Voices of Fire is a fresh look at Gospel and a great listen, too

November 23, 2020 By Sister Rose

When Voices of Fire, a six-part documentary series from Netflix opens we see a panel of five people listening to a singer audition for a new Gospel choir, a new kind of Gospel choir that is inclusive, diverse and multi-cultural. They are the judges, Bishop Ezekiel Williams (Grammy Award winning singer and producer Pharrell Williams’ uncle), choir master Patrick Riddick, Gospel singer Peggy Britt, music director Larry George, and Pharrell. They will choose from thousands of applicants who have come... Read more

“Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey” shines in the darkness

November 13, 2020 By Sister Rose

Jeronicus Jangle (Forest Whitaker) is an inventor of wonderful and whimsical imaginary technology and toys in the Victorian village of Cobbleton. His young apprentice Gustafson (Miles Barrow; Keegan-Michael Kay) is very bright and wants to be an inventor, too. But he betrays his benefactor and steals a mechanical toy, Don Juan Diego (voice of Ricky Martin), and runs away hoping to sell it and make millions. Jeronicus is disappointed and loses his zest for inventing. He becomes grumpy. His relationship... Read more

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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