Comedian Eddie Izzard plays the voice of talking mouse, Reepicheep, in the upcoming The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian movie. Izzard had this to say about his character:

I realized that he has always been recorded in a high, slightly camp voice because of the overt language that he uses and his chivalrous nature, but actually he is a murderous little so-and-so of a mouse. I see him as the Mad Max of mice.

You can read the whole interview with Izzard here.

Countdown to Caspian:

Click here for more Narnia and Caspian related posts.
Click here for Narnia sermon series.

Updated with new links:

Ben Stein’s new movie, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, came out this weekend, and the reviews are all over the map. Here is a roundup of links both positive and negative, and somewhere in between!

The Good:

• Christianity Today: Interview with Ben Stein and Review by Mark Moring
• Darrell Bock: About Expelled and Comments on Reviews
• Expelled Website: Endorsements by Leaders

The Bad:

• Christ and Pop Culture: Expelled: Anyone Listening? Anyone? Anyone?
• Christians in Cinema BLOG: Lessons in Public Relations – Part III
• Reasons to Believe: RTB Scholars Expound on Expelled

The Ugly:

• Orlando Sentinel: Is Ben Stein the new face of Creationism?
• Scientific American: Ben Stein Launches a Science-free Attack on Darwin
• The Boston Globe: Trouble Ahead for Science

Have you seen the movie? What did you think?

Check out the new behind the scenes video for the upcoming movie: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

Behind the Scenes: “Prince Caspian: Return to Narnia”
(Video length: 2:46)

Countdown to Caspian:

Click here for more Narnia and Caspian related posts.
Click here for Narnia sermon series.

HT: NarniaWeb

Here are some sneak-peek photos from the upcoming movie: The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

                                          Lucy on the Beach
 

                                        Trumpkin on the Beach
 

                                      Caspian Fighting a Telmarine

Want more? Head on over to NarniaWeb to view these photos and more in high resolution. And remember – the Prince Caspian movie is only away!

Click here for more Narnia and Caspian related posts.
Click here for Narnia sermon series.

“The Messiah” is a new movie from Iran depicting the life of Jesus from an Islamic perspective. Unfortunately, the Islamic perspective changes some crucial details concerning the person and work of Christ. Here are some excerpts from an interview between ABC’s Lara Setrakian and Iranian filmmaker Nader Talebzadeh:

LS: What are the key differences between Jesus through Islam’s eyes and Jesus through the traditional Christian perspective?

NT: We are talking about the same beautiful man, the same beautiful prophet, the same divine person sent from heaven. In the Koran, it emphasizes maybe three main points: about the birth, about the fact that he was not the son of God, and then, that he was not crucified. The rest is [the same] Jesus … the sermons, and the miracles, and the political situation …

LS: While production on this movie was happening, Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ” came out. What did you learn from watching that film?

NT: We were almost finished filming when Mel Gibson started shooting. I saw the film, and it’s the first time the Gospel of John has ever been depicted. It was nice. But it was the wrong story. In my film, I respect that common belief with all the good intentions the Christians have … according to what Islam says. Yet, Jesus, at the night of the last supper, ascends to heaven [without being crucified]. A beautiful man, a beautiful prophet. Why should he be bloodied that way?

LS: What kind of response have you gotten from Christians? What kind of feedback and interchange has there been since the movie was released?

NT: Many thought this film is a good step for serious inter-religious dialogue. Many of them liked it — seeing the Koran-based ending. And I was very happy that the practicing Christians were very happy with the film. I have never found one case among practicing Christians who are offended [by the movie].

I am amazed that Talebzadeh says he did not find one practicing Christian who was offended by his movie that denies two of the most central beliefs of Christianity: that Jesus is the Son of God and that he died on the cross for sin. Perhaps he needs to ask around a bit more.

HT: Neatorama

NarniaWeb received the following message from Douglas Gresham about the recent test screening for the Prince Caspian movie:

Taking a break from working on Dawn Treader and other projects, I attended the test screening and I think that the team has done a fabulous job on Prince Caspian, starting with a less good story, our team has produced an even better movie than LWW. I must be perhaps the severest critic of all, and I like this movie very much!

There are other rumors and reviews from the test screening at NarniaWeb, but click at your own risk, because there are all sorts of potential plot spoilers over there!

Click here for more Narnia and Caspian related posts.
Click here for Narnia sermon series.

Behold, Jeremy Kipnis’ $6 million home theater system. Powered by 35 amplifiers with a combined 11,315 watts, the Kipnis system has 3 center-channel speakers, 8 reference towers, 10 super tweeters and 16 subwoofers. The video is projected onto a giant 18-by-10-foot laboratory-grade motion picture screen.

If King Solomon were alive today, he would definitely have one of these. And after three months of watching movies in it, he would write up the following review for Popular Mechanics:

“All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing … I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 1:8,14)

I know, negative take. But as much as I love movies and technology, this just seems way over the top to me.

HT: Neatorama

(Video length: 0:37)

Related posts:

• Philosophy Lessons from the Movie Groundhog Day
• Somebody Shoot the Groundhog (one of my crankier posts)

“Once again the eyes of the nation have turned here to this … tiny village in western Pennsylvania. Bla-bla-bla-bla-bla! There is no way … that this winter … is ever going to end … as long as this groundhog keeps seeing his shadow! I dont see any other way out. He’s got to be stopped. And I have to stop him.” (Phil Connors/Bill Murray, “Groundhog Day”)

Update: Wouldn’t you know it? The rascally rodent saw his shadow and predicted six more weeks of winter. Say it isn’t so, Phil!

Michael P. Foley has a great article in Touchstone Magazine exploring some of the philosophical aspects of the movie Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell. Ranging from Nietzsche to Machiavelli and Aristotle to Augustine, Foley examines the movie from the vantage point of both philosophy and theology. Here is my favorite excerpt:

Throughout the movie, the groundhog seems to function as Phil’s nonhuman doppelganger. Both are weathermen and they share the same name. Phil suspects a link but wrongly concludes that as long as Phil the groundhog sees his shadow, he will be doomed to relive February 2nd. (This initiates a tragicomic incident in which he kills himself and the groundhog.) But what we eventually come to realize is that it is not Phil the groundhog’s shadow that proves crucial, it is Phil the man’s. As long as Phil wakes up in the morning and sees his shadow, there will be for him more winter, more of the same. But if he awakes without a shadow, he will be given spring, new life.

What is Phil Connors’s “shadow”? It is his vices, his bad habits and sinful ways that detract from and diminish his God-given goodness. The equation of shadow with vice is apposite, since both are, in St. Augustine’s terms, a privation: Shadows are a privation of light, and evil and vice are a privation of the good. Significantly, when one of the townies hears Phil Connors’s name, he teases him with the admonition, “Watch out for your shadow there, pal!” And significantly, the townie’s name is Gus—short, of course, for Augustine.

Great stuff! If you enjoy this movie, definitely check the whole article out.

Related posts:

• Happy Groundhog Day!
• Somebody Shoot the Groundhog (one of my crankier posts)

For well over a year now two different formats have been competing for the high-definition DVD market. Sony has been pushing its Blu-Ray format in competition against the HD-DVD format. Remembering the old VHS vs. Betamax battles, wary consumers have been waiting to see which format will emerge as the standard. Sony lost the Beta battle back in the 1980′s, but with the help of their PlayStation 3, it looks like they may have won the battle for Blu-Ray.

Two news stories this week seem to point the way forward for Blu-Ray over HD-DVD.

First off, Warner Home Video anounced last Friday that they will begin to support the Blu-Ray Disc format exclusively starting in May. That leaves only Universal Home Video and Paramount Home Video in the HD-DVD only camp. Warner now joins Sony Home Entertainment, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, MGM Home Entertainment, Buena Vista Home Entertainment and Lionsgate in the Blu-Ray camp.

Then, yesterday, New Line Home Entertainment and HBO Home Video also declared their support for Blu-Ray, dropping HD-DVD support for their titles. That, coupled with the Warner announcement, could mean the beginning of the end for HD-DVD.

I know there are some people who feel passionately about one format over the other. I am not one of them. I have just been curiously watching to see which side will eventually win out. The momentum definitely just turned in the favor of Blu-Ray this week.

Marc T. Newman (Ph.D., MovieMinistry.com) presents his list of 15 movies to see in 2008.

Instead of looking behind, I prefer to look ahead at films that might represent interesting ministry opportunities for those people who use film for outreach, or to create teachable moments … Keep in mind that I have yet to see any of these films. The speculations built into this preview are based solely on articles that have appeared about these films, their trailers, and plot synopses … Keep in mind, also, that release dates are always subject to change by the studios, and many of these films are yet to be rated.

So, here are MovieMinistry’s Fifteen Films to Look for in 2008 (Click on the link to read Marc’s synopses and commentary for each of the films.)

1. VeggieTales Presents The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything – January 11
2. Penelope – February 29
3. Horton Hears a Who! — March 14
4. Inkheart – March 21
5. Iron Man – May 2
6. The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian – May 16
7. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – May 23
8. The Incredible Hulk – June 13
9. WALL-E – June 27
10. Hancock – July 2
11. The Dark Knight — July 18th
12. X-Files Sequel – July 25
13. Valkyrie – October 3
14. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – November 21
15. Star Trek XI– December 25

Some of these I knew about, some of them are new to me. The ones I am most looking forward to are: Prince Caspian, Indiana Jones, The Dark Knight (Batman sequel), X-Files, and Star Trek XI. How about you?

Woo-hoo! The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything: A Veggie Tales Movie opens in theaters this Friday, January 11, 2008. Here is a quick preview of the song, “Rock Monster” to whet your appetite.

(Video length: 2:04)

Go Veggie Pirates! Watch out for Evil Cheese! Don’t worry, Jack Sparrow (whoops, I’m sorry, that’s “Captain” Jack Sparrow) ain’t got nothing on you!

HT: GoodWordEditing