"Don’t Come Knocking" – full of "Christian content"?

Last updated on: November 29, 2012 at 2:52 pm By Jeffrey Overstreet

By the way, one of the films I recently really enjoyed — Don’t Come Knocking — contains the following content, listed for your convenience by the “Christian reviewer”* at Movieguide: Content: Very strong humanist, anti-biblical worldview with immoral characters who are driven by their broken souls to make life decisions, as well as light Christian elements can be seen by discerning viewers that shows the fruitlessness and emptiness of immoral decisions and God-less lifestyles;24 obscenities (17 of which are “f”... Read more

Specials: Defending “Bubble.” Poo-pooing Proulx’s poo-poo. New Issues of Paste and Risen! Bad Refs.

Last updated on: November 30, 2012 at 5:39 pm By Jeffrey Overstreet

Defending Bubble. What to do when friends disagree over movies? Jessica Poundstone wrote in to take issue with Adam Walter’s assessment of Soderbergh’s Bubble: The real reason I’m commenting is that I think Bubble deserves a much more careful viewing than Mr. Walter has given it. I’m not saying it’s one of Soderburgh’s very best, but I thought the film was a fascinating attempt to make a movie via a method (using non-actors, filming in their own town using elements... Read more

Surprisingly Satisfying “Inside Man”

Last updated on: November 30, 2012 at 5:40 pm By Jeffrey Overstreet

Spring has just begun, and I already have a strong list of 2006 favorite films. Spike Lee’s Inside Man just joined the list. It’s a satisfying, intense, and surprisingly laugh-out-loud-funny thriller. Denzel Washington does his thing, and does it well. Jodie Foster is frighteningly intense. Christopher Plummer continues to prove that this chapter of his career is the best chapter of his career. Chiwetel Ejiofor (the ultra-cool villain in Serenity, the hero in Dirty Pretty Things, the piano-playing ladies’ man... Read more

New column: Condemnation by Conny!

Last updated on: November 30, 2012 at 5:41 pm By Jeffrey Overstreet

Welcome to the debut of Condemnation by Conny!This week: (more…) Read more

Overlooked

Last updated on: November 30, 2012 at 5:51 pm By Jeffrey Overstreet

Roger Ebert has assembled his 2006 Overlooked Film Festival, which will run April 26-30 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. On the list… two films that I would have put at the top of my own 2006 overlooked films list: Junebug (which, after I saw it a second time, jumped up to second place on my Best of 2005 list), and Millions (which still holds first place). Ebert says: Amy Adams, an Academy Award nominee this year for “Junebug,”... Read more

One thing Wim Wenders said…

Last updated on: November 30, 2012 at 5:55 pm By Jeffrey Overstreet

My interview with Wim Wenders will be up at Christianity Today Movies in a few days, but I will tell you this now: He praises Terrence Malick’s The New World as perhaps the most powerful big screen experience he’s enjoyed since 2001: A Space Odyssey. What’s that? It just left the theaters in your neighborhood? You missed it? That’s okay. Most of America did. (more…) Read more

Mel Gibson: TIME Magazine gets up close to the director of "Apocalypto"

Last updated on: November 30, 2012 at 5:56 pm By Jeffrey Overstreet

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere’s Mel, as unpredictable and challenging as usual. This is the larger TIME article, from which that colorful excerpt in a previous post was apparently an early excerpt. (more…) Read more

Cafe Lumiere

Last updated on: November 30, 2012 at 5:59 pm By Jeffrey Overstreet

The more movies I watch, and the older I get, the more I enjoy a particular sight onscreen — people who are thinking. And Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s Cafe Lumiere is full of people thinking. Beautiful pictures of people thinking. At the same time, it’s a tribute to Yasujiro Ozu, which is evident right away… (more…) Read more

Specials: New Ron Sexsmith music! Greydanus flunks V. Walter on Soderbergh.

Last updated on: November 30, 2012 at 5:38 pm By Jeffrey Overstreet

NEW RON SEXSMITH MUSIC! My friend Jessica Poundstone, a vigilant Ron Sexsmith fan, send me this today: Well, you’re probably all over this, just haven’t gotten around to posting it on your blog yet (where the heck DO you find the time to write so voluminously there??? It’s staggering – I don’t make it over for a week or two and I have to take 45 minutes to catch up!) but there’s a sneak peak of a new song off... Read more

Chattaway’s Back (and Under Attack!)

Last updated on: November 21, 2012 at 1:23 pm By Jeffrey Overstreet

Chattaway’s back to regular blogging, now that his wife Deanna and the twins are home from the hospital. (Congratulations again, Chattaway family!) Well, in truth, Peter never really stopped blogging, but he’s got so much interesting stuff this week, I won’t get specific. I’ll just send you over there. Oh, and I should also note another stamp of approval for Chattaway’s work. He’s must be doing some good work, if he’s provoked Ted Baehr to say THIS about him: It’s... Read more