On MY big and little screens since 2019....

• “'1917' is a masterpiece. Balancing visual mastery with strong characters in a touching-yet-tense storyline is rarely seen on such a technically gratifying level. While it reflects the brutality of war, it also talks about what makes the individual so valuable and glorifies the endurance of the human person" (Catholic News Agency, 1/6/20) 👍👍

• Alone in Berlin (Amazon customer review, 2/25/19) 👍👍

• "Good personal values vie with relentless gory combat in 'Angel Has Fallen' (Lionsgate). The result is an action sequel that's too graphic for those seeking casual entertainment" (Catholic News Service, 8/21/19) 

• "Like, I daresay, most of the English-speaking world,...I’ve been watching episodes of The Crown, the beautifully filmed, marvelously written program on the life and times of Queen Elizabeth II....Prince Philip’s mother, Princess Alice....[was] toward the end of her life, a Greek Orthodox nun....[With regard to faith, she reminds her son:] 'No, it doesn’t just help. It’s everything'" (Bishop Robert Barron, 12/3/19).👍 

• Downton Abbey (Catholic News Service, 9/19/19)  

• "El Camino (Spanish for 'The Way') is an escape film that picks up where Breaking Bad ended....the film is less about Jesse’s escape from the law and more about his escape from his sins" (Blake Atwood, 10/25/19)

• Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (cf, National Catholic Register, 5/4/19)

• Ford v Ferrari tells of "the competition between automakers Ford and Ferrari to have their cars win the grueling 24-hour Le Mans road race in France, which Ford finally accomplished in 1966" (Catholic News Service, 11/15/19).  While the race scenes certainly get the blood flowing, the film fails to take a genuine look at the immorality of a sport that so freely puts human lives at deadly risk.

• "Glass...is less about character development and the telling of a good story than [it] is about contending theories concerning superheroes" (Catholic World Report, 1/23/19).👎 

• The Good Liar (cf, Catholic News Service, 11/18/19).👎

• A Hidden Life (Amazon customer review, 1/3/20)👍👍👍 

• The Irishman (cf, Catholic News Service, 12/20/19).  The best that can be said about this movie is that it was NOT another Scorcese attempt at a supposedly "religious" film (i.e., the awful "The Last Temptation of Christ" and "Silence.")  And all that $ reportedly spent on "de-aging" technology was a waste - Scorcese should have just stuck with "Just for Men" gel for Bob, Al, and Joe.  It would have been as effective.👎

• Judy (cf, The B.C. Catholic, 10/9/19) 

• Knives Out👍 

• “Little Boy:” A Movie You Must See! (Tim Staples, 4/19/15)👍 

• Miracles from Heaven👍

• Motherless Brooklyn - plays a disability for laughs👎👎

• "In Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood, the bad guys are the hippies who murdered Sharon Tate and her guests on August 9, 1969, and, on the subsequent night, murdered the LaBiancas ....[Tarantino's movies] are meant to correct moral prejudices and remind us we go to the movies because they portray the dangers within our own hearts, including the ethic of revenge now rebranded as Progress" (Catholic World Report, 8/9/19).

• 'Parasite' Laughs at Family and Social Ruin (National Review, 10/11/19)👎👎👎    

• The Professor and the Madman👍 

• Richard Jewell👍 

• Sophie Scholl - The Final Days (Amazon customer review, 1/30/19)👍

• Tolkien - nice movie but it miserably fails to explain J.R. Tolkien's Catholic faith.

• Transiberia - As Ben Kingsley also played a Russian police detective in Crime and Punishment, his character initially seems like a continuation of that one.  However, there is NO redemptive moral message in this 2008 film.👎