Andy Naselli

Thoughts on Theology

films

The Riot and the Dance: A New Nature Documentary That Honors the Creator

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My family loves watching high-quality nature documentaries like BBC’s Planet Earth. I call them theological documentaries—even when the people who make them don‘t share my biblical convictions that God is the sovereign creator and that humans have a God-given role to rule over the nature that these films showcase.

What would it be like to watch a high-quality nature documentary that honors the Creator? Watch The Riot and the Dance—Part 1: Earth.

After I read Doug Wilson’s take on this new film, I wanted to see it.

My kids enjoyed it so much that they begged Jenni and me to watch it twice in one weekend.

Here’s an 80-second trailer for the 80-minute film:

[Read more…] about The Riot and the Dance: A New Nature Documentary That Honors the Creator

A New Documentary on Martin Luther

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Last night my wife and I watched a screener of the new 90-minute documentary Luther: The Life and Legacy of the German Reformer.

It’s excellent:

  • It interviews reliable guides throughout the film, especially Carl Trueman, Steve Nichols, R. C. Sproul, and Bob Kolb.
  • It’s both sympathetic and critical. It responsibly surveys the life and times of Luther. Some of Luther’s writings make us cheer. Others make us wince. The film helpfully explains why.

Here are two previews:

Jerusalem: The IMAX Film Is Now on DVD

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The 45-minute film Jerusalem that has been showing for a few years in IMAX theaters is now available on DVD.

Jerusalem

I watched the film with my wife and three daughters a few weeks ago, and we all enjoyed it. It’s valuable for at least four reasons:

  1. It has beautiful images.
  2. It has breathtaking cinematography (as you can see in the previews below).
  3. It accurately informs you about history and geography (which helps you better understand the Bible’s historical-cultural context).
  4. It shows why modern-day Jerusalem desperately needs the gospel.

Heads-up:

  1. National Geographic is not exactly a conservative evangelical organization, so it’s not surprising that the film’s perspective on religion is sociological, not theological. The film concludes that while Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have distinct customs and traditions, they are not so different after all.
  2. The versions of “Christianity” that the film displays are Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, not evangelical Christianity.

This is a film worth owning.

7-minute preview:

2-minute trailer: [Read more…] about Jerusalem: The IMAX Film Is Now on DVD

Doug Wilson’s New Film: The Free Speech Apocalypse

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Last night Jenni and I watched Doug Wilson’s new 90-minute film: The Free Speech Apocalypse (Amazon). Then I listened to it again this afternoon.

It releases in November. Doug Wilson blogged about it two days ago.

Here’s a 3-minute preview:

Some thoughts: [Read more…] about Doug Wilson’s New Film: The Free Speech Apocalypse

The Flight to the Ford in Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring Movie

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My family loves The Lord of the Rings.

See “Ten Resources for Enjoying Tolkien’s The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.” For Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy (resource 7), I write,

This is one of the few cases where Jenni and I think that the films are better than the books. We probably just lost all of our literary credibility (not that I had much of it). We find Tolkien’s writing style often tedious.

artI recently read a book that has helped me more critically view films:

Paul Munson and Joshua Farris Drake. Art and Music: A Student’s Guide. Reclaiming the Christian Intellectual Tradition. Wheaton: Crossway, 2014.

Munson and Drake take a little over four pages to critically analyze the scene from Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring in which Arwen and Frodo flee on horseback to the ford.

Here’s what Munson and Drake think (pp. 77–81): [Read more…] about The Flight to the Ford in Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring Movie

Son of God: The New Movie

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Here’s a trailer for Son of God, a movie that opens in theaters starting Friday, February 28:

Son_Of_GodThis movie abridges footage from the History Channel’s The Bible: The Epic Miniseries.

Here are 3 reasons I don’t enthusiastically recommend that.

Related:

  1. Tim Challies, “Writing Checks to Mel Gibson“
  2. Tim Challies, “Son of God Will Show Crucifixion, Not the Cross“

Update on 3/4/2014: My friend Matthew Hoskinson reviews the movie. (He pastors in Manhattan and saw an advance screening of the film that the producers hosted.)

3 Reasons I Don’t Enthusiastically Recommend the History Channel’s “The Bible: The Epic Miniseries”

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epicAdapting a book to film is tricky. Sometimes books-to-film turn out surprisingly well (e.g., The Gospel of John—my favorite “Bible” film). Often they don’t (e.g., the recent Narnia films).

The History Channel aired The Bible: The Epic Miniseries throughout March 2013. About 100 million people watched all or part of the series. (I bought the series on DVD after reading two reviews.)

On the one hand, this series will doubtless serve as a means to a good end for some viewers:

  1. Some people think that the Bible is a boring old book filled with irrelevant or misguided rules. This series may spark an interest in the Bible that will compel them to actually read it. That’s good.
  2. Some people think that the Bible is a collection of unconnected or loosely connected short stories. This series may help people view the Bible as one big story with turning points: from creation to the fall to Noah to Abraham to the exodus to Israel and then climaxing with Jesus. That’s good.
  3. Some people are relatively unaware of what the world of the Bible was like culturally. This series may help people better understand what the political scenes were like or how people typically dressed or what various places may have looked like. That’s good.

On the other hand, the series could be far better. While watching it with my wife, we became increasingly disappointed with it. I was planning to watch it with my children but not anymore. I don’t enthusiastically recommend it for at least three reasons: [Read more…] about 3 Reasons I Don’t Enthusiastically Recommend the History Channel’s “The Bible: The Epic Miniseries”

Wayne Grudem on the Jason Bourne Films

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Bourne_0Wayne Grudem evaluates the Jason Bourne films (his critique applies to The Bourne Legacy as well) when he discusses the CIA in Politics—According to the Bible: A Comprehensive Resource for Understanding Modern Political Issues in Light of Scripture (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), 424–25:

THE CIA

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is the primary organization that gathers and analyzes information about other countries, especially about potential enemies of the United States. In other words, the CIA coordinates America’s spy network abroad. [Read more…] about Wayne Grudem on the Jason Bourne Films