There Will Be Blood 2007 • Rated R Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson There Will Be Blood (2007) was recently named the Film of the Decade by Total Film Magazine. This movie—a grim retelling of the novel “Oil!” by Upton Sinclair—reveals how corruption and greed engulfs two men living during the oil boom of Southern California in the late 19th century. In doing so it leaves little room for hope and only hints at redemption through its conspicuous absence. No ...

Gentlemen Broncos 2009 • Rated PG-13 Directed by Jared Hess Review by Ron Reed New Yorker's Richard Brody is rare among film critics in finding things to praise about GENTLEMEN BRONCOS, the third film from Mormon film maker Jared Hess (NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, NACHO LIBRE). One of the most audacious American movies of 2009, Jared Hess’s “Gentlemen Broncos” (on DVD from Fox) — a loopy comedy that blends frumpy down-market vulgarity with excremental humor and ...

~ Thanks to Ron Reed for bringing this to our attention: The Conversations (at Slant.com) is a monthly feature in which Jason Bellamy and Ed Howard discuss a wide range of cinematic subjects. This month, an extended, detailed and really substantial consideration of two Jesus movies... Jason Bellamy: I never followed the amateur filmmaking documentary series Project Greenlight, which was perhaps best known for having celebrity producers (Matt Damon and Ben Affleck) and for failing to discover any major breakthrough talents, but I'll never forget one of the episodes I happened to see. ...

From the time the Harry Potter books first crossed the pond from England there has been both praise and disparagement of the books. Most of the criticism came from Christian voices raising concerns about the glorification of magic and the dangers of the occult. Now that the final book has been around for some time and before we see the arrival of the final two movies (the last book is being split into two films because of the density of content as well as Hollywood squeezing every last dime it can from the franchise) we can take a step back and think a little more critically about these ...

Craig Detweiler walks us through the 10 films nominated for Best Picture from 2009 and explores how they are built upon the foundations of drama—characters, stakes, and story arcs — and how you may catch a glimpse of Eden. CHARACTERS: The most memorable films revolve around fascinating characters. The Hurt Locker rises above all other movies about Iraq because of its focus on the soldiers. It takes us inside the experience of an Army bomb squad, especially Staff Sergeant William James. We walk a nail-biting mile in his shoes. How haunting to be drawn into the volatile battlefield of ...

~ by Margot Starbuck ~ About twelve minutes after enthusiastically posting “GOOD HAIR ROCKS!” on my Facebook page, I came to my senses and quickly deleted. I’d just enjoyed Chris Rock’s HBO documentary about the African-American hair product industry, Good Hair, and wanted to get the word out. As the comments started coming in, though, I realized that it wasn’t entirely clear, in cyberspace, whether I was announcing that Rock’s film rocked—which was my clever intention—or I that was touting the fact that smooth shiny bouncy hair sprung effortlessly out of my own ...