Just Because...

Just wanted to share this video with some lovely images of prayer cards, set to the music of the film Les Choristes by Bruno Coulais. If you haven't seen this film, go rent it and watch it! It's a beautiful story and the music is divine. :-)

A Man For All Seasons

So I watched this movie about St. Thomas More and what he went through with King Henry VIII...wow, that guy was a genius, and a holy genius at that, which is just so much cooler! ;-) (I also have to add, they did a really good job matching that portrait, the actor looked just like him!)

With election day having been today, and the presidential elections being next year, I couldn't help but notice this portion of the dialogue in the movie, a discussion between Cardinal Wolsey and St. Thomas as Wolsey is trying to gain his support in securing a divorce for Henry VIII. When St. Thomas declines to aid him in such an endeavor, the following exchange takes place:

Cardinal Wolsey: Explain how you as a counselor of England can obstruct these measures, for the sake of your own private conscience.

St. Thomas More: Well, I think that when statesmen forsake their own private conscience for the sake of their public duties, they lead their country by a short route to chaos.
(pause)
And...we shall have my prayers to fall back on.

Cardinal Wolsey: Hhmmm, you'd like that wouldn't you, to govern a country with prayers.

St. Thomas More: Yes, I should.

Talk about a modern day patron saint for those seeking, and those already in political office. We need people like St. Thomas with a moral compass and a spine, more than ever.

St. Thomas More, pray for us!!

It's Giving Life That Counts

I recently watched the original Yours, Mine, and Ours (haven't seen the new version, it just didn't appeal to me.) It's always interesting to watch older movies, especially because I find I'm often pleasantly shocked by the blatant messages of morality in them. I laughed so hard when I watched the original Cheaper by the Dozen, and the local Planned Parenthood woman was scandalized by the fact that this obviously intelligent and well respected woman dared to have twelve children, lol, and then had the door slammed behind her as she left, disgusted.

I admit that there were a few things in Yours, Mine, and Ours that kind of grated on me a bit at first, some slight passes at having lots of kids. But, I think one part beyond made up for those little passes. I found it so sweet, that I just had to copy it word for word!

The scene is near the end, Helen (Lucille Ball) is expecting their first child together, their 19th child combined. In the midst of labor pains and attempting to get her to the car to head to the hospital, one of her oldest daughters is having a boyfriend crisis of sorts. The daughter's shaggy-haired boyfriend, Larry, wants to have sex, and she's asking her step father, Frank (Henry Fonda) if she's being old fashioned or a prude for saying no to him, like he claims she is. The response given while he's supporting his wife down the stairs as she's in labor with their first child together, with 18 children running around them and all kind of chaos surrounding them was just beautiful, and about as pro-life as you can get.

Frank: "I've got a message for Larry, you tell him this is what it's all about. This is the real happening. If you want to know what love really is, take a look around ya."

Helen: "What are you two talking about?"

Frank: "Take a good look at your mother."

Helen: "Not now!"

Frank: "Yes, now! It's giving life that counts. Until you're ready for it, all the rest is just a big fraud. All the crazy haircuts in the world won't keep it turning. Life isn't the loving, it's the dishes and the orthodontist and the shoe repairman and ground round instead of roast beef. And I'll tell you something else, it's not going to bed with a man that proves you're in love with him, it's getting up in the morning and facing the drab, miserable, wonderful, everyday world with him that counts."

They head outside, Frank still supporting his laboring wife, they're both shouting goodbyes to the younger kids, telling them to get back in bed, and he continues talking to Helen's daughter.

Frank: "I suppose having 19 kids is carrying it a bit too far, but if we had it to do over, who would we skip, you?"

Such a simple message...each life is precious, and it's giving life that counts. Can you imagine hearing such a thing in a movie made today? It would be utterly shocking. It seems at this point, people hadn't quite yet forgotton that sex and love and babies go together, though they were beginning to. Frank summed it up nicely, trying to separate those things "is just a big fraud."

Anti-Catholic Propaganda Disguised as a Children's Film to be Released Soon - Beware!

A movie coming out this coming December called The Golden Compass is being promoted and marketed to children, especially those who enjoy the fantasy genre, such as Lord of the Rings. The problem is, the movie, and the books upon which it is based, a series called His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman, are thoroughly anti-Catholic and anti-Christian.

Visit American Papist to see the trailor, and some reviews from amazon about the books, which are even worse it seems. Here are some of the highlights from his post, discussing the trailor:

Narrator: "[This] is a world dominated by the Magisterium, which seeks to control all humanity, and whose greatest threat, is the curiosity of a child." (oh darn, he's on to us!)

Scientist Good Guy: "... [there is a] parallel universe, where there is no Magisterium." Religious Evil Guy: "That is heresy." Scientist Good Guy: "That is the truth." (aw shucks, science proved us wrong again!)
.............
The official trailer begins with the line "In 2001 New Line Cinema opened the door to Middle-Earth. This December they take you on another epic journey", while the Golden Compass is falling through air and spinning around to look like the One Ring from the LOTR promotions. How cute, but also how wrong.

I don't think I'm being pedantic on this point. People love LOTR not just for its fantasy world, but for its philosophy. To say that LOTR and the Golden Compass are two epic journeys is to ignore what kind of epic journey the LOTR presents. While perhaps sharing a similar genre of fiction, these sound like two very different tales.

Definitely sounds boycott-worthy to me!

Ratatouille

I couldn't wait for the newest Pixar movie, Ratatouille, to come out. I mean a Pixar movie set in Paris?? What's not to love?? We were lucky enough to see the sneak preview tonight!!

It was very cute, I thorougly enjoyed it. Of course, there are the typical jokes about French people being rude, etc, but it wasn't too bad. The plot was original and well executed, the animation of course was lovely as always, and there were plenty of laugh-out-loud moments. I believe children and adults alike will enjoy this charming film, I know I definitely wasn't disappointed, and I highly recommend it!

Into Great Silence

I'm looking forward to seeing this film, either when it comes to Austin, or on DVD. Steven Greydanus said on Jimmy Akin's blog "I can't fully articulate how Into Great Silence affected me, except to say that it was a transforming experience, in that I find very, very few films to be. I walked the dozen or so blocks from the screening room to my parking garage in another world — not just imaginatively immersed in the world of the film, but enveloped in a silence in my own heart." I only wish it were coming sooner to Austin, it won't be here until April 27th. (You can see if and when it is playing in your area here)

Marie Antoinette - Superficial Candy Fluff that's Sure to Cause a Toothache

I wasn't planning on it, but I ended up going to see Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette at the theater with my mom. Now, let me explain...though we had heard the bad reviews, we were simply hoping for eye candy, pretty dresses and beautiful scenery...and we did indeed get that. But having to listen to the ridiculous 80s punk rock that accompanied it, along with the mishmash of American, English, and (rare) French accents, and seeing the completely modern ways of speech and behavior nearly ruined the prettiness of the visuals. It's really no wonder that it was booed in France, it truly was just an awful, vapid, film about nothing. It was endlessly boring, often containing disjointed party scenes with absolutely no point. It was certainly historically inaccurate, and even though we did only go for the eye candy...it turned out to be simply too sickeningly sweet because of the complete lack of substance...it was like pink frilly icing without any cake.

My advice, if anyone does want to enjoy the admittedly beautiful costumes and scenery without having to endure the horrid music and tedious dialogue (or should I say lack of dialogue?), is to watch this film with the sound turned off, and to supply your own soundtrack of Mozart or the like, and that way you can enjoy the sweetness of the eye candy without having to endure the pain of the toothache that accompanies it.