The Sign of the Cross (1932)

The Sign of the Cross is a pre-code Cecil B. DeMille movie, and I loved it.  The first half is relatively dry, but things get crazy in the second act.  The movie takes place during the reign of Nero.  A Roman soldier falls in love with a Christian woman, and rescues her when a meeting of Christians gets broken up and everyone is arrested.  He then has an orgy where a woman does a sexy dance for her.  The movie also feature a Colosseum scene that gets progressively more ridiculous, culminating in battle between Amazons and black dwarfs.  I got the feeling that we were supposed to feel sorry for the Christians, but they all seemed pretty eager to die to me.  They knew that their meeting wasn't a secret anymore, but held it anyway.  As far as costuming goes, the Christian woman is dressed like someone from the 10th century, while Claudette Colbert as the empress is pure 1930s glamour girl.

The Miracle Maker (2000)

The Miracle Maker (2000) is the creepiest movie about Jesus.  It is very well done claymation, which puts it far, far into the Uncanny Valley.  It also has 2D segments which look sort of cheap by comparison. There are a few scary moments, but it's otherwise appropriate for children.  The conflate Mary Magdalene and the possessed guy into one person, making her crazy instead of a prostitute.  Also, there are several segments featuring Tamar, the girl that Jesus brought back from the recently dead.  I feel like I've said everything I can about the story of Jesus at this point.  I could watch more movies about him, but I feel like I need to move on.

Jesus of Montreal (1989)

I cheated a bit with this one.  It's set in 1980s Montreal.  But, I needed a break from all the sand.  An actor is hired to update a Passion Play, because attendance has been dropping off.  H gathers together a misfit crew of actors, and then put on a very successful show.  Eventually, the man playing Jesus becomes a modern day Jesus through a series of tragic events. The movie does show several scenes of their play, which is why I've decided to include it. Altogether it's a pretty good movie with an unfortunate soundtrack.

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)

Now that we are finished with regular Jesus, it is time for his gritty reboot.  I actually enjoyed The Last Temptation of Christ, although it started to drag during the last temptation part.  I found Willem Dafoe's Jesus to be a lot more likable than most of the other portrayals.  Visually, it has some very striking moments.  Also, as an added bonus, nobody uses a fake English accent and everyone acts like a real person.

Jesus (1979)

Behold!  For I have found the worst Jesus movie ever made!  Jesus is available for free on the Internet in every language ever.  It's a word for word adaptation of the Book of Luke.  The actors don't even act it out so much as they just sort of recite it.  Also, Jesus apparently had access to a blow dryer.  It might be good to watch if you are trying to memorize the Book of Luke, otherwise you can skip it.

Jesus of Nazareth (1977)

Jesus of Nazareth is six hours long.  I broke it up into two viewings, but you might want to make it three.  It is very thorough, and actually very good.  So far it's my favorite Jesus movie.  It covers everything from before conception to after the Resurrection.  The acting is very well done.  The characters (even Jesus!) behave like real people.  The costumes manage to be both historical and interesting.  At this point I would suggest that if you are trying to watch your way through history and only want to watch one Jesus movie, watch this one if you have the attention span for it.

Godspell (1973)

Of all the movies I've watched about Jesus, Godspell is by far the stupidist.  I guess if you really like watching hobo-clowns act out parables you should watch it, but otherwise it has nothing to reccomend it.