Wow. Just ... wow.

In the film October Baby, the main character develops a sudden illness that may have congenital origins, discovers she is adopted, and goes searching for her birth mother - only to find she was the survivor of a failed abortion attempt.

Shari Rigby, the actress cast in the role of the birth mother had - unbeknownst to anyone but her husband and closest friends - deeply personal connections to the film's story.

An incredibly touching encounter. Thanks, God.

Film - The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (B-)

Starring William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, Georgie Henley, Ben Barnes, Peter Dinklage, Eddie Izzard, Liam Neeson.
Written by Stephen McFeely.
Directed by Andrew Adamson.

PG for epic battle action and violence

Having enjoyed the first Narnia film, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, I had eagerly awaited Prince Caspian. Being a huge fan of author C. S. Lewis, I had the same trepidation I'd had with the first installment over the filmmakers' faithfulness to the original material.

Well, the book had maybe one fight in it and one battle. This movie has about a hundred fights and a half dozen battles. I don't think a single solitary scene went by in which someone didn't either draw a weapon or hit someone or both. It has little or no blood in it but the body count is as great or greater than that in Braveheart. Even the swashbuckling mouse, Reepicheep, cracks jokes then kills his opponents by cutting their throats. The kids in the audience are busy chuckling during the slashing bit, though, so I suppose it's all good. A decapitation replete with rolling head in another scene, however, offers no such distractions.

I've got no trouble with all this on the face of it. It's a sword and sorcery war movie, essentially. Soldiers die in these things. But this movie is marketed primarily to children and Disney and the MPAA are blatantly gaming the ratings system by not assigning this a PG-13 - blood or no blood.

Film - Blue Like Jazz movie news

Jazzed About the Big Screen - CT.com

Essayist Donald Miller's best-selling book Blue Like Jazz has been adapted into a screenplay, with The Second Chance director Steve Taylor at the helm - and both men are pretty excited about it. - More >

I love Donald Miller's witty, disarmingly honest writing and Steve Taylor's satirical, iconoclastic music and film direction. This should be a terrific team-up. And a Christian movie I can be excited to tell my friends about.

Books - CT's 100 Great Books of the 20th Century

Here is a "required" reading list for Christians, according to the editors, staff, and contributors to Christianity Today magazine. These are books that had the most significant impact on Christian theology, practice, and devotion in the 20th century. Many were, and are, controversial. Some were not written by Christians but still had a dramatic influence on Christian perception of faith and society.

I've read seven of them over the years, started three, and own ten others, so I'd best get crackin'.

I've provided Amazon links for the Top 10. The Other 90 are in the first comment.

THE TOP 10

1. C. S. Lewis - Mere Christianity
"The best case for the essentials of orthodox Christianity in print." - David S. Dockery

2. Dietrich Bonhoeffer - The Cost of Discipleship
"Leaves you wondering why you ever thought complacency or compromise in the Christian life was an option." - Mark Buchanan

3. Karl Barth - Church Dogmatics
"Opened a new era in theology in which the Bible, Christ, and saving grace were taken seriously once more." - J. I. Packer

4. J. R. R. Tolkien - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
"A classic for children from 9 to 90. Bears constant re-reading." - J. I. Packer

5. John Howard Yoder - The Politics of Jesus
"Some 30 years after this book was published, the church has found itself culturally in a more marginal position, and this book is making wider and wider sense." - Rodney Clapp

6. G.K. Chesterton - Orthodoxy
"A rhetorically inventive exposition of the coherence of Christian truth." - David Neff

7. Thomas Merton - The Seven Storey Mountain
"A painfully candid story of one Christian soul's walk with grace and struggle, it has become the mark against which all other spiritual autobiographies must be measured." - Phyllis Tickle

8. Richard Foster - Celebration of Discipline
"After Foster finishes each spiritual discipline, you not only know what it is, why it's important, and how to do it—you want to do it." - Mark Buchanan

9. Oswald Chambers - My Utmost for His Highest
"A treasury of daily devotional readings that has fed the souls of millions of Christians in the twentieth century. Future generations of Christians must continue to draw from this treasury." - Richard J. Mouw

10. Reinhold Niebuhr - Moral Man and Immoral Society
"Introduced a breathtakingly insightful, shrewd, and cunning realism about human sin, especially in its social expressions,
rooted in biblical theology and a penetrating appraisal of the dark era into which the Western world had entered." - David P. Gushee

The other 90 are listed in Comments.

CD/DVD - Greatest Hits Special Edition (A-)

Artist: Amy Grant
Buy it

This compilation was not exactly necessary. Grant's last greatest hits album came out only three years ago. It's primary purpose is as a sampler of the brighter sound of her recently recently reissued, newly remastered back catalog. There are two different versions of this set running around: A straightforward CD version and a CD/DVD Special Edition. This review is of the latter.

I am an Amy completist, so I already own every song and music video on this special edition set. It's difficult for me to judge the strength of the track selection because even though I love them all, there are dozens of favorite songs that aren't on it. That's just going to happen when trying to boil 30 years and 20-odd albums down into 19 songs.

I will say to the new or casual fan who is looking for a greatest hits CD to start their AG collection that this is a pretty good place to start. Her first compilation, The Collection was a good, relatively deep summation of Amy's purely Contemporary Christian period and is a great choice for those who want to focus solely on that era. Greatest Hits 1986-2004 covers her crossover and pop hit periods fairly well.

This CD is an extremely broad sampling of both eras but skews to the lite pop - with better remastered sound quality for current systems. The mix of cheery 70s-style acoustics and string sections with 80s synthesizers and 90s adult pop can be a bit jarring but it's all part of Amy's growth over the decades. My only real gripe is the underrepresentation of her introspective and gut-wrenchingly honest work from Lead Me On and Behind the Eyes, which may be regarded by posterity as her two best albums.

The greatest benefit (for new Amy fans and old) of this 2-disc Special Edition - in my humble opinion - is the nearly half hour of interview footage she provides (Preview). Just sitting on the couch with a mug of coffee, reminiscing and vividly describing the hows and whys of the peaks and valleys of her recording career and her life, Amy demonstrates exactly why she has touched audiences and made devoted fans for three decades. It's nearly impossible not to like such an earthy, gentle person who is openly alloyed with the wonderment and messiness of real life. She's like an ideal next door neighbor that you'd love to sit around and discuss life, love, and faith with. And in some ways we already have because it's all there in her songs.

CD - Time Again ... Live (B+)

Artist: Amy Grant
Buy it

And the kids wonder why she's still a dominant force in Christian music, even though she hasn't had a number one pop hit in years. Well, Grant has a back catalog of 200-plus quality, honest, lived-in songs and a charming and lovably unadorned "Ideal Friend" public persona that no other CCM artist can touch. And she's always been a formidable vocal stylist. That's why.

As others have noted, her singing and songwriting abilities were frequently overlooked because of her unmatched popularity and her looks. But time has proven her impressively capable in both arenas. In fact, some of her lyrics are revealed as prescient and are even more powerful as she (actually, we) go through midlife. Her voice? Possibly the easiest to listen to for extended periods that I've ever heard. Historically gentle and flawed but packed with emotional precision. Sandi Patti may have been the premiere Christian vocalist in the 1980s but Amy Grant was the impassioned voice of everyone's hopes and doubts.

Appearing in the same city (but not the same venue!) where she gave her first professional concert 29 years ago, Grant is light years removed from that gawky, whispery teenaged girl hiding behind a guitar on a Fort Worth stage in 1978. Still sweet and self-effacing, she's an accomplished musician and a confident entertainer joyfully leading a band instead of being instructed by one. [Side note: Yes. We're that old.]

A word of caution: If you're fixated on being able to sing along note-for-note with these classic songs, you may be in for a disappointment with this 17-song live set. Not only have the arrangements and instrumentation of her older synth-pop tunes been altered for a casual stripped-down feel but Amy is more experimental in her phrasing these days. If you appreciate the Frank Sinatra/Willie Nelson school of reinterpretation with each performance, you'll love this set. If you're interested in a perfectly recreated nostalgia session, not so much.

The constraints of the single-CD format cause some of Amy's trademark just-folks banter and pindrop-quiet stories of the superior DVD presentation to be lost. The cheerful stage presence that masks some of her vocal missteps isn't there to help her, either. A few very good songs are left out. I'd recommend getting the DVD, too, if you can afford both. But this is a good audio version for the car and iPod.

Final score: B plus

DVD - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (A+)

Starring Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold, and Thomas Mitchell
Screenplay by Sidney Buchman based on a story by Lewis Foster
Directed by Frank Capra

This is my favorite film of all time. I watch it every election eve.

It paints a surprisingly frank picture of the ugly nature of politics and begs for just one honest man to make a difference. James Stewart is flawless and absolutely irreplacable as that man - Jeff Smith. The stellar Capra stable of players from Jean Arthur to Edward Arnold to H. B. Warner are pitch perfect. But my special favorite may in fact be Claude Rains, who plays an honest man gone bad with such conflict and realism that he makes a potentially cartoon "villain" feel all the more palpably plausible. This is why "Mr. Smith" may be the ne plus ultra of idealistic films but it is not unrealistic. And I have yet to see any film sustain a half hour that matches this film's third act - the filibuster - in intensity and exaltation.

It's interesting to see how many amateur reviews reveal the film as a Rorschach test for viewers' political leanings. One sees it as taking a stand against the liberal Democrats in power at the time, another as raising an alarm against Republican business interests controlling corrupt politicians. That's funny, because I always thought the film was FOR something, that it was a monument to the American ideals of truth, justice, equality, and the common good - regardless of party.

One more thing: It disheartens me to hear comments about how "cheesy" this film is and how all the manners and idioms of 1939 make it unwatchable. I think these folks are incapable of appreciating any culture but their own. They would probably go to Spain and make fun of people that speak Spanish. Even though it's set in the US, this movie takes place in a different culture: Depression-era America. Back then, people knew when you were "full of hooey" and called you a "crackpot" to let you know it. That may sound funny to some today but our current slang will probably sound even worse in 70 years.

Final score: A+

Book - Blue Like Jazz (B+)

Author: Donald Miller

Though I don't see eye-to-eye with Don Miller on everything, I can't help but like the guy. He is so candid about his thought life, his doubts, his shortcomings, his vices, and his all-around goofiness that he's like a favorite cousin you find both cool and amusingly befuddling.

Miller's self-deprecating wit, his conversational style, and his arms-length relationship with his evangelical background are his trademarks. Most of the chapters in "Jazz" are about mini-epiphanies he's had along his spiritual journey. You feel like he's hanging out with you at dusk, sitting on the hood of a car, swapping life stories and wondering about why crap works the way it does. It's like he circles around things in life until it dawns on him that - even though its representatives are often lame and its concepts seem outdated - Christian spirirtuality actually had the answers he was looking for.

Even though he tries to maintain a fairly liberal and liberated life, deep down he's fairly orthodox in his beliefs. He just doesn't dress them up in 19th century traditions, rules and regulations, and both fear- and comfort-based judgmentalism.

Take it out for a spin.

Final score: B+

DVD - The Best of Janet Paschal (A-)

I'm not a huge fan of the genre but I have a genuine appreciation for Southern Gospel, not least because of my childhood exposure to it. Well, in my limited experience, one of the greatest vocalists ever across any style is Janet Paschal. She has been a favorite of mine since the early 1980s when she toured with tenor John Starnes in Jimmy Swaggart's band. Within a few years she went entirely solo and soon became (and remains) a fixture in uberproducer Bill Gaither's series of video specials. This DVD is a collection of Paschal's most popular moments from those shows over the past two decades.

Paschal has always been a much better performer live than she is in the studio. The audience and the opportunity to physically embody the song for them energize her in ways that a sound-proofed room could never do. And at the half-century mark, she still has the broadest smile and her eyes still have the brightest sparkle I've ever seen onstage.

Between songs, Gaither and Pashcal discuss her feelings for each song and they share memories of the Homecoming tours. Gaither reiterates her reputation as a perpetually positive and thoughtful person and she giggles in response. In an understated moment, Janet also recounts her recent battle with breast cancer and her tortuous rounds of intensive chemotherapy. She has been cancer-free for a year or so and is now touring again.

Here, in a low-quality version of a highlight from the early '90s, Janet floors George Younce, Jessy Dixon, Vestal Goodman and a host of other Gospel legends with a gotta-shout, gotta-dance rendition of "Born Again". If this don't light your fire, your wood's wet!



In this clip, she acts as worship leader to the Homecoming team and ends in a moving duet with gospel pioneer Vestal Goodman.



If I have any complaint, it's that the second half of the disc contains virtually no uptempo numbers and this breaks up the rhythm of the package.

Final score: A minus

DVD - Christy: The Complete Series (A)

Starring Kellie Martin, Tyne Daly, Randall Batinkoff, Stewart Finlay-McLennan, Tess Harper
Buy it

Synopsis: Based on the bestseller by Catherine Marshall, Christy tells the story of an idealistic nineteen year old who leaves the comforts of her city home to teach school in an impoverished Appalachian community in 1912.

Upon viewing this series again for the first time in more than a decade, I was reminded anew of how much I deeply loved and respected it and how bitterly disappointed I was that it was cancelled after one season. I had forgotten just how much I missed it.

On its surface, 'Christy' looked like a simple attempt by CBS to recreate the alchemy of its hugely successful hit 'Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman,' with frontier family drama, a benevolent-fish-out-of-water heroine, and a dash of romance. But it ended up being a great deal more than that. It took those elements and added two other critical ingredients. One is well-worn in television storytelling, the other treated like the third rail of commercial TV.

The series was extremely conscientious about treating the denizens of the fictional mountain community of Cutter Gap with respect and dignity even as it showed the negative side of their almost feral life. Christy Huddleston was constantly learning not to condescend to them, even though many of their ways were not only backward but patently self-destructive, even deadly. She consistently learned as much from them as they did from her.

Most surprisingly, the series addressed religion in an adult manner, making it an organic part of the story rather than a theme to visit every so often. Christy teaches school to the mountain children as part of her service as a Christian missionary. She and the other missionaries speak of God as a matter of course and discuss their faith in honest, practical terms. They have faults and address them inconsistently but determinedly. The agnostic local doctor frequently confronts them with questions (some honest, some not) about their beliefs and motives and they respond honestly, sometimes learning more about themselves and their faith in the process, and frequently give the doctor something to chew on as well. And unlike most television Christians, they discover the error of preachiness without recanting the truth they were preaching. This balanced, faith-with-boots-on approach was bracingly refreshing and downright exciting in 1994. Recent attempts to 'humanize' religious characters by essentially making them act like agnostics (Aaron Sorkin, take note) get it all wrong. 'Christy' got it as close to right as I've seen yet.

Enough praise cannot be heaped on the then-19-year-old Kellie Martin, who carried the series with the aplomb of someone twice her age. She makes Christy not only adorable but admirable. And Tyne Daly, who won another Emmy for this role, is a constant treat.

My only qualms with this release echo everyone else's. Double-sided discs are a huge no-no. Handling them with care is always problematic. The low resolution necessary to fit them on so few discs is not too evident on a conventional 25" TV but is downright depressing on a larger set or a computer screen. There are no extras. The discs deserve a C+ at best

Still, take this prize of a series any way you can get it. It's a fantastic find. Just be warned it ended on a cliffhanger that was, sadly, never resolved (except in an inferior TV movie with a different cast).

Final score: A

DVD - Celtic Woman: A New Journey, Live at Slane Castle (A-)

Featuring Chloe Agnew, Orla Fallon, Lisa Kelly (PBA), Meav Ni Mhaolchatha, Mairead Nesbitt, Hayley Westenra
Buy it

Ever since they began conquering the world a couple years back (or at least the part of it that watches PBS) the Irish vocal troupe Celtic Woman has owned the top spot of the Billboard World chart, with each disc knocked off only by their own projects. This concert will only further entrench them in that position.

Even with those breakout CD sales, the core of their success has lain in their concert presentation. The CDs have been like talismans that invoke the concert experience and keep it fresh until you have time to sit and watch it again. But the stage is where they truly rule.

The first video, recorded at Dublin's Helix Theatre, was beautiful, ethereal, and occasionally almost spiritual. But "A New Journey" adds one more element: Fun! Only fiddler Mairead Nesbitt did any real moving and shaking in the original. The vocalists were - apart from gracefully walking up and down ramps - fairly static. This actually lent itself to the otherworldly quality of the show but also subtracted color from the ladies' personalities.

Well, they are alive and in living color in this show filmed outdoors at famed Slane Castle. The greatest benefit goes, hands down, to singer Lisa Kelly. More than the other vocalists, who hearken primarily from classical and traditional roots, Kelly's background is predominantly in musical theater. Her skills in dramatic presentation, audience connection, and dance are unleashed here and she absolutely relishes it. And Nesbitt? Her already energetic presentation takes off into the utterly dynamic.

This shift is apparent in all the performances. Meav Ni Mhaolchatha, only months removed from maternity leave, seems to find a whole new level of characterization and assurance and it suits her. And the addition of the nearly operatic Hayley Westenra gooses everyone's vocal game up another notch.

If I have a nit to pick on the concert, it would be that the setlist frontloads much of the new material and leaves you with repeats from the first video toward the end.

Something else I'm mulling: The crowd reaction shots that punctuated the PBS version are largely gone in this home video edition. That gives more uninterrupted screen time for the attractive ladies but it takes away some of the emotional energy generated by the visibly captivated and moved audience. As an example, here's the charming Lisa Kelly's performance of "Caledonia" from the PBS edition:



On the DVD. I sort of miss the people.

Overall, however, the concert video scores a solid A.

The extras are thin. There's a well-done "Making Of" featurette that explores the logistics of pulling off this massive production outdoors. But it contains little on the show's stars. And that's it, folks! Unlike the Helix DVD, there are no individual interviews with the ladies here. I'd give the extras a B at best.

Total DVD score: A minus

CD - Postcards (A-)

Artist: Cindy Morgan
Producer: Wayne Kirkpatrick
Buy it

Perhaps the most underrated singer/songwriter in CCM's postmodern era, Cindy Morgan is still as strong an artist as ever. Although she's a fifteen-year, nine-album veteran in an industry with an average life-expectancy of fifteen months and one album, Morgan is not merely a survivor. She has matured and improved, experimented and learned, and never stopped taking risks.

Her clear, strong voice and cover girl looks had the label stuffing her into the Dance/Pop Diva mold on her debut CD - but her true colors shone through even then. The haunting, worshipful, self-penned piano ballad at its close ("How Could I Ask for More") marked her as a sonic and lyrical force to be reckoned with. That talented young woman has become a truly unique voice in the world of Christian music and Postcards shows how.

After a five year break between albums (Morgan became a mom again after her last), Postcards is a breath of fresh air. In addition to her piano-driven center, Morgan here tries her hand at roots music and semi-industrial pop to largely successful effect.

And she continues to grow lyrically. On 'Enough' she really takes on a confrontational edge worthy of classic troublemaker Steve Taylor. And then there's the jaw-dropping honesty of "Mother," which is a cry to Morgan's own mother over the recent breakdown of their relationship. It is a heartstopper. The urgency of approaching middle age really strips off the nonsense in one's life - and it sure show on this album.

This is certainly among her best albums and improves with successive listens.

Final score: A minus

DVD - The Second Chance (B)

Starring jeff obafemi carr, Michael W. Smith
Directed by Steve Taylor
PG-13 for language and violence
Buy it

Let me get this out of the way: I do not automatically give all Christian movies an A merely to "give them support." As the leader of my church's drama ministry I believe we are responsible to pursue and promote excellence in the arts. Poor craftsmanship implies poor effort and lacks credibility. Trust me, the makers of this film feel the same way.

When I saw this was a film by Steve Taylor, I knew I had to see this movie.

When I heard singer Michael W. Smith was in the lead role, I wasn't so sure I wanted to see this movie.

Well, I was pleased with much of it, challenged as a Christian by parts of it, and disappointed with lots of it. As with his cutting edge music, Taylor pushed some buttons that definitely needed to be pushed (punched and smashed, too) about the marketing mentality within the church, the social laziness we ignore, the racial ignorance we tolerate (on both sides), and the flawless facade we try to project. As for the occasional swearing the pastor does, that's just real life. Preachers are fallible. Alert the media!

As for Smitty, all I can say is, "He obviously worked very hard on this and there were times when he was very effective." That's nicer than saying, "Don't quit your day job." And more honest, really. He didn't stink at it. But I doubt he'll ever be on Martin Scorsese's speed dial.

jeff obafemi carr (the lowercase thing is his idea) is pretty darn good, though. Hope to see him again.

The great, glaring weakness of 'Second Chance' is in the retreaded plots: Plot A: A small, faithful inner city church is financially strapped and the administrative board plans to shut it down if its fortunes don't turn around, so the congregation rallies to save it. Plot B: A rebellious, successful son is resistant about taking over the reins of a church from his kindly old father, the senior pastor who is beloved by everyone. Heard either of those plots before? Sure, in just about every story about a church that you've ever seen from 'The Preacher's Wife', 'Sister Act,' and 'The Gospel' to dozens of episodes of 'Highway to Heaven' and 'Touched by An Angel.' Is there no other story out there?

I really feel Taylor missed an opportunity by not trying for a more original story to tell, one that the average person could identify with. And hadn't seen before. But this is still a good first effort by Steve.

Final score: B