I’m not sure I want to write about Saraband (2003) just yet. I’m still chewing over what the significance of some scenes might be. Heck, early on, this film brings back that weird paper sun that hung over the final meeting between the two protagonists in Scenes from a Marriage (1973) three decades earlier — and I still haven’t figured out what that object was supposed to signify in that film! But I might as well toss out a few... Read more

There are times I wish I could just take off for a day — or a week — and rummage around the periodical archives at a library. Today I was at the Regent College library, looking for certain articles on film in old copies of Christian Century and Christianity Today, and I discovered some fascinating things along the way. Nothing of earth-shattering importance — just fascinating, to me, at least. For example, I discovered that the March 16, 1973 issue... 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. Wedding Crashers — CDN $8,544,072 — N.AM $80,901,000 — 10.6%The Island — CDN $1,238,057 — N.AM $12,100,000 — 10.2%Mr. & Mrs. Smith — CDN $17,383,071 — N.AM $174,568,000 — 10.0%Madagascar — CDN $17,786,750 — N.AM $186,631,000 — 9.5%Batman Begins — CDN $16,524,493 — N.AM $191,108,000 — 8.6%War of the Worlds... Read more

The news regarding Apocalypto, Mel Gibson’s follow-up to The Passion, just gets better and better. Variety now reports: When production chiefs from selected studios trooped to Icon Prods. headquarters after an invite to read the film Mel Gibson planned for summer 2006, they were surprised at the very first page of the script. “The dialogue you are about to read will not be spoken in English.” Gibson, who last made the most successful Aramaic-language film ever, is at it again.... Read more

Four months ago, I linked to a review of my sister’s performance of two John Cage pieces. Now she informs me that mp3s of those performances may be downloaded here. Enjoy! Read more

Just a note to say that my review of The Island is up at CT Movies. Also, Reuters has a story up now about the film’s moral and political implications. JUL 23 UPDATE: And now the Seattle Times reports that The Island may be a rip-off of Parts: The Clonus Horror (1979), a film that was featured on Mystery Science Theatre 3000. The IMDB even flat-out states that one film is a remake of the other. Read more

Just a few quick items. 1. Mel Gibson is finally working on his follow-up to The Passion of the Christ, reports Variety: Gibson wrote the script and will direct “Apocalypto,” which, sources say, is not religious in theme. Pic begins production in October in Mexico for a summer 2006 release. . . . Gibson will not star in “Apocalypto” and may not use a star for the film, which is set in an ancient civilization some 3,000 years ago. The... Read more

Variety reports via ComingSoon.net that AnnaSophia Robb — the young star of Because of Winn-Dixie (my junket report; my review) and Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and a self-professed Christian — will co-star with Oscar-winner Hilary Swank in The Reaping, a “supernatural tale” from Robert Zemeckis and Joel Silver’s Dark Castle Entertainment, about a “myth debunker (Swank) who travels to a small, religious town in Texas to investigate occurrences that appear to be the 10 Biblical plagues.” The... Read more

Just for the record, I have finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince — a bit later than I had hoped, but at any rate, I have posted chapter-by-chapter comments at the earlier post. UPDATE: And now I’ve condensed my comments into a review for BC Christian News; the print edition will be even shorter. Read more