Are critical race theory and intersectionality (CRT/I) the kind of “hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition,” that Colossians 2:8 warns us about? Or are they useful secular tools by which we can explain Biblical principles, akin to Paul quoting pagan teachers to reason with the Epicureans?

That’s the question at the heart of a fraught debate within the largest Protestant denomination in the United States. It’s also the subject of a new documentary from Founders Ministries, By What Standard?. 

I never thought I’d have much reason to review a preschool cartoon, but that was before I found my husband and our 5-year-old daughter parked in front of the TV, giggling away at a little blue dog. 

“Sit down,” my husband said as he wiped laughter tears from his eyes, “You’ve got to see this.” Thus, I met Disney’s newest international star, Bluey.

Dolittle, based on Hugh Lofting’s classic children’s stories, feels like two different movies. The first third embodies all the prickly, off-kilter charm an Anglophile’s heart could desire. It opens, as all English children’s stories should, in a wild wood hiding a mysterious, crumbling manor.

On the eve of its nationwide release, surprise wins at the Golden Globes catapulted war drama 1917 to the front of the Oscar race for best picture. 

Rated R for realistic violence and a fair amount of bad language, it tells the harrowing tale of two British soldiers in World War I. Writer/director Sam Mendes, best known for the recent Bond movies, based the script on a family legend and dedicates the film to his grandfather, who was a veteran. 

If you’re a parent of school-aged children and anything like me, you’re just coming out of a Christmas season of too many sweet treats and too much syrupy family entertainment. To wake up those sugar-shocked brains for a new semester, Amazon’s The Aeronauts (rated PG-13 for realistic peril) offers a pleasing mental palate cleanser.

Some stories occupy such a treasured place in our hearts that, as long as the retelling is relatively faithful and well executed, audiences will turn out for an infinite number of adaptations. We’re happy to relive every familiar turn of plot, every line of memorized dialogue. No surprises needed.

Confronting fear, as Luke Skywalker tells his young protégée Rey (Daisy Ridley), may be the destiny of a Jedi, but breaking bad news to fans is the destiny of a movie reviewer. Sadly, I’m here to fulfill my destiny.