Self as the Standard of Spiritual Truth, Love as the Ultimate Idol: Old Problems Arise in New Moon

Marc T. Newman | I have a confession to make. I am not a tweenage girl. And some of them will take immediate offense that I am criticizing what many of them consider "the greatest love story of all time." I know this because I was at the Thursday midnight screening of The Twilight Saga: New Moon and I saw it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears. With every haunted glance, every near-kiss, every desperate clinch, audible sighs erupted throughout the theater, sometimes drowning out the dialogue. When the film was over, I saw numerous young ladies dabbing at their eyes with popcorn napkins. It was really just too much. Really.

Based firmly in Romeo and Juliet - that is if Romeo were an undead, 100-year-old vampire - The Twilight Saga: New Moon (adapted from the best-selling series by Stephenie Meyer) tries hard to ratchet up the romance. Edward and Bella are about as star-crossed a set of lovers as you are likely to encounter, particularly since Edward has the stunning misfortune of being dead. They separate when Edward feels as if his presence puts Bella in too much danger, and, of course, his absence increases her vulnerability as a target. Needing a protector, in steps lupine Jakob Black. Mayhem, and not a little bit of almost kissing ensues. As someone who spends considerable time in theaters trying to ferret out the cultural and spiritual implications of popular film, I am not unaccustomed to seeing silliness on the screen. And I am not a curmudgeon - I love a good, sentimental film as well as anyone else. So if New Moon were simply a silly, Hannah-Montana-with-fangs type of film, I probably would just let it go.

Voyage of the Dawn Treader" in Production in Australia

Christian Cinema.com | The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the third epic of the Chronicles of Narnia series based on the bestselling books by C.S. Lews, began principal photography on location in Queensland, Australia, on Monday, July 27. The production is scheduled to run through November 2009, with post-production taking another year. The projected global theatrical release is set for December 2010.

This time around, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie (the two younger children), along with their pesky cousin Eustace Scrubb – find themselves swallowed into a painting and on to a fantastic Narnian ship headed for the very edges of the world.

"Harry Potter" and the Terrifying Order to Obey

Marc T. Newman, Ph.D. | Critics of the Harry Potter films have noted that Harry and his friends are often rewarded for lying and breaking the rules. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince should put such fears to rest.

The Harry Potter books and films are not sequels – a new story coming along just because the first one sold well. They are, all together, a single story. Critics ought to be careful about making hard and fast claims before the entire story is in. The books are finished, but the films are still being crafted. And, as the characters now are on the verge of adulthood, they discover that actions that may have been winked at in the past begin to carry heavy consequences.

The storyline in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince opens just moments after Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix ends – with the local paper speculating on Harry Potter as “The Chosen One” after his momentous battle with the Deatheaters and Lord Voldemort. Harry’s “reward” for all of his struggles is greater responsibility. Professor Dumbledore must show Harry some frightening things, and even put him in great peril, because the task set before them is a battle to the death.

The Sound of Heaven – Released in Australia, available worldwide

Bev Holmes-Brown | Lovers of worship will be delighted to know that the beautiful Sound of Heaven CD and DVD have been released in Australia and are available worldwide.

The vision of songwriter and worship leader, David Willersdorf, was to join with friends to passionately proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ in worship. 

I attended the “live” recording of the CD and DVD amidst an audience of 100 people, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.  The atmosphere was electric, the presence of God profound. 

There is no doubt that David, who wrote all of the songs on this album, is uniquely gifted and inspired to bring the people of God into His presence

How ‘Sister Act’ has inspired the formation of 30 Japanese Gospel Choirs run by a Filipino former night club entertainer who found Christ

Dan Wooding | Who would have believed that “Sister Act,” the 1992 movie starring Whoopi Goldberg “on the Run, Disguised as a Nun,” would inspire the formation of some 30 Japanese Gospel choirs.

And if that wasn’t enough to take in, they are run by Ken Taylor, a Filipino-born former night club entertainer who found Christ and became a musical missionary to Japan.

Finding Strong Fathers in Film

Marc T. Newman | Once you get past the first four of the Ten Commandments that deal with humans’ relationship to God, the first “horizontal” commandment is that people honor their fathers and mothers (Exodus 20:12). Last month we honored mothers. If you went to church, you may have seen moms getting flowers, perhaps being asked to stand, even receiving applause. The sermon likely extolled the virtues of motherhood with a special emphasis on appreciating the women who raised us.

I have, on more occasions than I wished, sat through Father’s Day sermons that primarily explained how men have failed as fathers, and why, if we would just adopt a 3-, 7-, or 12-step plan of self-flagellation and growth, we might be able to become the men God intended. Like most men, I am not the perfect father. Like all people, I am not a perfect person. But how will our children learn to honor their fathers if they can’t even get an attaboy from the pulpit on Father’s Day? They certainly are unlikely to get it at the Cineplex.

Just look at the way in which men are depicted in film. The most popular movie the last two weekends running is The Hangover: a vile, vulgar, pornographic film about males who are chronologically “men,” but who have the character of post-hormonal adolescents. Fathers don’t get better treatment. Imagine That stars Eddie Murphy as a divorced dad who is too busy for his daughter, until he discovers that her magic blanket is the key to killer business deals

Michael Jackson Reaches out to Andrae & Sandra Crouch

Dan Wooding | Facing A Massive Tour He Was Ill-Prepared For, A Desperate Michael Jackson Reached Out To Gospel Superstar Andrae Crouch And His Minister Sister For Solace In His Last Day

... But according to Sandra Crouch, Evangelist McFaddin-Solomon, may have gotten the story only half right. On a posting on her Facebook page Crouch wrote: “Not sure where that came from. We loved and respected Michael and will continue to pray for his family. All the extra is not from us.”

Show, Don't Tell

Gail Patches | VETERAN PRODUCER Ralph Winter has a long list of big-screen hits to his name, starting with the tail end of the 1980s Star Trek sequels, moving into television (Lost), and on through the X-Men series.

His latest, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, tallyied an impressive $87 million to kick off the summer box office this past weekend. But look over Winter’s resume, and you’ll notice he’s not only into big-budget superhero blockbusters: he's also done more than a few small-budget Christian films.

He produced the first Left Behind, and every film adaptation of Christian author Frank Peretti’s novels. We recently sat down with Winter to talk about his current movie and his thoughts on being a filmmaker both in Hollywood and in the Christian film industry.

Star Trek and Political Archetypes

Michael Karounos | When viewers go to the theater to see a movie like Star Trek, the last thing they ask themselves is, "I wonder if this is a liberal or a conservative action movie?" That such categories exist will come as a surprise to most people, but action movies, like everything else in life, have a worldview

Star Trek, for example, is a classically archetypal movie in its psychology, characters, and conflict; it is also intentionally conservative. One word on terms: I use "Left" or "Leftist" to denote a perspective that demonizes conservatives. "Liberal" is a term which expresses a point of view absent demonization. If you are pro-abortion, you may be liberal; but if you are pro-abortion and portray pro-life people as "right wing extremists," you are Leftist. In that illustration I grant both perspectives the positive prefix "pro" rather than follow the Left’s usage of reserving "pro" for my perspective and assigning "anti" to those who don’t agree with me.

A Star Trek quiz...Boldly going where no quiz has gone before

On May 8/09 director J.J. Abrams beamed an exciting new vision of Star Trek into North American movie theaters. This Star Trek reboot tells the origin of Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Test your knowledge of some of the biblical connections to Star Trek with this 30 question quiz. Full ahead Warp Factor 1...

Questions

1. Who's the only actor to portray both Jesus on the big screen and captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise on the small screen?

2. In the introduction to most episodes of Star Trek (TOS, 1966-1969), Captain Kirk (William Shatner) is heard saying the five-year mission of the starship Enterprise is "to boldly go where no man has gone before." What Bible book states: "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace..."--Galatians, Hebrews, or Romans?

"Knowing" Screenwriter Ryne Douglas Pearson

Christian Cinema | Ryne Pearson is a published novelist with five books (soon to be six) in print, one of which was the source novel for the 1998 Bruce Willis film Mercury Rising. Father of two sons and a devout Catholic who has two priests that are uncles, Ryne's worldview of faith comes through in his latest screenplay for the Nicolas Cage film Knowing.

There are some small spoilers in this interview, so if you have not seen the film and intend to, be warned.

Can you start by telling us about the evolution of the idea from when you pitched it to the finished production?

Ryne:    It was about 8.5 years ago that I pitched the original idea and then wrote the screenplay. From that original idea, a few different writers had input, like Juliet Snowden and Stiles White, who did an amazing job. As with many screenplays, you know as a writer that things are going to be interpreted and things are going to change, especially when it gets into the hands of the director.

The Lost Medallion in Production in Thailand

Angela Walker | Archaeologist Dr. Michael Stone looked for the lost medallion his entire life, and now his son Billy (Unger, seen at right) has taken up the search.  Amazingly, the medallion ends up in Billy’s hands and a spontaneous wish in a precarious situation takes Billy and his best friend Allie (Hanratty), back 200 years to what they realize is a very different Aumakua Island. 

When Billy and his friends are not jumping off waterfalls, avoiding animal traps, crossing the ocean, sneaking through caves or escaping a prison they're facing their nemesis Cobra (Dacascos), who wants nothing more than for them all to disappear.  With no other way to get home, and the wellbeing of the entire island resting on his shoulders, Billy must discover the key to reclaiming the medallion and its tremendous power.  One way or another, this adventure will change Billy, and life on the island, forever.

Theologian Calls New U2 Album ‘Most Thoroughly Christian’ Project to Date

Dan Wooding | Josh Kimball, a Christian Post reporter says that No Line On The Horizon, the latest album from Irish rock band U2, has finally hit music stores in North America after its worldwide debut Friday in Ireland.

And, he says, according to a theologian in Alabama, it’s “the most thoroughly Christian thing they’ve done yet.”

Kimball was referring to Steven R. Harmon, an associate professor of divinity at Samford University's Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Ala., who said, “Like the last two albums, No Line is much more overt in its Christian rendering of the world, what with lyrics like ‘Justified until we die/You and I will magnify/Oh, the Magnificent’ from the album's second track.

A "Slumdog" Kind of Night

Angela Walker | The 81st Academy® Awards show celebrated a different kind of film last night. Slumdog Millionaire, which won eight awards, was based on a novel by an Indian writer, filmed in Mumbai, India, and included an Indian cast. This film, originally destined for a straight-to-DVD release in the United States, took the country by storm when Fox Searchlight Pictures picked it up and took a chance on a theatrical release.

... Fox Searchlight is building its reputation for distributing the daring type of film that most studios are avoiding, and that Slumdog Millionaire represents. Opening the second weekend of November in only 10 theaters, the movie averaged $36,000 per theater that first weekend.

New Documentary Reveals New Facts in Terri Schiavo Case

Angela Walker | The story of Terri Schiavo caused a nationwide uproar that garnered the attention of the worldwide media, the U.S. Congress, and even the office of the President of the United States. The ethical and cultural implications of her case are still being felt throughout society and continue to spark debate.  In the newly-released documentary, The Terri Schiavo Story from Franklin Springs Family Media, previously unexplored facts of the case are revealed through in-depth interviews with participants on both sides of the issue.

  Hosted by author and speaker Joni Eareckson Tada, who became personally involved in the case in 2005, The Terri Schiavo Story sheds new light on the controversial decision that led to the death of a 41-year-old disabled woman.

Creating an Epic: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Angela Walker | Creating an epic is never an easy task, even if you have a script from an Academy Award-winning screenwriter (Eric Roth, Forrest Gump), producers responsible for some of the biggest box office hits in history (Kathy Kennedy and Frank Marshall, E.T., Jurassic Park, The Sixth Sense, Indiana Jones series), and box office stars Brad Pitt (Ocean’s 11, 12, 13 and Babel) and Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth, The Aviator).

Based on a short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in the early 1900s, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has been floating around Hollywood for nearly 40 years. Robin Swicord wrote a first draft of the script in 1992, but it was another 16 years, multiple drafts and an estimated $150 million before the movie was produced.

Beatrix Potter

Gordon Moyes | As a child I was never introduced to Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-duck, the Flopsy Bunnies and their friends. As an adult I saw their representations in fine bone china shops and was aghast at the prices. I was aware of the huge popularity of the children’s stories, but I had seen none of the TV and films of either the author or the characters.

Then on one of my regular trips to USA to lecture my students, I saw that on the menu of films I could watch was Miss Potter, a biographical film starring Renée Zellweger that was released in December 2006. It was written by Richard Maltby, Jr. and directed by one whom I knew as an Australian film director. It had been a long time since BABE for Australian director Chris Noonan. But now came his biography of the author, Beatrix Potter, who made Peter Rabbit a household name.

NARNIA Is Not Nirvana for Disney

Ted Baehr | The big news in the world of faith-based literature and film is that Walt Disney Company has dropped the third Chronicles of Narnia movie, "Dawn Treader," Even though the Associated Press sent out a release making this look like a faith-based issue, the fact of the matter is that this was an economic decision.

The Associated Press took my words out of context in an interview on this subject, to make Disney's decision look like one of the parties in Hollywood was concerned about the movie's faith content. The fact is neither Disney nor Walden has hesitated from including faith in their movies. The book Dawn Treader has the least amount of time with Aslan, who is the Jesus figure in the series by acclaimed Christian author C.S. Lewis. It is much more logical that the economics of the movie did not make sense than that there was a concern over the Christian content of the book.

The new Doctor Who - too young to be a time lord?

Peter Wooding, ANS | The BBC’s Doctor Who is the longest running and most popular science fiction show on television. So naturally there was major national excitement when just three days into the New Year, the new Doctor Who was announced: a virtual unknown called Matt Smith, the youngest actor ever to take on the part of the Doctor. Which begs the question, at just 26 years old, is he too young to be incarnation number 11 of our favorite time lord?

Since the 7th Doctor’s era in the late eighties, the Doctor has been portrayed as “more than just a time lord.” In recent years he has been called “the lonely god” and he often displays messianic tendencies – the “New Earth” equivalent of the healing of the lepers is just one example that springs to mind. In the same episode, he claimed that there is no moral authority higher than himself.

More than just a time lord, the Doctor is a Lord of Time and Space. He has lived for hundreds of years, he has godlike powers, he can sense so many happenings in the web of time that us mere mortals cannot even begin to perceive