War of the Worldviews: Why Avatar Lost
Avatar had audiences rooting for nature, against the destruction of marauding tanks—but the Oscar went to the film that offered a soldier’s-eye view.
Na’vi and Goliath: Palestinian Protesters Dress as Avatar Underdogs
Many Israelis and Jews took to Avatar with aplomb, likening it to Kabbalah and turning out in record numbers in Israel. But it remains to be seen how Jews and Israelis will respond to Palestinian protesters who, dressed as the film’s besieged protagonists, aim to position themselves in the hearts of observers as the sympathetic underdogs.
Something Borrowed, Something Blue: Avatar and the Myth of Originality
Avatar is now officially the top-grossing movie of all time, but that’s not because it shows us something entirely original (in 3D no less). Like all good myths, it is a mashup: a mix of well-tested stories, presented in an unfamiliar way.
No Garden to Get Back to: Understanding Post-Avatar Ecological Depressive Disorder
It may be only a movie, but it is turning significant segments of its audience into eco-radicals. We can go ahead and dissect the film’s weaknesses, but as our planet dies, and politicians fail, is this really how we want to talk about the most influential ecological parable of our time?
Many have recognized colonialist themes in Avatar but is there also room for an anti-imperial reading of the bible in its narrative?
What Does the Muslim World Really Want?
Depends which of the 1.6 billion Muslims you ask. A new film seeks to give depth to Western perceptions of Islam. Too bad they didn't make it to Asia.
Hold the popcorn, we're not quite there yet.
Ending With a Bang: 2012, Media, and Exploding Worlds
When filmmakers blow up a city, a planet, it’s called apocalyptic. But what if apocalypse is not a grand event but a continual revealing, happening every moment, as worlds arise and die?
Big Vampire Love: What’s So Mormon about Twilight?
Much ado has been made about the theme of chastity in the Twilight series (currently drawing hordes into movie theaters for its second installment), but few have noticed the other, less commonly understood, Mormon theological themes that course through the series’ fevered plotline.
A brief tour through some forthcoming films.
Beautiful Dreamers: A Documentary Asks “What is God”?
Peter Rodger traveled through twenty-three countries in three years asking the same question to everyone he met, and filming, gorgeously, the results. Turns out the question—“What is God?”—reveals more than a person’s faith.
Hitchens Debates Conservative Evangelical: Nothing Happens
A new documentary called <i>Collision</i> follows the collegial debate between new atheist Christopher Hitchens and conservative evangelical Doug Wilson. Spoiler alert: Neither budges and both gloat to the respective choirs they’d been preaching to. Is this the best we can do?
Jennifer’s Body and Why I Like Buffy’s Body Better
Has a hotly anticipated new horror film about a murderous cheerleader subverted the mythos of woman as the source of evil or just the opposite?
Afghan Idol: Can a Talent Competition Save a Nation?
An interview with the director of Afghan Star, a documentary that follows a tense but cathartic talent competition.
What does it mean when a movie series infiltrates our daily lives, and infuses our summer nights with “magic”?
The Rage Behind Outrage
The director of a new documentary talks about Dick Cheney’s daughter, the arrogance of power, and the days when Republicans weren’t anti-gay.
Star Trek: Politics Anti-Matters
The Star Trek franchise was famous for its utopian social vision, going boldly where no popular entertainment had gone before. But the new movie takes us back in time, to an age when political divisions were in stark black and white.
Church and State in Japan: The Case of the Yasukuni Shrine
Japan, in the throes of political and financial turmoil, is still dealing with the long-running controversy over a national shrine for WWII dead.
Outrage Outs Closeted Pols Opposed to Gay Rights
Documentarian Kirby Dick maintains that his new film isn’t merely righteous mimicry of tabloid journalism.
God Makes an Independent Film
When an inexperienced Pentecostal pastor gets called by God to make a $50 million epic science-fiction film, is he a visionary, a prophet, or just another box office grifter? A new documentary tells the tale.
Pop-Eye: Global Jesus on Film
In this invitation to inter-cinematic dialogue, S. Brent Plate offers a Lenten season roundup of Jesus films from all across the world, and not a blue-eyed protagonist among them.
Catholic magazine in Spain has its own set of movie awards. "Juno" tops the list. Guess why.
What Kind of A Church Can Prevent a Holocaust?
At a time when spokesmen for the church were asserting that Adolf Hitler’s rise to power was a ‘gift of God,’ a courageous woman tried to get her fellow Christians to act to save the Jews. A new film, Elisabeth of Berlin, tells her story through the voices of church leaders, historians, and those who knew her.
While the Oscar-nominated hit portrays very little religion, the underlying framework reveals a distinctly Hindu and Indian perspective.
Obamunism? The Traditional Values Coalition Coins a Term
Plus: Anti-abortion groups march on; Tony Perkins’ advice to Obama; Focus on the Family sets Newsweek straight; CPAC rides again; a boom in Christian films; and Training against the death penalty.