On Movies & Media

"Django Unchained" stands in stark contrast to traditions of American storytelling that have covered up the suffering slaves endured. When a culture tells stories that excuse its own evils long enough, the pendulum is sure to swing the other direction to reveal, even exaggerate, what has been left out.

So… was The Master a good movie, or not? What about Lincoln or The Avengers? What about This is 40 or Zero Dark Thirty? 204 film critics voted in this year’s Indiewire critics’ poll. Their choices do not resemble the Box Office Top 10 or the movies likely to be honored by the Golden Globes. Why is that? Who's right?

"The Muppet Christmas Carol" was about as faithful an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic story as the Muppets could make in the midst of their typical mischief. Nevertheless, fans could feel that something was missing. The regular cast of characters seemed to have lost their personalities...

I'm grateful to the good folks at The Brehm Center for inviting me to contribute to their film site Reel Spirituality. And my first contribution there is about a movie I've been eager to see for several years. I can't believe I'm finally reviewing it.

The filmmakers took one children's book and expanded it into three movies. So I'll take this one movie and expand it into two movie reviews...