cinema reviews
How to Train your Content
April 21st, 2010
Things have really taken off with Cinemagogue, from increasing emails to a a few interviews culminating in articles to more connections with writers, pastors and filmmakers. The Mars Hill blog began promoting film and theology events where we capture the audio, and I started blogging for The Resurgence using video. The embedded review of How [...]
Weak God, Limp Lucifer & Wooden Jesus
April 15th, 2010
Although we discussed imperfect Greek gods, and modern myths of a “more fallible Creator” in the last post, the new Clash of the Titans DOES stray from classic polytheism and polarizes the war between Zeus and Hades; save for a few scenes, the rest of the pantheon is scarce. It’s a much more westernized, even [...]
Perseus damns the gods (Thank God!)
April 13th, 2010
The gods need US! They need our prayers! – Cassiopeia, Clash of the Titans
I mentioned in the first Clash of the Titans post that we’d address one of the film’s taglines: “damn the gods”. The queen of Argos speaks brazenly about the Greek pantheon of “gods” that rules over them in this remake of the [...]
Clash of the CLASH of the Titans…
April 9th, 2010
I was SO not impressed. Why did we need a remake of Clash of the Titans? And what about that inaugural tagline: “Titans will Clash”? Ugh, with a marketing team like that on other films we might have had taglines like “War in the Stars” or “Man will Iron 2″. Besides, the ORIGINAL Clash of the [...]
DISTRICT 9 showcases (un?)likely hero
April 5th, 2010
As mentioned in my commentary on the Oscars and Cinemagogue’s Top 10 for 2010, the surprising gem District 9 ranked high on the list; although it didn’t make number 1, it DID boast the most unexpected story with the most intriguing character development I’ve seen in film for quite some time. The transformation of Wikus van [...]
Faith & Sight in The BOOK OF ELI
March 30th, 2010
As we finish our 3-shot review on The Book of Eli (click here for part 1) this last part includes SPOILERS. Curiously enough, I’d read the screenplay prior to seeing the film, knew the twist ending, and still loved it. The “reveal”, though intriguing, didn’t make the movie for me. My final spoiler-laden thoughts are [...]
3 Deep cuts & 3 fun slices of ELI
March 22nd, 2010
In our opening post on The Book of Eli (click here), I promised to carve out 3 points the film makes about man, religious power, and God, so let’s continue:
1. The heat of life brings people’s true nature to the surface…
“When the chips are down, these ‘civilized’ people will eat each other. You’ll see. I’ll [...]
Seen the movie? Now read the BOOK (of Eli)
March 15th, 2010
“Dear Lord… Thank you for guiding me straight and true through the many obstacles in my path…”
The Book of Eli was my favorite film in January 2010, though considering this is usually the month where movies go to die (save for the occasional horror film, so if a film is “undead” it’s okay) Eli didn’t [...]
Our Savior in AVATAR
March 5th, 2010
(this is the last post in a series, click here for the introduction to our series on James Cameron’s AVATAR.)
Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, [...]
New Birth, Blue Birth in AVATAR
March 3rd, 2010
“Every person is born twice. The second time is when you earn your place among the people forever.” – Avatar
(click here for the introduction to our series on Avatar)
Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do [...]