My list of ten top life-of-Jesus movies is now up at CT Movies. Read more

Variety reports that Taylor Hackford will direct a Broadway musical version of Leap of Faith (1992), the movie that starred Steve Martin as a cynical huckster who poses as a faith healer. The film also co-starred Debra Winger, Liam Neeson, Meat Loaf and, apparently, a young Philip Seymour Hoffman; and it was directed by Richard Pearce, who had covered a real-life religious scam artist years earlier as a cinematographer on the 1972 documentary Marjoe. The musical’s score has been composed... Read more

For some time now, I have been meaning to write something on the new mini-series version of The Ten Commandments, which airs tonight and tomorrow night on ABC. But between the twins and the writing gigs that pay, I’ve been too busy. I do devote a few paragraphs to it in an upcoming column for ChristianCurrent on all three films that have gone by that name, but it’s pretty brief, and anyway, it hasn’t been published yet. I will say... Read more

I’ve been collecting DVDs for over five years now, but it wasn’t until last week that I achieved my dream of putting them all together on the same basic shelving unit. (Well, almost all — the ‘Walt Disney Treasures‘ sets are still lined up somewhere else.) Now that my wife and I spend so much time sitting and feeding the kids, we’ve been watching a lot more videos than usual, lately; so we finally, for the sake of convenience, decided... Read more

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. She’s the Man — CDN $3,758,312 — N.AM $29,790,000 — 12.6%Basic Instinct 2 — CDN $636,078 — N.AM $5,208,000 — 12.2%V for Vendetta — CDN $6,889,086 — N.AM $62,257,000 — 11.1%Lucky Number Slevin — CDN $706,791 — N.AM $7,130,000 — 9.9%Inside Man — CDN $6,504,737 — N.AM $66,056,000 — 9.8%Take... Read more

My beefs with Walden Media’s significantly revised version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe are well-documented here. And on Friday, I mentioned my misgivings about the direction in which Walden Media seems to be taking Bridge to Terabithia. Now, Jeff Overstreet is sounding the alarm about Walden Media‘s live-action version of Charlotte’s Web, starring Dakota Fanning as Fern and Julia Roberts as Charlotte, the spider. To quote him: The trailer prominently displays a moment when a rat is... Read more

In preparation for the articles I will have to write when the movie version of The Da Vinci Code comes out, I have spent the last few days reading Angels & Demons, the previous novel by Dan Brown; like Da Vinci, it features various coded intrigues, as well as Robert Langdon, the character Tom Hanks plays in the upcoming movie. And while I am ignorant enough of Renaissance art and history to be mesmerized by all the alleged Illuminati connections... Read more

Oh my. I just checked the IMDB page for the upcoming film version of Bridge to Terabithia, and discovered that Zooey Deschanel, who I adore, is playing Miss Edmunds. Who, you may ask, is Miss Edmunds? Let me quote from Chapter 2 of Katherine Paterson‘s original novel: Miss Edmunds was one of [Jess Aaron’s] secrets. He was in love with her. Not the kind of silly stuff Ellie and Brenda giggled about on the telephone. This was too real and... Read more

Too many items to catch up on here, so let’s be brisk. 1. At last, we have a Joseph! TelevisionPoint.com reports that the Guatemala-born Oscar Isaac will play the husband of Mary in Catherine Hardwicke’s Nativity, while Irish actor Ciarán Hinds will play King Herod. Thanks to Jeffrey Overstreet for the tip. 2. Cinematical says Harry Potter Movie #5 will come out on July 13 of next year, only six days after Harry Potter Book #7 comes out. Looks like... Read more

My review of Lucky Number Slevin is now up at CT Movies. Read more