The doorbell’s stopped ringing. The candy—at least all the candy you can bear to part with— is gone. You’re ready to watch something scary … but not something that’ll make you want to wash your eyes out with soap or put your immortal soul in jeopardy, y’know? Is there such a thing as a truly frightening, truly edifying horror movie? Yes, my friends. Yes there is. Take, for example, The Exorcism of Emily Rose. The 2005 movie begins with the... Read more
The Camino de Santiago—traditionally stretching from the southwest corner of France to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain—has served as a sacred pilgrimage for more than a thousand years. The most famous route runs for about 500... Read more
The Florida Project rolls nationwide this week. It’s a quirky, difficult and sometimes heartbreaking movie, filled with foul-mouthed kids and deeply troubled parents and more content concerns than a season of South Park. And it’s one of my favorite films... Read more
The Walking Dead kicked off its eighth season with a war—or, at least, the start of one. Rick (Andrew Lincoln), the show's flawed protagonist, and his cadre of followers has allied with a couple of other factions (Hilltop and the... Read more
“When you wake up in the morning, Pooh,” said Piglet at last, “what’s the first thing you say to yourself?” “What’s for breakfast?” said Pooh. “What do you say, Piglet?” “I say, I wonder what’s going to happen exciting today?” said Piglet. Pooh nodded thoughtfully. “It’s the same thing,” he said. — A.A. Milne, Winnie-The-Pooh Many a bear—the stuffed-with-fluff sort of bear—will have an especially exciting day today, given that it’s Bring Your Teddy Bear to Work Day. And... Read more
Morgan Freeman is one of the United States’ most beloved entertainment figures. He’s appeared in dozens of movies as everyone from a dutiful chauffer (Driving Miss Daisy) to God Himself (Bruce Almighty). His honeyed, earthy voice has graced countless products more. He’s active in theater and has even been known to direct a television episode on occasion. Clearly, it’s not like the guy has a lot of free time. But time or no, Freeman’s been moonlighting on cable as a... Read more
“When do you get your soul?” An agnostic friend of mine asked me that in college: Not what or how or why or even if, but when—a question that neatly asks all the other questions too, hinting at the incredible intricacies and, perhaps, paradoxes, that come with the concept of an immortal soul. I’ve thought about that question often since. Sometimes I think about it when I consider abortion or artificial intelligence or even when I see a gorilla in... Read more
Suffering is a gift. It’s difficult for us to grasp that truth in 21st century America. For us, gifts are sweaters and PlayStation 4’s, maybe colorfully wrapped under a Christmas tree. Gifts are fun. Entertaining. They give us comfort. Joy. Suffering is none of that. We hate to suffer. We hate it when people close to us suffer. And yet when we look, there’s sometimes a beauty to be found in the midst of suffering. A profound, real rawness that... Read more
Stephen King and I go way back. I think IT was actually the first book of his that I read, way back in high school, and for years I kept coming back for more. But I didn’t keep reading King solely because of the scares . What drew me in, more than anything, was often his insistence that good and evil were quite tangible. And that we were called to choose one side or another. That thread holds true in... Read more
IT made an estimated $123 million this weekend, setting a record for highest debut ever for a horror movie. Based on Stephen King's uber-creepy (and even more demented) novel of the same name, IT refers to the fearsome evil embodied... Read more
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