Author Archives: davetcourt

Film Journal 2023: The CreatorDirected by Gareth Edwards If Edwards proved anything to me with Rogue One, its that he knows how to tell a good, old fashioned story, and how to tell it well. His ability to do this within a well established mythos was simply a testament to his disciplined approach behind theContinue reading “Film Journal 2023: The Creator”

Reading Journal 2023: Philosopher of the Heart: The Restless Life of Soren KierkegaardAuthor: Clare Carlisle The closest thing to a digestible and accessible capture of Kierkegaards big ideas that I think you’ll find, precisely because it locates his ideas within the confines of his personal life and experiences. The book depicts a philosopher of theContinue reading “Reading Journal 2023: Philosopher of the Heart: The Restless Life of Soren Kierkegaard”

What must we do to perform the works of God? Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’ – John 6:28-29 This verse is often cited in support of some divine election to salvation. Gods work is to make it so that one believes. OrContinue reading “The Work of God: Jesus As The Bread of Life”

Reading Journal 2023: The Magicians Daughter by H.G. Parry, and Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson I paired a reading of Sanderson’s Tress of the Emerald Sea with H.G. Parry’s The Magicians Daughter. Tress was a recommend, The Magicians Daughter a blind buy. The synopsis seemed to suggest some potential shared qualities andContinue reading “Reading Journal 2023: The Magicians Daughter by H.G. Parry, and Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson”

Film Journal 2023: Dumb Money Directed by Craig Gillespie Based on a true story.Sometimes these words hold more or less weight when it comes to the particular adaptations of these stories. Here the weight is considerable because of the nature of the subject matter. The story concerns a point of particular corruption, a moment overContinue reading “Film Journal 2023: Dumb Money”

Film Journal 2023: Flora and SonDirected by John Carney To say this is a charmer would be an understatement. It’s also one of Carny’s most mature films to date, which of course looks backwards to his break out hit Once. He’s a long ways from the very modest budget of that two person indie romance,Continue reading “Film Journal 2023: Flora and Son”

Film Journal 2023: Ukrainian Mothers and The Children of War Directed by Olena Tumanska I was a little uncertain about this documentary in the early going. It starts off extremely slow and unintentive. At a base level it follows a handful of Ukrainian mothers as they flee to Canada during the current war. They areContinue reading “Film Journal 2023: Ukrainian Mothers and The Children of War”

Film Journal 2023: The Exorcist: Believer Directed by David Gordan Green Part of the exercise for me going into this sequel (or requel I suppose) was trying to balance the fact that this was going to be a film that tries to do it’s own thing in the shadow of a genuine classic. I knewContinue reading “Film Journal 2023: The Exorcist: Believer”

Film Journal 2023: Black White and the Greys Directed by Marchelle Thurman and Casey Nelson One of the essential questions that emerged from the pandemic is, when is too soon to start telling pandemic related stories. We could ask this question in relationship to the tragedy of the virus, or in relationship to the culturalContinue reading “Film Journal 2023: Black White and the Greys”

Reading Journal 2023: Virginia Woolf: An Inner LifeAuthor: Julia Briggs Briggs approaches this biography of Virginia Woolfe by telling the story of the writer through the story of her writing. This isn’t necessarily a novel approach, and it has been one bofore. Yet, it is uncommon enough to capture the uniqueness of the approach, befittingContinue reading “Reading Journal 2023: Virginia Woolf: An Inner Life”