Articles

Caped crusaders and the common good ARTICLE

Caped crusaders and the common good

Questions around how what people need and deserve and how they should be governed are of course recurring themes in the saga of Zorro’s more famous heir, Batman … We don’t look to superhero movies to answer these questions for us, but their varying answers tell us something about ourselves and the times in which they were made.

2021: The year in reviews ARTICLE

2021: The year in reviews

What kind of year was it for movies? I’ve heard some folks complain that 2021 wasn’t a great movie year, but I’ve come to the point where I believe there are no good or bad movie years, just years in which people have or haven’t watched enough movies.

SDG says farewell to the National Catholic Register ARTICLE

SDG says farewell to the National Catholic Register

I have, as I suppose most anyone would, complex, mixed feelings about leaving an institution that’s been such a big part of my life for so long a time, but I have no regrets regarding my decisions nor doubts about how God is leading me.

Marvel&rsquo;s <em>Eternal</em> problem: The Man, the Powers that Be, and God ARTICLE

Marvel’s Eternal problem: The Man, the Powers that Be, and God

Incarnations of The Man vary from one MCU movie to another in terms of how sympathetic or compromised he is. Always, though, The Man has damaging secrets, misrepresents his true intentions, and can’t be trusted, at least not completely.

The sacred and the profane: Religious themes in vampire fiction ARTICLE

The sacred and the profane: Religious themes in vampire fiction

Almost from the beginning, vampire fiction has been a battleground between the powers of heaven and hell.

How do you make a documentary about purgatory? Not like this. ARTICLE

How do you make a documentary about purgatory? Not like this.

That our hatred should burden souls in the process of purification makes sense, but that our grief should burden them seems baffling and cruel — and it’s not a passing idea tossed off in one line.

<em>Midnight Mass</em> is drenched in blood and Catholicism, but there’s one thing missing ARTICLE

Midnight Mass is drenched in blood and Catholicism, but there’s one thing missing

Midnight Mass isn’t the first vampire story to blend vampirism as a metaphor for addiction with literal substance abuse. It is, however, probably the only paranormal horror story to focus so intently on the role of religion in recovery.

A deep cut: <em>The Green Knight</em> ARTICLE

A deep cut: The Green Knight

After the library of books that is the Bible, no literary corpus means more to me than Arthuriana, and no Arthurian work means more to me than Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Interview: <em>The Chosen</em> producer Derral Eves ARTICLE

Interview: The Chosen producer Derral Eves

Part of the success story behind writer-director Dallas Jenkins’ popular life-of-Jesus TV series is the remarkable crowdfunding approach spearheaded by viral marketing strategist Derral Eves.

<em>Of Animals and Men</em>: Extraordinary story, mixed presentation ARTICLE

Of Animals and Men: Extraordinary story, mixed presentation (2019)

Of Animals and Men tells a story of light shining in the darkness — but the preciousness of the light depends in a way on the prevalence of the darkness, and, in that connection, it must not be forgotten that the Nazis were not the sole agents of darkness.

A Triduum ritual: <em>The Miracle Maker</em> ARTICLE

A Triduum ritual: The Miracle Maker

Our seasonal movie-watching during Advent, Lent, and the Christmas and Easter seasons varies from year to year, but Triduum is always the same.

Christopher Plummer, the cross, and the swastika ARTICLE

Christopher Plummer, the cross, and the swastika

“That damn movie follows me around like an albatross,” Christopher Plummer once fumed about the one film for which — despite a prolific, varied, successful career in film, television, and theater — he would always be best known.

SDG&#8217;s top films, 2000 &#8211; 2020 ARTICLE

SDG’s top films, 2000 – 2020

21 years. That’s how long I’ve been at this. A film list 21 years in the making. 21 top films. 21 runners-up. 21 honorable mentions.

Filming F&aacute;tima: Interview With Filmmaker Marco Pontecorvo ARTICLE

Filming Fátima: Interview With Filmmaker Marco Pontecorvo

The cowriter and director of a new film about Our Lady of Fátima talks about why he was drawn to the story and how he tried to realize the miraculous, from a very human Virgin Mary to surreal visions of war and hell.

<em>AKA Jane Roe</em>: Unraveling the complicated life of Norma McCorvey ARTICLE

AKA Jane Roe: Unraveling the complicated life of Norma McCorvey (2020)

The FX documentary asks hard questions of both sides of the abortion debate — but only one side gets thoughtful answers

In search of true confession in the movies ARTICLE

In search of true confession in the movies

Of the seven sacraments at the heart of the Church’s life, from the very beginning perhaps the most intriguing to filmmakers has been, ironically, the least visually impressive — a hidden rite involving only the minister and the recipient.

Sight &amp; Sound Theatre&rsquo;s <em>Jesus</em>: An Evangelical Gospel story ARTICLE

Sight & Sound Theatre’s Jesus: An Evangelical Gospel story

“Where the Bible comes to life” is the slogan of Sight & Sound Theatres, headquartered in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in the heart of Amish country.

Coronavirus Quarantine Streaming Options for Lent and Easter (and&nbsp;More) ARTICLE

Coronavirus Quarantine Streaming Options for Lent and Easter (and More)

In the last few weeks, articles about movies to stream while sheltering in place during your coronavirus quarantine have proliferated across the internet almost as fast as the virus has spread around the world. What makes this article different?

2019: The year in reviews ARTICLE

2019: The year in reviews

An exquisite art-house film about a beatified martyr. The triumphant arrival of a belated documentary of a celebrated gospel concert. A fact-based drama about an alliance of devout and unbelieving survivors of clerical sex abuse calling for justice. These are just a few of an unusually large crop of notable films that tackled religious and spiritual themes in 2019.

Faith and Ferocity: Interview With <em>Harriet</em> Producer Debra Martin Chase ARTICLE

Faith and Ferocity: Interview With Harriet Producer Debra Martin Chase

Harriet’s appeal is multifaceted, appealing to three demographics underserved by mainstream Hollywood fare: women, people of color and people of faith. Producer Debra Martin Chase knows something about these three demographics.