Reel World: Rewind #028 – The Princess Bride
On this episode of Reel World: Rewind… It is borderline criminal there has not been a podcast episode on The Princess Bride, a movie universally loved within the Reel World Theology staff and contributors. Reel World staff members David Atwell…
Review| Superfly
The subgenre known as “blaxploitation film”–a term coined by the Los Angeles head of the NAACP, Junius Griffin–rose to prominence in the 1970’s as a direct response to the need for black actors on-screen. Representation mattered in the 1970’s, and blaxploitation…
Keeping Watch on the Evil and the Good: Worshipping the State in Cool Hand Luke (1967) and Minority Report (2002)
For 13 years, my father was a corrections officer in a high security prison in Texas. Among his wards was the infamous Eyeball Killer, a man who murdered prostitutes and surgically removed their eyes. During routine searches of the man’s…
Review| Hereditary
There is a significant distinction between a tragic hero and a foregone conclusion. While both retain the characteristic of giving the audience foreknowledge of their impending fate, only the tragic hero invites the will of the audience to push against…
Review| Tully
Tully hit theaters right before Mother’s Day. The trailer shows a raw, though apt picture of motherhood and I would guess many people, like me, decided to take their mom to watch the film. I’m also guessing that most people…
Review| Farenheit 451 – The Burning Heart of Man
All I had to see was the poster with the two awesome Michael’s on it and I was ready to throw my money at the screen. Fahrenheit 451 proved to be worth it for me. The film is getting a…
#171 – A Quiet Place and Affirming Life
On this episode of the Reel World Theology Podcast: We talk (quietly) about John Krasinski’s latest film, A Quiet Place. Boy did this one catch on. A Quiet Place found audiences that love horror and those who don’t, which leads…
Review| First Reformed
Paul Schrader, director of First Reformed and famed screenwriter of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The Last Temptation of Christ grew up in the Calvinist Christian Reformed Church with a strict family home. He attended Calvin College and graduated with a minor in theology. A…
Review| Wind River
Imagine being in a bad way and no help is coming. Nobody can or will come to help you, the only person you can rely on is yourself and those who suffer with you, but even they too are helpless…
Review| You Were Never Really Here
Early in Lynne Ramsay’s Cannes-winning, You Were Never Really Here, Joaquin Phoenix’s Joe returns home from a job to find his mother unmoving in front of the TV. Knowing what we know of Joe, we’re not sure if his mother is…