Jeffrey Overstreet - Looking Closer

Salon: The Ultimate Family DVD List!

A few weeks ago, Andrew O'Hehir asked readers to submit their nominations for Best Family Movies.

The result is here, and it's worth the wait. Here is Salon's Ultimate Family DVD List.

Seeing the four films that were "THE UNDISPUTED CHAMPIONS"... I'm already cheering.Move to Trash

CT on "Lord, Save Us From Your Followers"

Brandon Fibbs at Christianity Today reports on Lord Save Us From Your Followers:

If you were to walk out of Lord Save Us at the halfway mark, you might think the film is little more than a tirade against Christians behaving badly. As vital as that message may be, you'd only be half right. What makes the film so powerful is its intractable ability to embrace both the baby and the bathwater. This is a film made by a follower, and therein lies its unique musculature. Merchant never lets us forget the powerful words of St. Augustine: "The church is a whore, but she is my mother."

"If the first half of the film is showing how we're missing the mark," Merchant says, "the second half is really an examination of who we're trying to be. If (the world) wants to criticize (Christians) for the things we do wrong, we should accept it and apologize. But let's also be honest that that is not the whole picture."

by Jeffrey Overstreet

David Horsey on satire

Source here.

(via Andrew Sullivan)

by Jeffrey Overstreet

The Gospel of Judas: The Hoax

Gene Edward Veith notes:

Remember the recent furor over the discovery of the ancient manuscript entitled "The Gospel of Judas"? The media reported that the document presented Judas as a good guy, implying that the church had gotten it wrong over all these centuries and that we would now have to re-evaluate our knowledge of Jesus. Some accounts made it sound like the manuscript was written by Judas. The translation became a bestseller and National Geographic, which was behind the publication of the text, made a TV documentary on the subject. But now read the rest of the story from the authoritative Chronicle of Higher Education on how genuine scholarship got high-jacked by media sensationalism, pop culture superficiality, and commercial temptations.

by Jeffrey Overstreet

Browser, 7/14: Melissa Etheridge Apologizes to Phil Keaggy; Mattingly on Russert & Catholicism; Sixpence on Letterman; Parks on "4 Months..."; Jonn Woo's "Red Cliff"; Name That Singer

ETHERIDGE CLEARS THE AIR

Were you following this tempest in a teacup?

Melissa Etheridge was recently quoted in Rolling Stone in a way that gave readers a bad impression of guitarist Phil Keaggy. The quote made it sound like Keaggy had once made a disparaging remark about Etheridge's sexual orientation, a remark that steered her clear of pursuing a career in Christian music.

Keaggy responded.

And now, Etheridge has spoken to clear the whole matter up. That was a gracious gesture, and I'm pleased to see that this is wrapping up nicely. I hope everyone who read the Rolling Stone story sees this.

WILLIAMS: RUSSERT'S FAITH WAS NOT "AN ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM. IT WAS THE ROOM."

Here's Terry Mattingly on one aspect of Tim Russert's integrity that did not receive enough attention in the tidal wave of tributes... his Christian faith. Mattingly has even more here.

LATE NIGHT WITH SIXPENCE NONE THE RICHER

Just for fun, here's a flashback to Leigh Nash explaining to David Letterman all about the name of her band: Sixpence None the Richer.

PARKS ON 4,3,2...
J. Robert Parks shares his thoughts on a particularly riveting film: 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days.

TWITCH ON WOO
Looks like John Woo might be staging a major comeback. His sweeping, two-part epid Red Cliff sounds amazing.

Name the singer/songwriter who said, "I hate a song that makes you think that you're not any good. ... Songs that run you down or songs that poke fun at you on account of your bad luck or your hard traveling. I am out to fight those kinds of songs to my very last breath of air and my last drop of blood."

Today's his birthday.

by Jeffrey Overstreet