Friday
Apr182014
Happy Easter Weekend. Complete the Sentence...
Friday, April 18, 2014 at 11:52PM 
I totally forgot it was Good Friday today. Herewith a #faithbased edition of complete the sentence because that's trending now.
"My favorite Biblical movie is ________________ because _______________."
I really wish _________ would make a bible movie because _________ ."
YOU KNOW WHAT TO DO IN THE COMMENTS. I'll get us started.
P.S. if you'd like something more secular, check out the ten greatest bunnies in motion picture history
Reader Comments (25)
"My favorite Biblical movie is THE TEN COMMANDMENTS because Anne Baxter gives hilarious line readings, the parting of the red sea is still awesome, and Yul Brynner makes me think impure thoughts that would horrify Moses and/or Charlton Heston
I really wish Baz Luhrmann would make a bible movie because they're best when they're over the top spectacles.
I don't really have a favourite but I'd really like to see The Last Temptation of Christ; seems like it would be very interesting with Scorsese's Catholic guilt and all.
And I really wish Terrence Malick would make a bible movie because all of his films have a spiritual undercurrent that I would like to see him explore more through a biblical film.
My favorite Biblical movie is The Prince of Egypt because if I had my way, all the best Bible stories should have musical representation with a powerhouse diva duet at the center (though all the music was gorgeous).
I really wish Ang Lee would make a Bible movie because just thinking about Lee's emotionally drained, loving through everything Jesus makes me want to buy a ticket right now (though the Baz answer is also fascinating). I feel like Malick's beginning of the world take in The Tree of Life was maybe the best take on that story ever.
My favorite Biblical movie is The Prince of Egypt because it's absolutely beautiful and emotionally powerful.
I really wish Quentin Tarantino would make a bible movie because he could totally get into the spirit of, say, Judges (I already consider Inglourious Basterds to essentially be a modernized Book of Esther).
"My favorite Biblical movie is Quo Vadis? because no one did epic pageantry like old time MGM. While I do adore Miss Anne Baxter's melodramatic and breathy posturing in The Ten Commandments Deborah Kerr is far better in this."
I really wish James Cameron would make a bible movie because many of his movies already have religious undertones so he should just go full on and tackle one . He also can handle epic scale as well or better than any director working today. His scripts are never the strongest but the scripts in most biblical epics are usually rather weak and full of inaccuracies. He'd also make it visually impressive, if I have to sit through one more dark, dreary, grimy film because it's true to life I'll scream! It's a movie damn it I want illusion not real life."
My favorite Biblical movie is THE EXORCIST because the power of Christ compels me.
My favorite Biblical movie is King of Kings because Jeffrey Hunter.
I really wish Nicolas Winding Refn would make a Bible movie because I'm a sick puppy.
My favorite bible movie is Night of the Hunter. Mitchum, Winters and Gish all directed by Laughton. Its a Bible movie because no one thumped a bible like Mitchum.
I wish Kathryn Bigelow would make a bible movie. Preferably Joshua at Jericho.
If I can't have that, I want Baz to do Samson and Delilah.
I would comment on this, but Nathaniel you said all the things I think. Totally true about The Ten Commandments.
My favorite Biblical movie is Passion of the Christ because I was raised catholic, and them priests be damned if they would not imprint in me love/appreciation for the figure of Jesus Christ, even if through osmosis, so basically I cried my eyes out the sockets watching the poor guy being tortured to death.
I really wish William Friedkin would make a Bible movie because Lot's escaping the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, only to then go on, get drunk and impregnate both his daughters somehow just screams Friedkin to me.
My favorite Biblical movie is Ben Hur, because of the century old best seller narrative designed to thrill and make you weep.
I wish Idina Menzel would make a bible movie because Esther needs to be a musical. Mandy Patinkin could sing Mordecai. I agree with eurocheese, every bible story is better with a musical duet.
The more obscure and the more B series these movies are, the better i think. But I¡'d add Allen as a director because I want to see Moses, Samson, etc, all wandering around like neurotics. and talking about their relationships.
My favourite Biblical movie is Jesus Christ Superstar because musicals.
I really wish Kevin Smith would make a(nother) bible movie because I want to see a sequel to Dogma.
My favorite Biblical movie is The Ten Commandments because it's so epically EPIC and over the top in all the best ways (and some of the other ways, too), and because of the beefcake. Oh my dear sweet lord, the BEEFCAKE.
I have to agree with Nathaniel again, because I really wish Baz would make a bible movie because I personally feel as though bible movies need to be epic but not too self-serious in order to work, and I am having trouble thinking of another director that works as well in that space.
My favorite biblical movie is THE PRINCE OF EGYPT because Michelle Pfeiffer sings in it and I'm still pissed she didn't get to perform it at the Oscars.
Gosh, I just love Michelle's voice. She needs to do another musical.
My favorite Bible movie is the underappreciated, beautifully intimate The Nativity Story, because Catherine Hardwicke reminds us that the Holy Family were ethnic by casting undersung foreign talent: Keisha Castle-Hughes, Oscar Isaac, and the lovely Shoreh Aghdashloo.
And I might get booed here, but I love the story of Maccabees, so I was genuinely excited when Mel Gibson expressed interest in that project. At least that is a story that hasn't already been depicted on film several times.
My favorite Bible movie is The Ten Commandments. It's epic where it should be, silly where it should be (Anne Baxter), and a cast that's actually pretty amazingly assembled, I think it's just the best.
I would love it if Jane Campion made a Bible movie of Ruth, Esther or one of the few other woman-centric stories in the Bible. I think she'd tease out their emotional lives as well their interior lives with aplomb. Plus the inevitable Holly Hunter appearance...
My favorite biblical movie is Ben-Hur because Charlton Heston in a loin cloth. I really wish Paul Thomas Anderson would make a biblical movie because...just because.
My favorite Biblical movie is The Last Temptation of Christ because even though it is definitely flawed, it takes more risks and has more energy than any of the other Biblical films I've seen.
I really wish Lars von Trier would make a bible movie because there is no reason needed for this to happen.
My favorite Biblical movie is " The Ten Commandments"- it has it all- gorgeous women, hot men, campy dialogue and truly special effects- never get tires of watching it.
My favorite is probably Ben-Hur because, why wouldn't it be? It has everything like maybe the greatest action sequence of all time, a performance by Charlton Heston that seems like even he didn't know he could give, sexual undertones in a Hollywood picture that are years ahead of their time, and very little to do with Jesus, which makes his presence in the film all the more miraculous. It even won 11 Academy Awards! The movie is so much better than the two others that share Ben-Hur's record for most Oscar wins. While I'll admit that I've still never seen the original 1925 version, which surprises me because I love silent movies so much, I can't see any Biblical epic ever topping Ben-Hur 1959. And William Wyler might be the most under discussed, and therefore underrated, director.
Top 5 Biblical Epics
1. Ben-Hur (1959)
2. Quo Vadis (1951) - Peter Ustinov as Nero is enough to recommend it to anyone.
3. The Ten Commandments (1956) - another Heston epic that is good for so many different reasons than Ben-Hur.
4. The Robe (1953) - Who doesn't love a great Richard Burton movie?
5. Intolerance (1916) - It may be just a quarter of the movie, but is there any better cinematic version of the crucifixion of Christ?
*I still need to see Pasolini's The Gospel According to St. Matthew, but I did see Godspell!*
My favorite Bible movie is Terrence Malick's THE TREE OF LIFE because it's open-ended and questioning. It asks, it doesn't tell. But I also like BEN-HUR because it's really well-told.
I really wish MICHAEL MANN would make a Bible movie because what's he doing right now? Wait, I just checked. Holy crap, he's made a movie with Viola Davis????? I'm there.
My favorite Biblical movie is Nicolas Ray's KING OF KINGS because Jeffrey Hunter makes for one damn sexy Jesus, but aside from that, it's the movie that best captures the social and political events that allowed Jesus to become the figure he came.
I really wish PAUL VERHOEVEN would make a Bible movie, specifically the movie about the life of Jesus he's been trying to get going for the better part of a decade, because that movie would MELT THE FACES off a lot of Bible thumpers, and they could use a good face melting.
My favorite Bible movies (a tie) are Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade because they totally count, right (not much of a Bible reader)?
I really wish Darren Aranofsky would make a Bible movie because I want to forget Noah existed.