News in Film Review
Nothing Is As It Seems
French playwright Florian Zeller’s directorial debut, The Father, is an elegant and emotionally devastating chamber film which is essential viewing. Based on the play of the same name, The Father places at the center of its plot a man determined to refuse all assistance from his daughter as he ages.
‘Nomadland’
Nomadland projects the slow rhythm of the van as it travels the asphalt of the endless, straight roads that crisscross America like deep wounds allowing encounters between “traveling travellers to be saved,” as the singer-songwriter Ivano Fossati put it.
‘The Two Popes’: A Film by Fernando Meirelles
The Two Popes is a fiction that has as its protagonists the last two popes, Benedict and Francis . Rather than making a facile film about scandals and games of influence, the director has chosen to tell the story of two men of faith faced with a difficult decision.
Portrait of Pope Francis: Wim Wenders' camera reveals an attractive character
The documentary mostly consists of knitting together existing Vatican footage of the Pope with shots of him talking directly to camera, as if he is looking the cinemagoer in the eye. It’s a simple but fetching technique. But for those who know little about Francis’ background – his migrant Italian family or his time as a sometimes controversial leader of the Jesuits in Argentina – or about the Catholic Church, there is little effort to fill in the gaps.
Movie on Jesuit founder to air on TV for Holy Week
An acclaimed movie about the life of Ignacio de Loyola, founder of the Society of Jesus, popularly known as the Jesuits, will air on TV in several countries during Holy Week. Ignacio de Loyola' won Best Film at Mirabile Dictu International Catholic Film Festival in 2017
A Royal for Rome? The last Stuart monarch's life unravelled
Spanish eyes: new kid on the TV drama block
Long ago, there was a time when the British comfortably basked in the assumption that their television drama was the best in the world and that the European small screen was dominated by silly quiz shows and people playing apparently incomprehensible practical jokes on each other. But that was before 2011 and the arrival on our screens of the first series of The Killing, the Danish noir drama of murder, corruption and politics.
"For Greater Glory", the Movie about a 14 year old Saint
Shining a Spotlight on the Catholic church
There’s been a growing fascination among film-makers with the child abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. The latest, Spotlight, opens in Britain next week. It depicts an institution concerned first and foremost with its own protection.
BBC2 drama Wolf Hall is a work of fiction
Two bishops have now expressed their own reservations about the drama because of its “dark” depiction of St Thomas, a martyr canonised in 1935 and made patron of politicians by Pope St John Paul II in 2000. “We should remember Wolf Hall is a work of fiction. Wolf Hall is not neutral.
Fr. Robert Barron weighs in on “Noah”
What is significant is that Noah remains utterly focused throughout, not on his own freedom, but on the desire and purpose of God. God, creation, providence, sin, obedience, salvation: not bad for a major Hollywood movie!
Extravagant Stillness
"If you don't have time to read this ad, it was written for you," announces an advertisement for a philosophy course that appears in newspapers from time to time. The implication clearly being: slow down your life; get in touch with something more essential.
Debunking"PHILOMENA"
Contrary to the impression given by Sixsmith, the nuns did not operate an adoption assembly line; rather, they cared for children who were given to them, and sought to place them in a loving home. The data show that the "thousands" of kids that the nuns allegedly put up for adoption at this time is badly inflated.
'Son of God' draws rave reviews from religious leaders
"I have to say, of all the films I've seen about Jesus, this is the most moving. The manner in which they portray some of the significant scenes takes on a love and a tenderness and a merciful side of Jesus that maybe isn't always as beautifully portrayed," Bishop Zubik told the Post-Gazette.
The gospel according to Philip Seymour Hoffman
An excerpt from the book A Jesuit Off-Broadway by Fr James Martin SJ. Fr James Martin served as a consultant on the film Doubt, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman. The following are Martin's thoughts on Philip Seymour Hoffman as an actor, director and a human being.
Religious Themes Dominate “Venice Film Festival”
If you have been keeping up with the “Venice Film Festival,” than you are should be aware of winners and losers from best picture to best director. But it’s fittingly for a festival where about half the titles in the official competition had religious themes,
Movie on importance of fatherhood wows at box office
“There is an opportunity for fathers to step up in our culture and take more of a spiritual role and to affirm and love their kids and to prepare them for what should be a Godly legacy among families,” Alex Kendrick, actor and director for “Courageous,” said.
Monk tragedy "Of Gods and Men" proves surprise hit.
Of Gods and Men is true story that is moving audiences worldwide
Nine monks go about the simple rhythms of their life, in the certain knowledge that they face an imminent death. It's based on a real story. In 1996, seven French Cistercian monks were kidnapped and then killed at Tibhirine in Algeria, amidst rising religious and factional violence. Their murderers were never found.
Movie on Mexico's war against Catholics offers timely lessons
Pablo José Barroso, the producer of a new film that brings to life the fight against the Mexican government’s persecution of Catholics in the 1920s says there are clear parallels to today’s situation in the United States and elsewhere.