Beasts of the Southern Wild

The whole idea behind edgy, independent film is that by prying themselves from the commercial grip of major studios, filmmakers finally have the freedom to tell the truth. Sometimes this works. Last year's The Redemption of General Butt Naked and Higher Ground were intense explorations of spiritual life. Both films were challenging in different ways, but managed to maintain a respect for their religious subject matter. This year, Sundance again returns to tackle spiritual matters in documentaries and feature films. While no single look at Sundance can do the entire festival justice – there are, after all, only so many hours in a day one can watch movies – my hope is that my nearly twenty screenings will provide at least a representative sampling.

Film both reflects and creates worldviews in the minds of its viewers. Because of its culture-shaping, influential power, it is important for us to be aware of how filmmakers depict the relationship between world and the church. And even if some of these films find only small audiences, that they were official Sundance selections means that they were seen by other filmmakers. They got in. So they establish a sense of what wins, what is acceptable. As a result, we can expect more of the same, and we should be ready to join that cultural conversation. FULL POST

Grief is never an easy process. When the grieving person also has the challenges of Asperger's or other relational disorders, the process is even more difficult. Unable to fully connect with others, such a person often turns in their grief to their own idiosyncratic methods to deal with their pain. This is where young Oskar Schell (Thomas Horn) finds himself in Stephen Daldry's film "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close."

Based on the novel by Jonathan Safran Foer and adapted for the screen by Eric Roth (Forest Gump, The Insider, The Horse Whisperer), the story is set in New York during the days following the 9-11 attack. Oskar's father, FULL POST

It is easy to understand why Phyllida Lloyd chose Meryl Streep to portray Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady." Not only is she a gifted and nuanced actress who sympathetically portrays Thatcher in her cloistered life as an octogenarian with dementia, but Streep also believably portrays the confidence and stubbornness of Thatcher at the height of her power as the only woman Prime Minister of Great Britain. Although the political life of Thatcher is presented with undeniable bias, the entire film is as much about her as a person as it is about her rise and fall from power.

Based on the writing by Abi Morgan, the majority of the film FULL POST

It is a delight to get caught up in the inspirational experience of every aspect of Gospel music. Modern as well as traditional Gospel music is an obvious symbol of the history and tradition of the Black Christian Church in America. In writer / director Todd Graf's "Joyful Noise," it is also obvious that the experience of attending the traditional "black church" in Georgia today is a far cry from the days of Martin Luther King, Jr. It has been only 50 years since Dr. King noted that "11 o'clock on Sunday morning is the most segregated hour in America".

"Joyful Noise" tells the story of a well-integrated church in a small Georgia town that is struggling in the midst of the recession. Many people have lost their jobs, and the church is the one place FULL POST

Based on the true story of a British man whose family purchased a dilapidated zoo and refurbished it into an acclaimed zoological park, "We Bought A Zoo" is more about the humans than the animals. Directed by Cameron Crowe and joined in writing the adapted screenplay by Aline Brosh McKenna (27 Dresses, The Devil Wears Prada), the original story is an autobiography by Benjamin Mee. In moving the setting from England to California, the characters and their relationships are artistically shifted. Though the story is predictable, it is nevertheless an inspiring and moving tale.

In this version of the tale, Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) has become a single father due to the untimely passing of his wife Katherine (Stephanie Szostak). His young daughter Rosie (Maggie Elizabeth Jones) has responded by taking on her mom's responsibility to fix lunches while his son Dylan (Colin Ford) has buried his grief and is acting out both in school and in his grotesque drawings. This troubled family needs a new start. While looking for a home, they come across the defunct zoo.

Their unlikely purchase of not just a new home but also a complex business comes with the animals as well as a staff to care for them. The zookeeper FULL POST

For those who find the work of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung fascinating, David Cronenberg's version of their lives will be a frustration, but with some interesting observations. Based on the non-fiction book of John Kerr titled "A Most Dangerous Method: the story of Jung, Freud, and Sabina Spielrein" and adapted for the stage and screen by Christopher Hampton, the embellishment of their relational struggles and inferred sexual fantasies and actual encounters, (which are not fully supported by historical evidence), undermines what could have been a great film.

The setting is early in Jung's (Michael Fassbender) career when he has begun incorporating the psych-analysis of Freud (Viggo Mortensen). Corrected by Freud in their first actual meeting that his contested form of talk therapy is to be called psychoanalysis, Jung is seen as the heir apparent of Freud's work. But this proves to be difficult.

The difficulty rests FULL POST

The stunts are breathtaking in Brad Bird's "Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol." Even though we know that the star of the film series, Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise), would not be allowed to die, the entire audience holds our collective breath as he climbs on the outside of the Burj Khalifa at 130 stories with only a high tech glove. This view of him hanging off of the tallest building in the world standing in the heart of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, is only one of many tense moments set in beautiful locations.

With an excellent ensemble cast creating a revised IMF team, Hunt is joined on the field by nervous scientist Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg), beautiful but deadly Jane Carter (Paula Patton) and the enigmatic William Brandt (Jeremy Renner). The story begins FULL POST

Over eight decades have passed since sound movies became an overnight sensation and silent movies became history. It is a remarkable achievement, therefore, to release a "silent movie" in 2011 and have audiences find it so fascinating. Written and directed by Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist" takes us back to the 1920's in this captivating look at life as if it were all a film without sound.

For anyone who has ever seen Debbie Reynolds, Donald O'Conner, and Gene Kelly in "Singing In The Rain," some of this story will seem familiar. One day a silent star, George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is the toast of Hollywood and is linked romantically on screen with beautiful starlets. The next day, "talking pictures" render him a has-been. His on-screen romantic interest, who is ravishing in silent fantasy, sounds like Betty Boop when FULL POST

Horses are complex creatures. Similar in many ways to humans, they are competitive and loyal, stubborn and responsive, fearful and courageous, and seek love wherever it might be found. This resemblance has caused our relationship to horses to be one of companionship and compassion as we easily empathize with their reactions. Recognizing that the greatness of both a horse and a human is in the nature of their heart, Steven Spielberg's "War Horse" brings both together in a heart-felt story of loyalty and love.

An award-winning play by Richard Curtis and Lee Hall, the story is based on the best-selling novel FULL POST

The fictional struggle between the famed detective Sherlock Holmes and his arch nemesis, Professor James Moriarty, was created in December of 1893 by Scottish author Arthur Conan Doyle. Depicting both as geniuses who exemplify the best and worst of human beings, Holmes is a man of physical and moral courage while Moriarty is a narcissistic egomaniac without empathy or compassion. As a sociopathic genius, Moriarty is obsessed with obtaining wealth and power and does not care who dies in the process. Doyle's original tale was a short story titled "The Final Problem," which is the basis for Guy Ritchie's second Holmes film: "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows."

This version of their story is FULL POST