(ANALYSIS) For hundreds of years, people from different religious traditions across South Asia have retold the “Ramayana” through dramas, narrative poems, shadow puppet plays, pageants, folk songs, comics, television shows and many other mediums. Director Nitesh Tiwari’s upcoming “Ramayana” film is the latest retelling of this epic tradition.
Read More(REVIEW) “Fjord” explores the tensions between religious freedom and secular society through the story of a Romanian Christian family facing accusations of child abuse in Norway. With nuanced storytelling and stark cinematography, the film challenges viewers on tolerance, cultural conflict and competing moral values without offering easy answers or choosing sides outright.
Read MoreThe Netflix documentary series “Death of the Pastor’s Wife” has garnered over 40 million views in just over a month. But is a Netflix show the best way to tell this story? Why does clergy abuse happen so frequently? On this week’s podcast, Christian investigative reporter Julie Roys explains.
Read MoreFor more than five decades, Bakker embodied both the possibilities and the perils of American televangelism. He was a pioneering Christian broadcaster who understood that TV could turn a ministry into a mass-media enterprise. He was also a convicted felon whose career became an enduring cautionary tale about money, celebrity and religious power.
Read MoreFormer Christian Life Center worship leader Caleb Flynn was sentenced Monday to life in prison without parole for murdering his wife, still insisting, “I did not kill my wife.” Flynn, 40, acknowledged adultery, lies and broken marriage vows at a Miami County, Ohio, court hearing. But he continued to deny killing Ashley Flynn, 37, a teacher and volleyball coach.
Read More(REVIEW) What makes “Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother” so impressive is that it combines so many things that are hard to find in faith-focused movies. Hollywood films have long struggled to make movies about faith that resonate with the experiences of actually religious people. Religious people have historically struggled to make faith movies that aren’t preachy.
Read More(REVIEW) “Silo” skillfully weaves all of these dystopian tropes into the background of something quite new. The hints were there from the show’s start. The series skillfully weaves all of these dystopian tropes into the background of something quite new. The hints were there in the opening titles we streamers learn to skip. The closing shot is an animation of the show’s citizens going up and down and up and down the endless steps.
Read MoreAn Ohio worship leader was convicted of murdering his wife after prosecutors argued he staged a home invasion to conceal the killing. The motive? Pursuing a relationship with another worship leader from his church, the Christian Life Center in Dayton.
Read More(REVIEW) Happily, Christians have been making strides in making movies that aren’t just true, but beautiful. Shows like “The Chosen” and “House of David,” and movies like “Last Rodeo” and “I Can Only Imagine 2” are great examples. “Daniel and the Fiery Furnace” is a good example of why it’s taken so long, and what continues to hold it back.
Read More(REVIEW) Unfortunately, whatever merits the idea or intention behind "Infidels,” its failures in both entertainment and religious commentary show that some political conservatives still have a very long way to go to actually contribute meaningfully to cultural discourse through narrative entertainment.
Read MoreWhat role should Comedy play in the life of a Christian? What kinds of joking does God make off limits? And, does God like joking around as much as we do? On this week’s podcast, I spoke with a witty Catholic philosopher and a pastor who moonlights as a comedian to find out.
Read More(REVIEW) “Widow’s Bay” presents a world in which both modern Western rationalism and Christianity are helpless to defeat the haunted island’s monsters. Characters have to choose between siding with the demons or becoming victims.
Read More(REVIEW) When a wild night ends in handcuffs and a campus police escort, two best friends (named Grayson and Tyler are slapped with 120 hours of community service due in two weeks — or they’re expelled. Their genius plan? Pose as counselors at a local Christian youth camp.
Read More(REVIEW) “Elijah Peel” follows a world-famous rock musician whose life of success and addiction comes crashing down after suffering a life-threatening heart attack. But the film still wears the inspirational Christian movie formula like a straitjacket, instead of using it as a sturdy foundation.
Read MoreSince the Hamas attack on Israel, the actor has frequently called out Israel’s military action in Gaza, notably wearing an Artists4Ceasefire pin to the 2024 Oscars. In 2024, he was among more than 700 SAG-AFTRA members who signed a letter demanding the actors’ union publicly call for a Gaza ceasefire and protect pro-Palestinian members from what they described as industry blacklisting.
Read MoreAfter 11 seasons, PBS’s “Masterpiece Mystery!” series “Grantchester” has come to an end. For more than a decade, viewers returned to the quiet village of Cambridgeshire to watch an unlikely crime-solving duo: Anglican vicars and Det. Inspector George “Geordie” Keating.
Read More(REVIEW) There’s something about priests solving murders in small towns that people love. A long-running series in this genre that’s just ended is “Grantchester.” The series follows young, good-looking vicars in the fictional sleepy British town who partner with a local lawman to solve murder cases.
Read More(Review) Pagans and Christians alike long for an Orpheus who can sing a song that brings Hades and Persephone back together and rescue Eurydice from the underworld. But Christians know that song already exists. And if we want our lives and world restored, we don’t have to look to a “sad song” or a fantasy future — but to the happy song of a real past and present.
Read More(REVIEW) Nick is on an adventure to secure an original manuscript of the famous poem. Unfortunately, the film’s engagement with the “Divine Comedy’s” ideas and themes turns out to be depressingly trivial.
Read More(ANALYSIS) I met Karolyn Grimes not long after moving back to Washington State in the summer of 2005. Grimes, best known for her portrayal of Zuzu (George Bailey’s daughter) in “It’s a Wonderful Life,” had just turned 65. I learned that she and her husband lived in Fall City.
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