Unfortunately, my review gig over at Aleteia doesn’t always involve movies full of space aliens, wizards, or things that go bump in the night. For instance, this past week I took a look at Inside Llewyn Davis, the latest quirky character study from the Coen Brothers which follows one week in the life of a sullen, miserable folk singer in pre-Bob Dylan Greenwich Village. Doesn’t that sound awful? Well, don’t disown me, but I actually kind of liked it. What can I say? I spent my high school and college years hanging out with musicians, so I’ve got a soft spot for them, sue me.
While I was being all serious, it actually fell to Brantly Millegan to discuss 6 hilariously weird Christmas movies that actually exist. It probably comes as no surprise that three of those movies have already been reviewed in full here, here, and here at the B-Movie Catechism. Never let it be said that we don’t keep the Christmas spirit around these parts.
Also over at Aleteia (they’ve really been churning out the movie stuff this month), Daniel McInerny discusses the philosophical underpinnings of the three act structure, Lilia Draime opines on the trials and tribulations of being a Catholic fangirl, and Kim Scharfenberger asks what’s so great about the Hunger Games? Actually, I myself found Catching Fire to be only slightly above average, while Sr. Helena at Hells Burns considered it entertaining, but problematic.
On the flip side, one movie I did really like this year that many of my fellow critics didn’t was Man of Steel (Superman killed people in the comics, look it up and deal with it), so I’m always happy when I run across a fellow blogger like Nod over at Wynken, Blynken & Nod who seems to have enjoyed it as well. I also like running across genre-related posts by bloggers who don’t normally dip their toes in the murky waters we swim in here on a daily basis. Such is the case with Maria Johnson at Another Cup Of Coffee who foregoes her usual musings to ponder the storylines on Almost Human and Agents of SHIELD.
As long as we’re talking television, we may as well help everyone cope with the mid-season hiatus of The Walking Dead by pointing out a couple of articles from a couple of unlikely sources. It seems both The Crescat and Deacon Greg Kandra have declared the show to be fully Catholic. You can find out why here and here. And for those anxiously awaiting the annual Doctor Who Christmas special, Terry Mattingly discusses why the show’s faith is real, but it’s never really Christmas.
And finally, just in case you missed it, Patrick Coffin reminds us that The Exorcist just turned 40, and offers up his thoughts on why the film remains a one of a kind masterpiece.
That should be plenty to keep your browser busy for awhile. I’ll see you next time.
2 comments:
I enjoy The Walking Dead, but this is a stretch.
--That we can tease out Catholic lessons from virtually anything? Sure. I used to do it with Slayer albums.
--That we are not so puritanical that we can enjoy things outside the Faith? Check.
But calling TWD Catholic is just rationalizing our voracious pop-culture consumption habits.
Well, given how often this blog is guilty of dragging Catholic teaching kicking and screaming out of movies where the makers had no such intentions, I'm probably the last person who should cast any stones over someone else's overzealous attempt to do so :)
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