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Here’s the book cover for the next Overstreet publication… (more…)

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My review of Jane Eyre, the 2011 film by Cary Fukanaga, is posted on the Good Letters blog at Image.

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How many of the twelve Jane Eyre movies have you seen?

What do you think of the new one, which stars Alice in Wonderland‘s Mia Waikowska? (more…)

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Last time I saw Chicago, it was 2003 and my mind was on the Cornerstone Festival, several hours west of the city.

On Thursday evening, I’ll arrive in Chicago again… (more…)

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I finally saw Of Gods and Men.

The film received a rave review from my favorite film critic, Steven Greydanus, so it’s been high on my list of must-see priorities.

I’m so glad I spent a Saturday afternoon and eight bucks on it.

It’s a quiet, powerful film, profound and inspiring in its picture of faithful Christians. It may not be as poetic as, say, Babette’s Feast, nor does it have a complex visual vocabulary like Ordet. It provides sufficient tours of the characters’ surroundings to convince us that this is, indeed, the Monastery of Our Lady of Atlas in Algeria’s Atlas Mountains, near Algiers. But the key scenes are all staged very simply, as if this might be adapted from a play.

It’s beautifully acted, filled with endearing yet understated performances.

It’s suspenseful and, at times, terrifying.

It’s not a great work of cinematography, but I would argue that it shouldn’t be; the modesty of its visual style suits the subject matter. This isn’t a Terrence Malick epic about natural revelation and the movement of the Holy Spirit through the grass. It’s a film about monks doing their simple daily tasks, and applying themselves to What Matters as death comes knocking on their doors.

But even though this is one of the finest examples of Christian faith to play on the big screen since Sophie Scholl, I fear that Of Gods and Men is doomed to remain as relatively unknown to Christian audiences as Sophie Scholl is. It’ll probably never earn the popularity in churches that films like Facing the Giants enjoy. Why?

Several reasons. Here are a few: (more…)

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Here are the details… (more…)

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Our response to life is different if we have been taught only a definition of faith than if we have trembled with Abraham as he held a knife over Isaac.

Who said that? (more…)

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What movies did I see this week?  (more…)

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Anthony Lane on Battle: Los Angeles: (more…)

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Apparently, Seattle’s paper The Stranger just makes stuff up when it comes to describing local events. They sum up this Thursday’s Ale Boy’s Feast reading like this: (more…)

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