Articles at Christianity Today

There are a number of articles at Christianity Today that I'd like to highlight.

Firstly, there is an article by Peter Chattaway on the Definitive Edition DVD of The Passion of The Christ. Peter notes how the DVD contains both the original cut and Passion re-cut, how it has 4 commentary tracks and numerous featurettes, and also how many of those are dated 2005, as if it was originally due for a much earlier release. Strangely, particularly given Gibson's anti-Semitic remarks last year, the line from Matt 27:25 which he took out of the original film due to its anti-Semitic connotations has been incorporated here as a "deleted scene".

Then there's their list of the Ten Most Redeeming Films of 2006 (HT to Tyler Williams). This is not the "best of" list, but simply the "most redeeming" as voted by the CT writers. The ten are as follows:

1 - The Nativity Story (Catherine Hardwicke)
2 - The New World (Terrence Malick)
3 - Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (Marc Rothemund)
4 - Joyeux Noel (Christian Carion)
5 - The Second Chance (Steve Taylor)
6 - Charlotte’s Web (Gary Winick)
7 - Tsotsi (Gavin Hood)
8 - The Three Burials of Mequiades Estrada (Tommy Lee Jones)
9 - Akeelah and the Bee (Doug Atchison)
10 - Children of Men (Alfonso Cuarón)

I've seen 6 of this list, and I'm keen to watch Joyeux Noel (Christmas was particularly busy this year so no chance), but it's the honourable mentions that give me a few ideas of things I really need to catch. Overall the list grabs a number of good films, but is off, in my opinion at least, in a few places. For example, despite it's merits, The Nativity Story does not, in my book, deserve to be number one. And whilst I haven't seen it, I'm struggling to believe that Charlotte’s Web (#6) deserves to be higher than Tsotsi, The Three Burials of Mequiades Estrada, or Children of Men.


Finally, there's a review of Jeffrey Overstreet's new book, "Through a Screen Darkly". Eric Miller's review heaps praise on the book. Whilst a cynic might point to the fact that Overstreet also writes for CT, that explanation doesn't explain why Publishers Weekly also give it a "starred" review.