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This week’s film roundup from Past the Popcorn:

The marriage of Pixar and Disney is as close to entertainment heaven as we’ll get on earth, if you believe Greg Wright’s assessment of Ratatouille. The animated film, which tells the story of an unlikely culinary alliance between a talentless cook and a gifted rat, hits theaters this weekend and is “easily the most out-and-out cinematic fun of the summer so far,” says Wright. “Think of it as Curse of the Black Pearl, without guns, swords, skeletons, buried treasure, or pirates. Maybe think of your favorite Pixar flick, and figure on Ratatouille giving a hard run at number one on your list.”

The first of the summer midweek blockbusters also debuted this week — Live Free or Die Hard. According to Mike Brunk, Bruce Willis brings John McClane as close to the “pure” action experience of the original Die Hard as we’ve seen since. It even ratchets down the violence to the PG-13 level, while managing to be “a good, old-fashioned, thrill ride” — one, admittedly, featuring strong doses of “terrorists, explosions, gun fights and plenty of dark humor.” Nobody should be too surprised at what they see here.

For the women folk, tired of being dragged to the summer’s “testosterone overdosequels,” this week also sees the release of Evening, which Greg Wright calls an entertainment targeted squarely at “the impenetrably dense female pysche.” And while women may naturally be drawn to this film, which dares to compare romantic mistakes with first kisses, Wright warns that “thematic elements are the most worrisome here: particularly the romanticized notion that self-centered cads are somehow worthy of sympathy and misplaced affection.”

Also on the arthouse circuit is ShowBusiness, a non-fiction look at Broadway musicals and their quest for the top Tony Award. “As fascinating and as real as these artists might be,” says Greg Wright, “they’re not likely to be everyone’s cup of tea. Those who already feel a calling to the arts, though, are likely to feel warmly and happily at home.”

We hear a lot about “justice” these days, and about the importance the Bible puts on practicing justice. But what is justice–is it adhering to a certain political philosophy, or giving to the right charities, or dedicating our lives to the right career? In a new article at Youth Specialties, Jeremy Del Rio suggests that justice is much simpler than we think. Read the full article, in which Del Rio argues that justice is something we can all innately grasp, and something that we can all put into practice, regardless of our age, background, or life circumstances.

Is it possible to bear a Christian witness while engaged in a terrible and violent activity like war? With thousands of soldiers on the frontlines in Iraq and elsewhere, this isn’t just an academic question. In an article at the Officer’s Christian Fellowship, Tom Hemingway asks some extremely tough questions:

How well do you reflect the Gospel in the pain-filled eyes of a frightened seven-year-old girl whose grandparents you just helped kill?

This is not merely a rhetorical question. I had to rip the answer from myself one day in 1965 as I stared into those terrible eyes at a devastated village in Viet Nam.

Moral dilemmas are by no means the private territory of men at war. However, wars do provide acute crises in moral and ethical decision-making.

Hemingway talks about his experiences as a Marine in the Vietnam War, and how a Christian who’s been called to serve in the military should understand war, grief, and God’s love for all people. He challenges soldiers who are Christians to think differently and Biblically about the tasks they are called to do. If you or somebody you know is facing these tough questions in the Middle East or elsewhere, Hemingway’s essay provides plenty of fodder for reflection and discussion.

The Christian History Institute turns 25 in 2007, and to mark the occasion, they’ve completely redesigned their website! If you’ve not visited the CHI site, it’s a great way to brush up on your church history. Here are a few highlights from the new site that you shouldn’t miss:

• A timeline of church history that stretches all the way from 6000 BC to today.
• Online archives of the Glimpses church history bulletin.
• 100 key events from church history that are worth knowing about.
• A “Today in Church History” feature on the homepage.

There’s a lot of content at CHI; take a few minutes to browse through the newly-redesigned site and see what catches your eye!

Lots of new movies hitting theaters this week–so here’s the weekly film roundup from Past the Popcorn:

Yes, Evan Almighty — the follow up to 2003’s Bruce Almighty, has arrived, complete with ark and biblical robes, sans unmarried couples and blasphemous stand-ins for God. Yes, whatever might have offended you in Bruce has been stripped clean from Evan — even 20 minutes or so of running time. So if efficiently clean comedy is what your family needs, you’re in big, big luck. Director Tom Shadyac is here to save the day. “Is the humor enough to warrant a recommendation?” asks Past the Popcorn Managing Editor Greg Wright. “Probably,” he says, “for most audiences… Just don’t be surprised when animals bite things they shouldn’t — and don’t expect Jesus to come up.”

There’s also a small raft of other releases this week.

If good-old-fashioned horror (you know, like Disney’s Haunted House ride) is your thing, John Cusack does his average Joe thing pretty well in 1408. Says Jeff Walls, the film wants to “take us for a ride that scares us, humors us, and has us leaving with a smile on our faces. Mission accomplished.”

Eagle vs Shark, which continues the tradition of Napoleon Dynamite, “appears to have all of the right ingredients,” says Mike Brunk: “quirky characters with solid acting and a twisted story that seems ripe for laughs. And yet I often found myself glancing at my watch and fidgeting in my seat. It felt much longer than the roughly hour-and-a-half running time.”

In the arthouses, you might enjoy Angel-A, says Greg Wright — if you don’t mind the idea of angels with “potty-mouth, lingerie, gams, and sexual urges.”

Mike Smith, meanwhile, finds La Vie en Rose to be a powerhouse portrayal of Edith Piaf — who, like Mike, you may never have heard of. “So U.S. moviegoers, if most of them are like me,” says Mike, “may be a bit reluctant to come out for this film. That would be a shame — because little Edith was one of a kind, and so is this film.”

But Mike prefers Golden Door, a tale of Italian immigrants coming through Ellis Island in 1910. “Golden Door’s cramped feeling is contagious and palpable,” he says. “The camera work often prevents us from seeing much more than just beyond our noses — all while avoiding overuse of first-person POV shots. It is an unusual and sobering effect, not enjoyable but marvelous, shadowing the entire film with a cloud of foreboding.”

Also out this week: Day Watch.

Interested in missions, but stuck at home this summer? You can participate in a mission trip vicariously through the blog of WayFM’s Mission Team, which just wrapped up short-term missionary work in Jamaica–and blogged the experience! The Jamaica Mission Team blog has photos and updates from the team as it helped local Jamaican pastors doing construction, school and church outreach, and orphanage ministry.

For this week’s ministry website tour, we take a look at International Bible Society, a Bible translation and distribution ministry that’s produced some of the most popular modern Bible translations available today. Watch the short website tour below to find out what’s noteworthy at the IBS website!

If you’re a parent, the prospect of determining which games your kids can and can’t play is a daunting one. Fortunately, ministries like Al Menconi Ministries are here to help you out: Menconi’s team has been reviewing games for years with an eye toward their moral content and acceptability. Recent reviews have explored Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars, Star Trek Legacy, Super Paper Mario, and others.

In addition to the reviews, there are a number of good articles for parents about how to discern which games are acceptable for your kids: see for instance the Computer & Video Game Buying Guide, which gives practical advice for making wise game purchasing decisions. Whether you’re a gamer looking for some help in buying acceptable games, or an overwhelmed parent wondering whether or not to puchase a certain game for your kids, stop by the AMM site for help.

Ruth Bell Graham, the wife of evangelist Billy Graham, passed away this week. The Billy Graham Association has put up a special memorial site to commemorate her life, with lots of photos and other media telling the story of her amazing life and ministry.

For other material related to the Grahams’ ministry, see the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College.

When Brigham Young led his Mormon followers westward to the Utah territory, polygamy was taught as a commandment from God. Today, although the Mormon Church denounces the practice, tens of thousands of Mormon Fundamentalists across North America still hold onto polygamy and other original teachings of Mormonism.

Living Hope Ministries has just released Lifting the Veil of Polygamy, a new film that explores both the history and the modern reality of Mormon polygamy. And more importantly, through compelling and moving testimonies of former polygamists, it shares the amazing power of the gospel of Jesus Christ to set people free from all bondage! At the Lifting the Veil website, you can watch an online trailer for the film and read more about the issue of polygamy.