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It’s time again to check in around the web and see what’s going on with religion and movies. In case you missed it, I’ve got a new gig at SCENES where I discuss horror related offerings such as The Witch and Stranger Things. I’m also still contributing reviews of new releases to Aleteia where recently I’ve taken in Ben-Hur and Pete’s Dragon.

Speaking of Pete’s Dragon, the reboot of the Disney semi-classic  has some folks once again digging up Michael O’Brien’s book, A Landscape with Dragons, in order to make the argument that such creatures should never, ever be portrayed as good characters. Jimmy Akin weighs in to debunk that notion once and for all.

Now, if all this talk about Pete’s Dragon has whetted your appetite for 1970s-era House of Mouse, then be sure to stop by Speculative Faith where Audie Thacker spends some time exploring Disney’s sci-fi gem, The Black Hole. Thacker even mentions the comic book adaptation of the film, which I just so happened to own a copy of back in the day.

Of course, I owned a lot of comics back in the day, so I’m a sucker for a blog like Christ, Coffee, and Comics where Greek Orthodox priest Father Niko does stuff like talk to former Marvel scribe Ann Nocenti about religion, philanthropy, and Daredevil.

Let’s face it, comic-based movies pretty much rule the box office at the moment, so it’s inevitable that a news outlet like the Desert News National should get around to asking the question, “Does God exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?” The answer seems a little fuzzy.

If you really want fuzzy, though, look no further than the films of the Coen Brothers. Over at NonModern, Jason Dietz has been taking a look at the filmmaking duo’s various films and he’s finally gotten around to their first effort,  Blood Simple. The Coen’s take on film noir about “a series of people choosing to do stupid things” is cult movie making at its finest.

And finally, just in case you missed the link I put up recently on Twitter and Facebook (join us, JOIN US), The Independent reports a new study published by the journal Poetics which makes the bold claim that enjoyment of trash films linked to high intelligence.