Category Archives: On-screen

The Retreat of Cynicism

Posted on January 15, 2013 by Mahonri Stewart

Perhaps it’s a fluke. Perhaps it’s a perfect storm. But I was very interested to see so many of the most popular films this year (and many of them Oscar contenders!)  to be so earnest, so lacking in snark, so… … Continue reading →

Posted in On-screen | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 20 Comments

A Mormon Goes to the Movies

Posted on January 2, 2013 by Jessie Christensen

With one more week until nominations for this year’s Academy Awards, critics everywhere are speculating about which movies will be receiving nominations. One theme that seems to be emerging is that the movies most likely to receive recognition all have … Continue reading →

Posted in On-screen | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Mormon Culture and Les Miserables

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Josh Allen

Everywhere I go, people are talking about this. Yep, that’s right. Les Miserables! The Movie! This Christmas! Oh!  My!  Heck! But here’s a confession: I don’t care. Not even a bit.

Posted in Mormon LitCrit, On-screen, Storytelling and Community | Tagged | 15 Comments

The Book of Mormon: a Biography

Posted on September 27, 2012 by Eric R Samuelsen

One of my favorite books of Bible scholarship, and a terrific dip-your-toes-in-the-water first book for people interested in the subject is Karen Armstrong’s The Bible: A Biography.  It was part of a series called Books That Changed the World, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Literary Views of Scripture, On-screen, On-stage, The Past through Literature | 2 Comments

Leaps

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Margaret Blair Young

My opening line: “I don’t know what I’m doing, but that’s never stopped me before.” That’s what I said to a famous filmmaker I was meeting with to get some advice. I’m making a feature film. No, I have never … Continue reading →

Posted in Community Voices, On-screen, The Writer's Desk | 5 Comments

Film Review: _Unicorn City_ is Quick, Quirky and Quite Good

Posted on July 17, 2012 by Mahonri Stewart

Unicorn City Trailer Unicorn City has played the independent film festival circuit over the last year and had a limited theatrical release in Utah. It has won some honors as it has traveled the circuit, including a couple of Best … Continue reading →

Posted in On-screen | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Blurring the Lines: New Horizons in Multimedia Theatre

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Mahonri Stewart

In my MFA program at Arizona State University, there’s been an increasing trend towards digitizing theatre. Production after production that I’ve seen there, they have some sort of technology or film related component. And it’s not just Arizona. All across … Continue reading →

Posted in Electronic Age, On-screen, On-stage | 1 Comment

The Tree of Life

Posted on December 8, 2011 by Eric R Samuelsen

Although, here, we read and admire the best work by Mormon writers, there are certain writers who we often cite as models for the work we hope to accomplish as a culture: Shakespeare and Milton. Chaim Potok. C. S. Lewis. … Continue reading →

Posted in On-screen | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

Napolean’s infant(ile) son

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Eric R Samuelsen

I have long been a huge fan of what Jared Hess accomplished with Napolean Dynamite. It’s a Mormon film, I think, without overtly advertising itself as such; I see its Mormon-ness in the small details: the Ricks College tee shirt … Continue reading →

Posted in Funny Stuff, On-screen | 8 Comments

“There Are Children Coming Down”: Why _Saturday’s Warrior_ is Important to Mormon Culture

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Mahonri Stewart

I was re-writing an introductory bio for Eric Samuelsen this week for the Mormon Drama anthology Saints on Stage that I’m spear heading for Zarahemla Books. While reviewing some of my old research, I rediscovered an essay Samuelsen wrote called … Continue reading →

Posted in On-screen, On-stage, Personal Narratives | 11 Comments