Not all coming of age stories are created equal. In recent years, a lot of this material has often fallen into the category of either the shallow and silly, or the overly smutty (yeah, I’m looking at you, Netflix…). Even the artistically good and morally okay-ish films in this vein from recent years, like the… Continue reading Her Name Was Jo: A Hope-Filled Coming of Age Indie from a Catholic Filmmaker
I heard a lot of conflicting things about the Mark Wahlberg comedy Instant Family back when it was in theaters – ranging from “It’s a fantastic movie with a great message!” to “Meh, nothing special.” I’d heard particularly that its premise of a couple becoming foster parents was super pro–life and well-done for the cause of adoption… Continue reading Instant Family is a Mostly-Positive Look at Family Life and Adoption
I was really interested in watching the Mindy Kaling/Emma Thompson comedy Late Night, when I discovered that it’s now on Amazon Prime. It’s a comedy, and it’s about TV comedy writers, so I thought for sure I would love it. Well, I didn’t. For a while into this movie, I thought I liked it at least.… Continue reading Amazon Movie Late Night: Bleck
I was five years old when the first Toy Story movie came out. It wasn’t the absolute favorite movie of my five-year-old self by any means, but I definitely liked it. My favorite part of it was always the mini-love story of Woody and his girlfriend Bo Peep. Five-year-old me really wanted to hear more about… Continue reading Toy Story 4: Pixar Has Done It Again
I know I’m not alone in my typical dislike of most movies that are considered “Christian” or “faith-based” films. As much as I respect the good intentions that are probably behind most of those preach-to-the-choir type stories, I usually can’t stomach the cheesiness and poor quality. When one of the producers of the indie film Evergreen… Continue reading Indie Film Evergreen is Something New in Catholic Filmmaking
I first heard about the coming of age indie film Eighth Grade some time ago when it was garnering a bunch of critical acclaim around the time it came out last year. I stumbled upon an article about it that mentioned it was written and directed by a dude who is almost exactly my age, so… Continue reading Eighth Grade is a Well-Done Film, but Not for the Faint of Heart
Even if you’re super into Santa Clause stories (which, for the record, I am not), the sheer number of generic, almost made-for-TV type movie options along these lines that can be found on Netflix right now is a little ridiculous. Between those and the sappy cookie-cutter PG romance-in-the-snow movies abounding this time of year,… Continue reading The Star and Angela’s Christmas: Two Surprisingly Religious Kids’ Christmas Movies on Netflix
When it comes to young adult movies, Netflix originals seem to me to be pretty hit or miss. Some of them, like Candy Jar, are pretty clean, fun, and well-done. And some of them, like #RealityHigh, are pretty much insufferable. So where does Sierra Burgess is a Loser fall into that spectrum? Maybe not squeaky clean,… Continue reading Netflix Film Sierra Burgess is a Loser: A Fun Coming-of-Age Rom-Com
So, I’ve taken a long time to get around to seeing what’s pretty much the most critically acclaimed Marvel movie ever made. To be honest, I probably still wouldn’t have seen Black Panther if it hadn’t popped onto Netflix this month. Might I have rented it from Redbox? Perhaps. But I was at least a little… Continue reading Black Panther Just Came to Netflix… And it’s Pretty Darn Good
I first heard of a novel called The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society from the blog of a film school acquaintance of mine. She’d posted a reading challenge sign-up for the novel on her Facebook page, because she had loved the book and was excited that it was about to become a Netflix movie.… Continue reading Netflix Film The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: Not as Spectacular as I’d Hoped
