13th It's not too late: Ava DuVernay's 13th is shock treatment for America's conscience From the Looking Closer Archives: Here's my original review of Ava Duvernay's astonishing Netflix documentary, which I originally wrote for Christianity Today.
On Movies & Media Save the Future “Defend the past. Save the future.” Those words are lighting up TV screens this week, promoting the new NBC time-travel adventure series Timeless. But really, it’s ridiculous. No matter how many people want to go back and “kill Hitler,” the past cannot be changed. Right? Right? I don’t
On Movies & Media The Gospel is calling... on Netflix. Folks, sit down with your families and watch 13th, the new documentary from Ava Duvernay. Watch it all the way through. (It's on Netflix.) I can't recommend this enough. You want to talk about "Christian movies"? This movie is a neon sign pointing to
Journal Why We Need "Selma" We need this movie. We need it for this reason: Wherever Martin Luther King Jr. carried his dream, racists and scoffers assembled. Americans have made some admirable progress since then. But is it over? Was the dream realized? When I praise this movie that was made in celebration of King's dream — g
Journal The "Most Christian" Movie of the Year? In Selma — and I'm pretty sure about this — there is more gospel quoted, more gospel celebrated, more gospel embraced and openly lived out than in any so-called "Christian movie" released in 2014. (Except the one that was, you know, a Jesus movie.)
Film Reviews Selma (2014): My Review and a Looking Closer Film Forum By choosing intimacy over an epic scale, by going small instead of large, by discernment and selectivity over throwing everything available to her at the screen, Ava Duvernay has surpassed all expectations with a masterfully crafted film that will become a standard by which historical films are meas
