Overheard at the Movies: Persecuted, Noah, Wish I Was Here, Life Itself, I Origins, and A Most Wanted Man

Does the film about Roger Ebert get a "thumbs up" at Christianity Today? Is Persecuted an "overwrought, alarmist cog in the paranoia machine"? Is Noah "laughable and silly"? Does Wish I Was Here peddle "mushy feel-goodisms"? And how is Philip Seymour Hoffman in A Most Wanted Man?


0 Comments9 Minutes

Summer Reading Bargain: Auralia’s Colors is Less Than $5 at Amazon

This summer, Amazon is offering you Auralia's Colors — both the paperback edition and the Kindle edition — for less than $5.


0 Comments8 Minutes

Gloria (2014)

Just so happens that the first two contestants in the 2014 Looking Closer Beauty pageant were Polish. Now it's time to meet the third contestant. She's from Chile...


1 Comment15 Minutes

A Novelist, A Horror Filmmaker, and Two Critics: Conversations Worth Hearing

Scott Derrickson, Alissa Wilkinson, Sara Zarr, Steven Greydanus... listen to all of these inspiring Christians talking to each other about art and criticism!


1 Comment1 Minutes

Viewer Discussion Advised! 12 Steps to More Rewarding Moviegoing

Share this with your family and friends. Make a copy for your pastor. And start your own church-basement movie club! But be sneaky about it. The first rule of Sight Club is this: Don't talk about Sight Club.


0 Comments2 Minutes

The 2014 Looking Closer Beauty Pageant – Contestant 2: Ewa

"The Immigrant" is going to bless those who love cinema more than entertainment, who want something to think about and talk about instead of something to pass the time.


0 Comments13 Minutes

Ida (2014)

Welcome to the 2014 Looking Closer Beauty Pageant. So far this year, I've found four compelling contestants who manifest a different definition of beauty than the one embraced by popular culture. And it should come as no surprise that these characters appear in movies that have barely made a blip at the box office.


2 Comments15 Minutes

You’re Not a Sexist Moviegoer. Or… Are You?

We're about halfway through 2014, and as I look at the Top 20 Box Office hits so far, something troubles me. Where are the substantial leading roles for women? I'm not talking about wicked queens in fairy tales and Hunger Games-style action heroes. I mean women. You know... women who inhabit worlds like ours.


15 Comments8 Minutes

How to Train Your Dragon 2: How to Spoil a Sequel

This isn't really a review of How to Train Your Dragon 2. It's more of a sigh of disappointment. This movie starts the engines of so many interesting story possibilities, and then devolves into just another "Come at me, bro!" battle spectacle.


7 Comments9 Minutes

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014): A Looking Closer Film Forum

I'm thinking about seeing "How to Train Your Dragon 2." So I'm consulting the opinons of Steven Greydanus, Scott Renshaw, Tasha Robinson, and Susan Wloszczyna...


1 Comment8 Minutes

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014): Or, Confessions of an X-Men Ex-Fan

I'm not going to try to talk anybody out of liking "Days of Future Past." I can see why it's getting such great reviews. But in the whole film, I found only one sequence particularly memorable...


7 Comments21 Minutes

The Return (2003): Why Moviegoers Everywhere Must Learn to Say “Zvyagintsev”

If you hear film buffs shouting "Zvyagintsev!" in the coming months, do not say "Gesundheit." The proper response is this: "When do I get to see Leviathan?"


0 Comments11 Minutes

Gadzooks! A Godzilla for Malick Fans?

Here are some of the more intriguing paragraphs I've read about Godzilla...


4 Comments4 Minutes

Star Wars – Episode 1: The Phantom Menace (1999): Looking Back 15 Years

I know, I know. Take a deep breath. Let go of your anger, young Jedi.


6 Comments25 Minutes

Aragorn’s Favorite Peter Jackson Movie (Hint: It’s Not The Return of the King)

It's another return of the king! Aragorn is back, and he has some kingly wisdom to share with us...


2 Comments3 Minutes

30 Must-See Movies for Kids

Featured in a WORD-FM Radio interview, here's my list of more than 30 of my favorite films for children. Do you like lists? I've got more where that one came from...


7 Comments2 Minutes

Saving Mr. Banks (2013) … or Squandering Mr. Hanks

If you want to hang on to that warm "Mary Poppins" feeling, you may just want to stop reading — because "happiness" is about the opposite of how I felt when I finally sat down to watch "Saving Mr. Banks."


7 Comments19 Minutes

Hey, Moviegoers: You’re Invited to a Secret Seattle Q&A

If you could meet and interrogate your local film critics, free of charge, would you do it?


0 Comments2 Minutes

TEN YEARS! Pt. 2: The Best of Looking Closer – 2005

This blog turns ten years old on May 11, 2014. And this post is Part Two of a ten-post series in which I'm celebrating by reflecting on some of my favorite experiences from Looking Closer's first decade.


0 Comments2 Minutes

Podcast: Listen as a Theology Professor, an English Professor, an Ordained Minister, and a Film Critic Talk About That Noah Movie

Did the theologian think the movie was "un-Biblical"? Did the English professor think the "rock monsters" in the movie were "stupid"? Did the ordained minister think that God was absent in the film? Did the film critic think it was "the worst Christian movie ever made"?


1 Comment3 Minutes

TEN YEARS! Pt. 1: The Best of Looking Closer – 2004

This blog is turning ten! Let's look back a whole decade. What were the highlights here ten years ago?


2 Comments12 Minutes

Listen Closer: Joe Henry; Peter Gabriel & Elbow; The Secret Sisters; Hiss Golden Messenger; Belle & Sebastian; Beck Covers Arcade Fire

Sample new music from Joe Henry, Elbow, Hiss Golden Messenger, The Secret Sisters, Belle and Sebastian, and Beck.


3 Comments7 Minutes

Under the Skin (2014)

Feel free to eavesdrop as I argue with myself upon exiting the theater after seeing Jonathan Glazer's troubling new sci-fi horror film Under the Skin...


3 Comments12 Minutes

Q&O = Question & Overstreet! On Muppets, Korean Cinema, U2, God’s Not Dead!, and more.

Q&A time! If you're interested in MFA programs, Korean cinema, Muppets, God's Not Dead, U2, or my dubious opinions... here we go!


3 Comments10 Minutes

God’s Not Dead (2014): A Looking Closer Film Forum

Now, two of the finest film critics in Christian media agree: There's something quite contrary to the spirit of the Gospel at the heart of the smash-hit "Christian Movie" God's Not Dead.


7 Comments7 Minutes

I’m Singing On the Radio. Forgive Me.

This weekend, I'm a guest on "Tapestry with Mary Hynes" on CBC radio and, in some places, on NPR. Also, on Monday I'll join a panel discussion on "Noah" at The Kindlings Muse. You're invited!


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”