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In order to fit in the two-hour season finale of “Lost” during prime time evening hours this Wednesday, ABC decided to pit the (also two-hour) series finale of “Alias” against the (also two-hour) season finale of Fox’s “24” tonight. What were they thinking?Granted, as Mike Duffy reports in his article for the “Detroit Free Press,”…

Beliefnet editors receive dozens of books each week, some memorable, some not so much. Every once in a while, however, a book’s back cover description is so arresting that it lingers in the mind for days. So it was with the Christian “socio-spiritual” fantasy novel “The Dogs of Snoqualmie,” to be published this fall: Snoqualmie,…

While Christians from all over the world have been flocking to the Cannes Film Festival to protest the premiere of “The Da Vinci Code,” a totally different kind of film about faith and Christianity is also debuting at Cannes this weekend. “Rising Son” is a biopic about legendary skateboarder Christian Hosoi’s hugely successful skateboarding career,…

“The Da Vinci Code” is finally here. The P.R. machine that had Tom Hanks and his “Da Vinci” ‘do at the Oscars and trailers running for a year has succeeded. The reviews are out. Ministries around the world are spreading the word about the “fiction” of The Code. This week’s water-cooler question is, “Are you…

Thank heaven for little girls, goes the old song. Thank Sonny Sandoval, of the Christian heavy-metal group P.O.D., for the most popular new name for little girls: Nevaeh–or “heaven” written backwards. Since Sandoval revealed his then-new daughter’s name during an MTV appearance in 2000, the incidence of Neveah has rocketed from just eight girls to…

“The Da Vinci Code” movie, like the novel it’s based on, is ridiculous, obvious, over-the-top–and yet oddly compelling, a guilty pleasure that wraps interesting pseudohistory and pseudotheology into a shoot-’em-up thriller. In other words, if you liked the book, you’ll probably like the movie. Ditto if you hated or were offended by it. As the…

Sir Ian McKellen, who plays historian Sir Leigh Teabing in “The Da Vinci Code,” is not staying out of the fray that swirls around the film. Unlike director Ron Howard and star Tom Hanks, who have publically reiterated the line that the film is entirely a work of fiction, McKellen mischeviously hinted that he was…

John Travolta and Tom Cruise aren’t the only Scientology fans in Tinsel Town. In an article titled “Why Scientology is Good For Hollywood,” design writer Alissa Walker praises the organization for sustaining architectural landmarks in the area’s seedy downtown. “With seemingly little self-awareness, Scientology has become the unofficial pioneer of Hollywood’s gentrification movement,” Walker writes.…

Alvin the Chipmunk; Geddy Lee of Rush; Polyphonic Spree; The Violent Femmes’ Gordon Gano… Daniel Smith, the leader of the indie-gospel band Danielson Famile (sic), has been compared to any number of musical masters. The Famile’s new album, “Ships,” shows both why critics reach for familiar anchors to try to make sense of Smith’s music,…

The first reviews of “The Da Vinci Code” are out after its debut at Cannes. And the verdict, seemingly unanimous, is: thumbs down. One critic called it “an unwieldy, bloated puzzle,” and another said it is “a stodgy, grim thing.” See this piece for more what’s in store for Ron Howard, Tom Hanks, et al.…
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