A Man from Madison Responds to My Review of "Madison"
From CT Movies' feedback:
Your review of Madison was excellent.
Why this movie was made is a mystery to me. "Miss Madison" just happened to be the winner the year the Gold Cup came to Madison [1971]. I remember sitting with a group of Hoosiers in Newport Beach, listening at the end of the event on Wide World of Sports. The announcers said it was the happiest day in the history of Madison.We all fell over in laughter.
The greatest day in the history of Madison happened in 1950 during the height of the real Hoosier Hysteria.The Madison Cubs defeated Indianapolis Tech, Marion, and Lafayette Jeff 67-44 to win the one-class state championship in basketball. Madison High didn't have many more students than Milan (the team called "Hickory" in Hoosiers).
Madison is a beautiful and wealthy little city with great pride. Coalmines are nowhere in sight. People didn't behave like the movie. The film is fiction, based on a true incident. You hit the nail on the head. Those of us who lived it congratulate you on your review.
- - from an old Madison Cub, long gone from Madison
Richard Linklater to direct "Fast Food Nation"
It seems to be a whole new frontier... converting popular non-fiction books into big screen films. I learned last week at Biola that The Purpose-Driven Life is about to become a feature film. (Try and figure THAT out!) Now, word that Richard Linklater (Before Sunset, Waking Life, School of Rock)is taking on this essential work... Fast Food Nation!
What is Fast Food Nation?Read more
Quote of the day:
Via Movie City News, Jennifer Jason Leigh:
"In mainstream movies the woman’s role is mostly just to prove that the leading man is heterosexual. I’m not good at that, and I’m not interested in that.”
"Their Christianity seems worthy of celebration..."
An interesting passage in J.R. Jones's review of Todd Solondz's Palindromes:
Solondz has invoked The Wizard of Oz when talking about the theme of Palindromes -- there's no place like home -- but Mama and Bo Sunshine's adopted family is more like the Island of Misfit Toys: most of the children suffer from some congenital affliction, from blindness to missing limbs to Down syndrome. Yet the family is so perfectly loving that for Aviva their home is a paradise. The Sunshines serve as a rebuke not only to her chilly mother but also to Solondz's mostly left-leaning core audience, who might be tempted to dismiss born-again Christians as idiots.
To some extent the Sunshines are idiots: their breakfast banquet includes heaping platters of "freedom toast," and the kids collaborate on a Christian rock act called the Sunshine Singers, with prerecorded dance tracks to back their soaring harmonies and synchronized dance moves. Their production numbers are both funny and acutely uncomfortable: casting actors with real disabilities is nothing new, but collecting them into a horrendously tacky showbiz exercise can't help bringing to mind Tod Browning's 1932 circus story Freaks. I was a bit ashamed of myself for laughing -- a combination of feelings that Solondz courts aggressively, though he avoids any taint of exploitation through his genuine tenderness toward the children. They're so buoyant, so kind, and so accepting of one another that their Christianity seems worthy of celebration, and the thought of aborting any one of them, as Aviva's mother surely would have, seems monstrous. It's the most daring and emotionally complex joke of Solondz's career, and I've never seen anything quite like it.
Critic of the Month
For the month of May, the spotlight falls on STEVEN D. GREYDANUS.
Steven is, I think, the closest thing to a Roger Ebert in Christian film criticism. His reviews have a strength and a confidence to them; he speaks with authority, experience, eloquence, and a penetrating intellect. From time to time, I disagree with his reviews, but rarely ... and even when I do disagree, I still learn from his perspective.Read more
"The Second Chance" - a film by Steve Taylor
Taylor is "framing" the Church. And that's a good thing. 
After Steve Taylor gave the first-ever public screening of his movie The Second Chance to a small audience at the Biola Media Conference last weekend, he took questions, praise, and criticism from the crowd. I was there, and I'm so glad I was.
It was a rough cut, with a "Soundtrack by The iPod" (clever) that served as temp tracking, and it still needs some editing finesse, color correction, and some tough final decisions on certain transitions. As usual, Taylor was humble and funny and forthcoming about the artistic process. He revealed that he and his wife have put their house up for 1/3 of the costs of the film. (What a transitional time for them... they've also just adopted a daughter!)
I wish I could go into detail, but I need to be fair--the film isn't finished, and Taylor asked the press not to review it. So a review will have to wait until the final product is released.
But I will say that if you're worried about having Michael W. Smith in the lead role (and I was ... Could he act?), you can relax. He's well-suited to the role he's been given. Even better, Jeff Obafemi Carr shines in his role as an inner-city church minister.
"The Second Chance" stars Michael W. Smith and jeff obafemi carr.
Infuze Magazine has an interview with Taylor that's worth reading. And I'll be posting my own interview with him when the film comes around. What a thrill it was for me to have an hour to sip iced mochas and talk about movies one-on-one with a guy who was one of my heroes in high school... and still is. (He even insisted on buying the coffees, against my protests. I told him that this only ensured we'd have to meet again to even the score.)
The most interesting aspect of the film's release will be this: How will Christians respond to it? You and I both know how well the church handles criticism. But one of the highest functions of art is to hold up a mirror and let us see our own reflection. If that reflection is dismaying, so be it. Taylor's been holding up mirrors to Christian culture since I Want to Be a Clone, and he's still serving us in that way, although he's traded in his satirical switchblade for a fuller, bolder, and ultimately more compassionate approach.
Stay tuned...
We're #1?!
Sweet!
The annual Evangelical Press Association (EPA) convention caught me off-guard this week, awarding Christianity Today Movies as the FIRST PLACE winner in the Online Publications category of their Awards for Excellence!
So, a round of applause is certainly due to Mark Moring and his crew, as well as to the Christianity Today visionaries who gave Mark the helm of that Web site.
They also recognized Peter T. Chattaway for his fine contributions at CanadianChristianity.com. Congratulations, Peter!!
I started into film writing partly because I was frustrated in a search for intelligent writing about cinema in the Christian press. That was more than a decade ago. Now, with CT Movies leading the way, the religious press is undergoing a revolution. The days when religious press movie reviews are primarily distinguished by stupid checklists of cuss words and other "worldly" behaviors are over. The days of engaging the culture, interpreting art, and rediscovering the power of storytelling have begun.
Of course, there are several Christians out there writing film criticism at an even more cerebral level for an audience of cinephiles. They should not be overlooked or undervalued. But it should also be noted that they're addressing a different audience, prioritizing the academic analysis of art. They're not given the added pressure to craft their interpretations for "the Christian audience," an audience that, sadly, often needs to be reminded of how to look at and interpret a work of art. We need these writers just as much, and they deserve kudos for their groundbreaking work.
But to choose to write about movies for the Christian audience ... and this effort certainly isn't limited to evangelicals... busting down misconceptions, facing the constant heckling of the Christian "cultural separatists" and Pharisees, dealing with the rivers of sneering and self-righteous email... this is not an easy task. Mark Moring sets the standard of excellence fairly high, and he deals with the "evangelical backlash" with more grace than I've been able to muster in my own experience. Granted, we've all got our blindspots, but with the guidance of writers who are part of this movement, I believe I'm starting to see some of my own, and that's a good place to start.
So congratulations to the whole team!
Mark Moring reports:
The person who judged the category said, "This site is outstanding. I really like the continuity." He liked our "personality," and said that the site "answers many of the questions I am asking as a father." He called the writing style "very engaging, friendly, positive, helpful -- good blending of service as a narrative." He liked the "very clear navigation," and praised our "outstanding service journalism."
This category judge specifically named Moring (the editor) and Clay Anderson (site designer, art director.)
Thank you, Mark and Clay, and all of the rest of you. Special thanks to Ted Olsen and Steve Lansingh for blazing a trail for CT Movies with the creation of Lansingh's original Film Forum column several years ago!
Here's to next year!!
Steven D. Greydanus discovers "one of my top ten of the year"
Steven D. Greydanus (Decent Films) is one of the best film critics on the Web today, and he's just discovered a must-see.Read more
The Hitchhiker's Guide to Bad Moviegoers
Warning... rant ahead.
A Seattle film critic and her noisy obnoxious friends utterly ruined my first viewing of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
She and her rowdy friends took up about half of a row in front of us, and they began by bragging loudly about their knowledge of the books by Douglas Adams and their contempt for those who haven't read them. (By their attitude, they must not be too familiar with the book that The Passion was based on.)
They proceeded to revel in their expertise by laughing uproariously at everything that ever appeared onscreen... to exhibit their enthusiasm for the books, I can only assume.Read more
Serenity Now!
My how things have changed. In the year of the climactic Star Wars episode, I'm actually far more excited about this.Read more