Topics

What We Can Learn from James Bond about Western Civ

SHAKEN NOT STIRRED

Will Hoyt

I am convinced that the Bond series has functioned as the 20th-century edition of the Latinized (Virgilian) Homeric myth that has long served as our founding story.

Mixed Marriages: Breeding Grounds for Religious Indifferentism?

SPIRITUALLY SINGLE PARENTHOOD

John M. Grondelski

Catholic breakdowns of religious barriers followed the breakdowns of ethnic ones, and, in practice, ecclesiastical discipline became much more lenient.

Choose Your Own Eternity

LOOKING BEYOND REWARD & PUNISHMENT

Pete Jermann

What follows death is the extension into eternity of what we chose in this world. When we pass from this life, what we wanted here will be what we want forever.

The Vatican’s Filthy Lucre

NEW OXFORD NOTEBOOK

Pieter Vree

Peter’s Pence doesn’t solicit funds for financial speculation that fattens the Vatican’s investment portfolios; the fund shouldn’t be used that way.

Lost in the Cosmos: A Discussion of Death, Deep Space & Man’s Ultimate Destiny

MAN, MONKEYS & MOVIEGOERS

Pieter Vree & Jason M. Morgan

A kernel of nihilism undoes whatever meaning modern men try to inject into their own lives.

The Hollywood Scandal Behind the Clerical Scandal

STATE JUDICIAL SYSTEMS AND MEDIA HOLD A DOUBLE STANDARD

Jesse Russell

U.S. media and the American judicial system will gladly go after a high-ranking Catholic priest or bishop but will run cover for powerful Hollywood directors and actors.

A See of the Second-Rate

GUEST COLUMN

Craig F. Montesano

The norm among the men who wear miters — men who are supposed to possess powers of discernment — appears to be gaffes, ill judgment, and an apparent blindness to reason.

Gosnell: The Bigger Picture

GUEST COLUMN

Alexandra Wilson

Gosnell’s attorney asks why Gosnell should be convicted of murder in the case of “Baby A” but not in the cases of the countless other babies.

Emblem of an Exhausted Era

CULTURAL COUNTERPOINT

Jason M. Morgan

"Novitiate" is a film to be expected at the bitter, burnt-out end of the sexual revolution. It is not so much a movie as a cry for help.

Infinity War: A Call to Action

GUEST COLUMN

Alexandra Wilson

The final scene of Infinity War is particularly haunting for millennials; a whole third of our generation has been destroyed by abortion.

The Rise of the "All-Conquering Female"

GUEST COLUMN

Robert Barron

In movies today, it is not enough to show women as intelligent, savvy, and good; they have to portray men as stupid, witless, and irresponsible.

The "Biggest Nothing" in History

ON THE WEST'S IDENTITY ANXIETY

Edwin Dyga

Anglophone societies might not be the direct heirs of the French Revolution itself, but they have been infected by its Jacobin social pathologies.

Through a Lens, Darkly

VITAL WORKS RECONSIDERED, #39

Stanley T. Grip Jr.

Excessive confidence in the supposedly foolproof technical quality of America’s nuclear-weapon system is the subject of the classic thriller "Fail-Safe."

Bringing the Gospels Back to the Big Screen

Hollywood knows there's a lucrative market for Christian movies -- as demonstrated by The Passion of the Christ, the modern-day gold standard for biblical screen portrayals -- and studios have big plans to cash in.

The Orientalism of Barack Obama

GUEST COLUMN

Terry Scambray

Modern-day American "anti-colonialism" is composed mostly of neo-Marxism mixed with a smidgen of post-Victorian disillusionment.

Surprise! A Hollywood Film that Treats Fatherhood with Respect

GUEST COLUMN

Erin O'Luanaigh

Director Alexander Payne has crafted a rare and beautiful film that treats virtue, sacrifice, forgiveness, and fatherhood with respect.

The Third Man & the Third Millennium

VITAL WORKS RECONSIDERED, #23

John Martin

Graham Greene sees the most dangerous thing of all: ordinary human beings unwilling to distinguish between the dollar and the cross.

Peering Into the Abyss

EVIL TO HIM WHO THINKS EVIL

Maria Hsia Chang

Evil's baneful effects may be likened to the invisible, odorless, and deadly radiation emitted by uranium. One must 'put on the armor of God' to resist it.

Catholic Cameos From the Silver Screen

'ON THE WATERFRONT' & OTHERS

Lawrence B. Porter

Catholicism has produced potent and eloquent images of Christian faith that allow cinematic artists to portray with grace and precision spiritual realities that enrich the human experience.

A Great Catholic Film (Made By a Protestant)

THE NINTH DAY (AVAILABLE ON DVD)

Dimitri Cavalli

The Ninth Day explores the moral dilemmas experienced by a Catholic priest who is sent to the Dachau concentration camp for resisting the Nazis.

No Sane City

EXHIBIT A: LOS ANGELES

Charles A. Coulombe

Although many of SoCal's unusual religions are ephemeral, some manage to combine both stability and a substantial church building.

The Siege of Western Civilization

GUEST COLUMN

Charles A. Coulombe

Herb Meyer argues that Western Civilization is the best (earthly) thing to have happened to humanity, and is well worth defending.

In Case You Didn't Get to See The Passion of the Christ a Second Time

WHAT YOU MAY HAVE MISSED

E. Christian Brugger

As a work of aesthetic beauty, of historical and biblical simplicity, and of theological profundity, the film ranks high as a great piece of Christian art.

Previewing Mel Gibson's Passion

CHRIST'S PASSION & GIBSON'S LYNCHING

Michael Morris

In the homogenized world of contemporary political and religious thought, a film like this strikes some as dangerously paleo-Christian.

A Nation of Narcissists?

"I'M ENTITLED..."

David C. Stolinsky

Can a nation, or a civilization, continue to prosper if it is peopled mainly by narcissists? I doubt that this has ever been tried before in history.

From the Sistine Chapel to the Silver Screen

LIGHTS. CAMERA. LET'S BASH CATHOLICISM!

Lawrence B. Porter

Oh, would that someone in the Church had the taste, intelligence, and money to spot young directorial talent and guide it in a more positive direction!

The Christian Gifts of J.R.R. Tolkien

NOT A HIPPIE CULT FIGURE

Bradley J. Birzer

Tolkien knew very well that God allowed him to understand the reason for the bloodletting of modernity: Man had fallen away from the Creator.

Homosexuality & the Entertainment Media

IS THE "GAY BATTLE PLAN" INVINCIBLE?

Michael Medved

The main threats to the family come from infidelity, divorce, and all the temptations of a hedonistic culture.

Dogma: A Damnable Mess of a Movie

Nothing here to engage you and much to depress you.

We Love to Look in the Mirror

AS HOLLYWOOD KNOWS

Patrick Coffin

Chesterton likened the Titanic to Western culture, “in its power and in its impotence, its security and its insecurity.”

Power, Money, Deals, Drugs & Bimbos

HOLLYWOOD ACCORDING TO THOSE IN THE KNOW

Wayne Lela

Neurotics, sexual libertines, and drug users exercise enormous influence over our children via the entertainment industry.

The Cartoon Saga of Unholy Moses

LET MY PEOPLE GO TO THE VIDEO STORE?

Mark T. Lickona

The Prince of Egypt is based on the story of the Book of Exodus — but there are many important differences between the two.

Is God a Cloud? Does She Have Breasts?

THE MARYKNOLLERS & THEIR SOUL MATES

Mark Tooley

An ecumenical film consortium has produced a new video series in which noted “experts” grapple with the great questions about God and man.

A Truly "Eerie" Film?

GUEST COLUMN

Francis Canavan

Walker Percy: The Man & the Movie

A SCANDALOUS SENSE OF PARTICULARITY

Ronald Austin

Memories of 1964

HARVARD DIARY

Robert Coles

What Does Real Faith Require of Us?

BEYOND THE LIBERAL & CONSERVATIVE AGENDAS

Michael Gallagher

A Movie Masterpiece

A CINEMATIC VIEW

Robert E. Lauder

Kurosawa dramatizes the truth that the sins of the parents are visited on their children. The harm Ran has done has returned to haunt his old age.

Memories of Great Comedies from the Past

A CINEMATIC VIEW

Robert E. Lauder

Is moviemaking such a risky business that even an extraordinarily gifted performer cannot be sure in advance how a proposed project will turn out?

Trivialized Sex, Cheap Film

A CINEMATIC VIEW

Robert E. Lauder

Hollywood's standard view of sexuality frequently works against a film’s best intentions. Is all the bed-hopping supposed to have any real significance?

Fellini Back in Stride

A CINEMATIC VIEW

Robert E. Lauder

An artist who apparently works very much from his feelings and intentions, Fellini turns his camera on people and lovingly watches their foibles and failures.

Just Awful

A CINEMATIC VIEW

Robert E. Lauder

Contemporary film is quite advanced; the tools are available for making significant films. What is obviously lacking is insight.

The Marx Brothers as a Sign of God?

A CINEMATIC VIEW

Robert E. Lauder

There may be a benevolent God and life may have a meaning because how else can you account for the marvelous humor in a Marx Brothers’ movie?

Out of Africa

A CINEMATIC VIEW

Robert E Lauder

It was from her 17-year experience in Africa that Karen Blixen, under the pen name of Isak Dinesen, wrote her highly acclaimed stories of Africa.

Insatiable Love

Eileen Egan

Gandhi, after an early distaste for Christianity because of its relationship to imperialism and aggressive “soul-savers,” came to a deep identification with the message of Jesus.

Clerical Complicity

A CINEMATIC VIEW

Robert E. Lauder

"The Official Story" explores the conversion of an upper-class Argentinian interested only in the happiness of her own family into a deeply caring, unselfish woman ready to perform heroic acts of justice and charity.

Sanctity as Insanity?

A CINEMATIC VIEW

Robert E. Lauder

The classic battle between science/secularism and faith/religion seems like a preliminary for a main event that never happens.

The Extraordinary Career of Francois Truffaut

A CINEMATIC VIEW

Robert E. Lauder

Truffaut made five more or less autobiographical films, starting with "400 Blows" when actor Jean-Pierre Leaud was 14 and ending 20 years later.

From Chance Encounter to Friendship

A CINEMATIC VIEW

Robert E. Lauder

The Kiss of the Spider Woman powerfully portrays the almost magical changes that friendship can bring about in people’s lives.

Black Comedy at Its Best

A CINEMATIC VIEW

Robert E. Lauder

John Huston’s film career, which has spanned more than 50 years, has been a curious blend of the sublime and, if not the ridiculous, the striking­ly mediocre.

Woody Allen’s Pessimistic Vision

A CINEMATIC VIEW

Robert E. Lauder

The Panoramic & the Personal

A CINEMATIC VIEW

Robert E. Lauder

With Forster’s A Passage to India Lean reached for something a bit deeper: to film the specifically spiritual against the background of the clash between English and Indian cultures.

The Prison of “Freedom”

A CINEMATIC VIEW

Robert E. Lauder

Rohmer’s films are uniquely cinematic, bearing the mark of his simple visual style and nuanced out­look on and delicate treatment of human relation­ships.

Depicting the Workings of Grace

A CINEMATIC VIEW

Robert E. Lauder

Places in the Heart stands with Chariots of Fire as one of the few films in recent years with both a sympathetic and profound view of religion.

Blasphemous Battle With God

A CINEMATIC VIEW

Robert E. Lauder

Two films that are interesting adaptations from another medium are "Amadeus" and "Cal," each rewritten by its original author for the screen.

John Cassavetes & the Mystery of Moviemaking

A CINEMATIC VIEW

Robert E. Lauder

His typical work is at times a beautiful blend of intuition, sensitivity, and compassion but at other times a maddening mixture of overly long scenes, aimless dialogue, and directionless plot.

Jean-Luc Godard: Low-Altitude Narcissism

A CINEMATIC VIEW

Robert E. Lauder

What evil an artist can legitimately and accu­rately depict depends on the altitude from which the artist sees that evil.