Happy Valley: The Delusion of Penn State’s Paradise, Lost
A native citizen of “Happy Valley” wrestles with the mythos of the land and the meaning of a scandal.
The Moviegoer: Egoistic Young Adults, Noah, and Other Link-worthy News
“Instead of a review this week, I thought I’d pass along some interesting movie-related links.”
The Moviegoer: Buck (Meehl, 2011)
A powerful documentary that shows how even inhumane circumstances can be redeemed into something beautiful, creative, and compassionate.
The Moviegoer: The Ides of March (Clooney, 2011)
“Its portrayal is unconcerned with how we wish the political sphere functioned; instead, this film looks unflinchingly at the way things are.”
The Moviegoer: 50/50 (Levine, 2011)
“[D]ark circumstances are sometimes necessary to reveal the hidden darkness in our hearts.”
The Moviegoer: “Looking Closer”
“Like Robinson and Malick, Overstreet has taught me to sharpen my optical lenses by the light of God’s Trinitarian revelation of Himself…”
The Moviegoer: “Moneyball” and the Art of Reinvention
“Moneyball reminds us that reinventing one’s self is less a mathematical formula than an art form—more about creating a life constituted by beautiful purposes, and less about bottom-line winners and losers.”
The Moviegoer: A History of Driving
“Drive is…primarily…style over substance. And, yet, it is by virtue of its style that the film is more character-driven than are the standard-fare action flicks.”
The Moviegoer: “Contagion” and the Horror of Purposelessness
“This is the horror of epidemic disasters: their seeming purposelessness. There is no apparent enemy to blame. Victims are claimed with no rhyme or reason. Truly, this kind of deathly indifference is horror personified.”
The Moviegoer: “The Debt,” 9/11, and the Ethics of Recompense
“When we demand that the enemy pays, where is the line between justice and vengeance?”
The Suicide of Character in Mad Men
Mad Men is a character driven show about the death of character.
The Moviegoer: Aliens and Recognizing the Human “Other” in Attack the Block
Attack the Block is a breath of comedic fresh air, because of its interesting premise.
The Moviegoer: What was the Context?
“Our embodied lives dictate that we cannot understand moral questions apart from narrative context.”
The Moviegoer: Rise of the (inhuman) Humane Society
“…the film backs off of the franchise’s usual redemptive possibilities in depicting humans who act like animals, and animals who act like inhumane humans.”
The Moviegoer: How Captain America Does Patriotism Right
“Captain America avoids straw-man enemies, nationalism, and celebration of independent self-reliance.”
The Moviegoer: The Rest of the Year
With the summer movie season coming to a close, and Oscar season just around the corner, it is time to preview some of the movies that will highlight the rest of 2011:
