NOW SHOWING AT A BLOG NEAR YOU

Well, I’m still two or three weeks from being able to blog on a regular basis again (I will not whine about having a job, I will not whine about having a job, I will not…), but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of other things out there to read or watch involving the intersection of movies and religion. And if you’re pressed for time like I am, nothing beats a good list for a quick and easy read. It just so happens I know where you can find a few.

A fun one to start off with is the Only Good Movies Blog’s list of the Top 85 Robot Movies. Okay, so it’s not really a religious blog, but they were kind enough to link to my review of Cherry 2000 as one of their picks for best Bad Robot Movies (naturally), so I’m returning the favor. The funny thing is, even after listing a whopping 85 movies, the comment section is still full of the obligatory “How could you leave out…” posts.

A little more on the religious side is this article by Joseph Susanka posted at insidecatholic.com in which he asks the question, “When Did Movies Stop Being Funny?” After discussing what he feels is the coarsening of the American comedy film over the past fifty years, Mr. Susanka offers up a list of his Top 5 Classic Comedies. Of course, with a list of only five, it should come as no shock that hoards of “How could you leave out…” comments immediately follow.

Speaking of comedy, over at Sancta Santis, Enbrethiliel continues her lonely campaign to convince the world of the Catholicity of Sylvester Stallone movies with her list of Fourteen Things about the movie Assassins. Hey, I’m not casting stones. You can bet your life that if Judge Dredd didn’t have a budget of a gazillion dollars, it would end up on this blog in a heartbeat. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to look elsewhere for a movie where the hero is cop, jury, and executioner all rolled in one. (It’ll be easier to find than you might think.)

While I’m looking, however, it seems the bad guys have been left to roam free. Right now, there’s a big group of them over at Creative Minority Report where Matthew Archbold has assembled a list of movie villains and pitted them against a rogues gallery from The Bible. Guess which group gets their butts kicked?

As long as we’re talking about losers, I may as well go ahead and point out the program list for the recently completed, first ever Atheists Film Festival which was held in (wait for it) San Francisco. With a seating capacity of 240 (snicker) and a line up consisting almost entirely of documentaries (snore), the festival has been proclaimed a rousing success by the organizer (bwah ha ha). Anyway, be sure to check out what the cultured atheist is viewing these days, maybe you’ll find something to throw on some rainy day when you need a quick laugh. (And Joseph Susanka thinks movies aren’t funny anymore.)

Finally, although it’s not really related to religion or movies, there’s this list of 10 Things You Might’ve Been Better Off Not Knowing About Your Body! It’s enough to make even the aforementioned atheists shout, “Oh, Dear God!”

Thanks to everyone for bearing with me while the blog has been on semi-hiatus. We’ll be back in business soon.

CUTAWAYS

Yes, I’m still working day and night, so yes, you all get more filler for the next couple of weeks. Still, heavy workload or not, I couldn’t help but pass along the happy news (for the two or three who still might not know) that The Sci-Fi Catholic’s own D. G. D. Davidson has heard the calling and will soon be entering the seminary. Sounds like the Year of the Priest is off to a rollicking start.

But you can’t please all of the people all of the time, and there was one Anonymous voice who expressed concerns that Mr. Davidson’s (clearly satirical) stated reasons for joining the priesthood was perhaps too jocular for so serious a decision. It made me wonder just what kind of problems this unnamed seminary instructor was seeing in his candidates. Are there seminarians out there who might not be approaching their calling in the right spirit? Hmmm…

Maybe I’m wrong, but if I had to guess I’d say this good father-to-be from 1976’s Drive-In must have fallen asleep during the lecture on the “preferential option for the poor” because I don’t think this is exactly what it means. (Of course, figuring out just what it does mean can be pretty hard.)

Kidding aside (as best as I can manage that, anyway), there have been problems in our seminaries. The sobering final report from the Apostolic Visitation of Seminaries in the United States released in December 2008 notes difficulties in individual seminaries ranging from a laxity of moral discipline among staff and candidates to (unbelievably) an incomplete grasp by both faculty and students on what being a priest actually means. What the…!?!

Be that as it may, I’m still pretty confident about the class of 2009 and beyond, but I’m sure they wouldn’t mind a little help here and there. I urge everyone to remember to pray for Deej and all our other incoming seminarians as they continue their process of discernment. And if you hear they’re a little short, well, it’s okay to treat them to a meal or slip them a few bucks on the side so we can avoid scenes like the one above. Do what you can.

Oh, and also don’t forget to pray for their teachers as well. We can always use more good instructors like, say, Father Leslie Nielsen…

What? I stayed serious for as long as I could.