I’m doing my part to support the Morris Theatre — I volunteered to serve on the board. That also means I’ll do occasional work in concessions or as a projectionist, so do stop by for a good movie sometime.
The theater is struggling — it’s losing money, I think about $2000 per year, and there are pending maintenance issues that need to be handled eventually. I’m happy to help out, and there are suggestions to increase community involvement, which I think is going to be the trick to eventually make it profitable.
I play no role in booking, unfortunately for me. There was some discussion at the meeting of how to get better movies shown. I am relieved to see that Melania is not on the list of future showings! There was a suggestion that we get more Christian movies, and get direct involvement from local pastors and congregations, but despite the fact that I think that would be a disaster that ultimately would kill the theater, I kept my face shut. I can be a team player, sometimes.
The problem with Christian movies is that are all bad fucking movies. Without even considering the ideology behind them, they are technically awful and intellectually stupid. They make Marvel movies look like works of genius. I saw God’s Not Dead at the Morris Theatre, and it made me ashamed to live in this community (it also made bank, disgracefully, so I can see where some would look on it as a good thing). If the theater resorted to exploiting dogma for profit, though, I’d have to resign.
No worries right now, though. I hope I can help make the theater a communal success that enriches the lives of our citizens.
1) Theater needs money
2) Christians are willing to give money for awful Christian stuff
3) Producing good movies is actually expensive
The solution:
a) Advertise a show of “Every statement Jesus H. Christ made about homosexuals and gay marriage.”
b) Rake in the money.
c) The lights go down.
d) The lights come up. Wish them well on their exit from the theater.
Fortunately in the UK “christian movies” aren’t a thing in actual cinemas apart from the occasional escaped Hollywood biblical epic. Not having seen one got me looking at the Wikipedia entry for the film you mention. It looks like the most dreadful schlock propaganda (oh noes! the poor little Christian Church is being persecuted!).
Looking at the film receipts and it’s 4(!) sequels, the films made sod all outside of the USA and although the first one made $95 million (on a budget of $1million) the second’s receipts were a quarter of that and the last 3 look like they barely broke even.
Great if you are happy with making money off fleecing the rubes, but it’s not “art” and the theatre could also make money off showing blue movies.
Consider presenting films that “need to be seen on the big screen”. Also, particularly good films from two, three, four, etc. decades ago (some advertising for ‘relive your first date’?).
Religious films made by cultists -as distinct from professionals- (in a technical sense, The Passion of Christ is a well-made film) are doomed to fail.
They belong to the same category as propaganda documentaries (I can think of a recent example) .
Religious and propaganda films are typically made by true believers who think being ‘righteous’ is a substitute for technical and creative skills.
For a secular example, I refer you to the three awful films based on the book by Ayn Rand, wossname, the one with John Galt.
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At least the self-taught Neal Breen makes films with his own money (he is a succesful architect) and he pays the actors industry standard. His vanity films are awful but harmless.
If you do not already follow “God Awful Movies” you can try “Brandon’s Cult Movie Reviews”
The horror… the horror. 😵💫
-If you want to recommend well-made films with a religious element you can tell them to try Bergman. “The Virgin Spring” is less known than “The Seventh Seal” but worth watching.
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If you do not mind slow three-hour films with lots of hidden meanings you can also try Tarkovsky.
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The late Max von Sydow played both Jesus (The Greatest Story Ever Told) and the Devil (Needful Things).
The Last Temptation of Christ was regarded as controversial, which is in itself a recommendation. You might upset the orthodoxy!
Continuing with the vampire theme of yesterday… this film is 45 years old and should not be expensive to aquire.
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“The Hunger” with David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon is surprisingly good, even if the ending contained a paradox.
And it has a very good depiction of the fear of ageing and death. Despite the spectacular theme it has real art.
“Terry Talks Movies” (Youtube) brings up some forgotten titles, many from Australia. In between the bad but interesting films there are some gems.
“Phase IV” is about the horror of finding evolution has passed you and the species by. “The Tenth Victim” is very 1960s.
A film that is as camp as the 1960s Batman TV series is “Our Man Flint”, an attempt to out-Bond James Bond.
“Outstanding Foreign Language Films Snubbed By The Oscars” (1937- 2000)
Terry Talks Movies
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=TNZkCC4sqxw
The French “Alphaville” is a unique 1966 film.
“Intacto” has a very original premise.
The mockumentary “C. S. A.” : If the South had won, and slavery continued into the present