Culture
‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ offers sci-fi with big scenes, bigger themes
NEW YORK (CNS) -- The original fans of the long-lived "Star Trek" franchise may be getting older; the TV series that started everything off, after all, first hit antennas (remember them?) nearly 50 years ago. But director J.J. Abrams continues to keep the perennially appealing characters of this sci-fi stalwart young with his second chronicle of their early professional lives, "Star Trek Into Darkness" (Paramount).
Excesses of ‘The Great Gatsby’ excusable? Not so, old sport
NEW YORK (CNS) — A great American novel doesn’t always, it seems, translate into a sure-fire film property. A case in point: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic 1925 tale, “The Great Gatsby.” Director and co-writer Baz Luhrmann’s current 3-D adaptation (Warner Bros.) is at least the fourth effort to bring Fitzgerald’s chronicle of the Jazz Age […]
‘Iron Man 3’ starts telling a deeper story, then just blows things up
NEW YORK (CNS) — Given that his first appearance in print dates back to 1963, the comics-based superhero of “Iron Man 3″ (Disney) may be said to be turning 50 this year. Perhaps a midlife crisis is to blame for the lack of freshness and charm that mark the latest addition to this blockbuster screen franchise — […]
Authors see influence of feminism on church from different perspectives
Book reviews: "Rooted in Love: Our Calling as Catholic Women" by Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle. "Breaking Through: Catholic Women Speak for Themselves," edited by Helen M. Alvare. "Grace Under Pressure: The Roles of Women -- Then and Now -- in the Catholic Church" by Barbara A. O'Reilly.
The Place Beyond the Pines
NEW YORK (CNS) — We have the assurance of the Old Testament that the iniquity of a father will be visited upon his children (Nm 14:18). That happens more than once in “The Place Beyond the Pines” (Focus). Director and co-writer (with Ben Coccio and Darius Marder) Derek Cianfrance elevates a standard crime drama into […]
All Christians can find their story in overview of first 1,000 years
“The First Thousand Years: A Global History of Christianity” by Robert Wilken Yale University Press (New Haven, Conn., 2012). 388 pp., $35. Reviewed by Brother Jeffrey Gros, FSC Catholic News Service “The First Thousand Years,” a remarkably brief overview of half the Christian story by a prominent Catholic historian, is a refreshing new look at […]
Oblivion: The action-packed movie of the future
NEW YORK (CNS) — Large-scale landscapes and shiny gadgets make for arresting visuals in the science fiction epic “Oblivion” (Universal). But director Joseph Kosinski’s emotionally shallow adaptation of his own graphic novel is further undermined by logical lapses and some dubious philosophizing. While mature moviegoers may shrug off the amateur metaphysics of Karl Gajdusek’s script […]
’42’ brings Jackie Robinson’s heroic struggle to life
NEW YORK (CNS) — To paraphrase the title of an earlier movie about the national pastime, hate strikes out in the historical drama “42” (Warner Bros.). Writer-director Brian Helgeland’s uplifting — if sometimes heavy-handed — film recounts the 1947 reintegration of professional baseball after decades of segregated play. As Helgeland’s script shows us, this racial […]
Jurassic Park in 3-D will leave goosebumps on your goosebumps
Moviegoers are in for some extreme excitement if they venture within the terrifying boundaries of “Jurassic Park” (Universal), now rereleased with 3-D effects. Steven Spielberg directs the mother of all monster movies from Michael Crichton’s best-selling novel, detailing what happens after genetically re-created dinosaurs break loose in a theme park and see two young children […]
‘Olympus Has Fallen:’ An epic, gory glimpse of Washington’s fall
Every so often, Hollywood seems to feel the need to blow a familiar landmark to smithereens. In the frequently bloody action flick "Olympus Has Fallen" (FilmDistrict), it's the White House's turn. Invading this civic holy of holies is a band of North Korean no-goodniks led by an internationally wanted terrorist named Kang (Rick Yune). Ruthless, fanatical and perfectly trained, Kang's followers require only 13 minutes to take control of the world's most recognizable residence -- whose security code name, it seems, is that of the mountain dwelling of the ancient Greek gods.