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I don't think every single Christian needs to become a full-time film critic. But just as film critics can benefit from good advice about nutrition and exercise, I'll bet most athletes could stand to learn a thing or two about conscientious moviegoing. In the years I've spent chronicling Christian engagement with film, it's been discouraging to see how so much of that engagement has been characterized by contempt, arrogance, and ignorance. If we do come to the table to discuss movies, I would hope that our contribution would surprise people with depth, insight, humility, and grace.

You're pretty critical of Christians who object to Hollywood's immorality. If so many people are bothered by your positive reviews of films with nudity, profanity, or violence, don't you think you have something to learn from them?

Most of the letters I receive are very familiar to me. I used to write angry letters just like them.

I do not regularly recommend films that have nudity, profanity, or violence. I write reviews so that readers can think about the work for themselves. When it comes to R-rated material, I hope to help readers consider if violence, profanity, or sexual misbehavior is being glamorized or merely portrayed, exploited or presented in a meaningful way.

We live in an R-rated world, and a lot of movies reflect back to us what is happening all around us. If I am recommending films by irresponsible artists who are glorifying bad behavior, then take away my critic's license. But if I am sifting through the good and bad of a film, equipping readers to proceed with care and conscience, then I'm doing my job.

I still have things to learn about being a responsible, conscientious critic. But I have no doubt that we've got to get past this judgmental stage, this habit of standing at a distance and pointing fingers. We should be examples of attentiveness, compassion, and grace.

When people outside of the Christian community are asked about Christian engagement with film, they think of people with picket signs, protesting and complaining and accusing filmmakers and moviegoers.

Is that an accurate perception or a stereotype?

It's a bit of both. From the e-mail beatings I take every week from other Christians, I can tell you that the negative stereotypes we see on TV and at the movies are not exaggerations. I've lost track of how many times I've been informed that I am not saved and that I am not really a Christian.

On the other hand, people who don't want to deal with the promises and claims of Christ will jump at opportunities to label and stereotype Christians. They'll smirk when a Christian says something foolish, and they'll throw a party when a church leader is disgraced. Christians who speak up with wisdom and integrity are rarely acknowledged in the mainstream media.

What should a good movie do?

A good film will be an exquisitely crafted expression of a particular experience. It will invite us into someone's creative expression, so that we can think it over and discuss it. And a good moviemaker will avoid including anything gratuitous, anything that isn't a meaningful part of the whole. That kind of art cannot help but present us with beauty and truth, to some extent.

A good movie will reflect the world we live in, even if it does so through the imagination of fantasy or the deliberate distortions of comedy, so that we understand it better. A good movie is truthful—whether the subject is something beautiful or something terrible, whether it's an inspiring story of a virtuous hero or a troubling story about bad choices and painful consequences.

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February (Web-only) 2007, Vol. 51