Looking for a Science/Religion ‘Breakthrough’

Last updated on: October 31, 2015 at 2:19 pm By Paul Asay

Science and religion are sometimes portrayed as mortal enemies—worldviews that are completely incompatible with one another. This portrayal has always driven me a little crazy. I believe it’s perfectly rational to believe in God and still honor science: You need not always pit Billy Graham and Stephen Hawking in some eternal cage match. I’m not alone in this. Granted, when the Pew Research Center recently asked Americans whether science and religion are often in conflict, nearly six in 10 said... Read more

Jobsenstein: The Odd Similarities Between Two Very Different Movies

Last updated on: October 29, 2015 at 10:49 am By Paul Asay

In Universal Pictures Steve Jobs, we meet a brilliant, flawed protagonist—a man who demanded his gadgets be friendly and intuitive even though he (according to the film) was neither. Michael Fassbender may well get nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Jobs, and it may seem odd that Universal rolled it wide the weekend before Halloween, the same time when frightflicks like The Last Witch Hunter and Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension are trying to scare up some cash.... Read more

This May Be the Year’s Best Movie—And It’s Weirdly Christian

Last updated on: October 26, 2015 at 4:09 pm By Paul Asay

War Room is this year’s Christian smash. Its core evangelical audience has helped the Kendrick Brothers film make $67 million, and it’s not done yet. But while War Room is unquestionably 2015’s most successful Christian movie, it’s not the best. If I was voting, that honor would go to Room—a small, searing, R-rated film that’s earned all of $400,000 so far and on the surface doesn’t seem Christian at all. Certainly Room’s pedigree is, by conservative Christian standards, suspect. It’s... Read more

How the World’s Worst Movie is Technically Christian

Last updated on: October 23, 2015 at 3:55 pm By Paul Asay

I have a soft spot in my heart (and possibly on the brain) for bad movies. If there’s anything I like more than a good movie, it’s an awful one. And this may be a good thing, given my line of work. While I believe Christian movies are getting better, and sometimes they’re even pretty good, some of them are … well, not. But would it surprise you to learn that Plan 9 From Outer Space—considered by many to be the worst movie ever—is... Read more

Thinking Inside the Box: How Modern Horror Movies Echo the Scary Stories of the Bible

Last updated on: October 21, 2015 at 9:26 am By Paul Asay

There’s a box in front of you—about the size of a shoebox, black and plain, the lid hinged with brass fixtures and fastened with a huge, ornate lock. The key that fits that lock is within reach—on the table, just beside your right hand. It, like the lock, is big and heavy, the shaft carved with deep runes and strange symbols. A tag—a plain, paper tag—is attached to the key with a simple string. “DO NOT USE!” it says in... Read more

Woodlawn Asks if We Believe in Miracles

Last updated on: October 15, 2015 at 8:49 pm By Paul Asay

Christian movies can be difficult for secular audiences to embrace. Sometimes it’s because of the acting or writing. They can feel amateurish and overwrought or just way too preachy. But there are times that, even when most of the aesthetic pieces are there, they’re a hard sell for general moviegoers. Why? Because, simply put, the stories can feel just too good to be true—even if they are true. Which brings us to Woodlawn—a fine piece of Christian craftsmanship that, in... Read more

Frankenstein: Still Crazy (and Relevant) After All These Years

Last updated on: October 14, 2015 at 9:46 am By Paul Asay

Frankenstein, the 1931 classic Universal monster movie, probably doesn’t have the oomph to terrify folks like it did back in the day. Most horror movies base their effectiveness on the fear of the unknown, and after 84 years, this flick is hardly that. Boris Karloff’s classic look as “the Monster” is so much a part of the culture that most 4-year-olds know what “Frankenstein” looks like. But even though the first site of the Monster isn’t enough to cause hardened... Read more

Should Christians Watch Horror Movies?

Last updated on: October 11, 2015 at 7:57 pm By Paul Asay

October is the season for scary movies. So says Redbox, anyway. The movie rental company polled its users about their Halloween-season viewing habits, and about half said they typically watch at least one horror movie during the month of October. Among those, more than half say they won’t watch scary movies alone, and 50 percent admit to having freaked out over strange noises after watching. Yeah, I’d be one of those. I always know when I’ve watched or reviewed a particularly... Read more

Does God Want You to Do Great Things? Phil Vischer De-Disneys a Popular Myth in Kids’ Entertainment

Last updated on: October 15, 2015 at 8:56 am By Paul Asay

Phil Vischer has always been one of my favorite storytellers. My kids drew up watching Vischer’s VeggieTales—a rare faith-based product that was both seriously Christian and delightfully entertaining—and he’s continued telling stories through his JellyTelly characters, headed by the intrepid big-headed puppet Buck Denver. But his latest feels like one of the most personal stories he’s told yet. “You might even call it autobiographical,” Vischer told me. In Galaxy Buck: Mission to Sector 9 (available on Oct. 11 here and... Read more

Looking for Life in The Leftovers

Last updated on: October 5, 2015 at 1:10 pm By Paul Asay

The second season of The Leftovers, on HBO, begins with what feels like a Paleolithic parable. A woman, very pregnant (and mostly naked), wakes up in the deep of night and staggers out of a communal cave, needing to pee. She looks up and sees an eagle fly across the full moon … just as an earthquake destroys the cave she’d been sleeping in. The woman gives birth just moments later. Miraculously, it would seem, a call of nature saved... Read more

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