The newest issue of BC Christian News is now online, and with it, my film column, which includes brief, brief notes on Bella, Billy: The Early Years, Agora and Year One.
This issue also includes an amusing article by the paper’s founding editor Lloyd Mackey on the shift in Christian attitudes towards film over the past half-century:
I have a couple of Odeon stories to tell, even though I grew up in a home where attendance at the theatre was virtually verboten.
The first occurred when I was about 13. Elizabeth II had been crowned queen of, among other places, Canada. A Technicolor Cinemascope documentary of the event had top billing at the Odeon.
My parents were part of Oaklands Gospel Hall (now Oaklands Chapel, a Christian Brethren assembly). They had decided that the no-movie rule could be broken to attend The Coronation.
My mother had checked out the idea with Mrs. Thompson, one of the assembly matriarchs. Mrs. Thompson congenially suggested that, in ascending the throne, Elizabeth had become defender of the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
We would see, she promised, the implications of that defender status in the coronation liturgy, making the film a remarkable Christian education opportunity.
Thus began the slippery slope into an appreciation for good film – which I would contend is widely shared among evangelical Christians today. . . .
I doubt Mackey remembers it, but I actually phoned him way, way back in 1986, when I was 15 or 16, to ask if he had any interest in running any film reviews. That would probably make him the first editor I “pitched” anything to. After making the pitch, I remember writing a “demo” review of The Great Mouse Detective (1986) — which I still have on my hard drive! — but I can’t remember if I actually sent it in. My first published review, of A Cry in the Dark (1988), appeared in the paper two years later.
Finally, I interviewed Kevin Miller, co-writer of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, for BC Christian News‘s sister publication In The World a few months ago. The article has been online for a while now, but since I am unfamiliar with that publication’s schedule, I neglected to look for it or to link to it earlier. You can read it here.
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