Those left behind
The focused uncertainty of The Leftovers is a parable for our own more diffuse reality. This could make it a deeply theological show.
On Media
Reviews of film, TV, and more
I have always watched TV in community. In many ways these communities of shared stories have shaped the stories I tell about my life.
After centuries of Westerners going to Africa to teach, documentary filmmaker James Ault goes to learn.
Several times a day, my Facebook feed invites me to cry, laugh, or feel amazed. I click almost every time.
Lights, camera, teach
In adapting my course for video, I had to learn to bridge the distance between me and students I couldn't imagine, let alone see.
Never off the clock
The lead character of Wallander is a cop relentlessly pursuing justice. He knows he should leave work at the office, but he can't.
Poems, novels, and short stories have all influenced Christian ways of telling our sacred stories. What about a miniseries?
Divergent puts age-old questions of belonging in a new setting: a postapocalyptic society with the motto “factions before blood.”
The Borgias series has a human, believable Pope Alexander VI. But it misses opportunities to make more of holiness as well as of sin.
Cohle and Hart are magnetic and unforgettable. But True Detective's existential heft never exceeds the palaver of a 101 class.
TV Protestants
In The Walking Dead, there's a crucifix at a Baptist church. Why don't producers check such details with somebody who is actually religious?
Goin’ nowhere
Llewyn Davis lives a decidedly nonromantic existence as a starving artist. He’s a good musician, but there are thousands like him, and they can’t all succeed.
Love virtually
I began watching Her suspicious that it would glorify bodiless romance or present a mere male fantasy. But the film surprised me.
Girls gets attention as a boundary-breaking comedy focused explicitly on gender. But Hannah and friends are not navigating adult life well.
More orcs
Though action-packed, Peter Jackson's Hobbit films have less of what made his Lord of the Rings movies work: character development, humor, interior drama.
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