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 ...

Avatar 2009 • Rated PG-13 Directed by James Cameron Warning: minor spoilers ahead Avatar is an scrumptious feast which sets a new standard for visual effects and imaginary worlds. That alone makes up for James Cameron using standard fare storytelling and tired cliches. The colors are so vivid and the imagination so active that I hardly noticed the flaws until the movie was long over. An oft repeated phrase in the film is “I see you” which the characters use to communicate a personal knowing and recognition. It is reminiscent of Native American language (as is much of the ...

Up Pixar Animation Studios 2009 • Rated PG Directed by Pete Docker & Bob Peterson There is a lot of beauty is Pixar's latest film Up (released on DVD 11/10/09), not the least of which is the stunning animation, brilliant colors and spot-on "set design". But the transformative power of the story lies in two primary relationships: Carl and his wife Ellie and later, Carl and young Russell. The former relationship (which technically last through only the first 11 ...