Those radical Hollywood elites were at it again in full force in 2011! At least, that’s the takeaway I got from an email I received yesterday on behalf of Movieguide®, a publication of Good News Communications, Inc. and the Christian Film & Television Commission ministry. In the email, the publication announced its picks for the worst movies of 2011, including a list of the 20 Most Unbearable Movies of 2011, also known as the Rotten Banana Awards.

What set this list apart to me was the interesting — and, in some cases, very detailed — names of the Rotten Banana Awards handed out, which obviously seem to have been created specifically for each of this year’s titles (if this is not the case, then it must be hard to find a movie every year that might qualify for the “Ludicrous Lying About Shakespeare & Queen Elizabeth Award”).

Creating categories like these is something that the Golden Raspberry Awards (a.k.a. “Razzies“) also do, but they are obviously more tongue-in-cheek as they go about their selections. At first, reading over the titles of their awards, I wondered if Movieguide might be similarly having some fun with this, until I remembered our national climate in recent weeks, when I’ve heard people in high places and on television talk about everything from the Girl Scouts’ “radical” agenda to how they are certain that the as-yet-unreleased-film The Lorax is trying to indoctrinate kids with an anti-industry agenda. Then it dawned on me: Yep, this is for real.

“People want to see Good conquer evil,” says Dr. Ted Baehr, publisher of Movieguide, “Liberty conquer tyranny, Truth wipe out falsehood, Justice defeat injustice, and Beauty overcome ugliness. These films fail to do that in the worst ways. These rotten films have been chosen not necessarily because they have sex, violence, nudity or profanity, but because they have a worldview antithetical to the biblical worldview. They communicate philosophies that, in the final analysis, are anti-human and anti-God, and that can only lead to disaster.”

Baehr also noted that, “Most of these movies made very little money, which shows the good taste of not only the vast majority of Americans, but also the vast majority of moviegoers overseas.”

To be fair, his list may, however inadvertently, have stacked the deck in favor of this argument, as it includes a number of indie titles that had very limited theatrical release. (Disclosure: As you may notice, some of the movies featured in this list do appear in sponsor ads on this website and in the Channel Guide print magazine.) And of course, the argument that a low box office automatically means low quality of a film or bad taste in those who do pay to see it is akin to how some people say that high ratings mean a show or network is high quality and is indicative of good taste in its viewers — that just isn’t always necessarily the case. This isn’t to say that some of the movies on this list do not warrant being included on a year-end “worst” list (although a couple have been critically acclaimed in other outlets, and there are a few award nominations and wins among a couple of them, including some Academy Award nominations and a BAFTA win), it’s just that, even in outlets that have fun with category titles, “worst” lists are generally given out according to a film’s technical or artistic merits (or lack thereof), not by calling out perceived agendas — an act which, ironically, sounds like an agenda itself. (Although, I’ll admit, they aren’t the only ones who had a problem with Anonymous‘ approach to history.)

Anyway, as we gear up for Oscar weekend, after the video are the 20 Most Unbearable Movies of 2011 according to Movieguide, and its reasoning for giving a particular award to each title. If you are interested in finding out what movies from last year the publication did find worth watching, Movieguide’s 20th Annual Faith & Values Awards Gala will air tonight (Feb. 24) on Hallmark Movie Channel at 8pm ET.

Movieguide’s 20 Most “Unbearable” Movies of 2011

VILE, VULGAR & ANTI-CHRISTIAN AWARD

Red State (Worst Ultimate Christian Bashing)

SLIMY PORNIFICATION AWARD

Bucky Larson: Born To Be a Star (Worst Promotion of Pornography)

ABHORRENT SEXCAPADE AWARD

A Good Old Fashioned Orgy (Worst Promotion of Orgies)

LURID TRANSGENDER ABUSE AWARD

The Skin I Live In (Worst Sex Change Revenge)

ENVIRONMENTALIST HYSTERIA AWARD

Happy Feet Two (Environmentalism, Magical Thinking & Same-Sex Partnerships)

BORING, DEGRADING, OFFENSIVE AND LEWD AWARD

Shame (Worst Pornographic Portrait of a Sex Addict)

LOUD & PROUD HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVISM AWARD

Beginners (Worst Anti-Christian, Homosexual Agenda)

LUDICROUS LYING ABOUT SHAKESPEARE & QUEEN ELIZABETH AWARD

Anonymous (Worst Revisionist Artistic History)

POLITICALLY CORRECT PAGAN HEDONISM AWARD

The Hangover Part II (Worst Debauchery)

ANTI-CHRISTIAN LIBERAL PERVERSION AWARD

Pariah (Worst Lesbian Anti-Christian Mother Movie)

ALL THE VILLAINS ARE WHITE CHRISTIANS AWARD

Straw Dogs (Worst PC Agitprop)

PROMOTING AN IMMORAL, ABHORRENT, ATHEIST WORLDVIEW AWARD

Paul (Worst Atheistic, Libertine Bigotry)

TORTURED HOMOSEXUAL FANTASY AWARD

Albert Nobbs (Worst Cross Dressing Perversion)

FOUL-MOUTHED, SEX-OBSESSED TEENAGERS AWARD

Dirty Girl (Worst Corruption of Teenagers)

LYING ABOUT THE POLICE AWARD

Rampart (Worst Politically Correct Police Portrayal)

MOST DESPICABLE HOLIDAY COMEDY AWARD

A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (Worst Mockery of Jesus Christ)

SICK DEPRAVITY AWARD

Hobo With a Shotgun (Worst Depravity, Gory Violence & Revenge)

LEFT-WING ATTACK AWARD

J. Edgar (Worst Scurrilous Portrayal of a Historical Figure)

SATANIC WITCHCRAFT ENTICEMENT AWARD

Paranormal Activity 3 (Worst Movie Leading Children to the Occult)

LEWD SENDUP OF HEROIC FANTASY AWARD

Your Highness (Worst Stoner Mockery of Quests)

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A Good Old Fashioned Orgy photo credit: © 2011 GOF Productions, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

