Rainbow Dove For Christians today there are few issues more divisive than that of LGBT people in the church. There are hundreds of books dealing with the intersection of homosexuality and Christianity. They all ask the same question: Is same-sex intimacy a defiance of God's will as given through the scriptures, or has a misreading of the scriptures led to a proscription of an aspect of our God-given sexuality? Many, many Christians have turned to reparative (conversion) therapy programs to change the homosexual impulses which they feel are unnatural into heterosexual impulses. These ex-gay ministries have been widely decried by almost all psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists, and counselors, even the Christian ones, but for those who believe that they have no choice but to change, they offer a glimmer of hope. Do you know anyone who is struggling to reconcile their faith and their sexuality? Here are some items that will give you food for thought.

Stranger at the Gate - Written by Mel White, this book is a must-read. It was recommended to me by a counselor at my alma-mater, a nearby well-known Christian college.
For the Bible Tells Me So - A thoughtful documentary of several Christian families with gay family members. I liked how they showed parents of gay children at several different levels of acceptance.
Save Me - A beautiful movie about a man forced to attend a conversion therapy home, the woman who runs it, and each of their searches for hope and love.
Desires In Conflict - This book by Joe Dallas, the founder of Genesis Counseling, has been used and cited by conversion therapy proponents since its publication in the early '90s.
Our Tribe: Queer Folks, God, Jesus, and the Bible - Lesbian pastor Nancy Wilson uses humorous anecdotes and biblical exegesis to deconstruct the "texts of terror" used as the basis of anti-homosexual Christian beliefs.

Peter Graves, Mission: Impossible actor, has died

Peter Graves, the debonair, low-key leader of the popular TV show, Mission: Impossible died yesterday.

Graves, the brother of James Arness (star of the long-running TV hit, Gunsmoke), has an enormous body of work, both on TV and the silver screen. He was rancher, Jim Newton, on the 1950s TV series, Fury, the hilarious demented pilot, Capt. Oveur, in the movie, Airplane! (1980), and he was the host of A&E's Biography, for which he won an Emmy.

But it was for his role as Jim Phelps, calm, urbane leader of a team of non-violent crafty spies in Mission: Impossible (1967 to 1973 and 1988 to 1990) for which he will be best remembered and which garnered him a Golden Globe award in 1971.

Phelps, 83, died of a heart attack in his California home.

showcase cinemas

Did you know that you can watch a newly released feature film that is described for people with visual impairments? Showcase Cinema in Ypsilanti shows a film with described video every week. It is noted by the letters RWC or DVS next to the film that will have this feature. Go to nationalamusements.com, enter the zip code for Showcase Cinemas (48197). This week the film being shown is Our Family Wedding. Beginning Friday, March 12th through Thursday March 18. Show times are: 1:45, 4:15, 6:45, 9:15 and 11:45 PM. DVS films are always shown in theater 14. Running time: 1 hour 30 minutes. Rated PG. showcase cinemas

Dear Mr. Kurosawa,

I'm one of those people who can't name their favorite movie--there are too many and they all touch me in a different way. But I can name my favorite director: You.

You would have turned 100 this month. And I can say two of my favorite films are Dersu Uzala and The Seven Samurai. Both films are very different from each other; both represent very different periods of your career; and both are supreme achievements in film as a humanistic artform.

Someone once told me they were surprised I liked Kurosawa because "he's a little cold". You were, by all accounts, a moody and often unhappy man. But if anything, your films reveal that you deeply understood the human heart. One recurring theme in your films is an affection for society's lone oddball or wily bands of misfits; another is that things are not what they appear to be. (Rashoman, Ikiru). And between these two themes lies your humanity.

Often your more intimate moments come wrapped within the formidable mastery of filmmaking--the tense buildup of High and Low, the steady composition of The Seven Samurai's battle sequences, the force of nature in Dersu Uzala, the swirl of pageantry in Ran. Then suddenly we realize we're watching a study of friendship or a man questioning his mortality. And the subtext is about honor, integrity, fate, loss. It's not thrown about as cliches or pathos; it just sits there quietly at the heart of the film. And it's much more powerful since we weren't really expecting it given all the other cinematic tricks you were pulling off at the same time.

Michael Kitchen is well-known for his role as Christopher Foyle in Foyle's War, a World War II life-on-British-home-front series. He plays a very different role as senior doctor Richard Crane in a contemporary marriage-breakup-and-realignment-journey series called Reckless. In either series, Kitchen is a "top-drawer" actor, surrounded by other quality actors, playing very believable and developed characters in scenes which display both comedy and wrenching emotions all at the same time. Both are definitely worth the viewing time.

Corey Hiam, '80s teen hearththrob, has died

Corey Haim who, in the 1980s as a mop-haired teenager, made string of popular movies, died yesterday.

His most well-known movie, The Lost Boys (1987), was an instant hit and starred another Corey, Corey Feldman. The pair became known as the two Coreys and made several more films together, including Dream a Little Dream (1989).

Sadly, Haim's decades-long struggle with substance abuse was as much fodder for the gossip columns as was his acting career. His addiction derailed a reality show, The Two Coreys, after two seasons when Feldman insisted that Haim get help before beginning a third season.

A cause of death has not yet been determined.

The Oscars air Sunday, March 7th, which makes now a great time to watch a few past Oscar winners with your kids. The Best Animated Feature Film Category was introduced in 2001, and the winners make great movies to enjoy with your family.

Films distinguished by winning Best Animated Feature Film include Shrek (It's sequel, Shrek 2 was also nominated in 2004), Spirited Away (a Japanese anime film dubbed with English actors), Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Happy Feet, Ratatouille, and WALL-E. Clearly computer generated movies by Pixar have been big winners in this category.

Treasure Planet earns an honorable mention from me as my personal favorite nominee for Best Animated Feature Film, as I've always liked Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island and I think setting the story in space only improved it.

With the Academy Awards presentation coming up this Sunday, it seems only right to re-celebrate the openings on March 2 of two groundbreaking movies as different as scorpions and teddy bears: King Kong and The Sound of Music. The original 1933 production of King Kong is considered one of the greatest adventure movies of all times. And to think that he was only 18 inches tall! The use of stop motion photography gave the illusion of this ape climbing the Empire State Building and clutching the screaming Fay Wray in his hands while planes attacked him. The other film, The Sound of Music, premiered on this day in 1965. Who can ever forget the smiling Julie Andrews leading her pack across the mountains singing her heart out?

The newest film adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is due out in theaters this week. The film is directed by Tim Burton, and of course stars Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter. How fun! It seems like Alice is popping up all over the place lately. Other interesting film adaptations are Disney’s 1951 animated classic, or the 1972 film, which is an amusing musical starring Peter Sellers (which has pretty much been burned into my brain).

A 2008 film with a nod to Alice is Phoebe in Wonderland. Elle Fanning stars as young Phoebe, the adorable and troubled girl with many quirks that no one quite understands. She escapes reality and heads to Wonderland through stories told by her mother (who is writing her dissertation on Alice). A new drama teacher rolls into town, and is putting on a production of Alice In Wonderland. Phoebe gets enough courage to sign up, and she inevitably gets the roll of Alice. While in the theater and under the guidance of the eccentric drama teacher, played perfectly by Patricia Clarkson, Phoebe temporarily relaxes and forgets about “following the rules” that the world seems obsessed with obeying. All the while her guilt ridden mother is torturing herself to find out what is wrong with her daughter. An emotional tug of war, superb acting, and an imaginative story about a girl who is trying to fit in while not fitting in.

Great news for film geeks - free internet film and video streaming service Hulu has acquired the rights to stream films from the Criterion Collection. Criterion says films will be added "on a rolling basis."

Why is the great news temporary? Rumor (and press release) has it that Hulu plans to start charging a fee this year.

But don't worry! The AADL owns quite a number of the films in the criterion collection. Try this search to start you off, or take a look at the full list and conduct your own title-specific search.