For movie lovers, the weeks before the Oscars can feel like an old-fashioned collegiate cram session. So much stuff to catch up on and not enough time to get to it all. So what should you see in anticipation of Hollywood’s annual back-patting ceremony? What’s really worth seeing—especially, if you’re like me, you’ve got an interest in faith and film? Should you go see, say, Fences instead of something else? Hey, you can see whatever you want, but I really... Read more
I dig superheroes, but I’ve never been a huge X-Men guy. I never read the comics, and all the movies fall on a scale between “pretty good” and “meh.” But after seeing the Super Bowl ad for Logan, I wonder whether star Hugh Jackman’s last turn as Wolverine might be his best. And while I’m no fan of R-rated superhero movies on principle, the ad made me want to see this one. Granted, this year’s crop of Super Bowl commercials wasn’t... Read more
Silence was one of the most provocative, moving bits of cinema I saw last year. It’s complex and murky and inspiring and troubling and beautiful–all of which, in a way, reflects how I interact with faith itself. Perhaps, when we attempt to understand and embrace the transcendent, it can be no other way. The movie is arguably one of Martin Scorsese’s most overtly religious works. But as many have noted, almost every movie that Scorsese has ever done is about,... Read more
When Academy Award nominees earlier this week, plenty of Oscar’s snubs made headlines. No Amy Adams? No Sully? Where’s Hugh Grant? But the Academy reserved its biggest oversight for one of Hollywood’s most acclaimed directors: Martin Scorsese. Silence, the film that Scorsese spent 26 years planning and making, earned just a single nomination—for Rodrigo Prieto’s gorgeous cinematography. Nothing for Andrew Garfield (though he did earn a Best Actor nom for Hacksaw Ridge); nothing for Adam Driver or Issei Ogata, nothing... Read more
For two seasons, National Geographic’s The Story of God With Morgan Freeman has taken us behind the curtain to see the world’s religions, both great and small, at work. This Monday in the second season finale, Freeman and his crew tackle the biggest question of all: Is there a reason for all this religion? In other words, is there a God? But proof of God, as Oxford Theoretical Physicist Ard Louis says on the show, is impossible to find through... Read more
What is heaven? What is hell? And how do they impact how we live right now? “Heaven and Hell,” the latest episode of The Story of God With Morgan Freeman (airing Jan. 23) grapples with those questions. They’re questions that have fascinated me, too. They always have, ever since I was a little boy. In the episode, Freeman and others take an interfaith trip through the Good Place and Bad Place. The show takes us to a cave in Tennessee... Read more
National Geographic’s fascinating series The Story of God With Morgan Freeman kicks off its second season Jan. 16. The first episode is titled “The Chosen One,” and it focuses on those whom, in a variety of religions, believe that they’ve been picked to do special work. Some of these folks have daunting tasks to fulfill. The show begins with 9-year-old Jalue Dorjee, a soccer-loving, Pokemon playing kid from Minnesota who was told he’s the reincarnation of a famous Tibetan lama.... Read more
If you’ve seen my rundown of the year’s best films, you’ll know I really, really liked La La Land. Like most musicals, it features a pair of dreamers. Mia (Emma Stone) is a barista working at a movie lot coffee shop, but she longs to be an actress. Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) is a “serious musician” who floats through an endless stream of low-level musical gigs. But he loves jazz music—the pure, unpredictable jazz played by Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk.... Read more
I love reading year-end lists. I’m not such a big fan of writing them. Hey, it’s not easy to sift through all the year’s movies and come up with what I think are “the best.” What does that even mean, anyway? Are these the best movies, aesthetically speaking? The stuff that secular critics drool over and take home scads of awards? Or are these the movies that I enjoyed the most? The movies that made me smile while leaving the... Read more
I met Carrie Fisher when I was 8 years old. Well, “meet” is perhaps too strong a word. The actress, who died this morning at age 60, didn’t see me. I was just one of dozens of people in a tiny Taos, N.M. movie theater, watching Star Wars. She wasn’t Carrie Fisher to me, of course, but Princess Leia, a beautiful galactic heroine with a rather unflattering hairstyle. She fired laser guns and swung on ropes and cracked jokes like... Read more
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