Call me a "horrible rebel" or what you will, but my views on "Christian films" lean more towards that of W4J and Shadow.

While I never enter a film with the mindset I'm going to hate it (unless it happens to be Twilight or the like), I also won't/can't blindly accept a movie that has obvious faults with its acting, storytelling, pacing, etc. Also, for better or for worse, I'm a reviewer. To quote How to Train Your Dragon: "It's just who I am, Dad."

Back on topic, I has seen some Christian films and enjoyed them to varying degrees (Time Changer, One Night with the King, The Last Sin Easter, Amazing Grace but for the most part shy away from this niche genre. Not because of losing cool points (heck, some of my favorite films would already do that for me ), but because they seem to be chronically poorly made or too preachy or just uninteresting.

I have yet to see any of Sherwood Pictures films and really have no plan to. Anyway, just my thoughts/opinion.

Don't you have to walk before you can run?

Pardon me, SA, but I've never heard that phrase before , what's it mean?

& he didn't say he didn't like them, he simply said:

...Why must Christian movies always be akin to the quality and style of Hallmark media?

Which is a simple fact, 99% of the time - they are. I didn't comment to dispute that fact, I simply thought it was humourous in a blunt, truthful way. You can still like Sherwood and admit to that fact.

...it is my Dad's favorite movie and he has seen it about a dozen times.

lol, I feel for you. Welcome to NarniaWeb, by the way!

I just watched Facing the Giants yesterday after having not seen it in a few years.It was always my favorite of their films, mainly because it can apply to every ascpect of life, but this time I walked away with more from it than I did previous veiwings.

I don't really love Fireproof, main reason being the fact that simply being nice to your spouse and doing physical things for them will not necessarily save your marriage, or bring someone to Christ, for that matter. And on the other hand, people can use "The Love Dare" to manipulate the one doing it, they do not have to wait on you hand and foot to be a godly spouse.Just saying, it seems to be giving off the wrong idea...

It's not worship music in pubs (ha!).

Yipes! What movie was that in?

Finally, it seemed his wife was blameless. She played her part in it too. They need to stop putting women on pedestals. It's hurtful and dangerous.

Agreed. It was if they disregared the fact that she was flirty with a married man, whilst being married herself. And then, the divorce and everything else is thrown out the window as she disolves into a puddle of tears becuase he paid a bill. NOT that I'm saying God can't use something like that to bring someone to Himself, but still...she was no angel.

The budget excuse also doesn't fly. One of my favourite movies "INK" is a sci-fi/fantasy/drama made for $250,000 US. Christians just need to learn the language of cinema and learn it well. God wants our best efforts.

Yeah, you're right. I guess they can't just jump into something without knowing a little bit about how it works, look at it from a filmakers perspective, not the viewers.

...sometimes they can be good, but other times a little painful.

Usually, I can get a Christian/Morality viewpoint out of a variety of films, whether it was meant to be there or not. Narnia (duh), Lord of the Rings, Jane Austen films, Gladiator, jeez, even Rambo! And I enjoy that more, seeing the metaphors for myself rather than having a film spell it out for me. Maybe that's just me...

Cor, I more or less agree with what you said.

Call me a "horrible rebel" or what you will

What I meant by "rebel" was some people who overreact about films simply because they have the Christian label. I tend to not like the "Christian label of things" when the labeling is empty and irrelevant, and "ovverreact" is a very subjective term, but I have been around people who tend to make a big deal out of something in a Christian label when they were fine with it in a non-Christian-label film, and I wanted to make clear that that wasn't my point of view. At the same time, I don't uncritically love everything because it has the Christian label, because many times there's a good deal of compromise in that, too, and I don't necessarily think that the Christian label is always the representative of Christian themes.

Not because of losing cool points (heck, some of my favorite films would already do that for me ), but because they seem to be chronically poorly made or too preachy or just uninteresting.

Again, I agree. I actually didn't like One Night with the King because it fell into one of those or other-mentioned categories, more or less.
But anyways, I hope it's understood that I wasn't saying rebel/fear of losing cool points = someone who actually gives thought to how the story was told. It would be a bit frustrating if that was inferred, because I took a good deal of time trying to dissuade that and explain where I was coming from...

On Fireproof, I should mention - The topic of that is something that touches a personal note for my family, so I saw it with the my worldview and liked certain aspects of it. In the same way, my personal experience was also what made me think some of it was underdeveloped. But nonetheless, I liked some values of the film.
[sorry for this digression]To be honest, I feel like on the forum, if someone even mentions that they liked one or two Sherwood films, and even if they added lengthy subscripts that they did not think that the acting was that great or that the storytelling was cohesive or that the theology was right on, they're still stamped on as an uncritical fan of Sherwood and other "Christian films" and given the persona of someone who will just take /anything/ from the "Christian label" machine. It's like if someone even says, "Yes, the film is really bad about such and such, but I liked this and that," many members insensitively go, "Uncool, uncool!" or otherwise label the person as uninformed, without a sense of how good films are made, without good taste, etc. I completely understand that those who don't like Sherwood are often labeled as unspiritual, and I think it's absolute nonsense to do so. You don't have to accept Sherwood in your heart to be a Christian. But I don't think it's fair to then revert to the other extreme to someone who never took an extreme position on the opposite side just for the sake of making a point instead of dealing with members as individuals.
It can't always be either "I LOVE SHERWOOd!!1" or "Ugh, Sherwood is as awful as a natural disaster." People have middle grounds about it, and not just one middle ground, but plenty of diverse middle grounds.
[/digression]

Usually, I can get a Christian/Morality viewpoint out of a variety of films, whether it was meant to be there or not. Narnia (duh), Lord of the Rings, Jane Austen films, Gladiator, jeez, even Rambo! And I enjoy that more, seeing the metaphors for myself rather than having a film spell it out for me. Maybe that's just me...

Ditto; that's been my experience as well. There are things, especially books, that seem to communicate Christian themes so powerfully.... it makes me wonder why modern media can't do the same. Examples are The Man Who Was Thursday and parts here and there (not the whole thing, lol) of Les Miserables.

If I gave all of you my list of Favorite Movies I imagine your jaws would all drop open and your brains would explode.

I would like to see your list, SL. I am sure it is very interesting.

Don't you have to walk before you can run?

Pardon me, SA, but I've never heard that phrase before , what's it mean?

It is a slight colloquialism, y'all. I was rushing to finish my post as I was missing out on time with my siblings by being on NarniaWeb, so I used the first phrase that came to mind. By it, I simply meant that you learn gradually, not all at once. It is the same process with Christian filmmakers - Sherwood Pictures was learning, film by film, how to make higher caliber movies. With every film, they improved.

...he didn't say he didn't like them, he simply said:

...Why must Christian movies always be akin to the quality and style of Hallmark media?

Which is a simple fact, 99% of the time - they are. I didn't comment to dispute that fact, I simply thought it was humourous in a blunt, truthful way. You can still like Sherwood and admit to that fact.

Yes, there are many Christian movies that are fluffy like Hallmark films; I don't disagree with that. (But please bear in mind that some of those movies were made for families with children under 12, who prefer their children not exposed to various and sundry degrees of filth, as realistic as it may be.) I just don't like it when people keep putting the good Christian films down with the not-so-good ones because they aren't like their favorite secular films.

Finally, it seemed his wife was blameless. She played her part in it too. They need to stop putting women on pedestals. It's hurtful and dangerous.

Agreed. It was as if they disregarded the fact that she was flirty with a married man, whilst being married herself. And then, the divorce and everything else is thrown out the window as she dissolves into a puddle of tears because he paid a bill. NOT that I'm saying God can't use something like that to bring someone to Himself, but still...she was no angel.

There is more to it than that, it is that Caleb gave up "his" boat and what "he" wanted for Catherine. (Self-sacrifice.) What she did was wrong, as well; they both had problems and they both had to forgive the other. Catherine's flirtation was as much sin as Caleb's struggle. Plus, neither of them was a Christian at the beginning of the movie. It was also loosely implied that Caleb's parents were not Christians during his growing up years.

And then, the divorce and everything else is thrown out the window as she disolves into a puddle of tears becuase he paid a bill.

The bill was for Catherine's mother's hospital-grade bed and wheelchair, plus accessories, which amounted to $24,300. For which purpose, the doctor contributed the sum of $300 and Caleb gave his entire personal savings and his soon-to-be-realized dream of owning his own boat. I thought it spoke volumes about the "new man."

How are women on pedestals, W4J?

I understand everyone has different opinions. I do not love every Christian movie I have ever seen, but I don't think it is right for people to go around belittling Christian films, because they do not have the quality acting and script that a secular film might. And if the new generation of Christian filmmakers is hindered from moviemaking because their projects do not start out as Academy Award-winning, would that not be a travesty?

Speaking for my family and myself, we watch a wide variety of movies together. We collectively enjoy old comedies and murder mysteries (especially ones made in the 30s and 40s), historical movies (especially U.S. history, which is a major interest in our home), Christian films (Faith Like Potatoes, Fireproof, etc.), and others. We older kids enjoy movies like Charade, Sherlock Holmes (both the classic Basil Rathbone versions and the new ones with Robert Downey, Jr.), Wait Until Dark, North by Northwest, Gladiator, The Patriot, and Blood Diamond.

SnowAngel

SnowAngel, I'm fairly sure that most of my Super Duper Top Ten List!!!! is banned in most households . Of course it goes without saying that Aliens has been in pole position for years beyond count, followed by others like the original Alien, Predator, The Shawshank Redemption, Goodfellas, and some of the classic war flicks like The Longest Day, Tora Tora Tora, and A Bridge Too Far. (if you say "Pearl Harbor" to me, I will seriously order the Japanese Navy to drop eggs on Scarlet. Don't make me!)

I'm fairly sure that other than the war movies, the others are probably going to be on the Angel family's Big Ban List. Goodfellas alone....yikes! Joe Pesci plays a psycho mobster better than anyone else on the planet, but he drops enough profanity to fuel a Saturn V rocket. It's one of those flicks that's not for the faint of heart!

Regarding the excessive gift giving prevalent in Fireproof, I don't think that the general message was that showering one's spouse with gifts would keep one happily married. If that was the case Liz Taylor wouldn't have been married 8 or 9 times. I think that the idea of giving the gifts from a love-filled and devoted spousal type of heart is a byproduct of how you feel about her. Or him. What have you. As I said, is the film hokey? Yes. I liked it, but it's definitely not going to win any major awards for acting or plot. It's good for what it is.

To be honest, I feel like on the forum, if someone even mentions that they liked one or two Sherwood films, and even if they added lengthy subscripts that they did not think that the acting was that great or that the storytelling was cohesive or that the theology was right on, they're still stamped on as an uncritical fan of Sherwood and other "Christian films" and given the persona of someone who will just take /anything/ from the "Christian label" machine. It's like if someone even says, "Yes, the film is really bad about such and such, but I liked this and that," many members insensitively go, "Uncool, uncool!" or otherwise label the person as uninformed, without a sense of how good films are made, without good taste, etc.

I can understand how that would be very frustrating. And it is definitely wrong for people to make someone feel unintelligent for liking a movie that others dislike. However... I'm not sure who here has done that. Unless there's been a post that was deleted before I came here, everyone here has been pretty polite from what I've seen. There have been members who stated they personally didn't like Fireproof/other Sherwood films. But I haven't seen them say that those who do like it are uninformed, tasteless, etc...

Back on the subject of Past Movies, I've been watching a lot lately. I finally got to see The Dark Knight trilogy! And I loved it, of course. My favorite one is Batman Begins. The Dark Knight was enjoyable, but not as good as I expected after all the hype. And The Dark Knight Rises was alright, but my least favorite of the three.

But there are two other movies I found not too long ago that I loved even more.

One is Leon: The Professional. I watched it a few months back, and it's been my favorite film ever since. It's about a hitman who saves the life of a 12-year old girl, and now has to take care of her. She's very unusual and intense for a child, and wants revenge on the man who hurt her family. The bond between the two main characters is portrayed beautifully, both the script and cinematography is amazing, and the acting is superb. It stars Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, and a very young Natalie Portman. I recommend it to everyone who is of age to watch it. It is rated R, and has language, violence and some situations that some viewers might find mildly disturbing. To me it seemed much more of a PG-13 sort of bad, and the R-rating surprised me. But maybe that's just me. At any rate, if you don't mind some content, watch this movie as soon as you can.

The second movie I watched recently and loved is Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which is an amazing tragicomedy. It's based on the play of the same name, which in turn is based on Shakespeare's Hamlet. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were originally minor characters in Hamlet, but in this they take center stage. As the events of the famous play unfold around them, they try to figure out who they are, why they're there, and why they seem to have so little control over the things that happen to them. The two characters are played by Gary Oldman and Tim Roth, who have a great chemistry together and make the perfect on-screen team. The movie is very witty, funny, and intelligent; and I recommend it to everyone. There is a little bit of content (including some nudity, which surprised me. ), but the movie is only rated PG.

Another movie I watched not too long ago was The Fifth Element. I did not enjoy it as much as the aforementioned films, but I didn't hate it either. In fact... I'm still not entirely sure what I thought of it. Overall it was a very odd movie. And I liked parts and disliked other parts. I had been wanting to see it for a very long time, though, so I am at least glad I finally got the opportunity, and can now cross it off my to-watch list.

~Riella

The Fifth Element....I just don't care for it. The funny thing is that I like all of the actors involved, just in other stuff. Maybe it's just so off the wall and over the top that whatever plot or message it was trying to convey was lost somewhere in Gary Oldman's weird hairdo. People really love the movie, which is fine, but to me it's just a continuing series of nonsensical scenes done in hyperkinetic color, weird hairdos, and a piteous attempt at a plot. It feels like one of those sucktastic one shot comics that someone is one of the 10 fans of (like Tank Girl) that they say "Hey, let's make a movie out of this" and it comes down like the Hindenburg. Bah! There, I said it and I'm ok with it.

The Fifth Element....I just don't care for it. The funny thing is that I like all of the actors involved, just in other stuff. Maybe it's just so off the wall and over the top that whatever plot or message it was trying to convey was lost somewhere in Gary Oldman's weird hairdo. People really love the movie, which is fine, but to me it's just a continuing series of nonsensical scenes done in hyperkinetic color, weird hairdos, and a piteous attempt at a plot. It feels like one of those sucktastic one shot comics that someone is one of the 10 fans of (like Tank Girl) that they say "Hey, let's make a movie out of this" and it comes down like the Hindenburg. Bah! There, I said it and I'm ok with it.

I agree with all of that. And I think those are the very things that make me dislike the movie... and like the movie.

There are some movies that are bad in a way that you just want to turn it off. And then are some movies that are bad in a way that makes you want to keep watching - and then watch again with friends so you can all make fun of it and have a blast doing it. The Fifth Element, to me, falls into the latter category. It's one of those "so bad it's good" kind of things.

~Riella

What are my favourite films... I love science fiction, though not always the most popular ones ("The Matrix", for instance, was in my view one of the most boring and idiotic films I'd ever seen). I'm a sucker for anything to do with time travel. One of my all-time favourites was a Czech film with English subtitles which I saw on BBC2 in the early '80s. Its English title was "Tomorrow I'll Wake Up And Scald Myself With Tea", and was about a group of elderly German Nazis who steal a timeship in 1998 and travel back to the 1940s to help Hitler win the Second World War, only all sorts of paradoxes arise. And another film I saw on TV once and really enjoyed was a Hallmark "fluff" film called "The Love Letter", about a woman living at the time of the American Civil War and a man living in modern-day Boston who somehow manage to exchange letters and fall in love entirely through their correspondence. Romantic - even a bit soppy - but uplifting and life-affirming.

I can only recall seeing one "Christian" film, at a film show put on by my school Christian Union when I was 17. It was called "Welcome Home", and it was so cringe-worthy it probably put people off Christianity rather than drew people towards it. The main character seemed constantly to escape any difficulty by miracle after miracle, just because he'd "become a Christian". To be honest, if that's the best that Christians can come up with, it's probably not a bad thing that we don't see any Christian films in Britain.

Still, for many years I wished and wished that one day, a good-quality, reasonable-budget series of films of all seven Narnia books would be made. It looked like the wish was going to come true; but now it looks like it's stalled after just three (some might say, two). I expect that the next time anyone decides to make a Narnia film, we'll get yet another LWW.

Sorry for seemingly going AWOL for a few days, y'all. Family trip and such.

@ Bella. Eh, I guess my dry sense of humor did not come through well with my "horrible rebel" comment. Sorry if it made you think I took offense to your statement or the like.

-----------

As for favorite films, I have ton of them from various decades, thought most of them seem to hail from the late 70's through today.

In no particular order:

Original Star Wars Trilogy
Batman Begins
The Dark Knight
Charade
Enchanted
Tangled
How To Train Your Dragon
The Avengers
Thor
Iron Man
Alien
Aliens
The Matrix
To Catch a Thief
Rear Window
How the West Was Won
Once Upon a Time in the West
An American Tail 2
Predator
The Searchers
Super 8
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Krull
Jaws
The Andromeda Strain
Jurassic Park
Harvey
Bringing Up Baby
The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer
North by Northwest
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Gojira
Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah (GMK)
The Rocketeer
Halloween (1978)
The Fog (1980)
Salem's Lot (TV movie from the 70's)

And many more that I won't bother listing at the moment.

SnowAngel, I'm fairly sure that most of my Super Duper Top Ten List!!!! is banned in most households . Of course it goes without saying that Aliens has been in pole position for years beyond count, followed by others like the original Alien, Predator, The Shawshank Redemption, Goodfellas, and some of the classic war flicks like The Longest Day, Tora Tora Tora, and A Bridge Too Far. (if you say "Pearl Harbor" to me, I will seriously order the Japanese Navy to drop eggs on Scarlet. Don't make me!)

I am sure it is, but what about the rest of your favorites?

Never seen Pearl Harbor and I am never going to, so no worries. You can't do anything to my sister, dude!

I see a couple of my favorites on your list, PC. The rest I am not sure about.

This is my revised and expanded list of favorites.

Gladiator
The Patriot
Master and Commander
Horatio Hornblower
Ride with the Devil
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon
Horse Soldiers
Rough Riders
The Longest Day
The Great Escape
Stalag 17
36 Hours
Band of Brothers (mini series)
The Great Raid
Where Eagles Dare
The Hunt for Red October
Blood Diamond
The Bourne Trilogy
El Dorado
Silverado
Support Your Local Sheriff
Support Your Local Gunfighter
Maverick
Open Range
Jeremiah Johnson
The Lady Vanishes
Arsenic and Old Lace
North by Northwest
Dial M for Murder
Charade
Wait Until Dark
How To Steal A Million
The Great Race
Father Goose
The Whistling Trilogy
The Torchy Blane movies
The Falcon movies
The Thin Man movies
You Can’t Take It With You
It Happened One Night
Mr. Deeds Goes To Town
Room Service
The Bride Came C.O.D.
Born Yesterday
The Fuller Brush Man
The Fuller Brush Girl
All Through the Night
Merrily We Live
Miss Grant Takes Richmond
The Solid Gold Cadillac
Princess O’Rouke
We’re No Angels
The Mark of Zorro
The Scarlet Pimpernel (1935)
Fireproof
Courageous
Faith Like Potatoes
Amazing Grace
Love Comes Softly
North & South (’05) (mini series)
Pride & Prejudice (’05)
Jane Eyre (’05) (mini series)
Emma (’09) (mini series)
Little Women (1995)
Anne of Green Gables
Anne of Avonlea
Christy (mini series)
Narnia: LWW & VDT
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Davy Crockett and the River Pirates
Snowball Express
Herbie Rides Again
Sherlock Holmes (the classic ones and the new movies)
Robin Hood (the 1938 version and the Disney version)

The list is somewhat organized by type. If I had to list them by absolute favorites first, I could not.

SnowAngel

I will say that most of my favorites are largely contained within both of your lists . Band of Brothers is a real masterpiece. I cannot recommend the film enough. I earnestly believe A Bridge Too Far is the finest WW2 film of all time, and possibly the greatest war film of all time. I also have an abiding love for the original Tron as well as other mainstays of the 80's, the decade I grew up in, including Red Dawn, most of the Ahnold movies (Commando is so terribly bad that it's a masterpiece. There is simply no other way to classify 2 hours of straight one liners), and Die Hard. And this is by no means the complete list, simply a small sample. And SnowAngel, it is downright offensive to me that you have Herbie Rides Again and not the original classic The Love Bug. C'mon, it's got Buddy Hackett in it! Well I guess it could be worse...Herbie Goes Bananas made me wish for the destruction of the Volkswagen factory in the hopes it would deter another film from coming out (it wouldn't have).

@ PC - go Krull!

My favourite movies: (my tastes are quite eclectic)

Studio Ghibli movies (excluding My Neighbours the Yamadas, Pomo Poko and A Wizard of Earthsea)

Monsters Inc.
The Incredibles
Finding Nemo
WALL-E
Toy Story
Toy Story 2
Toy Story 3
North By Northwest
The Birds
Vertigo
Psycho (1960)
Rear Window (1954)
Notorious
Mirrormask
The Lion King
Mulan
Where The Wild Things Are
Jumanji
Metropolis (1926)
Arsenic and Old Lace
Memento
The Prestige
Inception
Batman Begins
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight Rises
The Avengers
Terminator 2
Alien
Aliens
The Shining
Shaun of the Dead
Hot Fuzz
Star Wars (the original trilogy)
The Devil's Backbone
Pan's Labyrinth
Paprika
Chocolat
Wild Target
Amelie
The City of Lost Children
Delicatessen
I Am Sam
The Lord of the Rings (extended)
The Book of Eli
Children of Men
Picnic At Hanging Rock
Mad Max 2
The Matrix
Dark City
Jurassic Park
Juno
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Griff the Invisible
Lars and the Real Girl
Stranger Than Fiction
The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Supremacy
The Bourne Ultimatum
Equilibrium
Zodiac
INK
A Tale of Two Sisters (Korean horror/drama)
The Host (Korean monster movie/family drama)

Ah, I see, Cor.
Thanks, Riella. I suppose it was probably partly misunderstanding.

Some of my favourite movies:
(Some because I can't really compile them all)

- Animated:

Pixar:
I would generally call all but Cars 2 a favorite, but my special ones are:

Up
Finding Nemo
Toy Story 3
Monster's Inc.
WALL-E
Cars
Brave, too, but not without some discourse on it.

Disney:
Most of the ones I grew up with. The ones I continue to like:
Cinderella
Sleeping Beauty
101 Dalmations
The Jungle Book
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)
The Fox & the Hound
The Great Mouse Detective
Beauty & the Beast
Aladdin
Mulan
The Lion King
Mulan
Lilo & Stitch
The Emperor's New Groove
Chicken Little
Home on the Range

Studio Ghibli:
My Neighbour Totoro is my favourite. Ponyo and Arietty have are my favourite artwork, and Porco Rosso's general feel is my faviurite. However, a few things in Ponyo and Porco Rosso keep them from being really good for me.

Dreamworks:
Shrek
Shrek 2
Shrek Forever After
The Prince of Egypt (for the most part)
Kung Fu Panda
Over the Hedge

Universal/Illumination:
Despicable Me

Blue Sky:
Ice Age

Don Bluth's films:
.... very strange, but nice films.
An American Tale
Thumbelina

Live Action:

Christopher Nolan:
Inception
Batman Begins

Anne of Green Gables
Mr. Bean's shows. The Library and New Years are my favourite.
The Pianist
Life is Beautiful (saw it some time ago, but I remember liking it.)
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
The King's Speech

I have a lot more favourite Live Action films, but I've been in an animation phase for the past three years, so I can't remember them that well. I usually remember that I liked them and then tend to forget them as time goes by.

Bollywood:

I've grown up knowing a good deal about Bollywood, about the actors, and I've seen a lot of Bollywood films (both past and present) that my parents grew up with and showed to my sister and me. There's quite a bit of drama, spice, you know...they are enjoyable, but you have to be wise when watching to cnotice stereotypes and caricatures, of course, as in any other film.
Some are fairly similar, but there are a couple that really stand out to me. I enjoy them for what the are - sometimes they can be good windows of Indian culture, but other times it's wise to keep in mind that the films/filmmaker's ideas are not absolutely reflective or representative of all aspects of Indian culture.

Do Aankhen Barah Haath (Two Eyes, Twelve Hands) (1957)
About a police officer who attempts to reform six criminals. It was unusual in the way that goodness was credited to the working of God, despite one reference to a Hindu diety. The song throughout the movie is qui

Taare Zameen Par (Like Stars on Earth)
About a dyslexic boy who is failing in school and is experiencing pressure from his school/family until an understanding teacher encourages him. This one is my favourite of the modern Bollywood films.

Koshish (1972)
About a girl and guy who are both deaf and mute. They fall in love and get married. The film follows their bittersweet life. Pretty good overall.
Wake Up, Sid (2010?)
It has some things that I disagree with, but I really liked the realistic feel of India that it had, and how it explored the setting of modern India. About a boy who needs to grow up... basically.

Ta, Ra, Rum, Pum
A racecar driver who loses everything, has to downsize with his family. Pretty good.

Ek Ladka, Ek Ladki
A Bollywood remake of a Hollywood film which was inspired by an Italian Play (and the same plot was adopted by a South Korean tv show. International film all around.) About an heiress who gets temporary amnesia and is tricked into thinking she's a farmer's wife. Romancey parts of it I could do without, but it's a good film overall.

There are a few other ones, but these are the three that I can remember.
There's the ever-popular Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, which is kind of a classic and pretty much representative of Bollywood rom-coms in the 90's. Some parts of them are funny, others are.... meh. The plus side is the humour in these, as it's really good, but there are other.... romanceyshomancey aspects to the rom coms.

Bella(not from Twilight) , I watched a small, independent flick recently called Outsourced. It's about a US company that outsources its telephone support staff to India, so they send their best salesman over to train the new folks on how to do the job. It's funny watching the culture shock (on both sides) take effect and seeing how ones perceptions can be turned upside down given time. It's a comedy/drama with a touch of the romance in it, if that's your thing, and I rather enjoyed it. I'm a lefty, so I probably wouldn't do well in India.