Movies | TLG Christian News

Sony Animation reveals the cast for Nativity film The Star

18/01/2017 0 Comment

The studio hasn’t released any pictures yet, to my knowledge, but today Sony Pictures Animation sent out a press release announcing the voice cast for its upcoming film The Star, which tells the story of the first Christmas from the animals’ point of view.
Here is the key paragraph from today’s press release:
The voice cast will be led by Steven Yeun (Bo the donkey), Kelly Clarkson (Leah the horse), Aidy Bryant (Ruth the sheep), Keegan-Michael Key (Dave the dove), Kristin Chenoweth (Mouse), Anth..

Wrestling with ‘Silence’

17/01/2017 0 Comment

Raised in a Christian community, I constantly heard stories of martyrdom. The Bible is replete with such tales, whether it’s the three men thrown into a fiery furnace or early apostles stoned for threatening the status quo. Youth leaders would solemnly tell of saints who were burned at the stake, singing songs of praise even as the flames lapped at their feet.
These were not stories of tragedy but of triumph. The focus was not on those who killed the missionaries, but on the faith that endured u..

Box office: Hidden Figures holds on to the top spot while six new films fail to find an audience

16/01/2017 0 Comment

A drama about three African-American women who broke racial barriers in the early 1960s held on to the top spot at the box office on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, while half a dozen new wide releases failed to find an audience.
Hidden Figures, which focuses on three black women who worked at NASA in its early days, topped the chart for a second straight week with an estimated $20.5 million between Friday and Sunday — a drop of only 10.3% since last week.
That raises the film’s North Am..

New details about — and a new trailer for — The Shack

14/01/2017 0 Comment

With seven weeks to go before the film comes out, new details about The Shack — and a new trailer for the film — have come online.
First, Publishers Weekly has a profile of The Shack novelist William Paul Young, who notes that a significant change has been made to the story’s main character:
Although Young called the film a “faithful adaptation” to his novel, the author noted a major difference between the main character in the book, Mack, and the character onscreen. “I framed the book within so..

The Story of God: Chosen

12/01/2017 0 Comment

Photo by Ted, Flickr. CC Licensing.
Season two of “The Story of God with Morgan Freeman” debuts Monday, Jan. 16, at 9 p.m. (8 p.m. Central) on the National Geographic Channel. Once again, I’ll be writing about it here each week from a Christian perspective as a preview. The first episode of the season deals with “The Chosen One.”
Given its topic — chosen people in various religions — I initially assumed that this first episode would deal with the central figures of various faiths. Jesus, Mohamm..

Return to “The Story of God” on Jan. 16

10/01/2017 0 Comment

(Photo credit: National Geographic Channels/Matthew Paul Turner)
One of the highlights of last year was writing about National Geographic’s “The Story of God with Morgan Freeman.” Being part of Patheos’ “blogging carnival” was a great writing experience and a chance for me to re-examine my faith. I was deeply challenged by that discussion and, in the end, it made my faith stronger.
National Geographic Channel will debut season two of “The Story of God” on Monday, Jan. 16 at 9 p.m. (8 p.m. Centra..

Box office: Hidden Figures nearly beats Rogue One

09/01/2017 0 Comment

A movie about the space race nearly beat Star Wars at the box office this week.
Hidden Figures, which tells the true story of three African-American women whose mathematical and scientific prowess was key to NASA’s success in the early 1960s, grossed an estimated $21.8 million between Thursday and Sunday nights.
That was nearly tied with Rogue One, which earned $22 million this week — though Hidden Figures could pull ahead when the final figures come out tomorrow.
Hidden Figures went into wide r..

From “Rogue One” to “Empire Strikes Back”: What I watched on my winter vacation

08/01/2017 0 Comment

Don’t let the headline mislead you: this isn’t all about “Star Wars.”
As I write this, I’m coming off a very long vacation. On Dec. 23, I left work for two weeks to enjoy the holidays and recuperate from a very busy fall. I go back to work and school tomorrow and, as providence would have it, it’s also shaping up to be a busy week for this blog. For now, I’m enjoying the last few hours of break. It wasn’t the greatest vacation — quite a few stressors made it a bit hectic — but for the first time..

Silence: Scorsese’s Spiritual Masterpiece

04/01/2017 0 Comment

Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, The Departed, The Wolf of Wall Street, Silence. One of these is not like the others. How could the same director who repeatedly reveled in the high cost of unchecked male rage also deliver the meditative and masterful Silence? Feudal Japan seems so far removed from the Mean Streets of New York City. Catholic priests dispensed wisdom and sacraments in both milieus, but the pace, tone, and body count is so different in the two films. While most Scorsese pictur..

Does the chariot race sequence in Ben-Hur need dialogue?

03/01/2017 0 Comment

There are many problems with Timur Bekmambetov’s remake of Ben-Hur, but one of the more emblematic ones, I think, is the way he insists on adding dialogue to the chariot race. Bekmambetov can’t rely on the thrill of movement alone: instead, he has to pump the soundtrack full of exposition and dull action-movie banter.
How does his film compare to the earlier ones, in this regard?
In the 1925 silent film, you can often see characters’ mouths moving as their chariots fly down the track, but only o..