Category: Movies

Harry Baur as Jean Valjean

Books and Reading / Chapter-a-Day Read-Along / Movies

Les Misérables Chapter-a-Day Read-along: Film Comparison

In light of the Academy Awards show last night, this week we take a different look at Les Misérables, comparing several different film versions. Les Misérables has been filmed dozens of times, and rather than give a full review or summary of the difference versions, I am going to simply give you the same scene from six different films and ask you what you think. I’ve chosen arguably the most famous scene in the book, the Bishop’s Candlesticks, and I’ve tried to find as many versions as are available online....

The Court Jester

Family / Movies

10 Great Family Movies You and Your Kids Probably Haven’t Seen

Catholic film critic Steven Greydanus gives his list of ten movies kids probably haven’t seen that are well worth their (and your) time: Kids today are lucky if they know the likes of The Wizard of Oz, The Song of Bernadette, Singin’ in the Rain, The Sound of Music, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Babe and The Iron Giant. Lots of good stuff there (though older movies may require adult mediation to help kids adjust to the slower rhythms of the Golden Age). But what’s really off the beaten path for kids today? What have most kids...

Jean Valjean

Books and Reading / Homily / Movies / Spirituality

Les Misérables and the Transfiguration: Homily for the Second Sunday of Lent

The Academy Awards are this weekend, and normally they don’t hold much interest for me, but this year I’m pleased to say that one of my old friends is nominated for a major award. I’ve been teaching the novel Les Misérables for almost twenty years and it has become a steady companion to me each Lent as the eighth graders and I read it at this time every year. The latest movie of the novel is a film version of the Broadway musical starring Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway,...

Books and Reading / Movies / Music / Spirituality

How Is the Music of Les Misérables Like Liturgy?

That’s the question that Jeffrey Tucker looks at in an article at The Chant Café. The score is unusually text driven, just like liturgy. The singers in the film were chosen not for their singing ability but for their acting — which makes the singing more authentic in some way. Their voices were not ruined by too much training and affectation. They seemed authentic because of this — again, a point that is replicated in a liturgical context. I highly recommend that every priest and singer needs to see...

Ben-Hur

Movies

SQPN Movie Panel Launches

The good folks at SQPN, always looking for new ways to network, have launched an initiative they call the SQPN Movie Panel. Here’s how it works: Each week, SQPN will suggest a movie to watch, based on a theme for the month. The first theme is “Oscar Month,” and the movies are Titanic, Ben-Hur, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, and West Side Story. Watch the movie and join in on the conversation, either on Twitter @moviepanel or on the SQPN Facebook page. Find out more...

C3P0

Movies / Technology

Hundreds Work Together to Create Unbelievable Fan-made Star Wars Movie

“Crowdsourcing: the practice of obtaining needed services, ideas or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people and especially from the online community rather than from traditional employees or suppliers.” – Merriam-Webster.com Made from the contributions of hundreds of people around the world, this version of Star Wars: A New Hope is a crowdsourced wonder:

Babette's Feast

Movies

45 Important Movies as Chosen by the Vatican

In 1995, to commemorate 100 years of film-making, the Vatican made a list of what it called “Some Important Films.” The list was divided into three areas–Religion, Values and Art. I’ve been gradually acquiring them and watching them. What I particularly like about the list are the international titles. Here’s the list with a few comments of my own thrown in: Religion: Andrei Rublev Babette’s Feast – I really enjoyed this slow-moving but tender film. Ben-Hur – The four-disc edition also includes the original silent film–an excellent dvd...

The Sound of Music

Books and Reading / Family / Movies / Music

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

My wife and I celebrated our seventeenth anniversary two nights ago by attending the Spokane Civic Theater’s performance of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music. The show was fantastic–elaborate sets, wonderful singing–a real treat. There were even a couple of songs that we had never heard before. It was also very special to see one of my former students in the role of Louisa Von Trapp. My wife loves The Sound of Music, so one Christmas I bought her the movie, the soundtrack and the original book....

Field of Dreams

Books and Reading / Movies

The 15 Greatest Movies with Novels as Source Material

Not only are these great movies, but the novels on which they are based are classics, too. If you’re in a reading group, why not read the book, then watch the movie? I only chose novels, no non-fiction (i.e., A Beautiful Mind) or drama (i.e., Much Ado About Nothing). Movies are listed alphabetically. Ben-Hur – Novel by Lew Wallace The Bridge on the River Kwai – Novel by Pierre Boulle Field of Dreams – Based on Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella The Godfather – Novel by Mario Puzo...

The Best Old Movies for Families

Book Review / Books and Reading / Family / Movies

The Best Old Movies for Families

I was browsing through Borders Books the other day and came across a new book called The Best Old Movies for Families: A Guide to Watching Together by Ty Burr. Old movies are an interest of mine, and I have struggled with trying to get my kids to watch them, so I picked this book up hoping to get some help. Burr, the film critic for The Boston Globe, does a great job listing movies from the golden age of cinema that kids of different ages will appreciate....

Much Ado About Nothing - Branagh

Movies

My Favorite Romantic Movie

My favorite romantic movie combines great literature with great cinema: it’s Kenneth Branagh’s interpretation of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. My wife and I love watching this movie together, but the first time we watched it on DVD we got a bit of a surprise we weren’t counting on. We had watched it several times on a videotape I had recorded from PBS, so when it came out on DVD I was looking forward to watching it in its original widescreen format so we could see every bit...