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This article was first published on Culturewatch. © Tony Watkins, 2011 Brad Pitt as Billy Beane in Moneyball. Image © Sony Pictures Releasing Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) sits brooding in the empty Oakland Coliseum stadium. He switches on his radio to listen for a few moments to the commentary of a baseball game, [...]  This is a repost to coincide with the cinema release of The Twilight Sage: Breaking Dawn (Part 1) This article was first published on Culturewatch.org. © Tony Watkins, 2010. Vampires are currently one of the biggest phenomena in popular culture. They are central to hit television series like True Blood, Being Human and The Vampire Diaries, but [...] This article was first published on Culturewatch. Peter Mullan as Joseph in 'Tyrannosaur' (dir. Paddy Considine). Image courtesy of StudioCanal. Life in a broken world is deeply unjust. Some people breeze through life with material security, happy marriages and hardly a care in the world. Others struggle through every [...] A conversation this morning made me realise I’d never posted this article here, which is why it’s appearing some time after the film. This article was first published on Culturewatch. Beware: spoilers ahoy! One of the many changes which the Internet has brought into our lives is that it is remarkably easy to [...] First published on Culturewatch © Tony Watkins 2011. The King’s Speech is bookended by two speeches. The first is a disaster, a deeply humiliating experience for Prince Albert, Duke of York (Colin Firth), because of a severe stammer which had afflicted him since early childhood. He gives this speech on behalf of his father, King [...] This article was first published in Idea magazine (May/June 2010) and on Culturewatch.org. © Tony Watkins, 2010. The legend of Robin Hood has an enduring fascination, and not just for small boys with bows and arrows. For over seven centuries, he has been an icon of struggle against unjust authority and of defending the [...] This article was first published on Culturewatch. © Tony Watkins. When I interviewed Philip Pullman, I found him genial, generous and engaging. He has a sharp mind, a clever wit, and he’s a brilliant writer. He has justifiably been acclaimed as one of Britain’s finest writers, having won several awards including the Whitbread Book [...] This article was first published in Idea magazine (March/April 2010) and on Culturewatch.org. © Tony Watkins, 2010. Yet another film foray into Wonderland demonstrates the abiding charm of Lewis Carroll’s Alice stories. But Tim Burton’s surreal fantasy isn’t just a retread of the much-loved children’s story, however; it picks up Alice’s story several [...] Dir. Peter Jackson (Paramount Pictures, 2010) This article was first published on Culturewatch, © Tony Watkins. Warning: this article contains plot spoilers When Susie was small, she was worried for the penguin trapped inside a snow globe. ‘Don’t worry, kiddo,’ her father Jack (Mark Wahlberg) reassured her. ‘He has a nice life; he’s trapped [...] This article was first published on Culturewatch.org. © Tony Watkins, 2010 The 1995 Rugby World Cup final was an unexpectedly significant world event. It had a resonance far beyond the excitement of rugby fans because of its particular historical context. Rarely, if ever, has a sporting event been such a powerful cohesive force within [...]
This article was first published on Culturewatch.org. © Tony Watkins, 2010 The beginning of a new year is a time to pause and reflect on things in our lives that need to change. We long to jettison old habits and replace them with new, healthier ones. Most [...] Image courtesy E1 Entertainment © 2007 As we gear up for another round of seasonal warmth and good cheer, it’s time once again to embrace what our culture calls ‘the true spirit of Christmas’. Most people define this as some anodyne wish for peace and goodwill, a result of the pressure to keep any [...] |
Tony Watkins is a writer and speaker on Christian faith and contemporary culture, with a particular interest in film. He is the Managing Editor of Culturewatch. |
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Copyright © Tony Watkins 1994-2012 - All Rights Reserved |
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