Today, I was interviewed by Paul Asay of Focus on the Family’s Plugged In. We had a delightful conversation about Christian discernment at the movies. I respect Plugged In’s focus on helping us be discerning moviegoers and discerning parents. (more…) Read more
Kathleen Norris’s new book, Acedia and Me, is coming in just a few weeks. A new book by Norris is always a reason to celebrate, and I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy of this one. I ordered mine from Eighth Day Books. Publisher’s Weekly’s Starred Review: (more…) Read more
I just realized that Steven Greydanus reviewed Brideshead Revisited, and somehow I missed it. He knows the book, and he gives the movie a lashing. Brideshead Revisited, directed by Julian Jarrold (Becoming Jane) from a screenplay by Jeremy Brock (The Last King of Scotland) and Andrew Davies (Bridget Jones’s Diary), gets a few things right. The allure of the opulent elegance of Brideshead (York’s Castle Howard, as in the miniseries) for middle-class artist Charles Ryder (Matthew Goode, Match Point), and... Read more
This weekend, I discovered a journal that I kept in college. In those pages, I wrote brief descriptions of my favorite big-screen moments, much the way the critics who write for FilmComment have done in their annual year-end issue. It was inspiring to read back through pages of pages of great moments from movies that range from great to disposable. I was inspired to spend more time inquiring about your own favorite moments. So, from time to time I’m going... Read more
This is collection of reviews that I found interesting and helpful. The collection will be revised as I find more notable assessments online. Feel free to submit more reviews, or even your own, in the comments below. TROPIC THUNDER Anthony Lane – New Yorker: After the dazzle of the early scenes, something droops and flags in Tropic Thunder. … As a jab at the movie business, Tropic Thunder is flailing and unfocussed, hardly in the league of The Player, and... Read more
What could be better than a blog by Paste‘s chief film critic Robert Davis? (more…) Read more
An interview with Ron Hansen, the acclaimed novelist who wrote Mariette in Ecstasy and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, has just been posted at The Christian Century. Hansen’s work has also been published in Image. (H/T to Darrel Manson for the link.) Read more
Welcome to Reader Mailstrom, a chronicle of stand-outs from the daily maelstrom of Looking Closer email. Most of these letters are real. Some of them are amalgams of a variety of messages. Some of them are what I read between the lines of the things readers really wrote. – In response to my review of There Will Be Blood: You have a staggering misconception about the world around you if you can watch a movie like There Will Be Blood... Read more
The Browser: News & links to raise your eyebrows & furrow your brow. New headlines will be added as the day goes on. Stay tuned. (more…) Read more
What a wide range of responses I’m seeing for Henry Poole is Here… (more…) Read more
Looking Closer
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In