Review of The Mortification of Sin by John Owen This is one of the most challenging books I have ever read. Every Christian would benefit from reading this book: no one would profit from skimming it. Read this book, but do so slowly. Turn the page only after the previous one has worked its way into your soul. You will otherwise gain only a superficial intellectual familiarity with Owen’s argument and callous your soul to the challenge and reward of God’s... Read more
Review of Star Wars, Directed by George Lucas If you ask a cinephile what his favorite decade was, chances are he will pick the 1970s. That decade was full of movies that movie lovers love to love–really dark, gritty, tragic, violent movies like A Clockwork Orange (1971), Mean Streets (1793), Taxi Driver (1976), The Godfather, Parts I and II (1972, 1974), The Deer Hunter (1978), and Apocalypse Now (1979). These are movies that reflected their pessimistic times and, film buffs... Read more
Review of Lost in Thailand, Directed by Xu Zheng If you know anything about the Chinese box office, you know that James Cameron’s Titanic and Avatar are among the highest grossing films—not to mention the incredible popularity of 2012. But who knew that low-budget comedy Lost in Thailand would rocket to the top of the box office when it opened in December 2012? By January 1, 2013, it passed the 1 billion yuan mark, beating the 3D release of Titanic.... Read more
Review of The African Queen, Directed by John Huston Not all movies are deep and profound, but I do expect “classics” to have something to say. Movies become “classics” because they are more than mere entertainment; they are supposed to speak to something higher or deeper; to hide nuggets of wisdom; to hold lessons about the nature of humanity, right? Their enduring power to bring a smile to your face is really beside the point. Understanding why classics are so... Read more
Review of The Host, Directed by Andrew Niccol By Jennilee Miller The Host opens with different snapshots from around the globe, panning out on different faces, distinctly human but with striking eyes encircled with a silver rim around the pupils: beautiful and kind of creepy all at the same time. A voiceover tells us that this is the future, humanity is all but extinct, and another species has taken over earth. This other species, alien “Souls,” take over the human... Read more
Review of G.I. Joe: Retaliation, Directed by Jon Chu Cobra Commander has escaped from a high security prison, the evil Zartan is impersonating the President, and all but four of the G.I. Joes have been killed. It seems that nothing stands between Cobra Commander and his plan of absolute world domination. Will the remaining Joes be able to foil his nefarious schemes? Or will Cobra Commander maniacally laugh his way to the destruction of all things good? You will like... Read more
Review of The Christian Life: A Doctrinal Introduction by Sinclair Ferguson Sinclair Ferguson’s The Christian Life: A Doctrinal Introduction, along with John Murray’s Redemption Accomplished and Applied, are my top two picks when recommending an introduction to systematic theology for folks without prior exposure to theology. I’ve read The Christian Life at least five times in the context of using it as a discipleship tool. The underlying argument is that theology is critical to living the Christian life because all theology... Read more
Review of On the Road by Jack Kerouac When I moved to D.C., some friends and I started a book club. Our goal was to work our way through the classics of English/American Literature and read the books that everyone else seemed to have read in high school or college. Books which, for some reason, had never actually wound up on the required reading lists for any of our classes. At the top of that list was Jack Kerouac’s On the... Read more
Review of House of Cards (Season 1), Directed by David Finch “Come you spirits That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here; And fill me, from the crown to the toe, top-full Of direst cruelty! make thick my blood, Stop up th’access and passage to remorse, That no compunctious visitings of nature Shake my fell purpose, nor keep peace between Th’effect and it!” (Lady Macbeth, Macbeth, Act I, Scene V) In the beginning of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Lady Macbeth pleads with... Read more
Review of Admission, Directed by Paul Weitz College admissions: the final test of the helicopter parent. While it was no Deerfield or Andover, my college prep school career began with a meeting about college preparation the first month of freshman year and ended with a wall of paper stars announcing mine and my classmates’ acceptances to elite universities, mostly on the East Coast. My parents were helpful but mercifully not overbearing compared to many of my peers’. While some parents... Read more
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