Famine Walk – the new Joe Henry opening track is here
November 2, 2019
I heard this in the car today, and I had to pull the car over.
0 Comments1 Minute
Overstreet Archives: Anchorman (2004)
October 21, 2019
Digging back into the archives, we've discovered evidence that I reviewed Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy for Christianity Today on its opening weekend.
0 Comments16 Minutes
Hustlers (2019)
September 22, 2019
Glamorous actresses, agile pole dancing, thrilling needle drops — Hustlers is an edgy crowdpleaser. But what is it really celebrating?
2 Comments18 Minutes
Cinemarginalia: September 21
September 21, 2019
Notes on my moviegoing priorities for this week; streaming services and other movie sources; and my first viewing of The Outsiders (a movie I didn't see in my high school years).
0 Comments10 Minutes
Cinemarginalia: September 14
September 14, 2019
This is the first installment in an new weekly series of miscellany-loaded posts. This one includes notes on my recent encounters with Blue Jay, Luce, War of the Worlds, The Peanut Butter Falcon, and more!
0 Comments31 Minutes
Turn and Face the Strange: a challenge to artists and churches
On Movies & Media,On Songs & Albums,On Books & Writing
September 6, 2019
In April, I closed the Sacrament & Story conference in Seattle by posing a challenge to artists and churches, and by addressing a question that has kept you awake at night, I'm sure: If you go into space, will your DNA be rewritten and turn you into an alien?
0 Comments1 Minutes
First Impressions of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance
September 4, 2019
As soon as I'd started watching the new Netflix series that expands on Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal, I called animator and author Ken Priebe to talk about the artistry of it. Here's our conversation.
0 Comments26 Minutes
Honeyland (2019)
August 26, 2019
In a case of "found poetry," documentarians following a remarkable Macedonian beekeeper have captured a rich and meaningful story of stewardship and injustice.
0 Comments11 Minutes
Mandy (2019)
August 22, 2019
Here's an idea for a movie: They've taken the woman he loves. So he's out for revenge.
0 Comments13 Minutes
Frame 3: Unlearning to Read Along My Commute
August 17, 2019
A journal entry about the curse of compulsive reading.
0 Comments12 Minutes
Guest review: Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
August 13, 2019
Guest reviewer Damian Arlyn considers the place of Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood in director Quentin Tarantino's oeuvre.
0 Comments16 Minutes
Wild Rose (2019)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
August 10, 2019
Wild Rose has the stuff to be the year's biggest crowdpleaser... but it's already disappearing from theaters. Don't let it get away.
0 Comments10 Minutes
Frame 2: Another Psalm 12
August 9, 2019
A personal paraphrase of Psalm 12, in which the Scripture becomes, in the moment, a "living word" indeed.
0 Comments5 Minutes
The Farewell (2019)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
August 8, 2019
The summer's most surprising hit, The Farewell has almost every critic singing its praises. Me, I might be a heartless monster, because I wasn't moved by it at all.
1 Comment19 Minutes
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2019)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
July 23, 2019
Can Terry Gilliam, after all that he and this troubled production has been through, deliver a satisfying Don Quixote movie based on inspiration that is now more than three decades old?
0 Comments1 Minute
Georgia O’Keeffe and others review The Lion King (2019)
July 19, 2019
Disney celebrates itself by making a shot-for-shot, photo-realistic remake of an audience favorite. According to the reviewers I admire and tend to trust, this is a product of the circle of lifelessness.
0 Comments8 Minutes
Toy Story 4 and the Gabby Gabby problem
July 8, 2019
In Part 3 of my review, we wrestle with questions about controversial plot twists. (There will be spoilers!)
0 Comments21 Minutes
Well played, Pixar! Thoughts on Toy Story 4
July 6, 2019
Part One of a three-part reflection on Toy Story 4, in which I am proven wrong and the movie turns out to be a fantastic, opening up promising new frontiers for these beloved characters.
1 Comment15 Minutes
I Am Not a Witch (2018)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
July 2, 2019
Don't miss this overlooked treasure from 2018: a mystical "fantasy" about a young Zambian girl condemned as a witch.
0 Comments8 Minutes
Booksmart (2019)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
June 17, 2019
Booksmart is certainly energetic and exciting. But do its high-powered hormones overwhelm its generous heart?
0 Comments19 Minutes
Her Smell (2019)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
June 13, 2019
Elisabeth Moss stars as Becky Something, a ferociously self-destructive rock star who challenges us to consider the tenacity of our love.
0 Comments10 Minutes
High Fidelity (2002)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
April 19, 2019
Digging through the archives, I've found an old favorite and I'm taking it for a spin. Here's my original Year 2000 review of High Fidelity.
0 Comments13 Minutes
Ash is Purest White (2019)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
April 17, 2019
Jia Zhangke delivers a wildly ambitious epic of a gangster's girlfriend thrown overboard into Chinese capitalism's unmerciful storms. Go see it. (Caution: Part Two of this essay examines the film's confounding conclusion, so — spoilers!)
0 Comments15 Minutes
Love & Revelation: a ‘magic hour’ with Over the Rhine
On Songs & Albums,Music Reviews
April 14, 2019
Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist return with songs of ruin, loss, and hard-won hope.
0 Comments20 Minutes
From Bamboozled to BlacKkKlansman: A conversation about Spike Lee Joints
April 13, 2019
In the latest episode of North by Pacific Northwest, I discusses Spike Lee’s films with cinephile, writer, and frequent Criterion Reflections contributor Josh Hornbeck.
0 Comments1 Minute
Shrek (2001)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
March 24, 2019
Lo and behold—archaeologists digging deep in the Looking Closer archives have unearthed Overstreet's original 2001 review of Shrek.
0 Comments10 Minutes
The Coen Brothers: Winning With Losers
March 23, 2019
"Coen losers tend to stay losers." — Damian Arlyn on the Coen brothers' characters
0 Comments1 Minutes
Chungking Express (1994)
On Movies & Media,Film Reviews
March 22, 2019
A brief reflection on Wong Kar-wai's Chungking Express.
0 Comments4 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”