This is Martin Bonner

A Film About Reno Without Casinos? A Film About Faith Without Preaching?

So many things make Chad Hartigan's film "This is Martin Bonner" remarkable. In my interview with this impressive young director, I focused on only a couple of things that set his sophomore effort apart from other recent films.

On Movies & Media

Constantine (2005): Remembering a Movie I'd Rather Forget

My experience with the DC Comics character Constantine was unpleasant, at best. Some of you who were already reading my reviews back in 2005 may remember it...

Looking Elsewhere

Hi 5: Autumn Arrives, Eric Crissman Moves On

BREAKING NEWS: Summer is over and Autumn has arrived in Seattle! After an intolerable stretch of sunny days — perhaps the most relentless flood of sunshine the Emerald City has seen in decades — the clouds and rain have finally begun to move in and liberate Seattle from the conditions that confuse

Guest Review

The Sound of a Place: Guest Writer Brian Volck on Over the Rhine's New Album

I posted my own review of Over the Rhine's new album earlier this week. I could have left it that but, well, the doctor is in! And I want you to hear his own diagnosis!

Music Reviews

Meet Me At the Edge Of the World: Over the Rhine Arrives at a Place Called Home

I've been writing this review for months. I could go on writing it for months to come. But no, the time has come to tell you about the new double album from Karin Bergquist and Linford Detweiler. It's clear that changes have come. Over the Rhine's world has been turned around.

On Movies & Media

Wings of Desire's Cassiel Takes Flight: Otto Sander Dies at 72

The German actor Otto Sander died today. But he will live on in the movies he made, like the legendary submarine thriller Das Boot, and my all-time favorite film, Wim Wenders' poetic and glorious Wings of Desire.

On Movies & Media

The Late Gatsby: First Impressions

Luhrmann's films are the equivalent of opera ("popera"?), with the soaring kaleidoscopic imagery and light taking the place of soaring voices. The seventeen-layer cakeness of The Great Gatsby has a particular magic.

Overstreet's Books

With Gratitude for the Life and Work of Lee Hough

Lee Hough was my friend, my counselor, my confidant, my voice of reassurance, my coach.

Looking Elsewhere

Hi 5: Why Criticism Matters; Alissa Wilkinson; William James Bookseller; Facebook Followers

Here's today's Hi 5 to the Face report. Hi 5s are going out to... Adam Kirsch, senior editor of The New Republic: For contributing to The New York Times feature Why Criticism Matters." In an editorial titled "The Will Not to Power, but to

The Lucy Variations

Looking Elsewhere: September 5, 2013

A Hi 5 to the Face to... Legendary rock-and-roll recording artist Sam Phillips: For sending this fantastic, one-of-a-kind, handmade LP cover of her wildly inventive, high-spirited new album Push Any Button. You can order your own copy here, including these very limited edition covers made by Sam's own

On Movies & Media

Kick-Ass 2 (2013): A Looking Closer Film Forum

Scott Renshaw at Letterboxd says it succinctly: If your movie encourages the audience to consider it a whoop-it-up, did-you-just-see-that moment when a villain kills two police officers with a lawn mower, you've set up shop squarely in Morallyreprehensibletown, and thanks but I’ll keep driving. Matt Singer at

The Rabbit Room

Losing My Religion: A Pre-Hutchmoot Interview

In which I ramble on about burnout, about disillusionment, about driving myself into dangerous territory, about a desperate attempt to change my life...

On Movies & Media

Secondhand Lions (2003): A conversation with Duvall, Caine, Osment, and McCanlies

A film-review assignment can change your life. In fact, ten years ago this month, a film-review assignment changed my life. In August 2003, I took my first step into a larger world — the wild, wild world of film junkets.

Seamus Heaney

"It Can Entrance You For a Moment..."

"Debate doesn’t really change things. It gets you bogged in deeper. If you can address or reopen the subject with something new, something from a different angle, then there is some hope."

This is Martin Bonner

This is Martin Bonner (2013): (Previously: "Biggest Surprise of This Moviegoer's Year So Far)

I've reworked my top 10 of 2013 so far, and "This is Martin Bonner" is currently sitting at #1. This isn't just a movie that treats faith with profound sensitivity. It's a film that is beautifully crafted. And it features my favorite performance of the year so far.

Edgar Wright

The World's End (2013): My Apocalyptic Chat with Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, and Edgar Wright

Read my conversation with Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg, and Nick Frost, the three masterminds of "Spaced," "Shaun of the Dead," "Hot Fuzz," and the new sci-fi/comedy extravaganza, "The World’s End."

On Movies & Media

The Quotable Renshaw

One of this film critics' favorite quotable quotes comes from Roger Ebert: "A movie is not about what it is about. It is about how it is about it." But now I'll carry another knockout definition of criticism in my back pocket to help clarify matters...

On Movies & Media

Angela Tucker Found Something on Facebook That Changed Her Life

Ask about “Sandy the Flower Man” in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the citizens will tell you stories. He’s a lively and well-loved local who bicycles up and down Main Street, giving flowers to women and smiles to everybody. But when Angela Burt Tucker found his Facebook page in 2010, she knew she was

Inside Llewyn Davis

A Coen Brothers Concert and a Line-Up of Must-Play New Releases: Are You Listening?

If I ask "What's on your iPod?", what comes to mind? I doubt that you'll say "The Coen Brothers." But that might be the case, come December. You do have the music from O Brother, Where Art Thou? on your iPod, don&

On Movies & Media

The Spectacular Now (2013)

During a summer overstuffed with blockbuster excesses, I found myself encouraged by the way "The Spectacular Now" offers real human beings, patient observation, truthful storytelling, and nuanced performances from talented actors. But alas, the film squanders most of that suspension of disbelief by

On Movies & Media

Blue Jasmine (2013)

It feels like Woody Allen has just enough energy to rack up some ideas, to pick up the pool cue, to break, and then watch the balls scatter, some of them occasionally dropping with a satisfying "plunk" into the pockets.

Old Testament

Does the Noah Screenplay Sink or Float? Chattaway and Godawa Disagree.

I've been looking forward to seeing Noah. But now, for the first time, I can say I'm excited about the day when we are drawn, two by two (or otherwise), to theaters to see this one for ourselves.

On Movies & Media

25 Years Ago Today, Walsh Got the Duke

It's a comedy. A buddy movie. An action movie. A cops and robbers movie. Not the kind of thing I usually enjoy. But from the first time I saw it — on opening day, 25 years ago today, July 20, 1988, at the Lloyd Center Cinemas in Portland, Oregon

Tasha Robinson

July 18: The Gratitude List

A magical night at the ferryboat dock. Lunch with a film critic. Reviews of "Fruitvale Station" and "Red 2." A remembrance of movie novelizations. And more.

On Movies & Media

Turbo (2013): A Looking Closer Film Forum

There it is again, on the poster for Turbo:  the facial expression that Dreamworks animators love. And here they are again: Film reviewers I tend to trust, saving me money by warning me off of a Dreamworks animated movie. Matt Zoller Seitz says, Monsters University Jackson Cuidon, one of my