Film Review

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (First Impressions)

Our futures will be shaped by the capacity of rising generations to challenge and test what their screens and gadgets tell them about the world, and The Hunger Games is a parable for them, about them, summoning them to demand freedom, human rights, and the truth.

On Movies & Media

Which Movie Captures Your Part of the World?

"This is really wonderful stuff. Thoughtful, unique, insightful, and funny. It's unlike anything I've ever read." That's what Scott Teems, director of Holbrook/Twain: An American Odyssey and That Evening Sun, and writer for the hit TV series Rectify, says about Cinematic

Film Forum

Saving Christmas (2014): A Looking Closer Film Forum

Featuring a guest review by my new friend N. D. Wilson, author of Boys of Blur, Death by Living, 100 Cupboards, and more.

Film Review

Interstellar (2014)

After I got home from seeing Interstellar — I saw it in good old-fashioned 35 mm, not in IMAX — I had mixed feelings about the movie, and decided I would jot down a few notes. About 90 minutes later, I was still writing.

Film Review

Birdman (2014)

I've read that Birdman is a movie that pulls back the curtain to reveal (surprise!) that show-biz is really just a hell of egomaniacs on adrenalin highs, using and abusing one another for stardom, and taking the name of "art" in vain. The rumors are true... it does.

Looking Elsewhere

Looking Elsewhere: Star Wars - Episode VII, Interstellar, The Hobbit, Best U2 Punchlines, Glen West 2014, Hayao Mizyazaki, Sandworms, George Lucas, Collateral

Did you hear the one about the door of U2's private jet falling off mid-flight? Best punchline for that set-up wins...

Looking Elsewhere

Looking Elsewhere: 14 Discoveries & Distractions for the First Week of November

On Halloween, Anne and I went out to celebrate Halloween dressed as Seattle Pacific University MFA in Creative Writing students who are running out of time to complete their homework assignments by the deadline.  We were very, very convincing — we tricked everybody. The treats? They were provided by the pub

2014

Here Comes 2014's Big Finale: Quick — What Were the Highlights of the First 10 Months?

Wow, what an eventful 2014 we've had so far here at Looking Closer. And we've only just arrived at November. Historically, November and December are the busiest months of the year on my blog, because it's time to start reviewing the most impressive music,

On Movies & Media

Filmwell's Michael Leary: Things I Learned About Parenting Daughters From "Gilmore Girls"

My longtime friend, colleague, and Filmwell co-founder Michael Leary, a writer I admire, a man of impeccable taste in cinema, and — above all — a big-hearted father, has something to say about Gilmore Girls. The whole series is now streaming on Netflix. I won't hesitate to admit that I&

On Movies & Media

Blaze of Gory

On Christmas Day 2012 — while Americans were still grieving for victims of the Newtown elementary-school massacre — "Django Unchained," the new film by Quentin Tarantino, opened nationwide. This week, as my community grieves the loss of lives in two recent Seattle school shootings, Tarantino's hyper

Film Review

Ragamuffin (2014) - A Guest Review by Martin Stillion

"... if the goal of Ragamuffin is to get viewers to reconsider the life and music of Mullins, who’s been dead these seventeen years ... : I have some of his stuff playing on YouTube right now. If the goal was for the film to be a work of art in itself, then there’s a lot more work to be done."

Film Review

Deliver Us From Evil (2014)

Arriving on home video just in time for Halloween, Scott Derrickson's "Deliver Us From Evil" delivers a creative tangle of tropes and trippy special effects, aiming to do better than merely making us jump out of our seats. And it succeeds.

Film Review

Battle in Seattle (2007)

#Ferguson. #WTO. #U2iPhone6 Why am I not tweeting my outrage? Have I been pummeled numb by scandal, injustice, and atrocity? Have I become hard-hearted?

Film Review

Calvary (2014): A Looking Closer Film Forum

"I don't think it will be winning any awards from the Christian world. ... It takes place in a universe very like ours."

On Movies & Media

Well-Made Movies Won't Be... Left Behind

Today, Matt Zoller Seitz, editor of RogerEbert.com, defended The Good Lie, a movie in which the central characters are Christians, as "a good movie." Why did he feel the need to defend it? Well, the success of The Blind Side inspired some backlash — opposition to movies in

On Songs & Albums

Listen Closer: Second Impressions of U2's Songs of Innocence

Hey, U2 fans, music lovers, and iPhone users... you're invited! I'm joining Dr. Jeff Keuss and others on Monday night, October 13, for a live podcast conversation called "U2, Apple, and the Future of Music." It'll be at Hale's Ales

On Songs & Albums

Listen Closer: Thom Yorke, Luluc, Lucinda Williams, Leonard Cohen, My Brightest Diamond, Sinead O'Connor

It's time to check the New Music Seismograph! What albums are shaking the ground beneath my feet? Those who have followed my blog over the past decade or so know that I'm averse to "rating" art with a point system. (I mean, really... how

Film Forum

Left Behind (2014): A Looking Closer Film Forum

This post will be updated over the next few days, so check back as this thrilling — dare I say rapturous? — cinematic occasion unfolds!

On Movies & Media

The Christian Message of David Fincher's Gone Girl . . . (Not Really)

One of my favorite writers on the subject of art, faith, and culture — Alissa Wilkinson — has seen "Gone Girl," the new film by David Fincher. Let's ask her: "What's the message of the movie?"

On Movies & Media

The Song "Shares the Weaknesses of Most Faith-Based Films"

I've received two emails this week asking for my opinion of The Song. This is what I can offer... The Song told me what it was in the advertisement that appeared for it in the sidebar of my blog. (By the way: Almost everything that is advertised in

Film Forum

The Hundred-Foot Journey (2014): A Looking Closer Film Forum

As I joined the line to buy tickets for a mid-afternoon matinee showing of Guardians of the Galaxy, I had a rare and unsettling experience. A large crowd had assembled at the ticket counter, and I quickly discovered that these moviegoers had come for the opening-day matinee of a movie

On Movies & Media

This Post Contains R-Rated Subject Matter: Viewer Discretion is Advised.

Watching the trailers before Chef on Friday night, I was reminded by the smirking comments of viewers around me that the "This Motion Picture is Rated..." screen before a preview does as much, if not more, to intrigue viewers about the violence, language, or nudity included in the

Film Review

Chef (2014)

What are the greatest movie moments that involve sandwiches?

Jennifer Johnson Gilnett

In Memory of My Friend, My Boss, My Mentor: Jennifer Gilnett

The last 13 days have been a harrowing experience of heartbreak and loss for me and many who are close to me. I haven't said anything about it here at Looking Closer, but I think the time has come. First, some context: Based on the mail that I

Film Review

Dead Poets Society (1989)

Alissa Wilkinson, chief film critic for Christianity Today, asked me if I've ever changed my mind about a movie... and would I write about that? So I'm asking you. What's a movie you loved the first time, or hated the first time, and then