The Hopeful Relevance of “The American President”

November 2, 2020 By Sister Rose

Every four years I start watching my favorite films about the U.S. president. These include All the President’s Men (1976), Lincoln (2012), the miniseries John Adams (2008) and my favorite The American President (1995.) In “The American President” Michael Douglas plays widowed Democratic President Andrew Shepherd and Martin Sheen is A. J. McInerny, his long-time friend and chief of staff. The film is writer Aaron Sorkin’s romantic-comedy take on the drama of a White House dealing with legislation on... Read more

“Two Crowns” new film about St. Maximilian Kolbe

October 24, 2020 By Sister Rose

0 Comments

From the same team that brought us the compelling docudrama “Love and Mercy: Faustina” comes a new docudrama about the life of Franciscan priest and martyr, St. Maximilian Kolbe (1894-1941). It will show on one night only, Monday, October 26, 2020 as a Fathom Event at participating theaters. A streaming date for online viewing, and DVD sales, has not yet been determined. See the website for tickets and theater locations: CLICK HERE. Written and directed by Michael Kondrat, we are... Read more

“Fatima” up for release on DVD and streaming in October

September 30, 2020 By Sister Rose

0 Comments

I am a little short on time so I am posting relevant portions of the press release with the news about the release of the new film FATIMA. Click HERE for my review of FATIMA at the National Catholic Reporter and Click HERE for my interview with Andrea Bocelli about his musical role in the film. ________________ ACADEMY AWARD® NOMINEE HARVEY KEITEL AND GOLDEN GLOBE® NOMINEE SÔNIA BRAGA ARE FEATURED IN THE POWERFUL AND UPLIFTING STORY INSPIRED BY MIRACULOUS... Read more

“On the Record” – high time for black women to be heard and believed

May 30, 2020 By Sister Rose

0 Comments

The release of HBO’s documentary On the Record could not be more timely. Directed and produced by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering (The Hunting Ground, The Invisible War), the chilling accounts of three black women in the recording industry who alleged to have been abused by African American hip-hop music mogul Russell Simmons, coincides with the outrage at the killings of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd by white policemen. Why? Because men in power abuse others because they can. Plus, they often get away with it or... Read more

Who Invented the “Jump Shot”? New doc tells the real story

April 18, 2020 By Sister Rose

0 Comments

Eric Schaal/Life Magazine, via University of Wyoming I cry so easily these days. I am on day 33 of quarantine in this time of the Corona-19 virus. Watching movies like “Jump Shot” moved me greatly and made me sob. Maybe its because of the innocence of the story, and the humility of the man who “invented” the jump shot as a 13 year-old kid in 1933 in Wyoming, playing hoops with his much taller brother. It was a basketball... Read more

New life rises in ‘Phoenix, Oregon’

March 20, 2020 By Sister Rose

0 Comments

Bobby (James Le Gros) is middle-aged, divorced and a brilliant unpublished graphic novel artist. He lives alone in a trailer somewhere behind the main street of Phoenix, Oregon where he works as a bartender at a restaurant owned by his obnoxious boss Kyle (Diedrich Bader) who steals from the tip jar. When Bobby goes home at night he muses over his art and wonders if his ex-wife ever thinks of him. His old friend Carlos (Jesse Borrego) is the head... Read more

“The Way Back” is for recovering alcoholics and those who love them

March 13, 2020 By Sister Rose

0 Comments

Jack Cunningham (Ben Affleck) is a construction worker who lives alone, works all day and drinks away his evenings at the local bar, Harold’s Place, near the port. He’s a full-fledged alcoholic and manages to hide it from all except the men in the bar who help him get home every night. He starts drinking beer as soon as he gets up. He puts hard liquor in his water bottle and coffee cup. One day, out of the blue, Father... Read more

“The Cave” Oscar-worthy documentary about women heroes

February 1, 2020 By Sister Rose

0 Comments

The tragic reality depicted in this year’s Oscar-nominated documentary “The Cave” from director Feras Fayyad (previously nominated for “Last Man in Aleppo”), though filmed in 2018, is real and it is current. Dr. Amani Ballour, a pediatrician and the featured hospital manager in the bombed-out city of Al Ghouta, Syria that is the subject of the film told me in an interview last week: “This movie is the truth, I want the audience to know this. This war on Syria’s... Read more

1917 is a relentless video game-like imagining of World War I

December 27, 2019 By Sister Rose

0 Comments

“1917” is a relentless video game-like imagining of one day during World War I. Though it shows the horrors of war, Sam Mendes’ indulgent spectacle fails to take into account the audiences’ will or ability to sustain almost two hours of horror for a five-minute denouement. As a whole, the film fails cinematically even if some scenes are effective. It is not based on one true story, but an amalgamation of memories. Set in the trenches in France, mild-mannered British... Read more

“Dark Waters” should disturb us into action

December 7, 2019 By Sister Rose

0 Comments

Mark Ruffalo as attorney Rob Billot in “Dark Waters” Courtesy of (c) Focus Features The first thing you think of when you begin watching director Todd Haynes’ legal crime drama “Dark Waters” is “Erin Brockovich” – the person and the 2000 movie that won Julia Roberts an Oscar for best Actress. The next thing you think of is Steven Zaillian’s “A Civil Action,” the 1998 film where John Travolta plays attorney Jan Schlichtmann. What do the three films have in common? The... Read more