Gene Wilder, who died Aug. 29 at the age of 83, was not a particularly religious man. “I’m going to tell you what my religion is,” he told Abigail Pogrebin in 2005 as part of her book Stars of David: Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish (according to an excerpt printed in Tablet Magazine). “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Period. Terminato. Finito. I have no other religion. I feel very Jewish and I feel... Read more
Say what you want about the fledgling cinematic universe of DC, it beats the spandex pants off Marvel in its willingness to tackle the subject of faith. We saw it with Man of Steel and its explicit comparisons of Superman to Christ. We saw it again in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice—complete with an impending resurrection. And believe it or not, we saw a bit of it in the wildly popular, critically panned Suicide Squad. For a bunch of... Read more
The 1959 version of Ben-Hur is a triumph of filmmaking—one that won 11 Oscars, boasts Charlton Heston at his prime and features one of the most iconic action sequences in cinematic history. The 2016 version of Ben-Hur is … serviceable. The chariot scene is a dynamic blend of live-action and CGI. A sea-based battle, captured almost completely inside the dark, dungeon-like recesses of a Roman warship, feels gritty and powerful. And the movie was clearly made with a faith-based audience... Read more
I’ve been accused of holding to an outdated, untenable belief system before, but rarely by an animated sausage. That was before Sausage Party, Seth Rogen’s slightly clever, outrageously foul and super offensive animated sex comedy. Sure, I was expecting it to be foul and offensive and really, really preoccupied with sex and drugs. We’re talking about Rogen, after all. But I wasn’t prepared for the spirit of the late Christopher Hitchens to be ironically reincarnated in a hot dog. Yet... Read more
We’re in the shaggiest stretch of the dog days of summer, and the theaters are full of tent poles. Suicide Squad has bounded into theaters, ready to make all the money. (I’ll be posting something about that movie come Monday.) Jason Bourne and Star Trek Beyond will mop up the leavings. If you’re still trying to catch up on your summertime blockbusters, Finding Dory, The Legend of Tarzan and Ghostbusters are still on plenty of screens. But if you’re looking for... Read more
Last Days in the Desert, directed by Rodrigo Garcia and starring Ewan McGregor (as both Jesus and Satan), is one of the most interesting religiously themed films I’ve seen in the last few years. In fact, it’s everything that “Christian movies” are typically not: artistic, challenging, provocative. It’s a film for Christians who’d rather watch a Terrence Malick flick than God’s Not Dead; for Christians who don’t need to agree with a film to enjoy it and talk about it.... Read more
It’s 2011, and the faith healing service is in full swing. The auditorium is full of people singing—sick and hurting, desperate for help. “It’s the end of my pain as I know it,” they sing gently, turning an old R.E.M. song into a hopeful hymn. “It’s the end of my pain as I know it.” In the midst of the crowd, Steve Gleason—a former NFL player recently diagnosed with ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease—turns to his wife, Michel. “Should I... Read more
God doesn’t make mistakes. It’s one of Christianity’s favorite clichés. We go to it when we’re struggling with our own self-esteem, when we’re discouraged because we don’t seem as smart or as attractive or as self-possessed as we’d like to be. We tell our kids that when they’re discouraged at work or home, when their friends turn their backs on them or they don’t make the soccer team. We may not be like everyone else, we’re saying. We may even... Read more
Captain Fantastic, a little indie film out today, is a moving family parable about hippie dad Ben (Viggo Mortensen) and his eclectic family of six, leaving their near-isolation in the Pacific Northwest to attend a funeral. Did I say “attend?” I meant stop. The funeral is that of Leslie, Ben’s wife and the children’s mother. Though we learn she was raised in a fairly traditional, comfortable Christian home, she became a Buddhist when she and Ben got together. And the... Read more
This fall is shaping up as a big one for fans of quality, challenging films with a faithful bent. Early awards darling A Birth of a Nation, based on Nat Turner’s bloody, biblically-inspired fight against slavery in the 1830s, hits theaters in October. Martin Scorsese’s Silence, which focuses on two Jesuit missionaries working in 17th Century Japan, is scheduled to be released this November. And then there’s Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge, which just released its first poster. From the press release:... Read more
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