On Songs & Albums

Favorite Recordings of 2019: Honorable Mentions

A prelude to my countdown of 25 favorite records fro 2019, here's a long list of albums that probably deserve to be in that top 25 but... well... math is unforgiving. Explore. Listen. Discover some new favorites.

Journal

My 2019 in Review: An Introduction

Here come the year-end lists! But let's consider their context: It's been a difficult year. We have needed art to revive our sense of vision, to awaken our conscience, to offer us rumors of glory in a darkening world.

J.J. Abrams

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

Here's a review of J.J. Abrams' The Rise of Skywalker that follows the example of the movie.

Journal

My #1 Christmas gift recommendation — and five reasons why

I've been asked to recommend five highlights from my many years of reading Image, my favorite literary arts journal. I had difficulty limiting my answer.

On Movies & Media

Light from Light (2019)

Paul Harrill, director of Something, Anything, returns with another venture into the borderlands between body and spirit, head and heart. But this time, it might not be God that a young woman is discovering. It might be a ghost.

On Movies & Media

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019)

Another Mr. Roger movie. Another essential vision — for here, for now, for American children and American adults.

Film Review

Ford v Ferrari (2019)

Race cars. Guys with clenched jaws. Bromances. Grudge matches. A good wife back home tucking the moppet into bed at night. This is sure to be a big hit.

Film Forum

Light From Light: A Looking Closer Film Forum

Until I can finish my own review, here's a round table of reviews worth reading that represent a range of perspectives on my favorite ghost story of 2019.

Journal

Cinemarginalia: Justin Chang & Ins Choi at The Glen Workshop; Criterion sale; Scorsese in Seattle

You can spend a week in Santa Fe with Justin Chang, Ins Choi, Over the Rhine, and more. Also: The new Scorsese film is getting the best possible projection in Seattle. Read about these things and more here...

On Songs & Albums

Overstreet Radio: Wilco, Lucy Dacus, Innocence Mission, R.E.M., Bruce Cockburn, and more

Here's a long list of new songs that are heating up my cold autumn days. Enjoy!

Journal

Practicing the Prophetic: James K. A. Smith on liturgy and discernment

Behold — James K. A. Smith's plenary lecture from Seattle Pacific University's Day of Common Learning.

On Songs & Albums

Famine Walk - the new Joe Henry opening track is here

I heard this in the car today, and I had to pull the car over.

Adam McKay

Overstreet Archives: Anchorman (2004)

Digging back into the archives, we've discovered evidence that I reviewed Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy for Christianity Today on its opening weekend.

Interviews

A Three-Piece Suit and a Doctor Strange T-Shirt

This is crazy. The latest episode of 0ne of my favorite podcasts — The Image Podcast — features a conversation between host Jessica Mesman Griffith, writer Morgan Meis, and... me! Listen here. We talked about how our life stories brought us to art and faith by very different paths. We talked about

On Books & Writing

In the Cosmos of the Arts, a Christian Cosmonaut Is Born Again

“NASA Twins Study Confirms Astronaut’s DNA Actually Changed in Space.” That’s the headline that makes you choke, then narrow your eyes, and forget what you were searching for.Come on. This isn’t The Twilight Zone. A man left earth and came back as somebody else? If you

On Movies & Media

Hustlers (2019)

Glamorous actresses, agile pole dancing, thrilling needle drops — Hustlers is an edgy crowdpleaser. But what is it really celebrating?

On Movies & Media

Cinemarginalia: September 21

Notes on my moviegoing priorities for this week; streaming services and other movie sources; and my first viewing of The Outsiders (a movie I didn't see in my high school years).

Journal

Cinemarginalia: September 14

This is the first installment in an new weekly series of miscellany-loaded posts. This one includes notes on my recent encounters with Blue Jay, Luce, War of the Worlds, The Peanut Butter Falcon, and more!

On Books & Writing

Turn and Face the Strange: a challenge to artists and churches

In April, I closed the Sacrament & Story conference in Seattle by posing a challenge to artists and churches, and by addressing a question that has kept you awake at night, I'm sure: If you go into space, will your DNA be rewritten and turn you into an alien?

On Movies & Media

First Impressions of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

As soon as I'd started watching the new Netflix series that expands on Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal, I called animator and author Ken Priebe to talk about the artistry of it. Here's our conversation.

On Movies & Media

Honeyland (2019)

In a case of "found poetry," documentarians following a remarkable Macedonian beekeeper have captured a rich and meaningful story of stewardship and injustice.

On Movies & Media

Apocalypse Now: Final Cut (2019)

What more can be said that hasn't been said about this film? Apocalypse Now is not a film that we can synopsize, paraphrase, or sum up with a lesson. We can't do that with any great work of art. But this is a case of a

On Movies & Media

Mandy (2019)

Here's an idea for a movie: They've taken the woman he loves. So he's out for revenge.

Journal

Frame 3: Unlearning to Read Along My Commute

A journal entry about the curse of compulsive reading.

Film Review

Guest review: Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood

Guest reviewer Damian Arlyn considers the place of Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood in director Quentin Tarantino's oeuvre.