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Frailty (2002)(Available on DVD - September 17, 2002)
* IMDB: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0264616
* PLOT: A man confesses to an FBI agent his family's story of how his religious fanatic father's visions lead to a series of murders to destroy supposed "demons."
* MY RATING: 7/10
* MY COMMENTS: "Frailty" shows the danger that fanatic religious zealots can have

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Frailty (2002)(Available on DVD - September 17, 2002)
* IMDB: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0264616
* PLOT: A man confesses to an FBI agent his family's story of how his religious fanatic father's visions lead to a series of murders to destroy supposed "demons."
* MY RATING: 7/10
* MY COMMENTS: "Frailty" shows the danger that fanatic religious zealots can have

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Um, in "Frailty" the religious nut who went around murdering people was vindicated at the end. The twist on the plot was that he really was doing gods work as revealed to him by devine revelation, and the rational brother who thought the father had just gone nuts and started killing people really was evil.

I generally don't mind religios themes in movies, as i think fiction is where they belong, but Frailty gets a "Completely fucked up" rating in my book.

"Know what, if you were in a building, and it was on fire, I'd rescue you."
- My Son 3/5/2002

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I suggested some videos to add to the Freethought Video Store section of the Internet Infidels website recently:

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I'm so sick of hearing about movies that 'promote' god fearing characters. I was thinking of seeing 'Signs'(because it looked like a Sci-fi picture), that new movie that has been advertized on TV but just yesterday I heard a review that the leading character has some religious type conversion at the end so that kind of turned me off of wanting to see it.

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I saw "Signs", and it was OK. If you can turn off any active thinking you may be able to enjoy it.

All the elements of the sit-around-the-campfire type scary story are there, but any real analyzing of the movie reveals plot holes and unrealistic situations.

Here is what Michael Shermer had to say about "Signs". (*** CONTAINS SPOILERS ***)

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SIGNS AND CIRCLES

I just saw the new M. Night Shyamalan film "Signs," starring Mel Gibson,
about crop circles. Over the past two weeks I did a couple of dozen
interviews about crop circles--stimulated by the film's forthcoming
release and mega-Hollywood hype--and thought I should see what all the
fuss is about. Although the film was nicely produced and crafted in such
a way as to generate a few jump-out-of-your-seat scary moments, I was
generally disappointed. Not because the circles were portrayed as being
made by aliens, but because they really missed a great opportunity to
explore some interesting questions about how mysteries are dealt with,
what various believers and skeptics think about such mysteries, etc.
Sagan did a very fair treatment in Contact (both the film and the
novel), giving enough latitude with believers to lead Sagan biographer
Keay Davidson to call Contact the most religious science fiction novel
ever written (or, at lease written by a nonbeliever). In Contact both
believers' and skeptics' voices were fairly represented.

Signs was a big bust on this front. Crop circle believers fully admit
that most of the crop designs are human made as hoaxes and copy-cat
fakes. Like the serious UFOlogists who admit that 90 to 95 percent of
all sightings are fully explicable by natural phenomena, they construct
an entirely new world view based on the unexplained 5 to 10 percent.
These residual data are no problem for science because we know that no
theory can explain everything. (My analogy is that the L.A.P.D. can
solve, say, 90 percent of annual homicides. Are we to assume that the
other 10 percent have supernatural or paranormal causes? No, of course
not, because we all understand that the police cannot solve all murder
mysteries.) So why not show some crop circles being cleverly made by
people, but then leave a few to be contemplated by the audience as
possibly alien made (or, as some crop circle advocates speculate, as the
products of mysterious natural forces or extra-dimensional beings, or
whatever)?

Instead, Gibson's character, who lost his faith in God after the death
of his wife, finds his faith by the end of the film. But there is no
reason why he should have recovered his faith from what was presented.
So aliens made the crop circles. Are the aliens God or God-like (ala
"Shermer's Last Law": "any sufficiently advanced extra-terrestrial
intelligence is indistinguishable from God")? That is certainly not the
conclusion from this film. Does any paranormal or supernatural mystery
imply that there is a God? That doesn't seem to follow from the film
either. Maybe I missed something, but I just don't see the connection
between crop circles and religious faith (other than the obvious one
that believing the former has an extra-terrestrial or paranormal cause
requires a leap of faith tantamount to that of religious fait h).

I recommend waiting until the video is released, or maybe not even
bothering at all. Too bad. Another missed opportunity to educate the
public about how to think about weird things.

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"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." [Philip K. Dick, science-fiction author]

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I am posting my list of the following videos I submited to II website for your enjoyment. When possible I have tried to include a brief plot summary, IMDB link, my rating, and my comments.

Enjoy.

--DRAMA--

Chocolat (2000)
* IMDB: http://us.imdb.com/Title?0241303
* PLOT: A woman and her daughter open a chocolate shop in a small French village that shakes up the rigid religiosity of the community.
* MY RATING: 7.5/10
* MY COMMENTS: Shows intolerance and hate that can come from strict religious dogma. Shows atheists in a compassionate light.

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Interesting list. I only know half of the movies, but I will keep an eye open in case I ever come across one of them.

I kind of missed 'Contact' in the list. In my opinon the movie was one of the best treatment of the subject in a mains stream Hollwood movie.

And if you are going to include Matrix, you might as well include other Dickian style movies like Bladerunner. But I have to admit, that I am a bit vary of these type of Movies with a question reality moral, because some people take them to literal and really start seeing conspiracyies and deeper truths everywhere.

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Man, I hate these lists compiled by kids who think all the greatest art and literature and films were produced in the last 5 years.

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LOL. I never said these were the best movies. Only movies that may be of interest to freethinkers because of their freethinking themes, characters, etc. I do admit though that I haven't been really into movies very long (only about the past 5 years....hmmmm that is how long I have been married ). Anyway if you know of older (classic) movies that belong on this list, then by all means list 'em on out.

BTW - At 32 years old I think I am beyond the label of "kid".

"Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away." [Philip K. Dick, science-fiction author]

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Man, I hate these lists compiled by kids who think all the greatest art and literature and films were produced in the last 5 years.

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LOL. I never said these were the best movies. Only movies that may be of interest to freethinkers because of their freethinking themes, characters, etc. I do admit though that I haven't been really into movies very long (only about the past 5 years....hmmmm that is how long I have been married ). Anyway if you know of older (classic) movies that belong on this list, then by all means list 'em on out.

BTW - At 32 years old I think I am beyond the label of "kid".

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One of my favorites is Mosquito Coast with Harrison Ford. I can't imagine that it wouldn't be on the list.

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