We Share Good News at Christmastime: The Grinch Shows Us How

Last updated on: November 23, 2018 at 11:47 am By Paul Asay

No one likes it when carolers attack. That’s especially true if you’re the Grinch, who hated Christmas. Still, when you live near the Christmas-crazy town of Whoville, it’s hard to get away from it completely. And in the new Universal movie named after him (based, of course, on the Dr. Seuss book and the timeless television special), Mr. Grinch braves the Christmas-besotted enclave to pick up some provisions for his mountaintop retreat. Our green anti-protagonist is immediately assaulted by Christmas... Read more

In Creed II, Rocky and Moses Have a Lot in Common

Last updated on: November 21, 2018 at 2:36 pm By Paul Asay

Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) wins the heavyweight title belt early on in Creed II, which opens today in theaters across the country. But for much of the movie, the guy doesn’t feel like much of a champion. He feels beaten, humiliated and scared. And a fight against Viktor Drago—a mountain of a man (and the son of Ivan Drago, the boxer who killed Adonis’ father) looms. Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), Adonis’ trainer, knows the fight will be the biggest... Read more

Newt’s a Saint in ‘Crimes of Grindelwald’. Really.

Last updated on: November 16, 2018 at 3:28 pm By Paul Asay

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald opens, appropriately enough, with a gathering storm. Silver-tongued villain Gellert Grindelwald, tossed in prison in the last Fantastic Beasts film, makes a spectacular break for freedom in the movie’s first moments, conjuring a storm to aid his escape. Setting up a home base in early 20th-century Paris and driven by the idea of a magic-dominated world in which non-magical muggles are (in Grindelwald’s own words) simply “beasts of burden,” the wizard rallies his supporters... Read more

What Society (and Christianity) Can Learn From Stan Lee

Last updated on: November 12, 2018 at 2:48 pm By Paul Asay

Comic-book legend Stan Lee died today at the age of 95. While most of us are probably most familiar with him from his delightful cameos in the Marvel movies, he was way more than a funny face. Lee didn’t single-handedly build Marvel into the multimedia behemoth it is today. But he, with the help of some talented collaborators, was its prime architect. Lee and Jack Kirby created the X-Men, Fantastic Four and a good chunk of who make up the... Read more

‘To Live Life in Radical Amazement’: An Interview with Behold the Earth Director David Conover

Last updated on: October 30, 2018 at 3:11 pm By Paul Asay

We live in some crazy times. In the United States, we may be as divided as I can ever remember, and no division seems perhaps as stringent as the divide today between science and faith. But it wasn’t always so. “There was a time in the mid-1800s, the great revival movement and so on, when there was no difference between being religious and being scientific,” says documentary director David Conover. “They were very much drawing on the same thing. …... Read more

The Terrible Truth of Beautiful Boy

Last updated on: October 25, 2018 at 1:54 pm By Paul Asay

“I need to find a way to fill this big, black hole in me.” Nic Sheff (Timothée Chalamet) says this in Beautiful Boy, speaking in a meeting to family, friends and fellow addicts. He’s talking about his own addictions, especially to crystal meth. “I felt complete,” he says of the aftermath of taking the drug. “I’ve been chasing that high ever since.” He talks about how grateful he is to be off the drug now, how much his parents and... Read more

Halloween’s Michael Myers Is Not Just a Killer: He’s a Demon.

Last updated on: October 19, 2018 at 1:40 pm By Paul Asay

Michael Myers is a big jerk. We’ve known that for a while, of course. The Halloween franchise’s big, bad boogeyman has been terrorizing the teens of Haddonfield, Illinois, for 40 years now. And while the latest sequel (out this very day) conveniently ignores every Halloween film but the 1978 original, Michael’s personal kill count still easily climbs into the double digits. Yes, Michael Myers is indeed a terrible human being. Or is he? Might he be … something else? After... Read more

Talking Film, Forgiveness and Faith with ‘Change in the Air’ Director Dianne Dreyer

Last updated on: October 17, 2018 at 4:19 pm By Paul Asay

As Halloween tears into theaters this weekend, you might want to keep an eye out for a smaller, lighter option. It’s called Change in the Air and, appropriately, it’s a nice change of pace from the season’s gore-filled horror flicks and heavy Oscar contenders. It’s a light, dreamy story about a quiet neighborhood upended by a mysterious newcomer (played by The Marvelous Ms. Maisel’s Rachel Brosnahan). It’s about the corrosive nature of secrets, the healing power of community and is... Read more

First Man Isn’t Religious. It’s not Spiritual. But It Is About Faith.

Last updated on: October 12, 2018 at 2:35 pm By Paul Asay

The real Neil Armstrong didn’t like to be pinned down, on earth or in heaven. First Man depicts the astronaut as an incredibly private man, and indeed he was. Both political parties wooed the American hero, but Armstrong refused to get into politics. He didn’t talk much about himself—even, as the Associated Press notes (and the movie illustrates), to his family. The movie makes only the smallest of nods toward faith (his daughter is buried in a Christian funeral), and... Read more

Drew Brees Breaks Record, But His Post-Game Interview is Even More Inspiring

Last updated on: October 9, 2018 at 10:00 am By Paul Asay

I watched New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees break one of the National Football League’s most hallowed records last night—one held by one of my favorite players, Peyton Manning. After all, Manning set the mark as a member of the Denver Broncos, my lifelong favorite team. And in a year like this is shaping out to be (the Broncos are 2-3 and just lost a game to the lowly New York Jets), we Broncos fans need all the records and... Read more