Kris Rasmussen: October 2007 Archives

Forget the tabloid headlines of Bennifer days gone by. Forget the comparisons with buddy Matt’s soaring career. You can even forget the "Good Will Hunting" albatross of being labeled a one-hit wonder as a writer. Ben Affleck’s career redemption is complete--it started when he wisely began taking smaller character roles in movies like “Hollywoodland”--with his directorial debut of the thriller “Gone Baby Gone.” Though critics have been quick to lump "Gone" in with "The Departed" and "Mystic River" because "Gone" also takes place in a seedy Boston neighborhood. However, with Affleck’s directing (he also serves as a co-writer) and brother Casey’s mesmerizing performance, "Gone" is a daring morality play that, in many respects, I found far more authentic and interesting than either of those other Boston-based films.

After spending last year writing about all of the reasons why more people needed to watch NBC’s “Friday Night Lights”, I wanted to wait and give the show a chance to redeem itself from its terrible premiere episode that caused fan controversy before it even aired.

However, after watching last Friday’s episode, I can no longer hold back my disappointment. One of the best written dramas of the last several TV seasons has now betrayed its core audience by turning the series into a Texas-style version of “The O.C.” In the process, “Lights: has left behind the authentic, heroic storylines that originally made fans cheer.

Though fellow blogger Doug Howe and I both consider ourselves Midwestern evangelical types, we certainly have been known to strongly disagree once in awhile when it comes to movies--especially overtly religious ones. He enjoyed “The Nativity Story." I , on the other hand, well, not so much. He gave a glowing review to the new animated movie adaptation of “The Ten Commandments,” which opened last weekend, and that has left me wondering if Doug saw a completely different movie than I did.

With numerous gold albums, music awards, and even a brief television career, probably the only thing left on Christian singer Amy Grant’s professional to do list, was to jot down her life experiences in a memoir. So it’s no surprise that in “Mosaic”, which arrives in bookstores today, Grant has collected family anecdotes, encounters with the famous and not-so-famous, as well as some songs and poems that illustrate the quiet grace that has always surrounded her work in spite of public criticism and scandal.

Readers who may be looking for juicy details of Grant's much publicized divorce from singer Gary Chapman (the incident is mentioned in only the most general terms and only when necessary) or who may hope for other salacious tidbits from her celebrity encounters (come on, what really happened when you were at the Costners in Aspen?) will be disappointed with “Mosaic.” But for die-hard fans like me who have followed Grant’s career over the decades, the honesty and sweetness that permeates the stories in this book are a spiritual affirmation of finding God in the simple moments of life if we will only look.

On Blog Action Day, a day when bloggers around the world unite in discussing the issues surrounding caring for our planet, I thought I would remind Idol Chatter readers about some of the better “green” movies – besides the obvious and excellent choice of “An Inconvenient Truth” – that are out there on DVD.

Here are my picks for the top five environmentally-friendly movies. Be sure to let me know what other eco-conscious films I missed by posting in the comment box below!

(You can also read what some other critics picked as their choices by going here and here)

With an onslaught of documentaries and dramas trying to dissect the war in Iraq, my vote for an excellent movie that explores the downfall of political and religious ideology is the recently released 2006 Cannes Film Festival winner, “The Wind...

While I am somewhat of a fan of the music group Heart, I haven’t exactly ever found myself to be a fan of political protest songs in general--which poses a bit of a conundrum regarding Ann Wilson's first solo effort,...

With dazzling colors, quixotic characters and whimsical storylines, death and resurrection – not to mention pie-- have never been treated with such Wonka-esque style as they are in ABC’s new dramedy “Pushing Daisies.” Unlike other new series that play around...