“Nights In Rodanthe” is every bit the middle-aged romance it’s billed to be, but the novel by Nicholas Sparks provides the narrative edge to prevent it from getting too syrupy. Richard Gere plays Dr. Paul Flanner, an otherwise skillful plastic surgeon who lost a patient on the operating table and forgot to be apologetic and remorseful to her husband afterwards.
“The Duchess” is based on a 1998 biography of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, 1757-1806. Georgiana (Keira Knightley), an aristocrat of passion and intelligence, is given in marriage to the Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes), who is interested solely in her fulfilling her obligation to produce a male heir.
by Robert Jewett in collaboration with Ole Wangerin. Minneapolis: Fortress, 2008. Pb., 272 pp. $22.
The title of this film implies one of those spy thrillers that keeps everybody guessing about who everybody really is, featuring tense drama, split-second timing, thrilling chase sequences, and highly intelligent secret agents operating at the peak of their professional powers. Well, “Burn After Reading” is kind of the opposite of all that.
Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy by Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt, and David L. Weaver-Zercher. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.: 2007. Hb., 203 pp., $24.95.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Is George Lucas finally getting to do a “Star Wars” movie, with all the special effects he wants, without having to mess with the human element at all?
“The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning” — Actually a prequel, where Ariel is a young mermaid princess, growing up with her sisters and a very happy Mom and Dad.
Henry Poole (Luke Wilson) has just been told by his physician that he has a rare, terminal disease. He seems healthy, and isn’t exhibiting any particular symptoms, but if he wasn’t depressed before, he sure is now.
Right now, there’s a lot of attention directed toward the southern border of the United States. The reality of illegal immigrants is a social problem at many different levels, for everyone involved.
The latest edition of “Batman” is slick, scary, and contains an outstanding performance from an actor since deceased.
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days — and also afterward — when the sons of God went in to the daughters of humans, who bore children to them. These were the heroes that were of old, warriors of renown.” (Genesis 6:4)
“Kit Kittredge” hearkens back to an earlier time, the slow-paced days of the Depression, when little children played in tree houses, there was no television, and Momma had to take in boarders to make ends meet.
The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith and Politics in a Post-Religious Right America, by Jim Wallis. HarperOne, 2008. Hb., 352 pp. $25.95.
Before you read the first word of Jim Wallis’ transformative new book, you know something is different. Lined up like a political and theological renewal of the old television show The Odd Couple are names we know separately as representatives of vastly different worldviews.
All three are stories about irresistible force. One is historical, one is modern fiction, and the other is literally straight out of a comic book. In all three, there’s lots of random violence. In all three, the hero prevails, but what varies is whether the hero is himself the monster.
Genghis Khan didn’t grow up in palaces, even though his father was a local chieftain. They were nomads; they lived in tents and traveled with the herds. His father took him, at age nine, to be betrothed in a political alliance with a neighboring tribe, but Temudjin, even as a child, could do nothing other than be guided by his own lights. He picks a girl from another, less powerful tribe, which was a less honorable choice for his father, and, it turns out, also fatal.
“Jellyfish” is so international that it is an Israeli film featuring Hebrew, German, and a Filipino dialect to accompany the occasional thickly-accented English. “Jellyfish” is a montage of several different life-stories, all of people who are flying under the radar — mostly invisible.
What could be better than being well-educated, but slightly bored, children jumping into a wardrobe closet and finding a magical land called Narnia where you have cool adventures with your siblings, and become royalty? Well, how about finding yourselves transported, a few years later, poised to return as conquering heroes?
Both are action-adventure movies, and with both, suspension of disbelief is easier done with tongue firmly planted in the cheek. We’re just having fun here, we’re not really trying to convince you that it’s real, so just sit back and enjoy the story.
Picturing Christian Witness: New Testament Images of Disciples in Mission, by Stanley H. Skreslet. William B. Eerdmans, 2006. ISBN 0802829562. Pb., 263 pp. $24.
Hope in Conflict: Discovering Wisdom in Congregational Turmoil, by David R. Sawyer. The Pilgrim Press, 2007. Pb., 176pp. $20.
The Irresistible Revolution: living as an ordinary radical, by Shane Claiborne. Zondervan, 2006. Pb., 368 pp. $12.99.
Modern Physics and Ancient Faith, by Stephen M. Barr. Notre Dame, 2003, pb. 2006. ISBN 0-268-02198-8. Pb., 313 pp. $18.
Encounters with Jesus: Studies in the Gospel of John, by Frances Taylor Gench. WJKP, 2007. Pb., 170 pp. $16.95.
In his book Imagining a Sermon (Abingdon, 1990), Tom Troeger suggests a marvelous image for readers in the church. He pictures the shelves of a pastor’s study as a “city,” the residents of whom are the authors of the books whom the pastor engages in conversation through reading.
Under The Same Moon/La Misma Luna: Carlitos (Adrian Alonso) is a nine-year-old boy living in Mexico with his grandmother. He's never met his Dad, and his Mom, Rosario (Kate del Castillo) left four years ago for Los Angeles, working as a maid and a dressmaker and whatever she can find, in order to save the money to bring her son to her. She calls him from the same pay phone every Sunday morning at 10 a.m., and tells him that when he misses her just to remember they are both under the same moon. When Carlitos finds that his grandmother has died in her sleep, he embarks on an unlikely odyssey to cross the border by himself and find his mother.
Of course there was no fool like Henry VIII, and no fool's gold like desiring a male heir to the throne. He never did sire (a legitimate) one, but his daughter by Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth, reigned powerfully for 45 years.
Of course, Anne Boleyn was only legitimate because she insisted that Henry would have to divorce his Catholic wife, Katherine of Aragon, in order to have her. Just shunting Katherine off to a nunnery would not be enough, because then she would still be the Queen. And so Henry does the unthinkable: he divorces his Queen, permanently breaking relations with the Catholic Church, and thus establishing, by default, the Church of England. Protestantism, here, could hardly be deemed a theological Reformation. But, as we all know, that's not the end of the story.
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