“We’ll stipulate,” the Editorial Board of the Times wrote, “that ‘Avatar’ promotes a liberal worldview. The question is, why does anyone care?”

The editorial goes on to say, “People are smart enough to separate fictional morality tales from reality.”

If it doesn’t matter what people communicate, then the L.A. Times should stop writing editorials and endorsing candidates, every student should be allowed to read the Bible aloud in class, Christian business men and women should be able to use Bible references in their product serial numbers, and “Triumph of the Will” by Adolf Hitler’s favorite filmmaker should be lauded along with “Birth of a Nation.”

Ironically, on the same day as the editorial in the Times, it was reported by the Associated Press that a Korean man had died after seeing “Avatar.”

Of course, the physical consequences of watching Hollywood movies like “Avatar,” although sometimes acute like the shootings after “Natural Born Killers,” are not nearly as influential as the social and psychological consequences of watching them.

Hundreds of thousands of studies have shown that the mass media of entertainment has an influence. If it didn’t, advertisers would not pay millions of dollars to advertise or place their products into movies.

That said, not everybody will be influenced in the same way. Different people are susceptible to different influences. Studies show that one part of the audience for a TV program or movie will adopt and act on the message (whether violence or sex or consumerism), one part will ignore the message, and one part will abhor the message. The blog postings on “Avatar” show that this research is completely accurate.

Hitler used the mass media to galvanize a nation to buy into the Holocaust. Lenin used the media to psychologically conquer Russia.

Obviously, the L.A. Times is merely dissembling because they like the message of “Avatar.” If it was Mel Gibson with a sequel to “The Passion of the Christ,” they would be screaming foul and calling for the movie to be banned before it could be watched by susceptible youths.

In the interest of honesty, perhaps the best thing that could happen would be for the L.A. Times to take the values expressed in this editorial at face value, and stop publishing altogether.

The problem with “Avatar” is not just that it has a “liberal,” if not radical leftist, worldview. The problem is that it promotes an Anti-American, Neo-Marxist worldview that is anti-capitalist and that romanticizes primitive pagan societies at the expense of Western Civilization, the Christian civilization that gave Hollywood folk like Mr. Cameron the liberty to bite the hand that feeds them.

For years, European-style leftists have been trashing America’s history and American values, including the American Dream and American Exceptionalism, in the mass media, the government schools, and the public universities.

Movies like “Avatar” are more than just “escapist fantasy,” as the Times Editorial Board puts it so disdainfully – and falsely. They are public myths that can galvanize a generation, in the same way that Hitler’s propaganda machine galvanized intellectuals and young people among what was, at the time, perhaps the most educated populace in the world, the German people.

That’s why people should care. That’s why people should be alarmed.

For example, for nearly 30 years, when Hollywood was run according to the Motion Picture Code of Decency, enforced by the Roman Catholic Church and the Protestant Film Office, the movie industry saw an unprecedented economic boom. That fiscal prosperity only began to wane when Christian churches pulled away from Hollywood in the 1960s and movies reached increasingly new levels of immorality featuring more and more graphic sex, violence, and obscene language.

Toward the end of this Golden Age of Hollywood, the movie industry was selling 9.43 tickets per person in the United States and Canada, but now sells only about 4.1 tickets per person.

Also, nearly two decades of research by Movieguide, a non-profit family guide to movies and entertainment supported by Christian donors and general subscriptions, shows that family friendly movies with no graphic sex, violence, and obscene language earn more than two to six times as much money at the box office, on average, as movies with such graphic content.

That’s exactly what Movieguide tells Hollywood’s top executives each year in Movieguide’s Annual Report to the Entertainment Industry (which is also highlighted at the Annual Movieguide Faith & Values Awards Gala held each February and attended by many of those executives).

Ironically, a study released by the Parents Television Council in 2008 revealed that the amount of foul language on primetime network TV has skyrocketed since 1998. Meanwhile, a study of foul language in G, PG, and PG-13 movies revolving around teenagers by three Brigham Young University professors shows that the 1980s movies they studied averaged 35 obscenities or profanities per movie, but decreased to 25 per movie in the 1990s and 16 per movie in the current decade, in the wake of Movieguide®’s annual study, which began in 1991.

This is no surprise to Movieguide®, which reported a 2006 poll by The Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg that most teenagers are offended by depictions of foul language and sex in movies and television.

Teenagers are the most frequent moviegoers, according to annual statistics from the Motion Picture Association of America.

Their preference for movies with little or no foul language is reflected in annual statistics from Movieguide’s Annual Report to the Entertainment Industry.

According to those statistics, in the last five years, movies with no foul language averaged nearly $51.48 million at the box office, but movies with 26 or more obscenities or profanities averaged less than $24.20 million.

That’s more than twice as much money!

Is it any wonder, then, that the movie industry, despite the decline in movie attendance in the past 40 years since the end of the movie production code of decency, still seems to be economically sound, while the major television networks have noticed a significant decrease in viewers in the last 10 to 15 years?

Clearly, the depiction of foul language and obscenity in movies and television does not usually sell. Neither do graphic depictions of sex, nudity, and extreme violence.

In fact, clean family movies and clean action thrillers remain the most financially successful types of movies, not only at the North American box office, but also internationally and on DVD and Blu-Ray.

The movie studios and their stockholders seem to be listening to this well-established fact. When will the major television networks in the United States?

“New Moon” is a spiritually confused, dangerous work.

On the one hand, it metaphorically asks the question, “How can I overcome my sinful nature and save my soul?” Thus, the “good” vampires in the movie are constantly trying to overcome their lust for human blood, often succeeding but sometimes failing. On the other hand, the movie’s heroine decides she wants to risk the possibility of losing her soul by becoming a vampire so that she can be with the vampire she loves.

Jesus Christ is very clear about the real spiritual dangers in this second message when He asks His disciples in Mark 8:36, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”

The average American citizen today, however (especially the nation’s young people), is biblically illiterate. They do not take seriously the theological teachings of Jesus Christ and His apostles in the New Testament documents.

Numerous polls have confirmed that about 76% of Americans consider themselves to be Christian. Recently, however, USA Today noted that 70% of Americans were unable to name the Ten Commandments. In fact, another recent survey found that Americans were more familiar with the ingredients of a Big Mac hamburger than they were the Ten Commandments, including the command, “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13).

Also, according to a survey this past spring by the Barna Research Group, only 9% of Americans have a biblical worldview where they said they have made a personal to commitment to Jesus Christ that is important in their life today and that they are certain that they will go to Heaven after they die only because they confessed their sins and accepted Christ as their savior.

Faced with such spiritual confusion and biblical illiteracy, is it any wonder that “New Moon” almost broke the record for an opening weekend at the box office in the U.S. and Canada? almost broke the record for an opening weekend at the box office in the U.S. and Canada?

The Christian Life

We live in a culture where physical health and getting government handouts are a higher priority than spiritual vitality and theological knowledge.

The Christian life, however, is about living for Jesus Christ and abiding in Him through the power of the Holy Spirit. If Jesus is Lord of your life, He is Lord of your entertainment choices. When you pay for evil movies, you tell God, “You’re not the Lord of me. I’ll do whatever I want.”

The consequence of ignoring God when selecting entertainment is that you push God away. When you push God away, He’s not as close as you’d like when you want Him to be.

Jesus Christ paid the price to restore your relationship to God. You do not earn this relationship by obedience, but you do nurture it. God draws closer to those who draw close to Him.

When you buy tickets to spiritually confused and biblically illiterate witchcraft and vampire movies, or nasty sex comedies, you are NOT drawing closer to God. You are pulling away. You do damage to the most important relationship in your life. God BLESSES those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. When you don’t care about righteousness, you miss out on the best that God has for you and your life.

You may think, “Oh, it’s not a big thing. “New Moon” is just a dumb movie.”

There is no little thing with God, however. To label anything as something God doesn’t care about is to miss the depth of His love for you. He cares about you from the food you eat to the person you marry, from the movies you watch to the career you chose. He wants the BEST for you. You get the best of God by nurturing a close personal relationship with Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit.

Social Consequences

Our society is made up of people inspired to engage in righteousness or sin. The more who hunger for righteousness, the more honesty, integrity, courtesy, kindness and compassion you will see in the culture. The more people who hunger and thirst for sex, drugs, self-gratification, money, and fame, the nastier your community will be. Rapists, pedophiles, thieves, and murderers are not living by the divine power of God or His Word, the Bible.

Today, the media defines what’s fashionable, and your vote at the box office has a profound impact on what the media will provide in the future. Buy tickets to bad movies and you’ll see more bad movies made. Buy tickets to wholesome movies and you’ll see more wholesome movies made.

The impact of this weekend on the entertainment industry will be profound.

“The Twilight Saga: New Moon” produced the third largest opening weekend in history. Had the churchgoers who bought tickets gone to see “The Blind Side” instead, the message the studios got would have been RADICALLY different. While “The Blind Side” did well, it will not be what defines the box office this weekend.

The Church – in particular parents and youth ministers – needs to understand the importance of media wisdom. The choices that Christian youths make not only impact their walk with God, they CHANGE THE WORLD.

If everyone who considers himself Christian made wise media choices, America would change. The media would be redeemed. We could export to the world movies that glorify God and minister to hurting people. Instead millions of churchgoers vote for more hell on earth with their box office dollars and their television remote.

The best source of information on how to teach your family or students how to be media wise is “The Culture-Wise Family” I co-wrote with Pat Boone.

Cultural Collapse

The United States and Western Europe are on the edge of cultural collapse, brought about, to a large degree, by the mass media of entertainment, along with the public schools and other institutions of mass cultural destruction.

According to Cornell University, nine out of 10 children abandon the values of their parents. According to USA Today, 83% of the youth leave the church, and 80% of the parents are very worried about their children and the mass media of entertainment’s influence on them. A new study of 16- to 29-year-olds by the Barna Research Group shows that America’s youths are growing more resistant and skeptical to Christianity than were people of the same age a decade ago. Thus, currently only 16% of young non-Christians said they have a “good impression” of Christianity and only 3% have a favorable view of evangelicals, compared to 25% of young non-Christians viewing evangelicals in the Baby Boomer generation.

Many Christian parents are concerned about the influence of media violence on their children, but many of those who are concerned don’t know what to do about the problem. The good news is that there are effective ways to teach your children to be media-wise.

Five Pillars of Media Wisdom

As the director of the TV Center at City University of New York, we helped develop some of the first media literacy courses in the late 1970s. Since then, years of research have produced a very clear understanding of the best way to teach media literacy. Specifically, there are five pillars of media wisdom that will help build the culture-wise family.

Pillar 1:  Understand the influence of the media on your children. In the wake of the Columbine High School massacre, CBS President Leslie Moonves put it quite bluntly: “Anyone who thinks the media has nothing to do with this is an idiot.” The major medical associations have concluded that there is absolutely no doubt that those who are heavy viewers of violence demonstrate increased acceptance of aggressive attitudes and aggressive behavior. Of course, media is only one part of the problem – a problem that could be summed up with the sage biblical injunction, “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character’” (1 Cor. 15:33). As the results of thousands of studies on youth violence prove, watching media violence causes violence among children. Bad company corrupts good character – whether that bad company is gangs, peer pressure or violent movies, video games and television programs.

Pillar 2:  Ascertain your children’s susceptibility at each stage of cognitive development. Not only do children see the media differently at each stage of development, but also different children are susceptible to different stimuli. As the research of the National Institute of Mental Health revealed many years ago, some children want to copy media violence, some are susceptible to other media influences, some become afraid, and many become desensitized. Just as an alcoholic would be inordinately tempted by a beer commercial, so certain types of media may tempt or influence your child at his or her specific stage of development.

Pillar 3:  Teach your children how the media communicates its message. Just as children spend the first 14 years of their lives learning grammar with respect to the written word, they also need to be taught the grammar of twenty-first-century mass media so that they can think critically about the messages being programmed for them.

Pillar 4:  Help your children know the fundamentals of Christian faith. Children need to be taught the fundamentals of Christian faith so that they can apply their beliefs and moral values to the culture and to the mass media of entertainment. Of course, parents typically have an easier time than teachers with this pillar because they can freely discuss their personal beliefs. Yet, even so, it is interesting to note that cultural and media literacy and values education are two of the fastest growing areas in the academic community – a trend most likely due to the fact that educators are beginning to realize that something is amiss.

Pillar 5:  Help your children learn how to ask the right questions. When children know the right questions to ask, they can arrive at the right answers to the problems presented by the mass media of entertainment. For instance, if the hero in the movie your child is watching wins by murdering and mutilating his victims, will your children be able to question this hero’s behavior, no matter how likable that character may be?

Educating the Heart

Theodore Roosevelt said, if we educate a man’s mind but not his heart, we will get an educated barbarian. Cultural and media wisdom involves educating the heart so that it will make the right decisions.

So, how can you protect the eyes of innocence of your children and grandchildren? How can you redeem the culture?

•            Teach your family to be CULTURE-WISE.

•            Become informed – visit www.movieguide.org daily.

•            Spend your entertainment dollars wisely.

•            Support the Christian Film & Television Commission®.

Don’t vote for spiritual confusion and cultural collapse. Vote with God and Jesus Christ. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Media Wisdom, and the fear of the Lord is to shun evil and overcome evil with good (Proverbs 8:13 and Romans 12:21).

Basically, the movie is about a sergeant wounded in the Iraq War who gets assigned to notify the next of kin of recently killed soldiers. Staff Sgt. Will Montgomery, played by Ben Foster in a star-making performance, is assigned to fellow officer Tony Stone, played by Woody Harrelson (also excellent), a recovering alcoholic who has never really seen action. Cynically, with a touch of sarcastic humor, Tony tries to show Will the ins and outs of performing this onerous duty. Even so, both are surprised by some of the reactions they get. One father angrily spits at Will when Will gives him the news about his son’s death. 

Will finds himself drawn to Olivia, to whom he has just delivered the news of her husband’s death. He is still bothered, however, by his ex-girlfriend’s impending, apparently ill-conceived marriage to a meek civilian. 

Eventually, Olivia tells Will the truth about her mixed feelings about her husband’s sudden death and their attraction to one another. Also, Will tells Tony about the truth of why he doesn’t feel like the wounded hero that the U.S. military has made him out to be. 

“The Messenger” has a lot of powerful and subtle elements, including the standout performances by Harrelson and especially Foster. Samantha Morton delivers a less flamboyant, more subtle performance, probably mostly because her character’s emotions are more hidden. Thus, “The Messenger” has a lot of strong individual, often poignant, and funny scenes that are well-written, well-directed, well-edited, and well-acted. The story is also structured very well. 

All that said, there are some glaring and abhorrent missteps in several major scenes and in the movie as a whole. 

First, the movie opens with a nude sex scene between Will and his ex-girlfriend, who has come to greet him on his return home from overseas. Later, in the third act, a drunken, disheveled Will and Tony crash the fancy rehearsal party for the ex-girlfriend and her future husband. In this scene, Will and Tony make complete jackasses of themselves in an annoying, mean way that presents a very negative portrayal of America’s soldiers. 

Both these scenes are completely gratuitous and over-the-top. They add nothing to the story or the characters. The subplot involving the ex-girlfriend is also confusing. Worse, combined together, the two scenes contribute to the movie’s somewhat negative portrayal of America – not only its people, but also its soldiers. They also contribute to the movie’s ultimately negative, albeit fairly subtle, portrayal of the War on Islamic Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan. Although it’s not stated directly, or in a ham-handed fashion, like most other recent movies by the radical left in America, “The Messenger” tells viewers that America’s involvement in wars overseas (including defensive wars) ultimately are never, ever justified. 

Here, it is important to note also that, nearly all of the initial reactions by the civilian American characters in this movie toward the death of their loved ones overseas are weak, mean, or, at best, conflicted. In addition, at one point, Tony puts down the American people in general as (essentially) gullible, unthinking stooges who like going to war and like being patriotic supporters of America’s soldiers, but never realize that this means their sons or daughters might actually be killed, or come back without their arms and legs. 

Furthermore, there is no mention in “The Messenger” whatsoever of any sacrificial, patriotic, or moral elements about the current war. Such content would lend at least some positive meaning to death in war and tell us, however tragically, that at least some of these soldiers did not die in vain. In fact, when Will finally tells Tony about the battle in Iraq that conferred a hero’s status on him, Will reveals that, at the end of the battle, he accidentally did something that got an American soldier blown up by a bomb. And, that’s how Will himself was wounded! 

Also toward the end of the movie, Olivia reveals to Will that the war changed her husband for the worse, not the better. She says that’s why she is conflicted about his death, which is both a relief to her and reminds her of how good a man her husband was before he went to war. 

In other words, like all of the leftist movies about the War on Islamic Terror before it, “The Messenger” tells viewers that there really is no authentic heroism in any of America’s wars or among her soldiers, that war is always and only Hell, that fighting for liberty (especially the liberty of unknown people overseas) is not really worth it, that war always makes American soldiers either suicidal or mean and violent, that the American people are simple-minded dupes, yada yada yada. Thus, like all the other movies attacking the War on Islamic Terror, “The Messenger” has the same old treasonous, anti-American diatribe that the radical left is always trying to push down the throats of the American people and moviegoers. Of course, “The Messenger” is much more subtle than some of these other movies, but the message is still the same old loony lies. 

Thus, about the only really good things in this movie are that the two soldiers often show compassion toward the families of the dead soldiers and that the protagonist never goes to bed with the widow of the one soldier. In fact, at the very end, Will and the military widow part as friends who might eventually get together once she completes the mourning process for her dead husband. 

“The Messenger” also contains plenty of strong foul language and brief sexual nudity. In one scene, in fact, one of Tony’s sexual conquests gets up out of bed and the camera gives a full frontal shot of her nude body. 

Finally, to add injury to insult, Will says several times that he does not believe in God and is not religious at all. Also, although Tony indicates he still does believe in a God, he clearly isn’t very religious either and has lots of moral problems. 

This negative, secular humanist portrayal of religion and America shows that atheism not only leads to philosophical and moral nihilism or meaninglessness. It also leads to anti-American political viewpoints that undermine American values. Thus, “The Messenger” is just another gift from the entertainment industry’s humanist left-wing to Osama bin Laden and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the terrorist mastermind and mass murderer of 9/11, whom the current government has given all the rights and privileges that every American citizen, and every American soldier, has been endowed by the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. 

By the way, “Taking Chance,” a brilliant TV movie from HBO starring Kevin Bacon as a soldier who takes the coffin of a dead American soldier back to his family, is a far, far better, more redemptive, more pro-American and pro-military, and much more positive and inspiring movie than “The Messenger.” It’s also more accurate in its portrayal of average Americans and America’s soldiers, who, after all, are our fellow citizens and family members.

Picking up where the first movie left off, “New Moon” opens with Bella (played by Kristen Stewart), having recovered from the vampire attack that almost claimed her life, starting her senior year of high school and celebrating her 18th birthday with Edward Cullen, a vampire who refuses to attack humans, and his family. After an ill-fated accident resulting in Bella’s blood being spilled at the Cullen residence, which is almost too much for certain members of the family, Edward (played by Robert Pattinson) decides to leave Forks. He believes he is protecting Bella from the dangers of the vampire world by doing so. He asks her to promise him not to do anything reckless.

Bella, utterly heartbroken and losing all semblance of functionality to the point of becoming zombie-like, is haunted by the memories of her time with Edward and seems incapable of pulling out of her new depression. Finally, after about four months, Bella makes an effort to reconnect with old friends, one of whom is a childhood friend, a Native American named Jacob Black (played by Taylor Lautner). During this time, she accidentally discovers that, by being reckless and putting herself in dangerous situations, she is able to see images of Edward in her mind more clearly and hear his voice. Desperate to be with him no matter the cost to herself, she purposefully continues to put herself at risk.

With Jacob’s help, Bella rebuilds an old motorbike to further her dangerous escapades. She soon comes to discover that Jacob might be exactly what she needs to heal from the hurt of her broken relationship. She begins to feel alive and happy again, even though the memory of Edward is still painful. Her friendship with Jacob, a member of the Quileute tribe, leads her to a new discovery concerning the secrets of their heritage, as Jacob must deal with a newfound ability to transform himself into a werewolf. In the midst of this, Bella’s life in is danger with the arrival of Victoria, the vampire mate of James, who was killed by Edward and his family in the first movie.

The emotional tension and plot slowly culminates in the end where Bella must save Edward from deliberately provoking the Volturi (a secret vampire society that regulates the laws over others of their kind) into killing Edward. Like Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet,” Edward has received information leading him to believe Bella is dead, and he believes that, by provoking the vampire leaders, he can end his misery.

Fans of “New Moon” will love it, but many critics will groan! Also, those who go into the film expecting lots of action and excitement probably will be disappointed, because the movie isn’t so much about that as it is about Bella’s heart-brokenness and the boy/werewolf who brings her back from her depression and helps her feel alive again. Those who have not read the books will still enjoy it, but may not be able to understand everything, as the finer details will be lost to them. It’s obvious, therefore, that Director Chris Weitz is catering to the fans with his adaptation as opposed to the critics, and fans won’t be disappointed.

The production values of “New Moon” are held to a higher standard than the first movie, “Twilight.” For example, it does a much better job of staying true to the book than the first movie, and the character portrayals are much more believable as they demonstrate greater emotional depth. Although the actors give excellent performances, it is Kristen Stewart who carries the movie to the end. The screenplay is also well written, although some scenes had to be arranged differently than they were laid out in the book, but, overall, the movie is a fair and accurate representation.

***SPOILERS AHEAD***

The content of “New Moon” includes many positive, moral elements – surprising for a movie about vampires, werewolves, and teenage romance. For example, Bella is willing to give up her life for Edward if that means saving him. Also, Bella and Edward do not let their relationship go any farther than just kissing. Furthermore, Edward consistently refuses to give into Bella’s demands to be turned into a vampire because he is afraid that she will lose her soul and be damned to Hell, although in the end he acquiesces on the condition that she marries him first. Lastly, the vampires who drink human blood are shown to be the evil, bad guys, and though the good vampires struggle with the temptation to do so as well, they do not give into their bloodlust.

That said, there are many reasons to be concerned about the content in “New Moon.” For example, Bella makes it very clear she wants to become a vampire and doesn’t care about her soul. She even tells Edward he can take her soul as long as it means that she will get to be with him forever. As the heroine of the story, someone that young, impressionable girls would idolize, this message is potentially dangerous and misleading. Along these lines, the intense relationship between Bella and Edward is disconcerting. The impression is given that neither of them is capable of existing without the other. This kind of love is more like a combination of love, lust, and obsession rather than true love. In that light, the movie is filled with high emotion and teen angst to the point where characters are unable to function properly. Thus, the message being sent to teenagers and young adults is that this is what love really is – a message that is encouraged as the characters are portrayed as truly knowing their hearts and having an accurate understanding of what love entails.

Other elements of concern include some unresolved discussion concerning whether vampires still have souls and if they are ultimately destined for Hell. Because of this uncertainty, Edward is greatly opposed to turning Bella into a vampire, but Bella’s constant insistence finally wins out, though this particular event doesn’t take place in this movie.

Taken together, these elements, and “New Moon’s” strong Romantic worldview, its occult and pagan content, brief violence, Bella’s reckless behavior, and Edward’s suicidal actions, are unacceptable viewing for media-wise moviegoers.

“The Twilight Saga” and “New Moon” make the world of vampires and werewolves look very attractive. Parents and children should be aware of this and use appropriate discernment.

Ultimately, the driving question raised by “New Moon” is:  “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:36).

The series shows the war through the eyes of 12 Americans who fought in the war or contributed to it in some way. Using diaries, journals, and new interviews, it follows these Americans as their personal journeys intersect with one another throughout the war effort. Hollywood actors, including LL Cool J of  “NCIS: Los Angeles,” Rob Lowe, Amy Smart, Jason Ritter, and Steve Zahn, portray the young voices of the Americans. The original Americans include a war reporter, an Army nurse, a young African American from Toledo who became a member of the Tuskegee Airmen, a second-generation Japanese American, and a Jewish immigrant from Austria who wound up in the Pacific Theater.

The series draws on more than 3,000 hours of World War II footage culled from archives and private collections around the world. Restored and enhanced through HD technology, the footage brings to light some riveting stories on America’s fight for freedom against the National Socialist armies of Germany, Japan, and Italy.

Some of the war scenes warrant caution for older children, however, because of the violence depicted, some light foul language and rear documentary shots of naked soldiers.

“WWII In HD” is extremely compelling viewing. This patriotic series has a very strong Christian, moral worldview, with heroic everyday people making great sacrifices as they join the battle against horrific evil.

When it comes to celebrating Christmas, actor Jim Carrey says he prefers the “Christian” traditions he and many other people in America grew up on as children.

“I’d hate to miss Christmas,” he added.

Carrey, who gives a remarkable performance in A Christmas Carol, the new brilliant masterpiece of the beloved novel by Charles Dickens from Disney and Writer/Director Bob Zemeckis, spoke about the movie at a recent press conference Movieguide attended in Los Angeles.

At the conference, Carrey also noted that he loves redemptive stories like A Christmas Carol.

“Everyone loves a good transformational story,” Carrey said. “You know, somebody who sees the light, who finally finds out what’s important in life. And, this is one of the greatest ones ever written. It’s just a beautiful story of redemption.”

“It might be the greatest time travel story ever written in the English language,” added Zemeckis, who’s also known for his entertaining time travel stories in the 80s, the Back to the Future trilogy.

“This story definitely influenced my other time travel stories,” he said.

Zemeckis also said he thinks A Christmas Carol is a perfect story for the motion capture process he used to good effect in The Polar Express and lesser effect in Beowulf. This process involves actors performing entire scenes while hooked up to computers that can record their every movement. Once recorded, that’s when the animators, working with computers and other animation technology take over.

Zemeckis noted, “The book hadn’t been realized before in the way that it was actually imagined by Dickens as he wrote it. I said, okay, this could be a perfect way to take a classic story everyone is familiar with and re-envision it in a new and exciting way.”

And indeed, the movie, which should become a Christmas classic, brilliantly takes moviegoers back to a bygone era, Victorian London, with amazingly detailed set designs.

The motion capture technology also allows the filmmakers and actors to interact in new ways with the world envisioned by Zemeckis through Dickens, including the wonderful special effects of ghosts, spirits, and supernatural events that Dickens describes.

In the past, some have complained that the motion capture technology makes human actors too wooden, but, here, Zemeckis, Carrey, Gary Oldman (who plays the crucial roles of Bob Cratchit and Jacob Marley), and the animators do a wonderful job of bringing life and true humanity to their characters.

It also helps that Carrey not only plays Scrooge, the misanthropic protagonist. He also plays the Ghost of Christmas Past and the Ghost of Christmas Present, who teach Scrooge some invaluable lessons.

And, Carrey also plays the silently menacing and terrifying Ghost of Christmas Yet-To-Come, who teaches the miserly, hateful Mr. Scrooge the horrors that await him if he doesn’t change his ways.

The fact that the movie is animated helps Carrey, Zemeckis, and the animators carry off the scenes between Scrooge and the spirits without stretching credulity.

Such a disconnect often happens in live action movies with lots of special effects where, all too often, the actors don’t seem to be in the same room or location as the special effects surrounding them.

“Certain aspects of the technology make things easier,” Carrey noted, “to get a lot of scenes done, to do a lot of material at once. A lot of aspects make it hugely easier to create the world you want.

“For an actor, there are actually challenges. You have to create the ambiance and the belief in your surroundings in your head. But, once you go into it, the process is very comfortable, and Bob [Zemeckis] was great.”

Zemeckis added, “I loved every morning I got to come in and I’d say, ‘Jim, who do you feel like today?’

About playing Scrooge, Carrey said, “I wanted to have that feeling that causes rheumatism, that eventually will eat you alive from inside. I based the character from the get-go on the lies that we believe about ourselves. Obviously, Scrooge felt he was unworthy of love, so why should love exist for anybody?”

Carrey also said that doing all the different roles in the movie, including the younger versions of Scrooge, was “a dream come true” for him, including the physicality required for playing Scrooge and the three spirits.

It is the three spirits who teach Scrooge the real reason for the season, Jesus Christ and his salvation message of love, in this terrific, beautiful, powerful family movie.

A Christmas Carol is one of the few movies that Movieguide considers a “must see,” not only for people who love movies but also for people of faith and values.

The aliens are called “visitors,” shortened to “Vs,” thus the title of the program. They appear over major cities in large hovering spaceships that project messages in the local language. More than just the classic we-come-in-peace message, the messages say, “We’re here to help you.”

The opening episode makes it very clear, however, that they are not here to help. It turns out the Vs have planted many of their kind, who look human, prior to their dramatic arrival in spaceships. The alien plants have done their best to foul up life on earth in order to encourage a hunger for “change” (salvation). The Chicago Tribune draws a parallel to the Obama administration but, while many believe President Obama was not born in the United States, it’s unlikely he was born on another planet. Even so, it’s interesting that the evil aliens offer “universal health care” to all people. Thus, the first episode clearly seems to be saying that President Obama’s health care proposals, now making their way through the U.S. Congress, are a false hope that will lead to tyranny and slavery.

The initial episode does a good job of setting up several threads to keep audiences interested. A young priest bucks the judgment of the Vatican that the Vs were sent by God to help. He warns his congregation to be wary. An FBI agent uncovers the truth about the planted V cell groups even while her son signs up to be a stooge for the Vs. A news anchorman compromises and is used by the Vs for propaganda purposes. Finally, a V plant turns out to be a renegade V opposing the V leadership’s plans.

The production quality here is high for television, and the acting is excellent. There is moderate violence in a battle between the Vs and an underground resistance. However, unlike “Flash-Forward,” “V” is not tainted by babysitters sleeping with their boyfriends and the threat of a family falling apart due to infidelity. The potential exists for this program to be truly outstanding, but, as with many other series, it’s difficult to say if it will stray into murky waters down the road.

The theme of being wary of false saviors is very biblical as well as politically and culturally astute (see my book co-written with legendary entertainer Pat Boone, “The Culture-Wise Family”). Jesus said, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.”

This is a message Americans really need to consider, not just in regard to big government but also such things as environmentalism and the humanism so prevalent in our government-run public schools. All the isms claiming to save you from belief in a “repressive” God promise freedom but often lead to bondage instead. Real freedom is freedom from sin. That can only be provided by the world’s true Savior, Jesus Christ.

“V” could actually go in that direction, but will it? We shall see.

The bumbling fictional spy Maxwell Smart often used this phrase to describe some of the super-villains he faced on the TV spy show “Get Smart” in the 1960s. The same statement may be applied to Michael Moore, the filmmaking darling of the Left who has made another polemical documentary, “Capitalism: A Love Story.” This time, Moore calls for the replacement of America’s capitalist system with a socialist system, including, of course, pro-communist proposals to share all wealth or profits equally.

A talented filmmaker (see our full review here where we list most of the major problems with Moore’s new subversive, Marxist diatribe promoting his radical utopian nightmare), Moore begins his latest movie by comparing the United States to the Ancient Roman Empire, where, according to his sometimes pompous and condescending narration, society became divided between the super rich and the super poor (clearly an exaggeration). He then discusses the post-war economic boom in the United States in the 1950s and early 60s.

After showing the consumerism that began to captivate many Americans during those times, and the riches that came to the leaders of industry and the wealthy bankers and brokers on Wall Street, Moore cuts to a shot of President Jimmy Carter during the late 1970s sadly complaining about the “greed” and “materialism” of America. Then, in a mocking tone, Moore says Ronald Reagan came riding into the White House, but that Reagan and his Treasury Secretary, Donald Reagan, formerly of Merrill Lynch, designed policies that hurt blue collar workers and encouraged Americans to borrow too much money so they could buy homes and modern luxuries, while the “fatcats” on Wall Street got richer and richer.

Interspersed within this somewhat biased history lesson, Moore describes the economic “meltdown” that occurred last year. He puts all the blame on bankers, mortgage lenders and financial institutions who, he says, corrupt the politicians in Washington. Moore also visits several families and workers harmed by the economic collapse. Included among these scenes are people whose mortgages have been foreclosed, a family that is defiantly still living in its foreclosed home, and workers in Chicago who took action when their company suddenly went bankrupt and refused to pay the workers what it apparently still owed them.

Early in the movie, Moore also interviews the owner of Condo Vultures in Florida, a real estate company that buys up foreclosed homes at very low prices in order to make a profit when the homes are repaired. In addition, Moore discusses the economic decline and collapse of General Motors, where his father used to work in Flint, Michigan. While discussing these things, Moore laments, “That’s the point of capitalism; it lets you get away with anything.”

Finally, while performing several comic stunts, including a visit to the Wall Street banks that received government bailouts, Moore promotes a socialist vision with a Communist polemic advocating sharing the wealth equally. During these scenes, Moore, several Catholic priests and a Catholic bishop cite Jesus Christ’s concern for the poor and needy as inspiration, while declaring unequivocally that capitalism is clearly evil and unbiblical. Moore also cites for inspiration President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s speech calling for a “second bill of rights,” including the “right” to “adequate medical care,” “a useful and remunerative job,” “a decent home,” “a good education,” “adequate food and clothing and recreation,” and “the right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad.”

Wow! How exactly is the government going to define all these new alleged rights, Mr. President?

The best, most coherent and perhaps most truthful part of the movie is Moore’s attack on the government bailouts for Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs, Citicorp, the Bank of America, AIG, etc. He correctly notes that these bailouts don’t seem to have done much of anything for the people who have lost their jobs and their homes. Furthermore, he clearly shows that the government doesn’t have a clue where exactly this bailout money went. Moreover, he shows that members of Congress are in on this and other alleged Wall Street con games, including Democratic Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut. Of course, President Obama also seems to be fully involved in these allegedly corrupt schemes, but Moore lets the President off the hook because he apparently loves Obama soaring, but phony leftist rhetoric of radical “Hope and Change.”

The rest of Moore’s movie presents a very strong, somewhat mixed worldview with very strong politically correct, leftist ideology. Although Moore includes overt, positive references to Jesus Christ and the Bible, including the crucifixion, he uses these references to promote his radical, anti-capitalist, pro-socialist, and even Communist socio-political philosophy. It’s all extremely polemical and one-sided in a deceitful way that will fool many gullible people, especially many young people.

A new three-year study of the Top 25 movies released in 2006-2008 earning the most money overseas shows that international moviegoers prefer clean movies with strong or very strong Christian, moral and/or redemptive content and values.

This study is significant because it matches our annual study of the Top 25 Movies at the Box Office in America and Canada and the top home video sales annually, and because Hollywood now makes more money overseas than it does in the United States.

The Movieguide® study found that 20 of the Top 25 movies overseas in 2006-2008, or 80%, contained strong or very strong Christian, moral, redemptive, and even biblical content, earning $8.39 billion out of $10.59 billion total, or 79.2% of the money among the Top 25.

That’s an average of $419.5 million per movie!

A couple of the best examples are “Spider-Man 3″ and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” both of which actually made it into the Top 10 movies overseas in 2006-2008.

“Spider-Man 3″ has a very strong Christian worldview with very strong redemptive themes, where the hero goes in repentance to the foot of the Cross to shed his sins. The new “Indiana Jones” movie shows the hero rejecting the evil tyranny and mind control of Communism and ends with a brief church wedding scene that quotes the words of Jesus Christ in Matthew 19 and Verse 24 of Chapter Two of the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament!

None of the Top 25 movies overseas in 2006 to 2008 were R-rated, but nine of them were rated G or PG. Also, only three of the Top 25 had more than 25 obscenities and profanities, only three had any depicted sexual content, only two had any sexual nudity in them, only four had any very strong action violence, only five (20%) had any drug references, and only 10, or 40%, had any scenes of drunkenness or alcohol abuse.

Moviegoers clearly prefer clean movies with strong Christian, moral, biblical, and redemptive content. They want good to triumph over evil and justice to prevail. They want to be inspired.

The following chart lists the kind and percent of moral, theological and political content Movieguide® found in these Top 25 Movies:

Top 25 Movies at the Overseas Box Office, 2006-2008 

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Besides “Spider-Man 3″ and the “Indiana Jones” movie, the study also included such top movie releases in 2006, 2007 and 2008 as “The Dark Knight,” “I Am Legend” (which had a several Christian worldview), “Wall-E” (which had a very strong redemptive Christian worldview focusing on a heroic example of the Christian definition of love), “Ice Age: The Meltdown,” “Prince Caspian” (based on a Christian novel), “Iron Man,” “Transformers,” and the last two “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies (both of which contained overt Christian references at the center of an ultimately redemptive plot).

A Movieguide® study of the Top 25 movies overseas in 2005, 2006 and 2007 showed very similar results to the new three-year study.