I’m filling in for Jeffrey Overstreet on the CT Movies Film Forum while he’s away on holiday, this week and next. The first of the two forums (fora?) went up today, covering the reactions of Christian critics to Stealth, Sky High, Must Love Dogs, March of the Penguins, Murderball, Rize, The Beautiful Country, The Island and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Interestingly, just as Jeff has gone on vacation, so too it seems a number of the critics we normally... Read more

So help me, I actually had a blast when I saw Stealth with the wife a couple weeks ago. I wouldn’t say I “liked” it, exactly, but there was something kinda fun about leaving my movie-critic notebook at home and sitting back and basking in the sheer cheesiness of this film. And as I said in my most recent column, it can be fun to talk about the issues raised in films like this, even when — if not because... Read more

Just posting a link to my feature for the August 2005 issue of the Canadian newspaper ChristianCurrent on Hollywood’s discovery of the Christian market — for which, among other things, I interviewed my CT Movies colleague Jeffrey Overstreet. This is the first article I’ve written specifically for this paper, and the online version is a fair bit shorter than what I wrote, and I cannot help but wonder if the print version is longer, since I did a Faith FM... Read more

Just a few news blurbs. 1. The Daily Telegraph reports that 20th Century Fox is looking for a five-year-old boy to play Damien in an upcoming remake of The Omen (1976) that is due to be released on June 6, 2006 — or 6/6/06, a release date that has already been claimed by Brian Flemming‘s The Beast, but never mind. The article states: The new version of the horror classic, which is being shot with a $40 million (£22.7 million)... Read more

The Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia will host at least two films featuring novice nuns next month. On September 9, it will screen The Sound of Music (1965), starring Julie Andrews; and on September 15, the opening gala will include a screening of Thom Fitzgerald’s new film, 3 Needles, described thusly: This epic film on a worldwide epidemic spans three continents and features a star-studded ensemble cast. In South Africa, Clara (Chloë Sevigny) is a novice nun. Her... Read more

The film won’t come out for another four months, but CT Movies editor Mark Moring has already posted his interview with Anna Popplewell, the young actress who plays Susan Pevensie in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Here’s one interesting quote: In the books, Aslan is clear that females should not go into battle. But you and Lucy are in the battles in the movie. Can you talk about that a bit? Anna: That was a slight alteration we... 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. The Island — CDN $2,924,899 — N.AM $23,956,000 — 12.2%Wedding Crashers — CDN $12,803,254 — N.AM $116,074,000 — 11.0%Mr. & Mrs. Smith — CDN $17,919,789 — N.AM $178,540,329 — 10.0%War of the Worlds — CDN $18,118,422 — N.AM $218,332,000 — 8.3%Fantastic Four — CDN $9,794,703 — N.AM $136,145,000 — 7.2%Charlie... Read more

Four people are credited with the screenplay for the upcoming film adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. One is director Andrew Adamson, whose only prior experience as a writer or director was on the first two Shrek movies (2001, 2004). Two others are Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, whose only credited film to date is the TV-movie The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004), which I have not yet seen. That leaves Ann Peacock, who has... Read more

The newest issue of BC Christian News is now online, and with it, a couple of new reviews by me — all of them briefer than they arguably ought to be, but hey, word counts are what they are. First, there is my regular film column, which focuses mostly on Murderball, though it also touches ever-so-briefly on Bad News Bears, The Island, Stealth and a couple other things. Then there is my brief review of the first installments in the... Read more

In case anybody’s wondering, I did watch some of the more recent Billy Graham movies this past week, but I don’t have a whole lot to say about them. The Ride (1997) seems like an okay drama, but my appreciation for stories about friendships between grown-ups and children is outweighed by my lack of interest in westerns or movies about cowboys. A Vow to Cherish (1999) is a nice look at an adult Christian couple dealing with the onset of... Read more