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The Lorax in 60 seconds: My “Reel Faith” video review.
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The Secret World of Arrietty in 60 seconds: My “Reel Faith” video review.
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Teens & Up
Burroughs didn’t invent science fiction, but he perhaps created a genre of
serial sci-fi fantasy adventure, with an idealized action hero going from one extraterrestrial adventure to another. Carter’s closest literary ancestor may be Sinbad from
One Thousand and One Nights, which is saying something. Buck Rogers, James Kirk and Luke Skywalker are all his descendants, and Jake Sully — the hero of
Avatar, which really
is a patchwork borrowing from everything Burroughs inspired — is perhaps more indebted to John Carter than any other character in history.
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Once a month Patrick Coffin of “
Catholic Answers Live!” and I talk about movies for an hour that never seems quite long enough for all the films we want to talk about. So this month, we’re taking two hours! Friday on “Catholic Answers Live!” it’s all Decent Films, all the time, from 6pm–8pm EST (3pm–5pm PST).
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Reader response to the lovely family film
The Secret World of Arrietty, I’m delighted to say, has been almost entirely positive. However, I did receive one negative email from a reader who not only didn’t enjoy the film, but considered it downright immoral. Why? Because the Borrowers, tiny people who live in secret in big people’s homes, survive by “borrowing” (i.e., taking) the things they need from the big people.
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Kids & Up
Well … its heart’s in the right place. Give the filmmakers that.
This isn’t
The Grinch or
The Cat in the Hat.
It’s not outright ugly, though it slips off the rails.
It wants to be decent. It tries. But it fails.
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If you missed the various broadcasts of the “Reel Faith” one-hour Oscar special over the last few weeks, you’ve still got time to catch online before Sunday’s Oscar ceremony … and see how wrong we were three weeks ago! David and I talk about the nominees, call out snubs, give our favorites and give our predictions, some of which have aged better than others.
Watch online now!
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With the
Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday more or less officially ending the awards season, this is pretty much my last chance to blog on some notable best film lists of 2011 worth highlighting.
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Spotlighted for your Lenten benefit: my 2011 blog post “Into the Desert: Lent and Film,” including some general thoughts on fasting and ascesis and some recommendations for appropriate Lenten viewing. Note that among the last year’s crop of films are a number that would make excellent Lenten viewing.
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Don’t settle for a mysterious island when there’s a whole secret world to be discovered.
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…yours truly. As background, the March 2012 issue of
Catholic Digest magazine marks a
complete reinvention of the magazine under the direction of its new editor-in-chief, Danielle Bean, formerly of
Faith & Family magazine.
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I like lists better than awards, so I look forward to the Academy Award nominations more than the Oscars ceremony itself. The process of whittling down countless contenders to a handful of nominees is more interesting than the process of picking one nominee as the winner — and this year is no exception.
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The Oscars are just a week away now. If you missed the first two airings of our one-hour “Reel Faith” Oscar Special, you have one more chance to catch it on Thursday, February 23 at 9:00pm. Note: This is a change from the date and time originally reported. Hope you enjoy it. (
Watch NET live.)
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Kids & Up
The Secret World of Arrietty just might change the way you look at the world around you — right around you. A wide-eyed sense of discovery and revelation permeates the film, and what it reveals is … the mystery and wonder of an ordinary home.
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Adults
The Grey is a thoughtful, tough-minded little tale of survival and attrition that sets its sights a bit further than its firepower takes it.
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This Friday, February 10 I'll be appearing on the first hour of “
Catholic Answers Live” (6pm–7pm EDT).
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Thanks to my friend
Mark Shea of Catholic and Enjoying It! for including my work here at Decent Films among his “
Ten must-see web resources for Catholics” for
Our Sunday Visitor.
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Teens & Up
For
Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, who stars as a young solicitor named Arthur Kipps,
The Woman in Black is an opportunity to make a reasonably graceful break from the role that has dominated his life since childhood. For the new owners of England’s legendary Hammer horror brand, until recently dormant from the 1970s, it’s an opportunity to stake their claim to continuing in the tradition of Terence Fisher, Jimmy Sangster et al. For curious movie watchers, it’s an opportunity to see how Radcliffe does in another role — and how an old-fashioned haunted house story plays today.
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An intriguing question posed to me in another forum: “Who is the worst Disney villain? Mother Gothel in
Tangled is
bad (kidnapping, brainwashing). The evil Queen from
Snow White?”
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Here’s my 30-second review of
The Ides of March, now on home video (somehow I neglected to post it before, so here it is).
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Friday, January 20, I’ll be on the first hour of
Catholic Answers Live! (6pm–7pm EST). Patrick Coffin and I will be talking about the best and worst films of 2011 and much much more.
Listen live!
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2011 was a good year for film, and particularly for depictions of faith in film — but not in the Hollywood mainstream on either count.
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At last, a horror film for disaffected Catholic traditionalists embittered against the Church for post-Vatican II changes; who see the Church itself, not just the larger culture, as compromised by modernism, and impeding orthodox clerics from carrying out true spiritual work.
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This weekend Disney’s latter-day classic
Beauty and the Beast returns to theaters in a 3D converted version. I was looking forward to taking the whole family to last weekend’s 3D screening, but life got in the way. As for the film itself, I have nothing to add to
my recent review; here it is.
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Tuesday, 1/10: This afternoon I’ll be on Catholic radio twice in the 5 o’clock hour (EST) discussing a pair of movies with very Catholic themes (a comment that should
not be taken as an endorsement!).
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Recognition and praise are always appreciated, but this month’s
shout-out from Image Journal naming me their Artist of the Month for January 2012 is especially gratifying. They have some thoughtful comments about my film writing, both with respect to craft and content, and the guy they’re describing sounds to me like the guy I try to be. Suz says they nailed me. What do you think?
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Following up on my
“Still Christmas” post on Advent and Christmas family traditions, Christmas movies are an important tradition in many households. For me, Christmas movies are an especially important way of marking the continuing Christmas season. In general, I would rather watch Christmas movies with my kids
after Christmas day, rather than before, as a way of celebrating the Christmas season.
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All Advent long, observant Catholics and other Christians hold the line against premature Christmas, holding off on decking the halls and singing Christmas carols during what is meant to be a time of preparation. Now, as the world is busily dismantling what’s left of its Christmas trappings, it’s time for Christians to double down on the continued celebration of the Christmas season.
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Here’s my 30-second take on
War Horse.
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Here’s my 30-second take on
The Adventures of Tintin.
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