Save Me!
Jesus is a pretty big guy in the Western world - known as one of the head honchos in a common religion, a nice chap of good moral fibre, or at least a keen facial-hair enthusiast. Whoever you believe this historical figure to be, you will most likely know of him and the main 'plot points' of his story (immaculate conception through self-sacrifice) and recognise that christian or not, filmmakers have often used these personal traits and events in their work. The films in this collection all incorporate (obviously and less so) this character and/or story arc, and show an interesting range of uses for them in a culture saturated with this particular religion.
Pictured: 'The Buddy Christ' - Kevin Smith brings Jesus to the kids in "Dogma".
Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
Director: Terry Jones
Starring: Terry Jones, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Eric Idl...
Highly original madness from the Monty Python gang, 'Life of Brian' follows the woes of poor Brian born the same night as Jesus, repeatedly mistaken b... Read more
Donnie Darko: The Director's Cut (2001)
8.1/10
Director: Richard Kelly
Starring: Drew Barrymore, Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Katharine Ross, Mary McDonnell, No...
During the presidential election of 1988, a teenager named Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) sleepwalks out of his house one night, and sees a giant, dem... Read more
Dogma (1999)
7.3/10
Director: Kevin Smith
Starring: Ben Affleck, Chris Rock, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Bud Cort
Wayward angels Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, exiled in Wisconsin for millenia, discover that a New Jersey church holds the theological key to their gett... Read more
The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
6.7/10
Director: The Wachowski Brothers
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Laurence Fishburne, Hugo Weaving, Jada Pinkett S...
Everything that has a beginning has an end. With human saviour Keanu Reeves being held in limbo between the real world and the Matrix, only Laurence F... Read more
The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
7.2/10
Director: The Wachowski Brothers
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Jada Pinkett S...
In the second chapter of the Matrix Trilogy, Neo (Keanu Reeves), Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) continue to lead the rev... Read more
Jesus Of Montreal (1989)
7.5/10
Director: Denys Arcand
Starring: Catherine Wilkening, Lothaire Bluteau
The marvellous, emotional and humourous story of modern day hypocrisy, as experienced by a group of actors who stage a radical interpretation of the l... Read more
The Manson Family (1997)
5.5/10
Director: Jim Van Bebber
Starring: Marcello Games, Mark Pitman, Leslie Orr
Director Jim Van Bebber has been making this censor-baiting movie about the 1969 Tate/La Bianca murders for over a decade. The story of hippie child t... Read more
Fallen (1998)
7/10
Director: Gregory Hoblit
Starring: Denzel Washington, John Goodman, Donald Sutherland, Embeth Davidtz, James Gandol...
When homicide cop Denzel Washington begins to investigate some brutal copycat murders, he starts to realise that there may be an explanation beyond th... Read more
The Holy Mountain (1973)
7.9/10
Director: Alejandro Jodorowsky
Starring: Alejandro Jodorowsky
After "El Topo" and with the production assistance of John Lennon and ABKCO Films and the desire to become "the Cecil B. De Mille of the underground",... Read more
Bad Lieutenant (1992)
7.1/10
Director: Abel Ferrara
Starring: Harvey Keitel, Frankie Thorn, Paul Hipp, Victor Argo
About a morally bankrupt cop (Harvey Keitel) who starts to pull himself out of the abyss when he investigates the rape of a nun who refuses to press c... Read more