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.
Sister Rose’s blog reaches 500,000 hits today
Since I moved my blog to WordPress on October 5, 2008 I never dreamed of 500.000 hits or page views. In this day of YouTube videos getting a million hits in a day or an hour, this half million in three years eight months, an average of 300 hits a day with 2,900 in one day in 2010, does not seem like much in the virtual scheme of things. Yet it provides me with a motive of thanksgiving for the Internet and the gift of communication between God’s people the world over and who knows? Maybe the universe. (We don’t know who might be listening, do we?)
WordPress sent me an analysis of that best day: March 9, 2010
Thank you for your visit, your time, your interest. Be assured of my prayers.
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
American Idol Winner 2012 – A Prayer for Jessica
Jessica Sanchez had me when she channelled Whitney Houston in “I will always love you”. If you look at the uneven album records of the 17 American Idol winners and runner-ups only eight first place winners have released an album – though Carrie underwood and Kelly Clarkson have done well- there is one Oscar winner among the runner-ups and many of these have fared much better than first place winners. (Daughtry should have won – and I don’t even like rock.)
I think Jessica is amazing. Phillips is fine but this young lady makes you cry.
When she sang “The Prayer” last night it was incredible – and she is only 16 years old.
The record business is terribly difficult however; so often it lacks a soul though music is all about soul. If Jessica wins I hope she will have good people on her team who are not just in it for the money.
No matter what both these young people are winners, all those who try are winners.
I really thought the judges threw Jessica under the bus last night; they are so obviously rooting for Phil. Perhaps they know it will be too hard on Jessica for her to win. But let’s be fair – what a gift Jessica has!
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!)
Catholics in Media Awards: honorees announced
19th Annual Catholics in Media Awards
c/o Catholics in Media Associates
12400 Ventura Blvd. PMB 228
Studio City, CA 91604
818.907.2734
19th Catholics in Media Awards to Hugo, Modern Family, I Am & The Way at April 29th Awards Program
“Bold and Beautiful” Star John McCook to MC
Ubiquity Pictures CEO Barbara M. Gangi is
Honorary Chairperson
(Los Angeles, CA, April 2, 2012) – The Catholics in Media Associates (CIMA) 19th Annual Mass and Awards Brunch on Sunday, April 29th will honor the 5-time Academy Award-winning, Martin Scorsese-directed family film Hugo, the Tom Shadyac documentary I Am and ABC Television’s Emmy, Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and Peabody Award-winning series Modern Family. The Emilio Estevez film The Way, starring Martin Sheen, a previous CIMA Lifetime Achievement Award winner, will receive the CIMA 2012 Board of Directors Award. The 2012 CIMA Awards at theBeverly Hills Hotel, Beverly Hills, CA, will begin with a 10:00 AM Mass with a brunch and awards ceremony to follow, announced CIMA President Haskell V. Anderson III. CIMA board member John Kelly is executive producer and CIMA Vice President Nancy Norton Bevins is producer of the 2012 CIMA Awards program. Master of Ceremonies is John McCook, Emmy-nominated star of “The Bold and the Beautiful.” Honorary Chairperson is Barbara M. Gangi, CEO ofUbiquity Pictures.
The CIMA Awards were created in 1992 by former DGA President Jack Shea and his wife, veteran television screenwriterPatt Shea and other prominent Catholics in the entertainment industry. Their purpose is “To promote and applaud individuals, films and TV programs that uplift the spirit and help us better understand what it is to be part of the human family.”
The CIMA 2012 Film Award will be given to the Martin Scorsese film Hugo, Scorsese’s first 3D film, a family mystery based upon the Brian Selznick novel about a boy who lives alone in a Paris railroad station and the enigmatic owner of a toy shop. Winner of five Academy Awards and named “Best Picture” by the 2012 National Board of Review Hugo has received two 2012 BATFA Awards and the 2012 Golden Globe for “Best Director.” Graham King’s GK Films and Johnny Depp’s Infinitum Nihil are producers. David Crockett, Barbara De Fina, Christi Dembrowski, George Kacandes, Charles Newirth and Emma Tillinger are executive producers. Hugo was released nationally on DVD on February 28th.
The 2012 CIMA Television Award will be presented to the ABC Television series Modern Family, created by Executive Producers Christopher Lloyd and Steven Levitan and revolving around three families interrelated thru patriarch Jay Pritchett (Ed O’Neill). Modern Family has received the 2009 Peabody Award, the 2010 Emmy Award for “Outstanding Comedy Series,” the 2010 Screen Actors Guild Award for “Outstanding Ensemble Performance” and the 2012 Golden Globe Award for “Outstanding Television Series – Musical or Comedy.”
The CIMA 2012 Documentary Award goes to I Am, written, directed and narrated by prolific Hollywood film and television comedy director Tom Shadyac (Bruce Almighty, Liar Liar, Ace Ventura, The Nutty Professor) relating his personal experiences and personal journey following a devastating 2007 bicycle accident. I am is concerned with “The nature of humanity and the world’s ever growing addiction to materialism” and asks the questions “What’s wrong with the world?” and “What can I do about it?” Jennifer Abbott and Jonathan Watson are executive producers.
The CIMA 2012 Board of Directors Award goes to the Emilio Estevez film The Way, starring previous CIMA Lifetime Achievement Award winner Martin Sheen. The Way is a powerful and inspirational story about family and friends and navigating the challenges of an ever-changing and complicated world.
Filmed on location in Spain and France along “The Way of St. James,” The Way was written and directed by Emilio Estevez. Trevor Drinkwater, Ramon Gerard Estevez, Alberto Marini, Janet Sheen and John Sloss are executive producers.The Way was released nationally on DVD on February 21st.
ABOUT CIMA
CIMA was formed in 1992 by working professionals in the entertainment industry to help them relate their faith to their professional lives. Through their annual awards, CIMA “Recognizes films, television programs and other entertainment forms that lift the spirit and help us better understand what it is to be part of the human family.”
For 2012 CIMA Award tickets, sponsorship and program advertising visit www.catholicsinmedia.org or call 818.907.2734.
Press Contact:
Frank Tobin
Frank Tobin PR
323.661.3720
Jesus at the Movies
Movies featuring the life of Jesus have been around almost since the beginning of cinema. The first narrative film about his life was a series of shorts edited by Lucien Nonguet. Historian Charles Keil described these early attempts as a “series of tableaux, autonomous units.” It was up to the viewer to knit the narrative together in his or her imagination.
In his book Imaging the Divine: Jesus and Christ Figures in Film (1997), Lloyd Baugh makes a distinction between films that depict the life of Jesus and those that include Jesus as a character. Christ-figures are those characters who do as Jesus did, laying down their lives for others or exhibiting traits that reflect Christ.
Baugh divides Jesus films into categories: classic (King of Kings), musical (Jesus Christ Superstar), scandal (The Last Temptation of Christ) and Pasolini’s masterpiece The Gospel According to St. Matthew.
Lent provides the spiritual environment and opportunity to contemplate images of Jesus in cinema. We may be inspired by the filmmaker’s imagining of Christ or challenged about our knowledge of the Jesus of the Gospels.
Most of the following films are available on DVD and may be appearing on television for Holy Week and Easter.
To continue reading Sr. Rose’s column in the April 2012 issue St. Anthony messenger click here
Sister Rose's My Movies Weblog
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