Reading Time: 11 minutes This week’s episode of Strange New Worlds takes us boldly to Canada, but I promise: just because most of the show is set in my birthplace of Toronto, we won’t go off-mission too much to reflect on how it uses the location. I will only say that if you’re buying street meat (veg or otherwise) […]
Film/TV
Exploring the world of film and television from a secular perspective.
Posted inFilm/TV
‘Ad Astra per Aspera’: How we escape from hardship into wonder
Reading Time: 11 minutes Last week, I gave the opening episode of Strange New Worlds (SNW) Season Two a bit of a pass: I called it a “mission statement” more than a typical outing from this version of the Enterprise. The plot and script seemed intent on solidifying character gains from the first season, and there were whole sections […]
Posted inFilm/TV
‘Growing Up Gothard’: The man behind the Duggar throne
Reading Time: 5 minutes Bill Gothard, the Christian cult leader whose teachings the Duggars followed, preaches a worldview founded on absolute obedience, rigid gender roles, and violence as discipline.
Posted inFilm/TV
Meet the Duggars: The secrets and lies of Christian patriarchy
Reading Time: 5 minutes “Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets” blows apart the Potemkin-village façade that the Duggar family presented to the world.
Posted inFilm/TV
How do we heal ‘The Broken Circle’ in ourselves, our worlds?
Reading Time: 10 minutes Last year, Strange New Worlds offered a breath of fresh air in a sea of Star Trek-themed shows that demonstrated little patience with the original groundwork of the franchise. From Discovery‘s relentless reinvention of its world to serve the lead character’s journey, to Lower Decks‘ erasure of a post-scarcity economy to give us a crew […]
Posted inDeath & Dying
‘Skeleton Tree’ and ‘Ghosteen’: Grieving with Nick Cave
Reading Time: 6 minutes Since losing my son Josh in 2021, I look for a handful of traits in art that helps me grieve. Pressured to pretend my life is back to normal, I want words, images, and music that bear witness, that affirm my loss is bottomless, that yes, it is as bad as it feels. At the […]
Posted inComedy
The five worst Irish accents in movie history
Reading Time: 2 minutes Many of the Best Actor nominations for the Oscars this Sunday are Irish. St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner. What better way to celebrate than an authoritative ranking of the five worst Irish accents in movie history? The Irish accent is consistently voted one of the most attractive in the world. But for […]
Posted inFilm/TV
‘The Good Lord Bird’: Dark satire with a white-hot moral core
Reading Time: 4 minutes What kind of white man puts his life on the line to fight slavery? James McBride’s irreverent portrait of James Brown offers an answer.
Posted inFilm/TV
Yes, I am digging a pit to find the love of my life #LastOfUs
Reading Time: 2 minutes After watching the third episode of the video game-based HBO show The Last of Us, I am digging several pits to find the love of my life. It’s only a matter of time before I find my soul mate at the bottom of one of my 10-foot-deep holes in the ground. As you are probably […]
Posted inFilm/TV
‘His Dark Materials’ is faithful to Philip Pullman’s humanist vision
Reading Time: 5 minutes Surprisingly, the creators didn’t flinch from depicting the books’ overarching plot: a war against God in the name of human freedom.