Age of Ultron May Be the Most Spiritual Superhero Movie Yet

Last updated on: May 11, 2015 at 9:49 am By Paul Asay

Avengers: Age of Ultron has been out for, oh, about 90 seconds, and already you’re seeing them: T-Shirts, bumper stickers and mugs bearing the slogan “Jarvis is my co-pilot.” We see the bumper sticker ever-so-briefly when Tony Stark’s flying the Avengers’ quinjet. It’s a quick glimpse, but it speaks volumes—Tony’s reliance on his disembodied computer helper, a sly tweak on those ever-popular “God is my co-pilot” stickers and a bit of foreshadowing of what’s to come in this spiritually self-aware... Read more

Are the Avengers Religious?

Last updated on: April 30, 2015 at 3:33 pm By Paul Asay

Superhero stories often have religious oomph to them. It’s only natural, really: You’re dealing with tales that dive into the nature of good and evil, are predicated on themes of justice and redemption and often star cape-wearing demigods. But who or what, exactly, do these superhuman wonders worship themselves? That can be tricky to parse. Thankfully, a site called comicbookreligion.com helps keep track of all this spirituality. And according to the site, The heroes we’ll see in The Avengers: Age... Read more

How Good, Evil and Faith Intersect at the Aurora Shooting Trial

Last updated on: April 27, 2015 at 2:51 pm By Paul Asay

The Dark Knight Rises, the most anticipated movie of the year, was opening at midnight across the country, including Century 16 in Aurora, Colo. Hundreds of Batman fans filed into the theater, many in costume. No one thought much about the guy with the shock-orange hair that July night in 2012. Not until he started shooting. About 30 minutes after the movie started, James Holmes—wearing a gas mask—threw a couple of smoke bombs and fired a 12-gauge shotgun into the... Read more

A Digression: The Little Prince

Last updated on: April 24, 2015 at 12:16 pm By Paul Asay

I’ve got a list of favorite books. F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. Robert Penn Warren’s All the King’s Men. Charles Dickens’ Bleak House. But if I had to name just one book—my favorite book—it might be Antoine de Saint Exupéry’s haunting The Little Prince. It is a simple, beautiful and profound story, as gauzy and sometimes as perplexing as a dream. I don’t think any movie can ever fully capture the charm of the book, but this trailer gives... Read more

The Strange, Moral Horror of ‘Unfriended’ and ‘It Follows’

Last updated on: April 20, 2015 at 4:10 pm By Paul Asay

Most evangelical Christians don’t cotton to horror movies. Ever since King Saul and the Witch of Endor spent some scandalous time together, we’ve been cautious of anything that carries the tang of the occult—the bread and butter of most horror flicks. They’re typically filled with all sorts of issues that we call out at Plugged In, and some Christians believe they’re the work of the devil. Given the general evangelical loathing of fright flicks, it’s interesting how oddly moral they can be.... Read more

Just What Is CW’s The Messengers Trying to Say?

Last updated on: April 17, 2015 at 7:28 am By Paul Asay

I used to dread reviewing shows from The CW. Every new program seemed like pap for the not-so-discerning adolescent, and there are only so many brooding, wavy-haired male models masquerading as actors that one 40-something critic can deal with. But in the last couple of years, something strange has been happening on The CW. The programming has gotten kinda … good. It became obvious with Jane the Virgin, one of the oddest, funniest shows on TV. I haven’t seen iZombie—the story of a... Read more

Daredevil: Truth and Consequences

Last updated on: April 16, 2015 at 1:49 pm By Paul Asay

Binge watching is the bane of a harried entertainment critic. Some of you have watched all 13 episodes of Marvel’s Daredevil by now. I’ve yet to crack open the second ep. The upside: No spoilers today. The downside: I can’t offer a comprehensive take on Netflix’ ambitious new series. I can only offer a smattering of first thoughts and impressions. But for what they’re worth, here they are. This ain’t your Avengers superhero story. Daredevil is bloody. Really bloody. I... Read more

Best Christian Movie Ever? You Might Be Surprised.

Last updated on: April 14, 2015 at 8:13 am By Paul Asay

Inspired by the NCAA’s March Madness, ChristianCinema.com recently conducted its own version of bracket goodness this spring. Calling it “Christian Movie Madness,” it pitted 64 movies against each other in a winner-take-all brouhaha, with victors determined by the number of votes they got. More than 100,000 users voted, naming 2014’s God’s Not Dead as (in Christian Cinema’s words) the “Best. Movie. Ever.” Yeah, looking over the 64 movies chosen for the tourney, my bracket would’ve been busted by the first round. The Chronicles... Read more

Don Draper and Mad Men: The End Is Near

Last updated on: April 11, 2015 at 10:38 am By Paul Asay

Don Draper doesn’t just do advertising. He is advertising. Look at him. Just look. Cool. Crisp. Nattily dressed. Meticulously combed. It’s as if he stepped off the back cover of one of his own print ads. Mad Men’s prime protagonist (played ever-so-smooth by Jon Hamm) is a picture of vigorous, middle-age success. This, the picture tells us, is a man who knows the proper wine to pair with ham, who can fix a busted faucet and who will... Read more

Heaven Is For-Gettable (at Least In Movies)

Last updated on: April 8, 2015 at 6:43 am By Paul Asay

LifeWay Christian Resources recently announced that they won’t be selling any more books dealing with “heavenly tourism.” While they sell incredibly well (Don Piper’s 90 Minutes in Heaven sold 6.5 million copies and will get its own movie this fall), they’re inherently controversial for loads of Christians, who believe such stories are just pure bunk. You don’t just up and leave heaven, they argue, and the Southern Baptist Convention went so far as to caution Christians against such books in... Read more