One More Week…

That’s right. One more week and The Golden Compass hits theaters, much to the chagrin of many Conservative Evangelicals. As you can tell, I can’t wait. In fact, I’ve started re-reading the first book in excited anticipation, even though the film won’t be nearly as good…they never are. Nevertheless, hopefully I’ll compile a top ten list of why Christians shouldn’t hate this book after I finish it this weekend. Until then, check out a hilarious article from The San Francisco Chronicle’s Mark Morford, but if you’re easily offended, don’t bother.

Jesus Loves ‘His Dark Materials’

Tragic…

I’ve been thinking quite a bit about sports and religion lately and am working on an essay on the deification of the collegiate/professional athlete in terms of immanence and transcendence. Sean Taylor’s tragic death early this week certainly reminds us of the immanence of professional athletes and their very real vulnerability juxtaposed to the invincible nature that much of sports talk places on them. While Taylor’s immediate and NFL families will mourn his death for some time to come, further investigation into this tragedy might complicate what looks like a botched robbery. It is well known that Taylor had a sketchy legal background but that he was also, fortunately, turning his life around. I certainly hope that this is not a case of his past catching up with him. A friend recently alerted me to an article about Michael Vick that, unfortunately, applies to many professional athletes. On last night’s Inside the NFL on HBO, former standout wide receiver Chris Carter noted the inability of many professional athletes to break free from bad associations and that, ultimately, “the streets” always win out.

George Dohrmann and Farrell Evans’ article, “The Road to Bad Newz,” adds some complexity to what might be seen as an easy case of good quarterback gone bad.

Dispatches from AAR…Take 4

With my last day and a half turning into something of a wash, the last session I attended was a Sunday morning panel sonsored by the ethics section entitled Hooray for Hollywood? Ethics and Entertainment. The session was presided by Elijah Siegler from the College of Charleston, and the panelists included Barbara Barnett from the University of Chicago, Gabriella Lettini from Starr King School for the Ministry, Crystal Downing from Messiah College, Donna Yarri from Alvernia College, and Jennifer Ayres from Emory University. I certainly saved the best for last because this was the most diverse, interesting session I attended. [Read more]

Dispatches from AAR…Take 3

Rounding out a long Saturday, I attended the Forum on Sports and Religion: Perspectives on the Pigskin, sponsored in part by Mercer University Press. The panelists included Joseph Price from Whittier College, Greg Sapp from Stetson University, Christopher Anderson from Drew University, Marc Jolley, director of Mercer University Press, Craig A. Forney from Arizona State University, and Eric Bain-Selbo from Western Kentucky University. This was by far the most promising session of the conference for me. Unfortunately, while the forum offered great contacts for further discussion/collaboration, the discussion within the forum just scratched the surface of a deep, yet youthful topic, perhaps due in part to the logistics of the forum itself. [Read more]

Dispatches from AAR…Take 2

The second session I attended was also sponsored by the Religion, Media, and Culture Group and was entitled Sleeper Cell: Viewing Religion, Race, and Terrorism in a Post-9/11 World. The session focused on the Showtime original series, Sleeper Cell, that ran for two seasons from 2005-2006, and the panelists included Kamran Pasha, one of the writers for the show, Horace Newcomb director of the Peabody Awards from the University of Georgia, Amir Hussain from Loyola Marymount University, and Anthea Butler from the University of Rochester. The session was presided by Diane Winston from the University of Southern California. [Read more]

Dispatches from AAR…Take 1

This year’s American Academy of Religion conference offered much in the way of religion and popular culture with session topics ranging from video games to Comedy Central’s The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. I’ll provide some highlights from the sessions that I attended, starting with Born Digital and Born Again Digital: Religion in Virtual Gaming Worlds, sponsored by the Religion and Popular Culture Group and the Religion, Media, and Culture Group. [Read more]

A Whole Lotta’ Heart

The career path of a filmmaker or actor is often an interesting thing to track. The choices of what films to direct or what roles to play reveal something of the filmmaker or actor’s artistic abilities, desires, or, in some cases, financial necessities. I doubt that many directors have experienced the creative arc that Chinese-American filmmaker Wayne Wang has. Many viewers may not recognize his name, but they will certainly remember a few of his recent films, Maid in Manhattan (2002), Because of Winn-Dixie (2005), and Last Holiday (2006). However, before you start to think of him as only a director of cheesy, family-friendly films, we should look at his earlier films and the birth of a career that held much artistic promise. While his first film, Chan is Missing (1982), might be his biggest critical success and The Joy Luck Club (1993) his most well-known film, I would like to consider a film that fell in between the two, his 1985 production, Dim Sum: A Little Bit of Heart. [Read more]

Beyond Everything…

It has been well over a year since I read the news that the Coen brothers would be filming Cormac McCarthy’s No Country for Old Men. While that year went by fast enough, it was an excruciating wait. Fortunately, the wait paid off this weekend as the film opened to limited release in the U.S. In the film, the Coen brothers have grasped the essence of all Cormac McCarthy’s writing. Faithfulness to the story be damned: the Coen brothers have captured the spirit of McCarthy’s novel and fashioned it into two and a half hours of breathtaking filmmaking. I doubt anyone involved with the film could have made it any better. Here are three great clips (although not the best) from the film. Read on for the rest of the review.

[Read more]

Let the Controversy Begin…

Given the changes that Chris Weitz is making to the adaptation of Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass, the religious controversy surrounding the film’s release might be more exciting than the film itself. I am exaggerating here and am anxiously awaiting the film’s release. However, until it arrives in December, I will just have to amuse myself with the rantings of fearful conservative Christians. This article from the LA Times, “‘Compass points to tests of faith,’ sums up the controversy surrounding the film, while offering background on its production and a brief introduction to Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. [Read more]

Tough, Baby, Tough

I have never really been a big fan of Ben Affleck’s acting. I enjoyed him in Dogma but only because of Kevin Smith’s irreverent script, and as much as I love comic book films, Daredevil’s read leather cat-suit, though appropriate, was simply a campy distraction. However, I certainly cannot say the same about Affleck’s directing. After a three week hiatus from the theater, my return was blessed by what will hopefully be the first of many successful turns in the director’s chair. Gone Baby Gone is as morally complex as it is brilliantly acted. Brother Casey gives a near perfect performance as a young, naive yet committed private investigator hired to find a missing little girl. Though the plot becomes a bit untenable, the moral/ethical questions that Affleck raises overshadow this and will stick with viewers well after the credits finish rolling. Below is a clip from the film…read on for the rest of the review.

[Read more]

Next Page »