Lars and the Real Girl 2007 • Rated PG-13 Directed by Craig Gillespie Review by Craig Detweiler Take a lonely, conflicted young man in a frozen Midwest setting. Add an anatomically correct, blow-up doll named Bianca. Put them both in a chaste church setting. And somehow, the creators of Lars and The Real Girl produce one of the sweetest, most transcendent films of 2007. Lars and the Real Girl is a sheer delight. Like the gentle character Lars Lindstrom, it is ...

Precious 2009 • Rated R Directed by Lee Daniels Review by Craig Detweiler Precious is the most basic, extraordinary and humane film of 2009. After a summer of silliness, Precious arrives as a bracing alternative, powered by jolting performances from Mo’Nique and newcomer Gabourey Sidibe. It takes viewers inside the tragic life of a teen mother. It puts a face on poverty, abuse, and perseverance. Precious offers hard-earned hope amidst overwhelming odds. I had the privilege of seeing Precious on the night it won the Grand Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Director Lee ...

Ron Reed is a new contributor to viaRenovo. He brings with him a wealth of knowledge on film (far exceeding my own) and the worldview of an artist who seeks to live out his faith in all that he does. This is his first post here. Thanks for joining us Ron! ~ Travis Another edition of the Arts & Faith list of 100 spiritually significant films is gearing up and we'll announce the new hundred right around the time of the Academy Awards. Much fun! I put the ...

(500) Days of Summer Sneak Preview Entertainment 2009 • Rated PG-13 Directed by Marc Webb ~ by Joel Try Depending on where you look, this film’s genre is listed as either Comedy or Romantic Comedy. And while I am a hopeless romantic, much like the main character Tom, I am not at all a fan of Hollywood’s romantic comedies. I generally find them trivial, unimaginative and not funny. So I sat down to watch 500 days with a very skeptical view, that lasted for ...

The Book of Eli Alcon Entertainment 2010 • Rated R Directed by Albert & Allen Hughes ~ by Craig Detweiler A man with no name wanders across a barren desert. He forages for food and supplies. He doesn’t pick fights, but he certainly settles them. We’ve seen these vistas before, but not with as much punch or panache. The Book of Eli is stylish and smart, a post-apocalyptic western perfectly suited for our era of economic reassessment. It offers a heroic version ...

Creation 2009 • Rated PG-13 Directed by John Amiel Coming soon to America: widespread fear, angry debate and frequent name-calling all because of a new movie about the life of Charles Darwin and his writing of On the Origin of Species. This film has been in release around the world for some time now but because of controversy and fears of a public relations battle with the "religious right" the film struggled to find a US distributor (interestingly enough it will be distributed by New Market films which also handled Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ). Based on a book by the ...