The Little Mermaid opened in theaters 25 years ago Monday (Nov. 17). It proved to be a pretty significant day in the annals of animated filmdom, marking not just the beginning of Disney’s fabled renaissance (Beauty and the Best, Aladdin and The Lion King followed hot on the Mermaid’s scaly heels) but also an unrivaled run of animated excellence across the industry. Mermaid’s artistic and commercial success helped lead to Toy Story and How to Train Your Dragon, Despicable Me... Read more
I’m not exactly sure when Bill Murray went from being wackily eccentric to a national treasure. But he’s there now. Everyone loves Bill Murray. I love him. You love him. Your grandma probably loves him. Heck, your grandma’s probably met him, given Murray’s propensity to photobomb weddings and sing karaoke with complete strangers. He’s so beloved that Ford could probably sell Pintos again if they hired him as a pitchman. In a feature in Rolling Stone (“Being Bill Murray” by... Read more
There is something in the stars that stirs us. We see the infinite space crease and fold and stretch and twist, the sky both so empty and so full. We see its inky depth set with legions of light, and it turns our minds to higher thoughts—who we are and why we’re here and what’s out there—and if something in all that space might care for us. Even nonbelievers can feel a hint of the transcendent when stargazing. It’s in... Read more
Christian Bale, who plays Moses in the upcoming Ridley Scott epic Exodus: Gods and Kings, doesn’t seem to like his character very much. He recently told a group of reporters, “I think the man was likely schizophrenic and was one of the most barbaric individuals that I ever read about in my life.” Bale’s comments generated concern from some sectors of the Christian community. Faith Driven Consumer, pairing Bale’s comments with some remarks made by Scott on crafting a more... Read more
According to Augustine and a whole lot of subsequent theologians, evil isn’t really a “thing.” Only God can create things, and God didn’t create evil. It’s real enough, of course—but instead of a thing unto itself, it’s a corruption of something good that God made. In Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent is about as evil as evil comes. She even calls herself the “Mistress of all Evil,” so there’s no mistaking where she stands. And as I’ve said elsewhere, I kinda liked... Read more
With only Jake Gyllenhaal’s disturbing Nightcrawler new in theaters this past weekend, I want to revisit Begin Again, a little indie flick just released on video Oct. 28. Begin Again, starring Keira Knightley and Mark Ruffalo, opened in theaters June 27, the same day that Transformers 4 plowed into multiplexes with all the subtlety we’ve come to expect from the series. While Transformers thundered to a $138 million weekend, Begin Again earned just a little over $500,000. And yet, this rare R-rated (mostly... Read more
It’s Halloween and, given the date, it’s only fair that I offer y’all a scary-movie post today. So let me humbly offer this: A take on The Exorcist—considered one of the scariest movies ever—originally published on my personal blog last year. In honor of its 40th anniversary, The Exorcist was recently re-released on Blu-ray, complete with a director’s cut and a special little book that has who-knows-what sorts of horrors in it. Grace Hill Media—an organization that helps market largely secular... Read more
I had breakfast with an old friend of mine yesterday morning. He’d done some work for The Song, a Christian movie that got reasonably good reviews and was largely ignored at the box office. My friend drew my attention to the Twitter account of Richard Ramsey (@RichieRamsey), the writer and director behind The Song—and one tweet in particular. “Evangelicals,” Ramsey wrote. “We choose churches that entertain us and movies that preach to us.” I am now a Richard Ramsey fan. I... Read more
“It is what it is.” We hear that a lot in the indie movie St. Vincent—much to the frustration of our titular hero (Bill Murray). The bank uses those words when he’s turned down for a loan. He hears it again when his beloved wife, stricken with dementia, is going to be turned out of her care center. “It is what it is,” he’s told. But while that may be true of Vincent’s money woes, it’s not true of people. Not... Read more
It’s been a week since I saw Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), and I’m still thinking about it. This is a film that sticks with you, like a splinter you just can’t tweeze. You can check out my Plugged In review to get a rundown of all the movie’s nasty stuff, of course. So with that out of the way, an admission: I liked Birdman. A lot, actually. It’s both utterly real and utterly absurd,... Read more
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