I am glad that the saints continue to be an inspiration to writers and filmmakers. We shouldn’t resent them trying to make great art with these holy lives. But as one sometimes “had to be there” to get the point of certain stories, it would seem that for some fictional depictions to succeed, you really [...]
"Those days have come and gone," says Indiana Jones at one point in the newly-released film, "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny." And they sure have, for our hero has been emasculated on the altar of political correctness in this film, with an immoral, money-grubbing, narcissistic, feminist character usurping his place. "Those days have [...]
To rebuild their movement and society, and to rebuild a viable culture, conservatives must embrace the conservative populism championed by two men: filmmaker Frank Capra and scholar Willmoore Kendall. Pursuing this path will be challenging, for populism has become a bogeyman for the powers that be. Last December, my wife and I motored a couple [...]
Reading "The Screwtape Letters" can be a creepy and unsettling experience because C.S. Lewis does not merely take us into the head of the human who is experiencing temptation, but into the malevolent mind of the devil himself. This same psycho-dramatic technique is employed by the directors of the recently released horror film, "Nefarious," in [...]
For most people, the name of Sir Alec Guinness is associated with his playing of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy. Such an association is understandable enough but it does scant justice to Sir Alec’s true legacy as one of the greatest actors of the twentieth century. He was a fine Shakespearean actor, [...]
At the heart of "Gran Torino" is the portrayal of a good man. Too often good characters are simpering or squeaky clean; if not flawless their flaws are superficial traits plastered on top by a mediocre filmmaker. But Clint Eastwood’s Walt Kowalski comes across as authentic because of all the faults our society recognizes in [...]
If you want your children to know how one can discern his God-given purpose and calling in a self-centered world, be a patriotic American in a corrupt world, and be a man or a woman in a genderless world, then you need look no further than these three Frank Capra masterpieces. Frank Capra [...]
How can we rebuild culture and community in a world where we seem to be glued together in pragmatic tribes, looking across the divide at deadly enemies? One answer is to rediscover the parts of life that make up the whole of a healthy community, and what better way to embark on our study of [...]
I take the blame for this idiosyncratic list. Since my betters have identified so many stellar choices, I propose the somewhat obscure: books (presented in no order) that may lead an already-humane human in the direction of the holy as unexpected and inspirational, maybe mischievous and mirthful. Great? Maybe not, but possible nectar for an [...]
The whole point of "The Lord of the Rings" is that true heroism is inseparable from true humility, and that true humility is inseparable from true love. The spirit of Amazon’s "Rings of Power" is the very reverse of this. Heroism is inseparable from pride, and pride is inseparable from self-empowerment. What would happen if [...]
One of the best contemporary memoirs I’ve read in the last decade is My Grandfather’s Son, which was published in 2007. In his tale that ended with the fierce 1991 confirmation battle for his seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas told a remarkable story of his journey from being raised by a single [...]
Good war films put the objective in front of the audience and show repeatedly what must go heroically right to achieve it. And it is the depiction of real heroism in "Top Gun: Maverick" that makes the film so exhilarating. The weekend after the graduation of the Class of 2022, my wife, my daughter, and [...]
Erich Wolfgang Korngold was a phenomenal composer, and his gifts for fully fleshed-out musical ideas that created cinematic moods were extraordinary. The second movement (“Romance”) of his Violin Concerto makes me think of a darkening summer evening. You know, the kind where the sun set earlier but still lends a glow to the western sky [...]
The film “Field of Dreams” beautifully portrays in a contemporary idiom the Parable of the Prodigal Son, but even more so, the grand cosmic drama to which that Parable points: that of Paradise lost and Paradise regained. In view of the beginning of baseball season, and as the father of two Little Leaguers, I thought [...]