Home > Movies
Who We Are
Christianity Today Movies is an award-winning website devoted to film reviews, interviews and commentary, all written from a biblical perspective. Our mission statement is "to inform and equip Christian moviegoers to make discerning choices about films through timely coverage, insightful reviews and interviews, educated opinion, and relevant news—all from a biblical worldview."
To read a more in-depth explanation about why we're doing this website, click here. To read our Frequently Asked Questions, click here.
Christianity Today Movies is a department of Christianity Today magazine, which is published by Christianity Today International.
Awards: Evangelical Press Association, Award of Excellence, 2005
DISCLAIMER: Articles on our website sometimes link to outside sources, including the official websites for particular films. Christianity Today Movies and CTI do not control the content of these outside sites, and we therefore do not "endorse" or necessarily agree with the content presented on such sites.
Reprints/Permissions
If you'd like to reprint anything from Christianity Today Movies, click here.
The Christianity Today Movies staff:
Mark Moring
Online Editor/Music & Film
Mark has been a film buff since his preschool days when he saw The Deadly Mantis, a 1957 black-and-white movie he now recognizes as one of those lame horror flicks best suited for Mystery Science Theater. But the film, starring a giant praying mantis that snacks on humans, gave young Mark so many nightmares that he immediately recognized the power of the silver screen. Since then, Mark has seen his favorite movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark, about 75 times. He can annoy you to death by quoting every single line of Raiders dialogue ("Asps. Very dangerous. You go first"), which proves he's really grown up. Mark, wife Nina, and sons Pete and Paul often quote movie lines during the course of their conversations at home.
Our Reviewers:
Carolyn Arends
Carolyn has a lot of skeletons in her movie closet. She's not particularly a fan of the Star Wars movies or even those Hobbit films (please don't tell the others, they'll roll their eyes and ostracize.) She can recite unseemly quantities of dialogue from a canon of tour bus classics like Tommy Boy, So I Married An Axe-Murderer and This Is Spinal Tap. She is a card-carrying fan of the Screwball Comedy (What's Up, Doc? comes to mind). Not a very promising resume for a serious film reviewer. And yet, claiming a love for language, a passion for story, and a fascination with art as the lie that makes us see the truth, Carolyn offers up her opinions on movies great and small. In addition to writing film reviews, Carolyn is a recording artist, author, wife, and mother of two young (certifiably adorable) offspring whom she blames for her love of all things Pixar. Carolyn blogs at her official website and resides in Vancouver, BC.
Russ Breimeier
Russ remembers Star Wars as the first movie he ever saw at the age of four(Dad took him out for popcorn during the scary parts). From an early age, his parents encouraged him to read the reviews of critics like Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert to help decide what movie the family would see for the weekend. It's only natural that Russ would grow up a self-proclaimed media junkie and eventually end up reviewing films. Russ' favorites include the sweeping blockbusters of the last 25 years (Indiana Jones, Star Wars), and he also enjoys looking for modern parables and Christian themes within movies.
Lisa Ann Cockrel
It's possible that Lisa's love for movies can be traced to the hot Texas summers of her youth when the coolest seat in town was at the local Cinema 6. But even though she's now living in the land of "lake effect" snow, movies continue to draw her to the local theater. Lisa's own cinematic tastes lean toward the offbeat pics like Bottle Rocket, Muriel's Wedding, Harold and Maude, and All the Real Girls. She's the managing editor for Brazos Press(all things really do go back to Texas), and her byline can be found in a number of publications including Sojourners and Today's Christian Woman.
Camerin Courtney
Perhaps because her parents got her name from a movie actor (screen star Cameron Mitchell) or because she grew up in a movie-loving family, Camerin—managing editor of Today's Christian Woman magazine—has been a movie fan for as long as she can remember. In fact, one of her favorite amenities of her suburban Chicago apartment is the art-house theater two blocks away. A fan of indie and international flicks, Camerin's friends accuse her of only watching movies with subtitles—to which she replies, "Nyet! Ce ne vrai pas." She will admit that one of her favorite movie sub-genres is quirky international flicks with dancing, a la Strictly Ballroom, Billy Elliot, and Shall We Dance?
Brandon Fibbs
Brandon took his own sweet time getting around to a life of film after first trying his hand at everything from Bible College to working on Capitol Hill to flying in the Navy. His wife refers to him as a film snob and constantly bemoans their DVD collection's distinct lack of comedies and equally troublesome overabundance of science fiction. A sucker for the epic movies of yore, Brandon's favorite film is Lawrence of Arabia. He writes weekly for the Colorado Springs Gazette and several online publications, assists with film festivals, and has taught film at the university level. He has a BA in English Literature from the University of Colorado and an MA in Cinema Studies from NYU. While he adores writing about other people's films, Brandon hopes that someday soon others will be writing about his films. Brandon, who also writes frequently for his own website, makes his home in New York City and Washington D.C.
Annie Young Frisbie
Annie Young Frisbie earned an MA in Cinema Studies at NYU while waiting on customers at the infamous Kim's Underground video store. She cleared art for Pollock, placed products for Spike Lee and Todd Haynes, and spent five weeks in Iceland on a Hal Hartley movie. She carries a WGA card and taught screenwriting to college students. She's been to Sundance twice as a journalist and once as a filmmaker. Annie would rather watch a 1950s Hollywood drama than an artsy foreign film, unless it's by Fassbinder or Visconti. She lives in Queens with gaffer husband John Frisbie and daughter Beatrice. She blogs at Reading is my Superpower and hawks her crafting wares at Trixie-Bee.
Steven D. Greydanus
Married with five kids, Steven doesn't know when he finds time to watch movies, let alone review them. Somehow he posts regularly at his Decent Films website, writes weekly for the National Catholic Register, and does a number of radio shows. He never knows what to say when people ask what his favorite films are, but touchstones of his tastes include A Man for All Seasons, The Kid Brother, My Neighbor Totoro, Diary of a Country Priest, Singin' in the Rain and The Incredibles. A member of the Faith and Film Critics Circle and the Online Film Critics Society, Steven has degrees in media arts and religious studies.
Todd Hertz
Long long ago in an Illinois town far far away, Todd saw The Empire Strikes Back in a theatre when he was only three years old. Seeing the opening Battle of Hoth—and specifically the frighteningly monstrous AT-ATs—is officially Todd's first memory of life. This set the stage for a lifetime of loving movies, and well, geekiness. Todd is an editor with Ignite Your Faith, a Christian magazine for high school students, a regular film critic for ChristianityTodayMovies.com and a TV critic for Christianity Today magazine.
Josh Hurst
Josh Hurst has been writing about film for more than a decade, so he should probably have a rehearsed answer to the question of his all-time favorite movie. As it is, it's probably a tie between the entire Pixar canon, about half of the Coen Brothers' movies, Dr. Strangelove, and the combined three seasons of Arrested Development. (That counts, right?) He can also quote the entirety of Airplane! from memory, but don't hold it against him. When he's not writing about movies, he's writing about music at The Hurst Review. He shares his cinematic expertise in "Christ and Culture" discussions at his church, and he lives and works in Charlotte, NC.
Frederica Mathewes-Green
Way back in the '70s, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, Frederica was taking courses with titles like "German Film of the 1930s." With an English major and Cinema Studies minor, her goal was to become movie critic for The Village Voice. God has a sense of humor. Today, in addition to penning reviews for CT Movies and National Review, she also writes regularly for Beliefnet.com, First Things, Books & Culture, Christianity Today, and many other publications. So far she's published 8 books, primarily about ancient Eastern Christian spirituality, and about 600 articles—most of which are posted on her website, Frederica.com (that's also where you can check her busy speaking schedule). Her favorite movie genre is dark comedy (e.g., Dr. Strangelove). She doesn't say "black comedy" any more, not since someone asked, "You mean like Spike Lee?"
Brett McCracken
Four out of Brett's five favorite films are by the same director: Terrence Malick. He also adores the films of Richard Linklater, Sofia Coppola, Jim Jarmusch, Gus Van Sant, and David Gordon Green. Brett received his BA from Wheaton College and his MA in Cinema and Media Studies from UCLA, where he edited the department's e-journal, Mediascape. He has published cultural commentaries and criticisms in several magazines and websites, and currently edits Biola Magazine at Biola University. He blogs about just about everything at The Search and is currently working on his first book--a study of "cool" Christianity and Christian hipsters.
Alissa Wilkinson
Alissa grew up watching black-and-white movies with a lot of fedora-wearing charmers. Then she moved to New York City and started dating a filmmaker, and it was all over from there. An aficianado of the French New Wave, dark humor, and quiet, quirky drama, she loves anything made by David Fincher, Noah Baumbach, P.T. Anderson, Robert Altman, or Krzysztof Kielslowski, and thinks Stranger Than Fiction is the perfect film. Alissa is working on an M.A. in culture and media studies at New York University. She is editor-in-chief of The Curator, associate editor of Comment, and on staff at International Arts Movement, and her work regularly appears in Paste and Comment. In 2006, she married the filmmaker, and they are happy Brooklynites.
Comments or questions? Send us feedback.
Browse More Movies
CT Movies Home Page | Now Showing | New on Video | All Reviews
Coming Soon | Discussion Guides | Interviews | Commentary
News & Misc. | Special Sections | About Us
Your Feedback | About Us | CT Mag Home Page
| |
|
