Job and St. Augustine in one film: The Tree of Life (2011)
Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast
Release Date: 11/15/2024
Nolan’s Odyssey: not subversive, not that deep
Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast
Nathan Douglas and Thomas Mirus review Christopher Nolan's adaptation of Homer's Odyssey. It is not necessarily a bad thing if an adaptation doesn't reproduce the precise worldview of its source material - an artist makes his own work of art, not a scholarly translation. The movie is not a deliberate subversion of its source material, as many assumed. It is Nolan's honest personal reflection on what the poem means to him. But he does view the story through the lens of modern concerns which, while by no means false or unworthy of exploration or even totally incompatible with Homer's story,...
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A child at war: Ivan's Childhood (1962)
Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast
James and Thomas begin a sub-series on the filmography of Andrei Tarkovsky (whose religious films Andrei Rublev and The Sacrifice they already discussed as part of the Vatican Film List). His first film, Ivan’s Childhood, depicts a young boy, Ivan, who acts as a scout for the Russian army during World War II. Made precocious – and profoundly damaged – by his wartime experience, Ivan is a fascinating and tragic figure brought to life in a remarkable performance by Nikolai Burlyayev. Tarkovsky begins his career with a film that is understandably more conventional than the rest of his...
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30 Years of the Vatican Film List – Catholic Cinema’s Past and Future
Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast
Thomas Mirus, Nathan Douglas, and Andrew Petiprin gave this panel session at the 2024 Notre Dame Fall Conference, presented by the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. The theme of the conference was "Ever Ancient, Ever New: On Catholic Imagination." 30 Years of the Vatican Film List – Catholic Cinema’s Past and Future Thomas Mirus (Catholic Culture) – The Vatican Film List: Introduction and Reflections Nathan Douglas (Independent Scholar/Filmmaker) – The Filmmaker as Auteur Andrew Petiprin (Spe Salvi Institute; Word on Fire Institute) – Europe for Everyone: Yesterday’s Vatican...
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Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast
Paul Duda joins James and Thomas to discuss Steven Spielberg's first extant UFO movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and what it says about the kind of meaning and transcendence people are seeking in the current UFO obsession. Paul also talks about the film he is producing about St. Bernadette. Links Bernadette movie: Frank and Lou Creative SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: DONATE to make this show possible! Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission.
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Speaking in L.A.
Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast
On May 30, Thomas is giving the keynote address at the first annual conference of the Thomistic Artists Guild at the parish of St. Vitus in Los Angeles, CA. Free to attend! https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/thomistic-artists-guild-2026-conference
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30 Years of the Vatican Film List – Catholic Cinema's Past and Future
Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast
Thomas Mirus, Nathan Douglas, and Andrew Petiprin gave this panel session at the 2024 Notre Dame Fall Conference, presented by the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture. The theme of the conference was "Ever Ancient, Ever New: On Catholic Imagination." 30 Years of the Vatican Film List – Catholic Cinema's Past and Future Thomas Mirus (Catholic Culture) – The Vatican Film List: Introduction and Reflections Nathan Douglas (Independent Scholar/Filmmaker) – The Filmmaker as Auteur Andrew Petiprin (Spe Salvi Institute; Word on Fire Institute) – Europe for Everyone: Yesterday's Vatican...
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Is Brideshead Revisited (1981) the perfect book-to-screen adaptation?
Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast
Brideshead Revisited is much discussed as a beloved Catholic novel. But it is also perhaps the only instance of a great book getting a screen adaptation that is equally good - almost to the point of being interchangeable with the book. We refer, of course, to the 1981 miniseries, not the 2008 movie! James Majewski, Nathan Douglas, and Thomas Mirus discuss what makes this series such a great work of adaptation. SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: DONATE to make this show possible!
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Bishop Erik Varden on cinema
Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast
His Excellency Erik Varden, Trappist monk and bishop of Trondheim, Norway, joins Thomas Mirus and James Majewski for a discussion of the art of cinema. The interview touches on the danger of violent images, saint movies, the relationship between film and theater, the private vs. theatrical experience of film, the value of watching foreign films, and some of Bp. Varden's favorite movies. Links Thomas's interview with Bp. Varden about his book on chastity Bp. Varden's website, Coram Fratribus SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: DONATE to keep this podcast going: Music is The...
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New Lives of the Popes podcast
Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast
Lives of the Popes on Apple Podcasts: Lives of the Popes on CatholicCulture.org:
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Into Great Silence (2005) w/ Manny Marquez
Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast
Into Great Silence is one of the great documentaries from an artistic point of view, and surely the best ever made on a Catholic subject. Filmmaker Philip Gröning contacted the Grande Chartreuse monastery in the French Alps in 1984, asking if he could come and film the Carthusian monks in their way of life. They responded saying that it was not yet the right time. Sixteen years later, they got back to him saying they were ready to receive him, a single cameraman with no fancy lighting or sound equipment. Gröning spent six months filming the monastery, sharing the monks' silent way of life....
info_outlineThe Tree of Life may well be the greatest movie ever made. Heavily inspired by the book of Job and St. Augustine's Confessions (and even including some lines about nature and grace seemingly derived from The Imitation of Christ), director Terrence Malick gives profound spiritual and cosmic scope to the story of an ordinary family in 1950s Texas.
The film begins with the death of a son, detours to the creation of the universe, and then flashes back to a richly observed sequence of childhood in all its beauty along with the tragic effects of sin - seen through the memory of a present-day narrator seeking the traces of God in his past.
The greatness of The Tree of Life lies in its unmatched poetic power. Unless you've seen another Terrence Malick film, it will be unlike anything you've seen before. Though it has a story, it is less focused on plot development than on an archetypal yet vivid picture of family life and how we gain, lose, and recover our awareness of "love smiling through all things".
The film does not follow typical rules of chronological or visual continuity (one could say it is almost entirely montage), but its improvisational freedom and fluidity in acting, cinematography, and editing make for a kinetic and exhilarating viewing experience. The portrayal of childhood is surely the most beautiful ever put on screen.
Nathan Douglas joins as guest host in this continuation of our series covering Malick's filmography.
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Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com