Contributor: Paul Asay

Paul Asay has been part of the Plugged In staff since 2007, watching and reviewing roughly 15 quintillion movies and television shows. He’s written for a number of other publications, too, including Time, The Washington Post and Christianity Today. The author of several books, Paul loves to find spirituality in unexpected places, including popular entertainment, and he loves all things superhero. His vices include James Bond films, Mountain Dew and terrible B-grade movies. He’s married, has two children and a neurotic dog, runs marathons on occasion and hopes to someday own his own tuxedo. Feel free to follow him on Twitter @AsayPaul.

Red Widow

Red Widow is, in many ways, all about family. But that doesn’t make it a family show.

Read more

Storage Wars

And behind door No. 3 we have … a bunch of junk somebody just spent $3,000 on. Why? Because somebody else didn’t—or couldn’t—pay his storage bill.

Read more

iZombie

It’s tough to be a young adult trying to live in the 21st century. Especially if you’re dead.

Read more

The Two Popes

The Two Popes proves that you don’t need to embrace egregious content to craft a thoughtful and engaging film.

Read more

Waves

Grace is found here. But for our purposes, it’s bought with a price.

Read more

Marriage Story

Perhaps the most important message we can take away from Marriage Story is quite simple: Divorce is horrible.

Read more

The Irishman

Director Martin Scorsese’s Netflix-based The Irishman feels a little like a particularly bloody version of Forrest Gump.

Read more

Black and Blue

While the surprisingly earnest message here is refreshing, it’s still submerged in a stew of violence and profanity.

Read more

The Great Alaskan Race

The Great Alaskan Race is not a great movie. But it does tell a great story.

Read more

Gemini Man

Despite its clever central gimmick, Gemini Man feels a little more tedious and tawdry than it ought.

Read more

Joker

Joker begs for a hero. It gives us a clown. Gotham seeks salvation and finds only blood.

Read more

Ad Astra

We’ve been treated to some provocative sci-fi films recently, from Gravity to Interstellar to Arrival. Ad Astra aims for the same orbit.

Read more

IT Chapter Two

You can’t keep a bad clown down. And Pennywise is a very, very bad clown.

Read more

Bennett’s War

For fans of the sport, or those who like to see nice guys finish first for a change, you could do worse.

Read more

One Child Nation

One Child Nation is a powerful, difficult and in some ways contradictory documentary.

Read more