By Jacob Sahms Opening with a quiet morning in Ghouta, the scene quickly changes as missiles connect, hitting the ground and buildings. The stillness in Damascus is replaced with a sense of dread, of debris, of smoke, and of death. This is the reality for Syrians in the midst of a civil war that threatens […]
By Jacob Sahms Don’t get me wrong: Robert Downey Jr.’s Dolittle is significantly more entertaining and enjoyable than its 18% score on Rotten Tomatoes would lead you to believe. But the film’s messages, about working with others who are different from you and overcoming the insurmountable wall of grief, provide a substantial pool of issues to reflect […]
By Jacob Sahms Over thirty-three acres of sprawling gardens, Bristol, Rhode Island’s Blithewold is known for its three-hundred species of trees and the historic mansion of Augustus Van Wickle, overlooking Narragansett Bay. But twenty years ago, at a Shakespearean performance, the sword fight that occurred on stage captured the attention of one young woman and […]
By Jacob Sahms It’s a new year, and suddenly the world is on fire, and not in a good way. There are continent-threatening fires in Australia with two-thousand homes destroyed and 130 fires still burning. A sudden conflict with Iran leads to the expulsion of American forces. A will-they-or-won’t-they impeachment hangs like a cloud over Washington. […]
By Jacob Sahms It’s been thirty-plus years since I ran around the playground with my friends, creating new worlds in the Star Wars universe, battling villains like Boba Fett and Darth Vader. Good guys were good guys (I was Luke; my friends were Han, Leia, Chewie, and others); bad guys were definitively bad; the world […]
By Jace Schwartz I purchased Star Wars tickets for the last time a few weeks ago. More spin-offs will come, and with Disney+ in my pocket, I’m sure there will be no shortage of TIE fighters and X-wings in my life, but on December 19th, 2019, I will sit among fellow fans to see the […]
By Jacob Sahms The theological depth of Harriet provides open ground for exploration and discussion as the audience tracks the journey of Harriet Tubman, originally Minty Ross, from slavery in Dorchester, Maryland, to becoming a freer of slaves. While the opening scenes show us the unjust delivery of the law in cases where the plantations […]
And the Winner Is! We were thrilled to be part of the 50th Anniversary of the GMA Dove Awards last week. We have a close relationship with this great organization; so close we’re often confused as twins. Dove celebrates the success of faith-oriented films in 2019, and we’re thrilled to honor Breakthrough as the winner of […]
Suzy Sammons, Exec Editor Rita Wilson was born to be in Hollywood. Actually she was born in Hollywood. She has brought star power to theater, cinema and television, she’s a published journalist and now a popular singer-songwriter. It’s easy to find headlines about her and Tom Hank’s admirable marriage and family life. One of my […]
By Jacob Sahms The story of Phil Vischer and Veggietales is a comeback story. In the late 1980s, Vischer and his friend Mike Nawrocki founded Big Idea Productions, aimed at using the Bible to teach children. By 1993, they had released the direct-to-DVD episode of Veggietales, “Where is God When I’m S-Scared?” Following over the […]