The writer and director of last year’s off-beat comedy Thank You for Smoking, Jason Reitman has given me one of my top-ten films of 2007: Juno. It is funny, life-affirming, quirky and charming in an edgy, loving kind of way. Writer Diablo Cody (a woman) is right up there with Aaron Sorkin and David Kelly in terms of sharp, rapid-fire dialogue, imbued with humor and deeply-felt life.   Juno (played by Ellen Page; X-Men: the Last Stand) has blurry intercourse with her... Read more

Alvin and the Chipmunks has its moments as an animation/live action combo because it targets our cuteness meter. Trying to tell the story of the famous song group (to those of us growing up 50 years ago) founded by Ross Bagdasarian in 1958, kidvid director Tim Hill does his best with a story that suffers from too many writers (three) who don’t know what they want to say – at least it seems that way.   The film also depends on blatant and... Read more

If you like sweet films where you have to suspend your disbelief (as my sister Libby says) when the film seems more like a choppy fable than reality, you’ll enjoy August Rush.  Keri Russell plays Lyla, a classical musician trying to escape her father’s control, who meets up with Louis, a rock singer played by Jonathan Rhys Meyers. They spend a night together on a roof top bench in New York. Her father refuses to let her meet the young... Read more

Director Marc Forster’s (Finding Neverland) interpretation of Khaled Hosseini’s best-selling novel is warm and faithful, the LA Times and NY Times notwithstanding. The child actors (relocated for their own safely because of the implicit male rape scene and later, child abuse which does not reflect well on Islamic cultures) are fresh and authentic. Any awards, however, should go to Homayoun Ershadi who plays Baba, the father of Amir. He centers the film and carries it because his action, after all, was... Read more

This  period drama, based on the book by Ian McEwan, is as tragic as it is beautiful. I haven’t read the book so I cannot compare them, but if you have ever done something that hurt a loved one or a friend and came to regret, this may be an opportunity for you to do penance, assuage the guilt, and find a way to make restitution. The basic story is that a very precocious and rigid young English girl, who thinks she... Read more

One of the best kept secret treasures of the Catholic Church is its body of teaching on communication and media. For those of you who want to know more about the Church’s teaching, theology, and spirituality of communications and media, may I invite you to consider this online course from the University of Dayton’s Virtual Learning Community for Faith Formation. The website is: http://vlc.udayton.edu The Church and Communciation course is described by clicking on this link: http://vlc.udayton.edu/courses/course_details.php?course=41 If your diocese... Read more

Earlier this year I read The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznic (2007; Scholastic). It is an imaginative – and magical – story of Georges Méliès (1861-1938) , one of the first filmmakers who specialized in fantasy. He made over 500 films during his life of which 80 are still in existence. His A Trip to the Moon / Le Voyage dans la Lune is available on DVD.   What this book does is use drawings to tell the... Read more

Christmas 2007 Part I   Welcome to my annual Christmas Letter.  If you are reading this it may be because you received a postcard inviting you to visit, a small effort to save some trees. I hope 2007 has been a good year for you and that 2008 will be filled with joy and blessings for you and yours. This is in two parts, so keep reading!     Highlights at the Pauline Center for Media Studies (PCMS)   In... Read more

Christmas Letter Part II   Activities of the Director (PCMS)   In March, St. Mary’s Press published Media Mindfulness: Educating Teens about Faith and Media written by Sr. Gretchen Hailer, RSHM, and I (www.smp.org).   In October, Pauline Books & Media (www.pauline.org) published Into Great Silence: A Film Study Guide that Fr. Ron Schmidt, SJ and I wrote.   This year I was privileged to speak at the NCEA in Baltimore, NACMP in Columbus, and at ministry gatherings for the... Read more

More Resources for Navigating The Golden Compass       The Golden Compass: Download a 1 page handout guide http://www.daughtersofstpaul.com/mediastudies/reviews/goldcompass_handout.pdf The Golden Compass : A Film Study Guide for Catholics With a Media Literacy Application http://www.daughtersofstpaul.com/mediastudies/reviews/filmgoldencompass.html USCCB Review of the Golden Compass http://www.usccb.org/movies/g/thegoldencompass.shtml Catholic Digesthttp://www.catholicdigest.com/article/should-our-family-watch-the-golden-compass/1  Catholic News Services (CNS) article by Denis Grasska Entertainment Weekly December 4, 2007: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20164193,00.html My Movies: Online Blog by Sr. Rose Pacatte, FSP Catholic Movie Review by Sr. Rose Pacatte, FSP “Shedding Light on His Dark Materials,” by Kurt Bruner... Read more