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

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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...

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

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