Idol Chatter

Joel and Ethan Coen became filmmaking legends in their own time with their brutal crime caper “Fargo” back in the 90s. They reached beyond their cult indie filmmaking status with the mainstream success of their dark comedy “O Brother Where Art Thou?” Their latest film, “No Country for Old Men,” once again examines a crime…

“Grace is Gone” is built on a simple premise: Grace Phillips, a soldier, wife and mother of two, is killed in the war in Iraq. Her husband, Stanley Phillips, played by John Cusack, is left to break the terrible news to their daughters, ages eight and twelve. The girls are too old to buy that…

Growing up in a traditional Roman Catholic family instills a few things in you about the sacred and the profane that are hard to shake. “Never enter a church with your shoulders uncovered” is one. “Holy Water is not for drinking” would be another biggie. You just don’t do that! But don’t tell that to…

As a longtime fan and creator of comic books, I’m sad to say that 2007 was an uneven year for the medium. Comics have enjoyed a rising profile in Hollywood and among critics, but this seems to have provided diminishing returns for the books themselves. Still, there were high points this year—especially these five:

Not just a movie, “What Would Jesus Buy?” is also a book, and you can win it. To enter, post your answer to this question: What would Jesus say about Christmas in America today? Would he be proud that the holiday celebrating his birth is so central to American culture? Upset at the commercialization and…

‘Tis the season for season’s greetings, as winter-themed cards, family portraits and business announcements wing their way around the world to bring messages of peace and networking to all humankind. But are your greetings too generic? People don’t read cards that are so general that anyone (or anyone’s secretary) could have written them. And then…

No one knows a daughter like her mother. And Amy Winehouse’s mom, Janis, is smart enough to already know about her daughter’s tattooed, belligerently drunk obstinacy. But she’s still worried, and has released to a local London paper a passionately concerned letter, begging her daughter to “come home” so that Janis can “wrap her in…

Most of its first season, “Saving Grace” was a police procedural with a little “It’s a Wonderful Life” mixed in: Somewhere down the line, Grace Hanadarko, the hard-drankin’, rough-lovin’ detective was going to come to terms with the angel, Earl, who keeps showing up to challenge her to think a little about her salacious ways.…

New Line’s Cinema’s December 7th film release of “The Golden Compass” could not have come any sooner. I’d begun counting the days a while ago–not because I was dying to see the movie–I already saw it twice. But because December 7th would mark the beginning, or perhaps even the moment, that this controversy, and my…

This is the last in a series of blog posts about “The Golden Compass” by guest blogger Tony Watkins, author of “Dark Materials: Shedding Light on Philip Pullman’s Trilogy ‘His Dark Materials.'” Eyebrows are sometimes raised in my direction when I say that Philip Pullman’s “His Dark Materials” trilogy is not something that Christians should…

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