In an excerpt from his new book, Through a Screen Darkly, CT Movies critic Jeffrey Overstreet tells how certain films opened his eyes wider than ever, enabling him to look closer than ever before.

Three documentaries—highlighting hymns, hillbillies, and African AIDS orphans—bring cultures and conflict to life through music.

Christian Frank Peretti hands in less-than-horrifying Hangman's Curse. In The Fighting Temptations and Matchstick Men, a choir director and a con artist clean up their acts, but Christian press critics are more impressed with Lost in Translation. Plus: Reviews of Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, The Order, The Gospel of John, Cabin Fever, Thirteen, and more.

News comes in on "the most spiritual film of all time," the Best of 2003, and The Passion of The Christ. A pregnant teen is persecuted by gay-hating evangelical Christians in Saved! Religious press critics review The Big Bounce and The Perfect Score, and You Got Served, examine new DVD releases, consider nudity in Calendar Girls, argue over The Butterfly Effect, and highlight themes in Oscar-nominated films.

Christian critics respond to the unflattering satire Saved! Plus: Reviews of The Day After Tomorrow, Raising Helen, Soul Plane, and continuing reviews of Shrek 2 and Super Size Me, and Troy, plus a critical look at the way the press handled The Passion of The Christ.

What Christian critics are saying about Garfield, The Stepford Wives, and The Chronicles of Riddick. Plus more on Harry Potter, Saved!, and To End All Wars.

Paparazzi makes a hero out of a photographer-killer. Plus: Vanity Fair, Wicker Park, Danny Deckchair, The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi, The Cookout, and more reviews of Hero and Before Sunset.

Woman, Thou Art Loosed scores with moviegoers, while Shark Tale flounders, I ♥ Huckabees philosophizes, and Ladder 49 burns brightly. Plus, more reviews of Wimbledon, The Forgotten, Mean Creek, and Silver City.

Opening nationwide next week, the Paul Weitz comedy stars Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace and Scarlett Johansson. We had a chance to catch up with them at a recent press event in L.A.

Critics consider Coach Carter, Racing Stripes, and Elektra, as well as The Merchant of Venice, Bad Education, A Love Song for Bobby Long, and Les Choristes. Plus: More reviews of In Good Company, White Noise, Million Dollar Baby, and Hotel Rwanda.

Christian critics mixed on The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy but slam XXX: State of the Union; plus, more perspectives on Dear Frankie, The Interpreter, and Melinda and Melinda.

Christian film critics attack, defend Star Wars: Episode III—;Revenge of the Sith, and review Kicking and Screaming, Unleashed, Monster-in-Law, Mindhunters. Plus, more reviews of Kingdom of Heaven and Crash

Hostel hurts, Grandma's Boy is wasted, BloodRayne's dead on arrival, The Ringer is OK, and Christian film critics are still considering Brokeback Mountain, Munich, King Kong, Memoirs of a Geisha, and The Gospel.

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu wins year-end raves, but who saw it? Plus, reviews of God Grew Tired of Us, The Hitcher, and additional reviews of Pan's Labyrinth, Miss Potter, Letters from Iwo Jima, The Good German, Thr3e, and Primeval.

Pop culture analyst Craig Detweiler says Christians are long past merely trying to get a foot in the door in the film industry. Now that they've got a seat at the table, where do they go from here?

Thanks to a film distributor called Film Movement, you too can discover rare and foreign cinematic treats like The Island and many more.

Critics continue to throw punches over The Passion of The Christ. Christian film critics find Hidalgo ho-hum, take The Reckoning seriously, debate Starsky and Hutch, shoot Club Dread dead, and hang ABC's TV movie Judas.

Kill Bill Vol. 2 and The Punisher indulge audience appetites for violence, while Connie and Carla "validate" homosexual behavior. Plus more reviews of Hellboy, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, the Matrix trilogy, and The Gospel of John.

Christian film critics are divided over King Arthur, unite against Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, and disapprove of Sleepover. Plus: More on Fahrenheit 9/11, Spider-Man 2, and America's Heart and Soul.