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Over and over we see smart, tough, confident, independent heroines — Astrid in
How to Train Your Dragon; Hermione in the
Harry Potter films; Tigress in
Kung Fu Panda; Eve in
Wall-E; Colette in
Ratatouille; Jewel in
Rio — next to whom the heroes appear variously awkward, diffident, incapable, clueless or ridiculous.
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C- |
** |
-2|
Teens & Up
Real Steel is just plain unpleasant to sit through. So much of the movie is spent amid screaming crowds and abrasive music, often in dark, trashy dives, watching giant robots pound each other into scrap metal. The robot boxing is surprisingly good (Sugar Ray Leonard was a consultant). It’s the humans that are unpleasant.
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B+ |
*** |
+2-1|
Teens & Up
Is there grace for such pilgrims as these? Perhaps, but it may not take the form they seem to be seeking. At the end of the road, some viewers might feel let down at what has not changed for the main characters, but perhaps this is to miss the change that matters most. Emilio has said that the film is “pro-people, pro-life.” So it is, in more ways than one.
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Here’s my 30-second take on
Machine Gun Preacher. See also my related interview with Sam Childers.
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Here’s
Dolphin Tale in 30 seconds from my “Reel Faith” co-host David DiCerto.
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The recent announcement that
Black Swan director Darren Aronofsky is moving forward with a $130 million
adaptation of the story of Noah’s ark comes on the heels of last week’s news that Steven Spielberg is being sought to direct a new epic on the life of Moses for Warner Bros. These are just two of a remarkably high number of Hollywood biblical projects in the works at the moment.
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Both newly available in multi-disc Blu-ray/DVD combo editions,
Dumbo and
The Lion King were each developed during one of Disney’s two periods of greatest creative flourishing … Both
Dumbo and
The Lion King are much beloved, though in my opinion they’re both overrated and comparatively disappointing.
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C+ |
**½ |
+1|
Kids & Up*
Chronologically,
The Lion King stands between the striking triumphs of the early Disney renaissance (
The Little Mermaid,
Beauty and the Beast and
Aladdin) and the bumpy deterioration of the latter 1990s (
Pocahontas,
The Hunchback of Notre Dame,
Hercules, etc.). One way or another, it’s at the turning point between Disney’s creative renewal and its eventual decline. Fans might locate it near the pinnacle, along with
Beauty and the Beast, but I don’t feel the love.
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B- |
**½ |
+3|
Teens & Up
Coming on the heels of
Fireproof,
Courageous is the fourth film from Sherwood Pictures, and it’s another step forward for the church-based film company … While the film’s church-based roots and the tendency toward didactic, schematic storytelling are still in evidence,
Courageous is their most ambitious and watchable film to date.
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There’s something instantly appealing about the thought of Spielberg directing Hollywood’s first major live-action take on Moses’ story since Cecil B. DeMille’s 1956 crowning achievement,
The Ten Commandments.
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This Friday, September 30, I’ll be on the second hour of
Catholic Answers Live! (7pm–8pm EDT). Patrick Coffin and I will be talking about new and older movies including
The Way,
Courageous,
The Lion King,
Machine Gun Preacher,
Moneyball,
Dolphin Tale,
Contagion,
Citizen Kane,
Warrior and more.
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Contagion may not be everyone’s ideal date movie, but I’m married to an RN who prefers a good medical thriller to a trite chick flick. Suz was impressed with the technical realism of
Contagion. I was impressed too. Here’s my 30-second take.
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Here’s
Moneyball in 30 seconds from my “Reel Faith” co-host David DiCerto. My written review is linked below.
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I’m pleased to report that “Reel Faith”—the Catholic movie review TV show that I co-host with David DiCerto—is back for a special fall season, and that episode 1 is now available at the
Reel Faith website at NetNY.net!
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A |
**** |
+2|
Teens & Up
Moneyball is an ugly name for such an exhilarating film. Indeed, it seems a misnomer, though the filmmakers were more or less stuck with it, since Michael Lewis’s explosive 2003 book, on which the film is based, made such an impact on the baseball world that the word has passed into baseball jargon.
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In 1998, a former gang biker named Sam Childers joined a church mission trip to the Sudan to help repair huts damaged in the Second Sudanese Civil War. Most of the people on that trip finished their charitable labors and left Africa behind, but Sam didn’t — not completely.
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Having blogged this week on
this month’s trend of religiously themed films (
Warrior,
Machine Gun Preacher,
Courageous and
Seven Days in Utopia, with
The Way and
The Mighty Macs just around the corner), “Hollywood
Adjustment?” is timely again.
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The mixed martial arts drama
Warrior, now in theaters, is one of no fewer than four theatrical releases to be released this month featuring Christian themes and being marketed specifically to Christians … notably, three of the four—
Warrior,
Machine Gun Preacher and
Courageous—are overtly concerned with masculinity and what it means to be a man.
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C |
** |
-2|
Adults
How could anyone in Hollywood have known, as the current batch of movies went into development, that at least three different films about the greed and ruthlessness of the wealthy few and its devastating impact on the masses—the 1% and the 99%—would hit theaters more or less simultaneously in the middle of the Occupy protests?
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The Adjustment Bureau and
Hereafter are among a remarkable number of recent and upcoming Hollywood films in some way invoking themes of spirituality, religion or belief. 2010 was particularly rife with such Hollywood religiosity, quantitatively if not necessarily qualitatively.
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Tangled,
Thor,
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1,
Lilo & Stitch,
The Incredibles,
Star Wars,
American Beauty and more.
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Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,
Robin Hood,
Babies,
How to Train Your Dragon,
Once,
The Notebook,
The Exorcist,
The Awful Truth and more.
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Clash of the Titans,
Alice in Wonderland,
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Hayao Miyazaki,
The 13th Day and more.
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How to Train Your Dragon,
Alice in Wonderland,
Green Zone,
Avatar, Hayao Miyazaki,
Up in the Air and more.
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Clint Eastwood,
Avatar,
Hotel Rwanda,
Children of Men, Hayao Miyzaki, Lenten viewing,
The Last Temptation of Christ,
Dogma, Harry Potter and more.
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“Zorro: The Complete Seasons 1 & 2”,
Up in the Air,
Adam, Dan Brown,
Terminator movies and more.
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Watchmen, international film,
Up,
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,
The Exorcist,
The Shoes of the Fisherman,
Corpus Christi,
The Wizard of Oz and more.
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Ivanhoe,
Up,
The Passion of the Christ,
Star Trek,
Angels & Demons,
Molokai: The Story of Father Damien,
The Gospel of John and more.
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Terminator 4 vs
Night at the Museum 2,
Angels & Demons,
Doubt,
The Miracle Maker,
Twilight,
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days,
Watchmen,
Gulliver’s Travels,
Monsters vs. Aliens,
Witch Mountain reviews,
Slumdog Millionaire and more.
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4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,
WALL-E,
The Bishop’s Wife, the
Little House books, the
Chronicles of Prydain books,
Twilight and more.
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