As these critical nominations roll out this year, there’s far more love for King Kong than I ever expected. Here are the nominations by the Chicago Film Critics… one of the groups that don’t seem to be hasty, waiting until most of the 2005 films have arrived and had time to sink in. Read more
Rod Dreher on “Brokeback Mountain” True, the men begin their doomed affair in a time and place where homosexuality was viciously suppressed, and so they suffer from social constrictions that make it difficult to master their own fates. But it is also true that both men are overgrown boys who waste their lives searching for something they’ve lost, and which might be irrecoverable. They are boys who refuse to become men, or to be more precise, do not, for various... Read more
I finally got tired of reading the debates and the diatribes. I sat myself down and watched the film twice in one week. And I wrote a review that was ten pages long. Then, deciding that I wanted at least one person to read it, I did a severe edit. Here’s my in-depth… but hopefully not insufferable… review of Brokeback Mountain. Read more
I’m engrossed in editing Auralia’s Colors this weekend, and working on my Top 25 of 2005. But in the meantime… Jeffrey, I think it has been proved that The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe has enough legs that a sequel will be made and since you have already posed the question of who might direct future films, I think an interesting question to pose to your readers would be which of the remaining books should or will actually be... Read more
The Independent has the scoop. Time will tell if it’s a… um… quality scoop. (more…) Read more
I liked his Seven Swans album. Then I grew to love it. I liked his Illinois album. These days, I love it more than I can say. The two songs “John Wayne Gacy Jr.” and “Casimir Pulaski Day” are better on their own than any other full album I’ve heard all year. And now this… NPR has rated Illinois as the album of the year, and says, “Sufjan Stevens new album isn’t just this year’s best album, it’s the best... Read more
I interviewed screenwriter/film-instructor Craig Detweiler at Biola several months ago in L.A., before any trailers for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe had even been shown. (The trailer debuted above Detweiler’s head on a big screen at the Biola Media Conference.) That interview was published today at Christianity Today Movies. Here’s a clip: Do you see “good, beautiful, complex, redemptive” films being made today? Detweiler: Almost every class I teach here ends with David Gordon Green’s film George Washington,... Read more
Which mainstream film critic said THIS about Steven Spielberg’s Munich? Today’s movie culture has so thoroughly written off the concept of sin that any movie ridiculing it (from Hellboy and My Summer of Love to Squid and the Whale) is guaranteed to be widely praised. This fondness for transgression might explain the trouble Spielberg has run into with Munich. He explicates a grievous sense of wrong-doing that communicates best to those who are open to an Ecumenical view of life... Read more
The joy of Christmas has already filled the Overstreet headquarters, as Anne and I read the Christmas story… Luke, Chapters 1 and 2… last night. And, once again, it was a whole new experience. This time I was especially impressed by the story of Zechariah, the the father of John the Baptist, who was a man of great insight. While he had to take a rather lengthy “time out” to ponder what God can do, he did — upon comprehending... Read more
Friday specials: DEFENDING MUNICH Here’s a forceful, well-composed defense of Steven Spielberg’s Munich, which I think is his most restrained, mature, and challenging film since… oh… 1987’s Empire of the Sun. (It’s at Salon, so if you don’t subscribe, just click and watch the brief advertisement so you can get access to the whole article.) This one’s going in my Top Ten of 2005. G.K. CHESTERTON … THE BLOG If Chesterton was blogging today, he’d be my first Web stop... Read more
Looking Closer
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In