Top 10 Movies for Valentine’s Day

PRIDE & PREJUDICE is another wonderful version of Jane Austen’s beloved novel about the romantic conflict between a young woman and a rich nobleman in England around the turn of the 19th Century. PRIDE & PREJUDICE is a magnificently accomplished, thoroughly engaging entertainment that strongly extols Christian virtues such as love, charity and forgiveness.

LITTLE WOMEN (2019) is the most gorgeous, historically accurate big screen version of the famous book by Louisa May Alcott that’s been made several times in movies and for television. Better yet, LITTLE WOMEN has no foul language, no sex, no nudity, no violence but is a delightful character study with very strong Christian content about a family dealing with real issues during the Civil War. Along with the 2019 version, there were productions of LITTLE WOMEN released in 1994, 2018 and 2018 (PBS).

RUNAWAY BRIDE, the re-teaming of Julia Roberts and Richard Gere, is a triumph. Shockingly clean by Hollywood standards, there are only 2 mild obscenities and some off-color humor, but no nudity or sexual immorality. In a movie about a woman who keeps running the wrong way down the aisle, this movie resists the temptation to salt the scenes with sex and instead relies on the story to keep the audience hooked. The movie received a PG rating because there are a couple of slightly off-color jokes.

UNBROKEN: PATH TO REDEMPTION picks up where Angelina Jolie’s 2014 movie UNBROKEN ends, but showcases Olympic athlete Louis Zamperini’s faith journey toward Jesus back in America. UNBROKEN: PATH TO REDEMPTION is an emotionally stirring tear jerker, with great production values and a powerful ending, though caution is advised for older children due to some mature content, such as alcohol addiction.

After two hundred years, Jane Austen has become one of the popular screenwriters in Hollywood. Her latest adaptation, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, showcases the Dashwood women as they are driven out of their home and seek true love. Though flamboyantly acted, it shows marvelous restraint, respects the church and faith and elevates good sense over the vagaries of unrestrained passion.

MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING is a big fat independent movie that’s a celebration of one American woman’s ethnic heritage, including the remnants of her family’s Greek Orthodox Christian faith. The nominal Christian worldview in this movie is spoiled by a brief, implied sexual interlude, passionate kissing, some foul language, and abundant use of alcohol.

TOY STORY 4 is another breakthrough in great computer animation, and even greater storytelling, with a story about Woody needing to rescue a new friend who’s being held hostage in an antique shop. Filled with laughter, tears, thrills, and romance, TOY STORY 4 has a few scary scenes that merit caution for very young children.

CINDERELLA is Disney’s live-action version of the classic fairy tale where a girl has two loving parents who instill in her the message that if you are kind and good then you will be happy, but when her parents pass away, she’s put in a position where kindness and goodness are not always easy. CINDERELLA has a very strong Christian, moral worldview of loving and serving others before yourself, but it does have some magical thinking set in a fairytale world.

FIREPROOF is an incredibly gripping, compelling, heartrending, transformational story about saving a marriage between a small-town fire chief and his working wife that is on the rocks. Impeccably plotted, it is a stirring presentation of the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of God’s amazing grace.