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3.96 AVERAGE
3.96 AVERAGE
funny
informative
inspiring
I can admit I’m a film snob. So add one star to this review if you aren’t. I really loved the idea and concept of this book. Movies as postures of prayer or crying out to God. But the film analysis was quick and not very in depth. I’d rather listen to one film per type of prayer instead of quicker comments and connections.
reflective
slow-paced
As a heathen, I can assure you that Larsen's book is for Christians and non-Christians alike! And after about 3000 ratings and about 1900 reviews on https://letterboxd.com/kylegarvey/ I can assure you that movies are something. Maybe not prayers per se, and maybe I'd put "Films" in the main title instead of "Movies" and change the subtitle entirely (I'm a stickler for semantics and lately resent "movies" cheapening the form and whatnot), but they're something. The book troubled me a little, but you can just use the hashtag #heathentroubles and shrug.
I suppose a lot of reviews of the book will start with either 'As a strong fellow believer' or 'As a non-believer who's curiously enough reading a Christian book', either positively toward faith or negatively away, and I won't start mine any differently. It's the "atheist" one for me! I'm not a special person; I don't do different things. That may be the scariest and least Christian confession to make, mightn't it? that one isn't a special person? that selfishness and know-better 'I'm a sinner too' arrogance and condescension won't work this time?
And I suppose furthermore everything will be a cushy 'expressly for you and you alone' thing, in the way of movies, prayers, and Movies Are Prayers, right? Give it a break, though! Solid prose, not 100% perfect but solid enough, off a premise so tricky. You have to give Larsen some credit too: secular place like Filmspotting, daring to bring just the tiniest bit of faith into the darkness. It's one of the more heroically unnecessary tasks I can imagine. Not as bad as the NY Times bringing aboard a climate change skeptic -- but awfully similar.
Oh, I'm just full of resentment? I like free copies of exclusive new media so much that I'll sign up for anything. I expected the Filmspotting-approved titles, but I was pulling for more from the prose than just a watery super-Biblical and then super-multiplex juxtaposition, again and again. I've related more to Larsen's film opinions than his co-host Kempanar's honestly. Still too much to ask, though, especially from a struggling scrivener? Maybe, but I'm just not happy with my purchase (a purchase of 0 so far!); so you can probably just say something about Mammon and let me go.
Shouldn't an atheist say "Hmm, Christian book? Surprisingly good" and the Christian say "Hmm, Christian book? Good and I knew it'd be good"? 'Bad' ruins the whole thing for atheists and Christians alike. Carefully balancing good and bad is the religion's whole modus operandi, right? so an imbalance is outright hellish! Well, to nitpick, I just don't like all the endnotes in a slim thing like this; I'm glad they're not densely parenthetical, but do we need every example numbered? I don't like semantically confusing Oz for its wizard, like on page 39. I don't like all the pull quotes in television sets throughout the text. I don't like when "wasn't" succeeds an "'if" (when I reckon it should be the properly subjunctive "'weren't"), like on page 162.
Plus, I'm afraid I detect that the book might be intellectually smug, slowed, or self-paralyzing. I'm afraid it sees the world as utterly broken and in need of severe correction, as all Christianity sees it (even the self-professed hopeful or progressive recent spins), instead of the inherently good and natural I try to see. Larsen sees some perversions of religion as like "a story that repeatedly raps its characters on the knuckles" and I like that he isn't afraid to reflect 'bad religion' back onto 'bad movies'. But what if all religion were bad religion inherently and the perversions were just various examples? I wish faith wouldn't always skew itself into reaction, into 'But' after 'But', never finishing anything it says.
I do unload a lot of epic religious problems onto the one slim book, and for that I apologize. Again, it's not bad at all. A little treacly deep in the writing; and the movie criticism is sandwiched with the religious criticism in a way that can be a little dull or samey (for instance, I'd prefer the ecstasy around Rushmore applied to more movies overall; instead of a main movie's larger crisis enveloped around a few smaller ones in each chapter). My tone's probably not as kind or encouraging as it could be, but I was disappointed by Movies Are Prayers overall.
More than a mere run-through of Christ-like figures and the feeble analysis that'd take, Larsen blows some interesting and surprisingly-secular titles into his whole cinematic take. But other than titles, we probably don't have a great book yet. It's not there. Maybe the library in Hell will have a copy or two of Movies Are Prayers: I can re-read it once or twice, as just a slight departure from my endless agony. If Satan'll allow that, but I doubt he will, oh fiddlesticks.
I suppose a lot of reviews of the book will start with either 'As a strong fellow believer' or 'As a non-believer who's curiously enough reading a Christian book', either positively toward faith or negatively away, and I won't start mine any differently. It's the "atheist" one for me! I'm not a special person; I don't do different things. That may be the scariest and least Christian confession to make, mightn't it? that one isn't a special person? that selfishness and know-better 'I'm a sinner too' arrogance and condescension won't work this time?
And I suppose furthermore everything will be a cushy 'expressly for you and you alone' thing, in the way of movies, prayers, and Movies Are Prayers, right? Give it a break, though! Solid prose, not 100% perfect but solid enough, off a premise so tricky. You have to give Larsen some credit too: secular place like Filmspotting, daring to bring just the tiniest bit of faith into the darkness. It's one of the more heroically unnecessary tasks I can imagine. Not as bad as the NY Times bringing aboard a climate change skeptic -- but awfully similar.
Oh, I'm just full of resentment? I like free copies of exclusive new media so much that I'll sign up for anything. I expected the Filmspotting-approved titles, but I was pulling for more from the prose than just a watery super-Biblical and then super-multiplex juxtaposition, again and again. I've related more to Larsen's film opinions than his co-host Kempanar's honestly. Still too much to ask, though, especially from a struggling scrivener? Maybe, but I'm just not happy with my purchase (a purchase of 0 so far!); so you can probably just say something about Mammon and let me go.
Shouldn't an atheist say "Hmm, Christian book? Surprisingly good" and the Christian say "Hmm, Christian book? Good and I knew it'd be good"? 'Bad' ruins the whole thing for atheists and Christians alike. Carefully balancing good and bad is the religion's whole modus operandi, right? so an imbalance is outright hellish! Well, to nitpick, I just don't like all the endnotes in a slim thing like this; I'm glad they're not densely parenthetical, but do we need every example numbered? I don't like semantically confusing Oz for its wizard, like on page 39. I don't like all the pull quotes in television sets throughout the text. I don't like when "wasn't" succeeds an "'if" (when I reckon it should be the properly subjunctive "'weren't"), like on page 162.
Plus, I'm afraid I detect that the book might be intellectually smug, slowed, or self-paralyzing. I'm afraid it sees the world as utterly broken and in need of severe correction, as all Christianity sees it (even the self-professed hopeful or progressive recent spins), instead of the inherently good and natural I try to see. Larsen sees some perversions of religion as like "a story that repeatedly raps its characters on the knuckles" and I like that he isn't afraid to reflect 'bad religion' back onto 'bad movies'. But what if all religion were bad religion inherently and the perversions were just various examples? I wish faith wouldn't always skew itself into reaction, into 'But' after 'But', never finishing anything it says.
I do unload a lot of epic religious problems onto the one slim book, and for that I apologize. Again, it's not bad at all. A little treacly deep in the writing; and the movie criticism is sandwiched with the religious criticism in a way that can be a little dull or samey (for instance, I'd prefer the ecstasy around Rushmore applied to more movies overall; instead of a main movie's larger crisis enveloped around a few smaller ones in each chapter). My tone's probably not as kind or encouraging as it could be, but I was disappointed by Movies Are Prayers overall.
More than a mere run-through of Christ-like figures and the feeble analysis that'd take, Larsen blows some interesting and surprisingly-secular titles into his whole cinematic take. But other than titles, we probably don't have a great book yet. It's not there. Maybe the library in Hell will have a copy or two of Movies Are Prayers: I can re-read it once or twice, as just a slight departure from my endless agony. If Satan'll allow that, but I doubt he will, oh fiddlesticks.
Josh’s approach is illuminating and treats both faith and film with generosity and seriousness. I’ve worked with Josh in the pop culture and faith beat for years and he is one of the best.
TL;DR: RIYL: movies, bible quotes, progressive Xtianity, modern Xtian discourse, etc.
What I had hoped would be a movies book w/ a religious tint ended up being a religious book within a framework of examining movies. BUT IT WASN’T BAD?
Look... I’m no theologist... or even theist... you might even say I’m anti-theist... or perhaps shorten it to a-theist... but I love movies... and I’m glad Josh Larsen does, too... I learned a lot about cinema from this book, and how my Christian fellow humans may see some of the same things I see, through a much different lens. I may not agree with Josh, or need to fit my views of art into a belief system such as his, but I generally think he is a positive force in the universes, both real and cinematic.
What I had hoped would be a movies book w/ a religious tint ended up being a religious book within a framework of examining movies. BUT IT WASN’T BAD?
Look... I’m no theologist... or even theist... you might even say I’m anti-theist... or perhaps shorten it to a-theist... but I love movies... and I’m glad Josh Larsen does, too... I learned a lot about cinema from this book, and how my Christian fellow humans may see some of the same things I see, through a much different lens. I may not agree with Josh, or need to fit my views of art into a belief system such as his, but I generally think he is a positive force in the universes, both real and cinematic.
Completely up my alley. God uses films to speak to us and we can speak to him through film.
Fascinating. Led me to a greater understanding of why I feel the way I do about certain films even if they may not be completely spiritually edifying.
A great read for anyone who believes films are much more than pieces of art or commerce- films can be expressions of our inmost desires.
A great read for anyone who believes films are much more than pieces of art or commerce- films can be expressions of our inmost desires.
I became aware of this book because of my avid devotion to Filmspotting, the weekly film podcast that the author co-hosts. Josh is a remarkably insightful critic, and this book is a kind of fascinating study of cinema through the prism of Christian prayer and Scripture. While I’m not a Christian, the lens Josh used gave me a really interesting new way to look at film that I’m sure I’ll consider as I continue to watch lots of great movies. And I also enjoyed learning about the foundations of Christian prayer, and how to think about it. Glad I read this.
The book is an interesting exercise in combining film critique with theology, and it is this premise that got me interested in the first place. Josh Larsen does have a very engaging style that appeals to a lay reader. However, it is the heavy-handed dose of Christianity that frankly turned me off. I was hoping for a more "spiritual" text, but this is a very "literal" interpretation of English translations of original Christian scriptures. I found it very reductive - both for Christianity and the supposed connections to cinema.
Avoid if you are looking for objective, comparative essays on Christianity and Cinema.
Avoid if you are looking for objective, comparative essays on Christianity and Cinema.