A Few Movie Recommendations

Conversations That Matter

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Welcome to the Conversations That Matter podcast. My name is John Harris, and a Merry Christmas to you.

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Tomorrow is the 25th. It is the most important holiday to me. I know some

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Christians have told me this, I kid you not, that Christmas should not be the most important holiday because Resurrection Sunday and Good Friday, when

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Jesus came, he died, he rose from the dead, that's the most important. And I get it, I understand, but for me,

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Christmas is my favorite. And I think it always will be. It doesn't matter what else is going on in the world,

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Christmas is my favorite. And it's probably part of that is just the traditions and the way that, at least pre -COVID, the way that the whole entire world seems to change for it.

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And you hear in even sometimes still, I think maybe it's,

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I've gained a reprieve by moving to an area that's a little more Bible Belt, but you'll go to a secular area and you can still sometimes hear

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Christmas carols. And think about how out of step those are with our modern world and the direction we're going.

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Completely out of step to hear Away on the Manger as you're at the mall and everyone's got

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Black Lives Matter signs and Wear a Mask signs and those kinds of things. Not everyone, but a lot of people.

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So everyone does have the Wear a Mask sign, I will say. I think that is true at the mall near me. But anyway,

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I just love it. I mean, there's no replacement for it. And I thought about,

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I wanna do something for Christmas, a little special, I don't, and this is kind of goofy, but last year

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I had given you my top recommendations for films for Christmas.

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And I talked about It's a Wonderful Life and Scrooge and I don't even know what all. I think Ben -Hur was on there.

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But I put a bunch of movies on there and I said, these are the movies that I like to watch during the holiday season.

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I think I gave you a couple books as well. Well, because I've kind of exhausted that, because I did that last year,

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I thought, well, what can I do this year? And one of the things that my family frequently does, it's not every

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Christmas or every Christmas season, whenever we get together, if it's maybe the day after or something, but frequently we will watch a film of some kind.

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Usually growing up, like in my teenage years, my brothers, I had two brothers, they would get a film or I would get a film, something we wanted to see.

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And that night we would watch it. And I think for a few years there, we had a little bit of a tradition. We'd like sleep downstairs in sleeping bags, just on Christmas night, not on Christmas Eve, but on Christmas night.

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While the fire was going, we'd sleep down there and we'd just start trying to stay awake. I remember, distinctly remember trying to stay awake and feeling almost depressed.

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Have you ever felt this? It's like 10 o 'clock at night and you realize, Christmas is gonna be over in two hours.

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And so you just try to like milk those last two hours for what they're worth. And you have your soda and your candy and whatever.

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I don't know. I just have some of these memories. But so I wanted to give you some film recommendations.

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Now I realized most of these are war films. These might not be films you wanna watch on Christmas. I don't know. I'm different like that maybe.

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I really enjoy military films and I will watch them on Christmas. In fact,

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I think last Christmas, I watched a military film about the Hunley. So yeah, this is my recommendation.

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I put this out on Patreon. Ironically, Twitter would not let me post it. I don't know why.

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But I put it out on Patreon and, not Patreon, I'm sorry, Parler.

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There we go, the other P social media website, Parler. And here's the list.

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I'm gonna tell you, this is the list. And I'll tell you what, this wasn't meant for Christmas, but I thought I'll just use it for this because hey, maybe some of you haven't seen these and these are some film recommendations.

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Good films that deal with many of our contemporary questions. Good films that deal with many of our contemporary questions and I have my little chart here and I'm gonna go through kind of briefly each one of them, what

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I like about them and why I think they deal with some of our contemporary questions. I didn't explain it in my post. I just put it out there as recommendations.

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So we'll start here. Let's see if I can, yeah, make this a little bigger so you can see all these posters here.

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We'll start at the top of the list, Braveheart. And by the way, a few of these films, I put a star next to when

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I posted it because I said, you should probably watch this with VidAngel, VidAngel is a software you can get,

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I think it's actually free now, if I'm not mistaken, or people donate to it to help it be free, but it'll cut out all the language.

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So if you watch it over a streaming service, it'll cut it out. So you'll have to figure that out. Braveheart's one of those

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I would say, watch with VidAngel if you're gonna watch it, but yeah, and it's not completely historically accurate,

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Braveheart, in fact, none of these films are completely, no film is completely historically accurate.

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But the thing I like about Braveheart, it really boils down to this one scene, I'll be honest with you.

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There's a scene where William Wallace walks in the room of where all these

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Scottish nobles are gathered. And he basically reams them out for not standing up to Edward the

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Longshanks. And it's just, that scene, you get a little,

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I don't know, your spine starts tingling a little bit. I've had that a few times when

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I've watched that scene, I'm like, wow, that is the difference between, some people would say alpha male, beta male, but just a real man who believes in, who's principled, and then men who are just opportunists.

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And it feels like we're surrounded by that right now. And so, I don't know, I just think that, it's a good strong,

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William Wallace is a good strong character. I think Mel Gibson plays him. It's not completely accurate, but I think he does a good job exemplifying kind of the mythology of Wallace.

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And watch it with VidAngel, but it's not a bad film. And I think it's a very inspirational film as well.

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And there are some things worth dying for. And that's one of the things, I think during COVID, especially, we've forgotten that.

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Like, it's everything to prevent the loss of a human life, in a sense, even if we're causing starvation across the ocean, et cetera, because of our policies, because of these policies.

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But it's like, we could go into complete financial ruin and lose family businesses going back years, and supposedly all with this intention of saving life, whether it's actually saving life or not.

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And that's pretty debatable. But I think this movie exemplifies the fact that no, there's actually things that are worth more than life.

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And there's things worth dying for. So I like that about it. The second one on the list is

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Day of the Siege. And that's bottom left -hand corner, if I blow it up here. It's the bottom one there, bottom left,

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Day of the Siege. And you can see the winged Hussar with his sword. And this is supposed to depict the Siege of Vienna when the

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Ottoman Turks came in. And if Vienna fell, the whole Christian Western world would have fallen.

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That was what was at stake. And the winged Hussars, these Polish cavalry, they came in, in their artillery, and they saved the day.

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That's what, and I've been reading a book by Michael Walsh I just finished called Last Stands, and it talks about this.

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Absolutely fascinating. So I recommend that movie. It's not politically correct. It actually portrays the

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Turks being the Turks. And the special effects leave a little bit to be desired, but I think you'll enjoy that.

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Next is A Hidden Life. And for some reason, I don't have the poster here, actually. So A Hidden Life is a

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Terrence Malick production. Came out, I think, last year. It's super heavy emotionally, but it is super good.

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Super good movie. I really, really enjoyed it. And you may not wanna watch this on Christmas.

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I mean, you might wanna wait a few days, because it is really heavy. You'll probably cry. But, and that's all I'll say about that, honestly.

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Like, will you stand up for your convictions is really the question. Kind of like Braveheart, are there things worth dying for?

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And this drives that point home even more, knowingly going to your death because of what you believe.

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Really good movie. Let's go to the next one. That is

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Gods and Generals. And this gets into some jurisdictional issues, in my opinion, because it's about the war between the states, the

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American Civil War, as some call it. And Robert Duvall, I think, does a great Robert E.

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Lee. I think Stephen Lang does an even better Stonewall Jackson. And it's, as far as I know, pretty accurate.

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It is not politically correct either. It depicts Southerners being who they are, not the racist, evil scoundrels that are just thoroughly characterized by hatred that you'll hear now in mainstream circles.

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This was done, I think, in the early 2000s, and you could still make a movie like that. But it gets into some of the jurisdictional issues, fighting between two sides, one to defend the right to leave, to secede, and leave a country and practice self -determination, the other to conquer them and make sure they stay within the

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Union. And I think we're starting to ask some of these questions about secession, et cetera. So good movie there.

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Another one, if you haven't seen it, is High Noon. It's an old one. And I know John Wayne didn't like this.

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He made, I think it was Rio Bravo, in response. He thought he didn't like it the way it portrayed Americans as cowards, it was communist, et cetera.

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I tend to like it. I don't see that stuff shining through that movie as much. Maybe if I lived at the time,

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I would see it more. When I watched this movie, and I've watched it several times, it's an oldie, it's about the courage to stand alone.

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Like that song we sing as a child, if you're in church, dare to be a Daniel, dare to stand alone, dare to have a purpose firm, dare to make it known.

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And I see that kind of, that I'm gonna stand alone, I'm gonna do the right thing, I'm gonna protect those who are defenseless, and it doesn't matter if I lose.

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But then triumphing at the end. And I think it just, all these good, these are very, if you haven't guessed it, a lot of strong male role models, a lot of good movies for your sons, if you have sons.

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Of course, did Angel Braveheart, did Angel Patriot Games, if you're gonna do that. The next on the list is actually

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Sergeant York, which, another old movie, and did

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I put that, I don't think that one made it here either, I don't know why. Okay, so Sergeant York is a

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World War I classic movie with Gary Cooper, and so high noons Gary Cooper, so is Sergeant York, and I grew up watching this quite a bit, but it's all about, the thing that I think is beneficial is wrestling with convictional things.

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Alvin York didn't wanna fight, was against violence, but yet he did, and he had to work through it.

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And how he worked through it, I think, is, I just think it's needed for our time, because we're gonna have to be facing some really tough decisions, in my opinion, and we need role models.

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The next one is Patriot Games, which you'll need VidAngel for, and the only reason

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I put this there is, it isn't because Harrison Ford's character, Jack Ryan, is just such a great role model, it's actually more just because of the situation, the corruption in the government, and how he reacts to it, and he figures it out, and early deep state stuff right there, it's shining a light on it, it's fictional, but it's a historical fiction in a sense,

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I mean, this kind of stuff actually happens, so Patriot Games, I think

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Patriot Games, I couldn't remember if it was Clear and Present Danger or Patriot Games that I was thinking of, I think it was Patriot Games though, that showed the corruption in the

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US government, and then The Fall of the Roman Empire, that's the big one in the middle, classic, classic, classic, classic, which never basically got any play, and you can hardly find it, but if you watch the movie

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Gladiator, if you've ever seen that, a lot of the scenes are gonna be familiar to you, because they came from The Fall of the Roman Empire, and what does a nation in decline look like, a country in decline, and I think we're living some of that, and so it's appropriate, and then we have

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Shane, Shane is a really good film, another old one, another old

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Western, and it gets to the idea of whether or not guns are bad, violence, is violence always wrong, and no it's not, there are time, there is a time and a place for it, a gun is as good as a bad, or as the man that has it, so it teaches a really good moral principle about guns, and we gotta ingrain that in our kids, because I think very soon, there's gonna be calls to regulate them, and possibly get rid of them, and then the last one,

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The Alamo, and I say the John Wayne version, I have to defend myself on this one, because the John Wayne version is like universally, people hate it, people just hate it, critics hate the

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John Wayne version of The Alamo, and I actually really happen to like it, and I think the reason they hate it is because it's kind of drawn out, there's some really long scenes, but actually if you understand what

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John Wayne was trying to do, he saw The Alamo as something, a symbol to unite all Americans, and something uniquely

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American, he saw it as a way to educate people into liberty, that's why he made the movie, and so some of these long scenes where he's talking about freedom and liberty and stuff, he's actually doing it for educational purposes, that's why he made the movie, and that's one of the reasons

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I actually like it, the same reason the critics hate it, so there are my recommendations for Christmas, Christmas season movies in this pandemic, and up in the air election, these are some good films that I think instill character, and address some of the questions that we have right now in our current context, many of these questions are pretty universal for history anyway, but in our current context especially, these are the ones that I recommend, so I hope you enjoyed that, and before we close, a word from our sponsors.

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Merry Christmas, I'm yet another nondescript milquetoast millennial on the payroll of the gospel collusion, my pronouns are these and thems, like many of my cohorts,

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I genuinely expect that my 401k at TGC is gonna remain intact even after I'm gone, even after the great reset has been completed, oh to have the faith of a child, right?

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I don't know about you, but this time of year always gets to me, the nostalgia, the whimsy, the fanciful yet nonspecific multicultural holiday etchings on the

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Starbucks cup that contains my fair trade mocha java gahandra peppermint caramel fantoosler,

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Christmas is a wonderful time for reflection on the year gone by, so come along with me as I wonder while I wander.

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As you know, 2020 has been a tough year, a global pandemic has ravaged the earth, killing one out of every three people,

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I barely have any friends or family alive anymore, but fortunately my Enneagram number is 7GammaFoxtrot, and 7GammaFoxtrots are infamously even keeled during global disasters.

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When I ponder the pandemic, I'm reminded of how righteous and effective all of the ongoing lockdowns and tyranny are, 2020 also saw a contentious, cantankerous election full of hate speech and misgendering language, it has pained me to see the church so divided, as Christians we should embrace the idea of huge swaths of the church actively supporting public policies that are direct from hell, pray that the church can repent from any ongoing separateness and become more united with the world, we're all in this together.

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2020 also saw an enormous explosion in racial injustice,

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I won't elaborate on that statement at all because too many of you are now paying attention, there's a bright spotlight on critical theory right now, so I need to be subtle in the ways that I utilize its assumptions.

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So my strategy is just to generically make the blanket assertion that there's lots and lots of racial injustice out there, and then leave you guessing about whether I'm referring to George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and similarly debunked cases of fake racism.

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One huge core value here at TGC is plausible deniability, so I hope that my vague denouncement of racial injustice so -called will signal my wokeness to the world without riling up the people in the church who get all uppity about facts and truth.

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With the advent season upon us, we find ourselves leaning in to Christmas like never before, and truly 2020 has taught us the advent principle of anticipation.

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We realize so very viscerally that all creation groans for a glorious vaccine, and we understand that no eye has seen, no ear has heard what your state board of health has prepared for them that do not wait upon the

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Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. We eagerly await the coming weaponization of the

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Employee Non -Discrimination Act to once and for all eliminate churches that marginalize the same -sex attracted.

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Say goodbye to those pesky texts of terror. And now that we can all rally behind our fair, lucid, elegant, nuanced, and totally 100 % legitimate president -elect, we can resume the fundamental transformation and transgendering of everything.

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Fauci -willing, next year the government will tell us that the coast is clear and the unconstitutional restrictions and tyranny will just fizzle out and go away.

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I mean, it's not like the people who've perpetuated corona -fascism on us all year are gonna use 2020 as the new baseline and then try next year to encroach even further on civil liberties and basic human dignity.

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I'm pretty sure we're at the tail end of all that now. Thank you for joining me for my advent meditations.

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Gospel above all, slow the spread. Bye -bye. Bye now.