Category Archives: Movie Reviews

Birdman: We Want To Be Known (Movie Review)

Posted on January 23, 2015 by Jacob Sahms

Birdman or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance is Alejandro González Iñárritu’s (21 Grams, Babel, Biutiful) love/hate letter to the movie industry, a mixture of satirical send-up and insightful soul-searching that hinges on the legend of Michael Keaton. Keaton, who reportedly walked away from sequels to … Continue reading →

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New Rating System For Reviews (Movies, Books, TV)

Posted on January 22, 2015 by Jacob Sahms

This is one of those boring but necessary occasional posts that only the most avid readers of the blog will care about… if any! But I’m unleashing a new review system and will be tweaking it (if necessary) over the … Continue reading →

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American Sniper: The Costs of War (Movie Review)

Posted on January 17, 2015 by Jacob Sahms

War films have been a staple of American cinema for years. Director Clint Eastwood has even starred in a few of those films himself… but his directorial look at war has a different vantage point (Gran Turino, Flags of Our … Continue reading →

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Selma: It’s Still A Struggle (Movie Review)

Posted on January 13, 2015 by Jacob Sahms

The quiet chatter of four small girls seconds before the church explodes in flames. Matthew 6:26 whispered in a prison cell to remind Martin Luther King that God had a plan for him. The charging shadow of a state trooper … Continue reading →

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Taken 3: Spoofing Liam Neeson (Movie Review)

Posted on January 10, 2015 by Jacob Sahms

Sometimes, you just need to know when to quit. Especially when it comes to movie sequels. Spiderman 3. Rush Hour 2. Any Matrix movie after the first one. But after the disappointment that was the too-focused-on-Famke Janssen and Maggie Grace sequel to the … Continue reading →

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Unbroken: A Second Look (Movie Review)

Posted on January 8, 2015 by Jacob Sahms

A month after seeing Unbroken for the first time, I went back with a group of folks from church to see what new insights I might glean from director Angelina Jolie’s cinematic translation of Laura Hillenbrand’s bestseller Unbroken: A World War II Story … Continue reading →

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The Good Lie: Substitionary Atonement (DVD Review)

Posted on January 2, 2015 by Jacob Sahms

In Huckleberry Finn, Huck lies to keep the ex-slave Jim from being discovered and recaptured. This is a “good lie,” one which doesn’t actually benefit Huck but which is committed selflessly to protect someone else. It’s the ‘hook’ or spin of … Continue reading →

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My [Definitive] Best Of 2014 (Movies, Books, & TV)

Posted on December 29, 2014 by Jacob Sahms

One friend challenged me to read fifty books this year; another asked me what my movie-to-book ratio was- said there was no way I actually read that many books with the movies I review regularly. So this year, I kept … Continue reading →

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Unbroken: Surviving The Darkness (or, How Angelina Jolie Made A Movie About Faith) (Movie Review)

Posted on December 21, 2014 by Jacob Sahms

Louie Zamperini’s troubled childhood was saved by competitive running, a winding road that led to racing in the Olympics (Germany, 1936). But World War II tabled his running career, and after forty-seven days adrift at sea, internment in a Japanese prisoner of war … Continue reading →

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Exodus Gods & Kings: Aiming For Greatness (Movie Review)

Posted on December 17, 2014 by Jacob Sahms

Exodus Gods & Kings was one of those ‘no-brainer’ films for me: it involved my favorite Old Testament figure and it was directed by Ridley Scott (Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, Prometheus, Kingdom of Heaven, Robin Hood, etc.) A dozen brave souls … Continue reading →

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