The Rabbit Room

Tag Team Corner: Matt and Curt Lament the Summer Blockbuster Season

by Curt McLey

Matt:

The summer movie season. I can sum it in two words: endlessly mindless. Three months of raunchy comedies and flying stuntmen, formulaic romances and exploding aliens. And I can’t say I’m excited in the least.

My favorite time of year is Oscar season. I love a good story. I appreciate memorable acting performances far more than [...]

Post Oscar Movie Talk

by Curt McLey

After the mad rush surrounding the Oscar Nominations from late last year and a bushel of great movies like “No Country for Old Men,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Into the Wild,” “Away from Her,” “Juno,” “La Vie En Rose” “The Kite Runner,” “Once,” “Lars and the Real Girl, “Atonement,” and others, there was a dry [...]

Remember Something

by Curt McLey

Many years ago, I was involved in a conversation about Jesus junk. Like most here in The Rabbit Room, I’m as offended by Jesus junk as I am moved by its counterpart, art that magnifies the glory of God with beauty and truth. The question we posed was, “Of all the Jesus junk on the [...]

The Primary Conundrum of Christian Living

by Curt McLey

“The Problem of Pain” by C.S. Lewis isn’t a comfort type book in the conventional sense, but it does provide an intellectual exploration of why a loving God might allow his children to suffer with pain, seemingly ignoring their prayers. Though it’s a more complex issue than I have the intellect to understand–to put it [...]

Andrew Peterson, The Reluctant Worship Leader

by Curt McLey

I’ve heard Andrew Peterson say that he doesn’t view himself as a worship leader. I can understand his hesitation in accepting such a designation. It’s an important and worthy title, but often comes with some unfortunate baggage, particularly as it relates to songwriting. More than once, I’ve heard unknowing emcees introduce Andrew Peterson as the [...]

Real and Surreal: Rabbit Room Writers Visit Nebraska

by Curt McLey

Somehow Eric Peters regularly finds his way to my home state of Nebraska. It’s one of those happy little curiosities that evolve over time, that isn’t really easy to explain. When Peters makes his way to these Midwestern plains, I make every attempt to catch as many of the shows as possible. In his latest [...]

Confessions of a Silver-Tongued Devil

by Curt McLey

It’s a little sad, but I’ve had to learn to selectively muffle my enthusiasm with family and friends when it comes to music and movies that move me. Sometimes I fear I’m pushing too hard. Sometimes I wonder, am I sharing from a pure heart or from some latent competitive intention bubbling beneath the [...]

Smart Country from Greg Adkins

by Curt McLey

Mother knows best. As a narrow-minded teen-ager, I jostled with my mom over the radio dial. If it was country, I didn’t want to touch it, didn’t want to hear it, didn’t want to be associated with it. With a friend in the car, I protested even more vigorously. At the first sign of a [...]

Remember to Forget: A Review of “Away From Her”

by Curt McLey

The best movies are true. So true, that its characters aren’t necessarily heralded as heroes or reviled as villains. The players are neither perfect nor irreparable; somewhere in between, they walk the plank of life in synch with their audience. Though such films may sing off-key a time or two—because that’s how life goes—they are [...]

What’s Really Important Here?

by Curt McLey

2008 beckons. For many years I’ve reserved the week between Christmas and New Years Day as a week to think and plan. It’s a time I use for reflection and for measuring life; a time for gathering up the broken pieces of painful choices, unfortunate detours, and missed opportunities. Further and on a more positive [...]