Category: Culture watch

November 21, 2017

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…

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November 9, 2017

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…

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September 29, 2017

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…

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September 19, 2017

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…

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August 19, 2017

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…

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July 5, 2017

Alien: Covenant—Exploring creation and creators

by Ted Giese Alien: Covenant is the sequel to 2012’s Prometheus. Both films, directed by Ridley Scott, are prequels of Scott’s original film Alien, an outer space horror film with the catchy tagline, “In space no one can hear you scream.” The premise of the…

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