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Into the Pigeonhole Again
BY john Prizer
February 20-26, 2000 Issue 
The Catholic Church has become a fashionable target for contemporary filmmakers, judging by the number of movies on the subject released during the past six months. Seven recent films — Dogma, Stigmata, The Omega Code, The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, Angela's Ashes, The End of the Affair... READ MORE
Prizer’s Picks
February 13-19, 2000 Issue
Ever After (1998)
Some classic tales are indestructible no matter what Hollywood tries to do to them. Ever After is a politically correct reworking of the Cinderella story in which the 16th-century heroine (Drew Barrymore) rises from rags to riches on her own without help from a sappy creature... READ MORE
Hold the Wry
BY John Prizer Angela's Ashes is rambling and unfocused
February 13-19, 2000 Issue
America has been both a real place and a myth almost from the moment of its discovery. The dream of economic opportunity, along with political and religious freedom, has drawn people here from around the globe for more than three centuries.
A whole body of literature and film has grown up around a... READ MORE
Prizer’s Picks
BY John Prizer
December 19-25, 1999 Issue
White Fang (1991)
Dog stories (Rin Tin-Tin, Lassie and Benji) used to be a staple of family entertainment. With a few exceptions (the Shiloh series), contemporary Hollywood seems to have forgotten it.
White Fang is the third screen adaptation of Jack London's classic coming-of-age novel set in... READ MORE
She Sings to Bring People to Christ
BY Wayne Laugesen
December 19-25, 1999 Issue
DENVER—Rachael Lampa seems like a typical freshman at Monarch High School in suburban Denver. To friends she's no big deal — just a fun-loving, happy-go-lucky 14-year-old who loves basketball, softball and Jesus.
She has another life, however, that few in her school know about yet. Rachael is the... READ MORE
Prizer’s Picks
December 12-18, 1999 Issue
Avalon (1990)
Every American family has an immigration experience behind it, whether the journey occurred within the past decade or 300 years ago. At its core is usually a drama about the American dream as tempered by the reality of assimilation. Avalon is the best of writer-director Barry... READ MORE
Materialistic Worldview Proves Costly in The Price
BY Father Peter John Cameron Broadway revival unveils a charged 'upper room'
December 12-18, 1999 Issue
In a story as old as Cain and Abel, the new Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's 1967 play The Price, now running at the Royale Theatre, concerns the estrangement caused by the rivalry and repressed resentment between two brothers.
After 16 years of suffocating silence, circumstances force the men... READ MORE
The Root of All Kinds Of Licentiousness
John Leo says money is driving TV to new lows
December 5-11, 1999 Issue
U.S. News and World Report columnist John Leo takes on the popular culture in a frequently provocative and challenging way. Some of his writings have been compiled into books, Two Steps Ahead of the Thought Police (1998) and How the Russians Invented Baseball and Other Essays of Enlightenment... READ MORE
Prizer’s Picks
December 5-11, 1999 Issue
Shadowlands (1993)
“I'm not sure God wants to make us happy,” British professor and writer C.S. Lewis tells a 1950s audience of admirers. “Pain is God's megaphone to wake a dead world.” But these words of spiritual reflection are just cold, intellectual concepts to Lewis. He doesn't walk the talk.... READ MORE
Lame Dogma For Me-Firsters
BY John Prizer
December 5-11, 1999 Issue
Why is anti Catholicism back in fashion? Some might argue that it's never gone away, but the release of three films (Stigmata, The Omega Code and Dogma) with these biases within the past two months indicates that this subject may be part of a new cultural trend.
Dogma is an inept, save-the-world... READ MORE
Prizer’s Picks
November 21-27, 1999 Issue
Life is Beautiful (1998)
Roberto Benigni is a contemporary Charlie Chaplin. An actor-director, he's created an everyman-type of clown who negotiates his way through potentially serious situations with slapstick jokes and gags. His most recent film, the Oscar-winning Life is Beautiful, is both a... READ MORE
Meeting Priests’ Needs Led to Books for Laity
Apostolate spawned by a need for hymnals, missals and prayer books
November 21-27, 1999 Issue
The Midwest Theological Forum has released an unusual new hymnal, Cantate et Iubilate Deo (Our Sunday Visitor Books, $29.95). As much a reading experience as a book to sing by, the volume includes not just words and music but also historical background, artistic interpretations and other innovative... READ MORE
Surrealist Director Tells a Straight Story
BY John Prizer
November 14-20, 1999 Issue
Up until 15 years ago, Walt Disney Co. made nothing but family films. But new management jettisoned almost all the old standards. The many Catholics who boycott Disney for movies such as Priest and Kids will nonetheless be heartened to know that occasionally, the company does something right.
The... READ MORE
Conspiracy Weary
BY John Prizer The Omega Code's interpretation of Bible prophecy is woefully misinformed
November 14-20, 1999 Issue
The independent film movement is, overall, a good thing. By sidestepping the Hollywood big-studio system, it's allowed a thousand flowers to bloom. Anyone who can raise the necessary production coin and find an interested distributor gets a chance to present a message to the public. There's no... READ MORE
Prizer’s Video Picks
BY John Prizer
November 14-20, 1999 Issue
Jerusalem (1996)
Based on a novel by Swedish Nobel-prizewinner Selma Lagerlof, Jerusalem is steeped in the atmosphere of turn-of-the-century apocalyptic fervor. A son of the region's most prominent family falls in love with a schoolteacher's beautiful daughter. But the sweethearts get separated... READ MORE
Videos in Release
November 7-13, 1999 Issue
Pirates of Silicon Valley (1999)
One of the reasons America so dominates the global economy is that it treats its entrepreneurs with a semi-mythic respect. We're the only society that turns them into culture heroes. Pirates of Silicon Valley, originally a TNT movie of the week, is a well-crafted... READ MORE
THE SPOILS OF WAR
BY John Prizer Three Kings comes bearing a dark view of Gulf conflict
November 7-13, 1999 Issue
The 1991 Persian Gulf War proved a much-needed victory for the American military, restoring both here and abroad the credibility that the United States had lost in Vietnam. Support for U.S. intervention against Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait wasn't universal, of course. Pope John Paul II and... READ MORE
Prizer’s Video Picks
October 31 - November 6, 1999 Issue
LITTLE WOMEN (1994)
Louisa May Alcott's popular novel has been adapted to the screen four times. The 1933 George Cukor production, starring Katherine Hepburn, is on the Vatican's list of 45 best films. This most recent version, directed by Gillian Armstrong (My Brilliant Career), emphasizes the... READ MORE
Sweeps Month Doesn’t Bring Out the Best
BY Verne Gay
October 31 - November 6, 1999 Issue
Under normal circumstances, November is the time of year when you grab your TV's remote control and throw it out the nearest open window. It's a time of particularly egregious excess. Bad taste. Vulgarity. The reason is, it's a “sweeps” month — the time local ad rates are set in cities around the... READ MORE
Prizer’s Video Picks
BY John Prizer
October 24-30, 1999 Issue
The Apostle (1997)
Written and directed by Oscar-winning actor Robert Duvall, The Apostle dares to explore the thriving evangelical Protestant subculture without the usual one-dimensional prejudices. Euliss “Sonny” Dewey (Duvall) runs a large, prosperous church in Texas with his wife, Jessie... READ MORE
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