How can “For Greater Glory” not be on any of these lists?  A historic film about the Mexican Government direct attack on the Catholic Church in the 1920s.

Dan K:
 
I agree with you that For Greater Glory is about an important subject. That doesn’t make it a great film, worthy of being ranked with the year’s ten best.
 
I rated For Greater Glory B-plus. In my opinion, that’s a fair and generous rating to an honorable, well-made but flawed film.
 
My 2012 wrap-up top 10 list consists solely of A-level films. For Greater Glory made my third-tier, honorable mention category, which I think is fair.
 
Another film about an important subject, October Baby, rated only a B-minus, and didn’t make my top 30. Just being about an important subject does not a great film make.

By the way, The Kid with a Bike has been on Netflix Watch Instantly for a couple months already.

Thanks, Tyler. I did point that out in my 2012 wrap-up. Not everyone has Netflix, though, and the home-video release is very much worth noting.

Steven, thanks for the shout-out. Not that I think your readers would be too concerned but I wanted to add that “The Kid With a Bike” was quite high on my 2011 list b/c I had seen the film on the festival circuit. It’s as good as any film released this year and I value it highly.

Thanks, Ken, that’s a good point: Which year films are eligible or considered is often a bit fuzzy. Hence Jeff’s overlapping “global” vs. “American release” lists. Perhaps I’ll edit my intro to note that point.

I saw “For Greate Glory.” I am not a pro at judging films but do not understand what was flawed. Can you elaborate.
Frank

Frank Serna:
 
Did you read my review? It’s linked above. Cheers.

YES! “Wreck-It Ralph” for the win!

“I am bad and that’s good. I will never be good and that’s not bad. There’s no one I’d rather be than me.”

I’m surprised that didn’t make Christianity Toady’s “Most Redeeming” list.

I have to agree about “For Greater Glory.” Lovely music,beautiful scenery,important subject matter & the actor portraying the Mexican president was great.But overall it was dissapointing.Good attempt, though.With all that going for it, it could have been much better. Why does that so often seem to be the case with “Christian/Faith friendly” films?
I just watched an incredible German film, “North Face.” It had absolutely harrowing scenes of mountain climbing & disaster.Not once were any of the characters portrayed as praying for Divine assistance,even in the worst perils.One scene has them discovering the frozen body of a member of a previous doomed rock climbing team.Right before they pitch the body over the cliff as a form of burial, you hear a sentence or two recited of the Our Father. I guess just chucking the body off the mountain would seem boorish.Otherwise the film’s utterly devoid of religion.Very sad.

PS: This will not classify as one of the best movies, maybe one of the most disturbing, but I just read on BBC online that a film featuring 4 abortionists trained by Dr.Tiller premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
Here’s the article at BBC online if you want the details:

“After Tiller: America’s four late-term abortion doctors”
By Emma Jones

BBC News, Park City Utah

I would have liked to have seen Lincoln but I get the impression that is was laced for profanity. Do you really want to recommend that Catholics see something that is so laced?

Watched Moonrise Kingdom on the recommendation of blogger for NCRegister and Christianity today. Enjoyable and quirky in a lot of ways except for the half step from kiddie-porn.  Pg-13:  Yea, that’s appropriate.  Enjoy the slide.  And close your eyes during the “evil” smoking scenes.

On your recommendation, I watched “The Kid with a Bike” and it was excellent, beautifully acted, heartbreakingly sad, tenderly hopeful. One concern I have is how men are portrayed in this film. I think only one is good. The others abandon children, prey upon children, or prepare to lie about harming a child to avoid justice (even after being given justice). That troubled me. Perhaps it was meant to.  But I do think there are more good men in the world than that.

Bill McKenna:
 
According to a website that counts such things, Lincoln includes over a dozen instances of “G-dd—-,” and one misuse of the name Jesus. In spite of this, I think the film is much worth recommending.

Robert Williamson:
 
I’m glad you enjoyed Moonrise Kingdom.
 
Not by any remotely reasonable or responsible standard can anything in the film be considered proximate to child pornography, for a number of reasons. Here are the two most important ones:
 
a) Pornography consists of depicting “sexual acts” and perverting the “conjugal act” (CCC 2354). Moonrise Kingdom includes a brief depiction of adolescent sensuality, no sexual or conjugal acts.
 
b) Pornography makes each participant “an object of base pleasure…for others” and “immerses” viewers in a sexual “fantasy world” (loc. cit.). The brief sensuality in Moonrise Kingdom does none of this. It’s a deliberately awkward scene, not a sexualized fantasy, that may make viewers wince or perhaps smile ruefully, but there is nothing here to inflame the appetites of the intended audience. Perverts wishing to make pornographic use of this film will be sorely disappointed. It’s useless for such a purpose.

Ellen:
 
I’m glad you enjoyed The Kid with a Bike. FWIW, I think I’m pretty sensitive to the sort of concern you raise regarding polemical depictions of men, but I don’t get that vibe from this film at all.
 
My sense is that this is more a concern in the context of U.S. media culture. In the film’s European context I don’t think that’s the right interpretive framework. It is a film about male failure, specifically paternal failure, but it’s not meant as as a portrait of men in general, any more than Samantha is women in general.