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Since the studios couldn’t get their act together in time for Guillermo Del Toro to direct The Hobbit, what movie is he going to make instead? (more…)

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How much will it cost you to read what all of this fuss is about?

99 cents. (more…)

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The second part of my review is called “The Long Road Home.” (more…)

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Interviewing Robert Duvall for Get Low, Mark Moring stirred the actor up for a lively conversation about The Apostle.

Check it out.

Here’s my favorite stretch of the conversation:

You observed a lot of preachers while doing your research, didn’t you?

All over America. And mostly in black churches. I love going to black churches, and I love some of these black preachers. The best preacher I ever saw in my life was a 93-year-old in a black church in Hamilton, Virginia. What a preacher! He’d make Mahatma Gandhi look like a Nazi. He was so spiritual, this man. A wonderful man.

Some people thought The Apostle was mocking Southern holiness or Pentecostal preachers …

Who said that?

Oh, some Christians wished it had been a more positive portrayal of a preacher rather than a man with all these …

Let me straighten these people out. And you can put it in print. My guy [Rev. Euliss "Sonny" Dewey, the title character] killed a guy out of anger, right? But he wasn’t one half as bad as King David in the Psalms, who sent a man off to be killed so he could be with his wife. Every time I read the Psalms I think of that. But on the other hand, I heard that Billy Graham liked the movie, and many, many preachers did. Rev. James Robison of Fort Worth said I could use anything from any of his services to put in the film. So I’m not mocking.

If Hollywood had done this, they would have mocked these people. No, I did not mock these people. I didn’t patronize these people. I’ve been in many, many churches, Pentecostal churches. I could have made these people look bad if I wanted to. So you can tell these people I did not mock these people or condescend at all. Had I done it in a Hollywood movie, we would have patronized these people. That’s why I had to do the movie myself.

Why do you think Hollywood has a tendency to mock Christians and preachers?

Well, it’s not just Christians. I mean, I’m a Christian. But they mock the interior of the United States of America, the heartland. They don’t go out of their way to understand what’s really there.

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My review of Inception is published in two parts at Good Letters, the Image blog.

Here’s Part One.

And here’s Part Two.

By the way… if you’re curious about my series of fantasy novels, but you don’t want to hand over 15 bucks to try one, here’s good news.

You can now find out what all of this fuss is about for only 99 cents.

That’s right: In the month of August, Auralia’s Colors – the eBook – is only 99 cents here.

Check it out, but act fast. The deal is over come September.

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My review of Inception is a two-parter, and it goes up on Good Letters, the Image blog, today and tomorrow. Here’s Part One.

Basically, Part One is about why I think it’s interesting but ultimately disappointing.

Oh, but there are some very cool things in Inception. For example, turn on your speakers and check this out… (more…)

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I know Joe Henry, producer of Elvis Costello, Allen Toussaint, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Loudon Wainwright III, Mary Gauthier, and Over the Rhine, is full of surprises.

But this? This may be the biggest surprise of all. (more…)

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You folks who leave comments here… consider this a little love note, prompted by things I’ve seen happening on several other sites today.

Conversing on an online discussion board is a tricky art. (more…)

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I don’t have much to say about Salt, especially since the movie lasts about as long as it’ll take you to read this. (more…)

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I had a heck of a time deciding which memory to write out for Salon.com’s celebration of movie theater memories. (more…)

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