Homelessness in the United States is a widespread issue that is growing. On a single night in January 2023, 653,104 people experienced homelessness—an increase of 12.1% from the previous year (endhomelessness.org). Among this number, more than 200,000 individuals were...
Movie Reviews and Recommendations
Movie Reviews and Recommendations – Sometimes you need a Catholic perspective on today’s movies and that’s what these posts provide. In addition to Catholic movie reviews, you’ll find resources to help you plan for your apostolate, youth group, and family!
5 Ways “Hollywood Priest” Can Inspire A New Hollywood
Paulist Productions’ new film Hollywood Priest: The Story of Father Bud Kieser will be premiering on PBS World on Christmas Day at 5 am EST, 2 am PST, 11 am EST and 8 am PST. This charming, nostalgic holiday film tells the story of Fr. Ellwood “Bud” Kieser. Watch the...
A Priest Shares His List Of Most Uplifting Movies From Last Year
Last year was a memorable year for the film industry with the blockbuster combo of Barbenheimer—Barbie and Oppenheimer. Other Box Office topping films include The Super Mario Brothers Movie, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3, Spiderman, Wonk, and Mission Impossible-...
Two Friends Of Servant Of God Michelle Duppong Share How She Helped Them Pray
Meet Servant of God Michelle Duppong through the lens of those who knew and worked with her and then see Radiating Joy: The Michelle Duppong Story in theaters on Nov. 12. Matthew Kurtz, is a product manager at eCatholic. He worked with Michelle Duppong whose life is...
A Woman Named Jane: A Filmmaker’s Journey In Making Blue Baby
Filmmaker shares his journey in making the new documentary Blue Baby out October 9 As a filmmaker, I’ve performed hundreds of interviews of all kinds of people—leaders of Fortune 500 companies, Harvard professors, the mother of the most infamous school shooter,...
Two New TV Series That Make Prayer A Priority
The writers’ strike is over and many of us have been catching our favorite shows as they have returned to television on their respective networks. There are also new shows that have premiered. I caught the premiere of Tracker on CBS after the Superbowl and catch...
An Inside Look At What It’s Like To Film A Catholic Movie About A Saint
On one of the last chilly mornings of October, I received a text from a producer friend of mine, telling me that there was a an opportunity to be part of the crew for a film called “Triumph of the Heart.” For someone laying upside down on their bed, sponging fallen...
24 Pro-Life Movies To Watch
As the current modern culture inundates us with entertainment that degrades the human person in a wide variety of ways, it is more important than ever to spend time on entertainment that reinforces our pro-life values as Catholics. 24 Pro-Life Movies to...
5 Lessons For Catholics From The Boys In The Boat
A classic sports underdog movie is coming to theaters this Christmas. It’s The Boys in the Boat, and it’s a movie inspired by true events as captured in the book The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Olympics by Daniel James...
The Question All Catholic Parents Need To Ask Themselves About Their Child’s Vocation
I was speaking with a friend of mine the other day and he asked me where my fourteen-year-old son was at with his discernment of the priesthood. He wanted to know what I was doing to encourage him to be open to this vocation. My initial response was….to cringe. ...
Apple+’s Spirited Is All About Conversion
2023 saw a musical release of the Nativity Story, which I critiqued in a previous review. A different musical, Spirited, released on Apple+, and was enjoyed by audiences in 2022. I recently had the opportunity to reflect about the musical and enjoy it on a dark and...
5 Great Family Movies To Watch On Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving week is a great time to get nice and cozy with the family on the couch and put on a movie that everyone will enjoy! And while some people have already been diving into Christmas movies for the past few weeks now, there are plenty of movies that are...
Should A Catholic See “Journey To Bethlehem”?
An Advent pre-game is coming to theaters in November, helping Christians and moviegoers to reflect on the mystery of the incarnation before the Christmas season. Journey to Bethlehem is a unique musical reproduction of the Nativity story, which admits at the end that...
A Catholic Review Of Netflix’s All The Light We Cannot See
In 2014, a novel by Anthony Doerr captured readers in the 500+ page novel, 16+ hour audiobook All the Light We Cannot See. At the time of its release, I was a seminarian studying for the priesthood at Mundelein Seminary under (now) Bishop Robert Barron. In 2015,...
The Documentary FREE Shows Us What We Can Learn From Monks And Nuns
Very few films have captured the cloistered life. Typically, those who are vowed behind enclosure do not wish to have their life broadcasted to the world. Perhaps the last popular film was Into Great Silence, and if memory serves, it took months, if not several...
On “A Haunting in Venice”
In his book A Secular Age, modern philosopher Charles Taylor speaks of the “buffered self.” The phrase refers to a person who is closed off to the idea of anything supernatural. Think of a sponge’s opposite. The “water” of transcendent reality is simply unable to...
“The Burial”- A Catholic Review and Commentary on Race And Sin
Fans of courtroom dramas might enjoy a new film, The Burial, released October 13 on Amazon Prime and is based on a true story of a legal battle between a hometown funeral director and a corporate funeral mogul. Jerry O’Keefe inherited the family chain of funeral...
Can Catholic Singles Find Lasting Love In Today’s Throw-away Culture?
More young adults than ever doubt they can find real, lasting love. In today’s throw-away culture, a “forever love” that can endure the ups and downs of life can seem unrealistic, even unattainable. Yet, we all feel a deep need for love. In fact, scientific research...
Mother Teresa & Me | Movie Review
The world knew Mother Teresa because of her great love, humility, and selflessness. Her desire to pursue her “call within a call” and serve the poorest of the poor resonated with millions of people worldwide from those poor people she served all the way up through the...
“A Million Miles Away” Inspires With a 5-Ingredient Recipe For Success
Amazon Prime has released a new inspiring movie, A Million Miles Away, inspired by Jose Hernandez's life. The opening minutes of the movie tell the early life story of Jose Hernandez, the son of migrant farming parents who were constantly on the move in order to work...
The Hill: A Faith And Sports Movie We Will Talk About And Re-Watch For Years
Not every movie causes an emotional experience for a grown man, but I’m willing to bet you might shed a tear of happiness at the end of The Hill,a new movie releasing in theaters on August 25th, 2023. The Hill Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upE1VupKCW8 I...
Ted Lasson Season 3: In Need Of Baptism, Part 2
See part one of this reflection here. Through our baptism and assent of faith, heaven becomes our destiny and our end. Through the following scenes from Ted Lasso Season 3, I seek to affirm the instances where goodness is present because it is exactly...
Barbie, Identity, And Being Enough
Imagine a land where everything is pink, every night is girl's night, and women hold all offices of power. This describes Barbieland, the place where all Barbies live: the stereotypical Barbies, the discontinued Barbies, all the Kens, and even Allan. This world may...
A Catholic Move Review Of “Dreamin’ Wild”: A Father And Two Sons
If you’re looking for a movie that isn’t all hyped up in the culture wars, consider Dreamin’ Wild, just released in theaters on August 4. It’s a true story of two brothers who created a record in their teens that was discovered by a record label thirty years...
“The Hiding Place” Catholic Review: Corrie Ten Boom’s Story Highlights The Power Of Scripture
A staple of junior high English curriculum is the reading of literature surrounding the Holocaust, or as we should refer to it as, the Shoah. During these formative years, Elie Wiesel’s Night and The Diary of Anne Frank are often fundamental texts used in school. The...