Puzzle (2018)
This film looks like a movie made from far-too-familiar pieces. Instead, Puzzle is a delightful and rewarding surprise.
0 Comments10 Minutes
Dead Poets Society and the Legacy of Dr. Luke Reinsma
Four years ago this week, I wrote about how I had changed my mind about "Dead Poets Society." This week, I re-post it as a tribute to my favorite professor.
0 Comments18 Minutes
A great film about linguistics has arrived…
"There is nothing novel about isolationism," says Dr. Kathryn Bartholomew, professor emeritus of languages and linguistics. "It’s the contrary, hospitality, that surprises and delights us." Can you guess which recent sci-fi film inspired this observation?
0 Comments1 Minute
Three Identical Strangers (2018)
Three Identical Strangers is about the joys of brotherhood, the importance of free information and effective journalism, the difference between nature and nurture, and the dangers of science unchecked by conscience.
0 Comments11 Minutes
Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
Crazy Rich Asians is a Cinderella story in which someone much richer than most of us discovers that wealth is relative, and she might not measure up to the standards of China's super-rich.
0 Comments12 Minutes
Eighth Grade (2018)
If "Love is attention," like they say in Lady Bird, then the secret of Eighth Grade is the love it shows its central character: 13-year-old Kayla.
0 Comments19 Minutes
Mission: Impossible — Fallout (2018)
While Mission: Impossible—Fallout played, I loved every minute of it. But afterward, I had an itch that I couldn't scratch. I wrote this to scratch it.
0 Comments20 Minutes
Hearts Beat Loud (2018)
Just what the summer movie season needed: a light, fun, frivolous 90 minutes in a record store with Nick Offerman.
0 Comments10 Minutes
Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (2018)
I'm not likely to see a more memorable, meaningful movie all year. Neither are you.
0 Comments22 Minutes
Leave No Trace (2018)
From the director of Winter's Bone, Leave No Trace is a powerful portrait of a father and daughter that asks us what price we're willing to pay in order to live with integrity and freedom.
0 Comments18 Minutes
Incredibles 2 (2018)
Incredibles 2 suffers a bit from a predictable twist and from themes that get, like Elastigirl, bent out of shape. But it's still the most sensational action movie of the year so far.
2 Comments21 Minutes
First Reformed (2018)
The most invigorating subject of discussion at the movies this year is also a difficult and, for me, frustrating film.
3 Comments27 Minutes
Ocean’s 8 (2018)
Ocean's 8 should've been a blast. It's a missed opportunity in so many ways.
0 Comments12 Minutes
Pope Francis: A Man of His Word — a Looking Closer film forum
Can a documentary about the Pope give us a complex, nuanced, truthful vision that is more than just a vehicle for a message?
0 Comments2 Minutes
Game Night (2018)
For friends and weekend parties, Game Night is bound to become a movie-night favorite.
0 Comments9 Minutes
The Theology of the Coen Brothers? A Conversation Between Matt Zoller Seitz and Jeffrey Overstreet
Originally titled "O Coen Brothers, Where Art God?", this is my conversation with Matt Zoller Seitz about theology, Raising Arizona, morality, Fargo, good and evil, The Big Lebowski, and so much more.
2 Comments35 Minutes
Ready Player One (2018)
Spielberg gets lost in nostalgia, serving up a flashy but frustrating contradiction.
0 Comments25 Minutes
Praising Paul, Apostle of Christ
Justin Chang and Steven Greydanus are impressed with "Paul, Apostle of Christ."
1 Comment6 Minutes
Movie’s Not Christian — and Vox’s Not Dead
God's Not Dead, but he sure is misrepresented! Here's Alissa Wilkinson on just how misguided this series of films really is.
1 Comment1 Minutes
Isle of Dogs (2018)
Wes Anderson's latest is the most visually enchanting of his career. For me, it's also the most frustrating.
0 Comments15 Minutes
An American who deserves a parade
A trailer for a movie about a man who made America great by being a humble, loving, welcoming American.
0 Comments1 Minute
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”