Culture
One novel captivates reader, but other fails in telling timely tale
The first chapter of "The Fool of New York City" sets up a modern mystery. Those who continue reading will embark on a story of love, friendship and adventure, involving defeat and triumph, death and resurrection.
Movie review: Going in Style
Despite its title, there's nothing very spiffy about "Going in Style" (Warner Bros.). In fact, this leaden caper comedy feels distinctly cut-rate.
Smurfs: The Lost Village
If you've always wondered, "Just what is a Smurfette?" then "Smurfs: The Lost Village" (Columbia) may be the film for you.
Movie review: The Case for Christ
Lee Strobel published a memoir of his spiritual odyssey from aggressive atheism to evangelical Christianity that also grounded his faith in objectively assessed evidence. Nearly 20 years later, and just in time for Easter, a screen version of Strobel's book, "The Case for Christ" (Pure Flix), arrives in theaters.
‘Z: The Beginning of Everything,’ streaming, Amazon Prime
NEW YORK (CNS) — Streaming now on Amazon Prime, “Z: The Beginning of Everything” upends the conventional understanding of one of the 20th century’s most famous marriages. Specifically, this revisionist drama series rejects the widespread belief that famed novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald’s relationship with his mentally unstable wife, Zelda, significantly attenuated his literary output. In […]
All together now: Clergy, religious, laity must take church leadership
Millions of people might walk away from the Catholic Church unless all of its members, from ordained clergy to laity, take part in revitalizing the church and its parishes, says the author of the new book "Everyone Leads."
Art exhibit puts Botticelli’s spiritual journey in historical framework
Today's culture wars have nothing on Renaissance-era Italy. A touring exhibition of Botticelli's works, many of them appearing in the U.S. for the first time, places the modern audience in the middle of this tumultuous period.
‘The Zookeeper’s Wife’ tells harrowing story in a thin way
The fact-based historical drama of a Polish woman's efforts to shelter Jews during the Holocaust is undeniably inspiring, but hardly riveting. The film might have made a better documentary than dramatization.
‘The Blackcoat’s Daughter’: Another psych horror film cloaked in possession
The story gives unusually short shrift to the rite of exorcism, which is portrayed even more casually and inaccurately than is usually the case in such dramas. Unlike them, it shows its demon, in cartoon fashion.
Two new offerings on connection between faith, science disappoint
Few areas of thought today are as exciting and as important as the conversation between religion and science. Unfortunately, these two books don't contribute that significantly to this dialogue. Both authors, with strong backgrounds in science and far weaker backgrounds when it comes to theology, disappoint the reader in different ways.