It takes skill to tell the biography of one of the greatest Christian writers in modern time without showing his devotion to or influence of his faith. Yet in Tolkien, director Dome Karukoski and
It is difficult to compete with the original Han Solo. Harrison Ford plays the part not only with a carefree abandon that Alden Ehrenreich exhibits well, but Ford also has a pathos lingering
Christian analogies are often expressed in science fiction films, so it was exciting to see that Disney was making Madeleine L’Engle’s 1962 classic A Wrinkle in Time. Having read her book
There is no easy way to describe the values in a movie that is a combination drama-comedy-Sci-Fi-love story where a mute janitor at a scientific laboratory falls in love and has sex with a sea creature from the
With a humor that was lacking from Hell or High Water, and with a complexity that would satisfy the staunchest Mission: Impossible fan, Steven Soderbergh has created a wonderful tale
The true life romance of Pakistani comedian Kumail Nanjiani (self) with his now wife Emily (Zoe Kazan) has a pervasive emptiness. The reasons for that are several, but not the least of
Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur is a mixture of Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Mad Max! Filled with action, magic, swords, darkness and an unlikely hero, this version is far from the fairytale
The non-stop action of James Gunn’s second film portraying this ragtag group of heroes is impressive. However, the snarky and sometimes crude conversations between them is deserving
The life of Emily Dickenson is shown to be one of increasing despair in this film by Terence Davies. As both writer and director, Davies portrays both a depressing form of Christianity as
The animated tale of two brothers who come to recognize the value of love sounds like a story we would appreciate. However in the telling of The Boss Baby, we enter such a disturbing
Every parent of a child with autism wants them to thrive. However, the way they help varies according to the values of the parent. If the parent believes that the best course is to teach the
In the genre of brutal vengeance, The Magnificent Seven is an exemplary film. We have a villain sufficiently evil to require our anger. We have a damsel in distress sufficiently alluring so as to
Bridgett Jones (Renée Zellweger) has returned after a long rest to carry on the sad, but comedic life she portrayed in Bridgett Jones Diary (2001) and Bridgett Jones: The Edge of Reason
Sometimes a movie has little depth of message, but can still be entertaining. Such is the case of the newly recast and updated version of the 1984 classic “Ghostbusters” which originally
Complications of grief are seldom as troubled as we see in the life of Davis (Jake Gyllenhaal) in the film Demolition. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and based on a screenplay by Brian Sype,
Although we take the television shopping networks for granted today, that was not true only three decades ago. Founded in 1986, QVC “Quality, Value, Convenience” was a small cable
The fourth and final film in The Hunger Games franchise is entertaining but lacks the novelty we learned to expect from the earlier films. Based on a trilogy by Suzanne Collins, the decision to
The broken lives caused by a young mother leaving her husband and three young children to pursue her dream as a rock star is powerfully presented by Jonathan Demme in his film Ricki and the Flash. Written
The recent film production of I’ll See You in My Dreams is depressing. That is not to say that it is not good cinema or that the performance of Blythe Danner is not noteworthy. It is the shallow
Spy stars Melissa McCarthy who plays Susan Cooper, a super-spy, or better yet a superficial spy, in this slapstick version of a James Bond 007 film. In only a few short years McCarthy has emerged as one of
Are there natural disasters that scare you or cause you to fear going places? I have heard people who live with tornados in the Mid-West tell me that they would never live in California because
The seventh film in the Fast & Furious series is directed by James Wan and continues the ensemble cast that was assembled over the previous six films. Written by Chris Morgan, as were
The sequel of John Madden and Ol Parker’s film The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is an engaging tale. The ensemble cast continues to be its strength as well as the culturally rich setting of India
When Richard Dawkins suggested in the documentary film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed that aliens “seeded” the earth with the first human beings, Andy and Lana Wachowski were
When J.R.R. Tolkien created the world of Middle Earth, he did so both as an expression of his literary talents and to explore his Christian faith through analogous symbols. Thus the power of
It is an easy prediction to say that Birdman will be loved by the cinema community. It is a well-crafted story, artfully told, about a series of remarkably shallow people. The center of the story
Parents’ ambitions for their children often hurt their relationships and damage their identities. Thinking that they are helping their children succeed, their love can be eclipsed by the high
Expecting to enjoy the same romantic depth of Nicholas Sparks as we saw in The Notebook, we were disappointed in this film. Also based on a novel by Sparks, The Best of Me is similar in its
The promotional material for The November Man gives you the whole story: An ex-CIA operative is brought back in on a very personal mission and finds himself pitted against his
It is hard to take seriously the messages delivered through comic books characters, but at least in this case “good” always wins out over “evil.” If you take this film seriously, though, you miss
