If a doctor asked you to be the guinea pig for an experimental drug, would you do it? What kind of side effects would make such an experiment too risky? Would you feel better if you knew that good results would advance the doctor's career? What if you learned that pharmaceutical companies were using you in a strategy to make more money? Shouldn't we hope to find drug-free solutions before turning our bodies into elaborate chemistry experiments? These are disturbing but relevant … [Read more...]
Few science fiction novels have wrestled with questions about faith, the existence of God, and the problem of evil as vigorously as Mary Doria Russell's two-volume science fiction epic The Sparrow and Children of God. If you're not familiar with these popular novels, here's the basic idea: In the history of the world, what group of people has most frequently sought out, made contact with, and built cultural bridges with foreign cultures? Answer: The Jesuits! So, Mary Doria Russell asks, … [Read more...]
Look! These links caught my attention today, for one reason or another. Check back later. I may add more look-worthy links as the day goes on. - Last night, thanks to the new Criterion blu-ray release, I finally got around to watching Ivan's Childhood, the first feature film by master filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky. I've seen Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev, Zerkalo (The Mirror), Solaris, and The Sacrifice enough times to count them among my favorite films, but have never managed to sit … [Read more...]
Michael Chabon is writing about the films of Wes Anderson. So I have postponed my plans for the morning until I've read the whole thing. Here's how it begins... … [Read more...]
NSFW. Do I have your attention? I should warn you, this post may take more than 30 seconds to read. "Don't waste my time" — that's the prevailing attitude for most readers on the Internet. But here's the thing: If you don't take time to read, re-read, discuss, and reflect on what you're reading, then you are wasting your time. I know because I'm guilty of this. I can spend hours perusing the Internet, and the next day I won't think about any of it. At all. That was time wasted. For … [Read more...]
Today, The New York Times is telling the world about my fellow Patheos blogger Sister Rose Pacatte! This just makes my day. I've always enjoyed the company of Sister Rose in the community of those who love to discuss the inseparable natures of art and faith. So many who are identified as "Christian film critics" seem to spend the majority of their time complaining about the unethical behaviors they see in the movies, whether those behaviors are merely depicted or actually condoned. But … [Read more...]
When Guillermo Del Toro was announced as the director of a big-screen adaptation of The Hobbit, Tolkien fans rejoiced. Del Toro has a marvelous way of bringing to life both the childlike and the frightful, and that story needs both. Moreover, he is a master of hand-crafted cinema. Since Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings series set a new standard for digital animation, now Del Toro would have a chance to set a new standard for elaborate puppetry and handmade special effects. (He made it clear … [Read more...]
I'm almost always surprised when I come across new reviews of my four-novel fantasy series, The Auralia Thread. It's never going to be a best-selling series. It isn't about a girl and the boys who are competing for her. It isn't about zombies or vampires or werewolves (although it does have beastmen, who are kind of like all three). It spends as much time on quiet moments as loud moments, and reveals that I'm as interested in environments as characters, as intrigued by the interior lives of … [Read more...]
Dear Neil Gaiman, Speaking as a fellow fantasy novelist, I envy you the experiences you've had... seeing your stories brought to life on the big screen with vivid imagination in brilliant adaptations. I'm a huge fan of the film version of MirrorMask, one of the Henson Company's most original and daring works. I discover new rewards in that movie every time I watch it. I've also come to love Henry Selick's version of Coraline very much. But that's no surprise. Selick's The Nightmare … [Read more...]
Today, Good Letters — the blog published by Image at Patheos — posted my reflections on Empire of the Sun, a Steven Spielberg film that I love more and more as the years pass. I'm grateful for the opportunity to write about it for Good Letters, as I'm grateful for the whole four-year experience there. As I wrote earlier, I am taking a long sabbatical in order to focus on other projects. Here is an index of all of the Good Letters posts I turned in. Some of the time I offered … [Read more...]
-
“Jeffrey Overstreet is a witness. While habituating the dark caves of movie theaters, he gives articulate witness to what I too often miss in those caves — the contours of God’s creation and the language of Christ’s salvation. … I find him a delightful and most percipient companion — a faithful Christian witness.”- Eugene Peterson, author of The Message and Tell It Slant, on Overstreet’s moviegoing memoir Through a Screen Darkly
-
"Jeffrey is ... one of my favorite film critics. He writes with great lucidity and compassion about all sorts of movies, from all sorts of angles, but what I value most about his work is the theological-moral perspective he takes on things. He’s not a dogmatic scold, sifting through popular art looking for work that fits a rigid world view; he’s more interested in Looking Closer, as his blog title suggests, to discover what, if anything, the work is saying." - Matt Zoller Seitz, founder of the film review websites The House Next Door and Press Play (at indieWire) and television critic for New York Magazine-
“Overstreet’s writing is precise and beautiful, and the story is masterfully told.”- Publisher’s Weekly on Overstreet’s novel Auralia’s Colors
-
“In Auralia’s Colors, Overstreet masterfully extends the borders of imagination.”- Gina Ochsner, author of The Russian Dreambook of Color and Flight
-
“… [T]he spirit of the Inklings is alive and well and at least one living writer could have held his own at their table!”- Dick Staub, author of The Culturally Savvy Christian
-
“Jeffrey Overstreet is a trespasser. He’s constantly moving outside of the borders of what church and culture deem to be ironclad, eternal categories (sacred vs. profane, high culture vs. popular culture) — and he has a knack for bringing people along with him. His passport? The imagination. ... When you trespass with Jeffrey Overstreet, you don’t have to ask for forgiveness.” - Image-
EXCUSE OUR DUST: This blog is under construction. Please email Jeffrey if you find broken links or problems. Many reviews, interviews, and posts are still being restored from the past decade of blogging. So check it out: This blog will expand both forward and backward in time. The future is now, and yesterday is not so very far away.-
About Jeffrey Overstreet-
About Looking Closer: An Introduction-
Comment Policy-
Overstreet on Tour: Speaking Calendar-
Some Favorite Quotes-
Some Favorite Sites-
"Mystery & Message," by Michael Demkowicz-
Follow Patheos on
Copyright 2008-2013, Patheos. All rights reserved. Terms of Service | Patheos Privacy Policy | Site developed by Avalon Consulting, LLC
Follow Patheos
Movies: