The DVD is now available! The film RISEN, that I reviewed in February as a “moving contribution to the canon of biblical movies” will be distributed on digital on May 10 and on 4K Ultra HD™, Blu-ray™ & DVD May 24 with Bonus Materials that will include deleted scenes and three behind-the-scenes featurettes & commentary. And today, for the first time, you can watch and listen to the moving responses of actors Joseph Fiennes and Maria Botto as well as the co-producers,... Read more
If you are a film buff and like classic films from every era, don’t miss the upcoming TCM Film Festival April 28 – May 1st. What’s really cool is that I will be introducing “The Song of Bernadette” on Saturday evening, April 30 and “The King of Kings” on Sunday, May 1 (this year marks the film’s 55th anniversary.) There are a few more of my favorite films playing such as “The Keys of the Kingdom.” It’s an excellent slate... Read more
In the early 1950s, Christina Noble (Gloria Cramer Curtis), a young girl from a poor part of Dublin, Ireland, aspires to be a singer when she grows up. She prays and lights candles to Our Lady to care for her sick mother. When she dies, her father, Thomas (Liam Cunningham), an alcoholic, loses custody of the children, and the courts send them to separate institutions. At 17, Christina finishes school, but more hardships follow when she is raped. Friends bring... Read more
I am so pleased to announce the publication of a superb article at the University of Nebraska’s online Journal for Religion and Film about how movies about nuns influenced many young women in their discernment and decision to enter religious life. The article,” Seeing the Light, Hearing the Call: Women Religious as Spectators and Subjects of Popular Nun Films” is by Professor Maureen Sabine of the University of Hong Kong. It follows her 2013 book: VEILED DESIRES: INTIMATE PORTRAYALS OF NUNS IN... Read more
National Geographic’s beautiful and intelligent filmic pilgrimage about God is narrated by an actor who comes with solid credentials: Morgan Freeman played God in two feature films directed by Tom Shadyac: “Bruce Almighty” (2003) and “Evan Almighty” (2007). In “The Story of God,” aired as a six-part series beginning Sunday, Freeman moors himself in Greenwood, Miss., his hometown and source of his family and identity. From Greenwood, he travels the world in search of beliefs about the afterlife, the end... Read more
In a city like many others in the United States, a diverse group of students and faculty go about about their daily routines. The football team bends a knee in prayer and the flag is prominent. In a history class about non-violence to achieve civil rights Brooke (Hayley Orrantia), a junior, asks the teacher Grace Wesley (Melissa Joan Hart) if the teachings of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. are like those of Jesus because they all taught non-violence, stood... Read more
Click here for the video of my red carpet interviews for the LA premiere of “Miracles from Heaven”. Read more
Click here to see the Red Carpet interviews and mini review. Read more
The 2011, the revised English translation of the Roman Missal restored the mention of bees found in the original Latin version of the Exsultet: The Proclamation of Easter. I have no inside information to offer as to why the bees were ever left out of the previous translation. But their return enriches the sensual experience of the Easter Vigil because it engages the imagination and invites us to contemplate God’s creation in the Easter mystery. Perhaps it is because there... Read more
Annabelle Beam, “Anna” (Kylie Rogers) is a ten year-old girl who lives with her two sisters and parents, Christy (Jennifer Garner) and Kevin (Martin Henderson) in Burleson TX. Anna suffers from “pseudo-obstruction motility disorder” meaning that her intestines are not able to function. As her condition worsens with increasing pain, Christy desperately tries to find a doctor that can help Anna but is frustrated at every turn. Christy finally finds Dr. Nurko (Eugenio Derbez) in Boston and makes repeated calls... Read more
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