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"Born into Brothels" and me: Saturday in Bellevue, WA

Get ready for Super Bowl Sunday with... Dreams of Our Childhood I've been invited to join a panel discussion of Born into Brothels after it is featured in this film festival on Saturday afternoon. Will you be there too? Born into Brothels is in my Top 5 of

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Sleepless in Seattle. (And a reunion with the Fellowship of the Ring)

The rain continues. And the wind. The deadline for the novel has arrived. I'm not finished. Haven't slept. Car getting towed to the shop today. Haunted by Oscar nominations. Feeling feverish. Some think it's romantic, but I know the truth about being... Sleepless in

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Other memorable Oscar quotes of the day...

"You can't pasteurize the Academy Award, you can't negotiate it. It is the top." - Felicity Huffman, Transamerica Hate to break it to you, Ms. Huffman, but, well, you're completely wrong. "I was completely surprised." - Reese Witherspoon, Walk the

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Well... (sigh)... here are those predictable, political, oh-so-wrong Oscar nominations...

If Hollywood thinks Brokeback Mountain is more interesting and artful than A History of Violence and The New World, and when nobody even notices a piece of rare big screen treasure like Millions... well, they've just lost any interest or respect I had for this year's

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Dream cast!

If you could cast ten actors in a film, who would you bring together? Post your thoughts in the comments. I remember "casting" Ian Holm as Bilbo and Ian McKellan as Gandalf in my dream Lord of the Rings film many years before Jackson took on the project,

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Nick wins Half-Shot# 4 Contest.

And the answer is... BADLANDS. Congratulations, Nick Alexander, who was the first to identify the source of these two Half-Shots! As reward, Nick Alexander has become more powerful than you can possibly imagine. Just see for yourself! Watch for Half-shot Contest #5, coming soon!

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Half-Shot Contest #4 continues.

Well, no one has come up with the right answer to Half-shot Contest #4. So I'll post half of ANOTHER picture, this time in color, from the same film. I think this one will turn the contest from a challenge into a race. Post your guess in the

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Network TV struggles to understand: What will Christians watch?

You already know that The Book of Daniel has been euthanized (one instance in which I approve of a mercy killing). But you gotta read this Slate article about the challenge of making meaningful television, and the mysterious science of learning what Christians will watch. Some of the stuff there

Looking Elsewhere

Specials: Auralia. Superman and Che pics. Whit Stillman. A follow-up to "Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner." Michel Gondry + Dave Chappelle.

Thursday specials: PRAY FOR AURALIA AND ME I'd appreciate your prayers. It's not a crisis, but in the story of my life, it's a big deal. For the next four days, I will be putting the finishing touches on my novel Auralia's

Looking Elsewhere

Wednesday specials: The Natvity! Chris Penn. Matthewes-Green on "Paradise Now." Da Vinci Decoded. Pixar. Amber Alert. X3 posers.

Wednesday's specials:REMEMBER WHEN I ASKED WHO WILL MAKE A MOVIE OF THE NATIVITY?This just popped up at Done Deal, the script sales site: Title: Nativity Log line: Centers on the two-year period of Mary and Joseph's life, culminating in their leaving Nazareth and journeying

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Letter of the Day: Response to "Brokeback Mountain" Review

Today I received this letter in response to my Brokeback Mountain review. Its typical of other responses I've received, but this one was such a convenient distillation of the various contradictions and claims that I was grateful for the chance to address so many common attacks on Christian

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"The Book of Daniel" is closed, done, kaput.

Read the outpouring of grief over the cancellation of The Book of Daniel. Apparently, it was Evangelical Right-Wing Extremist Censorship that shut down the show. Huh. I thought networks shut down shows because of bad ratings. (via Amy Wellborn)

Looking Elsewhere

Specials: Beware Knightley! Moring interviews Emma Thompson. Evangelical NY Times Writer: Oxymoron? Shea on Spear.

WHAT I'M SEEING TODAY Tsotsi. Anybody else here seen it?IS KEIRA KNIGHTLEY'S SMILE DANGEROUS? Can you look away from that smile? It has a strange and dismaying power. I mean, look at her! There's something almost violent about that smile. She's

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At last, Steven D. Greydanus posts his Best of 2005.

Here are the best films of 2005, according to Decent Films, along with some commentary about significant developments of the year.

X-Men

Specials: Sundance review. Walter's "New World" rave. "Lost" money. DaVinci debut. X3 pic. New mom Jessica Poundstone. And Seahawks.

Monday specials:SUNDANCE ME TO THE END OF MEDIOCRE FILMSGreenCine coverage of the Sundance Film Festival is almost too expansive to comprehend. So many movies, so many reviews. From a review of Thank You for Smoking that calls it "I Heart Huckabees For Dummies," to a review of

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Spielberg Attacks "Extremist" Munich Critics

Spielberg defends his movie... Spielberg dismissed the charges as "nonsense". "These critics are acting as if we were all missing a moral compass. Of course it is a horrible, abominable crime when people are taken hostage and killed like in Munich," he said. "But it

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Act One's Sean Gaffney reviews "The Book of Daniel"

You go, Gaffney....

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Want to Buy a Pixar? Sorry. Sold Out.

Scott Cunningham reveals the evidence pointing to Disney's purchase of Pixar. Shazbot. And I'd been saving for so long... Oh well, at least I can afford one more peppermint mocha at Starbucks before the season's over. Wait... the season's over??! I concur

Looking Elsewhere

Specials: Sam Rockwell! Spear-ited debate! EIEIO!

Seattle Seahawk Sunday specials: SAM ROCKWELL IS (not)... BATMAN! If you really want to see what happens when Sam Rockwell puts on a Batman suit, click here, then click on the image from the film. Don't say I didn't warn you. (PG-13-level content) THE MUNICH WARSGreenCine

C.S. Lewis

Greg Wolfe on Why the Inklings Aren't Enough

In the new issue of Image, editor Greg Wolfe writes about the problem of Christian veneration of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. What concerns me, however, is not so much the tendency of many Christians to treat these two writers as saints, as dubious as that may

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Chattaway on "The New World." And no, we're not the same person.

Today, for the first time in our... golly, ten-year friendship? ... I received an email from someone asking if Peter Chattaway was one of my pseudonyms. Wow. We do show up in a lot of the same places online and in print. But we frequently disagree on films, and sometimes clash

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"The New World": What Got Cut, What Was Added, What Will Be On the Expanded DVD?

F.X. Feeney answers the nagging questions about the theatrical version of The New World ... and teases us with news about the upcoming DVD... news that has made me stand up and rejoice. (Thanks to GreenCine Daily, of course, for the link...)

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Gaffney on "Scrubs"

My friend Sean Gaffney has a window on screenwriting in Hollywood that gives him unique insights on the industry, so I'm thrilled to see him blogging. Too bad he started out by defending King Kong. Oh well, anyway... THIS week he's highlighting something that happened on

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My review of Terrence Malick's The New World

I worked on this review until 1 a.m., got up at 5 a.m. and kept working on it. Then, realizing I had 2,500 words, I had to cut it back to the word-limit: 1,500. I didn't quite make it. So it's likely

The Catholic Report on Brian Flemming's Claims That Jesus Didn't Exist

Brian Flemming continues his campaign to explain to the world why he's positive that Jesus never existed. And The Catholic Report is there to document his progress. It's funny, the timing of this project. It seems like we're seeing every possible attack on Christ&