Movies

DVD Review: Crimes and Misdemeanors

July 27, 2011

Woody Allen is my favorite atheist. His best movies are among the most moral I’ve seen. In Manhattan he advises a friend to do the right thing. His friend says, “You are so self-righteous. I mean, we’re just people. We’re just human beings. You think you’re God.” Allen shrugs and says, “I gotta model myself [...]

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DVD Review: Of Gods and Men

July 20, 2011

The new movie that Catholics have been talking about is now on DVD. What makes Of Gods and Men (2010) so memorable? Story. Is it the story of eight Trappist monks in Algeria who live in harmony among their Muslim neighbors, treat them when they are sick, and counsel them only when asked? Most of [...]

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DVD Review: The Mosquito Coast

July 13, 2011

Is Harrison Ford’s best acting performance in Star Wars or Indiana Jones? Working Girl, you say? “Wrong!” says John McLaughlin. The answer, says Mike, is The Mosquito Coast, a 1986 movie about an obsessed inventor who tries to build a perfect world in the jungle with an ice machine. It’s not a comedy. It’s one [...]

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DVD Review: Departures

July 6, 2011

Catholics love rituals. Sacraments that mark our milestones. Ashes on our foreheads that remind us of time. Candles that bless our throats and palms that speak of glory. The Japanese love rituals too. Tea ceremonies that stop time in its tracks. Archers who lose themselves and find the target. And, most beautiful of all, the [...]

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Movie Review: The Tree of Life

June 29, 2011

You’ve read about it. You’ve heard about it. It’s playing at an art house near you. Is it as good, or as opaque, as you’ve heard? It’s The Tree of Life, and it’s better. And as translucent as a dewdrop on a flower or a tear on a mother’s cheek. You understand it without knowing [...]

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DVD Review: Babette’s Feast

June 22, 2011

I asked Fr. Robert Barron to write a book on Eucharist, and when he sent me the manuscript I saw that the first two chapters were about a Danish movie called Babette’s Feast (1987). I got on the phone. “Bob, are you nuts? Nobody wants to buy a book called Eucharist and then read about [...]

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DVD Review: La Strada (Special Edition)

June 15, 2011

Chances are you did see La Strada (1954), but even if you did, this restored edition has an introduction by Martin Scorsese, and if you didn’t see it, you’re in for a soul treat. I first saw La Strada when I was 15. I didn’t know much about the plot but knew that it won [...]

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DVD Review: Children of Heaven

June 8, 2011

This week’s “DVD of the Week That You Never Saw Before and Can Still Order for the Weekend” is from Iran: Children of Heaven (1997). Movies from Iran have beautiful spiritual values, none more touching than this story about a brother and sister and a lost pair of shoes. I won’t give away anything more. [...]

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DVD Review: Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen

June 1, 2011

Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179), was a woman who could do it all: teach, write, paint, cook, compose music, make herbal medicine, found a religious community, communicate with peasants and popes, and get in hot water for following her dreams. The German language film, Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen (2009), directed by Margarethe [...]

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Gratitude in the Movies of Steven Spielberg

May 25, 2011

I love Steven Spielberg movies. I love any movie that expresses spiritual values. Spielberg, alone among filmmakers, celebrates the virtue of gratitude. A spiritual teacher I knew lay dying. A student asked him, “What is the most important spiritual value we need to practice?” The teacher smiled. “Gratitude,” he answered. I learn most about gratitude [...]

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