Category: Culture watch

January 12, 2017

Rogue One: A New Force in the Star Wars Franchise

by Ted Giese With Rogue One: A Star Wars Story director Gareth Edwards goes back to that galaxy far, far away that kids and adults first fell in love with way back in 1977. This new film is another prequel but, unlike the George Lucas’…

Read More

November 28, 2016

Doctor Strange: A dazzling spiritual junk drawer and a jerk

by Ted Giese Doctor Strange introduces the Marvel cinematic universe to magic through Dr. Stephen Strange, an arrogant brain surgeon who becomes” sorcerer supreme.” The general premise of Doctor Strange is summed up by one of the film’s characters, Wong, who observes, “While heroes like…

Read More

September 21, 2016

Ben-Hur: Help! My Chariot is Stuck!

by Ted Giese As expected, Timur Bekmambetov’s 2016 adaptation of Ben-Hur differs from the 1959 William Wyler film starring Charlton Heston. And that begs the question: Is that good or bad? Bekmambetov’s film is about an hour shorter and that alone makes for a different…

Read More

September 12, 2016

Suicide Squad: Dark brooding film in need of salvation

by Ted Giese If the heroes of the DC Extended Universe are flawed characters, then the anti-heroes of the Suicide Squad are damaged losers. They are criminals and killers, deemed unredeemable by society and by heroes like Batman who rounded up most of them for…

Read More

July 19, 2016

Popcorn-Film Faith and Independence Day: Resurgence

by Ted Giese When Independence Day was released twenty years ago it was clear that it was not a very serious movie. Neither is this year’s Independence Day: Resurgence. These are popcorn-summer-blockbuster films. As was the case for the first film, the producers have released…

Read More

July 5, 2016

The Conjuring 2: A scary religion roller coaster

by Ted Giese Horror films are not for everyone and neither are roller coasters. A “good” horror film is like a good roller coaster—it has twists and turns and loops in just the right spots. With The Conjuring 2, Director James Wan has constructed a…

Read More