Here is Episode 2 of our Lenten Film Series; I hope you are finding the series as inspirational as the stories and the interviews with filmmakers are. You can go right to the INNetwork website or click on the episode (and questions for reflection and conversation) about major league baseball’s Mike Sweeney and the interview with filmmaker Tom Allen. Read more
“Thomas Keating: a Rising Tide of Silence” gently documents the life of Fr. Thomas Keating, integrating his personal history and spiritual journey in a compelling blend of interviews with him and his Cistercian brothers, footage of Keating’s talks at interreligious gatherings, interaction with people who come on retreat, and in one case, his visits to Jens Soering, a prisoner serving life for double murder. Over time, Keating’s “centering prayer” method influenced Soering to live his life as a prisoner in a fruitful way,... Read more
Today is Ash Wednesday and our Lenten Film Series from the INNetwork begins! I will post these every week. You can also visit the INNetwork (Ignatian News Network) each week as well. If you go to The INNetwork on your mobile device you can downtown the app and receive notifications each time a new Lenten film goes up. Bring your journal or a notebook to reflect on the questions that emerged from the Scriptures and the film/interview. This... Read more
If you’d like to check out what I think about the ten Oscar nominated films (and thoughts on some others) visit my blog on the INNetwork: The INNdustry with Sister Rose. The questions I always ask myself about a movie is whether or not I’d see it again. I am always looking for signs of humanity, too, at least tinged with empathy or the possibility for it. For a taste here’s my take on The Wolf of Wall Street.... Read more
Feb. 25 will mark the 10th anniversary of the release of Mel Gibson’s hugely successful and controversial “The Passion of the Christ.” Right after Christmas, I had the opportunity to sit down with two friends, Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, director of interfaith affairs at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, and Yvonne Gomez, a Christian research consultant, to watch “The Passion of the Christ.” Back in 2004, I reviewed “The Passion of the Christ” as a horror film, and... Read more
As The Hollywood Reporter noted in an article on February 12, “Son of God: Church Leaders Buying Out Theaters for Screenings,” thousands of people across the country will be seeing producers Roma Downey and Mark Burnett’s new film that tells the life of Christ when it opens on February 28. Archbishop Gomez of Los Angeles and Cardinal Wuerl of Washington, DC have endorsed the film. Here’s my review on “The INNdustry with Sister Rose” on the Jesuit run INNetwork where I... Read more
As you may know, the religion blog web portal “Patheos” has an Entertainment Channel (where my blog lives) with many film critics from various faith communities sharing about their favorite films. We would like to ask you to weigh in and vote for the “Reader SelectionAward” – CLICK HERE to vote. According to editor Rebecca Cusey, “The Patheos Movie Awards (aka the #Pathies) will be announced February 26, 2014.” The Nominees are: Best Picture of 2013 12 Years a... Read more
I just received this information about “Grace Unplugged” that was released yesterday on DVD: “Grace Unplugged just won The Movieguide Award’s Epiphany Prize as the Most Inspiring Film of the Year beating out such box-office powerhouses as Man of Steel and42. The Movieguide Awards were held last Friday, Feb. 7 in Los Angeles. In addition to the Epiphany Prize, Grace Unplugged took home two other awards: Best Film Actress for AJ Michalka and Best Film Actor for James Denton. Past Winners of The... Read more
VEILED DESIRES: INTIMATE PORTRAYALS OF NUNS IN POSTWAR ANGLO-AMERICAN FILM By Maureen A. Sabine Published by Fordham University Press, $30 Sometimes there can be a sacramental quality about cinema. When movies tell stories well, they become outward manifestations that transcend the inner realities of their characters in ways that touch the audience. Maureen Sabine has written a masterful book that reveals the sacramentality of cinema about religious women. She is confident of her topic and her analysis, and has... Read more
Last week marked the 10th anniversary of Facebook, the social networking site founded more or less (see the 2010 film “The Social Network”) by Mark Zuckerberg in his dorm room at Harvard University. OK, Wikipedia says he co-founded Facebook with four other guys, but we really don’t remember them, do we? And there were three others who claimed Zuckerberg stole their idea, a legal battle that was settled out of court. In an interview Feb. 4 with Zuckerberg on the “Today”... Read more
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