Life, Afterlife and Rob Bell in Clint Eastwood’s “Hereafter”
At a crucial point in the film “Hereafter” (2010), a reluctant psychic (played by Matt Damon) visits the home of Victorian novelist Charles Dickens in London. On the wall is a famous painting: “Dickens’ Dream,” where the famous writer is pictured asleep, encircled by the spectral figures of the characters he brought to life in his many novels. Although the film does not explicitly make this connection, the scene depicted in “Dickens’ Dream” is precisely the same... Read More
Lent & Rango: It’s About the Desert
It is the liturgical season of Lent, week two. Lent is Latin for “spring,” the season in which life sprouts, blossoms, hatches, emerges forth. The prophet Isaiah proclaims, The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing. -Isaiah 35:1-2 Ash Wednesday marks a threshold when Christians leave ordinary time to enter into the journey of Lent through the desert. The... Read More
The Ecstasy of the Black Swan: Eroticism & Transformation
In 1991, the Academy Award for Best Picture went to the disturbing psycho thriller, The Silence of the Lambs. Movie-goers were left wondering what meaning lies behind awarding such an horrific, grotesque, and arguably evil tale about serial killers with cinema’s highest honor, the Oscar. In the volleying commentary between art and culture, what does it mean that cannibalism is featured in the year’s Best Picture? The Oscar nominees for 2011 were recently made public by the... Read More
Loneliness, King Midas and The Social Network
“The Social Network” was one of the big winners at the Golden Globes on Sunday, picking up Best Picture, Best Director (for David Fincher, best known for his notably darker films “Se7en” and “Fight Club”) and even Best Score for the moody electronic soundscape conjured up by Trent Reznor (aka Nine Inch Nails). It is a powerful film, about much more than the back-room dealings that gave rise to the monolithic Facebook phenomenon; in this postmodern... Read More
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