Christmas E-Card 2005

Peace on earth—please, at least for this month!

Our Latest Reviews

Greg on End of the Spear: "Some movies, in spite of their big budgets, deep pockets and all-star casts, can leave us as cold as Saturday-morning pancakes on Sunday night. The Phantom Menace or Troy come to mind. Other movies rise above their tiny budgets, technical flaws and no-name casts. End of the Spear is one of these."

Jenn on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: "Lovers of C. S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia can breathe a collective sigh of relief—perhaps, even, a sigh of wonder and enchantment... Yet the movie’s rather strict adherence to the book seems to be both an asset and a liability..."

Greg on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe: "The film is no more likely to be universally hailed as 'great cinema' than the book has been universally praised as 'great literature.' Take that as you will."

Jenn on Hallmark Channel's C. S. Lewis: Beyond Narnia: "While docudramas are frequently vague on the 'docu' and heavy on the 'drama,' Beyond Narnia reveals the character of a real man—one whom we might wish to know better..."

Jenn on Just Friends: "Through a rapid-fire onslaught of lewd sexuality, raunchy language, and Home Alone-style pratfalls and pranks, Just Friends begs us more to relive the pains and horrors of our collective adolescence than grow into some semblance of mature, if a little tattered, adulthood."

Greg on Yours, Mine & Ours: "Yours, Mine & Ours is, of course, only the latest in a spate of family-movie remakes. And like the EW reviewer, we can carp about Paramount’s lack of originality; or we can be grateful that kids today can relive some of the fun that we enjoyed when we were younger—in the theatre, not at home watching decades-old movies on DVD."

Greg's interview with Michael Flaherty: "Michael Flaherty is the president of a movie studio that manages budgets in excess of $100 million. He’s also a Christian. If you think that this might make him the target of a lot of suspicion, you’d be right. Any time big money and religion get mixed, B.S. radars start working overtime. Mine included, alas!"

Greg's interview with Norman Stone: "Part of the reason that Stone’s docudrama [C. S. Lewis: Beyond Narnia] succeeds is his recognition that Lewis was perhaps the epitome of a Christian man who saw the need to be 'the salt of the earth, not the sugar of the church.' Stone will have no part of historic revisionism that paints Lewis as some whitewashed saint or merely churchy academic. Anyone looking for 'sunshine and roses' in this production, says the director, should be sorely disappointed."

More Press Clippings

Jenn did an extensive interview with the Arizona Republic, during which the reporter, who was really unfamiliar with Hollywood Jesus and what it's about, was fishing for dirt regarding the role that Christian publicists are playing the Hollywood power game. Naturally, he wasn't able to manipulare Jenn into saying anything to fuel the "culture war." Jenn's qoutes did end up running right alongside those of Barbara Nicolosi, one of the most influential Christian voices in Hollywood. The column was picked up by numerous other papers.

Greg, meanwhile, also had a long talk with AP reporter Colleen Slevin, whose syndicated column ran all over the country—including the King County Journal and the Seattle P-I. Greg also did a telephone radio interview with the Swedish Broadcasting Corp. the day before the Narnia movie was released.

Christopher Suleske, writing at OpinionEditorials.com, credited Greg's interview with Walden Media president Michael Flaherty with prompting some encouraging thoughts regarding the culture-faith dynamic in America.

Finally, our first review for Two Roads Through Narnia was published by Christian Activities, calling the book "both an enjoyable read and an informative one. If you are a newcomer to Narnia or a hardcore fan, you will want to add this to your Narnia library."