M. Leary

Pasolini and St. Paul

Mubi has posted an excerpt from a translation of an unfilmed Pasolini script recently published by Verso Books. (Which, of great note, has a preface from Badiou and an introduction by Ward Blanton of all people. Blanton does a lot of interesting interdisciplinary work on NT Studies and continental philosophy.) Verso says in their blurb for the […]

M. Leary

Nothing Bad Can Happen (Gebbe, 2013)

    Katrin Gebbe’s first feature, Nothing Bad Can Happen, quite impressively made it all the way to Cannes in 2013. It is a hard enough film to watch that it met with mixed reception. From reviews I have scanned (so, consider this unscientific), most are repelled by the film because it does all kinds […]

M. Leary

Rectify (Season 2, Ep. 2) The Evangelical Female in Her TV Habitat

  In the first season of Rectify, Daniel Holden was released from death row to a town with differing opinions regarding his innocence. One of the more unexpected responses to this conundrum was that of his devout sister-in-law, Tawney. We could quickly count appearances of the “bible study girl” in network television or date night cinema, […]

M. Leary

Mad Men (Season 7, Ep. 6) – Psalms For a Burger Chef Era

(Prior thoughts on Mad Men can be found here.) There are a few moments in which Mad Men has deposited a great deal of existential crisis on the shoulders of a biblical reference, the fleeting Eucharistic reference in “The Strategy” a good example. Mad Men is an exercise in an invigorating form of historiography that […]

M. Leary

Light Shining in a Dark Place (Sellars, ed. 2012)

I missed this post over at Pop Theology about a book to which I contributed last year, edited by Jeff Sellars (Light Shining in a Dark Place). I wrote a chapter called “Recalling Jesus: Form, Theory, and Trauma in Jesus Cinema.” Which the post summarizes well: He argues, quite rightly, “Excepting discussion of films like The Passion […]

M. Leary

To The Wonder (Malick, 2013)

Curator Magazine posted my review of To The Wonder last week. It was a delight to write for them. But more could have been said about the O’Keefe orchid and succulent shots, the shot focus on the mirror image of the unicorn in one of the medieval “Lady and the Unicorn” tapestries, the Lorica of St. Patrick, […]

M. Leary

On the Fear Of Missing Out

Daily Beast has a recent piece on FOMO, which translates to the: Fear Of Missing Out. After providing a few case studies on this condition that apparently plagues Millenials, the author claims: “FOMO is our generation’s cross to bear.” A few responses immediately sprung to mind: 1. I can accept the idea that FOMO is a characteristic […]

M. Leary

Criticism and the Common Good

There is an interesting discussion on Andy Crouch’s recent essay about the “common good” brewing in the comments section of Alan Jacob’s response. I tentatively agree with a few of the points made in the back and forth that can be found at those two links. What I do find fundamentally constructive about Crouch’s overall theological […]

M. Leary

The "Historical Pa" (Little House on the Prairie, Controlling Love, Etc…)

So apparently, it may be the case that David Gordon Green is switching gears again with a Little House on the Prairie film. I am on board with this, most probably because I am an ardent fan of the original TV version. Here is why: 1. The first season aired in 1974, the same year as Woman Under […]