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The Eyes of Tammy Faye
(2021)
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Chris E. W. Green
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The Eyes of Tammy Faye, with all its faults and shortcomings, promises to change the way Tammy Faye is remembered.
Posted Oct 23, 2021
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Minari
(2020)
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Jennifer Clark
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It's an invitation to sit with the writer/director, Lee Isaac Chung, as he shares his childhood memories of loss, identity, and the third culture created when two collide into one another.
Posted Jun 11, 2021
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A Soldier's Story
(1984)
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Lloyd Billingsley
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A Soldier's Story is a moving piece of human drama that not only draws the viewer into the interior life of the characters -- the task of the dramatist -- but makes him work as well.
Posted Mar 24, 2021
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Soul
(2020)
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Timothy Thomas
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Soul offers a surprisingly heady philosophical message to a distressed generation that is trying to find purpose through meaningful work.
Posted Jan 23, 2021
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2.5/4
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Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage
(2008)
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Russ Breimeier
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Throw out your preconceptions, because the movie's actually not bad. Christmas Cottage has its charm, and certainly isn't the mess many would expect.
Posted Jun 08, 2020
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Parasite
(2019)
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Jennifer Clark
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While Parasite has won critical acclaim worldwide, seeming to strike a chord with audiences for its raw class commentary, the movie's message is not clear cut. It's a dark comedy, but by the end you're not sure if the joke is on you after all.
Posted Feb 07, 2020
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The Cardinal
(1963)
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James Daane
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The scenery is superb, the acting good: yet The Cardinal suggests neither the crises of the period, nor the anguished religious struggles it seeks to portray within the Catholic soul. Though the treatment is reverential, it lacks spiritual fiber.
Posted Dec 20, 2019
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3.5/4
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Them That Follow
(2019)
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Kutter Callaway
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Them That Follow is a coming-of-age love story. But it's also more than that, in large part because it offers a rare glimpse into a world of Christian faith and practice that will strike many viewers as strange and unfamiliar, even evangelical Christians.
Posted Aug 06, 2019
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3/4
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The Best of Enemies
(2019)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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Telson says that the film shows how one Christian woman's acts of love had ripples that 'went down generations.'
Posted Apr 05, 2019
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B+
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The Man Without a Past
(2002)
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Jeffrey Overstreet
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With its rusty railroads and dingy metal canisters where the downtrodden dwell, [this film] finds color, surprise, and joy in the simplicity of struggling Helsinki outcasts.
Posted Mar 16, 2019
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B+
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Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
(2004)
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Jeffrey Overstreet
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He's sure to offend viewers who don't see the humor in such stuff. [But Ron Burgundy] highlights the truth about television news. It's entertainment disguised as information.
Posted Mar 12, 2019
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3/4
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Across the Universe
(2007)
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Carolyn Arends
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Across the Universe is a good-natured (if sometimes enthusiastic to the point of corniness) romp.
Posted Dec 15, 2018
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2.5/4
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Local Color
(2006)
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Annie Young Frisbie
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Despite the color that Mueller-Stahl and Morgan bring to their roles, Local Color remains as flat as a monochrome painting.
Posted Dec 03, 2018
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3/4
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Liyana
(2017)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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A testament to the power of art and imagination to transform trauma.
Posted Oct 12, 2018
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The Mayo Clinic: Faith - Hope - Science
(2018)
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Jenny Collins
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Backed by Burns's teams, talent and toolkit, the film unpacks Mayo's remarkable origin story and its enduring legacy of faith and science.
Posted Oct 11, 2018
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4/4
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Selma
(2014)
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Alissa Wilkinson
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It is a very, very good movie, beautifully shot by Bradford Young and deftly, almost astonishingly well-directed by relative newcomer Ava DuVernay.
Posted Oct 02, 2018
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3/4
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Night Comes On
(2018)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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Some conventional scenarios are elevated, particularly by a great performance from Fishback.
Posted Aug 10, 2018
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2.5/4
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Hope Springs Eternal
(2018)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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Not as risky as it should be but still better than most offerings to its target audience.
Posted Aug 09, 2018
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1.5/4
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Christopher Robin
(2018)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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The script seems to operate on the assumption that if it announces and acknowledges the stale predictability of its character moments, this makes it a postmodern wink rather than a routine bit of fan-service retrieved from a warehouse.
Posted Aug 08, 2018
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Break Point
(2014)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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The adult-child interactions are the best parts, and it is surprisingly sweet for the eighty percent that is not needlessly crass.
Posted Jul 19, 2018
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1.5/4
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Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
(2018)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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How did we get to the point where we are shedding tears over the potential deaths of dinosaurs while cheering the grisly demise of human villains?
Posted Jun 27, 2018
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3.5/4
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Won't You Be My Neighbor?
(2018)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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[Won't You Be My Neighbor] holds him up, deservedly, as a good example to encourage and inspire us, helping us to see both his faults and our own in better perspective.
Posted Jun 07, 2018
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A Wrinkle in Time
(2018)
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Sarah Arthur
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It remains to be seen whether the film will qualify as mythopoeic, theologically speaking. It may not address all our "cosmic questions." But it can still be darn good fun.
Posted Mar 08, 2018
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Black Panther
(2018)
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Esau McCaulley
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Killmonger is such a compelling antagonist because audiences are left to wonder whether to see him as a criminal or the inevitable outcome of society's past sins.
Posted Feb 22, 2018
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3.5
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The Teacher
(2016)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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The film understands that broken systems persist precisely because their brokenness benefits somebody.
Posted Jan 13, 2018
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3/5
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In the Land of Pomegranates
(2018)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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The dialogue sessions are the heart and the best part of In the Land of Pomegranates.
Posted Jan 13, 2018
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The Man Who Invented Christmas
(2017)
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Laura Kenna
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Dan Stevens delivers an eccentric, anxious, animated young Dickens to the screen.
Posted Dec 01, 2017
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Wonder
(2017)
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Micha Boyett
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In Wonder, the beauty of the relationship between Isabel and Via is the insistence that Via does need her mother-a reminder that we are all hurting, we are all weak, and we all need one another, whether our needs are ordinary or extraordinary.
Posted Nov 29, 2017
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Justice League
(2017)
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E. Stephen Burnett
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Ultimately, all this makes Justice League the superhero movie some fans feel they deserve but not the one other fans needed-especially fans who prefer their tales to grow with them.
Posted Nov 29, 2017
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2.5/4
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Sissi
(1955)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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It's fascinating to contrast these films with the darker (literally and thematically) post-war offerings of the Italian neorealists that were produced only a few years earlier.
Posted Nov 23, 2017
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3/4
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The Man Who Invented Christmas
(2017)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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[Scrooge] alternately haunts and taunts the author, but when the walls of the grave cave in on him, Plummer finds just the right note of desperation to melt our own hearts.
Posted Nov 23, 2017
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2/4
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The Star
(2017)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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It is meant as a mild endorsement to point out that this animated nativity story is every bit as good as the jungle adventures of the animated parrots, Blu and Jewel.
Posted Nov 18, 2017
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Thor: Ragnarok
(2017)
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Joel Mayward
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Ragnarok is a colorful, campy sendup of the superhero genre, even as its storyline and thematic elements are decidedly morbid.
Posted Nov 10, 2017
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Suburbicon
(2017)
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Laura Kenna
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Despite being a tale of two families besieged by tragedy, the film fails to capitalize on all that dramatic potential and instead feels emotionally flat.
Posted Nov 03, 2017
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Blade Runner 2049
(2017)
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Joel Mayward
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In the midst of its bleak dystopian vision, I found Blade Runner 2049's affirmation of the value of individual life to be surprisingly hopeful.
Posted Oct 20, 2017
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3/4
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Walking Out
(2017)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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Exactly the sort of well-crafted small film that should make us all grateful places like the Sundance Institute exist.
Posted Oct 20, 2017
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3.5/4
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Only the Brave
(2017)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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The firefighting scenes are spectacular, but the special effects never dwarf the human relationships-and that's as it should be.
Posted Oct 20, 2017
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3/4
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Goodbye Christopher Robin
(2017)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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Sadness, films like Goodbye remind us, can be an appropriate response of a tender heart made for joy but confronted with a fallen and broken world.
Posted Oct 13, 2017
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2.5/4
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Steve McQueen: American Icon
(2017)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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it adopts a modest, understated tone while chronicling the Hollywood star's troubled childhood, spiritual seeking, and eventual self-identification as born-again Christian.
Posted Oct 03, 2017
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Home Again
(2017)
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Alicia Cohn
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This setup for a pretty standard situation comedy ought to lead to heartwarming hilarity. It doesn't.
Posted Sep 29, 2017
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First They Killed My Father
(2017)
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D.L. Mayfield
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I now have a better view of Cambodians as my neighbors, and I can catch a glimpse of the image of God wandering the earth in the midst of horror. These glimpses have allowed me to see myself, and my world, as closer to that reality than I could ever wish.
Posted Sep 29, 2017
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4/4
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First Reformed
(2017)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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I have been waiting most of my adult life for Paul Schrader to direct a great film.
Posted Sep 29, 2017
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It
(2017)
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Cameron McAllister
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It gets the "Losers Club" right, and this eclectic little group more than compensates for the movie's shortcomings.
Posted Sep 21, 2017
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3/4
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Birth of the Dragon
(2016)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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Whatever the criticisms, Yu Xia's portrayal of Wong Jack Man makes the film well worth seeing.
Posted Sep 10, 2017
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3.5/4
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The Unknown Girl
(2016)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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How we think about our neighbor in the abstract can and usually is a very different thing from how we respond to that same neighbor when we have to look him or her in the face.
Posted Sep 01, 2017
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3/4
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Trophy
(2017)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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Trophy is unlikely to persuade non-hunters to go on safari, but it may make them think twice before calling those who do monsters.
Posted Sep 01, 2017
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Hot Type: 150 Years of the Nation
(2015)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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Hot Type's shadowing of editor Katrina vanden Heuvel drags a little as she tries to navigate the periodical through those challenges, but the film shines as it follows reporters on the road. . .
Posted Aug 18, 2017
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The Wrong Light
(2016)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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The film shows that we need committed, responsible, determined journalists because few of us have the resources to investigate the truth claims of those who make demands for our attention, our money, our votes, and our praise.
Posted Aug 18, 2017
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Nobody Speak: Hulk Hogan, Gawker and Trials of a Free Press
(2017)
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Kenneth R. Morefield
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As Nobody Speak spirals outward from the Gawker case to examine the broader cultural conflicts between journalists and the powerful, it loses some of its focus but none of its righteous indignation
Posted Aug 18, 2017
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They Call Us Monsters
(2016)
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Johnathan Kana
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With its category-defying pastiche of stakeholder perspectives, it feels less like a heavy-handed work of advocacy than a quiet meditation on a difficult truth many of us would prefer to ignore: Evil knows no age restrictions.
Posted Aug 08, 2017
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