Religulous
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Movie Reviews of Religulous
Movie Review: Another great effort by Bill Maher!
Summary: 5 Stars
So finally I got to see Religulous, which was not playing theatrically anywhere near my apartment. And I gotta say, it was good! I like Bill Maher generally (though I think he's very wrong on certain issues), and I quite liked him in this movie.
What I have here isn't so much as a review of the film, which is worth seeing, but just a list of my favorite moments and my thoughts on them.
The truck stop church was great. Loved the one guy walking out cause someone dared to ask questions about his faith, but I thought the ones who stayed and tried their best were pretty cool.
The guy running the gay de-conversion organization flames like a dragon in August. I agree with Bill; I'd have spotted him easily as being gay. I'm sorry he's deluded himself into thinking no one is really gay just because, for whatever reason, he doesn't think he is.
The creation museum was a hoot and a holler. I loved the idea of children and T-Rex babies playing together cause, you know, that's what they'd be doing instead of the T-Rex babies eating the children.
I thought both the Franciscan monk in Amsterdam and the priest that used to run the Vatican observatory made several great points and did a good job of defending their position while recognizing that it doesn't always run along with what the Bible says. They seemed like they were very close to taking the final step of understanding that their religion is just flat wrong, but weren't quite there yet.
Also, I just about fell over laughing when there was a comment about the Mormons believing American Indians are a lost tribe of Israel, and therefore Jewish, followed by a clip of Mel Brooks playing a Yiddish-speaking Indian in Blazing Saddles.
There's a scene with a rabbi who is anti-Zionist and met with the president of Iran a couple years back (don't expect me to spell the president's name; I can barely pronounce it!). Bill Maher gives up talking with the guy and walks off after a bit. Don't blame him.
I also found it very impressive that he got the actual, real, re-incarnated version of Jesus to talk with him on camera! Hey, prove it's not the actual Jesus!
Finally I love Bill Maher's summary at the end of the movie, which includes the line, "Religion must day so that mankind can live." Wonderful! Please note, unlike many of those who actually are religious, he's not saying people have to die to make a better world, just that religion has to.
I think that's perfectly fine.
Movie Review: "DOUBTING THOMAS" FINALLY GETS HIS DUE!
Summary: 5 Stars
I don't know when it happened; the Creation Museum scene with the Jesus Horses (dinosaurs), the moot explanations of evolution by creationists, or the speaking in tongues, but I laughed so hard at this movie that I had tears of joy coming out of my eyes.
At last a comedian takes a comical look at religion and forces people to look in the mirror at what they believe in various religions and how one is no more logical than the next. Many comics have done bits on religion but Bill is the first to make a documentary on the subject and he does not disappoint.
He speaks of his Catholic upbringing even though his mother was Jewish and he and his sister speak with her about his youth. You learn stories about when and why he started to doubt in the existence of god. But, most humorously, he goes around and shows you how religion is manifested in various places all over the world and why they're "Religulous" (a contraction of the words religious and ridiculous.)
The con artist preachers are exposed for the pimps that they are very quickly through simple and direct questioning. The results are hilarious.
Bill explains to the public why faith is not a virtue. That it is, in fact, a shortcut for not thinking for yourself. And makes many analogies as to why the stories in all of the religious texts are nothing but mythology and superstition from primitive cultures who blamed anything that they couldn't figure out on some god or another.
And as a history enthusiast one of my favorite segments was where he lists some of the many religions and messiahs that predate Christianity by a very, very long time.
In closing he basically says, "Will the real 16% of Atheists and Agnostics in this country please stand up!" Reason and and logic never go out of style and Bill Maher intends to keep it that way.
In addition I think that he was just trying to make people think for themselves rather than follow superstitions just because they always have. And fight in wars over said superstitions just because we always have.
This film will probably make the fundamentalists angry but if they are really so convinced in their faith then they should wonder about why.
Hilarious and relatively light fare on religion and civilization. I think anyone with a pulse should see this film.
Kevin W. Mattingly
Harrisburg Times.
Movie Review: Hilarious!
Summary: 5 Stars
I can see why many fundamentalist Christians (if they watch this movie) would be wetting themselves. This is a great movie to make anyone think about why they believe what they believe. If you are on the religious fence, watch this movie! It is very humorous, though I warn more sensitive viewers there are flashes of nudity and frequent use of vulgar language. By the end of the movie, there are some sobering moments in pondering how horrifying that there are so many religious fanatics about who would take an opportunity to see that the End Times of the Bible come to pass. The movie is mostly focused on the Christian religion, but does barely touch on some of the others.
To Bill Maher: If you read this, I wanted to point out answers to two of the questions you asked in the movie. I follow a path of Paganism (I won't call it a religion, because I do not believe in deity nor do I worship one), but Paganism is one of the least harmful religions I can think of. You mentioned how most religions have no respect for nature. Well, Paganism fits that bill. You also stated that religions were made by men to put women down. Here is another instance where Paganism not only accepts women as equal to men, but in many instances, women are actually elevated above men.
Another note, Bill--The reason for keeping up the Cerne Abbas giant / Rude Man of England has nothing to do with religion. (It was once a place for yearly "fertility gatherings.") But the main reason for keeping it is the same reason we try to preserve the Sistine Chapel or the Great Pyramids; it is part of a past culture that found meaning in this symbol.
There is one other area I disagree with you on. In one of the monologues in the Special Features section, you basically say that marriage is a bad thing. Now, I have never been married, but I can see the logical and less logical benefits in doing so, which have nothing to do with religion. The main reason to marry is for companionship, but it also has tax benefits and divided chores and income, which are the more practical reasons. There is also an intimacy, a secure feeling, and a passion that cannot be found except between two people who are dedicated to each other, whether through legal marriage or through some kind of understanding between the pair.
Thanks for making the movie, Bill.
Movie Review: OUTSTANDING
Summary: 5 Stars
A film like this that takes a critical view of a highly ridiculous subject like the Bible and organized religion in general has been long overdue. Kudos to Bill for having the juevos to do this type of film, especially after his cable TV show was canceled a few years back for speaking the truth on another hotly debated topic. I wish more Americans were like Bill Maher and "get it" rather than being closed-minded about organized religion. I personally am not against having a belief in a supreme being or more than one, and I don't think Bill is either. But organized religion has been proven decade after decade to attract those too simple to think for themselves, and those eager to take advantage of the ones that are followers. Not to mention the countless wars that have been fought over organized religion, which Bill makes a point of numerous times in the film.
The big messages aside, my favorite quote from the film was "we don't still believe any other superstitions from the Bronze Age" (referring to the origins of Christianity and pointing out that during the Bronze Age people also believed that the world was flat, sea monsters roamed the seas, and wounds could be cured simply by spitting on them). Excellent point. Another great point was the fact that other "God-like" people existed in the Mediterranean for about 1,000 years before the birth of Christ (assuming that date is real), these "saviors" were also born of a virgin, died for their people's sins, were born on December 25th, and came back to life after being killed. It certainly gives the impression that the story of Jesus Christ is just that, a story, that was adapted from previously told stories that existed in and around the Mediterranean for a 1,000 years prior to the birth of Christ.
There's always going to be a percentage of the population that will defend their organized religion to the end of their days, because as Bill says in the movie, some people need to feel that someone else is in control of their life, guiding them and giving their life a purpose, but for the rest of us that are secure enough to understand this fallacy, this is a must see film!
Final Grade: A
Movie Review: Hell gotta have more interesting people than Heaven
Summary: 5 Stars
This is Bill Maher's road movie looking for answers on why we still have religion around even with advances in astronomy, science, technology and genetics. He goes looking in some pretty hilarious places like the Vatican. but his first stop is his own family where "one of us is a jew and the three of us is catholic" Even as a kid Bill observed that something's not quite right about religion where 90% of the time "you're bored out of your mind" and the rest you spend being terrrorized that god will punish you. One of the more unusual places is a Truckers' Chapel where drivers can hear the word of God and worship their savior Jesus Christ, I guess all those truck drivers who feel asleep behind the wheel didn't go to this chapel. The scene almost got ugly as a massive looking sort got very angry at Bill for daring to question the existence of God. Yes, religion is dangerous and scary, I think you saw that in Bill's face. Ofcourse the goofiest place is a Christian amusement partk in Florida where the torture and crucifixtion of Jesus Christ is enacted daily complete with big burly Roman soldiers and a chorus of sheppards. Bill also meets lots of interestng religious types. An ex-gay who is now a respected minister married to, guess who, an ex-lesbian, tried to persuade Bill that he's done and over with being a gay dude, ofcourse Bill's not convinced "if I walked into a place and see you there, I would guess that you are gay, you look very gay" but the funniest, I thought, was this old priest Bill runs into after getting kicked-out of the Vatican. Even this gentleman thinks religion is goofy and obscene "yeah if I was Jesus Christ I would be digusted by all of this(pointing to the Vatican)," Ofcourse a lot of religious minded folks are not gonna think this film is funny, too bad because it is. It is well made, well paced, not at all preachy it doesn't even try to convince you either way, it just presents the facts in a most funny way that no one else can other than our man Bill, highly recommended.