The Dialog

By John Mulderig

Catholic News Service

Put religion in retreat, erode ethics and let materialism run rampant, and what kind of entertainment will you get? The short answer is “Project X” (Warner Bros.).

More troubling than mere trash, and pornographic in a way that goes well beyond its frequent displays of flesh, this profoundly irresponsible undertaking — a would-be comedy —- concerns three Los Angeles teens: meek, easily misled Thomas (Thomas Mann), overweight nebbish JB (Jonathan Daniel Brown) and pleased-with-himself provocateur Costa (Oliver Cooper).

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By Kurt Jensen

Catholic News Service

Less heavy-handed than the eponymous writer and director’s other morality plays, but considerably slower in pace, “Tyler Perry’s Good Deeds” focuses on a single relationship, and carries a steady reminder that the wealthy and powerful have to work much harder than the less privileged to approach the kingdom of Heaven.

Perry plays Wesley Deeds, a San Francisco tycoon who runs the computer software corporation founded by his father. He’s saddled with an alcoholic, promiscuous brother (Brian White) who’s as impulsive as Wesley is controlled, a glamorous fiancee (Gabrielle Union) who often takes advantage of Wesley’s predictability to enjoy nights on the town by herself, and a domineering mother (Phylicia Rashad).

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By Joseph McAleer

Catholic News Service

When your lead character proclaims, “The blood I drip is more medicinal than painful for me,” you know someone’s gonna get hurt. Or maybe hundreds.

Welcome to the big-screen treatment of William Shakespeare’s tragedy “Coriolanus,” a consistently brutal and violent film which, when not shedding blood, offers a searing commentary on power, betrayal and revenge.

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By Kurt Jensen

Catholic News Service

Not content with merely using a flaming motorcycle to fight Satan, “Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance,” (the sequel to the 2007 comic book-based cult hit “Ghost Rider,” also piles on loopy Catholic imagery in the form of a monk who promises to lift a demonic curse.

It’s an excuse for a noisier, 3-D version of the earlier film, likely to appeal only to the devoted fans of sardonic anti-hero Johnny Blaze, portrayed once again by Nicolas Cage. Hey, it’s what Johnny does, you know.

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By John Mulderig

Catholic News Service

Poor Channing Tatum. Though he isn’t gone, he is forgotten in “The Vow,” director and co-writer Michael Sucsy’s well-intentioned but flawed love story based on real events.

Tatum plays Chicago recording engineer Leo, whose romance with and marriage to artist Paige (Rachel McAdams) have made him a happy man. That all changes, however, when a car accident injures them both, and leaves Paige stricken with partial amnesia.

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By Adam Shaw

Catholic News Service

“Quis ut Deus?” This Latin motto, traditionally associated with St. Michael the Archangel (whose Hebrew name itself has a similar meaning), translates as “Who is like God?” That question could serve as the tagline for the reasonably original, curiously dark “Chronicle,” an exploration of the troubling results that ensue when mere mortals obtain godlike powers.

Stumbling on a mysterious object, a trio of teens — social outcast Andrew (Dane DeHaan), his duffle-coated, philosophy-mumbling cousin Matt (Alex Russell), and their smooth, more socially accomplished acquaintance Steve (Michael B. Jordan) — find themselves endowed with telekinesis and the ability to fly.

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By Joseph McAleer

Catholic News Service

“Free Willy,” the 1993 whale rescue film, looks like child’s play when compared to “Big Miracle,” in which not one but three giant mammals are trapped in Arctic ice, and it takes a whole lot more than a sleepy Alaskan town to save them.

Directed by Ken Kwapis and based on the real-life events recounted in Thomas Rose’s 1989 book “Freeing the Whales,” the film is an animal rights activist’s dream. Families, neighbors, corporations, and even superpowers set aside their differences for a spell and work together, seeing in the innocent cetaceans a metaphor for peace and understanding.

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By John Mulderig

Catholic News Service

In late 1965, the three-decade-old National Legion of Decency announced that it was changing its name to the National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures.

That switch represented more than just altered terminology. It signaled an intent on the part of the U.S. church’s officially sanctioned film agency to take a more open and positive, though by no means uncritical, approach in its assessment of cinema. Read more »

By Kurt Jensen

Catholic News Service

Reputed to be one of the most frightening ghost stories ever written, Susan Hill’s 1983 novel “The Woman in Black” must certainly count as one of the sturdiest: It has been adapted both for British radio and U.K. television, while the 22-year-long run of its London stage version makes that property one of the longest-lived nonmusicals in West End history.

As penned for the big screen by Jane Goldman, directed by James Watkins and with Daniel Radcliffe headlining as barrister Arthur Kipps, the latest iteration of “The Woman in Black” aims for a classic horror feel.

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By John Mulderig

Catholic News Service

The title of the forgettable fish-out-of-water comedy “One for the Money” recalls Carl Perkins’ seminal hit, “Blue Suede Shoes,” a song covered most famously, of course, by Elvis Presley. While this lukewarm cinematic offering won’t knock you down or step in your face, its surfeit of profane dialogue does slander God’s name all over the place.

So our advice: Go, cat, go — away from any theater showing it.

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