An interesting passage in J.R. Jones’s review of Todd Solondz’s Palindromes: Solondz has invoked The Wizard of Oz when talking about the theme of Palindromes — there’s no place like home — but Mama and Bo Sunshine’s adopted family is more like the Island of Misfit Toys: most of the children suffer from some congenital affliction, from blindness to missing limbs to Down syndrome. Yet the family is so perfectly loving that for Aviva their home is a paradise. The... Read more
For the month of May, the spotlight falls on STEVEN D. GREYDANUS. Steven is, I think, the closest thing to a Roger Ebert in Christian film criticism. His reviews have a strength and a confidence to them; he speaks with authority, experience, eloquence, and a penetrating intellect. From time to time, I disagree with his reviews, but rarely … and even when I do disagree, I still learn from his perspective. (more…) Read more
Taylor is “framing” the Church. And that’s a good thing. After Steve Taylor gave the first-ever public screening of his movie The Second Chance to a small audience at the Biola Media Conference last weekend, he took questions, praise, and criticism from the crowd. I was there, and I’m so glad I was. It was a rough cut, with a “Soundtrack by The iPod” (clever) that served as temp tracking, and it still needs some editing finesse, color correction, and... Read more
Sweet! The annual Evangelical Press Association (EPA) convention caught me off-guard this week, awarding Christianity Today Movies as the FIRST PLACE winner in the Online Publications category of their Awards for Excellence! So, a round of applause is certainly due to Mark Moring and his crew, as well as to the Christianity Today visionaries who gave Mark the helm of that Web site. They also recognized Peter T. Chattaway for his fine contributions at CanadianChristianity.com. Congratulations, Peter!! I started into... Read more
Steven D. Greydanus (Decent Films) is one of the best film critics on the Web today, and he’s just discovered a must-see. (more…) Read more
Warning… rant ahead. A Seattle film critic and her noisy obnoxious friends utterly ruined my first viewing of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. She and her rowdy friends took up about half of a row in front of us, and they began by bragging loudly about their knowledge of the books by Douglas Adams and their contempt for those who haven’t read them. (By their attitude, they must not be too familiar with the book that The Passion was... Read more
My how things have changed. In the year of the climactic Star Wars episode, I’m actually far more excited about this. (more…) Read more
I can’t wait to read this book. For all of the flak that Bono gets for being a rock star with a conscience, he still manages to surprise those who can restrain their cynicism long enough to listen to him. (more…) Read more
This review was originally published at Christianity Today. – Jim Caviezel passed up a chance to be a character in one of the best comic book movies ever made. The actor recently told The Seattle Times that he was cast as Cyclops for the original X-Menmovie, a box-office and critical hit in 2000. But then another script came along, and Caviezel, who says he was “literally in costume as Cyclops,” bolted the X set and took the other acting gig instead. The Passion of the Christ? Nope.... Read more
I’ve seen U2 perform live four times now, and I’ve seen the film “Rattle and Hum” almost ten times on the big screen, along with countless DVD viewings, so I know what they’re capable of. Thus, I had high hopes about what would take place in KeyArena last night for the “Vertigo” tour. And when the band took the stage with a searing, blistering, blow-out-the-back-wall version of “Love and Peace Or Else,” I was once again swept up on waves... Read more
Looking Closer
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