Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast
- Episódios
- 146
- Publicação
- quinzenal
- Último episódio
- 15 out 2026
Sobre o podcast
Discussions of great movies from a Catholic perspective, exploring the Vatican film list and beyond. Hosted by Thomas V. Mirus and actor James T. Majewski, with special guests. Vatican film list episodes are labeled as Season 1. A production of CatholicCulture.org.
Episódios 146
A Christian family vs. the Norwegian liberal state in tense drama Fjord
James and Thomas discuss the new film Fjord, a quiet but extremely tense drama based on the real-life case of a conservative Christian family from Romania who moved to Norway and had their children taken away …
Notas do episódio
James and Thomas discuss the new film Fjord, a quiet but extremely tense drama based on the real-life case of a conservative Christian family from Romania who moved to Norway and had their children taken away by the Norwegian Child Protective Services, ostensibly for using light spanking to discipline their children, but seemingly motivated by anti-religious bigotry. Fjord won the highest prize at the Cannes Film Festival this year, which angered many liberal critics because of the film's sympathies with the Christian parents against the repressive liberal bureaucratic state.
DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
Most epic movie ever made: War and Peace (1965-67)
In the 1960s, the Soviet film industry decided to make an adaptation of Tolstoy's War and Peace that would blow any Hollywood epic out of the water. They gave it a virtually unlimited budget, with battle scenes …
Notas do episódio
In the 1960s, the Soviet film industry decided to make an adaptation of Tolstoy's War and Peace that would blow any Hollywood epic out of the water. They gave it a virtually unlimited budget, with battle scenes using over 12,000 Soviet soldiers trained using the historical French and Russian drill manuals from the time of the war with Napoleon, using real period paintings and furniture borrowed from Russia's museums. The result was the most epic film ever made, divided into four installments taking over seven hours in total.
But War and Peace has something more than a big budget and battle scenes on a mind-blowing scale. It is also one of the most creative and poetic films ever made, a very faithful adaptation of the novel yet using all the tools of cinema in the most unexpected ways to bring Tolstoy's vivid prose to life in scenes of dancing, hunting, dueling, love, betrayal, forgiveness, and spiritual awakening.
Links
Watch War and Peace for free on the official Mosfilm YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaTJrWP-PVcB-kpfOvzzp_7m4RdJPc0MC
DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
The Creator Spirit and the Soul of Art (conference talk)
Thomas Mirus's keynote address at the first annual conference of the Thomistic Artists Guild, on May 30 at the parish of St. Vitus in Los Angeles, CA. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH5KBsOIz_Y …
Notas do episódio
Thomas Mirus's keynote address at the first annual conference of the Thomistic Artists Guild, on May 30 at the parish of St. Vitus in Los Angeles, CA.
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH5KBsOIz_Y
Thomistic Artists Guild: https://thomisticartistsguild.org/
DONATE at http://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter http://www.catholicculture.org/newsletter
Nolan's Odyssey: not subversive, not that deep
Nathan Douglas and Thomas Mirus review Christopher Nolan's adaptation of Homer's Odyssey. It is not necessarily a bad thing if an adaptation doesn't reproduce the precise worldview of its source material - an …
Notas do episódio
Nathan Douglas and Thomas Mirus review Christopher Nolan's adaptation of Homer's Odyssey. It is not necessarily a bad thing if an adaptation doesn't reproduce the precise worldview of its source material - an artist makes his own work of art, not a scholarly translation. The movie is not a deliberate subversion of its source material, as many assumed. It is Nolan's honest personal reflection on what the poem means to him. But he does view the story through the lens of modern concerns which, while by no means false or unworthy of exploration or even totally incompatible with Homer's story, result in a less interesting version of Odysseus and a less coherent but overly didactic interpretation of the events depicted.
Links
Clip about diversity casting from previous episode https://youtu.be/5EEe-ogUXMI
Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
A child at war: Ivan's Childhood (1962)
James and Thomas begin a sub-series on the filmography of Andrei Tarkovsky (whose religious films Andrei Rublev and The Sacrifice they already discussed as part of the Vatican Film List). His first film, Ivan's …
Notas do episódio
James and Thomas begin a sub-series on the filmography of Andrei Tarkovsky (whose religious films Andrei Rublev and The Sacrifice they already discussed as part of the Vatican Film List). His first film, Ivan's Childhood, depicts a young boy, Ivan, who acts as a scout for the Russian army during World War II. Made precocious – and profoundly damaged – by his wartime experience, Ivan is a fascinating and tragic figure brought to life in a remarkable performance by Nikolai Burlyayev.
Tarkovsky begins his career with a film that is understandably more conventional than the rest of his oeuvre – but still plenty unconventional, and in fact serving as a test run for Tarkovsky's poetic convictions. James and Thomas discuss the director's views on "poetic links" in cinema expressed in his book Sculpting in Time and instantiated in this film's dream sequences and evocative landscapes. Tarkovsky believed that poetry comes about when the objective beauty of reality is filtered through the artist's subjectivity, connected to his own personal associations and feelings, such that the authenticity and density of life somehow appear on screen, in a way that is truly poetic and allows the viewer to take part in the aesthetic experience of the artist.
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
30 Years of the Vatican Film List – Catholic Cinema's Past and Future
Thomas Mirus, Nathan Douglas, and Andrew Petiprin gave this panel session at the 2024 Notre Dame Fall Conference, presented by the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. The theme of the conference was "Ever …
Notas do episódio
Thomas Mirus, Nathan Douglas, and Andrew Petiprin gave this panel session at the 2024 Notre Dame Fall Conference, presented by the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. The theme of the conference was "Ever Ancient, Ever New: On Catholic Imagination."
30 Years of the Vatican Film List – Catholic Cinema's Past and Future
Thomas Mirus (Catholic Culture) – The Vatican Film List: Introduction and Reflections
Nathan Douglas (Independent Scholar/Filmmaker) – The Filmmaker as Auteur
Andrew Petiprin (Spe Salvi Institute; Word on Fire Institute) – Europe for Everyone: Yesterday's Vatican Film List and Catholic Imagination Today
Chair: John O'Callaghan (University of Notre Dame)
Video of the panel: https://youtu.be/-7oE8d6RcCw?si=x4cTzl847-A8bG5M
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Paul Duda joins James and Thomas to discuss Steven Spielberg's first extant UFO movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and what it says about the kind of meaning and transcendence people are seeking in the …
Notas do episódio
Paul Duda joins James and Thomas to discuss Steven Spielberg's first extant UFO movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and what it says about the kind of meaning and transcendence people are seeking in the current UFO obsession. Paul also talks about the film he is producing about St. Bernadette.
Links
Bernadette movie:
www.Instagram.com/bernadettemovie
Frank and Lou Creative www.Frankandlou.co
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
Speaking in L.A.
On May 30, Thomas is giving the keynote address at the first annual conference of the Thomistic Artists Guild at the parish of St. Vitus in Los Angeles, CA. Free to attend! …
Notas do episódio
On May 30, Thomas is giving the keynote address at the first annual conference of the Thomistic Artists Guild at the parish of St. Vitus in Los Angeles, CA. Free to attend!
https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/thomistic-artists-guild-2026-conference
30 Years of the Vatican Film List – Catholic Cinema's Past and Future
Thomas Mirus, Nathan Douglas, and Andrew Petiprin gave this panel session at the 2024 Notre Dame Fall Conference, presented by the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. The theme of the conference was "Ever …
Notas do episódio
Thomas Mirus, Nathan Douglas, and Andrew Petiprin gave this panel session at the 2024 Notre Dame Fall Conference, presented by the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. The theme of the conference was "Ever Ancient, Ever New: On Catholic Imagination."
30 Years of the Vatican Film List – Catholic Cinema's Past and Future
Thomas Mirus (Catholic Culture) – The Vatican Film List: Introduction and Reflections
Nathan Douglas (Independent Scholar/Filmmaker) – The Filmmaker as Auteur
Andrew Petiprin (Spe Salvi Institute; Word on Fire Institute) – Europe for Everyone: Yesterday's Vatican Film List and Catholic Imagination Today
Chair: John O'Callaghan (University of Notre Dame)
Video of the panel: https://youtu.be/-7oE8d6RcCw?si=x4cTzl847-A8bG5M
Is Brideshead Revisited (1981) the perfect book-to-screen adaptation?
Brideshead Revisited is much discussed as a beloved Catholic novel. But it is also perhaps the only instance of a great book getting a screen adaptation that is equally good - almost to the point of being …
Notas do episódio
Brideshead Revisited is much discussed as a beloved Catholic novel. But it is also perhaps the only instance of a great book getting a screen adaptation that is equally good - almost to the point of being interchangeable with the book. We refer, of course, to the 1981 miniseries, not the 2008 movie! James Majewski, Nathan Douglas, and Thomas Mirus discuss what makes this series such a great work of adaptation.
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Bishop Erik Varden on cinema
His Excellency Erik Varden, Trappist monk and bishop of Trondheim, Norway, joins Thomas Mirus and James Majewski for a discussion of the art of cinema. The interview touches on the danger of violent images …
Notas do episódio
His Excellency Erik Varden, Trappist monk and bishop of Trondheim, Norway, joins Thomas Mirus and James Majewski for a discussion of the art of cinema. The interview touches on the danger of violent images, saint movies, the relationship between film and theater, the private vs. theatrical experience of film, the value of watching foreign films, and some of Bp. Varden's favorite movies.
Links
Thomas's interview with Bp. Varden about his book on chastity https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/173-chastity-integrity-and-desert-fathers-bishop-erik-varden/
Bp. Varden's website, Coram Fratribus https://coramfratribus.com/
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
DONATE to keep this podcast going: https://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
New Lives of the Popes podcast
Lives of the Popes on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lives-of-the-popes/id1885968422 Lives of the Popes on CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/category/lives-of …
Notas do episódio
Lives of the Popes on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lives-of-the-popes/id1885968422
Lives of the Popes on CatholicCulture.org: https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/category/lives-of-popes-podcast/
Into Great Silence (2005) w/ Manny Marquez
UPDATE: Since the publication of this episode, Into Great Silence has become easier to watch, now streaming in high-quality video on Formed. https://watch.formed.org/into-great-silence Into Great Silence is one …
Notas do episódio
UPDATE: Since the publication of this episode, Into Great Silence has become easier to watch, now streaming in high-quality video on Formed. https://watch.formed.org/into-great-silence
Into Great Silence is one of the great documentaries from an artistic point of view, and surely the best ever made on a Catholic subject. Filmmaker Philip Gröning contacted the Grande Chartreuse monastery in the French Alps in 1984, asking if he could come and film the Carthusian monks in their way of life. They responded saying that it was not yet the right time. Sixteen years later, they got back to him saying they were ready to receive him, a single cameraman with no fancy lighting or sound equipment.
Gröning spent six months filming the monastery, sharing the monks' silent way of life. The film that resulted is as different from other documentaries as the Carthusian rule is from life in the world: the intent was for the film itself to become a monastery. No music, no voiceover, just (mostly) silently and slowly observing the monks' way of life, as the seductive beauty of life with God is gradually revealed underneath the austere self-denial.
Catholic documentary filmmaker Manny Marquez joins the podcast to discuss Into Great Silence, as well as the documentary genre in general, and his own beautiful film Make Peace or Die, which can be viewed on PBS Passport. SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.comBing Crosby plays a priest in Going My Way and The Bells of St. Mary's
Going My Way (1944) and The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) bring us back to a very different period in American culture, where the immensely popular singer Bing Crosby could make a movie playing a priest of …
Notas do episódio
Going My Way (1944) and The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) bring us back to a very different period in American culture, where the immensely popular singer Bing Crosby could make a movie playing a priest of essentially spotless character, and that movie could win six Oscars and be popular enough to get a sequel with the same character.
But is that enough to make a great Catholic film, or to make midcentury Hollywood a model of what edifying cinema should be?
These films, both directed by the great Leo McCarey, are entertaining to be sure, and heartwarming in their way. But as a portrayal of the Catholic Church and the priesthood, they are pretty shallow – holding up as ideal a young, hip priest because he sings, plays ball with the kids, and is kind and charismatic, without anything particularly spiritual about his actions or motives. A New Yorker review at the time said these films portrayed the Church "as a kind of settlement house where good works and jollity provide a lively substitute for religion".
While we can enjoy these films for what they were, when we talk about a Catholic movie today, we are looking for something with more existential heft, spiritual and artistic depth, rather than something which pleases us simply because it portrays the Church in a positive and sentimental light (but in a way that is in no way challenging to the culture). In retrospect, these films remind us of the dangers of a too-Americanized religion, and indicate that the Catholic influence on midcentury Hollywood, celebrated with much nostalgia by some today, was fairly shallow to begin with.
Links
Watch The Bells of St. Mary's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPkBwJiN4-M
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
DONATE to keep this podcast going: https://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
Adoption drama: Secrets & Lies (1996)
In the 1996 British comedy-drama Secrets & Lies, Hortense, a young middle-class black woman in London, having lost both of her adoptive parents, decides to seek out her biological mother - who turns out to be a …
Notas do episódio
In the 1996 British comedy-drama Secrets & Lies, Hortense, a young middle-class black woman in London, having lost both of her adoptive parents, decides to seek out her biological mother - who turns out to be a working-class white woman named Cynthia.
Director Mike Leigh is known for collaborating in depth with his actors to create vivid, deeply realized characters and performances. Secrets & Lies is an outstanding specimen of a lost genre: a kitchen-sink drama that relies entirely on its rich humanity to keep us watching. Andrew Petiprin joins Criteria to discuss the movie.
Links
Spe Salvi Institute https://www.spesalviinstitute.com/
Article about the displacement of Cockneys, "Indigenous London" https://firstthings.com/indigenous-london/
DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
Revisiting Malick's A Hidden Life (2019)
James, Thomas, and Nathan Douglas conclude their journey through Terrence Malick's filmography (thus far) with a discussion of the film that introduced him to many Catholics: A Hidden Life, about the Austrian …
Notas do episódio
James, Thomas, and Nathan Douglas conclude their journey through Terrence Malick's filmography (thus far) with a discussion of the film that introduced him to many Catholics: A Hidden Life, about the Austrian martyr Blessed Franz Jägerstätter, who was killed for refusing to swear loyalty to Hitler. Coming after Malick's avant-garde phase of the Weightless Trilogy, A Hidden Life is a more conventional narrative but retains much of the stylistic and formal development of his past few films.
Links
Original episode on A Hidden Life https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-58-hidden-life-film-review-w-james-majewski/
New Polity podcast on Bl. Franz https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nD04XvxBLkE
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
DONATE to keep this podcast going: https://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
Triumph of the Heart director faced glorious trials making great Catholic art - w/ Anthony D'Ambrosio
Anthony D'Ambrosio directed, wrote, and produced the outstanding new film Triumph of the Heart about St. Maximilian Kolbe. In this inspiring interview, he discusses the difficult path he and his team charted to …
Notas do episódio
Anthony D'Ambrosio directed, wrote, and produced the outstanding new film Triumph of the Heart about St. Maximilian Kolbe. In this inspiring interview, he discusses the difficult path he and his team charted to produce this independent film with a low budget, high artistic standards, and deep Catholic spirituality.
Film is an expensive medium. Since a high budget requires one to calculate mainstream appeal in order to make one's money back, a low budget can leave more room for artistic and spiritual integrity. Though the production faced many hardships, it was buoyed up by the hope that the project could break a new path for other Catholic filmmakers to follow.
Triumph of the Heart is available to screen at your parish, and will start streaming on its official website November 1.
Links
Show Triumph of the Heart at your parish https://www.triumphoftheheart.com/
Our review of Triumph of the Heart https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/triumph-heart-is-film-worthy-its-subject-st-maximilian-kolbe/
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
DONATE to keep this podcast going: https://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
US army chaplain meets Italian monks in Paisan (1946)
Roberto Rossellini's 1946 World War II film Paisan has a unique structure: six vignettes following the American troops north from their landing in Sicily through Naples, Rome, Florence, Romagna, and the Po …
Notas do episódio
Roberto Rossellini's 1946 World War II film Paisan has a unique structure: six vignettes following the American troops north from their landing in Sicily through Naples, Rome, Florence, Romagna, and the Po Delta. However, the film takes the perspective of the Italians, with the Americans more often than not naive outsiders. It is a fascinating exploration of the clash of cultures in the tragic scenarios of war and foreign occupation. One segment in particular will be very interesting to Catholics: an American priest serving as an army chaplain visits a Franciscan monastery along with his Protestant and Jewish chaplain counterparts and encounters a more intense and less ecumenical religiosity than he is accustomed to.
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
DONATE to keep this podcast going: https://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
He Who Gets Slapped (1924)
James and Thomas discuss the original creepy clown movie, He Who Gets Slapped, starring Lon Chaney in an amazing performance as scientist Paul Beaumont, who suffers a mental breakdown after his research and his …
Notas do episódio
James and Thomas discuss the original creepy clown movie, He Who Gets Slapped, starring Lon Chaney in an amazing performance as scientist Paul Beaumont, who suffers a mental breakdown after his research and his wife are stolen by a wealthy baron. Leaving his former world behind, Beaumont becomes a circus clown known only as He, whose entire act consists of attempting to say profound things while being slapped and ridiculed by the other clowns, recreating his trauma - until one day, he comes back into contact with the man who betrayed him... The film explores the effect that the crowd's propensity for mockery and humiliation has on the human psyche.
The film is by the pioneering Swedish silent-era director, Victor Sjöström - his second movie made in the US. It remains very engaging for a silent film, and makes a good introduction to the medium.
Watch He Who Gets Slapped for free on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_qlCtPdqto
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
DONATE to keep this podcast going: https://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
Triumph of the Heart is a film worthy of its subject, St. Maximilian Kolbe
James and Thomas review an outstanding and very intense new film about St. Maximilian Kolbe, directed and written by Anthony D'Ambrosio. Triumph of the Heart is set mostly in the starvation cell in Auschwitz as …
Notas do episódio
James and Thomas review an outstanding and very intense new film about St. Maximilian Kolbe, directed and written by Anthony D'Ambrosio. Triumph of the Heart is set mostly in the starvation cell in Auschwitz as Kolbe and his companions try to find a way to die with hope and dignity. Don't miss it, in theaters Sept. 12.
https://www.triumphoftheheart.com/
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
DONATE to keep this podcast going: https://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
A hard world for little things: The Night of the Hunter (1955)
James and Thomas discuss one of their favorite films, The Night of the Hunter, directed by Charles Laughton. It's about the sacred innocence of children, and discerning true vs. false prophets. A unique mix of …
Notas do episódio
James and Thomas discuss one of their favorite films, The Night of the Hunter, directed by Charles Laughton. It's about the sacred innocence of children, and discerning true vs. false prophets. A unique mix of fairy tale, horror, and Southern gothic with expressionist visuals, The Night of the Hunter contains some of the most striking and poetic sequences ever filmed.
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
DONATE to keep this podcast going: https://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
Hitchcock's I Confess and the world's failure to understand priesthood
In Alfred Hitchcock's 1953 film I Confess, a young priest in Quebec City is suspected of murder because of his unwillingness to break the seal of confession. A major theme of the film is the incomprehension …
Notas do episódio
In Alfred Hitchcock's 1953 film I Confess, a young priest in Quebec City is suspected of murder because of his unwillingness to break the seal of confession. A major theme of the film is the incomprehension with which the world sees the priesthood, such that people project their own sins onto the priest, resulting in a kind of white martyrdom.
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
DONATE to keep this podcast going: https://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission.
The Ritual portrays exorcism accurately, but is stuck in genre cliches
The new exorcism film The Ritual, starring Al Pacino and Dan Stevens, is based on the famous 1928 exorcism of Emma Schmidt, which also partially inspired The Exorcist. The Ritual is touted as more realistic and …
Notas do episódio
The new exorcism film The Ritual, starring Al Pacino and Dan Stevens, is based on the famous 1928 exorcism of Emma Schmidt, which also partially inspired The Exorcist. The Ritual is touted as more realistic and meticulously researched than most exorcism films, and it does seem to portray the rite of exorcism accurately (as the title indicates, most of the film is focused on the ritual itself). The film avoids many of the worst pitfalls of exorcism movies, such as fascination with the glamor of evil, sadism, etc. It is a Catholic-approvable treatment of the subject in that it avoids theological error, the liturgy is accurate, and God is clearly shown to be more powerful than demons. However, the film is still sensationalistic, not because its extraordinary demonic manifestations are fabricated, but because they are excessively centered at the expense of more interesting and edifying aspects of the real-life case. Those details which would have made the treatment unique and thought-provoking are too often filed down to fit the genre's cliches or to avoid alienating a non-Catholic audience.
The Ritual will be in theaters starting June 6.
Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
DONATE to keep this podcast going: https://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Fragmented sexuality in Malick's To the Wonder, Knight of Cups, & Song to Song
00:00 Introduction 12:44 Form 1:04:15 Themes 1:28:17 Moral problems 1:52:00 Favorite sequences After the artistic triumph of his magnum opus The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick had an unwontedly prolific period …
Notas do episódio
00:00 Introduction
12:44 Form
1:04:15 Themes
1:28:17 Moral problems
1:52:00 Favorite sequences
After the artistic triumph of his magnum opus The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick had an unwontedly prolific period, releasing To the Wonder (2012), Knight of Cups (2015), and Song to Song (2017). In these films, known informally as the "Weightless Trilogy", Malick took his previous formal experimentation even further, relying heavily on improvisation stitched together with a stream-of-consciousness editing style evoking the fragments of memory. The results are undeniably aesthetically exciting, but also critically divisive, as many viewers find the latter two films particularly to lack narrative substance.
The films have been of special interest to many Christians because of their explicit allusions to faith and their depiction of the emptiness of worldly pleasures as the characters search for something more. To the Wonder in particular is noteworthy for its priest character played by Javier Bardem, and because it deals with the issue of contraception and how being closed off to children destroys a relationship (the importance of children being a theme in all three films).
Across the trilogy, Malick deals with the topic of sexuality in a way seen nowhere else in modern Hollywood, consistently showing the breakdown of sexuality in excess, deviance, and using others as destructive and even sinful. In that and in other respects, the films are profoundly countercultural.
However, this is dangerous material to handle in any medium, cinema above all. Malick is not always successful in threading the needle with moral purity in execution, however praiseworthy his thematic intentions. This makes it impossible to recommend these films for a wide viewership, or to anyone without caveats. Nonetheless, a discussion of these films, with all their strengths and weaknesses, is essential in considering the direction of religious cinema today - and in this episode Thomas Mirus, James Majewski, and Nathan Douglas do just that.
Note: YouTube has censored versions (TV-14, blurred nudity and bleeped profanity) of Knight of Cups and Song to Song, for free with ads.
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
DONATE to keep this podcast going: https://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
Crucifixion darkness: Barabbas (1961)
Barabbas is an unusual specimen of the midcentury Hollywood Biblical epic, more spiritually searching (and edgier) than its peers. Starring Anthony Quinn as the criminal released by Pilate in place of Christ …
Notas do episódio
Barabbas is an unusual specimen of the midcentury Hollywood Biblical epic, more spiritually searching (and edgier) than its peers. Starring Anthony Quinn as the criminal released by Pilate in place of Christ, Barabbas is based on a 1950 novel by Nobel winner Pär Lagerkvist (recently listed by Anthony Esolen among the greatest religious novels of the 20th century). It follows Barabbas through a long life in the shadow of the Cross, haunted and struggling to comprehend the meaning of having had his life exchanged for Christ's. He becomes almost an archetype of human resistance to grace – but in the end, does he nonetheless surrender himself to what he doesn't understand?
Br. Joshua Vargas, Cong.Orat., returns to the show to discuss this intriguing film.
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
DONATE to keep this podcast going: https://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
A holy fool: The Island (2006)
James and Thomas discuss a minor classic of religious cinema, the spiritually edifying (and humorous!) Russian film The Island, about a fictional Orthodox monk and "holy fool" who has special spiritual gifts …
Notas do episódio
James and Thomas discuss a minor classic of religious cinema, the spiritually edifying (and humorous!) Russian film The Island, about a fictional Orthodox monk and "holy fool" who has special spiritual gifts, but remains racked with guilt over a terrible crime he committed in his youth.
The Island can be viewed on YouTube (the subtitles are a different translation from the ones on Amazon): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wz-vegualMg&ab_channel=SergeyKorsakov
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
DONATE to keep this podcast going: https://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
Terrence Malick and the Knights of Columbus: Voyage of Time (2016)
The Criteria crew continues its series on the films of Terrence Malick, jumping ahead to the experimental documentary Voyage of Time, which was co-produced by the Knights of Columbus! Voyage of Time portrays …
Notas do episódio
The Criteria crew continues its series on the films of Terrence Malick, jumping ahead to the experimental documentary Voyage of Time, which was co-produced by the Knights of Columbus! Voyage of Time portrays the history of the cosmos, the Earth, and the living creatures on it from the beginning of the universe to its end. The main point of the film is simply to evoke wonder at creation with its gorgeous photography, sound design and music.
The film exists in two versions: a 45-minute version narrated by Brad Pitt (Voyage of Time: The IMAX Experience), and a 90-minute version narrated by Cate Blanchett (Voyage of Time: Life's Journey). James, Thomas, and Nathan Douglas all agree that the long version is generally superior. However, they debate over the content of the narration (which, in both films, is of an existential rather than scientific nature). Thomas contends that the narration in the long version, rather than inspiring the viewer to seek the truth about the meaning of the universe, seems to leave us swimming in a muddled and uninspiring metaphysical soup. James defends the narration as a "phenomenological" portrayal of primitive man's varying interpretations of the cosmos, rather than a set of consistent truth propositions.
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
The Marx Brothers w/ James Matthew Wilson
Poet and philosopher James Matthew Wilson joins the podcast to discuss two films by the Marx Brothers (Duck Soup, A Night at the Opera). Wilson also reads one of his poems featuring allusions to the Marx …
Notas do episódio
Poet and philosopher James Matthew Wilson joins the podcast to discuss two films by the Marx Brothers (Duck Soup, A Night at the Opera). Wilson also reads one of his poems featuring allusions to the Marx Brothers, and talks about the letters written between Groucho Marx and T.S. Eliot.
James Matthew Wilson, The Strangeness of the Good https://angelicopress.com/products/the-strangeness-of-the-good
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
DONATE to keep this podcast going: https://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
"I am a human being": The Elephant Man (1980), w/ Andrew Petiprin
On the latest episode of Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast, Andrew Petiprin joins James and Thomas to discuss the late David Lynch's most uplifting film, The Elephant Man. The film is based on the real …
Notas do episódio
On the latest episode of Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast, Andrew Petiprin joins James and Thomas to discuss the late David Lynch's most uplifting film, The Elephant Man. The film is based on the real Victorian-era life of Joseph Merrick, a man who suffered terrible abuse because of his extreme deformities, yet whose human dignity was ultimately recognized and allowed to flourish by those who rescued him and cared for him with Christian compassion.
Panel on film at Notre Dame with Thomas Mirus, Andrew Petiprin, and Nathan Douglas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7oE8d6RcCw&ab_channel=deNicolaCenterforEthicsandCulture
Andrew's book Popcorn with the Pope: A Guide to the Vatican Film List https://bookstore.wordonfire.org/products/popcorn-with-the-pope
DONATE to keep this podcast going: https://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
In a Lonely Place (1950)
James and Thomas discuss Nicholas Ray's thrilling 1950 film noir In a Lonely Place. In an outstanding, nuanced performance, Humphrey Bogart plays quick-tempered screenwriter Dixon Steele, who enters into a …
Notas do episódio
James and Thomas discuss Nicholas Ray's thrilling 1950 film noir In a Lonely Place. In an outstanding, nuanced performance, Humphrey Bogart plays quick-tempered screenwriter Dixon Steele, who enters into a fast-moving relationship with Laurel Gray (Gloria Grahame) just as he is under suspicion for the murder of another young woman. The investigation puts a strain on their romance, revealing the problems of relationships without the requisite mutual trust.
SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: https://www.catholicculture.org/newsletters
DONATE to keep this podcast going: https://www.catholicculture.org/donate/audio
Music is The Duskwhales, "Take It Back", used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com
Aqui estão os 40 episódios mais recentes de 146. Os mais antigos estão no feed do podcast.
Podcasts parecidos
Mais podcasts de Artes
Este podcast é seu?
Confirme com uma entrada no seu feed: você recebe um código aqui, adiciona como podcast:txt no canal do seu feed e nós verificamos. Depois disso, seu podcast aparece como “verificado” no SoundNode.