Looney Tunes: An Appreciation (Part 3)

by Steven D. Greydanus Friday, December 02, 2011 10:47 AM Comments (38)

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For sheer technique, I’m not sure anything in the Looney Tunes world beats the Coyote-Road Runner cartoons, which began in 1949 with “Fast And Furry-ous.” There is a purity to their dialogue-free world, like that of the silent clowns, Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd, and in the simplicity and consistency of their cat-and-mouse game. Wile E. Coyote’s various traps and schemes for catching the Road Runner, running the gamut from simple snares to elaborate Rube Goldberg contraptions, are a playground for exploring the relationship of physical principles—gravity, speed, mass, momentum, leverage, magnetism, jet propulsion and so forth—and the stylizations of...READ MORE

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The Muppets & Arthur Christmas: In 30 Seconds!

by Steven D. Greydanus Monday, November 28, 2011 2:28 PM Comments (0)

Latest “Reel Faith” 30-second reviews: My take on The Muppets (see full review) and David DiCerto’s take on the new Aardman animated flick, Arthur Christmas!

The Muppets (SDG)

Arthur Christmas (DD)

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Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Happy Feet 2, Descendants: In 30 Seconds!

by Steven D. Greydanus Tuesday, November 22, 2011 1:09 AM Comments (2)

Latest 30 second reviews: Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 1, Happy Feet Two and The Descendants.

The “Reel Faith” season finale is now available at the show’s website! David and I review Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 1, Happy Feet Two, Arthur Christmas, The Descendants and The Muppets! Watch it now!

Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 (SDG)

Happy Feet Two (DD)

The Descendants (DD)

More: Happy Feet Two: Full review

Filed under 30-second reviews, family films, george clooney, happy feet, movies, reel faith, reviews, twilight, vampires

Fr. Barron's Catholicism, J. Edgar, Harold & Kumar: in 30 seconds!

by Steven D. Greydanus Monday, November 14, 2011 2:21 PM Comments (1)

Check out the latest 30-second takes from David DiCerto and me on Father Robert Barron’s excellent “Catholicism” series, Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar starring Leonardo DiCaprio, and A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas.

All of these are reviewed on the latest “Reel Faith,” now available at the show’s website. Watch it now! Note that this is the penultimate episode of the fall season—this Friday’s episode will be our last.

You can also read my full review of J. Edgar and my blog post on “Catholicism” at Decent Films. (A longer written review of “Catholicism” is still pending.)

Catholicism (DD)

J. Edgar (SDG)

A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas (DD)

More at Decent Films:

J. Edgar

...READ MORE

Filed under 30-second reviews, catholicism, clint eastwood, father robert barron, leonardo dicaprio, movies, reel faith, reviews

Tower Heist & In Time: In 30 Seconds!

by Steven D. Greydanus Tuesday, November 08, 2011 2:08 PM Comments (0)

Below is my 30-second take on Tower Heist and my “Reel Faith” cohost David DiCerto’s take on In Time.

Note also that in the latest “Reel Faith,” now available at the show’s website, David and I review both films along with Margin Call. Watch it now!

Finally, further thoughts on both are available in my previous blog post, “Occupy the Movie Theater!”

Tower Heist (SDG)

In Time (DD)

 
Watch the latest “Reel Faith”

Read “Occupy the Movie Theater!”

Filed under 30-second reviews, movies, reel faith, reviews

Occupy the Movie Theater!

A number of current movies, including Tower Heist and In Time, come along at the right moment to tap into the Occupy zeitgeist.

by Steven D. Greydanus Friday, November 04, 2011 10:09 AM Comments (0)

Part 1 | Part 2

 
How could anyone in Hollywood have known, as the current batch of movies went into development, that at least three different films about the greed and ruthlessness of the wealthy few and its devastating impact on the masses—the 1% and the 99%—would hit theaters more or less simultaneously in the middle of the Occupy protests?

This weekend’s caper comedy Tower Heist, starring Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Matthew Broderick, Michael Pena and Gabourey Sidibe as the 99 percent and Alan Alda as the 1 percent, comes on the heels of In Time, a sci-fi action movie starring Justin Timberlake as one of the expendable have-nots and Amanda Seyfried as one of the privileged haves.

In...READ MORE

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Occupy the Movie Theater! (Part 2)

A number of current movies, including Tower Heist and In Time, come along at the right moment to tap into the Occupy zeitgeist.

by Steven D. Greydanus Friday, November 04, 2011 10:08 AM Comments (7)

Part 1 | Part 2

 
Considerably more ambitious and challenging than Tower Heist (which isn’t saying much), In Time is the latest offering from writer-director Andrew Niccol, whose previous films include Gattaca, a sci-fi tale about genetic haves and have-nots, as well as S1m0ne, a Hollywood satire that represented in its own way a pursuit of an ideal of perfection by technological means.

Like those films, In Time is a provocative, thoughtful but somehow not entirely satisfying sci-fi parable with a striking premise. Niccol imagines a dystopian near future in which Benjamin Franklin’s adage that “Time is money” is taken to a literal extreme. Human beings are genetically engineered to stop...READ MORE

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Puss in Boots, Anonymous & The Three Musketeers in 30 Seconds!

by Steven D. Greydanus Friday, October 28, 2011 6:00 PM Comments (4)

This week, my “Reel Faith” co-host David DiCerto reviews Puss in Boots in 30 seconds, while I try a brand-new feat: reviewing two movies in 30 seconds! Yes, behold my 30-second take on Anonymous and The Three Musketeers! Watch if you dare!

And if you don’t, there’s also my plain vanilla take on The Three Musketeers in 30 seconds.

The special fall season of “Reel Faith” has only a few more episodes left. You can watch the latest episode at the Reel Faith website—and watch the new episode live on Fridays at 8:30pm.

Please support “Reel Faith”! Fill out a NET viewer survey and tell the station what you think of our show!

Puss in Boots (DD)

Anonymous AND The Three Musketeers! (SDG)

...READ MORE

Filed under 30-second reviews, family films, movies, reel faith, reviews

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About Steven D. Greydanus

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Steven D. Greydanus is film critic for the National Catholic Register and Decent Films, the online home for his film writing. He writes regularly for Christianity Today, Catholic World Report and other venues, and is a regular guest on several radio shows. Steven has contributed several entries to the New Catholic Encyclopedia, including “The Church and Film” and a number of filmmaker biographies. He has also written about film for the Encyclopedia of Catholic Social Thought, Social Science, and Social Policy. He has a BFA in Media Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York, and an MA in Religious Studies from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Overbrook, PA. He is pursuing diaconal studies in the Archdiocese of Newark. Steven and Suzanne have seven children.