“I leave it to the faithful to burn each other’s churches and mosques and synagogues, which they can be always relied upon to do,” Christopher Hitchens wrote in God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Hitchens, in this, is sadly right. The great world religions have not, historically, played well together. Our world is a violent one, and faith is often at the root of it. Just this Easter weekend, 72 people were killed in a suicide bombing targeting... Read more
I wanted to like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. I really did. The first superheroes I ever knew were from the D.C. stable, and back when I was 7 years old, my best friend and I played Superman and Batman until our capes practically wore out. Alas, Batman v Superman felt less like a movie than it did a cynical corporate product—a movie whose primary purpose was to launch a lucrative franchise universe (to compete with Marvel’s litany of... Read more
The chase ends in a church. It’s the culmination of a frantic running confrontation—one that opens Daredevil’s second season on Netflix. Four masked bandits run down the street, carrying their ill-gotten gains in shiny briefcases. One by one, Daredevil—alias Matt Murdock, blind lawyer by day, feared vigilante by night—takes them down and knocks them out. Soon, only one is left. He grabs an innocent woman by the hair and drags her into a nearby Catholic sanctuary. Candles flicker in the... Read more
Miracles From Heaven is an atypical typical Christian movie. And that’s a good thing. I watch a lot of Christian movies, and I’ve gotten pretty familiar with what a “typical” Christian movie looks, sounds and feels like. And, at least at first glance, movies don’t get more “Christian” than this. When two of the three words in your title are explicitly spiritual, you know this isn’t a flick trying to attract, say, the Deadpool crowd. The poster looks like it... Read more
ABC’s Of Kings and Prophets (the second episode of which aired last night) was supposed to be a big deal. All 15 episodes, which loosely tell the biblical drama of Samuel, Saul and David, were filmed in South Africa to the tune of $6 million per episode. When the pilot wasn’t quite up to snuff, it ponied up the cash to reshoot the whole thing—just to get everything exactly right. The creators were hoping to lure both Game of Thrones... Read more
We’re in the midst of a cascade of Christian movies right now. Risen. The Young Messiah (just chatted with the director on Friday). Miracles From Heaven is premiering this week. God’s Not Dead 2 releases April 1. But let’s add one more flick to the list: Terrence Malick’s Knight of Cups. Malick is one of the world’s most enigmatic directors. His movies feel like fever dreams or snippets of memory. He often works without a script. He’s a notoriously ruthless... Read more
When do we become ourselves? When do we realize who we are? For most of us, the process of becoming us is a gradual one—one so slow and easy that we don’t even notice it. Oh sure, we’re here, in the world, the moment we’re conceived. We have parents and some sort of place in the world the second we’re born. But who are we, really? Do we already love bacon and hate peas even when we’ve tasted neither? Are... Read more
Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice will be rolling out to theaters later this month. But before the movie even lands in the local cineplex, there’s already buzz about what’ll be on the home video release: A big letter R. According to ew.com, the “Ultimate Edition” of the movie will bear an R rating when it rolls out on DVD and Blu-Ray. Wolverine 3, due about this time next year, will also be shooting for an R. Many speculate that... Read more
The value of a human life depends on who you ask. If we look at the value of just our raw material, we log in at around $160. But most folks agree that we’re worth more than just the sum of our parts: According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a human life is worth around $9.1 million—a figure they used in asking for stronger (and costlier) environmental regulations. The Food and Drug Administration suggests $7.9 million. Insurance agencies typically... Read more
Jesus’ death and resurrection has been dramatized in countless movies—from 1927’s The King of Kings to 2014’s Son of God and scores in between. But Risen does something none of its predecessors dared do: Remind us that Christianity is predicated on a 2,000-year-old X-File. We sometimes forget that, and understandably so. Even the greatest of miracles can feel rote when we hear about them so often. To many, the Easter story is just one more accouterment of spring—to be neither... Read more
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