Unbroken: The Rest of the Story

Last updated on: December 29, 2014 at 12:19 am By Paul Asay

In a Plugged In interview with Luke Zamperini, real-life son of Unbroken’s Louie Zamperini, Luke called his father’s life a “five-act play.” Movies run three acts, Luke said, which makes it impossible to tell Louie’s story in full. Of Angelina Jolie’s big-screen retelling of the Zamperini story, Luke says, “I think she did a masterful job.” I’d mostly agree. In Unbroken (released this Christmas), Jolie got all the big cinematic elements in: Louie’s wayward youth, his Olympic glory, his harrowing... Read more

A Screen Full of Christmas Joy

Last updated on: December 23, 2017 at 1:35 pm By Paul Asay

Bah. Humbug. It’s easy to get a little cranky around the fourth week of December. Oh, I know. The Christmas season is supposed to be the most wonderful time of the year. Andy Williams says so. But it doesn’t always feel so. In fact, the holidays tend to be a little draining. We’re not quite as busy as the common elf, but we still have shopping to do, parties to throw, ugly sweaters to wear … it can all leave us... Read more

Finding Christmas Light in Dark Movies

Last updated on: December 19, 2014 at 10:49 am By Paul Asay

The winter solstice—the darkest day of the year—is Sunday, and I think most of us will be glad when we’re on the other side of it. We don’t like the dark much. I’m not talking about long-walks-in-the-moonlight or sing-around-the-campfire type of dark. We’re fine with that sort of stuff. Heck, all of you probably appreciate a nice, darkened movie theater as much as I do. But walking down a black, unfamiliar alleyway? Knocking around a shadowy old house? Even if... Read more

Thank Goodness We Can Watch ‘The Interview.’ (Whether We Should is Another Matter.)

Last updated on: December 17, 2014 at 2:50 pm By Paul Asay

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, was released today. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 continues to make a mint. A slew of Oscar hopefuls are springing up in theaters across the country. But no matter. Everyone’s talking about The Interview—a film nobody’s seen yet. I could think of a better movie to become a rallying cry for free speech, but here we are. A little background: The Interview is an R-rated comedy starring Seth Rogen and... Read more

Exodus: Starting the Long, Weird Walk of Faith

Last updated on: December 14, 2014 at 2:53 pm By Paul Asay

I’ve already written some about Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings. My Plugged In review—the first installment, if you will—is here, and it concentrates more on the movie’s content stuff and negatives, including its 11-year-old boy/God. Then, over at FaithStreet.com, I dug a little deeper into Scott’s problematic deity … including what might be one of its biggest, most disturbing issues: The God we see on screen isn’t that much different from the God we read about in Exodus—one who feels... Read more

Guardians of the Galaxy: Grateful for Groot

Last updated on: December 9, 2014 at 6:58 pm By Paul Asay

Yesterday, the same day When the Game Stands Tall was released on video, another movie trundled out onto DVD as well. Maybe you’ve heard of it. Guardians of the Galaxy was one of my favorite movies of the summer, and (if its $332 million in North American ticket sales can be believed) a lot of other folks seemed to enjoy it, too. The characters were great, from the smart and smarmy Peter “Star-Lord” Quill to the snide and cynical Rocket... Read more

When the Game Stands Tall Comes to Video, Saves Christmas (Or, at Least, Christian Moviemaking)

Last updated on: December 7, 2014 at 12:03 pm By Paul Asay

Oh, Kirk Cameron. Word has it that America’s best-known Christian actor (that is, the actor best known for his Christian movies) tried to rally the faithful to support his movie, Saving Christmas, on the web site Rotten Tomatoes. Sure, the movie bombed with critics. But Cameron called upon his fans to rebuke those pharisaical reviewers by giving the movie a thumbs-up. And for a while, according to Cameron, it worked: Saving Christmas had a 94-percent “freshness” rating by users—quite the... Read more

Now, Here’s a Movie I’d Like to See …

Last updated on: December 5, 2014 at 7:59 am By Paul Asay

December is a crazy month for all of us, what with Christmas and all. But for movie critics, it’s particularly nuts. It’s awards season after all, when studios stick their best Oscar hopefuls under the tree in the hopes that they’ll unwrap an Oscar or two in a few months. Moreover, Christmas is thought to be one of the best times of year to build a blockbuster: Harry Potter and the Lord of the Rings franchises built castles made of money... Read more

Exodus: Gods and Kids

Last updated on: December 2, 2014 at 10:22 pm By Paul Asay

I haven’t seen Exodus: Gods and Kings yet. I’m going to see it tonight, actually, and you can see my full review at Plugged In the day the film officially releases (Dec. 12). I still hope that I’ll have some good things to say about it. But I have to admit, I’m a little worried. Much of the early buzz doesn’t center on Christian Bale’s turn as Moses or the plague of locusts, but director Ridley Scott’s decision to cast... Read more

An Earnest Appreciation of P.D. James

Last updated on: November 28, 2014 at 12:57 pm By Paul Asay

English writer P.D. James died yesterday at the age of 94. She told the BBC as late as last year that she was working on a new book. “I think while I am alive, I shall write,” she said. “There will be a time to stop writing but that will probably be when I come to a stop, too.” James published 19 novels (and a handful of non-fiction works) and is mostly known as a mystery writer—a grittier, more literary... Read more