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Lent 2: Christ the Hen
When I was a kid in the early 1970s, Saturday night meant watching my favorite TV show, Emergency! I loved that show about two brave paramedics from Squad 51 of the Los Angeles Fire Department. When Johnny and Roy were in danger, my pulse raced. Thanks to my father, who was a real-life volunteer fireman…
Matthew 16:21-28
Proper 17A
How quickly being a “rock” can make you a stumbling block. Peter learns the very hard lesson that some of us also need to hear: just because someone tells you that you’re their rock doesn’t mean you get to tell them what to do with their life. Granted, last week Jesus didn’t mean that Peter…
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Written and directed by Steven Spielberg. Starring Richard Dreyfuss and Francois Truffaut. PG; 137 mins. Rotten Tomatoes 100% (40th Anniversary Edition); Metacritic 90%. What to make of power and splendor, especially of the sort that elicits awe and a powerful devotional attraction? There is hardly a harder question,…
Places in the Heart (1984) – 1
Places in the Heart (1984). Written and directed by Robert Benton (Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay). Starring Sally Field (Academy Award for Best Actress). John Malkovich, and Danny Glover. PG, 111 min. The opening to writer-director Robert Benton’s Places in the Heart is a set up, to be sure, but a most telling and…
The Thin Red Line (1998) – 5
The Thin Red Line (1998). Written and directed Terrence Malick. Starring James Caviezel, Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, and Elias Koteas. 170 mins; rated R. Metacritic: 78%; Rotten Tomatoes: 79%. Films have not historically done much with death. By this, I mean real actual dying. In general movies have greatly prettified the usually stark and often…
Three Colors: Blue (1993)
Three Colors: Blue (1993). Written by Krzysztof Kieslowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz. Directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski. Music by Zbigniew Preisner. Starring Juliette Binoche, Florence Pernel, and Charlotte Véry. 98 mins. Rating: R. Rotten Tomatoes: 98%; Metacritic: 85%. Suddenly, she’s a widow and also childless. Just about all the bad that can happen to someone falls upon…
John Adams (2008)
John Adams (2008). HBO Mini-series. Episode VII: “Peacefield.” Directed by Tom Hooper. Starring Laura Linney and Paul Giamatti. 71 mins. Rated TV-14. Sometimes preaching choices are easy. In this instance, skip the sermon to play the following three times. Or maybe four. Old John Adams (Paul Giamatti) is pushing 90. Despite his distinguished career from…
Séraphine (2008)
Séraphine (2008). Written by Marc Abdelnour and Martin Provost. Directed by Martin Provost. Starring Yolande Moreau and Ulich Tukur. 125 mins. Unrated. Rotten Tomatoes 89%; Metacritic 84%. She certainly seems not to be the sort from whom one would expect religious wisdom of any sort, and that is true enough, at least at first glimpse. In…
Grand Canyon (1991) – 2
Grand Canyon (1991). Directed by Lawrence Kasdan. Co-written by Meg Kasdan and Lawrence Kasdan. Starring Kevin Kline, Danny Glover, Steve Martin, Mary McDonnell, Alfre Woodard, and Mary Louise Parker. Rated R; 134 minutes. So when do we know it’s the real “real thing”? If we can know that for sure, that is. That, to be…
Grand Canyon (1991) – 1
Grand Canyon (1991). Directed by Lawrence Kasdan. Co-written by Meg Kasdan and Lawrence Kasdan. Starring Kevin Kline, Danny Glover, Steve Martin, Mary McDonnell, Alfre Woodard, and Mary Louise Parker. Rated R; 134 minutes. Grand Canyon (1991) is one of those films that every clergy and parishioner, and everyone else too, for that matter, ought to…
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