The Mummy, a tongue-in-cheek, late-1990s remake of a 1930s classic, wasn’t a great movie, but it was a fun movie. More of a comedy than a horror story or even an action flick, it overcame the conventions of its genre by treating them all as one big joke, and no one had more fun with this than Brendan Fraser. As Rick O’Connell, a brawny but not so brainy legionnaire who battles bugs and monsters after some amateur archaeologists unwittingly bring... Read more
Quidditch Through the Ages / Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them J.K. Rowling Raincoast Books To the great disappointment of her many young fans, J.K. Rowling has admitted that there will be no new Harry Potter novels this year. Between consulting on the movie version of her first book, due later this year, and promoting her last book, the massive Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, she just hasn’t had time to finish the next installment. But to... Read more
Memento is a gimmicky movie, but in the best possible sense of the word. The film begins with a shot of a hand holding a Polaroid; in the picture, and behind it, we see what looks like a dead body, lying against a blood-splattered wall. Then the hand shakes the picture, and we realize the image is fading to white — time is going backwards. Then, sure enough, the blank Polaroid is sucked back into a camera, the blood runs... Read more
These days, war movies waste no time plunging the viewer into the miserable, savage, bloody midst of combat, and Enemy at the Gates is no exception. The grime splashed on the lens, the stark and chaotic cinematography, the way the sounds of battle are toned down so we can take in the sorrowful music and pause to wonder why people do these things to each other — all the tricks that seemed so innovative in Saving Private Ryan and Gladiator... Read more
Many of the books, films, music and TV shows that make up the parallel universe of the Christian entertainment industry are keyed to the idea of Judgment Day. Odd, writes Peter T. Chattaway — the Rapture is a modern concept with virtually no basis in the Bible Until it was released in theatres in the United States three weeks ago, Left Behind — an apocalyptic thriller filmed in Ontario and based on a best-selling series of novels by evangelical authors... Read more
It’s been almost ten years to the day since The Silence of the Lambs came out, and I still have vivid, terrifying memories of the experience. What lingers with me most is not the sight of rotting corpses with insects tucked inside their mouths and patches of skin carved from their backs, nor Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter’s brilliant but grisly escape from prison. Rather, the image seared onto my brain is the ultra-tight close-up on the serial killer’s nipple ring.... Read more
For the haziest of reasons, there is a near taboo on the portrayal of adult brothers and sisters in film In When Harry Met Sally, Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan famously argued over whether men and women could be friends without one of them wanting to have sex with the other. When I first saw the film 11 years ago, I found it funny, entertaining and a good conversation piece, but I couldn’t help thinking that Crystal and Ryan —... Read more
MANY CARTOONS have been based on Bible stories, but until recently, few if any of them were better than run-of-the-mill Saturday-morning fare. These films were made to babysit the kids, not to be enjoyed by the family as a whole. Thankfully, that has begun to change in recent years. European animators gave us the thoughtful Testament series, as well as a feature-length film on the life of Jesus, The Miracle Maker. Closer to home, The Prince of Egypt brought lavish,... Read more
Unbreakable has a lot in common with The Sixth Sense, the surprise spook-story hit that nudged its way into the ranks of the top ten box-office hits of all time early this year. It is written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It stars Bruce Willis. And it is a solemn tale about a person who has supernatural powers and must find a way to come to terms with his gift, and use it responsibly. Willis plays David Dunne, a... Read more
I WAS just getting out of diapers at the time, but the early 1970s were, I am told, a period of intense spiritual sensitivity. Certainly, popular culture bears that out. In 1973, Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar, two popular musicals based on the life of Jesus, hit the big screen. But the film that caught the country’s attention that year looked not to the Prince of Peace, but to the Prince of Darkness, for its inspiration. The Exorcist was a... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In