I do not watch Hallmark or Netflix Christmas movies on principle. If that is your thing, go ahead; […]
film
There was a time when the darkness and loneliness of divorce seemed to me tragically romantic. Probably, I was reading too much Andre Dubus and John Updike at the same time. Raymond Carver probably did not help either. There was a resigned dark humor to the characters, an alcoholic loneliness, and (for Dubus’ characters) a tangible and inescapable divine presence.
I am always interested in films that involve pastors, whether the pastors are good or bad. Because this is something I know from the inside out, it is not hard to tell whether or not the filmmaker actually knows what he or she is doing in writing or casting the character. Phillip Youmans knows what he is doing in Burning Cane (2019; streaming on Netflix).
When God is dead, there is not nothing. Worship abhors a vacuum. So when God or gods cease […]
Fridays at The Jagged Word are when I try to expose as little of my ignorance as possible. […]
Coraline (2008, streaming on Amazon Prime) might be the perfect movie for All Saints or All Souls (not that I’m praying for the dead in Purgatory, understand). What a great, semi-frightening children’s movie that gets to the heart of what matters in a family. I don’t know how closely it follows the story by Neil Gaiman, but the film is profound in ways I didn’t expect.
It’s late October, so the only thing to do is catch up on classic horror movies. A year […]
I’ve been thinking about why we are affected by people who don’t exist. Even when characters are based […]
Black Narcissus (streaming on the Criterion Channel or for rent on Amazon Prime) is not my favorite movie, […]
Abrupt endings to movies used to bother me. I wanted a neat, wrapped-together conclusion that answered at least […]
We all long for Eden. Sometimes we try to get back into the Garden (however that is conceived) […]
By Tim Winterstein – Amid recent high-profile defections from formerly prominent Christians, one would think films would have […]
By Tim Winterstein – From 1949 until 1990, East Germany (or the German Democratic Republic—DDR auf Deutsch) was […]
By Tim Winterstein – [SPOILERS] I wasn’t sure what kind of movie I was watching when Carlos Reygadas’ […]
By Tim Winterstein – Imagine having a six-year-old son, who has just been admitted into a prestigious elementary […]
By Tim Winterstein – [SPOILERS] Whenever films are based on true stories, there’s always a little dramatic enhancement […]
By Tim Winterstein – I was a little worried that The Prisoner (1955; streaming on the Criterion Channel […]
By Tim Winterstein – Honestly, I can’t believe we’d never thought of it before. My brother, Jay, and […]
By Tim Winterstein – The older I get, the more I realize just how unreliable my memories actually […]
By Tim Winterstein – Maybe it begins as an attempt by a doctor to expunge her guilt over […]