Catholic Fire

After reading guest blogger Pete Vere's excellent review of this film , it's easy to understand why this happened. Here are a few more posts which provide further information: The Golden Compass Bombs - Is This The Death of New Line Cinema? Golden Compass turns leaden Variety : 'Golden Compass' loses its way 'Golden Compass' lackluster at U.S. box office . "Golden Compass" disappoints at box office American Papist: Golden Compass suffers "disaster" opening weekend, no sequels expected causa nostrae laetitiae: New York Magazine expects The Golden Compass to flop this weekend Related Posts on Catholic Fire: The Boring Compass: A Movie Review by Pete Vere, JCL Golden Compass Guide for Parents: Answers to all Your Questions (Updated) US Bishops asked to Fire Chief Film Critic over Glowing Reviews for "Brokeback" and "Compass" Pullman gets peevish; Catholic League responds to spin doctors Recommended Reading Phillip Pullman...

My thanks go out to Pete Vere, JCL, my guest blogger for this post. Pete Vere is the co-author, with Sandra Miesel, of "Pied Piper of Atheism: Philip Pullman and Children's Fantasy" published by Ignatius Books, and available at AtheismForChildren.com. Well, I finally saw the Golden Compass yesterday. I was asked by several concerned Catholic and pro-life organizations to review the film, which I did with another pro-life activist and a Calvinist preacher. It tries to whitewash the books, which are the bigger danger. As far as anti-Christian content, it wasn't completely stripped from the film. But it was subtle. I picked up the following: - Polar bear smashes an Iconostasis. - The use of the word "Magisterium" for the bad guys. - The Magisterium's agents use the title "Fra" and wear something similar to Roman collars. - The Magisterium's headquarters is very similar in its architectural design to St. Peter's Basilica and the Piaz...

Here is an excerpt from Jill Stanek's review: Juno is the third in an unplanned movie trilogy, the others being Waitress and Knocked Up, where a girl accidentally gets pregnant and grows into a heroine by rejecting abortion as a quick solution. Social conservatives attempting to break through in movies have not yet mastered the art of getting our point across without coming off preachy. But it's fascinating to watch the Hollywood and Indie crowd handle one of our premises pretty much the way we'd like it handled.... And here's Juno's premise, by movie reviewer Matthew Turner: Engaging, frequently hilarious teen comedy with a terrific script, a wonderful cast and a delightful central performance from rising star Ellen Page. Ellen Page stars as brainy 16-year-old Juno MacGuff, who gets pregnant the first time she has sex with fellow virgin Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera). Unable to go through with an abortion, Juno decides to give the baby up for adoption, so she finds ...

So, what is the big deal about this movie? Why should parents be concerned?The movie The Golden Compass is the first book of the trilogy, His Dark Materials. Parents need to be concerned because it attacks the foundation of the Catholic Faith.1 Author, Philip Pullman says, • “My books are about killing God.”2 • “I am all for the death of God.”3 • “I’m trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief.”4 The author is an atheist, but how does that affect the film? “Though much of Pullman’s trilogy involves… mystical worlds with talking animals and magical witches, the underlying theme is no simple fantasy. In the fictional universe of His Dark Materials, there is no real God; rather there is a high angel called the Authority, who purports to be God.”5 The Catholic Church, frequently called the Magisterium, is portrayed as the dark force to be overcome. Isn’t His Dark Materials just fiction? It is fiction but it presents good as evil and evil as good. It portrays the evil of dark, demon...

Have you ever watched a movie that makes you laugh, and cry, that nearly breaks your heart, and then melts it? This is Bella , a film filled with complex emotion and turmoil, but also with much joy and finally, peace. Bella is the story of a waitress (Tammy Blanchard) employed at a posh family restaurant in New York who learns that she is pregnant and how her life is changed by the cook (Eduardo Verástegui) who wants so much to help her and to heal his own inner turmoil at the same time. It is the story of life and death, of love and fear, forgiveness and healing. This film is cutting edge and the acting is amazing. It is a story that all of us can relate to no matter what our experiences have been in this life. This is a film with power behind it and that power is the truth, the gift of love, and respect for human life. You'll love the music and ladies, it will be hard to keep your eyes off the star of this film (Eduardo Verástegui). Not only is he an attractive and extremely com...

Check out Leticia's movie review of "The Nanny Diaries" at The Mercatornet.

When his billionaire grandfather Red Stevens (James Garner) dies, Jason (Drew Fuller) anticipates a large inheritance. Instead, he discovers that Red has devised a crash course on life. A series of tasks meant to transform Jason from a hedonistic, self-centered brat into a compassionate, loving man are included in the videotaped will, but whether that’s the gift or there’s a fortune at the end of the rainbow is something Jason will just have to wait to find out. First, he’s sent to Texas to do hard manual labor on the ranch of one of Red’s old pals (Brian Dennehey). Then his trust fund is cut off and he’s thrown into the streets where he battles a bum for a park bench and eventually makes friends with a young girl--dying of leukemia--named Emily (Abigail Breslin). A romance develops with Emily’s struggling single mom (Ali Hills). Unfortunately, their romance is interrupted by another task that leads Jason to Costa Rica, where he winds up hostage to some drug-running thugs. Bill Cobbs a...

Here's the film and here's what Joe Kovacs at WorldNetDaily has to say about it: A new comedy spoof on the Ten Commandments portrays Jesus Christ deflowering a virgin librarian, and is raising some eyebrows in the Christian community. "The Ten," rated R for pervasive strong, crude sexual content, language and some drug material, stars Jessica Alba, Winona Ryder, Gretchen Mol and Liev Schreiber among others. The movie which opens Friday features ten separate stories, each inspired by one of the Ten Commandments from the Holy Bible. "If you've ever stopped yourself from murdering someone, then you yourself have been following the Ten Commandments without even knowing it," clowns director David Wain on the film's website. [More] This is more than a just a little offensive to me - it's totally outrageous. What are your thoughts? You can go here to participate in the poll.

Bill and I were in dire need of a good comedy so we went to watch Hairspray tonight. What a relaxing time we had! This movie was sheer Fun! A musical comedy adapted from a Broadway play of the same name, Hairspray is about a happy - go-lucky, plump teenager, Tracy Turnblad (Nikki Blonsky) from 1962 Baltimore who loves to dance. Her dream is to be selected to dance on "The Corny Collins Show" (a TV dance program which seems to be a combination of The Mickey Mouse Club and The Dick Clark Show.) Tracy's parents, Edna (John Travolta dressed as a woman and acting as a woman throughout), who takes in laundry, is initially resistant to Tracy's auditioning for the show, but her dad, Wilbur (Christopher Walken), a novelty shop owner, is more encouraging and tells her to go for it. When Tracy auditions, she is strongly rejected by Velma Van Tousle (Michelle Pfeiffer), the Producer of the show and a former beauty queen, who is determined to keep her daughter, Amber (Brittany Sno...

From Decent Films: Catholic Harry Potter haters made headlines recently when a hacker named “Gabriel” posted purported plot revelations from the completed but unreleased seventh and final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, along with a note crediting “the great Pope Benedict XVI” with exposing the “Neo Paganism faith” of J. K. Rowling’s cultural juggernaut. Read more > Go here to view the trailers. Update: The Sci Fi Catholic gives us his opinion of Harry Potter here. I like the breakdown of his rating system, which gives us a clearer picture of what we can expect. My Comments: I am not a big Harry Potter fan, but apparently there is some value to watching this film.

Are you looking for a fresh new film that is entertaining, fast- moving and fun for the whole family? Then Ratatouille (pronounced rat-at-too-ee) is your pick. Neither children nor adults will become bored with this delightful and delectable animated Pixar film written and directed by Brad Bird. The star of Ratatouille is Remy (Patton Oswalt), a cute, sensitive blue rat with pink ears, a pink nose, and a penchant for cooking, who is very meticulous when it comes to grooming (never walking on his front paws, as he uses them for cooking and making sure that others wash their hands before performing this task) unlike your average rat. His sense of smell and taste are also much more acute than that of the average rat and unlike his peers and family members, he chooses to eat gourmet food rather than garbage. Inspired by the great late chef Auguste Gusteau (Brad Garrett), whose motto was “anyone can cook”, Remy steals food to create a recipe and barely escapes death from a gun-toting granny...

I have just returned from watching Nancy Drew. What a delightful and fun film this was! Bill and I both enjoyed it. In River Heights, there is no mystery that Nancy Drew (Emma Roberts), a resourceful teen, can't solve. Nancy Drew has a reputation in her small town as a successful sleuth who gets into some pretty scary situations. When her widowed attorney father (Tate Donovan) accepts a temporary job in Los Angeles, he makes her promise that she will stop sleuthing. However, she has already made plans for them to move into the home of a Hollywood starlet who mysteriously died decades ago. Nancy enrolls at Hollywood High, where she attempts to fit in and behave like a "normal" teenager, but her good manners, cleverness, creativity, and concern for others immediately set her apart from her self-indulgent, self-absorbed peers who can't quite figure her out and give her a hard time. Nancy is an old-fashioned kind of a girl who loves old things - which is reflected in her ...

We've just returned from seeing Spider Man III. This film is powerful stuff! I encourage you to go and see it if you haven't already. It is action - packed and filled with suspense and intrigue. To me, this is the best of the triology. The powerful themes that run through the film are good vs. evil, friendship, forgiveness, and healing. It was indeed a deeply spiritual film. I recommend it for older teens and adults. The little ones won't understand it and will be frightened by many of the scenes. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars. My favorite quote from the film: "I've learned that everyone has a choice about who they become." For indepth review, see American Papist's Review here or Decent Films review here.

Into Great Silence has finally made it to Kansas! Bill and I made the trek today to the quaint city of Salina, with a population of approximately 46,000, where we attended the Sunday afternoon matinee at the Art Cinema Center. Although I had only read a few reviews of this film, I knew I just had to see it to satisfy my curiosity of how it would depict the monastic life. As with The Passion of the Christ , Into Great Silence sounded like a film worth supporting, even if it meant driving a distance to see it. It is rare to view an authentic Catholic film at a secular movie theater. This film was well-worth the trip. Into Great Silence is a deeply spiritual film that will touch the innermost depths of your soul if you permit it to do so. It is a lengthy (162 minutes), but hypnotic and spiritually stimulating story of the Carthusian monks whose monastery is located in the French Alps. In 1984, German film-maker Phillip Groning approached the Carthusians about making a film inside the...

Synopsis: When the lovable ogre Shrek (Mike Myers) married Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz), the last thing he had on his mind was becoming the next King. But when Shrek's father-in-law, the frog, King Harold (John Cleese), suddenly croaks, that is exactly what he faces. As he is dying, Harold discloses the name of another potential heir to the throne, Fiona's cousin, Arthur (Justin Timberlake). Unless Shrek (with the help of his trusted companions Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss In Boots (Antonio Banderas) can find Arthur, the ogre, who dreads the responsibilities and restrictions of royal life, could be stuck with the job. When Shrek (and his sidekicks) find Artie, a timid Medieval high school student, who is the victim of bullying classmates and a dysfunctional home life, Shrek realizes the boy is more than he bargained for. Shrek acts a surrogate father to the young man as he attempts to convince him to accept the position by threats, force, being a "buddy" to him, an...

Last night was movie date time with my dear husband. After reading several reviews of Spider Man - 3 and discussing it with friends (We enjoyed the first two films a lot), we decided to opt for something lighter, with less violence and drama, so we went to see the G-rated "Meet the Robinsons". It is an animated film adapted from William Joyce's children's book, A Day With Wilbur Robinson ," about a futuristic family, with a time-travel plot and a comical villain. To me, it resembled a slightly more whimsical and wacky animated version of "Back to the Future." The plot revolves around a 12- year - old child genius, Lewis, whose mother leaves him on the porch of an orphanage as an infant. Lewis is well cared for in the orphanage, but his love for science, as well as his wacky experiments and unusual inventions, prevent him from attaining the very thing he desires most in life - to be a member of a loving family. In an attempt to find his biological mot...

Bill and I went to see the late movie of Miss Potter on Saturday night and we were both happy we did. Miss Potter is the charming and enchanting tale of Beatrix Potter (Rene Zellweger), a beautiful and creative woman who delighted generations of children with her books. Set in the early 1900’s in late Victorian England, we are introduced to a sensitive but sweet, isolated, and introverted young woman in her early 30’s living in the home of her wealthy and class-conscious parents. In this secluded, picturesque environment, she develops her natural God-given talents of writing and painting, but yearns for something more. In the process of getting her first book published (after many rejections) Beatrix finds a willing publisher, Frederick Warne & Co, and teams up with the younger partner in the business, an attractive and amazing man, Norman Warne (Ewan McGregor), who is determined to make her and her books a success. As the two continue their business relationship, they become great...

After viewing Amazing Grace last night, I believe that it is the best film to come out of Hollywood in decades (aside from The Passion of the Christ, which I don’t consider to be a “Hollywood” film.) Amazing Grace, a historical biography, is the story of 18th century William Wilberforce ((Ioan Gruffudd), a Member of Parliament, who battled for twenty years to abolish slavery In Britain. The son of a wealthy British merchant, he studied at Cambridge University, where he began a lasting friendship with Britain’s future prime minister, William Pitt the Younger (Benedict Cumberbatch). The film begins with Wilberforce, a new convert to Christianity, attempting to discern whether or not he should remain in politics or do the work of God. Pitt and others convince him that he can do his best work for God by remaining in the political arena and becoming actively involved in freeing the slaves – the greatest evil of the times. Prominent characters in spurring him on in his battle are: his childh...