Looking Closer Intern Joe Allen here. And it’s time to catch you up on Overstreet’s recommended links for this week.
(If you’re following Jeffrey on Facebook or Twitter, you may have already seen some of these.)
CINEMA:
On Overstreet’s short list of Class A film reviewers, you’ll find Steven D. Greydanus, who writes for The National Catholic Register, Crux, and his own site — DecentFilms.com. Here’s Greydanus‘s excellent review of Mad Max: Fury Road.
While Jeffrey’s been too busy with school-related deadlines to compose a proper review just yet, he did post some first impressions of Fury Road on Letterboxd. But keep your eyes open — I’m told a full review is coming.
Meanwhile, thanks to author Pete Peterson for drawing our attention to this: an interesting lesson in action filmmaking from the makers of Mad Max: Fury Road.
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Overstreet also posted first impressions of the film Slow West, starring Michael Fassbender.
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As he put it on Facebook—this is kind of like Alien vs. Predator: It’s the makers of 2016: Obama’s America fighting the makers of God’s Not Dead.
Turns out that when the guys who make today’s “Christian movie industry” blockbusters aren’t making terrible, preachy movies that promote right-wing political extremism and run counter to the spirit of the gospel, they’re suing each other. Well, at least they’re consistent: Their behavior has as much to do with the gospel as their movies do.
As one person commented in response to Overstreet’s tweet about this: “Dinest D’what now?”
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MUSIC:
Looking Closer’s patron saint and muse Sam Phillips has been blogging again. That’s good news.
Good creative endeavors can lead you, and sometimes leave you, in-between cultures, categories, and careers. There is a lot of interesting work to do in those spaces…..
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Here’s a reminder from Jeffrey about how you can access his favorite tracks of 2015 playlist:
I’ll let you in on a little project in progress. In my deep dive into the music of 2015, I’m adding to a Spotify playlist of the tracks that get my attention, compel me to listen closer, and end up in frequent rotation. Anybody who makes a contribution to the survival of this in the months of May and June will get that link as a “Thank you.” I’ll go on adding my favorite tracks to that list through to the end of the year. You can get into the act here: http://www.patheos.com/…/looking-closer-the-opening-credits/
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BOOKS:
Jeffrey did a short capsule review of Tara M. Owens‘s new book Embracing the Body. It was published in Image Update.
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Novelist Sara Zarr asks “What is a Christian?”
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Laura Turner reviews Lauren Winner‘s new book Wearing God:
The God of Christianity is often made to seem abstract and inaccessible, and images can only tell us so much about a thing before we run up against some sort of obstacle. But a composite of Scriptural images of God can create a helpful mosaic; where before we saw only two or three pieces, now we see something approaching a whole.