Here are our most popular movie reviews for 2023, ranked in reverse order – this is what our online readers checked out most often over the last 12 months. Click on the titles for the longer reviews and, in some cases, links to watch the film for free online.
(For more movie recommendations, be sure to check out our list of “200 movies King David might watch.”)
10. Storm and Luther’s forbidden letter
This children’s movie has the 12-year-old son of a 16th-century printer getting chased about by authorities when the family’s print shop agrees to print one of Martin Luther’s letters. A good bit of fun that can be watched for free online.
9. 2081: Everyone will finally be equal
In another free film, we get a peak 50 years into the future in which everyone’s outcomes are exactly equal. How is that achieved? By weighing down the strong, and distracting the smart, and marring the beautiful.
8. The Lord of the Rings animated “trilogy”
Long before Peter Jackson first thought about filming the live-action version, there were three animated Lord of the Rings movies. And two of them are worth checking out.
7. Incredible creatures that defy evolution
The giraffe’s heart has to be strong to get blood all the way up to its head but what happens to all that power when, instead of pumping against gravity, the giraffe dips its head to take a drink? Then the same strong stream of oxygenated blood will be traveling with enough pressure to create some serious brain trauma….except for the amazing shut-off valves in a giraffe’s neck that kick in when it lowers its head! This free film series shows all sorts of animal design features that give testimony to God’s engineering brilliance!
6. End of the Spear
A true story about five missionaries who wanted to bring the gospel to the Aucas tribe in Ecuador and died trying. It is, however, through their witness that this “Stone Age” tribe was first introduced to God.
5. Sound of Freedom
This true story is the film everyone seemed to be talking about was also popular among RP readers too. Tim Ballard once had the disturbing job of hunting down pedophiles, and in the course of his career he busted almost 300 of them. But when his partner challenged him, “And how many kids have you saved?” he couldn’t answer. So he set out to start freeing the children instead.
4. Jungle Beat
A variety of animal friends try to solve ordinary problems, but do so without being able to communicate via words (animals can’t talk, after all). So this is part miming, part explosive action, and it is a whole bunch of good clean innocent fun! With more than 10 hours of it, broken up into 5-minute little skits, parents will enjoy sharing this with their kids again and again. And you can watch it for free!
3. On Earth as it is in Heaven
Another free documentary, this one tries to make the case for post-millenialism. You be the judge for how well it does so.
2. The Essential Church
John MacArthur’s church defied government COVID closures, and it was eventually vindicated in the courts. Here MacArthur and other church leaders try to make that same case – that the Church is essential – but this time to their fellow Christians.
1. The Hiding Place
This is Corrie Ten Boom’s true story of her World War II role in hiding Jews. Or, more so, it is the story of her family’s trust in God, even when the going got very tough – all of them ended up being sent to Nazi concentration camps. But did we need another Corrie Ten Boom movie? Isn’t there already a great film version? I needed to find out, and based on the review’s popularity, a whole bunch of RP readers need to find out too.
