Rating: 
Summary: Accurate, first rate! Must-see for new & mature Christians!
Review: After several years of pain-staking search for the accurate and non-deviating portrayal of the Bible, the Visual Bible people finally made one that is definitely worth owning! Such fabulous attention to detail, and accuracy in the relaying of The Word, you will be moved forever! If you are into glitz, glamour, and embellishment of the Truth, you will not like this, then again, you won't like the Bible either! What Christ has done for us and why He came is spelled out in Matthew through the inspired writing of Matthew. For some, reading Scripture is confusing or difficult. To have several senses taking in The Word makes it stick with you and be moved by the Holy Spirit, as The Word should! You will fall in love with Christ as you are supposed to as one of His lambs. I have recommended this series to several friends and others who have been struggling to know Christ, and they have all said the same thing about how this has touched them. Our church uses The Visual Bible Matthew in addition to our regular Bible studies. Even children are able to remember passages and their context (which most people LOVE to take out and twist to suit their own needs when they do not understand not WANT to understand scripture as it is written) which will help them throught their lives to enable them to separate the "wheat from the chaff". As a devoted Christian and mom of three children, I highly recommend The Visual Bible Matthew in any format you can get! It is the best investment you can make for you, your family and anyone you share this with in the walk with Christ.
Rating:
Summary: A happy Jesus?
Review: Are you tired of reenactments that aren't faithful to scripture? Then the Visual Bible is for you. This entire four hour video is word-for-word from the NIV. No subtractions or deletions. It is beautifully filmed and would be great for group study. You can even follow along with the verses because they are placed at the bottom of the screen. The Jesus of this video is amazing. He's full of life and happy. Yes, I said, "happy". If you're used to the older videos such as "Jesus of Nazereth" and "The Greatest Story Ever Told" then this portrayal of Jesus may be a bit of a shock. I'm not down-playing these videos, I think they're great. However, the "Visual Bible" seems to better portray Jesus as the scriptures do. By the end of this video you truly see the bond between Jesus and the apostles. You will also see the most gruesome crucifixion scene that I've ever seen done. You can almost feel His pain. I would definitely recommend this video to anyone wishing to enrich his or her spiritual life through the powerful medium of video.
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful portrayal of Jesus
Review: First of all, the fact that the 'script' for this movie is the actual book of Matthew from the bible makes this movie completely and totally credible. It is no more than, and no less than the inspired word of God (the NIV version). This is wonderful in my opinion, because you don't have to watch the movie being critical of the interpretation, or of the words they use. You can just enjoy seeing such a joyful representation of Jesus! It seems that most movies portray a bland and not too exciting version of Jesus, but this definately lets you see him as I always saw him to be: joyful, compassionate, deeply caring, yet fun. A great movie!
Rating:
Summary: From one trained in theology...best Jesus movie ever!
Review: I am a graduate of a Christian University (Trinity Intl., Deerfield, IL) with years of Bible study behind me and ongoing. At age 65 I have never seen any portrayal of Jesus as wonderful as this movie gives. Bruce caught for me the essence of a loving, tender, open, "normal" being, full of joy and compassion. When Jesus touches people in this film, I feel the wonder of His love as never before, for I am sure that this was the way in which he interacted.Anyone who has been "turned off" by some of the other representations of Jesus in film should see this one, for it dispels the notion of an aesthetic, mysterious, aloof and unreachable Being, portrayed in so many previous versions, and it is much more realistic, being from the NIV verbatim than the "Jesus" movie made for TV recently, in which Jesus comes across as untrue to scripture and almost too playful. I highly recommend this to anyone who is wondering "Who was/is this God/man, Jesus, anyway? What did/does He have to say to me?" Now I want to read The Acts [of the Apostles] by the same film maker!
Rating:
Summary: Inspired!
Review: I concur with the other reviewers that the other movies portray a Jesus that I in particular would not care to get to know. Even the "Jesus" movie by Campus Crusade that has been translated into hundreds of languages is just not much of a movie. This one draws you in and it's too bad that *it* was not around before the aforementioned Jesus movie otherwise it may have gotten more exposure. I agree that it's pricey but I think Christians should start making better productions; sometimes that costs more especially when the viewer base is not that broad. The upcoming "Left Behind" has a $17 million budget which in Hollywood wouldn't buy you Tom Cruise let alone the rest of the movie. We're going the right direction with this kind of quality production. I plan to order Bruce's "Footsteps of Jesus" which of the 31 reviewers ALL 31 have given 5 stars--never seen this on Amazon! Enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Yes it was good, but...
Review: I enjoyed these films. The acting is, for the most part, excellent. The "Matthew" films are a word for word account of the NIV bible. Of coarse Jesus is by and far the most used character in the Matthew films, which could cause you to loose some interest. Bruce Marchiano portrayed Jesus. Although he is, at times, refreshingly humorous as Christ, most of the time the humor was over the top. "Falling Fire" is the bonus film in my version of the "Matthew" series and it too is a well-done film where some literary license is taken, and appropriately. Only problem: Bruce Marchiano began to get on my nerves by the end of the three films. Again just a little over the top with the "happy guy". In "Jesus", played by Jeremy Sisto, they struck a wonderfully believable balance of a Jesus as a human being and the Christ. The Jesus in The Living Bible Series was a difficult person to accept as Christ. He seemed a bit more like a comedian than a Savior, just a bit too much humor. The "Acts" films, which I also own, are a blow-by-blow account from the NIV bible as well. They took little literary license, as it was very straight forward and, obviously, as accurate as the NIV is. Now the "Healing Touch", which is part of the actual film titled "Jesus, the Christ", on the other hand, is where they took the literary liberties and done quite well. Again the acting is good and the story is pretty accurate.
Rating:
Summary: The Visual Bible's Matthew
Review: I have been a born again Christian for many years. Raised in a Christian home I was taught to love Jesus from an early age, but until I saw this Matthew video I didn't know what it meant to be truly in love with Jesus. Seeing him as a man feeling joy and sadness, yet still being fully God, opened my eyes to a Jesus I never knew. It put me back into reading all four gospels and learning again about his love for me as well as feeling his love like I never had before. This video was a spiritual awakening I needed.
Rating: 
Summary: A worthy effort; Bruce Marchiano is outstanding
Review: I have both this production and the Campus Crusade for Christ "Jesus" film. I believe this is the superior effort. Bruce Marchiano gives a passionate performance as Jesus, and conveys a variety of moods effectively. He does a good job of showing Jesus' humanity, better I think than the Crusade film. Matthew's one major weakness is also, oddly, one of its strengths - the length. In order to get every verse of the Gospel of Matthew on screen, this film runs for about 4? hours. It is commendable that the producers present the whole Gospel account; this gives a more detailed dramatization than the Crusade 'Jesus' film, which tried to present the entire Gospel of Luke in 2 hours. However this also means that the narrative in 'Matthew' bogs down in places, and it seems like it takes forever to get to the film's emotional payoff, the Crucifixion and Resurrection. Also, there are a couple of montages intercutting between Matthew as an old man and scenes from Jesus' day that don't seem to have much connection to the words that are being spoken by Richard Kiley. (The film's central narrative device is that Kiley, as old Matthew, dictates his Gospel account to scribes, and we see the events he is describing in flashback.) Nevertheless, if you're interested in Biblical epics, this is well worth having. DVD Technical note: On my JVC XV-M555 (3 disc changer), which I purchased in August 2000, disc 2 has picture breakup at the start of chapter 38 (which corresponds to the start of chapter 24 in the Gospel text). This may have to do with some minor scratches I observed on the underside; or it may be an authoring problem. The disc played fine on my DVD-ROM drive, however.
Rating:
Summary: A worthy effort; Bruce Marchiano is outstanding
Review: I have both this production and the Campus Crusade for Christ "Jesus" film. I believe this is the superior effort. Bruce Marchiano gives a passionate performance as Jesus, and conveys a variety of moods effectively. He does a good job of showing Jesus' humanity, better I think than the Crusade film. Matthew's one major weakness is also, oddly, one of its strengths - the length. In order to get every verse of the Gospel of Matthew on screen, this film runs for about 4ΒΌ hours. It is commendable that the producers present the whole Gospel account; this gives a more detailed dramatization than the Crusade 'Jesus' film, which tried to present the entire Gospel of Luke in 2 hours. However this also means that the narrative in 'Matthew' bogs down in places, and it seems like it takes forever to get to the film's emotional payoff, the Crucifixion and Resurrection. Also, there are a couple of montages intercutting between Matthew as an old man and scenes from Jesus' day that don't seem to have much connection to the words that are being spoken by Richard Kiley. (The film's central narrative device is that Kiley, as old Matthew, dictates his Gospel account to scribes, and we see the events he is describing in flashback.) Nevertheless, if you're interested in Biblical epics, this is well worth having. DVD Technical note: On my JVC XV-M555 (3 disc changer), which I purchased in August 2000, disc 2 has picture breakup at the start of chapter 38 (which corresponds to the start of chapter 24 in the Gospel text). This may have to do with some minor scratches I observed on the underside; or it may be an authoring problem. The disc played fine on my DVD-ROM drive, however.
Rating:
Summary: Jesus Comes to Life as Told by Matthew
Review: I have read selections of Matthew numerous times but never has it made so much sense and made such an impression. Unbelieveably, this captivating video adds nothing to Matthew's text. We followed along in our Bible to make sure! We showed this video to our church framily on Sunday nights for 6 weeks and our attendance more than doubled. This would make an excellent outreach video.
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