Mudshot Eyes

Last week, I saw Expelled, the new movie from Ben Stein.  It has stirred up a mostly negative response from all sides. Here are a couple of quotes from recent reviews:

Kenneth R. Miller, a biology professor at Brown University, was particularly harsh in his Op-Ed piece in the Boston Globe:

“Expelled is a shoddy piece of propaganda that props up the failures of Intelligent Design by playing the victim card. It deceives its audiences, slanders the scientific community, and contributes mightily to a climate of hostility to science itself. Stein is doing nothing less than helping turn a generation of American youth away from science.”

The review in Christianity Today recognized the limits of what the film tried to accomplish:

“The film succeeds in making the point that Intelligent Design should at least be on the table for discussion. But if you’re looking for ammunition to argue your Darwinist friends under the table, you may want to look elsewhere.”

I’ll put together my own review in the next few days and let you know if I agree with the comments above.  In the meantime, you can see what some are saying by Googling “Expelled reviews.”

When Krista and I heard that certain Christian groups were boycotting The Golden Compass, it made us want to go see it. But after reading more about it, there is room for caution. If you are planning on going to see the movie, which is based on the first book in a trilogy of novels written by British author Philip Pullman, keep in mind that the studio filtered out his religious views from the movie. The books are much more blatant in their allegorical presentation of his atheism.

I don’t skip movies because the authors, the directors or the actors don’t believe in God. If I made decisions on where to go and what to do based on that criteria, then I would have to lock myself in my home. However, my main reason for skipping The Golden Compass is his disregard for the accomplishments of great authors like Tolkien and C. S. Lewis who have paved the way for him in this genre.

He has commented that the Chronicles of Narnia is “morally loathsome,” and “one of the most ugly and poisonous things I’ve ever read.” He has also referred to The Lord of the Rings as an “infantile work.”

I refuse to give the guy a dime for his movie or novels. I don’t know if Pullman has actually read these two great works, but his comments reveal an ignorance and arrogance beyond what I would expect from an accomplished author who has found his success in part due to the foundation laid by LOTR and Narnia.

Philip Pullman can keep his Compass.

This morning at work we viewed an abridged version of a documentary titled, Beyond the Gates of Splendor, which tells the story of the five missionaries who were killed trying to make contact with the Waodani tribe in the jungles of Ecuador. The story is also the basis for the feature-length film, The End of the Spear, which is released in theatres this Friday, January 20th. I obviously haven’t seen it yet, but the information I’ve read leads me to believe that it will be worth the time to see it this weekend.

Christianity Today has an excellent interview with Mart Green, who was the driving force behind the funding and planning of this film. Green is founder and CEO of Mardel Christian and Education Supply stores, so he’s not a hollywood insider. However, his deep pockets and heart for this story have brought it into reality. Click here to read the article.