Clean but fun movies

In a couple weeks, we are going to have a couple movie nights with the international students. First, we will have a girls' movie night and watch a chick flick, and then we're either going to have a guys' movie night or a co-ed movie night, depending upon what the guys vote for. We don't have too many regular men, which is why we might have the second movie night be co-ed.

A key requirement for the movies is that they be clean, since this is a Christian organization that is sponsoring it. But that doesn't have to mean boring. But unfortunately, too many chick flicks contain sex scenes. I'm personally leaning towards IQ, with Meg Ryan, Tim Robbins, and Walter Mathau. Mathau plays Einstein, trying to set up his neice with a car mechanic. It is very cute and fun, but also clean. It has the added advantage that Meg Ryan is a huge movie star in Asia, where all our students are from. One co-ed movie that struck me was The Princess Bride. I was astonished to see that they have out the 20th anniversary edition. It's been 20 years already! That was the only movie that my brother and I could agree upon in high school. It seems to have something for everyone. For the girls, my mom suggested Bridget Jones' Diary, but since that uses British accents, I think we need to steer clear of that, since many of our students have fairly limited Engish and would struggle to understand the Queen's English. One person suggested Indian Jones as a possible co-ed movie.

I personally don't watch movies too often, so I am not the best authority to ask this topic. Can you help me come up with fun movies that our students will enjoy?

A favorite family movie of mine is an oldie and Ive seen it a zillion times but I still will sit and start watching it is " Harry and the Hendersons". That may be too childish though.

Here's some recent movies which I believe you will find suitable.

The Blind Side

The Great Debaters

Hairspray

Little Women

Marley and Me

Ha! I think Leslie is saying Im boring! I LOVE Harry!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1178663/

I am not sure, but I think in this movie - "whatever works" is very little sex if any, but then again there is a woman who lives with two men, so... maybe this is not that suitable at all, perhaps it's best if you preview the movie alone first,
beside that it is a terrific comedy.

I however have a bone to pick with you - why would sex be considered 'something dirty'?
If it shows a loving intimacy between two people, how's that dirty?

To me, physical love is what it is - LOVE. Nothing to be ashamed of, embarrassed to look at, scorn upon.

Risa

Risa, I personally don't mind sex scenes as much in movies and definitely prefer them to violent scenes. I had a pastor who wouldn't consider a movie if there was a hint of sex but also wouldn't consider a movie if it wasn't super violent! I thought that was a double standard if anything was.

But since this is a church-sponsored event, there will be other people (particularly a couple seniors) who are especially picky about what is shown in a movie. So rather than have to potentially offend these people, I'd rather stick with something that is not controversial. Plus, since Christians believe that we should only be having sex with our spouse, most movies' sex scenes are with someone who isn't a spouse and therefore would be considered immoral. I'm not saying that all Christians obey this rule; we're all human and prone to temptation. Very few of my friends actually made it to their honeymoons as virgins. But we don't want to be seen to promote sex outside of marriage, since in the long run, that is the best way.

I personally would recommend The Blind Side and Fireproof. Fireproof is great especially if you have any couples. It's amazing.

Thanks Vicky. I get your explanation. Now I don't mean to be a pest but now it occurred to me that, well yeah I get what you say
that Christians don't approve of sex outside of wedlock. Yeah, I get that, and Ok, accept that.

But, then, I have a question, too - well movies is an art form, and shouldn't we look at it as what it exactly is - an art form.
And yes it may depict unmarried people having sex, but this if life, and violence, which also is life.

I am wondering, in other words, what's the point of avoiding movies that depict REAL life - isn't it like sticking your head into a sand?
You get what I mean? what does it achieve, pretending it doesn't exist - "free sex" and violence? we all know it does.
shouldn't we rather be aware of it, know the struggles and pain people going thru in everyday lives?
I think it helps to develop compassion and understanding, if you ask me. It helps to have a clearer picture of what's going on in people's lives.

after all, actors only portray what many people goes thru in a real life.

I am talking in general, not about your movie get -together, to be clear.

Please don't think I am attacking you or Christians, I am not - I am genuinely curious.


Risa

I think another thing about sex scenes in movies is that they can easily cause arousal in people watching them. I agree that it is life, but it also encourages behavior. Just as they say that watching violent TV or movies can cause children to become more violent, watching sex scenes in movies can influence people, if not to have sex, at least to have lust, which we also believe to be a sin. I am personally not that bothered by movies, but I can't listen to a book with a graphic sex scene without getting aroused, so I avoid those types of books. If I were married, then it might be fun to read something with my husband as a creative means of foreplay, but I'm not, so I just avoid them.

In any case, it's often awkward to be in a group of people, some of whom are your parents and your former Sunday school teachers, and watch a depiction of people having sex. I might mention that I do own movies with graphic sex in them. One movie, which I've been trying to get my mom to watch with me sometime, is called Dangerous Beauty, but the sex is valuable to the whole plot of the movie. That movie is about medieval Italy, where only the courtesans are allowed to know how to read or know about current events. So the main character becomes a courtesan. There are a lot of sex scenes in the movie, showing that all the men in the town sleep with her. There's even one somewhat humorous scene in which her mother, a former courtesan herself, is teaching her about the male anatomy and demonstrates what will happen if you touch a man's genitals. The young woman is quite astonished! This is a great movie and a true story at that. The woman goes on to save the city, but when plague comes is cursed by the very church that used her as the cause of all their problems. I highly recommend it to people. But only in certain circumstances. I wouldn't show it to a group of people because some would be offended.

So I am not against watching tasteful sex scenes, but I wouldn't show them to a group, especially when a lot of the students wouldn't understand the thin line between appreciating art and condoning sex outside of marriage. They might think that we are following a double standard. I myself have not said much to them about not having sex outside of marriage because I figure that this is a standard that Christians strive to follow (even if we don't always succeed), and I see no benefit to trying to encourage someone who isn't a Christian to follow the same standards, and only a couple of our students are Christians.

I am more liberal than most evangelical Christians in this respect. I don't think that we should make laws based upon what Christianity teaches because if you're not a Christian, why should you be expected to obey these teachings? But that's a whole other debate!

I hope I have made myself clear here. I got a bit muddled, but I think I got my point across. I'm just now concerned for the audience that they don't think that because we are willing to watch a movie that has sex in it (and some Christians absolutely will NOT!), that means we approve of having sex outside of marriage.

Hey Vicky

IMHO you did a very good job at articulating your position. I'm pretty liberal in my thoughts and ideas, but would also want to be conscientious about movie choices. One thing I always tried to teach my kids is "know your audience"

What is appropriate to say in the football locker room is not appropriate to say in the checkout line at the mall when anybody can overhear.

It's my understanding my eldest son has a filthy sense of humor when he's with his friends. I wouldn't know, it wouldn't be comfortable for either of us for him to be that way with me. And, it's not that Im a prude, I have a pretty filthy mind too, but my son will never be an appropriate audience.

Same with movies. We have a good friend who has religious beliefs similar to yours. Hubby and I would not feel comfortable bringing him to a movie with a lot of sex.

Vicki.... that's one of the great things about Fireproof. It was actually made by a church in Georgia. It was released to regular theaters and was a pretty popular movie. Kirk Cameron plays the lead role. He is a devout Christian and refuses to even kiss anyone who is not his real wife. There is only one kiss in Fireproof. It's right at the end. In order to film the scene, they had to dress his wife up like the female lead and shoot it in shadow so nobody would notice. I admire that level of devotion to marriage from someone in Hollywood.

That's what I LOVE about you Vicky - you can discuss awkward subject without taking it personally!

Yes, and you explained it beautifully.
While I do not necessarily agree with rejecting the idea of not approving 'not married=no watching sex' (or reading) rule on the spot just because we get aroused, (we're human after all and it's simply biological response- a passing biological response),

I do agree it is indeed very awkward to be watching hot scenes with the whole audience around you.
I don't like it either.

(btw you might be surprised, but on the whole I'm not a fan of sex scenes at all - I found most of them boring and uninspiring. Very few sex scenes are truly worth watching (for various reasons). Some of the kissing scenes are downright disgusting, if you ask me. I think we all are better off if there was more substantial action to the movies instead of those mediocre sex scenes).

And like you I think it's better to be fed a scenes depicting love and a forms of love - kissing, groping (excuse me), sex, even if it is not on spiritual level, than violence.
But people are so uncomfortable with intimacy, I find, that they prefer to expose themselves to images of violence than sex.
And so they do their children, and thus we being permeated since very early with images of violence as something acceptable to view and sex, love as not we grow to believe it should be so,
and pass this 'way of belief' onto the next generation. and so how this reel keeps turning... ;]


(big M here, so forgive if I am not making sense today)

Risa

I'm always happy to discuss things, and I hope I can always talk about my beliefs without getting offended because someone else shares other beliefs. I'd have trouble discussing politics within my family then! I'm the only Democrat! (Actually, my great-uncle Lloyd was a Democrat, but he died a few years ago. A story goes that he and my grandma ended up on the same jury. They told the judge that they were siblings, since my grandmother had changed her last name upon marriage, and the judge asked whether they thought they were more likely to agree with each other because they were related. My grandmother exclaimed, "No! He's a Democrat, and I'm a Republican!" They stayed on the same jury.)

Vicki, The Princess Bride is an excellent choice for either the chick flick night or the co-ed night, though if your students are not native English speakers, they may have some trouble with it, particularly with Fezzick and Inigo. Wesley speaks with an English accent as well. But the action is so self-explanatory that they should still be able to follow the story.

Now, since you mention Meg Ryan's popularity in Asia, "City of Angels" would be a good one for the chick flick night. There is one sex scene, but it is tastefully done, does not show any nudity, and while Meg and Nick Cage are not married, they are depicted as soul mates (he's a former angel who chose mortality to be with Meg's character, whom he considered his soul mate). I love this movie, the themes are very moving, and Nick Cage makes an excellent angel, his eyes are so soulful. Plus Meg Ryan has that awesome hair.

For fun, what about anything by Alfred Hitchcock? His plots are always fun and engaging. His movies show very little sex, and almost no real violence. There is no swearing in his movies. For foreign students, you could show some of his lesser known works, that way you have a chance of their not having seen the movie yet. Of course, with Hitch, his movies are always a joy to watch whether one has seen them before or not, IMO. "Vertigo" is a masterpiece, everyone seems to love "Psycho" (but it does open with an implied sex scene between two people who are very obviously not married) and "The Birds," and my personal favorite is "Notorious." I think either "Vertigo" or the classic black-and-white "Strangers on a Train" would probably be the easiest for students who are not native English speakers to understand as far as plot goes. Hitch BTW is good for a date movie.
(I really love my Hitchcock, can you tell? )

For girls' night, this might be too wordy, but check out the 1999 "House of Mirth" with Gillian Anderson (from tv's "The X Files"). It's an excellent adaptation of a very good book. Definitely a chick flick, and would be considered a slow movie, but a beautiful, tragic love story and beautifully acted by Anderson.
Also for girls' night, any adaptation of a Jane Austen novel would work. The BBC did an adaptation in 1995 of Austen's "Persuasion" that I own and love. Cieran Hands plays Captain Wentworth, and Amanda Root plays Ann Elliot. The adaptation is simple, and very well done. It's available on DVD. There's also the Emma Thompson "Sense and Sensibility" movie that came out about 10 years ago, give or take, that also starred Kate Winslet and Alan Rickman. Otherwise, the BBC recently did another series of adaptations in the last 2 years of nearly all of Austen's works, and those are available on DVD too (I believe they did "Sense and Sensibility" - a very good adaptation - "Persuasion" - a so-so adaptation - "Northanger Abbey" - another really good adaptation - and "Mansfield Park" - an utterly dreadful adaptation with Billie Piper from "Doctor Who" in the lead role). PBS ran all of these last year. Of them all, "Mansfield Park was the worst, I would not show it to your students, the plot bore very little resemblance to the Austen novel and the acting was wretched. "Northanger Abbey" was the best, it was a spirited adaptation of one of Austen's most playful novels, and perfectly captured the sense of poking fun at herself that Austen's voice ran throughout the novel. It's playful and fun, and your students may enjoy that.

A good co-ed movie is "The Wedding Singer" with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, but there's some swearing in that.

For a guys' night, I don't know that I can recommend anything. What are your criteria? I may be better able to recommend something if I know that. Are you looking for something without swearing, with minimal violence, etc.? If so, an oldie but a goodie is "Young Guns," a very fun western from the 80s (or 90s, I forget) with Kiefer Sutherland, Emilio Estevez, Lou Diamond Philips, and Charlie Sheen, made back before these young actors were big stars. Very little swearing, and only western violence, no bloody horrible violence.
Along the same lines is a little known western from about 8 years ago called "Ned Kelly," with Heath Ledger and what's his name from the Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean movies. It's about an Australian Billy the Kid-type outlaw and his gang. This movie could go for a coed night since it's made with really cute guys LOL

Any of the Lord of the Rings movies would be good for coed night, as would Star Wars, but I imagine everyone's seen those.

I'll try to think of more

Bubbs - you gave me an idea.

For guys or girls there was one I really enjoyed and it is fairly clean. Maverick, it starred Mel Gibson, James Gardner and Jodie Foster. Granted it has gambling in it but it was something my ultra-conservative parents allowed my brother and I to watch. Here's a link describing the movie: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maverick_%28film%29

Becky

What about Ever After..I don't think that has..well, okay maybe not that either.

One of my favorite movies is the Notebook, but that does have a sex scene..so that wouldn't be appropriate..I do love the love story about that movie though..reminds me of my parents.

That sounds like a fun thing to do with a church group..they show some movie scenes at our church if it has to do about the topic.

Men In Black with Will Smith, or I, Robot, also with Will Smith, would be good for the guys' night. Neither have any sex, and Will Smith's action movies are engaging. He usually keeps the swearing to a minimum, and the plots are very easy to follow.

Thanks for all the recommendations. I think our second movie night will probably be co-ed, but we'll pick a movie that will particularly appeal to the guys. I'll check back in when we get closer to that night.

This Friday night, since my dad is in Brazil and my mom and I have nothing to do, we're inviting 6 of the more regular students to come over to watch a DVD or play games. For the DVD, we'll just choose something that we already have at home, such as an Agatha Christie movie.