Culture
Two books offer Catholic framework for immigration debate
In 2003 the U.S. and Mexican bishops issued a forward-looking joint pastoral letter asking for sweeping changes in immigration policies on both sides of the border. Ten years later the document is even more forward-looking. Rather than major reforms being enacted, the situation has deteriorated in both countries.
Too much of anything can be bad, including screen time
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Parents, you wouldn't let your kids gorge every meal at an all-you-can buffet, would you? Grandparents have the reputation of spoiling their grandchildren, but they wouldn't let the grandkids spend all day, every day at the beach while letting their skin burn to a crisp, would they?
A mystery novel of love, isolation and belief gone wrong
"What Happened to Sophie Wilder," the first novel by Christopher R. Beha, deserves to be placed in the company of great Catholic fiction by Walker Percy, Graham Greene, Heinrich Boll, Evelyn Waugh, Flannery O'Connor and Andre Dubus. This surprising, complex, short novel is about love and isolation, community and loneliness, success and failure, passing youth, facing death, faith and belief gone very wrong.
Advice for ‘The Counselor’: Avert your eyes
NEW YORK (CNS) — A peepshow of human degradation, the ensemble drama “The Counselor” (Fox) alternates between glamorizing evil and parading its most torturous results — both physical and emotional — for shock value. Working from the debut script of novelist-turned-screenwriter Cormac McCarthy, director Ridley Scott adds disdain for the Catholic Church and a debased […]
Movie Review: Escape Plan
NEW YORK (CNS) — While it may be more intelligent than many of its genre peers, the actioner “Escape Plan” (Summit), which pairs Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, is also too harsh for all but the hardiest viewers. Stallone plays Ray Breslin, an expert on prison security who poses as an inmate to test each […]
‘Carrie’ brings revenge, more than enough blood, to new audiences
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Since high school bullying can now bring felony charges, the telekinetic revenge of "Carrie" (Screen Gems) seems almost quaint. Someone decided that a reboot of the 1976 horror film based on Stephen King's 1974 novel was a good idea, though. Blood, and lots of it, is the leitmotif in director Kimberly Peirce's crack at the story. There's so much gore, in fact, that it quickly loses all shock value. What's left is a pretty tame gross-out attempt.
‘The Fifth Estate’ proclaims WikiLeaks greatest invention ever
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Even a masterful performance by one of its leads doesn't always make for a satisfying movie overall. And so it proves with "The Fifth Estate" (DreamWorks). Is WikiLeaks really ushering in an entirely new society? Is it a technological innovation so great that it ranks with the invention of movable print, as an opening montage suggests? Whether factual or otherwise, such claims make the film's tone sound, at times, either pompous or feverish.
It’s the best of shows, it’s the worst of shows: the new TV season
NEW YORK (CNS) — There’s both good news and bad for viewers with the advent of the fall television season. The upside mainly concerns hourlong dramas: Some networks have bucked the occult-happy trend of recent years that seemed to fill the small screen with dark tales of demons and goblins. They’ve also gotten away from […]
‘Gravity’ pulls in viewers with rare combo of excitement and enlightenment
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Hold on tight for the ride of your life in "Gravity" (Warner Bros.), a lost-in-space adventure as exhilarating as it is terrifying. Director Alfonso Cuaron serves up a modern-day horror story with top-notch performances by Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, plus dazzling 3-D cinematography that envelops the audience in the majesty of space.
Pope as film critic: Mention of a Fellini favorite makes headlines too
NEW YORK (CNS) — Never has passing praise of a Federico Fellini film drawn so much attention. The bulk of the recent interview with Pope Francis by Jesuit Father Antonio Spadaro, editor of the Italian journal La Civilta Cattolica, concerned how the Holy Father’s experience as a member of the Society of Jesus informs his […]