Neal Harmon is the CEO of a streaming service called VidAngel that initially started as a "content filtering" service, for families to stream TV and movies without sex, language or violence. Now it has begun to produce original content — such as "The Chosen," a drama series about the life of Jesus. Harmon talks to contributor Joseph Holmes about the service, some of their current projects and what's next.
Read More(REVIEW) “Infidel,” the new faith-based political thriller, has attracted several Christians and political conservatives — giving it a reasonably good box office opening. But the movie is lacking in quality, and may disappoint the audience it seeks to please.
Read More(REVIEW) The newest Netflix original, “The Devil All the Time,” takes place in a rural town where God exists but never intervenes. The cast of characters, who are haunted by or participate in evil, are therefore only able to wrestle with their own sin.
Read More(ANALYSIS) Netflix will release Sundance 2019 winner “Cuties” on Sept. 9. Ahead of its release, Muslims have criticized the movie for glorifying a growth away from Islam. Muslims and others — including evangelical Christians — have called for boycotts against the movie because of its sexualization of children.
Read More(REVIEW) The new movie Fatima, which details the story of three Portuguese children who were visited by an apparition of an angel and six times by the Virgin Mary, is moving, hopeful and inspiring. These are the very qualities in a movie audiences crave, especially during a pandemic.
Read More(REVIEW) “Words on Bathroom Walls” follows high-schooler Adam as he struggles with paranoid schizophrenia and transfers to a Catholic school for his last term. While there, he’s meant to learn the importance of confession.
Read More“The Chosen,” a show about the life of Jesus, will resume filming its second season this fall with health concerns presenting risks and challenges. The show is the biggest crowd-funded media project of all time, raising more than $11 million to fund their first season. Religion Unplugged spoke with director Dallas Jenkins about his plans for the series.
Read More(REVIEW) The documentary “Flannery” interviews a broad range of creatives about the life and work of Flannery O’Connor. O’Connor’s short stories and novels focus heavily on race and religion—inspired by her Catholic faith—and the documentary explores the lasting power of these works.
Read MoreEmmy nominations for this fall were announced on July 29. These are the best nominated shows with religious themes and characters.
Read More(REVIEW) The most fascinating aspect of Apple TV Plus’s “Greyhound” is the faith of its title character, Captain Ernest Kraust. By incorporating prayers and Biblical references, the story becomes more reminiscent of a Gospel story.
Read MoreJohn Miller’s film with David Bernabo, titled “Moundsville,” is a biography of a small town along the Ohio River — from its beginnings with a 2,200-year-old Native American burial mound, its economic boom and bust times as dozens of factories arrived and disappeared, to the current age of Walmart, shale gas and new generations hoping to figure out a future for the small town. The documentary is currently streaming on PBS.
Read More(REVIEW) The new Netflix documentary “American Gospel: Christ Alone” navigates the theological mechanics of the Prosperity Gospel movement with surprising nuance and accuracy while avoiding the temptation to aggregate all of American Christianity, or even all of American Evangelicalism, under a single, pejorative header.
Read More(REVIEW) Season 2 of “Ramy” follows a young American Muslim man in his earnest struggle with sexual impurity and relationships. He wants to practice Islam dutifully, but the consequences of his actions serve as a haunting reminder of how he’s failed — or maybe an encouraging reminder that it’s never too late to start over.
Read More(REVIEW) “Just Mercy” follows civil rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson as he represents a black man on death row in Alabama, wrongly accused of murdering a white 18-year-old girl. The movie based on a true story is about systemic racism and corruption within the justice system, but it’s also about how those injustices can change.
Read MoreThe FX program airing Friday says Norma McCorvey, the “Jane Roe” in the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the U.S., made a “deathbed confession” that she was not pro-life and that pro-life organizations paid her nearly $500,000 during the decades she spoke out for the pro-life cause. However, the film doesn’t make it clear that many of these payments were fees for speaking engagements, and those who knew her insist her conversion to Christianity and repentance of pro-choice activism was genuine.
Read More(OPINION) From Hitchcock to the Coen brothers, good directors know how to use this sacrament for critical effect in expert storytelling.
Read More(REVIEW) The new series on Hulu debuting April 15 and starring Cate Blanchett tells the underrecognized story of the counterrevolution in the women’s movement: a battle against Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan’s brand of feminism led by Catholic political activist-lawyer, self-identified housewife and mother of six children, Phyllis Schlafly. Schlafly successfully led a conservative grassroots movement to squash the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
Read MoreAs Christians around the world embark on Holy Week and prepare for Easter, here are five movies about Jesus, both featured in theaters and on TV through the decades, that rise above the rest.
Read More(REVIEW) Reel Redemption is a new documentary that breaks down the history of the complicated and sometimes contentious relationship between Hollywood and Christianity, ending with the current rise of faith-based films. The director Tyler Smith told Religion Unplugged that while people have often rightfully criticized Christian films, some of the best moments and films in the faith-based genre are overlooked by secular critics who don’t agree with the values expressed.
Read More(OPINION) As our lives are forced to slow down and spend more time with our children working from home and conducting school online this spring, it’s an opportunity to embrace our own children, strengthen our own families and deepen our faith. And perhaps Fred Rogers is a perfect guide in that process for adults and children.
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