The Dark Knight is the most ambitious and satisfying comic book movie ever, an instant classic.   It thrills and chills, combining massive spectacle with timeless questions regarding our humanity.  In exploring our disturbing depths, director Christopher Nolan attains unparalleled cinematic heights.   It is a feast for the eyes and a challenge to the brain.   While Batman battles the Joker for the soul of Gotham City, Nolan pulls audiences into the rarest of responses to a Hollywood blockbuster:  genuine introspection.  It is a soulful adventure.   The Dark Knight explores the cost of combating evil.   How many rules are we willing to break to maintain order?   How many freedoms will we sacrifice to reign in chaos?   The Dark Knight calls us to give an account.

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A major event in my life came full circle last month. I had coffee with Jay Floyd, director of Forgiving the Franklins. This bawdy, subversive satire premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006. The premise of this homemade, low-budget film intrigued me. This religious sex comedy has just been released on DVD (rated R for “strong sexual content including a scene of abherrant intimacy, graphic nudity, frank dialogue, and some language”–you’ve been forewarned!)

A devout Christian family has a car accident enroute to a church potluck. They are whisked away to a heavenly place where Jesus is chopping down a cross. He has grown tired of seeing the worst moment of his life paraded around people’s necks. Jesus greets the Franklin family and reaches into the back of their heads. He removes a bloody apple and sends them back to earth to continue their lives. The Franklins have been given a new lease on life, free of guilt and shame. Jesus removed their original sin.

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It is rare to get a book published. So it is an exceptionally rare privilege to have two books published on the same day. But on ‘new release Tuesday,’ I have two new volumes hitting the marketplace. They are not twins, but their definitely related: more fraternal than identical in their concerns.  

A Purple State of Mind is a companion piece to the comedic documentary, Purple State of Mind. It begins with the questions prompted by my onscreen conversation with John Marks. For those who wanted to see a more aggressive Christianity, it explains why my responses were often open-ended. Each chapter contains snippets of dialogue from the film as a starting point. It allows me to expand on my answers to John’s queries, putting things into a historical context. For example, how do we move past the political rut we’ve been in, caught between those who thought the prosperous 1950s were America’s greatest moment and those who relish the creativity unleashed during the 1960s? Many have grown tired of the rhetoric rooted in old grudges and earlier battle. This election may be the first to be decided by generations born after the advent of the culture wars. A new wave of voters have their feet firmly rooted in the 21st century rather than the past.

The folks at Pixar have created a filmmaker’s utopia. Working almost entirely without obstruction, they’ve established a work ethic in which artistic integrity is of primary importance, and where a personal vision is given room to flourish. It is an auteur’s paradise—never before has a studio placed so much faith in individual imagination. Each new film has a different feel compliant with the quirks of its director. (Hence, The Incredibles, though clearly the handiwork of many talented craftsmen, is distinctly Brad Birdian both for its aggressive nostalgia and its emphasis on the nuclear family.)

Pixar’s latest project also bears the unmistakable stamp of individuality. The writer-director is Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo), and he’s fashioned an entirely worthy hero-cum-artistic-foil in WALL·E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class), a lonesome robot with binoculars for eyes and the soul of a romantic. To see him is to love him.

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"Lars and the Real Girl" is a great movie. Dysfunctional guy buys sex-doll and relates to her as if she's real, but over time finds himself longing for something more alive than latex can provide; it might not sound very compelling, but it somehow is. Casting, acting, script, and direction all combine to create a film so well executed that I was completely drawn in.

"Lars", though, isn't really about Lars very much at all, and certainly not about latex lady. The main theme seems to be centered around the question, "How do we support, help, and empower those with mental illness to move towards healing?" That, of course, is a big question, answered by both the "Lars" film, and another recent film ("Reign Over Me"), in the same way: friendship and acceptance.

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What kinds of skeletons may be lurking in your family’s closet? As a descendent of a distinguished founding family in Rhode Island, Katrina Browne decided to investigate her roots. The De Wolf family tree includes senators, architects, writers and ministers. As faithful Episcopalians, the De Wolfs donated most of the stained glass windows in Katrina’s home church in Bristol, Rhode Island. So how did they get so rich and powerful? When Katrina would talk to her relatives, she got vague responses about an “import/export business.” What were the De Wolf’s buying and selling? Katrina discovered she is a descendent of the largest slave trading family in New England.

Traces of the Trade follows Katrina’s efforts to respond to her lamentable roots. What do we do with family secrets? How do we process shame, guilt and responsibility? Nine De Wolf descendents accepted Katrina’s invitation to retrace the De Wolf’s family business, from Rhode Island to Ghana to plantations in Cuba. Traces of the Trade kicks off PBS’s essential documentary series, P.O.V. on Tuesday night at 10 pm. It demonstrates that slavery was not just a southern problem, but an ongoing shame even in “the Deep North.” You can see the trailer here.

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Last week, I wrote about the new web series, "Trunk: A Love Story," now available at my site, WebSerials.com. It's been great to see the response to this latest show—with more than 75,000 views in its first week of release. That makes the first episode of "Trunk" our most successful pilot to date. Congrats to Chris, Brian, and the Biola film program for their great work.

Episode 2 is now available here.

 Two years ago, I found myself among the few defenders of M. Night Shyamalan's under-appreciated, misunderstood Lady in the Water (you can read an essay I wrote about it here). Now with The Happening, I'm finding that audiences are still going into the theater hoping for the twists and surprises of his earlier work and walking away disappointed.

I feel sorry for filmmakers like Shyamalan or George Lucas, who exploded early in their careers with a rare crowd-pleaser and despite showing great creativity, artistry, and diversity in later works, have always found their audiences begging for more of the same. I for one enjoy seeing these talented minds experimenting and exploring the limits of cinema and its storytelling possibilities. If I want to re-experience The Sixth Sense or Star Wars I have those DVDs easily accessible.

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In preparation for The Happening, I re-visited some of M. Night Shyamalan's earlier works. When his brilliant film Lady in the Water was released a couple of years ago, I found myself one of the few defenders of the film. What follows is an essay I wrote in an attempt to look deeper into a film that I found quite moving, challenging, and thought-provoking. It gets a little philosophical, so if you go to the movies just looking for a good time, I doubt this will help...

When my wife and I saw Lady in the Water, we came out of the dark theater simply loving it. Imagine our surprise when we found ourselves in an unusual minority of opinion on this vastly under-appreciated and misunderstood work of genius. M. Night Shyamlan has—I dare say—crafted one of the most intelligent, thought-provoking, and satisfying films of 2006. You just have to know what to look for. After all, the movie warns us in its prologue that we've all forgotten how to listen.

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I saw "The Visitor" last night in one of my favorite Seattle theaters. Well crafted and understated, the film climaxed at the very end with the screen going dark and when it did, n obody moved. The space within the walls was enveloped in complete silence as we collective paused to allow the weight of what we'd just seen settle in. Only slowly, when the credit music began, did people rise from their seats and leave. If you'd like to see a film that will touch both your heart and your mind, "The Visitor" will take you there.

The simple plot appears like a prism; held up against the light of our own experiences, it invites us to consider themes of aging, grief, intergenerational relationships, hospitality, racism, pluralism, overwork, and some of the forces that create that good disease I call "good Samaritanism".

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