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 ...

Andrew Peterson's music has constantly been in my iTunes rotation since I first heard him about 4 years ago. His lyrics resonate deeply with my experience of faith and his sense of hope bring hope to me. Recently, on his website www.rabbitroom.com he wrote of a love that surprises him with it's constancy. He has graciously allowed me to re-post it here. ~Travis The Pit of Despair, or, A New Lament by Andrew Peterson The oldest song on my new album is also the ...

Forty years go by with someone laying in your bed Forty years of things you say you wish you'd never said How hard would it have been to say some kinder words instead I wonder as I stare up at the sky turning red ~ Long Ride Home These lyrics haunt me. I think of my wife and our marriage and what in the world I will be thinking of after that ride in a long black limousine - what will it be like to return home that evening with no one there? What will I be ...

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 ...

Everything Sad Is Coming Untrue Jason Gray ©2009 Centricity Music Publishing~ As I grow older (hit the big 40 this year) I'm finding that I want more from the music I listen to. I want more texture. I want more layers. I want more depth. And I want these in both the instrumentation and in the lyrics. In no way am I a musician and I can't tell you the difference between a harmony and a melody but I can tell you when I hear music that is creative and honest. That's ...

Away We Go 2009 • Rated R Directed by Sam Mendes (2009) My wife hated this movie. She said it was vulgar and crude. I have to agree with her, particularly in the first 20 minutes of the film. But as we lay in bed after watching it, talking about why she hated it we discovered the value of the film. It’s in the questions it raises and the underlying hope that serves as its foundation. As actor John Krasinski says in the DVD bonus features, “It’s about searching for a place where you belong and searching for who you really are.” Away We Go is the story of Burt and Verona ...