2017-03-13T15:17:04-06:00

Last updated on: March 13, 2017 at 3:17 pm   By

The opening scene of Cries from Syria is of a two-year old baby laying dead on the sea shore, the rippled waves washing over him, because the boat bringing him to Europe capsized. This new HBO Documentary film (it premiered at Sundance in January) by Oscar and Emmy nominated director Evgeny Afineevsky premieres tomorrow night on television. The tragedy of the Al-Assad regime’s oppression and genocide is guaranteed to shock even an audience habituated to graphic war violence on television,... Read more

2017-03-09T14:23:08-07:00

Last updated on: March 9, 2017 at 2:23 pm   By

I’ll be seeing the film next week; this information is from the publicist. The couple saved at least 300 Jews from death during World War II. Here’s a description of the book from Wikipedia: The Zookeeper’s Wife THE ZOOKEEPER’S WIFE – Synopsis In 1939 Poland, Antonina Żabińska (portrayed by two-time Academy Award nominee Jessica Chastain) and her husband, Dr. Jan Żabiński (Johan Heldenbergh, a European Film Award nominee for the Academy Award-nominated The Broken Circle Breakdown), have the Warsaw Zoo flourishing... Read more

2017-03-03T17:43:41-07:00

Last updated on: March 3, 2017 at 5:43 pm   By

“The Shack,” based on the 2007 best-selling novel by William P. Young, is now a major motion picture starring Sam Worthington and Oscar-winning actress Octavia Spencer. In wide release today, the film, in my humble opinion, far surpasses the novel. As anyone who reads my reviews knows, I am not a fan of the “Christian” genre, because most of those movies lead with a message rather than the story. I prefer to figure out what the movie means rather than... Read more

2017-02-25T17:24:56-07:00

Last updated on: February 25, 2017 at 5:24 pm   By

2016 was a very good year for Hollywood. Disney made more than $1 billion — again — before the year was half over (the first studio ever to reach that amount in just over four months) and the hits just kept on coming: “Finding Dory,” “The Jungle Book,” etc. I only saw 56 films in 2016, far fewer that my usual 100. However, the quality of those that I did see was certainly worth the time and effort. Of the... Read more

2017-02-23T18:20:13-07:00

Last updated on: February 23, 2017 at 6:20 pm   By

This is the cover of St. Anthony Messenger for March 2017 and here is the link to my story The Shack: Hollywood Drama with a Catholic Touch     Read more

2017-02-23T13:20:10-07:00

Last updated on: February 23, 2017 at 1:20 pm   By

Due to the limited amount of television shows I can record, my DVR didn’t start recording “Ransom,” a new CBS drama, until the fourth episode, “Joe,” which aired Jan. 28. But I was traveling and when I got home I had three, then four episodes to watch. Wow. I’m impressed. The drama revolves around the character of a former FBI agent, Eric Beaumont (Luke Roberts) who leads a team of crisis and hostage negotiators that private citizens and governments call... Read more

2017-02-23T13:10:36-07:00

Last updated on: February 23, 2017 at 1:10 pm   By

2017 Los Angeles Religious Education Congress Film Showcase FEBRUARY 24 7PM Coffee and dessert 7:45 – 10PM event Anaheim Convention Center (Room 101) 800 W Katella Ave, Anaheim, California 92802 The LMU Center for Religion & Spirituality and the LA Office of Religious Education invite you to the 2017 Los Angeles Religious Education Congress Film Showcase at the Anaheim Convention Center on Friday, February 24. Sponsored by LMU School of Film and Television, National Catholic Reporter, the Pauline Center for... Read more

2017-02-23T12:01:35-07:00

Last updated on: February 23, 2017 at 12:01 pm   By

A provocative new one-hour documentary, An American Conscience: The Reinhold Niebuhr Story, directed by Martin Doblmeier (Chaplains, Bonhoeffer, The Power of Forgiveness) is airing on PBS stations in April. The film explores the life and continued legacy of the influential Niebuhr, who spent most of his life on the FBI watchlist and whose writings influenced political figures including Pres. Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Jimmy Carter, civil rights leaders Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Andrew Young, and many... Read more

2017-02-19T14:09:02-07:00

Last updated on: February 19, 2017 at 2:09 pm   By

My feature story on the new film “The Shack” is now live at St. Anthony Messenger! Be sure to click through to read the entire story. (I have posted just a few opening paragraphs here.) The film opens on March 3, a great film – and just in time –  for Lent. In 2007, Canadian author William P. Young, with the help of two minister friends, self-published The Shack, a novel that he had written as a Christmas gift for... Read more

2017-01-19T14:47:17-07:00

Last updated on: January 19, 2017 at 2:47 pm   By

Actor Liam Neeson plays the apostate Jesuit priest Fr. Ferreira in Martin Scorsese’s new film “Silence.”  I interviewed Neeson by phone on Jan. 18. It was a short interview (about twelve minutes). You can read my interview with Matt Malek, an executive producer on the film and my review at Sister Rose Movies and at the National Catholic Reporter. NCR: Have you seen the film? Neeson: Yes, twice in fact. What did you think of it? When you’ve worked on a film and... Read more

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