At the most basic level, Heat deserves its place on a “Crime and Punishment” list as a cop and robber heist film, told through a riveting cat-and-mouse chase by director Michael Mann. On a much more fascinating level, the importance of its inclusion here reflects a broader Read More …
“The way we work, changing destiny and all…we’re more like clergy than cops.” Steven Spielberg’s 2002 film Minority Report explores a future where “Precrime” technology (enabled by psychics with precognitive powers) allows law enforcement to arrest individuals before they commit crimes. John Anderton (Tom Cruise) Read More …
There’s no shortage of qualities to praise about Anatomy of a Murder. The slick jazz score by Duke Ellington lends an element of timeless cool, while the cackle-worthy screenplay easily makes this one of the most entertaining legal dramas of all time, if not one Read More …
Catch Me If You Can follows the semi-true story of Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio), a teenage con artist who stole millions of dollars over the course of six years, posing as an airplane pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer, before ultimately being arrested and Read More …
In 2024, Arts & Faith sponsored a panel of cinephiles to vote on the Top 25 “spiritually significant” films about crime and punishment. Listen to a podcast introduction from Linsdey Dunn and Christian Jessup: To read an appreciation from one of the jurors, click on Read More …
The Godfather has provoked so much nostalgia that it is easy to forget or overlook the fact that Michael Corleone’s recitation of the “offer he can’t refuse” story is met with horrified disgust from his girlfriend. “That’s my family, Kay, not me,” he insists. By Read More …
Our personal faith is a beautiful thing — no matter where that may lie for each of us. It sings in the babbling brooks, dances in the rustling leaves, and, for Jen Starling who is played brilliantly by Eliza Scanlen, is intertwined with a deep, Read More …
In my twenties, I spent two summers in Asia and Europe, documenting the work of Christian missionaries abroad. My idealism soon gave way to bone-crunching realism. Most of the missionaries I filmed expressed a carefulness to their approach, talking at length about their ministry being Read More …
“I still don’t understand the play.” So muses Augie Steenbeck (Jason Schwartzman) multiple times through Wes Anderson’s story of a televised production of a fictitious play about death, grief, acting, “brainiac” children, alien invasion, military oversight, first romances, seasoned affairs, art, and storytelling itself. Prior Read More …
“How do you live?” is the fundamental question posed by Hayao Miyazaki’s The Boy and the Heron. It’s the question posed to Mahito Maki, the angry 12-year-old boy at the film’s centre. Having recently lost his mother in a fire in Tokyo during World War II, Read More …