A list of the 10 most important films that I’ve seen that were released during my lifetime.
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To call something the “greatest” is to beg for differing opinions. In this episode of the Reel Spirituality Podcast, we consider the “greatest” films of all time.
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My earliest movie memory involves Raiders of the Lost Ark. I was born a few years after its theatrical release, so I first saw Raiders when my parents rented it when I was four years old. I don’t remember watching most of the movie, but I do remember the ending…
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Jim and Cindy have struggled with and grieved their infertility. They “couldn’t have tried harder.” After learning from their doctor that their journey with fertility treatments was at its end, Cindy wanted to just close the door to the nursery, forget it, and move on. Jim said that he couldn’t just move on. Together, they wisely chose to take time to explore and express their dreams about their dream child…
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“Can you get that?” In this week’s RS podcast, we make romantic connections in Sleepless In Seattle & Punch-Drunk Love.
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We all fantasize about being famous, so films like this become the voyeuristic opportunity we crave. Part of Me pulls the curtain back and delivers a look inside. Constantly being answered along the way is the question: is Katy Perry living the fantasy we all dream of?
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It’s veal versus verses on this week’s episode of the Reel Spirituality podcast as we compare Ratatouille and Poetry.
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Pixar’s Ratatouille is a movie that seems to get better each time I see it, and I think that is because as time goes on, I understand more about the various sides of my identity – as a writer, as a critic, and most importantly, as a member of my family, my greater community, and the world…
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The pain of loss expressed in this movie is heart wrenching. Watching it, all my beliefs about death and the afterlife were suspended as I was pulled into the emotional experiences of loss and desiring for Chris and Annie to once again be connected. Moreover, the film is a beautiful portrayal of the essence of psychotherapy – of joining others in their pain…
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The Expendables 2 is every terrible thing you might fear a movie like it might be. It is cliche ridden, thinly plotted, gratuitously violent, and filled with almost nothing but superfluous action sequences. However, the part that particularly distressed me was the attitude toward death and violence at the story’s center…
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One features explosions. The other features quiet scenes of the Rwandan countryside. What, if anything, do The Expendables and Munyurangabo have in common?
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Beasts is a post-Katrina fairy tale made from real mud. In this muck, though, there is beauty to be found, even if it’s flecked with dirt…
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It’s a fun movie if your favorite part of the original Bourne trilogy was the political intrigue, science fiction undertones, and wham bang action sequences. If what you liked most about the other trilogy was the complex character at the story’s center, this latest Bourne installment will feel lacking…
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What does Christopher Nolan’s big budget, action extravaganza Inception have in common with Abbas Kiarostami’s low budget, independent darling Certififed Copy? In some respects, not much, but in others, more than you might think.
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Jason finally finds his way to the site of his original sin, and he meets the very man who twisted him, a mirthless psychologist, Dr. Albert Hirsch. Hirsch confronts Jason with a very simple truth: no one made Jason who he is. He chose to become Jason Bourne. He willingly killed, and the man he was before, David Webb, ceased to exist. As David died, Jason was born…
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In the beginning, Jason is trying to live a peaceful life with his girlfriend Marie, but his past catches up to him both in his dreams and in the real world – he has dreams of people he thinks he’s killed, and counter-intelligence agents find him in India and accidentally kill Marie. In Jason’s life the phrase “the wages of sin is death” proves true…
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Each denizen of Downton Abbey has something valuable to offer.
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Jason Bourne doesn’t know who he is. He is struggling to find his identity. I may know my name and my origin, but I too am struggling for identity. I am trying to distinguish who I should be, who I was made to be, who God wants me to be…
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This movie is about very little. Maybe there’s something going on there about choosing the person you want to be irregardless of your past. If that’s there, it’s not handled with any seriousness. In fact, any discussion the movie might have wanted to have on that topic is undermined by a small change made from the original in this version of Total Recall…
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