We are fast approaching the one year anniversary of Hurricane Helene - a rogue Hurricane that decided to come hundreds of miles inland and strike havoc on the mountains of Western North Carolina and the surrounding area.  The mountains served like enormous funnels pressing the soaking rain waters downward into already swollen streams.  The shallow soil gave way to horrific mud slides.  The tree roots weakened by the water, toppled easily as hurricane strength winds blew endlessly across the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Left in its wake:  Destroyed homes, flooded businesses, utilities compromised, cell towers toppled, and death.  The once beautiful sounds of nature - wind blowing though the leaves, the songs of birds, the calling of animals…even the tepid torrent of tourist blather…all silenced.  Many people fled the area while others were stuck due to road closures and collapses.  Local businesses closed and people were left trying to figure out h...

Every so often you come across a film that is different.  You are not really sure what or how to label it.  It is  more than a drama, walks deeply into the waters of personal value or worth, and dares to traverse the divide between the secular and the Christian world.  Is it a Christian movie?  If so, can it exist under the banner of an “R” rating?  And can a Christian film really portray the depth and darkness of the sin that encompasses the individual caught in the chaos of life while arriving at a moment of personal salvation devoid of a “field scene” with outstretched arms towards a cross in the clouds? So what is this film considered?  Recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with Benjamin Koppin and Courtney Bandeko, the director and lead actress for the movie Pastor’s Kid (to be released March 15, 2024).  How would they describe this movie they just created?  Well, Ben used the descriptive title, “Arthouse Christian Film.”  Thi...

    Sometimes in order to gain perspective you have to step back.   Maybe you have to step way back.   I used to have an engineer friend who called it the “30,000 Foot View” - when looking down from on high you can see the whole picture - and, in a very real way, when we have left our high school days in the past we need the gift of time to gain perspective on who, how, and why those people and events were important in helping us become who we are.   In the new movie, Shooting Stars , released on Peacock/NBC, LeBron James does exactly that!  Co-authored with Buzz Bissinger and brought to the big screen by director Chris Robinson, LeBron James gives to us a glimpse of his perspective of his life as he looks back on his days as a baller growing up in Akron, Ohio.  A child being raised by a single mother, LeBron found friendship, family, and community with three inseparable friends:  Lil Dru, Sian, and Willie.  The four together would go on to ...

  We have never been more "connected" as people than we are right now - digital communication has changed the entire landscape of the world.  Not too long ago, I read that more than 50% of the world is "connected" by way of cell phone/smart phone.  This means we have access to the internet and that serves as a gateway to the world - and people - and individuals...whether we want to be or not!  With that thought in mind, I stumbled across the movie Like Father  starring Kristen Bell and Kelsey  Grammer.  The premise of the movie is very real - an estranged Father follows his daughter from afar by way of the internet and discovers she is getting married.  He shows up to the wedding, hiding among the faces of those gathered, only to see his daughter left at the altar by the groom because she is too engrossed in her work and cannot electronically detach from her job (the groom looses it when her cell phone falls out of her bridal bouque...

 How do you define “blockbuster?”  I suspect that in Hollywood the simple answer is determined by the box office - how much money did the movie make?  In the case of Top Gun Maverick there are $1.493 Billion reasons to consider it a blockbuster.  This long awaited sequel (35 years) that endured release delays (thanks to Covid) finally made it the big screen on May 27, 2022 and it did not disappoint.  It is everything we have grown to know and love about movies - big stars, excellent cinematography, an easy story to follow, and in some quirky way…relatable.  That’s right, relatable.  I suspect most of you reading this have not been a naval fighter jet aviator who had the privilege of participating in the Top Gun school.   Burt maybe you have found yourself coming up against the curb of expectations, rules and regulations, not to mention societal and familial norms that may have rubbed you the wrong way. And when you consider all of this you find a ...

  Every so often I have the good fortune of being asked to preview a movie for a Hollywood Studio - call it a perk of having a weekly podcast called “Christ, Culture, and Cinema.”  The Hollywood studios don’t typically come knocking on my door for the next horror movie or thriller…but, when it brushes up against the Christian faith, they must figure a podcast that starts with the word “Christ” might have something to say about the movie.  Now to be honest, my partner Michael Popp and I are typically open to every genre of movie and usually avoid the Christian themed movies - maybe we don’t want to be accused of picking “low hanging fruit” for our podcast.  But when asked to watch a movie in advance, Michael and I are all in!  Well, maybe Michael and I need to start paying more attention to movies like Praise This .   Set in the backdrop of Atlanta and the large non-denominational African American churches - as well as the hip hop and rap music scene, this m...

  There are moments in life when all of the puzzle pieces come together and you have a complete picture.  At that moment everything makes sense - you understand why certain things happened the way they did and the reason why certain people were involved.  The problem is that most of the time we don’t really see the big picture.  Call it what you will - we are wearing the “lenses of the moment.”  We tend to only see what is going on right in front of us - through our unique and specific lenses.  We are not acutely attuned to the happenings and circumstances of others that may be sitting in the seat across from us on a plane or train, living in the house next door, or working at the desk across the sea of cubicles in our office.  We see what we see because that is what we are experiencing.  We fail to realize that what others are doing and experiencing may have a critical intersection point with our own life.   Enter the movie Bullet Train (dir...

  Life is messy - not a little messy - it’s very messy.  Families aren’t all they are supposed to be.  Parents let down their children; children fail their parents.  Hopeful and bright futures can become clouded and darkened by poor choices and ever-changing circumstances.  What we expect is not necessarily what we get in the end.  And then to compound matters the unreasonable expectations and beatific images that those around us expect cause us to be crushed under the weight of unrealistic expectations.   Maybe this is why the movie Father Stu resonated so much with me.  His life is messy - divorced parents, a mother who is co-dependent with her son, a father who is an absentee hardened alcoholic; a family trying to cope with the loss of a child in every inappropriate way possible.  Everyone seemingly is on their own left to their own devices to cope and manage their way through life.  Stuart Long (played by Mark Wahlberg) is at b...

  Let’s face it - life isn’t easy.  In fact, it can be downright hard.  Health, education, work, family - not to mention making ends meet and navigating the waters of the community and culture that we find ourselves.  Add in the layers of politics, crime, and environmental challenges and all of a sudden we are exhausted.  For many the Covid-19 pandemic also caused withdrawal and isolation from other people - so much so that they now are challenged to simply reconnect with co-workers, family, and friends who they once depended upon to do life together.   So, what if you experienced something so traumatic that it caused you to withdraw completely from your community?  Something that caused you to flee from everyone and everything?  To loose trust in the moral and social constructs that held your world together?  This is the story of Batman Begins, starring Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne.  His parents murdered in front of him, this lone chil...

Life is filled with highs and lows, up and downs, good moments and challenging decisions.  As hard as we might try, staying in the lane of righteous and “holy” living is much easier said than done.  Within my Lutheran ethos we take confess and absolution seriously - it is hard for us to imagine a worship service without some form of corporate confession and absolution.  We use words like:  “I, a poor, miserable sinner…” and “we confess that we are sinful and unclean…”. We use these words because we have taken the time to examine our lives through the God’s holy and righteous Law, as expressed in the Ten Commandments and further explained through Luther’s Small Catechism.  We confess sins that we know we have done as well as those unknown to us but clearly known by our Lord who knows all, sees all…and is willing to forgive all.   Our Roman Catholic brethren are of like mind when it comes to the priority of confession - so much so that the “private” confessio...

What binds people together in friendship?   Is it common interests, education, or shared love of local sport teams?   Is it simple proximity to one another in a neighborhood or shared experiences in school?   I really want you to think long and hard about that question.   Is the friendship a consequence of mutual goals working together to achieve those goals?   I am sure that if you looked across the spectrum of your life you would discover people you considered “friends” that drifted in - and out - of your life.   There are some that have been there through thick and thin while others drifted away - so much so that one day you realized…they are gone.   So what happens when a movie challenges the notion of why you call somebody “friend” - you end up with a murder mystery called The Glass Onion:  A Knives Out Mystery.  A group of friends are summoned by a clue box to attend a murder mystery dinner on a private island owned by - you guessed i...

 The relationships of parents and children can be a complicated affair - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, fathers and daughters, mothers and sons.  In the midst of a family, confined to the walls of a home, you would think that communication would be a fairly easy endeavor.  And yet, we all know it is quite contrary.  In fact, these critical relationships are often thrashed by what we do not say - and by not communicating what we really feel.  Maybe this is why pets are so critical in the life of a family.  A family dog is often that one soul who loves you simply because you are you .   Today Netflix released a movie that takes a very deep dive into the world of under-communicated family relationships in the movie Dog Gone .  Based on a true story, a young college graduate - Fielding - is lost on the trail of life.  He feels pity from his friends and disappointment from his parents.  His only unconditional love and solace is fou...

    New Year’s Eve is a time to gather, reflect, celebrate, and look towards the future.   When I reflect I think back to a simpler time - growing up in Spotswood, New Jersey.   My parents would invite friends over on New Year’s Eve - lots of food, beverages, and laughter.   As the night would draw on the kids (myself included) would retreat to the family room to watch the movie:   It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World .   The movie had a large ensemble cast of famous actors and actresses of the day.   The premise?   A group of motorists witness a car crash in the California desert.   They all hear the dying man’s words about a stash of hidden money.   The motorists turn against each other in a race across the state to find it first.   What makes the movie so funny is how each person turns against the others.   It’s all about the individual…it’s all about greed.   Each character likable and lovable.   But each charact...

 After much pushing and prodding by my associate Michael, I finally gave in and said we could do a podcast on the movie, The Polar Express.  Maybe the tipping point was when he presented to me a plea from a former member who now lives closer to the North Pole - somewhere in the wilderness of Alaska - than any other person I know.  I have to admit that the the process used to create the movie is intriguing; however, it’s also a little creepy.  The film features human characters animated using live-action and motion capture CGI animation.  This allows one actor - in this case, Tom Hanks - to play several characters in the story.  And to put it simply, that’s just weird.  Based on a beloved children’s book, I was willing to forge through the “creep-factor” of the movie too see what could be gleaned.   In watching this movie my heart was warmed and my theological barometer activated.  The story is fairly simple:  A boy is beginning to falter...

 Every Christmas season on my podcast, my associate Michael and I consider a movie that may - or may not - be a Christmas movie.  We considered Die Hard and came to the conclusion that it IS a Christmas movie.  Next, we considered Lethal Weapon.  When you have a car chase through a Christmas Tree lot it has to be a Christmas movie!  Which brings us to our movie of choice this year:  Batman Returns.  This 1992 superhero movie has the backdrop of Christmas in Gotham City - decorations, Christmas trees, and even snow for good measure.  Surely this MUST be a Christmas movie…but alas, after a thorough consideration of this film, we can only conclude that it has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas.  BUT…that isn’t to say this movie doesn’t have an important message for you and me to consider. The director, Tim Burton, has a habit of making movies that challenges the viewer to consider with softer and gentler lenses the odd, the misfit, the frea...

 So how is your December going?  Has your schedule filled up, your bank account and credit cards been challenged, decorations out and tree decorated?  Are your presents purchased and wrapped and Christmas cards mailed?  Just thinking about the answers to these questions make my heart race a little faster and my head start to hurt!  The vision of the prefect Christmas preparations and celebrations looms large in the American lenses of holiday cheer.  And why not - it is attainable if we work hard enough to make it so!   However, there is a warning beacon flashing in our faces every December.  Well, maybe not a beacon but a character…and not just any character - it’s none other than Chevy Chase reprising his role as the fumbling and bumbling father, Clark Griswold.  National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is filled with stunts and bumps, excessive home decor and a burning Christmas Tree, family and neighbors, and even an RV illegally parked out i...

 I started this journey in October 2019 and it began rather harmlessly.  I went to the theater to see the movie Joker starring JoaquinPhoenix.  But something happened during that movie experience.  I saw something different than most of the people sitting in the theater that night.  Most, I suspect, saw a villainous DC comic book movie.  I, on the other hand, saw an indictment on the mental health system.  The movie caused me to have an emotional response to the character, the situation he found himself in, and alas, the violence that poured out.  I processed my feelings and put fingers to keyboard and wrote a Facebook post.  A post that would be shared, and shared, and…well, shared again.  My suspicion was that people wanted to “see” what I “saw.”  People wanted to experience what I experienced in the theater. Fast forward three years, my associate (and friend) Michael and I have been doing a weekly podcast, called “Christ, Culture...

Have you ever stopped to consider who you really are?  When nobody else is looking - when friends and family are not present, who are you?  What guides your thoughts, actions, and decisions?  What influences have impacted your life to make you the person that stares back at you in the mirror.  Some of those influences and events may have caused you to react while other moments caressed and molded your thinking and doing.  Some of these things are stinging and hurtful while others are gentle and deepen our understanding of who we really are and what we aspire to be.  On November 23 Sony Pictures is set to release the movie Devotion which is set against the backdrop of 1950 America, the Cold War, and the beginning of the Korean Conflict.  The movie focuses on the story of Jesse Brown (played by Jonathan Majors), the United States Navy’s first African-American aviator to complete the basic flight training program and recipient of the Distinguished Fly...

 Friends, co-workers, relatives, and acquaintances - some of the many relationships we have along life’s journey. Some of these people are genuine, authentic, and sincere.  And others…well, others are not.  Some of these people will use, abuse, and drain every bit of energy out of you - and then discard you to the curb like yesterday’s trash.  Maybe this is why it so difficult to trust and develop life-long friendships and relationships.  And to make matters even more complicated, there are times in life that we make such friendships but, in the process, we become blind to the shady behaviors those people actually exhibit to everyone else around them.   Enter the 2016 film War Dogs - a true story based on the opportunistic childhood friendship of Efraim Diveroli and David Packouz.  Efraim is an opportunist at best and a back-stabbing liar at worst.  Efraim has figured out a way to garner government contracts for small arms and ammunition that the ...