Looking Closer
Did you hear the one about the door of U2's private jet falling off mid-flight? Best punchline for that set-up wins... Read more
Did you hear the one about the door of U2's private jet falling off mid-flight? Best punchline for that set-up wins... Read more
On Halloween, Anne and I went out to celebrate Halloween dressed as Seattle Pacific University MFA in Creative Writing students who are running out of time to complete their homework assignments by the deadline. We were very, very convincing — we tricked everybody. The treats? They were provided by the pub where we put on an Oscar-worthy performance of actually studying and writing essays. All of the zombies and witches and clowns and Star Wars characters and superheroes in the pub... Read more
Wow, what an eventful 2014 we’ve had so far here at Looking Closer. And we’ve only just arrived at November. Historically, November and December are the busiest months of the year on my blog, because it’s time to start reviewing the most impressive music, movies, and more. But before we get caught up in all of that excitement, I need to stop, glance back over my shoulder, and appreciate just how much your readership and support have enabled me to do…... Read more
My longtime friend, colleague, and Filmwell co-founder Michael Leary, a writer I admire, a man of impeccable taste in cinema, and — above all — a big-hearted father, has something to say about Gilmore Girls. The whole series is now streaming on Netflix. I won’t hesitate to admit that I’m watching it again… …and not just because my favorite songwriter, Sam Phillips, does the music. How did television get me to make time for a comedy about a mother, a... Read more
On Christmas Day 2012 — while Americans were still grieving for victims of the Newtown elementary-school massacre — "Django Unchained," the new film by Quentin Tarantino, opened nationwide. This week, as my community grieves the loss of lives in two recent Seattle school shootings, Tarantino's hyperviolent Western has arrived on Netflix. Read more
"... if the goal of Ragamuffin is to get viewers to reconsider the life and music of Mullins, who’s been dead these seventeen years ... : I have some of his stuff playing on YouTube right now. If the goal was for the film to be a work of art in itself, then there’s a lot more work to be done." Read more
Arriving on home video just in time for Halloween, Scott Derrickson's "Deliver Us From Evil" delivers a creative tangle of tropes and trippy special effects, aiming to do better than merely making us jump out of our seats. And it succeeds. Read more
#Ferguson. #WTO. #U2iPhone6 Why am I not tweeting my outrage? Have I been pummeled numb by scandal, injustice, and atrocity? Have I become hard-hearted? Read more
"I don't think it will be winning any awards from the Christian world. ... It takes place in a universe very like ours." Read more
Today, Matt Zoller Seitz, editor of RogerEbert.com, defended The Good Lie, a movie in which the central characters are Christians, as “a good movie.” Why did he feel the need to defend it? Well, the success of The Blind Side inspired some backlash — opposition to movies in which “a white lady comes to the rescue” of those in need, as if down-home American white folks are the world’s saviors. And the marketing campaign for The Good Lie certainly makes the movie look like one of... Read more
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