David Fincher — Every Frame a Painting

David Fincher — Every Frame a Painting

I have seen relatively few things that David Fincher has done, but what I have seen I have enjoyed immensely. This video explores some of the reasons why Fincher is such a good director. I do think it’s interesting that in a time when directors and filmmakers are running away from tried and true techniques and story telling craft to be more novel, bring more “gritty realism” to their cinematography, and generally throwing away the rules, Fincher is honing the craft in a tried and true way and people are loving it. Look at House of Cards. Whatever you think of the material or the story, it is…

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“Christian Art” Needs to Be Left Behind

“Christian Art” Needs to Be Left Behind
Michael Minkoff — Renew the Arts

And perhaps part of the problem is that such a thing as “Christian art” exists. There is no such thing as Christian art. It’s a convenient label with disastrous consequences. There are Christian artists, in the sense that there are Christians called to the arts, but the art that they make should not be constrained by some external, superficial idea of what “Christian art” should sound or look like.

Michael Minkoff is one of the hosts on the (sporadic… please don’t complain to me, I’d love for them to do more podcasts and have told them so) podcast, Movieology. I know I’ve been talking…

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Christianity Today Reviews ‘Left Behind’

Christianity Today Reviews ‘Left Behind’
Jackson Cuidon — Christianity Today

What’s a bad thing is that Hollywood producers now know that American Christians feel that way about their faith—that Christians so desperately want to participate in the mainstream, that they’re tired of having sanctioned music that’s like other music and movies like other movies and politicians like other politicians but always still being on the outside, that Christians just want to feel identified without having to carve out little alcoves or niche markets that exist alongside the Big Boys. And, now that they know it—that is, now that they know they can make back 5x their initial…

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Adam Sandler Reaches Four Picture Deal with Netflix

Adam Sandler Reaches Four Picture Deal with Netflix
Rodrigo Perez — The Playlist

…this evening the streaming video company announced another bold move with with respect to original movie programming: a four-picture deal with Adam Sandler. Sandler will star and produce four untitled movies for Netflix exclusively.

“People love Adam’s films on Netflix and often watch them again and again. His appeal spans across viewers of all ages —everybody has a favorite movie, everyone has a favorite line— not just in the U.S. but all over the world,” Netflix Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos said in a press release.

In general I’m all in favor of Netflix disrupting the…

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Why I Want to Be Left Behind

Why I Want to Be Left Behind
Joshua Ryan Butler — The Christian Post

The rapture is new to the Christian scene. It arose in the late 1800’s, when Margaret MacDonald, a fifteen-year-old Scottish girl, claimed to have it revealed to her in a vision. Her vision was then picked up and popularized by the famous British preacher J.N. Darby, during his extensive travels in America.

All love to the high school prom queen and traveling street preacher, but this is a suspiciously short track record for nearly 2000 years of Christian theology.

You must go read all of this right now. And please, whatever you do, do not give money to this monstrosity of a film known by…

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‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’ Trailer 2

‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’ Trailer 2

While I prepare myself for nothing but the deepest disappointment from this film, I cannot help but to be quite excited by this trailer. Some Christians are going to scoff and point fingers at this point, but I think it’s too early for that. For instance I can see that some will say that Moses is delivering God’s word to Pharaoh in quite an arrogant and unbecoming way and having conversations with him that are not recorded in the Bible. Well, that’s true, but I don’t think we should deny the fact that there may have been (and most certainly were) events that transpired that are not recorded…

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“Quote from Satan” on Latest ‘Left Behind’ Poster

“Quote from Satan” on Latest ‘Left Behind’ Poster
Jonathon Dornbush — Entertainment Weekly

From what’s been revealed thus far, Left Behind appears to have two key qualities of a classic Nicolas Cage film: All the dialogue is either whispered or screamed, and everything in the movie is on fire. But in case that wasn’t enough to attract audiences, the film’s promotional campaign has enlisted the help of the prince of evil whose entire world is on fire — Satan.

Opening this Friday, Oct. 3, Left Behind tells the story of the biblical Rapture, in which millions of people have disappeared. Remaining groups of survivors attempt to recover from the ensuing chaos, including a pilot played…

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‘Interstellar’ Is Christopher Nolan’s Longest Runtime Yet

‘Interstellar’ Is Christopher Nolan’s Longest Runtime Yet
Kevin Jagernauth — The Playlist

This fall, prepare to get your mind blown, eyes dazzled and….bladder tested. “Interstellar” is coming, and the buzz is getting louder and louder, with each new detail being scrutinized… and here’s another!

The runtime has been revealed for Christopher Nolan‘s latest film, and it’s his longest yet: “Interstellar” will run 2 hours and 49 minutes. That said, it’s only five minutes longer than “The Dark Knight Rises,” and the filmmaker knows how to keep things moving, so you likely won’t be looking at your watch.

Honestly, this worries me. It is very rare that I feel a film over about 2:15…

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William Shatner All But Confirmed for next ‘Star Trek’ Film

William Shatner All But Confirmed for next ‘Star Trek’ Film

Anthony Pascale over at TrekMovie.com (this is the part where I pat myself on the back and call Anthony a friend of the site and say he’s been on The MovieByte Podcast more than once, because, you know, REASONS!) has been reporting on some news and basically what amounts to confirmation from William Shatner himself that at least at this early stage it looks like Shatner will be in the film presumably playing Captain Kirk in some form or fashion.

TrekMovie.com:

Today at his panel at Nashville Wizard World Comic Con, William Shatner talked about the recent rumor about a role for him in the…

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‘Predestination’ Trailer

‘Predestination’ Trailer

Ethan Hawke is a temporal agent — or at least he’s playing one in the trailer for the upcoming Predestination.

I do not believe time travel is actually possible — or if it is, it will most certainly not work the way it does in the movies (I mean really, a Delorean?). That said, I’m a pretty notorious nut for sci-fi, and time travel can make for some great sci-fi. And this certainly looks like great stuff. It’s an interesting take in that it has sort of a film noir look to it, but it’s a time travel film. There’s also the idea that I’m sure appeals to all of us on some level, and that is, if…

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