A Day without a Mexican is nothing like I thought it would be. It is a mockumentary that deals with prejudice, ignorance, racism, what it means to be an alien (think UFO), friendship, pride and honesty. It’s as good as a Michael Moore-type documentary only this one is so layered and nuanced yet in-your-face at the same time, that you have to laugh. I think it deserves an award. On one day, all the Latinos in California disappear and everything... Read more

The Day After Tomorrow is NOT your typical patriotic disaster movie. I think it is very political, though, and each citizen of the earth and lawmakers would do well to sit up, take notice, and action. Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) is a climatologist doing research with two colleagues in Antarctica when the ledge they are on starts to split. Next Jack is in New Delhi speaking at a conference on global warming and the vice president (Kenneth Welsh) of the US... Read more

The Notebook (coming soon to a theater near you!) is based on the Nicholas Sparks novel of the same title. What’s beautiful about the movie is that it takes on marital fidelity over the long haul… over the decades, in sickness and in health. Dramas about old people are rare, though we have had some: On Golden Pond, Driving Miss Daisy, Trip to Bountiful, Marvin’s Room. But here is another one to remind the younger generation that marriage, love and... Read more

I am very pleased to welcome you to this online journal. I would like to share with you my criteria for exploring contemporary film through these spontaneous reviews and commentary – usually written within 24 hours of viewing (hence the occasional typo’s). I try to consider   n                                  The degree to which the filmmaker tells the story through the creative use of image and sound; n                                  How well the main character(s) grows as a person and member of the human... Read more

America’s Heart and Soul is a beautiful new 90 minute film to be released for the July 4th weekend. If you are tired of overlong “patriotic” disaster films, then let yourself be inspired by this contemplative road (and air) trip around the USA. Over the last 10 years, filmmaker Louis Swartzberg has collected and now created a montage of “voices” and faces that tell their stories of what freedom in America means – and these meanings include everything from freedom... Read more

Shrek2 begins when Fiona and Shrek go on their honeymoon and return to find Donkey keeping house for them (more or less.) Fiona’s parents want them to come for a visit so they can give their blessing to the marriage. And the adventures begin. Shrek2 is aimed a little older audience than the Shrek – perhaps hoping to interest the now more mature audience that enjoyed the first film. Lots of double entendre, a little scatalogoical humor – and Joan... Read more

VAN HELSING is pure cinematic comic book horror and Hugh Jackman knows how to pull it off (X-Men franchise). It’s over-the-top and funny, and uses the Catholic Church (to an absurd extreme) and Catholic imagery and theological tradition, much like Nosferatu (the Dracula story is the Christ story in reverse) and other Dracula stories. It’s really a too-long hodge-podge of all the vampire/Frankenstein flicks that have come before – but it was fun. I think there’s a commentary in there somewhere... Read more

TROY is a sobering and haunting film about the absolute folly of war. Sure, the dialogue is elementary and not worthy of the epic nature of this film, and I am getting tired of computer-generated armies. The film is an adaptation of Homer’s ILIAD – a history of ancient Greece. I have only read the parts of the ILIAD required by school and the ODYSSEY as interpreted by the Coen Brothers (O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU?). However, I didn’t get... Read more

The TWILIGHT SAMURAI was in the official competition of the Berlin Film Festival in 2003 and one of the films that the ecumenical jury (of which I was privileged to be a member) considered for a prize. Michael Winterbottom’s IN THIS WORLD won out (a pseudo-documentary about a displaced Afghan living in a refugee camp in Pakistan who travels to the UK illegally and obtains residency until his 18th birthday) but this lovely Japanese hisorical romance was a contender. Not... Read more

If you like this blog I am hoping you will consider the NATIONAL FILM RETREAT (July 23-25, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles) where movie lovers gather every year (this summer will be our 8th retreat in five years) to talk and reflect on film, spirituality and theology. Our theme this year is “Matters of Conscience.” The deadline for registration in June 25th. The web site is located at http://www.nationalfilmretreat.org Read more