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.

Movie Monday: Season of the Grit

Forget the new releases: Cinemagoers this weekend favored an old movie based on an older movie set in the old, old West. The Coen Brothers’ True Grit triumphed at the box office after playing second fiddle the last two weekends to Little Fockers. Grit …

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Season of the Witch

Is she a witch or isn’t she? That’s the question set before Nicholas Cage and his band of merry medieval cohorts. To kill or be killed is what’s on her mind.

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Movie Tuesday: A Little Gritty

We’re back in the office after a day off, and it looks like the new year’s starting off much as 2010 ended, at least as far as movies are concerned. Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro’s rather foul comedy, Little Fockers, was technically the repeat winner …

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Should Old Box Office Receipts Be Forgot …

Well, 2010 is closing shop, making it a natural time to take stock of the year behind us and look forward to the year ahead. And if entertainment studios are doing the same thing, they may look at the year-end box office figures and have an important N …

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Speaking About the Unspeakable

On Dec. 28, MTV aired a special spin-off of its popular 16 and Pregnant program. Titled No Easy Decision, it focuses on a 19-year-old girl—pregnant for the second time—as she decides to have, and goes through with, an abortion. The girl, Markai Durham, …

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Miley. Sigh.

I don’t want to write this post. How many times must we talk about Miley Cyrus’ latest indiscretion? When does this tripe stop qualifying as “news” and slips to a gossip site afterthought? I’m tired of this story. I don’t want to talk about the latest …

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Movie Monday: Little Fockers

Personally, I don’t see Little Fockers as an ideal way to celebrate Christmas, but loads of people apparently disagreed. The Ben Stiller/Robert De Niro-fronted comedy took the weekend’s box office title, collecting an estimated $34 million en route. Tr …

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Texting Santa

Back when I was a kid, I’d write a letter to Santa nearly every year. I didn’t bother with sending it like most kids did. I’d just leave the note by his milk and cookies, figuring he probably had some spare loot under the sleigh seats. And I still reme …

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True Grit

It takes some serious grit to turn a John Wayne classic into a darkly ambiguous comedy. The results are both mesmerizing and maddening.

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Movie Monday: TRON’s Legacy

There are lots of folks who’d say there really is no such thing as an original story, and that all of our books and movies essentially rework tales we’ve been telling around the campfire since obsidian was considered cutting-edge technology. But still, …

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Rabbit Hole

Suffering mightily from the loss of their young son, Howie and Becca struggle through grief and anger, desperately searching for a reason to pull themselves out of the black hole he left behind.

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The House Bunny

It’s no surprise that the moral of the story that takes its cues from Hugh Hefner is about as mixed up as the drinks he serves at his infamous Playboy Mansion parties.

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Farmer’s Daughter

Bowersox, the little singer with the big voice, had to settle for runner-up status on 2010’s American Idol. Her subsequent album isn’t a full-on winner either.

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Movie Monday: Voyage of the Dawn Treader

The cinematic waters proved to be a little choppy for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader this weekend. While King Caspian’s noble flagship did land in first place at the box office, it did so with an underwhelming $24.5 million—$4 …

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The Fighter

Micky Ward gets hit a lot. The blows come from the left, the right, up high, below the belt. And once he absorbs all that punishment from his family, he still has to get inside the boxing ring.

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