The Quarry: murder, scripture, and Southern Gothic style

Set in a world rich with echoes of Flannery O'Connor and Cormac McCarthy, The Quarry's story of a fake preacher and a violent sheriff raises hard questions about the possibility of redemption in a world as ruined as this one.


1 Comment16 Minutes

It’s Groundhog Day in Palm Springs

Palm Springs plays with a familiar formula, and its innovations are diminished by its crassness and the flimsiness of its "insights."


0 Comments12 Minutes

Da 3 Movies in Da 5 Bloods

Spike Lee's latest multi-tasking movie is a ferocious work of passion and Gospel that succeeds in spite of its stumbles and dissonant styles.


1 Comment19 Minutes

Extra Ordinary Ghost-busting in Ireland

The second big paranormal-thriller surprise of the summer (after The Vast of Night), Extra Ordinary is the funniest thing I've seen all year.


0 Comments5 Minutes

Catching Up With The Bling Ring

When those that qualify as the 2% won't rest until they've stolen their way into the 1% — The Bling Ring is a thoughtful and prophetic portrait of a generation obsessed with becoming media gods, exploiting social justice slogans in service of their own social-media avatars.


0 Comments15 Minutes

Why The Vast of Night hits close to home

Like 2019's Prospect, Amazon's new sci-fi thriller The Vast of Night makes magic with modest resources and gives us the two most memorable investigators of the paranormal since Mulder and Scully first argued.


1 Comment15 Minutes

Predators in academia: Shirley’s search for lost girls

Shirley, driven by great performances from Elizabeth Moss and Michael Stuhlbarg, is dark, strange, and unnervingly wise.


1 Comment15 Minutes

Raised by 20th Century Women

I recently caught up with director Mike Mills's film 20th Century Women and wished I'd seen it earlier to include it in my 2016 Favorites list.


0 Comments13 Minutes

Onward’s Frivolous Fantasy

Looking for an escape from sheltering-at-home familiarity, I turned to America's most reliable animation studio. But Pixar's Onward remains stuck in uninspired tropes.


0 Comments21 Minutes

Catching Up With Cléo from 5 to 7

In which I begin posting thoughts on the movies I'm watching during the 2020 season of COVID-19 lockdown. First up? A beloved French New Wave masterpiece by Agnes Varda.


1 Comment18 Minutes

Hard times are good times for Auralia’s Colors

The people of House Abascar have been betrayed by false promises and robbed of colors, robbed of hope. But there are rumors of a girl in the woods who gathers colors that no one else has ever seen. And now, you can hear those colors. During these stay-at-home days, you're invited to a reading of Auralia's Colors.


0 Comments1 Minutes

In the midst of trouble and grief… a joyous day!

Celebrate with people from 40 countries, in 25 language, as we announce the Good News to the world.


2 Comments1 Minute

Before Mulan… we had Whale Rider.

Before you see Niki Caro's reinvention of Mulan, discover her 2003 film about another young female hero who subverts the expectations of her people and overturns restrictive patriarchal traditions.


0 Comments14 Minutes

Vagabond (1985)

My enthusiasm for Agnes Varda's documentaries has prompted many to recommend her narrative features. This week, I caught up with Vagabond.


0 Comments6 Minutes

The Kid Who Would Be King (2019)

Joe Cornish's latest is something less than a chip off the ol' Attack the Block.


0 Comments10 Minutes

Let the Corpses Tan (2019)

Dazzling and hyperviolent, Let the Corpses Tan is one of the most creative thrillers I've seen in years. But take a note of heavy caution: It's also upsettingly graphic.


0 Comments6 Minutes

El Sur (1983)

In which I catch up with a 1983 masterpiece — a father-daughter dance for the ages.


0 Comments7 Minutes

Strange Negotiations (2019)

Brandon Vedder's portrait of David Bazan follows the rock star through harrowing experiences of fear, doubt, betrayal, and self-discovery.


0 Comments12 Minutes

Knife in the Water (1962)

Another in my "Less than 500 words" reviews: I finally caught up with Roman Polanski's breakout thriller.


0 Comments4 Minutes

A Hidden Life (2019)

A Hidden Life is a movie that I wish every moviegoer in the world would experience on the big screen while they have the chance. But I'm also holding back from what feels to me like excessive praise.


1 Comment25 Minutes

1917 (2019)

Even if we grant 1917 the distinction of being the first war film to play from beginning to end as one unbroken scene, I think we must also conclude that it's less than the sum of its part.


2 Comments12 Minutes

Favorite Films of 2019: The Top Twenty-One

At this point, here are my top 21 films of 2019.


5 Comments63 Minutes

Overstreet’s Favorite Recordings: 2019

Here it is — a music festival, a playlist, a countdown of my favorite albums of 2019.


1 Comment33 Minutes

Favorite Recordings of 2019: Honorable Mentions

A prelude to my countdown of 25 favorite records fro 2019, here's a long list of albums that probably deserve to be in that top 25 but... well... math is unforgiving. Explore. Listen. Discover some new favorites.


0 Comments22 Minutes

My 2019 in Review: An Introduction

Here come the year-end lists! But let's consider their context: It's been a difficult year. We have needed art to revive our sense of vision, to awaken our conscience, to offer us rumors of glory in a darkening world.


0 Comments8 Minutes

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

Here's a review of J.J. Abrams' The Rise of Skywalker that follows the example of the movie.


2 Comments22 Minutes

My #1 Christmas gift recommendation — and five reasons why

I've been asked to recommend five highlights from my many years of reading Image, my favorite literary arts journal. I had difficulty limiting my answer.


0 Comments13 Minutes

Light from Light (2019)

Paul Harrill, director of Something, Anything, returns with another venture into the borderlands between body and spirit, head and heart. But this time, it might not be God that a young woman is discovering. It might be a ghost.


1 Comment15 Minutes

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)

Another Mr. Roger movie. Another essential vision — for here, for now, for American children and American adults.


2 Comments19 Minutes

Ford v Ferrari (2019)

Race cars. Guys with clenched jaws. Bromances. Grudge matches. A good wife back home tucking the moppet into bed at night. This is sure to be a big hit.


0 Comments10 Minutes

Light From Light: A Looking Closer Film Forum

Until I can finish my own review, here's a round table of reviews worth reading that represent a range of perspectives on my favorite ghost story of 2019.


0 Comments4 Minutes

Cinemarginalia: Justin Chang & Ins Choi at The Glen Workshop; Criterion sale; Scorsese in Seattle

You can spend a week in Santa Fe with Justin Chang, Ins Choi, Over the Rhine, and more. Also: The new Scorsese film is getting the best possible projection in Seattle. Read about these things and more here...


0 Comments5 Minutes

Overstreet Radio: Wilco, Lucy Dacus, Innocence Mission, R.E.M., Bruce Cockburn, and more

Here's a long list of new songs that are heating up my cold autumn days. Enjoy!


0 Comments6 Minutes

Practicing the Prophetic: James K. A. Smith on liturgy and discernment

Behold — James K. A. Smith's plenary lecture from Seattle Pacific University's Day of Common Learning.


0 Comments1 Minutes

Looking Closer with Jeffrey Overstreet

(now the ears of my ears awake andnow the eyes of my eyes are opened)

– e. e. cummings, “i thank You God for most this amazing”