1% on Rotten Tomatoes, 1%! The new Netflix docu-drama “Queen Cleopatra” starring black actress Adele James, is not being received well, and according to Rotten Tomatoes reviews, it is being summarily rejected by 99% of the people who have watched it. In case you are wondering, that is not considered a good score. But not to worry, instead of listening…
I am reading a book that has me spellbound: “Anything You Can Imagine: Peter Jackson and the Making of Middle-earth” by Ian Nathan. I have always been an avid Lord of the Rings fan, both the books and movies. So naturally, I am interested in this biography retelling details of Peter Jackson’s journey from acquiring the rights to the books…
The movie, Jesus Revolution, was released in theaters this week. From the first trailer, my interest was piqued, so I decided to go to an early showing. The movie itself was an intriguing look at the counter-culture movement that brought many people to Christ amidst the turmoil of the late 1960s. But more than anything it made me think of…
It's an outrage! "Isn't everything these days?" you ask. Well, we are living in outrageous times, but I think it's fair to say some things actually need to get people's ire up. And in this case, it's the latest assault against classic literature, namely Puffin's hubris in rewriting Roald Dahl's catalog to accommodate modern sensitive readers by removing "language deemed…
Quiet desperation is how the poet Henry David Thoreau described the way most people live their lives. Instead of facing new challenges with an optimistic hope of success, many people would rather give up and hide from the world. I often feel this emptiness of soul right when I wake up in the morning, especially during the dark and cold…
I am an average American dad. I love my family, I believe in God, and I truly want peace and good relations with my neighbors. That’s it. Let me choose where I want to live, let me decide how to spend my money, let me be responsible for how I raise my kids, let me worship as I please, and…
Even though the first season is officially over, I still can’t look away! Like running to a horrific car accident that happened in front of my house, there is something spellbinding about watching the battle surrounding the Rings of Power. I am fascinated by all of the controversy swirling around the debate concerning Amazon’s billion-dollar film project. I can’t get…
It feels almost like a cliché to discuss the taboos surrounding Christians writing horror, but perhaps that is only because I have been a Christian horror writer for many years now. To begin, I can tell you that I have never been confronted about my affinity for horror outright, scolded for doing something wrong, counseled about my interest in the…
Growing up in the 80s, I was exposed to some pretty dark films made for kids. Case in point, one of the first movies I ever saw in the theater was Return to Oz, a 1985 Walt Disney Studios production that was an unofficial sequel to the 1939 classic, Wizard of Oz starring Judy Garland, and inspired by the books…
Where does darkness, the silent void that is filled with sticky black wickedness and pungent green evil, come from? Why do monsters lurk in the shadows? How did terror begin to own the night? And since it is October, the month of haunting, I think this is a perfect subject to explore. Pastoring a large church for over 30 years,…