Look Out, Hollywood! Here Come the Rotten Bananas!

By Dr. Ted Baehr
Publisher, MovieGuide Magazine

CBN.com – HOLLYWOOD, CA (ANS) -- This year’s Oscar® nominations celebrated Clint Eastwood’s movie Million Dollar Baby and movies like Kinsey and Closer this Sunday, but they aren’t getting any kudos from leading Christians in Hollywood.

On the contrary.

The Christian Film & Television Commission’s entertainment magazine, Movieguide Magazine, founded by Christian media teacher Dr. Ted Baehr, named the three movies among the worst, most immoral movies of 2004. They, and 17 other movies, have received Movieguide's Rotten Banana Award for the Most Unbearable Movies of 2004.

The 20 Worst were selected not because of entertainment value, but because they contribute to an immoral culture which is anti-human, anti-God and opposed to the teachings of Jesus Christ.

“Some people think that Jesus Christ never lived while others think that the New Testament is not historically reliable,” Dr. Baehr said in a statement. “Modern historical research by many top scholars, however (like Dr. J. P. Moreland of Biola University and Dr. Gary Habermas of Liberty University), has shown that the New Testament documents are reliable witnesses of the truth, and that Jesus Christ was an actual historical person who died for all of our sins and rose from the dead because he is the only begotten Son of God.

“When Hollywood makes anti-Christian, immoral movies like Kinsey, which advocates a hedonistic, perverted lifestyle no matter who it hurts, and Million Dollar Baby, whose hero commits murder and euthanasia, Hollywood thoroughly undermines the Moral Law of God and the teachings of Jesus Christ, which are the foundations on which western civilization is built.”

Baehr added, “Movies like this also destroy the moral and spiritual purity and intelligence of millions of people, including many children and teenagers who may see them.”

Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film & Television Commission, pointed out, however, that 18 of the 20 movies on his list made very little money at the box office, in the United States or overseas.

“This shows that our biblical standards of excellence and purity match the moral and spiritual standards of the mass audience and most moviegoers,” Dr. Baehr concluded. “The public, especially Wall Street and Madison Avenue, should pressure the major media conglomerates to stop making these kinds of movies.”

The movies receiving the Rotten Banana Award for Most Unbearable Movies of 2004 are:

Kinsey
Fahrenheit 9/11
Saved!
Million Dollar Baby
The Motorcycle Diaries
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
What the Bleep Do We Know!?
Team America: World Police
Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle
Seed of Chucky
The Door in the Floor
Sacred Planet
The Manchurian Candidate
A Dirty Shame
Vera Drake
The Woodsman
Closer
Paparazzi
Bad Education
Tying the Knot

Dr. Baehr cited Saved! for its negative, politically correct view of young Christians; Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 for its gross distortion of facts in an election year; The Motorcycle Diaries for its false glorification of the political terrorist Che Guevara; Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for its immoral occult worldview; What the Bleep Do We Know!? for its unscientific, New Age philosophy mocking God’s universe; Vera Drake for its pro-abortion message sanctioning the slaughter of innocent children; The Manchurian Candidate for its incompetent, politically correct mangling of an anti-Communist masterpiece; Tying the Knot for its politically correct, inaccurate defense of evil homosexual activists; and, The Woodsman for its positive, bleeding heart portrayal of a pedophile.

Runners up included the pro-euthanasia movie The Sea Inside (which is also up for an Oscar® Sunday), Dogville starring Nicole Kidman, Eurotrip, The Dreamers, and The Life Aquatic starring Bill Murray.

On a positive note, Dr. Baehr announced the winners of the $50,000 John Templeton Foundation Epiphany Prizes for Inspiring Movies & TV on Thursday, Feb. 24, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., at the 13th Annual MOVIEGUIDE® Faith & Values Awards Gala and Report to Hollywood.

Winners of the Grace Award for Most Inspiring Performances in Movies & TV, the Best Family Movie, and the Best Movie for Mature Audiences were announced Thursday during a live TV show, following a banquet in honor of the winners and nominees.

Read the list of winners for the Best Movies of 2004.

At the Gala, Dr. Baehr also gave his annual economic analysis of Hollywood, which consistently shows that moviegoers prefer morally uplifting, family friendly movies with Christian values.

Go to www.firstcutlive.tv or www.movieguide.org to see the live Internet telecast of the Awards Gala and Dr. Baehr’s annual report.

For more information on the Awards Gala and Dr. Baehr’s report, and to buy a copy of Movieguide’s annual issue with the Best and Worst Movies of 2004, please call 1-800-577-6684.

NOTE from Dr. Ted Baehr, publisher of Movieguide Magazine: For more information from a Christian perspective, order the latest Movieguide Magazine by calling 1-800-899-6684(MOVI) or visit our website at www.movieguide.org. Movieguide is dedicated to redeeming the values of Hollywood by informing parents about today's movies and entertainment and by showing media executives and artists that family-friendly and even Christian-friendly movies do best at the box office year in and year out. Movieguide now offers an online subscription to its magazine version, at www.movieguide.org. The magazine, which comes out 25 times a year, contains many informative articles and reviews that help parents train their children to be media-wise consumers.