While it remains to be seen whether The Fantastic Four‘s Ioan Gruffudd will be a compelling leading man in Walden Media’s film on the life of William Wilberforce, the supporting cast is shaping up nicely. Albert Finney, last seen in Oceans 12, best seen in many superior films. Romola Garai, who stole every scene she visited in last year’s Vanity Fair. Michael Gambon of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Gosford Park. Rufus Sewell of Dark City. Ciaran... Read more
Wine me, dine me, Over the Rhine me!! I’ve just ordered my copy of a Limited Edition LIVE CD packed with highlights from this year’s upcoming Taft Theater concert here. It’s an Overstreet tradition: To officially begin the holiday season, we put on Over the Rhine’s The Darkest Night of the Year, and follow that with Bruce Cockburn’s Christmas, all of this leading to the annual house-shaking encounter with Handel’s Messiah. To have an Over the Rhine Christmas concert on... Read more
Tuesday’s specials THE WAR IS OVER. Oprah… Dave. Dave… Oprah. I expect a talk-show troop withdrawl will follow straightaway. QUAID TALKS ABOUT HIS CHRISTIAN FAITH Meditation, he says, should be yours… mine… ours…. “IT’S UNDERWHELMING!” “IT’S LESS THAN ORIGINAL!” Critics are raving about today’s special sneak-preview clip of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. They’re raving about how much it looks like footage from the video game, or a scene from The Return of the King in which certain... Read more
Over at Christianity Today Movies, it’s time for this year’s HARRY POTTER SMACKDOWN! It begins with the positive review of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire at CT Movies, alongside an article called “Redeeming Harry Potter.”. Then, the letters start pouring into the CT Mailbag. In this corner… Doug Kimbal! “Thanks for your thoughtful article, “Redeeming Harry Potter.” As Christians, we should be quick to embrace/discern the good and to recognize/avoid the evil. Armed with such resources as your... Read more
It must have been quite an event… a conference on Christianity and the arts, featuring Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy! News of Delaware County documents these words from Tweedy: “Actually, I’m honored that you would invite me to your campus. I think a lot of Christians would consider me a blasphemer,” Tweedy said before deadpanning, “I have a checkered past.” “I think I should play ‘Satan, Your Kingdom Must Come Down’ now… not because I’m scared or anything,” Tweedy joked after the... Read more
Monday’s specials: Will Your Pastor’s Sermon win Narnia Sermon Contest? In other words, can your pastor be bribed into lacing your Sunday morning worship with Hollywood propaganda? What’s that? Is that the sound of a whip lashing in the foyer? And who’s that bearded guy with the whip? Come on. Let’s keep Narnia propaganda where it belongs! Which leads me to my next story… Will you be using Narnia toilet tissue? Mmmmmm. Soft as Aslan’s fur…. The Top 100 Spiritually... Read more
Sunday’s specials: SATAN WILL BE “WHATEVER YOU WANT HER TO BE” Thanks to Chattaway for catching this alarming quote from Tilda Swinton, who plays the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: Disney is counting on the film to lure mainstream audiences while holding a special appeal to evangelical Christians, who the studio expects will respond to Lewis’s biblical allegories. But when the issue of religion surfaced at Thursday’s promotional event, Swinton played it safe. Asked by... Read more
Imagine a film about the life of Tom Cruise that pretends that his marriage to Katie Holmes was a thrilling triumph, and all of that stuff about Nicole Kidman and Mimi Rogers was just an unfortunate prologue. Now imagine if that film only made a couple of sketchy, passing references to Scientology. Would you accept this film as the proper monument to Cruise? Or better, imagine a film about the story of Bono and U2 without mention of the Bible... Read more
Thursday’s specials: DEFENDING LEWIS Hooray for GetReligion, as they expose the bloodthirsty journalists trying to get their knives into C.S. Lewis. I’m confident that the “deeper magic” of Lewis’s stories will rise up and conquer character assassinations. DEFENDING POTTER You’ve seen my review at Looking Closer’s movie page. Now here’s Chattaways’ review. Sounds like we agree on most things. We’ll continue to defend the boy against those Christian film critics who continue to condemn the series by saying it “glorifies... Read more
Movie City News lists the competitors. Which film do you think deserves the Oscar? I think I’m leaning toward Wallace and Gromit, even though I prefer the story of Corpse Bride. And Howl’s Moving Castle really is extraordinary to look at, even if it’s not one of Miyazake’s true masterpieces. “Chicken Little” “Gulliver’s Travel” “Hoodwinked” “Howl’s Moving Castle” “Madagascar” “Robots” “Steamboy” “Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride” “Valiant” “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” Read more
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