Sometimes the best way to view the man behind the curtain is through the lens of the Fall.
The Moviegoer: The Side Effects of Hopelessness
March 7, 2013 By 2 Comments
Each week in The Moviegoer, Nick Olson examines new and upcoming films. ***Spoiler Alert*** Set with great effect to a memorably haunting Thomas Newman score, Steven Soderbergh’s Side Effects begins as a puzzle to be pieced together by giving the viewer a flash-forward glimpse of an apartment floor spoiled with fresh blood. The film is framed [...]
The Moviegoer: Memorable 2012 Moviegoing
February 21, 2013 By 3 Comments
Each week in The Moviegoer, Nick Olson examines new and upcoming films. Confession: I love lists. I love making to-do lists, favorites lists, even grocery lists. All kinds of lists. I’m that person with a computer home screen filled with those little electronic notepad stickies–and my computer sits on a desk with various material notepad stickies [...]
Notes from the Margins: White People Problems
February 15, 2013 By 8 Comments
“Hollywood loves a good disaster movie, but only if they can cast certain stars, ones that look and act like the majority of the Western audience they are trying to reach.”
The Moviegoer: Marriage Made Strange
February 14, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Each week in The Moviegoer, Nick Olson examines new and upcoming films. This week, Image released a Top 25 Films About Marriage list as voted on by the Arts and Faith community. You can read an excellent introduction to the list written by my Filmwell colleague, Michael Leary. I am privileged to have had the opportunity [...]
The Moviegoer: ‘Margaret’ and the Difficulty of Responding to Life’s Traumas
February 7, 2013 By 1 Comment
Each week in The Moviegoer, Nick Olson examines new and upcoming films. There’s a recurring scene in Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret that may recall for you memories of high school Civics (or Literature or History)–any class that fostered student interaction constituted by almost unmediated opinion-giving. If your experience is like mine, then you’ll probably remember moments of heated, [...]
Notes from the Margins: Hushpuppy, Stereotypes, and the Kingdom of God
February 1, 2013 By 2 Comments
“We can’t immerse ourselves in the miracles without first confronting the grim realities of our world.”
The Moviegoer: Zero Dark Thirty and the Question of “Real Tradecraft”
January 31, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Each week in The Moviegoer, Nick Olson examines new and upcoming films. During a typical urgency-inducing CIA staff meeting, a leading operative named George (Mark Strong) is delivering one of his characteristically blow-hard speeches meant to incite his team of intelligence gatherers to a more precise persistence. In a memorable, if seemingly insignificant, moment, he makes [...]
Hopefully, The Force Will Be Strong with J.J. Abrams
January 25, 2013 By 3 Comments
All criticisms aside, let’s hope that the Force is strong with this one, and that he is able to rise to the occasion.
The Moviegoer: Hobbitses, Les Misérables, and Grace Notes Not Quite in Harmony
January 24, 2013 By 2 Comments
Each week in The Moviegoer, Nick Olson examines new and upcoming films. The Hobbit (Peter Jackson) & Les Misérables (Tom Hooper) At the moment when Bilbo Baggins answers the door to his Hobbit-hole home to unexpectedly find a Dwarf inviting himself in as if summoned, followed by all that ensues in that sequence of scenes [...]
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