Job redux: Loss and the glory of the world meet in Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life
Sean Penn as Jack in Terrence Malick‘s The Tree of Life. Penn works his world-weary visage to great effect in the film Don’t worry, there are no spoilers here. In fact, I’m having a hard time even imagining a spoiler for this film. I could tell you the whole thing and it wouldn’t change its [...]
Jules Winnfield on divine intervention
Jules and Vincent eat breakfast and talk philosophy in the famous restaurant scene from Pulp Fiction. There’s some nice dialogue about pigs and dogs before it gets into the deep stuff. Warning: Harsh language. It’s Tarantino, okay? Early last month David Lose wrote an article for the Huffington Post about the Bible. The piece recalls [...]
That piece of halibut was good enough for J—–h!
Everybody must get stoned. From Monty Python’s Life of Brian What a fine old clip from the Python boys. We considered delivering ourselves of another lecture on negative theology at this point, about how the Hebrews really had a good thing going with their restriction on the divine name, and how Meister Eckhart found a [...]
H.I. McDonnough receives the promise
A flower, you are. Just a little desert flower. Nick Cage as Herbert I. McDonnough getting nabbed — again — for raiding his local Short Stop Mart — again. As he stands for his mug he comes face-to-face for the first time with Ed, the woman of his dreams Hope lives where normality gives out. [...]
Deserve’s got nothing to do with it
“I’ve always been lucky when it comes to killing folks.” William Munny’s resolve breaks at the end of Unforgiven as he goes on a brutal killing spree. The myth of redemptive violence lives on in the greatest of Anti-Westerns (making it, perhaps, the first Anti-Anti-Western). On Sunday my family and I (and my sister’s family) [...]
Who are you, who are so wise in the ways of science?r
Many of you, I am sure, have laughed at the stunning logic in this satirical and satisfying scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail: She’s a witch because (1) she weighs as much as a duck; therefore (2) since ducks float, so does she; therefore (3) she is made of wood, which also floats; [...]
