More ado about Jesus Camp

Last updated on: May 1, 2006 at 9:01 pm By Peter T. Chattaway

IndieWIRE reports from the Tribeca Film Festival in New York: “Boys of Baraka” filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady screened their latest effort, “Jesus Camp” in the International Documentary Competition, to a packed house in Lower Manhattan. The emotional doc, from A&E; IndieFilms profiles “Kids on Fire,” a summer camp in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota devoted to inspiring children towards a deeper devotion to the evangelical Christian movement. Organizer Becky Fischer, who has dedicated her life to spread her religious... Read more

BC Christian News — May 2005

Last updated on: May 1, 2006 at 5:35 pm By Peter T. Chattaway

The newest issue of BC Christian News is now online, and with it, my film column, which is basically a review of Thank You for Smoking with a brief note about Paradise Lost, and my article on various Christian responses to The Da Vinci Code. MAY 2 UPDATE: My review of Thank You for Smoking is now also up at the ChristianWeek website. MAY 18 UPDATE: A new version of my Da Vinci Code article, with various hyperlinks, is now... Read more

There is never a good time for a phone to die.

Last updated on: May 1, 2006 at 3:01 pm By Peter T. Chattaway

My profuse apologies to Paul Edwards, and to anyone who was listening to his God & Culture program a few minutes ago! We were talking about United 93 (my review) when my phone died. Yikes! Read more

Review: Thank You for Smoking (dir. Jason Reitman, 2005)

Last updated on: October 10, 2014 at 7:08 pm By Peter T. Chattaway

Nick Naylor is the sort of character for whom the phrase “the charm of the devil” was invented. He’s witty, intelligent, engaging — and a completely unapologetic apologist for the tobacco industry, an industry that he openly acknowledges, to certain people anyway, is responsible for the deaths of thousands, if not millions, of people. The thing is, he also believes those people are even more responsible for their deaths, because they actively chose to smoke cigars and cigarettes even though... Read more

Canadian box-office stats — April 30

Last updated on: May 1, 2006 at 7:03 am By Peter T. Chattaway

Here are the figures for the past weekend, arranged from those that owe the highest percentage of their take to the Canadian box office to those that owe the lowest. Take the Lead — CDN $4,261,961 — N.AM $29,556,000 — 14.4%Scary Movie 4 — CDN $7,138,239 — N.AM $78,171,000 — 9.1%Ice Age: The Meltdown — CDN $15,599,943 — N.AM $177,708,000 — 8.8%The Wild — CDN $2,306,422 — N.AM $28,430,000 — 8.1%Silent Hill — CDN $2,747,625 — N.AM $34,231,000 — 8.0%The... Read more

Grappling with the Da Vinci juggernaut

Last updated on: April 19, 2014 at 3:44 pm By Peter T. Chattaway

“SEEK the truth.” So say the posters for The Da Vinci Code. And so say many Christians who hope to make this movie a witnessing opportunity when it opens May 19 — despite its dismissal of the divinity of Jesus and its controversial claims about the marital status of Christ, the formation of the Bible and the church’s treatment of women. In contrast to past controversies, such as the various efforts to suppress Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ... Read more

Newsbites special: Da Vinci! Muslims! etc.!

Last updated on: April 29, 2006 at 3:11 pm By Peter T. Chattaway

Pardon the change in format, but I’ve been stockpiling some of these newsbites for a week or two now, and I want to flush ’em out! 1. Stories about The Da Vinci Code: Opus Dei Asks for ‘Da Vinci’ DisclaimerThe conservative religious group Opus Dei has asked for a disclaimer on the upcoming film based on the best-selling novel “The Da Vinci Code.”Opus Dei, portrayed as a murderous, power-hungry sect in the novel by Dan Brown, wrote in an April... Read more

Sowing seeds of doubt in a Narnia fan’s mind

Last updated on: April 29, 2006 at 2:41 pm By Peter T. Chattaway

I have an anecdote. But first, an excerpt from my review of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: In addition, the film gives the Witch more stature while dialing back the stature of Narnia’s Christ-figure Aslan . . . just a notch or so. . . . Aslan loses some of his warmth and ironic humour, especially when the Witch boldly approaches his camp and demands Edmund’s life. Here, it is Aslan, not the Witch,... Read more

Akeelah and the United Water — the reviews are up!

Last updated on: April 28, 2006 at 8:24 am By Peter T. Chattaway

My review of United 93 is now up at CT Movies, as is my review of Akeelah and the Bee, as is my review of the Genie Award-winning (for cinematography, music, and lead actress) Water. Read more

Who’s protesting The Da Vinci Code?

Last updated on: April 27, 2006 at 10:50 am By Peter T. Chattaway

The intro to Entertainment Weekly‘s cover story on The Da Vinci Code includes this curious sentence: “Some offended Evangelicals are planning protests and boycotts, but so far, most major Catholic organizations have been quiet.” Take out the word “organizations”, and my impression has been rather the opposite, actually. I interviewed several people recently for stories on Christian responses to The Da Vinci Code, and among my admittedly small sampling, it seemed to me that evangelicals were, if anything, bending over... Read more