Conservative movies can rock the box office, as anyone who so much as glanced at the balance sheets for “The Passion of the Christ” can attest. But a new study by Movieguide, a faith-friendly film outlet, claims the big picture is far more positive for movies promoting patriotism and faith.

The Hollywood Reporter:

The Movieguide report rates movies using more than two dozen criteria, such as whether a title promotes capitalism or socialism or if it promotes or denigrates biblical principles. Violence, sex, political correctness, revisionist history, environmentalism, feminism, homosexuality and more hot-button political issues all are taken into consideration.

This year’s report concludes that seven of the top 10 films of 2011 scored high on Movieguide’s index and therefore qualify as films with “strong or very strong Christian, biblical, moral and redemptive content.”

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The strangest thing about the poster for Mel Gibson’s upcoming action film “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” is that seems completely oblivious to the actor’s current standing within the Hollywood community and with the public in general. And you know what? That’s probably what’s so great about it.

The poster shows Gibson holding a gun like the action star he is. The film poster comes complete with a ’90s tag line – “Plan Your Getaway” – and is promoted as being from the producers of two great action pictures (“Apocalypto” and “Braveheart”). If this poster doesn’t get you excited for a cool prison escape shoot ‘em up then nothing will.

Well, actually if it doesn’t get you excited that’s probably because you’re looking forward to the next Michael Moore propaganda piece or Roman Polanski feature.

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Show business is a business, right?

Is that why Hollywood made one anti-Iraq war movie after another even though they all pretty much tanked? And does that old saw explain why, in the wake of the phenomenal success of “The Passion of the Christ,” the film industry didn’t see fit to clone it?

Now, as the Occupy Wall Street movement heads into its final, sad days, Hollywood is rushing in to make a movie capturing its anti-business spirit.

If you’re scratching your heads, you’re not alone.

Lionsgate is working on a remake of the 2000 film “American Psycho,” which was based on the Bret Easton Ellis novel of the same name, an individual with knowledge of the project confirmed to TheWrap … No word on why they’re remaking a film that’s just 11 years old — presumably to poke more nasty fun at those villainous Wall Street traders.

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And the Oscar doesn’t go to…

An incurably snarky acquaintance of mine has recently introduced me to the word “suckage.” Apparently this magic word can qualify as a noun, verb, adjective, and with a little creative thought, a personal pronoun as well. While I am not sure I agree with the idea that this is the Swiss army knife of words, I think that this is the perfect word to express how I feel about whatever process is used to figure out who gets honored with an Oscar statue.

While there is always a healthy debate over who won the industry’s most aesthetically unpleasing award, there is not often a lot of discussion about the folks who were completely snubbed by an academy dedicated to the principals and values of “suckage.”

Here are 10 people, films, or entities that should be displaying Oscar on their mantles but aren’t.

Ray Harryhausen
Anybody watching Ray Harryhausen work would think he was just a middle aged man playing with dolls. While this is probably not uncommon in Hollywood, especially in any residence owned by somebody from the Sheen family, what was really going on was a master craftsman at work. Ray may not have invented the stop motion technique, but he certainly perfected it. During his prime he was a one man “Industrial Light and Magic” who inserted world class special effects into mediocre (at best) films. His long shadow fell over, and influenced an entire generation of special effects enthusiasts and without his groundbreaking work the world would probably not have films like Jurassic Park and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It is a crime against nature that, other than a special technical Oscar, this man was never honored for his magical work in a specific film. 

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It’s been an interesting past decade for Mel Gibson. He starred in a blockbuster comedy (“What Women Want”) as well as a powerful smash thriller (“Signs”) before deciding to take a long break from in front of the camera. He then directed “The Passion of the Christ,” turning his self-financed, highly risky and hyper-violent portrayal of Jesus Christ’s torture and death by crucifixion into a smash hit that earned $600 million worldwide despite critics who claimed the film had anti-Semitic undertones that Gibson denied.

Then in the midst of a long break from all things creative, Gibson’s personal life fell apart with a drunk-driving arrest in which he blatantly unleashed an anti-Semitic verbal tirade and an affair which ruined his 29-year marriage and resulted in an out-of-wedlock child that largely shattered his image as one of Hollywood’s most devoutly religious members. After directing just one film since “Passion” (2006’s modest hit “Apocalypto”), Gibson decided he was finally ready to return to the big screen as a movie star again.

The question is: are audiences ready to embrace him in return? And does he still have the Midas touch for smash-hit action films? In the new film “Edge of Darkness,” Gibson returns to his benchmark persona – playing a by-the-book cop who suddenly opts to break all the rules while avenging the death of a loved one, this time his daughter. (more…)

Think of Christian films, and you might conjure up images of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,” with Jesus being brutally pummeled and crucified until he dies. Or you might think of countless lesser-known movies filled with sappy storylines, bad acting and moral messages that are themselves pummeled into the audience. 

But the new movie “The Book of Eli” doesn’t fit either of those molds. In fact, this wildly entertaining, ultra-violent, post-Apocalyptic tale of a lone wanderer named Eli (Denzel Washington) who will defend the mysterious book in his possession at all costs is one of the oddest yet most forthright faith-based films to ever come out of a major studio. 

Eli is carrying a copy of the last Bible on the planet, since all other religious texts – including Torahs and Korans – were rounded up and destroyed 30 years before after religious strife was believed to have caused a devastating global nuclear war. Eli believes he’s heard the voice of God telling him to bring the Bible to an unspecified place in the West, but a ruthless despot named Carnegie (Gary Oldman) knows that if he gets his hands on the precious book, he can distort its teachings and have total control over the minds and spirits of the people who live in his empire of revived, Old West-style towns.  (more…)

Catholic Digest has a fascinating interview with Jim Caviezel, star of “The Stoning of Soraya M.” Here’s an excerpt:

This guy I know said, ‘You’re pro-life. Tell you what, if you really believe in what you speak, adopt a child — not any child, he’s got to have a serious deficiency,’ (and I will become pro-life). He never changed his (position), but it convicted me. I don’t think he thought I would step up to the plate. (more…)

Another Easter season comes and goes without a single offering from mainstream Hollywood to attract oh, say, a billion or so believers into theatres. We’re not political, they say. We’re not agenda-driven, they say. Our choices are based on profit, they say. We have to appeal to an international audience, they say.

Right.

“The Pink Panther” sequel no one asked for we get, but where’s, “The Passion II: Acts of the Apostles?”  –and anyone familiar with the Bible knows I’m not joking.

Once again Hollywood steps over dollars to make pennies on “Observe and Report” and we’re forced to return to a more tolerant Hollywood on DVD. Congratulate me, tomorrow I celebrate my first year as a Roman Catholic and here are my five favorites over this Holy Week. (more…)

Watchmen (Warner Bros) has followed a long and winding road, passing through the hands of some remarkable directors like Terry Gilliam (The Fisher King), Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler) and Paul Greengrass (United 93), before landing in the lap of the mastermind behind 2004’s stunning re-imagining of Dawn of the Dead and 2007’s March blockbuster 300. From the moment that the first trailer for Zack Snyder’s $120M comic book adaptation made its debut at midnight screenings of The Dark Knight in July, this has been a sure-fire mega-hit. Now, the big screen version of the 1986 graphic novel will be unleashed on Friday.

WATCHMEN writer Alan Moore has reportedly placed a curse on the movie

The original comic was written by Alan Moore and the lead artist was Dave Gibbons. The collaborators have radically different views of Snyder’s film adaptation.The latter has publicly expressed confidence in Snyder. Gibbons reveals to Wired magazine that at one point Joel Silver owned the film rights to Watchmen and that the producer was insistent that Arnold Schwarzenegger should play Dr. Manhattan. (That would have potentially been an unintentional disaster movie.)

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National Review’s 25 Best Conservative Movies of the Last 25 Years did what all good lists do, ignite debate and discussion. Last week, NRO’s own Kathryn Jean Lopez jumped in to make a solid case in favor of “Rocky Balboa,” yesterday Maura Flynn stirred things up with a little disagreement and smart choices of her own, and on Monday Ben Shapiro weighed in with a line by line argument for and against the NRO picks and a few excellent additions, including “Tombstone,” and “L.A. Confidential.” Thus far, it’s been a fascinating conversation, and while I normally don’t argue “taste,” Ben’s opinion on “Braveheart” requires a response:

It’s an action epic with some romance thrown in.  Liberals could easily caricature Braveheart’s Longshanks as a redneck, particularly after he defenestrates the prince’s gay lover. 

Ben’s correct about what “Braveheart” is and what liberals could do with it, but you also have to look at what “Braveheart” is about. The film’s essence is about fighting and dying for liberty, a value the Left conceded thirty-plus years ago on the Killing Fields of Southeast Asia straight through to their call last year to strip 25 million innocent Iraqis of their liberty (and security) in the hopes of embarrassing George W. Bush. Like patriotism-when-the-guy-you-didn’t-vote-for-is-in-office, what was once a universal value has become through default, a conservative value. (more…)