In a quiet week at the box office, an unassuming film called Freud’s Last Session might’ve made its way to a theater near you. It’s likely not going to be a blockbuster. But just because people haven’t seen it doesn’t mean they shouldn’t. For anyone interested in faith, Freud’s Last Session might be a must-see. Freud’s Last Session, based on a play that was, in turn, based on Armand Nicholi’s book The Question of God, takes us into Sigmund Freud’s... Read more
A decade ago, 12 Years a Slave was stirring the Oscar stew. Though the Best Picture field included some outstanding films (Including American Hustle, Gravity and The Wolf of Wall Street), most prognosticators pegged Steve McQueen’s searing historical epic as the film to beat. Sure enough, it won Oscar’s highest accolade, and took home two other Academy Awards as well—for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Supporting Actress (for Lupita Nyong’o’s searing performance as a horrifically abused slave). It also... Read more
Even though we’ve got just a few more days left of 2023, it feels as though the year is ending a little too early. I need to see more movies. Oh, I’ve seen plenty of movies—more than 130, easy. And I’ve liked and appreciated many of them. But I’ve not loved very many—a wildly subjective but, for me, important criteria. And here at Watching God, most of the movies that land on my top 10 should ideally come with a... Read more
We hear a lot about our “calling” in evangelical circles. We look in the Bible and see that it’s filled with pretty normal people who did some amazing things through God. And we assume that we, too, have parts to play in God’s overarching story. He might ask us to do something we love and feel like we were made for. Or He might ask us to do something unexpected or uncomfortable or even dangerous. But we trust that God... Read more
It’s been quite the year for Christmas movies. I’ve seen a sleigh full of them, and most have been—well, a bit silly. But silly movies can sometimes contain deeper thoughts. Last year’s Spirited was extraordinarily silly, and it wound up being one of my favorite movies of the year. I haven’t seen a Spirited-level contender for Christmas movies yet this year, but all the holiday movies I have seen have been pretty interesting in their own ways. So let’s unwrap... Read more
The most striking moment in the opening episode of God. Family. Football. isn’t a jaw-dropping play or a fight in practice. It’s a Tuesday morning Bible study, when dozens of high-school football players kneel and press their heads to the floor in prayer. “[These players] belong to You, every one of them,” Pastor Denny Duron prays over the team. Later, one of the team’s members, lineman Jacob Carpenter, says that Bible study is the team’s most important activity. “Going in... Read more
Traveling can be stressful for most of us. The flights, the hotels, the pressures to see and do everything that we’ve come to that place to see and do. But whatever we deal with, it’s nothing compared to what the Pope must navigate. Magnolia Pictures’ In Viaggio—essentially a travelogue of Pope Francis’ decade-worth of trips around the world—shows us just how difficult, and delicate, such travel can be. Pope Francis may not need to worry about lost luggage or missing... Read more
I swear on my name and the names of the ancestors… That I shall walk the Way of the Mand’alor… And the words of the Creed shall be forever forged in my heart. This is the Way. So goes the Mandalorian Creed—tenants treated by one-time bounty hunter Din Djarin as sacred. That creed (and what it represents) is more than what he believes; it’s who he is. It’s so important to him, in fact, that he’s willing to do almost... Read more
Ever since Rocky Balboa stepped into the ring against Apollo Creed in 1976, the Rocky/Creed movies have often held just a teensiest whiff of the Gospel (with a dollop of the old Protestant work ethic). Sure, they’re not advocates of turning the other cheek. But they do stress a lot of messages straight from Sunday school: Turn away from the idols of this world. Don’t get tied down by worldly pleasures. Don’t fixate on outward appearances (Rocky was almost always... Read more
In The Everlasting Man, G.K. Chesterton said that the Christian faith has a peculiar character. Often in history (he writes) it seemed as though the “whole soul seemed to have gone out of Christianity; and almost every man in his heart expected its end.” But every man, it seemed, would be wrong. “Christendom has had a series of revolutions and in each one of them Christianity has died,” Chesterton wrote. “Christianity has died many times and risen again; for it... Read more
Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In