspirational movies like Courageous.”
We still have a ways to go, it seems, when it comes to evangelicals, the arts, and culture. Hopefully these kind of comments aren’t as representative as they might seem.