Director Neil Blomkamp’s Chappie, about robot who becomes a high-tech version of Pinocchio, officially hits theaters today. He’s a robot who can think and feel—and a far more humane depiction of artificial intelligence than we see in, say, The Terminator. But in a way, this sort of AI actually bothers me more. The raging self-aware machines in the Terminator movies or maybe the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron are bad robots. They may have some sort of cognitive awareness, but... Read more
I think Google is trying to get me to de-convert. It seems that way, at any rate. I check out Google’s news feed just about every day and, since I write a lot about religion, I’ve trained Google to grab religion stories and bring them to my desktop. But oddly, most of them seem to be about getting out of religion, not about religion itself. “Americans are turning away from organized religion in record numbers,” reads the first item on... Read more
Leonard Nimoy died earlier today at the age of 83. He was, according to the obituaries I’ve seen, a man of many talents: poet, photographer, musician. But it was as an actor that most of us knew him first and best—an actor who became famous for one role. Mr. Spock of Star Trek. A few years ago, I wrote a book proposal that probed spirituality from the deck of the Enterprise—a show created by Gene Roddenberry, one of the world’s best-known humanists... Read more
Hollywood is ashamed of its superheroes. I got that vibe watching Sunday night’s Oscars telecast, anyway. Oh, sure, Captain America and Star Lord handed out a couple of Oscars, but they sure weren’t about to receive any. Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy were both shut out in the technical categories. What won the night’s biggest prize? Why, Birdman. In it, Michael Keaton’s Riggan pushes back on his legacy as a famous movie-bound superhero to return... Read more
Oscar doesn’t like religion. That’s what some are saying, anyway. Even though 2014 was supposed to be the year of the Christian film (and in many ways, it was), faith-driven movies have barely been mentioned this awards season. “With one exception, movies that told stories of faith, though big at the box office last year, failed to tickle the fancy of those making the [Academy Award] nominations,” wrote Mark Kellner of The Deseret News. That sole exception was Selma, which... Read more
I’m a pretty quiet person. If I go to a party, I’m the guy you’ll see standing by the ficus tree. If I go to a rock concert, I’ll be the one sitting down, clapping politely. Being a movie critic is about the perfect job for someone like me. I just watch and write, watch and write. Who knew that watching a movie and writing about it could draw so much attention? I reviewed Fifty Shades of Grey for Plugged... Read more
I’m scheduled to attend a screening of Fifty Shades of Grey tonight. Can’t say I’m looking forward to it. But it will, if nothing else, be an interesting review to write. I can’t think of a film that has stirred up so much ire within the Christian community–and yet paired it with such intense curiosity. Searches for the movie at Plugged In have been high, and a blog that my associate Adam Holz wrote on the subject has drawn some significant... Read more
Jupiter Ascending, the Wachowski siblings’ newest sci-fi romp, hasn’t exactly wowed us. Critics hated it. It bombed at the box office I didn’t like it much, either. Sure, it looked pretty impressive—but so does a tornado. Doesn’t mean you want to be in the middle of one. But while the flick didn’t hold together very well for me, Jupiter still has a bit of (ahem) gravity to it. The Abrasax siblings are some of the richest folks in the galaxy.... Read more
Late last year, Ridley Scott unveiled his ambitious, controversial epic Exodus: Gods and Kings, with Christian Bale as Moses. It was the story of a man who had it all, lost it all, found something better and dragged a whole nation to a strange land promised to them by God. It was not nominated for an Academy Award. Not even for Best Performance by Locusts. But Exodus: Gods and Kings actually shares a bit in common with most of the... Read more
“This is the worst day of my life.” So says Mason’s mother near the end of Richard Linklater’s Boyhood. She implores him to take a picture with him to school—the first picture the aspiring photographer ever took. He doesn’t want it, though, and she breaks down in tears. She’s trying to process 18 years worth of motherhood and memories, ticking off the milestones one by one: Marriage. Divorce. New careers. New experiences. And she sits there wondering if they mean... Read more
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