Directed by: Terrence Malick Portrayals of God in the history of film extend from the disastrous to the blasphemous with a lot of the downright silly in between. From the holier-than-holy glowing backlight behind the head of Jesus in King of Kings (1927) to the...

Directed by: Scott Z. Burns Contagion reflects the values of a prevalent segment of our society: those dominated by the idea that science is the only hope for our salvation. Modernists still thrive, despite the postmodern evidence that for every cure for polio, there...

Directed by: Bennett Miller Billy Beane was a “can’t miss” prospect, who in fact missed badly in his professional baseball career as a player. Haunted by being told over and over that he had the five tools—running, throwing, fielding, hitting, and hitting with...

Directed by: Tate Taylor Race has always been a controversial and deeply divisive topic in the movies. Ever since Birth of a Nation commanded its huge silent screen following until last year’s movie of the popular Kathryn Stockett book, The Help, critics and audiences...

Directed by: Woody Allen The question has been around for centuries: of all the times in human history, when and where would you like to have lived? For Christians the answer is usually in Palestine in the time of Christ, but this movie, looking at the question...

Directed by: Alexander Payne In this year’s presentations of my annual lecture on the Academy Award nominees for best picture entitled “The Movies and America: What the Academy Award Nominees for Best Picture Tell Us About Ourselves”, the most interesting responses...

Directed by: Asghar Farhadi The Islamic Republic of Iran may be as distant politically from the United States as it has ever been, but the movie industry in that country is producing some of the finest films to grace American screens in many a year. Perhaps chief...

Directed by: Stephen Daldry Most of us, I suspect, have faced a situation in which we were too afraid to respond, though we knew we should in some way. When we didn’t, the consequences of our inaction were emotionally devastating. Probably those consequences were not...

Directed by: Michael Hazanavicius If someone had told me before last October that a black and white, silent film would be nominated for Best Picture, much less win the award, I would have laughed in their face. I personally don’t even like silent films that much....

Directed by: Jeff Nichols Take Shelter may have been the best movie to be entirely snubbed in the awards season last year—except that from Austin to Cannes it won 33 awards and was nominated for 17 others. In other words, the only awards that get remembered by anyone...