Yesterday I led a study day on engaging with media culture for the Southampton Deanery Chapter. Here's the first session: SDC1. Culture Now View more presentations from Tony Watkins. A more print-friendly version of the slides is here. Related posts: Perspectives on Media Responding to Media Understanding teen culture Twelve questions to consider when watching […]
I stumbled across this yesterday, having missed it when it was published in The Guardian last year: The actor Sam Elliott, who starred in the 2007 adaptation of the first novel, Northern Lights (the film was called The Golden Compass), said earlier this week that books two and three were not being filmed due to […]
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 of […]
Charlotte Higgins wrote this in her blog on the Guardian website yesterday. What a great response to Philip Pullman's new book: The Good Man Jesus is a fascinating story, told in the same kind of spare, lapidary prose as the Gospels themselves or a Grimm brothers fairytale. Pullman's gift for storytelling is in evidence on […]
Philip Pullman seems to enjoy stirring up controversy. He annoyed many Christians with his best-selling anti-church, anti-God trilogy His Dark Materials. And it’s evident that he was out to provoke when he made comments like, ‘my books are about killing God,’ and, ‘I’m trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief.’ He’s admitted that the […]
I talked to Paul Hammond on UCB UK radio this morning about Philip Pullman's controversial new books. The conversation was put out as a podcast on Culturewatch: Click to listen Posted via email from Tony Watkins Related posts: The God-Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Philip Pullman Pullman's next book reworks of the story of Jesus […]
Philip Pullman CBE is the acclaimed author of around thirty books, mostly aimed at older children. He is best known for His Dark Materials, a brilliantly written, ambitious trilogy (Northern Lights/The Golden Compass (1995); The Subtle Knife (1997); The Amber Spyglass (2000)). He has received many awards, including the highly prestigious Astrid Lindgren Award. His […]
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 years on. […]
Fascinating infographic of BBC spending. It puts the £2million spent on Clarkson and £6million spent on Ross into perspective - 50% more spent on Ross than on the Proms! via guardian.co.uk Posted via web from Tony Watkins Related posts: Comedian Lee Mack on the Bible
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 in […]
In Woody Allen's film Vicky Cristina Barcelona, Juan Antonia (Javier Bardem) invites Vicky (Rebecca Hall) and Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) to accompany him to Oviedo to view a particular sculpture which he finds inspiring. Cristina jumps at the opportunity, but Vicky goes reluctantly. The statue we later see is of a crucifix, which allows Woody Allen […]
Every year, the film critics at Christianity Today compile a list of the ten films that they consider to be the most redeeming of the year. What do they mean by that? We mean movies that include stories of redemption—sometimes blatantly, sometimes less so. Several of our films have characters who are redeemers themselves; all […]
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 a […]
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 of us, though, fail to achieve a fraction […]
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 religious […]
This article was first published on Culturewatch.org. © Tony Watkins, 2010 What is life really all about? That’s the question which troubles Jenny – played brilliantly by Carey Mulligan – when she finds her life being pulled in two different directions. She is a very bright 16-year-old schoolgirl who is destined for Oxford University, but […]
I often lead film discussions, and equally often I'm asked to recommend films that are good for talking about. So here's a list. It's nowhere near exhaustive, merely a bunch of films that I've either used or that I'm confident would be great. I"ll add to this list as other things occur to me and as new films come out. The Culturewatch website, for which I am Managing Editor, is a great place to find discussion guides - around 500 of them, though they're not all on films. I'll try to link some of the title below to their discussion guides when I get a moment.
Posted by Authentic Media on www.authenticmedia.blogspot.com (7 October 2009) MOVE OVER HARRY POTTER! A NEW SERIES OF BOOKS FROM G P TAYLOR STARTS HERE Authentic Media have released a paperback edition of The First Escape, the first title in The DoppleGanger Chronicles, an exciting six book series with Christian themes by bestselling author G P […]
Image courtesy Icon Film Distribution © 2009 This article was first published on Culturewatch.org. © Tony Watkins, 2010 Today sees the release in UK cinemas of Creation, marking the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth. Husband and wife Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly give beautifully nuanced performances as Charles and Emma Darwin experiencing a difficult […]
It was two years ago on Saturday night that Jason Reitman's "Juno" had its world premiere here at Toronto. The standing ovation that night was the most spontaneous and joyous I can remember. Still vibrating, Reitman stood on the stage of the Ryerson Theater and vowed, "I'm gonna open all of my films right here […]
Creation, starring Paul Bettany, details Darwin's "struggle between faith and reason" as he wrote On The Origin of Species. It depicts him as a man who loses faith in God following the death of his beloved 10-year-old daughter, Annie.
The film was chosen to open the Toronto Film Festival and has its British premiere on Sunday. It has been sold in almost every territory around the world, from Australia to Scandinavia.
However, US distributors have resolutely passed on a film which will prove hugely divisive in a country where, according to a Gallup poll conducted in February, only 39 per cent of Americans believe in the theory of evolution. [...]
This review was first published in Evangelicals Now (August 2009)
Harry, Hermione and Ron have grown up a great deal in the last few years. So have the films. The sixth Harry Potter film is a far cry from the stiff acting, shoddy effects and inferior direction of the first two films. While the quality has improved, each instalment is darker than the one before as J.K. Rowling’s epic story builds towards its incredible climax.[...]
As the world marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth, his influence on the world is as enormous as ever. Whatever you think of his ideas, there’s no doubt that they have shaped science and profoundly affected many aspects of contemporary culture. Darwin’s meticulous work established the natural sciences as a serious scientific discipline for the first time. If this was Darwin’s only legacy, he would still be a towering figure in the history of science. But for most people, his name is linked only with On the Origin of Species. [...]
Released on the bi-centenary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th publishing anniversary of On The Origin Of Species, Creation opts to view the naturalist through a domestic prism; struggling to bridge a gulf of faith with his wife while preparing to publish the theories which will rock the religious establishment. . . .
