"The Word became flesh," according to John 1:14, and both historians and artists have made that point by portraying Jesus in the nude at certain key points in his story. Here are three films that have done the same. Read more
"The Word became flesh," according to John 1:14, and both historians and artists have made that point by portraying Jesus in the nude at certain key points in his story. Here are three films that have done the same. Read more
It’s already a record-setting TV series and a record-setting DVD release. Now an even shorter version of The Bible is headed for theatres… or possibly even arenas. Read more
Three new movies -- one already in theatres, the other two coming soon -- play on the idea that aliens who visit our planet (or humans who visit alien planets!) might be regarded as "gods" by the natives. Read more
Oblivion recycles elements from so many sci-fi movies, it's barely a movie in its own right. Here are over a dozen films that it reminded me of, just as I was watching it. What did it remind you of? Read more
The creator of a new video essay estimates that as much as 40 percent of Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Gospel according to St. Matthew consists of facial close-ups. Read more
Three weeks ago, I noted three different movies coming up this summer that, based on their trailers, all feature images of people being blown out of holes in airplanes or starships. Now here's a fourth. Read more
The movies haven't forgotten the '80s Christian glam-metal band Stryper. One of the band's T-shirts played a significant role in Whip It a few years ago; now Dwayne Johnson sings a line from one of their songs in Pain & Gain... or does he? Read more
One critic says 42, the new film about groundbreaking baseball player Jackie Robinson, "simply avoids" telling us anything about Robinson's faith or that of Brooklyn Dodgers owner Branch Rickey. But is that true? And how does the new film compare, in this regard, to previous movie versions of this story? Read more
The producers of The Bible had to squish thousands of years of sacred literature down to ten hours (or less). Now I have managed to squish the 15,000 words or so that I wrote about the series here at this blog down to about 2,000 words for a web-exclusive article at Books & Culture. Read more
It’s common these days for each new episode of a TV series to begin with a montage that sums up all the relevant plot points from previous episodes. So it was only natural that, when the History Channel aired its five-part mini-series The Bible over the month of March, all but one of the episodes began with narrator Keith David intoning, in his deep baritone voice, “Previously, on The Bible…” All of the show’s strengths and weaknesses are captured in... Read more
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