Category Archives: Movies

Hector lives

Posted on November 28, 2020 by hessd

There are so many things to like about Steven Spielberg, but among those I cherish his one-liner about The Terminal.  A reporter asked him whether the part of Viktor Navorski (played by Tom Hanks) was “a Christ story.”  I didn’t … Continue reading →

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The First 10 Years: Part III

Posted on May 27, 2020 by hessd

Tomorrow I am going to celebrate the tenth anniversary of this blog.  I’ve been working up to it by reflecting back over the last ten years.  This is the third and last of those essays. It doesn’t seem all that … Continue reading →

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Going uphill requires resources

Posted on February 19, 2020 by hessd

The summary I found for the recent movie, Downhill, starts like this: “Barely escaping an avalanche during a family ski vacation in the Alps, a married couple is thrown into disarray…” I don’t mean to imply that that is inaccurate, … Continue reading →

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Shared “reality”

Posted on September 27, 2019 by hessd

The Crucial Text Most of the material below has been taken from Neal Stephenson’s novel Seven Eves.  My strongest interest in this small slice of the novel is the expression with which it ends.  It is: “consensual historical hallucination.” I … Continue reading →

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God, are you still there?

Posted on April 1, 2019 by hessd

Not much of a question, from a theological point of view.  Yes.  God is still there.  A God who is everywhere is “there,” whatever you had in mind when you used that word. But the question is not very often … Continue reading →

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Let’s hear it for Iggy

Posted on February 18, 2019 by hessd

This is a celebration of Dr. Iggy Frome.  If you watch the NBC series, New Amsterdam, you already know Iggy.  He is “the psych department” at the hospital.  So far, that has mostly required him to be empathetic and cuddly, … Continue reading →

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It’s “Groundhog Day.” Again.

Posted on February 2, 2019 by hessd

I will watch Groundhog Day again on Saturday. I watch it every year. I just don’t seem to be able to help myself. (Just kidding about that last part.) In this well-known movie, Phil Connors (Bill Murray) discovers that his … Continue reading →

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On being God’s prophet

Posted on December 27, 2018 by hessd

Here is a series of reflections on the “emptying out” that so often—necessarily?—precedes the giving of God’s word to a prophet. And maybe more than a prophet, as well. Here, for instance is how Amos was called (Amos 7:14,15) 14 … Continue reading →

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A Family of Shoplifters

Posted on December 23, 2018 by hessd

I am told that is the translation of the Japanese characters for this movie. In English, the name is just Shoplifters. I like the Japanese title better because this superb movie is actually about an ensemble performance. The one line … Continue reading →

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Neaera H. comes to life

Posted on November 11, 2018 by hessd

In 1975, five years after ending the series featuring Frances the Badger, Russell Hoban wrote Turtle Diary. Turtle Diary is a book for adults—not “an adult book”—about William G and Neaera H., two losers who, in freeing some turtles from … Continue reading →

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