Kenneth Morefield

Cabaret - Arts & Faith Loosely adapted from Christopher Isherwood’s Berlin Stories, Cabaret asks what individuals can do in a world gone wrong. A young British academic named Brian Roberts (Michael York) comes to Berlin in ...

Don't know who needs to hear this right now, but...
"When the powerful want you dead, the most courageous act is to live."

artsandfaith.com/cabaret/

Favorite Film Series: Jesus Christ Superstar (Jewison, 1973) - 1More Film Blog The parameters of the exercise seemed simple enough: pick a favorite film from each year of my life. Progress on the series has been slow for an unexpected reason. I did not watch a lot of movies unti...

"The music had imprinted itself on me in ways that proved inescapable. That's what great art does, and it is one of the primary reasons why religion has feared art, especially music, so very, very, much.
Favorite Film Series: Jesus Christ Superstar (Jewison, 1973) 1morefilmblog.com/2026/02/19/f...

An Education (Scherfig, 2009) - 1More Film Blog The Arts & Faith web site has announced that the theme for the 2026 Top 25 "Spiritually Significant" films list will be Women-Directed films. Deliberations are currently underway for over 100 nominate...

The Arts & Faith site is currently voting on Top 25 Spiritually Significant Films Directed by Women. I lobby for Lone Scherfig's AN EDUCATION in this review:
1morefilmblog.com/2026/02/02/a...

I think this means knows too much about me...like an ad for maternity clothes when you haven't told anyone but your doctor that you are pregnant....or an ad for honeymoon spots when you've just bought a diamond ring but haven't proposed yet.

Black-and-white photograph of Ursula K. Le Guin in her later years, seated comfortably in a wicker chair in front of a bookshelf filled with books. The acclaimed science fiction and fantasy author has short white hair, warm eyes, and a gentle smile as she gazes directly at the camera. She wears a dark long-sleeved shirt, her arms crossed and resting on her lap, with a bracelet on one wrist and a ring on her finger. To the right of the portrait is the vibrant cover of the 50th Anniversary Edition of her novel The Left Hand of Darkness, featuring a bold blue starry gradient background with the title in white text and her name prominently displayed.

Ursula K. Le Guin died #OTD in 2018.

First female author to win both the Nebula & Hugo awards for Best Novel for 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 (1970). In total, she won 8 Hugo & 6 Nebula awards. Second woman Grand Master of the #ScienceFiction & Fantasy Writers of America. #scifi #literature #booksky

a man in a suit and hat is holding a guitar with the words woohoo boy above him ALT: a man in a suit and hat is holding a guitar with the words woohoo boy above him

The North Carolina Film Critics Association (NCFCA) announces its nominees for the Best of Cinema 2025, recognizing outstanding achievements in filmmaking across narrative, documentary, animated, and technical categories.

See the full list here:

ncfilmcritics.org/reel-thought...

Frankenstein (2025) - Arts & Faith When a story has been adapted hundreds of times since 1910—across countless mediums—the obvious question becomes: do we really need another version? Director Guillermo del Toro answers that question w...

Frankenstein (2025) artsandfaith.com/frankenstein...

Noel T. Manning, II explains why Frankenstein took the #6 spot on the Arts & Faith jury list of best films of the year for Christians.

The Phoenician Scheme - Arts & Faith Prayer has been at the heart of cinema in 2026 in a way that it usually is not, from Wake-Up Dead Man to Sentimental Value to A Little Prayer. Even Superman, one could argue, as a helpless boy clings ...

Andrew Eisenman sees prayer as topic that ties together some of the most spiritually resonant films of 2025, including the Arts & Faith's jury pick for #5, #ThePhoenicianScheme.
artsandfaith.com/the-phoenici...

Sentimental Value It is said that a house divided against itself will not stand. In the case of Joachim Trier’s film Sentimental Value, that division is rooted in a father’s (Stellan Skarsgard) emotional and physical d...

Sentimental Value came in at #9 on this years Arts & Faith jury list for the best films recommended to Christian audiences. Here's Thomas Manning's appreciation:
artsandfaith.com/sentimental-...

What you pretend to believe is a far greater poison to your morals than what you actually believe. Those who are sincere but mistaken may yet turn from wrong to right. Those who who knowingly advocate a false position gradually (then all at once) destroy their capacity to know the difference.

Sinners - Arts & Faith Everything in Sinners has a twin. The protagonists, Smoke and Stack (both played by Michael B. Jordan), are twin brothers. While the characters may not resemble Cain and Abel in spirit, their fates ar...

Sinners took the #3 spot in the 2025 Arts & Faith Ecumenical Jury list of the year's best films recommended for Christian audiences. #sinners #ryancoogler.

artsandfaith.com/the-arts-fai...

And here's a link to Christian Jessup's juror appreciation:
artsandfaith.com/sinners/

Young Mothers (Dardenne & Dardenne, 2026) - 1More Film Blog When reviewing a new film by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, the only pertinent question is whether the frame of reference for judgment will be their other films or something broader. I have screened el...

A new Dardenne film is always a reason to celebrate, even if it is a little rough around the edges.

Young Mothers (Dardenne & Dardenne, 2026) 1morefilmblog.com/2026/01/07/y...

Wake Up Dead Man - Arts & Faith Christ calls his followers not only from something but also to something: both abundant life (John 10:10) and self-denial in taking up the cross (Matthew 16:24). Christian faith offers us the paradox ...

And here's Neil Coulter's juror appreciation from the same site: artsandfaith.com/wake-up-dead...

The Arts & Faith Ecumenical Jury -- 2025 - Arts & Faith This annual Arts & Faith project enters its second decade this year, making it an apt time to summarize its purpose and methodology. The jury attempts to identify ten films released or distributed in ...

Wake Up Dead Man grabs the #1 spot on the Arts & Faith Ecumenical Jury for the year's best films recommended to Christian audiences. Congrats to @rianjohnson.bsky.social

artsandfaith.com/the-arts-fai...

I mean, we can all agree that we would much rather have seen Notre Dame lose 38-3 to Indiana, right?

2025 Top Ten - 1More Film Blog When I look at my favorite film experiences of 2025, the movies and performances that resonated with me the most powerfully, the common thread I see running through all of them is trauma. I realize th...

My ten favorite film experiences in 2025:
1morefilmblog.com/2026/01/01/2...

Happy 250th birthday, Jane Austen. Reasonable minds can disagree, of course, but here is the correct answer:

1) Emma
2) Pride and Prejudice
3) Persuasion
4) Mansfield Park
5) Sense and Sensibility
6) Northanger Abbey

Newtown (Snyder, 2016) - 1More Film Blog It's never the common elements of these stories that get to you--it's the personal, authenticating details.

I try to bump this review once a year on the anniversary of Sandy Hook:
1morefilmblog.com/2016/03/16/n...

YouTube video by Kenneth R. Morefield Rebecca Miller Arts & Faith Interview

Privileged to get a chance to chat with Rebecca Miller about her excellent series, Mr. Scorsese:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-2D...

The Carpenter's Son: A New Testament Scholar Discusses Controversial Depiction of Jesus - 1More Film Blog When I first saw the trailer for The Carpenter's Son, the new film loosely based on Apocryphal Gospel of Thomas, I confess my heart sank a little. I am old enough to have lived through the furor surro...

The Carpenter’s Son: A New Testament Scholar Discusses Controversial Depiction of Jesus 1morefilmblog.com/2025/11/11/t...

Summary of my interview with Dr. Jennifer Bashaw about the new Jesus film, The Carpenter's Son.

YouTube video by Kenneth R. Morefield Kenneth Morefield interviews Jennifer Bashaw

I was pleased to interview Dr. Jennifer Bashaw, Associate Professor of New Testament and Christian Studies, about the new film, The Carpenter's Son:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0k8...

Anarchy At The Movies (Part I) Perhaps the most unfortunate thing about Culture and Anarchy, Matthew Arnold's series of essays that were later collected together as a book, is the title. No matter how many times I tell students--an...

Remember, remember the fifth of November...
www.patheos.com/blogs/1moref...

YouTube video by Kenneth R. Morefield James Vanderbilt Arts and Faith Interview Nuremberg

I asked James Vanderbilt how he tried to make Nuremberg a thriller when viewers would know the ending. His answer surprised me...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1G6...

Speaking of government waste, the highest paid state employee in Louisiana is set to make $54 million dollars to not coach football.

Congrats.

Stitch Head (Hudson, 2025) - 1More Film Blog The first twenty minutes of Stitch Head is just sublime. In terms of art design, story set-up, and characterization, it is on par with the better Pixar films. The titular tyke is the first creation of...

Stitch Head (Hudson, 2025) 1morefilmblog.com/2025/10/23/s...

Are you ready for monsters? Stitch Head is a little gem in a space -- family friendly movies -- that is too often populated with a lot of slick, empty cartoons.

YouTube video by Kenneth R. Morefield Kenneth Morefield interviews Justin Lin

Happy to get a chance to chat with Justin Lin about his new film, Last Days. (Review coming tonight, but the skinny is that I thought it was very good, able to see the moral complexity in John's story and have respect for diverging opinions):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=f27w...

Blue Moon (Linklater, 2025) - 1More Film Blog Blue Moon is a film so dour, so bitter, so devoid of joy or hope or spirit, that even those who praise it have trouble articulating why they are doing so. If you hop on over to the critics' reviews on...

Blue Moon (Linklater, 2025) 1morefilmblog.com/2025/10/18/b...

Seems like most liked this, but I found it tedious and exhausting.

I find it a little strange -- but somehow appropriate to their season -- that while scrolling the Internet today, I have seen four commercials letting me know that tickets are available for UNC's football opener against TCU on September 1.

Good Fortune (Ansari, 2025) - 1More Film Blog The body-swapping conceit of Good Fortune is tired and overused, but the film's execution of it is so good that it manages to transcend the constraints of recycling a familiar premise. Arj (Aziz Ansar...

Good Fortune (Ansari, 2025) 1morefilmblog.com/2025/10/15/g...

Can't quite stick the landing, but still better than most body-swapping comedies. Keanu for Best Supporting?