New Evangelizers Post: Lent - Spiritual Boot Camp

I have a new article up at NewEvangelizers.com.  
This was originally published right before Ash Wednesday.

This Wednesday we are going to being the holy season of Lent.

I often equate Lent to spiritual boot camp.

I love the Rocky movies. They have provided me with years of continual uplift and entertainment. These movies are almost a genre unto themselves in that they have certain qualities that must be in them or else the experience is very unsatisfying. You can see this in the almost universally rejected Rocky V which does not build up to Rocky’s big final fight in the ring with his opponent, but instead ends with a street brawl. The Rocky movie formula builds to that final fight, but beforehand there is the training montage. We watch Rocky get into shape to prepare for the fight of his life.

Lent is our Rocky training montage.

We are in the fight of our lives. We are in spiritual war. As St. Paul reminds us, “ For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. “ (Ephesians 6:12) Throughout the year, the constant wear of the needs of the world can distract us from the fact that we are in the middle of this war. The more distracted we are, the less prepared we are to fight.

This is why we need Lent.

You can read the whole article here.

Lack of Updates March 2019

Thank you for your patience dear reader.

I know that I have been lax in updating the blog for a few weeks.  I do apologize.  I have been working on a number of critical projects that have kept me too busy to write.  For the past week I have been leaving home for work before 7 am and often wouldn't get home until 10 pm.  On top of this, weekends have been taken up with other obligations.

But now those projects are being resolved.  We will be returning to our regularly scheduled blog program.  I have number of things to share, including movie reviews, film reviews, New Evangelizers articles, a new Sunday Best list, and my thoughts on what my pope name would be.

It means a lot that you would still stay with this blog despite the delays in content. 

God bless!

-Catholic Skywalker

Sunday Best: Thoughts on Oscars 2019

First of all, thank you to everyone who played this year's Oscar game!

If you were keeping score at home and scored my sheet that I posted, you would see that I earned a 15.2, which is almost exactly like last year's score where I tied for first place. 

This time, however, we had much higher scores.

In 3rd place is Nicole Koubek, who earned a respectable 17.2.

In 2nd place is my wife, CatholicLoisLane, who edged out Nicole with a 17.4.

And in 1st place this year is Elizabeth Smith with an 18.2.  Congratulations, Elizabeth. 

I hope everyone had fun this year playing the game.


Anyway, back to the Oscars themselves and my assorted musings.

1. NOT THE LOWEST RATED OSCARS

Last year, I predicted this:

"The winner of Best Picture, The Shape of Water, has a domestic box office of around $60 million.  That means that in a nation of around 300 million people, around 6 million or 2% of the country have seen this movie.  Contrast that with Black Panther which to date is around $530 million, which is closer to 18% of the population or 9x as many people as have seen The Shape of Water.  If Black Panther gets nominated next year you are going to see a huge bump in the ratings."

I was only partially correct.  There was a bump in ratings, but it was not huge.

You did have big crowd pleasers like Bohemian Rhapsody and Black Panther.  But I don't know anyone who saw The Favorite. 

I think that I overestimated how much of an impact Black Panther would have.  This may be because people have not gotten into the habit of ignoring the Oscars.  Where it was once a juggernaut of an event that was filled with excitment and glamor, it now feels long and dull with not as much excitement.

The fact that it did not have a host did not hurt the show in the slightest.  What hurt it was the its biggest problem...

2.  BORING

The Academy actually tried to fix this problem by cutting a few awards from the telecast.  But there was such a hissy-fit from those in the industry, that they backed off.    Originally they were going to cut cinematography, editing, hair and makeup, and live action short.  I think the mistake that they made was they chose the wrong categories.  Cinematography and Editing are essential to the quality of a feature length film.  Instead, they should have cut the categories where almost no one in the general population has seen:

-Best Documentary Short
-Best Animated Short
-Best Live Action Short
-Best Foreign Language Feature
-Every single montage except for the "In Memoriam"
-The "Best Song" nominees should be combined into one mashup number.

We also don't need a special speech and montage for every Best Picture nominee.

3.  GREEN BOOK SURPRISES

I was actually incredibly surprised by The Green Book winning for both writing and Best Picture.  I thought that the social media campaign against Tony Lip's son would have sunk its chances.  But I was very happy for the winners.  While I think that Bohemian Rhapsody is a better movie, I believe the Academy was squeamish about giving any credit to Bryan Singer who is currently accused of sex crimes.  So they steered towards awarding that movie with things less related to Singer.  Regardless, I'm glad that The Green Book won.  It is a wonderfully uplifting film with great chemistry between the leads.

4.  The Other Results.
- When I saw Queen playing at the beginning I thought "This is going to be awesome!"  And then Adam Lambert started singing and I tuned out.
-Roma looks so pretentious and boring that I knew it would win at least a few Oscars.
-thought I didn't see either performance, I was surprised that Olivia Coleman beat out Glenn Close.  I have like Coleman since Broadchurch, so I am happy for her.
-Rami Malek deserved his Oscar.  In fact, this and Best Song ("Shallows") are the only things the Academy and I agreed on were the best this year.
-I thought the Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga performance was great.  This is how you present a song worth of "Best Song."
-Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse won a well-deserved Oscar, not only for its quality, but its boldness in its unique visuals and expansive story.
-Spike Lee really likes Samuel L. Jackson.  I don't think I've ever hugged my friends like that.
-Politics at awards are bbooooorrrriiiiinnnngggg.
-Black Panther is now the super hero film with the most Oscars (it is tied with Dick Tracy for comic book movie Oscars).




Thoughts?

Sunday Best: Biggest Best Picture Mistakes

Tonight are the Oscars.  This is a reminder that this is your last chance to join this year's Oscar Game.


I will try live-tweeting the show, but I find that I am not very good at it.  When I try to be funny, I come off as snarky which I do not think is very charitable.  But I will give it a go.

For today's Sunday Best, I thought we would look at the movies that were nominated for Best Picture that should have won but did not.

This is not always as easy to decide.  Personal preference plays a huge role here and I want to be as objective as possible.  Here were some guiding principles:

1. If I had not seen the winner for Best Picture in a particular year, I could not say another movie was deserving.  For example, in 1981, Raiders of the Lost Ark was nominated for Best Picture.  It lost to Chariots of Fire.  I want to say that Raiders should have won, but I have not seen Chariots, so I cannot make that call.

2. There must be a significant difference in quality from the winner to the nominee.  Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and The Wizard of Oz both lost to Gone with the Wind.  The Shawshank Redemption lost to Forrest Gump.  While I think those nominated movies are better than the winner, I have to grant that the quality of the winners is such that it is a respectable win and should not be categorized as a "mistake."

3. Focus on timelessness.  One of the worst trends in Oscar voting is to give the award to a movie that will be forgotten quickly.  The award really should go to a movie whose quality is such that it will still be remembered and admired years later.  This is admittedly a harder standard to apply to more recent films, but the fact that most people don't remember off the top of their heads the last few Best Picture winners is proof of this bad trend.


So here are the Top Ten Best Picture Mistakes

1980 - WINNER: Ordinary People

SHOULD HAVE WON: The Elephant Man

This is one of the tougher ones because Ordinary People is an excellent film and is an example of how to tell a good story with adequate restraint by director Robert Redford. But The Elephant Man is clearly a better film with its use of the black and white, special effects makeup, and the outstanding performances.

2009 - WINNER: The Hurt Locker

SHOULD HAVE WON: Up

This is an easy call. The Hurt Locker is an overrated drag of a film that does a few things well, but is highly forgettable. Up is an amazing piece of animated film making. It is not only beautiful to watch but reminds us how visual storytelling can move us so deeply. Not to mention, that amazing score that adapts to every single emotional state is one of the most affective I have ever encountered. Everyone I know who has seen Up mentions how emotional it is. Very few even remember The Hurt Locker.

1973 - WINNER: The Sting

SHOULD HAVE WON: American Graffiti

This is also one that is a bit of a closer call. The Sting is fine movie with some good action and not bad writing. But American Graffiti, is much more influential and timeless. Though both films are period pieces, Graffiti, feels much more relevant to the American experience. It is funny and moving and it actual shows that George Lucas knew how to be subtle with his storytelling. It's ensemble/ fractured narrative is mimicked now in most television shows, which is why the movie is not stuck in the era in which it was made.

2014 - WINNER: Birdman

SHOULD HAVE WON: American Sniper

Birdman is a bold directing experiment, which is why I can understand why some Academy voters were taken with it. But it has no lasting significance. It's the flavor of the month which excites the palate with its uniqueness, but leaves no linger desire to experience again. American Sniper is, to my mind, Clint Eastwood's best film he has directed. It is the film of a young and hungry director, which shows that Eastwood still hasn't lost a trick.

2002 - WINNER: Chicago

SHOULD HAVE WON: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

While the Academy did end up honoring the series with The Return of the King, it is clear that The Two Towers is better than Chicago. Not only are they diametrically opposed in theme, but the movie cannot capture the essence of the live show. The movie is not without merit, but it is ultimately hollow, while The Two Towers is heavy with artistic merit.

1986 - WINNER: Platoon

SHOULD HAVE WON: The Mission

Both films deal with the ugliness of violence and war. But Platoon is a highly overrated film that is nihilistic at its heart and strips too much of the humanity from its soldiers until only the ugliness remains. The Mission also shows us the ugliness of the world but it shows us the beautiful courage and conscience that stands up to those powers. Also it has one of the greatest scores ever written that perfectly accentuates the beautiful performances and cinematography.

1999 - WINNER: American Beauty

SHOULD HAVE WON: The Green Mile

When I first saw American Beauty, I thought it was very good.  As I've gotten older, the creepiness of its central story has worn on me.  I know that the film ultimately makes the case that the main character's obsession is creepy, but it is way too indulgent in his fantasies.  On top of this, the movie is about filming ugliness in a beautiful way.  It attempts a redemptive move at the end and its success is going to be subjective to the viewer.  The Green Mile, is one that has only increased in esteem with audiences.  It is beautifully shot and it still has an emotional wallop.  When you finish the film, you feel like you went on deep, tragic emotional journey.

1979 - WINNER: Kramer vs. Kramer

SHOULD HAVE WON: Apocalypse Now

This one may be tinged by my absolute disgust for Kramer vs. Kramer. The mother abandons her child. There is no compelling case after that. The fact that the movie tells me that we should even consider that she should get custody is, frankly, insulting. The performances are great, but I cannot get over that obstacle. Apocalypse Now is dark, nihilistic, and violent. But Francis Ford Coppola mesmerizes with his film as if placing you in a trance for a few hours. You feel absolutely transported by this movie and it is a relief to return to the real world, hoping that that its insights into human nature are not all true.

1977 - WINNER: Annie Hall

SHOULD HAVE WON: Star Wars

I literally cannot fathom why Woody Allen has a career.  His movies are terrible.  They are neurotic, nihilistic, and indulgent.  I could forgive these, as I do with Apocalypse Now, if they had any artistic merit.  But they do not.  Compare the first few seconds of Annie Hall where Woody Allen narcissistically lectures you right through the camera against a blank backdrop to the first few seconds of Star Wars.  Star Wars might be the most popular film ever made and part of the reason is that it is a true masterpiece.  I would never use "masterpiece" to describe anything by Allen.  

1998 - WINNER: Shakespeare in Love

SHOULD HAVE WON: Saving Private Ryan

This is the one that most people remember as the great upset. Shakespeare has its moments, but it is mostly a forgettable period piece. Saving Private Ryan is considered by many as THE war movie. Even excepting that the first 20 minutes are some of Spielberg's best work in his amazing cannon of films. The rest of the movie is a fantastic work of art. While the last battle goes on a bit too long, you are so emotionally attached to the story that you are on the edge of your seat. I can still, over 20 years later, be completely caught up in every part of this movie no matter how many times I have seen it.

Thoughts?

New Evangelizers Post: Courage and Conviction

I have a new article up at NewEvangelizers.com.  

“I have loved justice and hated iniquity. Therefore, I die in exile.”

These were some of the last recorded words of Pope St. Gregory VII. He was one of the great reformer popes you stood up to the corruption that had infested the Church. The largest example of this at the time was the practice of lay investiture. This was where kings and lords of a country would choose the bishops rather than having them appointed by the pope. This practice led to a great deal of worldliness in the Church and coalescing of religious influence and political power. Gregory resolved to put an end to this ecclesial disease.

The most famous example of this was when he excommunicated King Henry IV or Germany for continuing the practice. This was a devastating blow for Henry, not only spiritually but politically as divine right was a major claim to kingship. So Henry went down to Gregory. There he knelt in the snow and fasted, begging Gregory to forgive him. The pope relented and reconciled the king back into the Church. Upon his return to Germany, Henry raised an army and invaded Rome with the intention to kill Gregory. The pope escaped, but Henry set up his own antipope and Gregory spent the remainder of his days in exile.

Why do I tell this story?

Because Gregory needs to be our model of courage in the modern world.

Gregory knew that if he wanted to do the will of God that the powerful of the world would hate him. The world we live in is horribly unjust. What little justice there is can only come from the goodness that God has placed in the hearts of men. But the glowing embers of that goodness need to be stoked with the fanning flames of courage.

In my last article I focused on how we need to have calm heads and compassionate hearts for our enemies. This is the teaching we received from the Lord. But Christ was uncompromising when it came to speaking out against the evils of the world.

This is a difficult concept for the modern mind to accept. The old saying was “Love the sinner, hate the sin.” But we’ve come to a place where if we hate the sin, we are accused of hating the sinner. In the name of a misguided compassion, there is tremendous pressure to not talk about the sin in the world for fear of alienating the sinner.

When was the last time you heard from the pulpit that if you get divorced and remarried without an annulment that you are living in adultery? What about a bold statement that your God-given sex and gender cannot be changed and is not a mistake. There is a fear by many that using such striking language that you turn away those who are living in this state and so keep them away from the mercy of God. I am not saying that these are not legitimate concerns. But we do no one favors by withholding from them the truth.

And the truth is something for which there should be no compromise. The price we pay for it is too dear.

Recently, New York state adopted one of the most horrendous abortion laws in our country. This was greeted with thunderous applause by the legislators and by the Catholic governor. I firmly believe that this monstrous measure would not have come to pass had our Bishops taken a firmer stance against “pro-choice” politicians.

Back in 1968, many Catholics publicly dissented from Pope Paul VI’s reaffirmation of the Church’s ban on artificial contraception. Instead of excommunicating them, they were allowed to remain in error. This led to one of the most destructive ideas in the Catholic Church to take hold: “I can disregard Church teaching and remain Catholic.”

Once you accept this idea, then all of the truths of the faith are up for grabs. Now we are at the point where Catholics can enthusiastically sign laws allowing for the murder of unborn babies and still boldly proclaim their Catholic identity. This leads to confusion among the people and destruction of the moral fabric of our world.

Gregory VII knew this. He knew that he had to draw a red line and hold to that line. He knew that this might cost him everything. But he also had enough faith to believe that even if the powers of the world defeated him in his own lifetime, that his example of justice would have a longer-lasting effect.

Even if our own Bishops refuse to speak up or even actively capitulate to the world, we must be strong. We don’t need to wait for marching orders from above. We must begin the work ourselves.

St. Francis of Assisi began his reforms seeing himself as a common man living out the Gospel. Dorothy Day saw the needs of the poor, so she rolled up her sleeves and began her ministry. Someone like Justin Fatica of Hard as Nails Ministry had a profound conversion experience from Fr. Larry Richards and so began to evangelize the truth to anyone who would listen.

Where do we start?

You can read the whole article here.

Sunday Best: Top Ten Romantic Comedies

For Valentine's Day Weekend, my wife and I went to go see Isn't It Romantic.  The sheer plethora of Rom Com movies referenced got me thinking about the best examples of the genre.

Now there are many romantic movies that have comedy and many comedies that have romance.  So in order to be on this list the movie's main theme must be romantic love and it must be primarily comedic.  So, for example, An Affair to Remember is romantic and it has some comedy, but it is primarily drama.  Can't Hardly Wait is comedic and has some strong romantic moments, but it is more an ensemble piece about graduation.  But a movie like Isn't It Romantic is a comedy whose central idea is romance, so it could be on the list (it is not).

So here are the ten best Romantic Comedies of All Time:




10. Serendipity


This movie works well for the same reason Sleepless in Seattle works: we feel the link between fate and romance.  When we find "the one" it feels as though the whole universe has placed everything where it should be so that this love could be found.  I love Cusack's performance when he opens the gift from his fiance and even before he opens the book, you can see that he knows because the hands of fate have led him to this moment.


9. You've Got Mail



While this movie's greatest fault is that it goes on just a little long, the chemistry between Hanks and Ryan is fantastic.  Their rivalry/romance crackles to life on the screen so that you love watching them fight while hoping for them to stop to realize how much they love each other.  A fantastically romantic last scene.

8. Coming to America


Eddie Murphy was the king of the R-Rated comedy, so this Rom Com diversion was surprising but it so well done.  Murphy's ability as an actor has always been overlooked in my opinion.  His Prince Akeem exudes wisdom, goodness, and stately dignity.  I love watching him win over the woman he loves not by putting on airs, but by simply being a good man.  All this is happening while at the same time having some of the funniest lines of any Eddie Murphy movie.

7.  Three to Tango


This is probably the most controversial one on the list as it was a box office bomb and most people think little of it.  But I saw this 3 times in the theater because I found it so incredibly funny and charming.  Matthew Perry should have gotten more work as movie star.  The movie was light and it popped and it made you really care about the attraction between the two characters.  Watching Perry try to fight his way out of the ultimate friend zone was hysterical.

6. When Harry met Sally


This is actually a much darker movie than most people remember.  There is a pall of depression that hovers over most of the film as Harry deals with his divorce and Sally her breakup with Joe.  There are also plenty of heavy dramatic parts for the actors to chew on.  Finally, the movie does not have a solid, forward-driven narrative, but it ambles around the lives of the characters in these little vignettes.  Despite all of that, the movie works because the actors make us laugh and the dialogue is witty and we just want them to see what everyone else around them sees: they are made for each other.  I love the scene at the end as Harry runs through the city.  It perfectly captures the desperation of romance.


5.  Much Ado About Nothing


While you can't go wrong with Shakespeare's words, it doesn't always translate well onto the stage or screen.  But Kenneth Branagh creates a lush, light, and luminous romantic comedy that does the Bard justice.  The all-star cast is at the top of their game and the romantic hi-jinks are expertly staged.  The Benedick/Beatrice scenes are classic.


4.  The Wedding Singer


Adam Sandler's previous two films (Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore)  made him a movie star.  But this movie earned him a lifetime of goodwill from audiences.  I will always give an Adam Sandler movie a chance because he gave us one of the truly great romantic comedies.  The music, the costumes, and the jokes all work in harmony as Sandler and Barrymore fall deeper in love on screen.  The filmmakers knew how to create obstacles of character and circumstance to the point where you are almost screaming at the screen for the characters to realize that they love each other.  And everything builds to that final, classic song that is a beautiful anthem to marriage and life-long fidelity.


3.  Sleepless in Seattle


Like the movie Up, this movie breaks your heart in the beginning so that it can fill it with delight for the rest of the time.  The older I've gotten, the more I've come to appreciate listening to Hanks's Sam talk about his wife and what life was like with her and then without her.  It is also a marvel of screenwriting that Hanks and Ryan have an amazing chemistry while only appearing in two scenes together.  Writer/Director Nora Ephron (who wrote When Harry Met Sally and was writer/director for You've Got Mail) made her best film here. 

2.  While You Were Sleeping



This movie is just pure enjoyment.  While it has a great deal of heart it never feels heavy.  Everything about this film is irresistible, especially the performances of the two leads.  Pullman and Bullock are perfect in their roles as two incredibly affable people who fall in love with each other despite themselves.  One of things that makes this film so good is that it taps into the reality that when you enter a relationship with someone, you enter into a relationship with their family.  Watching the family bring Bullock's character deeper and deeper into their wonderful dysfunction makes the build up to the ending scene even more wonderful.


1.  Love Actually



This movie is a comedic meditation on love in so many of its forms.  I have seen people try to duplicate this formula of having an all-star cast with interweaving stories around a central holiday, but all of them have failed miserably.  Each story-line could have been its own feature, but instead of feeling like you are getting 5 or six small movies, you feel like you are getting several full-blown movies in one sitting.  The film does delve into some surprisingly mature and darker sides of romantic love where it earns its R-rating.  For that reason I can understand some people not wanting to engage with this film, which is perfectly reasonable there is also a distinctly negative view of America and Amerianism whenever it is portrayed (I would hardly call the women of Milwaukee portrayed in the movie as good examples of our best).  However, I think that the movie nails the romantic comedy genre so well that its detriments do not drag it down.


Thoughts?

Film Flash: Glass

15 words or less film review (full review to follow soon)

Too talky/expositiony, but better than I expected. Willis/Jackson/McAvoy make the movie interesting.