The date of this article is 2011, and Ms. Nicolosi’s film venture “Mary” (prequel to Passion of the Christ) is now in the hands of a new production company...
I was raised Catholic, and some of the traditional hymns used in the 50s and 60s were beautiful. I don’t know what they are using now. Meanwhile, some of today’s Protestant songwriters have written some very beautiful songs. Darlene Zscech (I can never spell her name), formerly of Hillsong, comes to mind.
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Every movie, and I would only watch a family kind of movie, has to have crude comments, curses, murder or violence, some people having sex before marriage. I’m sick of it.
Third Stanza
Far-called our navies melt away—
On dune and headland sinks the fire—
Lo, all our pomp of yesterday
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre!
Judge of the Nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget—lest we forget!
Yep, he certainly was that champion of Colonialism and Conquest! That is UNTIL you read his WORDS!
DRA (Didn’t Read Article)
Hollywood is DEAD!
Hollywood didn’t kill itself. (actually that’s only HALF true).
NETFLIX, HULU, PHILO, AMAZON PRIME VIDEO, ROKU TV have made “Hollywood” (and most of its “stars” irrelevant)
Original content, the amazing increase in quality of foreign films and shows (that have ZERO Hollywood stars in them) have overshadowed and REPLACED the spoiled brats (Hollywood stars).
There now are quality alternatives to Hollywood productions. Also the #MeToo movement, Covid, and (shooting members of your production crew) have ground Hollywood production to a halt.
Who loves ya, baby? NOBODY anymore, you are irrelevant.
This is spot on.
The modern churches that have abandoned their artistic and musical patrimony are appalling. On architecture and art, I realize that tight budgets come into play, though churches that aggressively embrace modernist ugliness for its own sake can't use budgets as an excuse. But there is not even that excuse for walking away from the musical heritage and replacing it with junk.
As for Hollywood: I was struck by the author's affirmation of beauty as "the combination of wholeness, harmony, and radiance."
When was the last time you saw a movie made in that spirit?
There are a few. I have just seen one. The Sundance Film Festival ended up back online this year. Among the offerings -- and by far the best Sundance film I've seen so far -- is After Yang. A "religious" film? No. But the film is a meditation wrapped inside a science fiction movie. Like Kogonada's first film, Columbus (2017), it is quiet, thoughtful and gentle. There is not yet a trailer. I'm sure I will be posting it to the movie ping list when a trailer is available, but put it on your watchlist. When you see it, remember that this is Kogonada 2.0, and the dialogue is heavily metaphorical. There is, for example, a wonderful speech about tea in which the protagonist, who runs a small tea shop and who ritualizes tea to a considerable degree, is struggling to answer a question about why he has "given your life to tea." You will miss the point unless you understand that while Jake may be talking about tea, Kogonada is talking about something else, something which we can sense, smell and feel but for which we don't have an adequate language.
In the meantime, watch Columbus. There is a line in the film about searching for something that is "invisible yet always visible." That sounds stilted here, but it is entirely natural in the context of the film; the leads (Jin and Casey) are trying to make sense of some sketches and cryptic comments in the notebook of Jin's father, a distinguished academic architect or architectural critic, who has fallen into a coma. But the architecture is only a narrative device and a metaphor; the things that are invisible yet always visible are the things that are defined by their absence, and what the movie is really about is loneliness, emptiness and the yearning in the soul for balance, fulfilment and completion. There is no preaching. Kogonada simply presents the problem and invites the viewers to fill the empty space for themselves.
Those are the two examples that pop into my mind. Both are worth watching. I think there must be more. Suggestions?