Category: Culture watch
The Star: Surprising family fare from Hollywood
by Ted Giese The Star (2017) is a lighthearted kind animated family film from Affirm Films, a subsidiary of Sony Pictures. Set during the nine months leading up to the birth of Christ, The Star tells the story of a young donkey and a little…
Thor: Ragnarok — Chuckling at the Apocalypse
by Ted Giese With Thor: Ragnarok, the third film in the Thor franchise within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the series receives a Guardians of the Galaxy-style makeover with comedy director Taika Waititi at the helm. As a result this new film feels dramatically different compared…
Blade Runner 2049: Souls searching for a miracle
by Ted Giese With Blade Runner 2049, Canadian director Denis Villeneuve provides an admirable sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi masterpiece Blade Runner. Set 30 years after the first film, the dystopian future Villeneuve presents is grimmer and bleaker. Advances in technology, collapses in the…
It: Of Fear and Faith
by Ted Giese Every 27 years the town of Derry, Maine undergoes a series of tragedies often involving children. Lurking beneath the tragedies is a malevolent force, an evil entity feeding off the fear of its victims, stalking the weak and defenceless, hunting the put-upon…
Leader’s Guide for Luther Movie Showings
ONLINE – As congregations prepare for observances of the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in October, some will likely be planning to watch a film adaption of Luther’s life. Many such congregations will turn to the 2003 film Luther starring Joseph Fiennes. Lutheran Church–Canada is…
In Review: Dunkirk
by Ted Giese Writer/director Christopher Nolan has done for the WWII evacuation of Dunkerque, France (code-named Operation Dynamo) what Steven Spielberg did for the Allied D-Day amphibious landing in Normandy, France (codenamed Operation Neptune). But where Spielberg’s 1989 film Saving Private Ryan left the French…