Living Lutheran

Caring About the Little Things In The Films of 2022

(There are some spoilers for the film The Banshees of Inisherin ahead.) Colm Doherty cares about important things. A lifelong resident of the fictional Irish island Inisherin, Colm has spent his days playing music and chatting at the pub with his best friend, Pádraic. But when stricken by existential dread—hastened in part by the 1923 Irish Civil …

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Ant-Man and God’s Great Love For The Small Ones

Ant-Man doesn’t sweat the small stuff. Even when he’s trapped in a prison cell in the mysterious other world known as the Quantum Realm, staring down his purple-and-green-suited captor, Kang the Conqueror, the superhero remains undeterred. “You’ve made a big mistake,” Ant-Man tells Kang, pausing for full effect. “I’m an Avenger.” “Oh, an Avenger,” Kang responds, …

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Living Lutheran: Privilege and Participation in The Batman

Protected by the night, a gang of street toughs bully a young initiate into attacking an innocent bystander. But as the boy hesitates and the bystander pleads for help, heavy footsteps echo from a nearby tunnel. With every step punctuated by composer Michael Giacchino’s thundering score, Batman emerges from the shadows, slowly, menacingly. “Who [are] …

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Dignity, Details, and In the Heights

Early in the screen musical In the Heights, matriarch Abuela Claudia (Olga Merediz) describes the velvet gloves her mother purchased when she immigrated from Cuba to the Manhattan barrio Washington Heights. What some might see as an unnecessary extravagance for a family struggling to make ends meet, Abuela Claudia sees as a necessary remembrance. “We had to assert …

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Living Lutheran: \”Valuing the Unvalued in the Movies of 2019\”

Like most film snobs, I\’m annoyed with this year\’s Oscar picks. Not only did the Academy choose to nominate some mediocre (if not outright bad) work, but they ignored some of the most exciting films and performances in an outstanding cinematic year.Fortunately, Living Lutheran assuaged my irritation a little by letting me write about some …

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Living Lutheran: \”Valuing the Unvalued in the Movies of 2019\”

Like most film snobs, I\’m annoyed with this year\’s Oscar picks. Not only did the Academy choose to nominate some mediocre (if not outright bad) work, but they ignored some of the most exciting films and performances in an outstanding cinematic year.Fortunately, Living Lutheran assuaged my irritation a little by letting me write about some …

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Living Lutheran: “What Incredibles 2 teaches about heroism”

There\’s been a lot written about the Randian undertones in Brad Bird\’s movies, particularly The Incredibles. The sequel Incredibles 2 is a bit more blurry in its messaging, but one thing is clear: the movie worries that everyday people too quickly live vicariously through famous or \”great\” people. From Screenslaver\’s monologue to Mr. Incredible\’s storyline …

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