In addition to my movie reviews at St. Anthony Messenger and the National Catholic Reporter, I continue to post on my Patheos blog. Click here for the latest.
BRAVE and nine more reviews at “Sister Rose Goes to the Movies”
For reviews of BRAVE, Madagascar 3, MEN IN BLACK 3, The Avengers, CHIMPANZEE, Dark Shadows, SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN, Battleship, and THE LUCKY ONE click on Sister Rose Goes to the Movies.
New York’s Mayor Bloomberg needs to get out more – to the movies
From my blog at National Catholic Reporter last week:
And by this I mean to the movies. From Mayor Michael Bloomberg‘s announcement about banning large-sized sodas from New York City last week, it seems he has not seen one since Morgan Spurlock’s 2004 documentary “Super Size Me.” In this film, Spurlock lived for a month on McDonald’s fast food and took the super-size option whenever it was offered. It took him 14 months after the experiment to return to his former weight and cholesterol levels. (McDonald’s later discontinued its “super-size” program.)
Mayor Bloomberg’s idea is to regulate the size of sugary drinks as a way to fight obesity. The Internet is on fire with people outraged about government intrusion into their lives! On June 1, Matt Lauer, host of “The Today Show,” seemed incredulous that the mayor would ban sodas and celebrate National Doughnut Day. The mayor stands for balance in food choices, one doughnut at a time.
But these folks miss the point. If you are worried about government intrusion into your food and drink choices, you are too late. By lack of regulation, the government has chosen what you (and kids in school lunch programs) can eat anywhere in the country and called it all healthy. And sometimes, the government defines and approves what it calls food, but when citizens become aware of what “it” really is, they ask questions and work for — demand — change.
Here’s the deal. If Mayor Bloomberg really wanted to fight the obesity epidemic, he needs to work to ban sugar, cane or high fructose corn syrup under any name from the entire food supply. This would be a good start. As my sister the nurse says, there is no research that proves or even demonstrates that sugar is essential to the human diet. (She says the same for wheat and soy.)
To see a list of movies about food and water click here
Apocalyptic Themes in Cinema
Click here to view the presentation I gave last night at St. Monica’s Parish in Santa Monica, CA. The film clips are missing but the list of the films I referenced are in the last slide. (Thanks to Mary Sperry; she’ll know!)
The Voice 2012 – who will win? Jermaine Paul gets my vote!
What I love about “The Voice” – the blind auditions. What I don’t like about “The Voice” – The judges, especially Christina, turned snarky this season. The first season was so kind and nurturing to the singers. It takes such courage for them to perform as they do.
I loved Katrina but she didn’t make it.
If you watch the performances of the final four, however, they were amazing. I love Chris Mann for singing “Ave Maria”. But to me, Jermaine Paul stands out over and above. See what you think. My vote goes to Jermaine, though I reserve the right to change my mind after tonight’s show.
We Have a Pope – REEL TALK with Stephen Farber special screening and panel April 2 Landmark, Westwood (Los Angeles)
Monday, April 2 at 7pm: WE HAVE A POPE. This wry comic drama from Italian director Nanni Moretti takes us inside the Vatican as the College of Cardinals struggle to elect a new Pope. Unfortunately, the man selected for the post—played by veteran French actor Michel Piccoli—is not at all certain that he wants the job. Guest speakers: Aine O’Healy, professor of Italian and director of the Humanities Program at Loyola Marymount University; Maria Elena de las Carreras, professor of film at UCLA, Cal State Northridge, and the New York Film Academy; Sister Rose Pacatte, Pauline Center for Media Studies; and Scott Young, executive director, University Religious Conference at UCLA.
“Game Change” focuses plenty on Palin but lacks punch
(c) HBO
HBO film ‘Game Change’ focuses plenty on Palin, but lacks punch
by Sr. Rose Pacatte on Mar. 08, 2012
“Game Change”
9 p.m. EST/8 p.m. CST Saturday, March 10, HBO
In August 2007, the media pundits were after Republican presidential candidate John McCain (Ed Harris), and he hated being their target. He brought in experienced strategist Steve Schmidt (Woody Harrelson) to take over the senior staff position on his campaign, shaking up the team then headed by campaign manager Rick Davis (Peter McNicol) and including Mark Salter (Jamie Sheridan) and Mark Wallace (Ron Livingston), with Fred Davis (Bruce Altman) as image consultant.
When the primaries were over and McCain was the de facto Republican nominee, he had yet to choose a vice presidential running mate before the Democratic convention in August 2008. The team floated Sen. Joe Lieberman (a miscast, goofy-looking Austin Pendleton), but choosing him, according to Schmidt, was “the right thing to do but the wrong thing to win.” Schmidt tells McCain and staff that they needed a “game changer,” which meant they had to do four things: win back the independents, excite the base, create distance from the Bush administration and close the gender gap with women. Unless they could regain at least 15 percent of the 20 percent disapproval rate for McCain with women, they had no chance at winning the White House.
Rick Davis does an Internet search for female Republicans holding office, because they didn’t really have anyone in mind. He discovers Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (Julianne Moore), and is riveted by her charisma. She’s pro-life, a devout Christian, mother of five and likes to moose hunt. “A woman with a gun,” Davis says. “The base will love her.”
Julianne Moore as a thoughtful Sarah Palin above and at the Republican convention in HBO’s “Game Change”
premiering Saturday, March 10, 9pm (photo: HBO)
Continue reading Sr. Rose’s review here
Photo: HBO
The Vow
When I learned that Rachel McAdams was going to play the lead role in what looked to be another tearjerker film about marriage I wondered if the story would be based on a Nicholas Sparks novel such as “The Notebook.” No, this new film is based on a very true story that was told in the 2000 book The Vow: The Kim and Krickitt Carpenter Story by Kim Carpenter.
In 1993, ten weeks after this Mormon couple married, they were injured in a terrible car accident. Krickitt, who was driving, was in a coma and when she woke up had no memory of the previous 18 months or so since she had met and married Kim. When Krickitt recovered enough she decided that if she had liked Kim enough before to marry him, she would date him again to see if the spark could be rekindled. It was, and in 1996 they remarried (renewed their vows) and have since had two children. Krickitt has never recovered her memory of those 18 months though her long-term memory, that is pre-Kim, is in tact.
In “The Vow” the basic story is the same though the details have been changed and more dramatic tension added. And while Kim and Krickitt are a handsome couple, the megawatt looks and chemistry of Rachel McAdams (Paige) and Channing Tatum (Leo) leave just about everyone else in the dust.
Paige and Leo meet by chance at the bank on one fine day in Chicago where they live. Then they meet again at the coffee shop where Paige works, “The Mnemonic”. Their friendship grows … continue reading here and watch my video review as well.
Hallmark hits a home run with ‘A Smile as Big as the Moon’
My review in the National Catholic Reporter: Hallmark hits a home run with ‘A Smile as Big as the Moon’.
Cardinal John P. Foley, first President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communication, dies at 76
Here is the article in the New York Times:
Cardinal Foley had a wonderful sense of humor that served him well as a member of the Vatican curia for so many years. He was a terrific representative of the church in the US and an ambassador for authentic communication and communicators wherever he found them.
A dinner with Cardinal Foley was always a joy.
I asked him one time about the requirements for a priest or religious to work in communication and he said two things: prayer and community. Yes, one had to love communication and media, but passion was not enough.
Here is what Frank Morock, President of the Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals sent to the members today:
Dear Catholic Academy Colleagues,
It is with a sad heart that I write to inform you that our beloved Cardinal John P. Foley died today (Sunday) in Darby, PA. Cardinal Foley was 76. As we know he was suffering from leukemia, which forced him to announce his retirement earlier this year after more than 20 years of service at the Vatican. Ordained a priest in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in 1962, he had the opportunity to work in the field of communications as the assistant editor of the Philadelphia archdiocesan newspaper, The Catholic Standard and Times, and was its editor in chief from 1970 to 1984. That year, Blessed Pope John Paul II elevated him to Archbishop and appointed him President of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications. He held that post until 2007, when Pope Benedict named him the Grand Master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and elevated him to the rank of Cardinal.
In 2005, the Catholic Academy presented Cardinal Foley with its President’s Medallion. In June, 2011, at the annual CMC gathering, the Catholic Academy Board of Directors presented him with a special Gabriel Award for Lifetime Achievement. It was the first Lifetime Achievement honor ever given in the more than 45 years of the Gabriel Award. As always, he was most gracious in his acceptance, sharing with the gathering of CA and CPA members humorous stories as only Cardinal Foley can tell. Please join me in a special prayer for a holy man who loved Our Lord and His Blessed Mother and did so very much for Church communications and its relationship with the secular media.
The Catholic Academy website will have a more complete story on Cardinal Foley. http://catholicacademy.org
Sister Rose's My Movies Weblog
%d bloggers like this:
You must be logged in to post a comment.