Idol Chatter

The current James Bond movie is clearly different from most of the other 23 Bond (21 official) movies. The actor is different. The tone is different. The villain(s) is (are) different. There’s no “Q,” and though “M” is the same actor (Judi Dench), even she has a new edge to her. That said, it’s an…

The relatively minor Jewish holiday of Purim is having its moment in the cinematic sun. First came “One Night With the King,” a dramatization of the Book of Esther, which is read in synagogues on Purim and whose story the holiday commemorates. Now comes “Home for Purim,” a small independent production about a 1940s Southern…

I saw a promo for Monday night’s “Studio 60” episode and couldn’t help wondering: Is this the week that the show–to coin, or at least adapt, a phrase–jumps the cross? As you probably know, “jumping the shark” has come to refer to that definining moment when a good TV show has gone bad, reached its…

What can be said about the news revealed this week that football star turned B-list actor turned murder suspect in the “Trial of the Century” O.J. Simpson will be soon releasing a book called “If I Did It”? The book is a hypothetical telling of how he would have murdered his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson…

Boston Globe reporter Hiawatha Bray probes the moral core of “Left Behind: Eternal Forces,” the video game version of the popular apocalyptic book series by Tim F. LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. (See fellow blogger Paul O’Donnell’s post about the game’s pre-2005-Christmas debut for more information.) Bray’s interest was apparently sparked by Rob Corddry’s satirical…

Okay, this summer’s drunken anti-Semitic rant was a P.R. faux-pas. But just as Mel Gibson overcame his more veiled anti-Semitic reading of the Gospel in “The Passion of the Christ” by coaxing support for the deeply Catholic film among evangelicals, he’s determined to overcome his Cuervo Nacht jabbering by showing his new film, “Apocalypto,” to…

The basis for the new film “Zen Noir” is a kind of funny concept. A noir-style detective investigates a murder in a Buddhist temple. When he asks questions, he gets slippery, koan-type answers. “My name isn’t me,” says one Buddhist. When pressed, the robed man says, “Articulate Lotus Flowing From the Source,” which later turns…

The HBO documentary “Thin” aired last night, telling the story of four women struggling with anorexia and bulimia. A film directed by Laura Greenfield (also the author of “Girl Culture”), “Thin” introduces viewers to Shelly, a nurse who has been in and out of clinics many times; Polly, a photographer also with many prior experiences…

Do we control our future? Or is everything that happens to us decided by fate? If there is a creator, do we have a dynamic or static relationship with him–or her? Such deep, philosophical questions don’t seem like the stuff of a Will Ferrell movie, but his latest flick, “Stranger Than Fiction,” will surprise many…

Are Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes going to be married before they get to the altar? The couple has booked a romantic, 15th-century castle north of Rome, and international singing star Andrea Bocelli will sing. Katie’s dad has even overcome his misgivings and wishes for a Catholic wedding and agreed to give Katie away. But…

More from Beliefnet and our partners