At Arts and Faith, Peter Chattaway comes up with two interesting links on The Hobbit. The first one is an interview, in which Del Toro says things that make me want to cheer. The only thing I will be pushing for more in these films that the other three are full animatronics and animatronic creatures enhanced with CGI, as opposed to CGI creatures themselves. We really want to take the state-of-the-art animatronics and take a leap ten years into the... Read more
Stephen Lamb is *still* blogging about that amazing Calvin College Festival of Faith and Writing. He was able to attend the session I most wanted to see for myself. Alas, I was busy, so I’m copying Lamb’s notes about a conversation between Kathleen Norris and Scott Cairns. Man, I wish I’d been there… Read more
My friend and colleague Peter Chattaway has joined the growing list of Christian film critics who have very mixed feelings about Expelled: No Intelligence Necessary. His review is published at BC Christian News. He comments even further at his blog. Here are some memorable moments: (more…) Read more
At Arts and Faith, Buckeye Jones asked a distracting question today: What’s your all-time favorite closing shot of a movie? Here are a few of mine… (more…) Read more
Many thanks to reviewer Jason Panella for this review of Auralia’s Colors at Catapult. Read more
Here’s today’s Overstreet Quiz Question: Jeffrey Overstreet has nieces and nephews named after which of the following fantasy-novel characters? Ender of Orson Scott Card’s Ender’s Game Daeneris of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire Phinehas of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter stories Atreides – the family name of the messianic Paul in Frank Herbert’s Dune Auralia of Jeffrey’s own novel Auralia’s Colors Make your guess! And, while this should not influence your answer, note io9’s report that... Read more
[This review was originally published at Christianity Today.] • To steal a phrase from a certain dark lord, “This will be a day long remembered.” Star Wars, Episode Three: Revenge of the Sith, the fastest Star Wars film ever built, packs in more action than its two predecessors — The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones — combined. The opening crawl begins with the word “War!” and, quicker than you can say “Into the garbage chute, flyboy!”, two things become clear:... Read more
No multi-bazillion-dollar Hollywood budget can match the power of a small dog on the big screen. A studio can spend a fortune on spectacular special effects, and yet a little four-legged co-star can steal the show by walking across the stage and yipping adorably. In the year’s most anticipated movie — the hugely expensive Superman Returns, the first Man of Steel movie since 1978 — the most memorable, delightful, and unexpected moment in the movie belongs to… … a Pomeranian.... Read more
[This review was originally published at Christianity Today.] Near the end of Steven Spielberg’s new film The Terminal — an ambitious, whimsical and sentimental movie similar in tone and gloss to 2001’s Catch Me If You Can — one of the characters proves to be quite a juggler. It’s a delightful moment, primarily because we know we aren’t watching a special effect. Kumar Pallana’s really juggling those hoops and spinning those plates! Likewise, Spielberg’s film is a juggling act that keeps the... Read more
Greg Wright, who edits Hollywood Jesus and runs Past the Popcorn, impressed me with his thoughtful examination of the new documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed when we participated in a roundtable discussion at The Kindlings Muse a week ago. (That discussion will be available via podcast soon.) So I was delighted to see that Wright had published a full review of the film at Past the Popcorn, and I quickly asked him if he would be willing to share the... Read more
Looking Closer
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