Day three of the Keswick Unconventional Film Club had smaller numbers as Son of Rambow is nowhere near as well known as Blue Jasmine and Philomena. Written and directed by Garth Jennings (his directorial debut) and released in 2008, this eccentric gem of a movie is one of the best films about growing up. I'm […]

Judi Dench and Steve Coogan in Philomena. © Pathé, 2013. Used by permission Day two of the Keswick Unconventional Film Club was absolutely packed for watching and discussing Philomena. Directed by Stephen Frears from a screenplay by Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope, it’s a film which is loved by audiences and critics alike. It won […]

Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine; © Gravier Productions, Inc./Warner Bros., 2013. Used by permission. I’m running the Keswick Unconventional Film Club at the Keswick Convention this week. It’s the first time we’ve run it, though we did have a one-off film discussion one wet afternoon last year. I’m planning to write a brief blog each […]

Greg Wolfe is the founder and editor-in-chief of Image journal, which has just celebrated it's 25th anniversary. In an interview with Brett Beasley of Curator magazine, Wolfe makes the following observation: One of the key dimensions of beauty that theologians and philosophers consistently refer to is beauty’s disinterestedness. The very nature of beauty is that it […]

Richard Curtis is almost an icon of British romantic comedy, thanks to Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Notting Hill (1999), and Love Actually (2003). About Time is very much a comedy in the Curtis style, and love is the central ingredient, but ultimately it is not so much about romantic love, as the love […]

I was very struck recently by two posts by Holly Ordway on the need for Christians to pursue excellence in their writing. I have often lamented that too many Christians in the arts are trying to so hard to communicate their message that they fail to pay any attention to the artistic quality of their […]

Film & Bible Blog Article The Past Comes Flooding Back Image © Independent Film Company, 2013. Used by permission. Art historian Max (Ciarán Hinds) is grieving after the recent loss of his wife, Anna (Sinéad Cusack), to cancer. Against the advice of his daughter Clare (Ruth Bradley), he goes to stay in a boarding house […]

Phil Cooke says, 'I believe it’s time to shift from primarily thinking about missions in terms of geographical boundaries, and start thinking in terms of digital boundaries. What do you think? From my perspective, that’s a massive country just waiting to hear our message.'

This is the last in a series of six posts, which was first published as an article in Anvil journal, Volume 28 No 3 (November 2012), and is published here by kind permission of the editor. Two more aspects of responding to film and literature 4. Morality Image from iStockPhoto.com We have considered the moral […]

This is the fifth in a series of six posts, which was first published as an article in Anvil journal, Volume 28 No 3 (November 2012), and is published here by kind permission of the editor. Celebrate the good1 Image from iStockPhoto.com If the ideas actually make sense, we need to acknowledge that fact, even […]

This is the fourth in a series of six posts, which was first published as an article in Anvil journal, Volume 28 No 3 (November 2012), and is published here by kind permission of the editor. Image from iStockPhoto.com Worldviews in film and literature While not wishing to over-emphasise this aspect of responding to art […]

This is the third in a series of six posts, which was first published as an article in Anvil journal, Volume 28 No 3 (November 2012), and is published here by kind permission of the editor. Five aspects of responding to art If, then, art and media are the product of people made in the […]

This is the second in a series of six posts, which was first published as an article in Anvil journal, Volume 28 No 3 (November 2012), and is published here by kind permission of the editor. Two-faced human beings Adam and Eve were tempted by the freedom to make their own moral choices; they wanted […]

This is the first in a series of six posts, which was first published as an article in Anvil journal, Volume 28 No 3 (November 2012), and is published here by kind permission of the editor. Reflecting or shaping? Marvin doesn't like living in a media-dominated world. He doesn't watch television, avoids the cinema, shuns […]

After being a massive success on US television, THE BIBLE miniseries comes to the UK this week. Channel 5 is broadcasting the first episode at 9:00 pm on Saturday 30 November. About THE BIBLE series THE BIBLE is an epic 10-hour mini-series that brings to life the dramatic tales of faith and courage in the […]

This is an interview I gave in Norway in August 2013 for Damaris Norway. I am very grateful to Mark Meynell’ for his brilliant insight into the two types of superhero in ‘Why We Love Men in Capes’, which you can find in the iTunes store. I was taking Buy Xanax Online reducing the dose […]

This is the trailer for a television series examining science and faith, origins and explanations. It's been put together by Iain Morris of Kharis Productions (he has been working on it for as long as I've known him, which is three years). It features probing interviews with prominent atheists, including Sam Harris, the late Christopher […]

This is very interesting from David Mitchell. I have tended to assume that he was an atheist as I've heard him say some very strident things about Christians in the past, but this is a very thoughtful explanation of why he's an agnostic. H/T Neil Powell Related posts: Philip Pullman and his atheist fiction Talking […]

Jane caught the end of comedian Lee Mack being interviewed on Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4, yesterday morning. If you're not familiar with this long-running radio programme, a guest is interviewed about their life. They choose eight records which they would want to have with them on a desert island and, at the […]

I have had a post on this site for a long time listing some great films for film discussions (which I've updated occasionally), as well as a post on how to run film discussions. Since Damaris launched Damaris Film Clubs in 2013, more people have been asking me which movies are the best for group […]

This post was first published on Culturewatch as part of the Film & Bible Blog. © Tony Watkins 2013. For discussion material on this film, see my Damaris Film Blog discussion guide and the supplementary questions in the published version of this article in the Film & Bible Blog. Robert Miller (Richard Gere) is a […]

This post was first published on Culturewatch as part of the Film & Bible Blog. © Tony Watkins 2013. For discussion material on this film, see my Damaris Film Blog discussion guide and the supplementary questions in the published version of this article in the Film & Bible Blog. Alfred Hitchcock is one of the […]

This post was first published on Culturewatch as part of the Film & Bible Blog. © Tony Watkins 2013. For discussion material on this film, see my Damaris Film Blog discussion guide and the supplementary questions in the published version of this article in the Film & Bible Blog. Warning: This article contains plot spoilers. […]

This post was first published on Culturewatch as part of the Film & Bible Blog. © Tony Watkins 2013. For discussion material on this film, see my Damaris Film Blog discussion guide and the supplementary questions in the published version of this article in the Film & Bible Blog. Some of us have known Jesse […]