essays
I write on many different topics: Eastern Orthodox Christianity, movie reviews, Christian life, the culture, and more. If you’d like to sort my essays by category, click here .
Entries from February 1, 2005 - March 1, 2005
Because of Winn-Dixie
Posted Saturday, February 12, 2005 in Movie Reviews
[National Review Online, February 18, 2004]
A cute little girl with no mommy, a shaggy dog with no home, a preacher-daddy, and a sleepy southern town peopled with adorable eccentrics - who could ask for anything more?
Those who are moved to beg for much, much less will want to steer clear of "Because of Winn-Dixie," a film based on the beloved children's novel by the same title, authored by Newberry Award winner Kate DiCamillo. Yet the film has surprising charm, and yields some unexpected insights. While the prime audience will always be kids and their tag-along grownups (an audience that will find this film more than satisfying), the occasional grumpy outsider who wanders in will also find plenty to enjoy.
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Unfashionable Adultery
Posted Thursday, February 3, 2005 in Marriage and Family
[Washington Examiner, February 1, 2005]
Feeling nostalgic for the good old days, when popular entertainment was full of good old-fashioned values? No nudity, teen sex, or potty jokes. Instead, there was lots of adultery.
That's not the usual take on our cultural history. Instead, commentators keep insisting that popular entertainment used to be pure, and now it's garbage.
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Million Dollar Baby
Posted Wednesday, February 2, 2005 in Movie Reviews
[National Review Online, January 31, 2005]
Clint Eastwood's "Million Dollar Baby" has won a basketful of Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. If they gave one for Best Kept Secret, it might win that as well. There's a twist in the plot of "Million Dollar Baby." It's not a whiplash turn, like that "Sixth Sense" or "The Usual Suspects." It's more of an unexpected plot morph that turns it from one kind of movie into another.
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What to Say at a Naked Party
Posted Wednesday, February 2, 2005 in Christian Life, Marriage and Family, Gender
[Christianity Today, February 2005]
Anyone who's been on a college campus lately will confirm the depressing report delivered by Vigen Guroian in his essay [about sex on campus]. As someone who does a lot of campus speaking, I've seen my fair share of posters announcing sex-toy workshops, transgender celebrations, and, on one Ivy League campus, an open invitation to a "naked party." What's a naked party? Anybody who wants can attend, but you have to take off all your clothes to stay.
It makes you want to weep for the children, for girls in particular, who deserve to be protected from this carnival of leering and molestation.
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