Three Movies I Will Never Watch Again

It’s been a bad week for us when it comes to movies. All three movies we watched were terrible! I was so irked; I decided to let you all know so that you don’t have to waste your time on these three.

The first movie was End of the Spear. It is supposed to be based on the martyrdom of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, and Pete Fleming.

Disclaimer: The movie is from the view of Steve Saint, Nate Saint’s son. I know the story from Elisabeth Elliot, the widow of Jim Elliot. The story as I know it is about the dedication of these five men to win the Waorani, or Auca Indians of Ecuador to Christ—even if it meant laying down their lives.

The movie had no mention of Christ. Jim Elliot acted like a drunken man every time he appeared in the movie. In the movie, the purpose for trying to contact the Waorani tribe was to put an end to the killing that had pushed the tribe to the brink of extinction. The Gospel was unclear and watered-down. In the end of the movie, it was all about Steve Saint releasing his bitterness and forgiving Mincayani, the Indian that had speared his father. There was a mystical, angelic appearance tied to the deaths of the five men. This movie had great potential to give the Gospel and the sacrifice of five young missionaries, but they couldn’t stick to the story.

The second movie was The Birds – an Alfred Hitchcock thriller. I am so sick of movies with lame endings that leave all of the questions unanswered! I expected more of Alfred Hitchcock – his movies are usually good. Ever since my friend Danielle told me that this movie gave her bad dreams, I have refused to watch it. I finally gave in to Ben’s pleadings (he was only pleading because he knew I didn’t want to watch it). The first morning that Ben went to work after we were married a bird made its way into our apartment. Ever since then I haven't liked birds. That bird ruined my day, and this movie ruined my night.

I brought the third movie home from the library out of curiosity. It came highly recommended from one source, and I wanted to see why. I was totally disappointed in The Phantom of the Opera.

Preface – my dad took my mom to see the Broadway production when it came to Denver. We grew up with the original soundtrack featuring Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman. You can’t beat it. My brothers had told me that the singing was not as good in the movie, so I was prepared not to like it. This may have influenced my judgment.

I don’t know anything about producing a movie. But I would think that when you produce a musical and the music is pre-recorded, that you would want the actors’ lips to match the music. Several times in this movie the lips did not match the song quite right. That drives me nuts! I also thought that there was an awful lot of female chest exposure. I know the costumes were supposed to be true to the time period, but honestly, Christine ran around in her corset and slip for most of the movie. Anytime the light was behind her you could see everything. Of course I realize that it was produced by Hollywood, but I was disappointed. Toward the end of the movie on the opera stage Christine’s dress fell a little more off her shoulders with each phrase. And was it really necessary for that stage/prop guy to moon Carlotta? I don’t think so.

This film was rated PG-13 for “brief violent images”. I think there was a host of other issues with the movie. When the ugly props guy was hung by the Phantom in the middle of the ballet/opera, Ben said to me, “So far the hanging is the best part of the movie.” By the end of the movie I wished that I had been hung and put out of my misery.

There you have it. Three movies I will never watch again. Sorry this post is so long. I had to get it off my chest.