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Film Review: Shrek Forever After

30/06/10 | Posted by MattPage | Permalink | (0) Comments

Putting Shrek and Jesus in the same article gets some people nervous. After all, Jesus' story is hardly fairy tale and he certainly wasn't an ogre. But there are one or two moments in this latest instalment of the Shrek series that reminded me of the life of Jesus. The latest film actually starts somewhere in the middle of the original film and in many ways Shrek Forever After is an attempt to put aside two forgettable sequels and get back to the heart of what made the first film work so well. More ...

Jesus, Origins Movies and Robin Hood

15/05/10 | Posted by MattPage | Permalink | (2) Comments

Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood hit cinema screens this week, hitting the middle of the target at the box office as well as opening the Cannes film festival (where it’s portrayal of the French as scheming, bad-fighting cowards must have gone down really well). More ...

TV Review: The Bible: A History - Jesus (With Gerry Adams)

21/02/10 | Posted by MattPage | Permalink | (9) Comments

Gerry Adams’ exploration of Jesus and his teaching was always going to prove controversial, but it was pleasing to see that Channel 4 didn’t just go for the headlines, but also managed to make a high-quality, thought-provoking, documentary as well. More ...

Irish Republican Jesus

12/02/10 | Posted by MattPage | Permalink | (0) Comments

Gerry Adams might not be someone you would expect to find talking about Jesus. Indeed the last Conservative government found him so despicable that they banned his voice from being broadcast. But next Sunday, Adams will be doing just that as part of Channel 4’s series, The Bible: A History. More ...

Film Review: The Book of Eli

16/01/10 | Posted by MattPage | Permalink | (2) Comments

Ever wondered what would happen to the Bible in a post-apocalyptic age? Denzel Washington clearly has, not only starring in The Book of Eli, but putting up much of the funding as well.

The story is set thirty plus in the future, but we’re never told when or what, exactly happened. There was a war, a flash, and now all that remains is a tiny fraction of the population and a landscape strewn with human and mechanical wreckage. Travelling through what remains of the world is Eli (Washington) who, unbeknownst to anyone, is carrying the last remaining copy of the Bible.    More ...

The Nativity and Contemporary Art

16/12/09 | Posted by MattPage | Permalink | (1) Comments

The birth of Jesus has always been a popular subject for art going right back to wall paintings in the Roman catacombs. Since then there have been thousands of paintings and sculptures made about the first Christmas, by many of the greatest names in art history.

So it’s no surprise that many contemporary artists have also attempted to depict the nativity. Interestingly as modern art has developed on the one hand, and Christianity’s privileged position in western society has slipped, Christmas-related works of art have become less straightforward and more complex and challenging More ...

Film Review: Nativity!

27/11/09 | Posted by MattPage | Permalink | (1) Comments

For many of us, the first time we really understood something about Jesus was perhaps when we starred in a nativity play. It’s a defining moment in many chldren’s lives, yet one rarely explored in the cinema.

Nativity! is the latest film by director Debbie Isitt starring Martin Freeman. Freeman plays Mr. Maddens a primary school teacher who was left with Scrooge-like attitude to Christmas after he was festively dumped by his girlfriend (Ashley Jensen) five years ago. Having previously studied drama, every year he is lumbered with producing the school’s nativity play and his enthusiasm for the project is further hampered by the shining brilliance of a rival school’s winter productions. More ...

National Gallery’s “Sacred Made Real”

31/10/09 | Posted by MattPage | Permalink | (0) Comments

The kind of statue that you would normally expect to find parading through Spanish backstreets at Easter seems like an unlikely basis for a high concept art exhibition. But this is exactly the sort of thing on show in the National Gallery’s “The Sacred Made Real” which opened last week and runs all the way through until 24th January. More ...

The Invention of Jesus

02/10/09 | Posted by MattPage | Permalink | (1) Comments

Film Review: The Invention of Lying
Jesus once said “Let your ‘yes’ be yes and your ‘no’ be no” (Matt 5:17). It’s one of those sayings that, taken absolutely literally, no-one really follows to the letter, even if it does motivate many to be more truthful.

Nonetheless, Ricky Gervais’s new film, The Invention of Lying, examines what it would be like if we lived in a world where people spoke the truth, or at least their perception of it, at all times. Colleagues constantly highlight your failings, strangers express their disgust at your physical appearance and residential care for the elderly is called “A Sad Place for Hopeless Old People”. More ...

Capitalism is “Anti-Jesus”

30/09/09 | Posted by MattPage | Permalink | (7) Comments

Michael Moore knows a thing or two about grabbing a headlines. Having pestered Charlton Heston over gun control in Bowling for Columbine and flown flown 9/11 fireman let down by US healthcare to Cuba in Sicko, he's made a controversial statement in the lead up to his next movie, Capitalism: A Love Story. More ...

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