Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast
Discussions of great movies from a Catholic perspective, exploring the Vatican film list and beyond. Hosted by Thomas V. Mirus and actor James T. Majewski, with special guests. Vatican film list episodes are labeled as Season 1. A production of CatholicCulture.org.
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The Chosen, Season 4: Lectio Divina or Fan Fiction?
09/23/2024
The Chosen, Season 4: Lectio Divina or Fan Fiction?
The Chosen has now passed the halfway point of its seven seasons. Four seasons in, it is possible to take a big-picture look at the show’s trajectory. Season four takes us from the execution of John the Baptist to the raising of Lazarus, ending on the verge of Holy Week with the apostles preparing for Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Biblical threads throughout the season include the falling away of Judas, and Jesus’ sorrow and frustration at his disciples’ inability to hear His predictions of His imminent death. This season still has some of the great moments that have made The Chosen worthwhile, and these scenes are highlighted in the discussion. Jonathan Roumie's performance as Jesus remains the show's greatest strength. Unfortunately, though, the show’s weaknesses have begun to get out of hand, to the point where even its otherwise great moments are significantly undermined. The first major issue is with the creativity of the writers. At its best, the show has shed new light on moments from the Gospel by noticing small details of Scripture and fleshing them out. Invented backstories for the Apostles served to support and color the Biblical account. But in season four, the writers seem to be caught up in their own story ideas, so that even the Gospel moments are overshadowed by wholesale invention. Instead of enhancing the viewer’s understanding of Scripture, the show increasingly interprets the Gospel events through the lens of fictional subplots, in a way that is necessarily reductive, necessarily less interesting, and often clumsily executed. One particular fictional plotline is so badly conceived and so distracting from the Gospel that much of season four is genuinely hard to watch. Another thing consistently undermining the show’s strengths is its busyness, and in particular its tendency to overexplain Jesus’ words from Scripture rather than letting them resonate. This problem is not new, but it stands out all the more in a weak season. Br. Joshua Vargas and Nathan Douglas join James and Thomas for a deep and entertaining discussion of these and many other aspects of the show. Links Thomas's essay on Angel Studios Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission.
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Church Teaching on Cinema: Vatican II and Beyond
09/09/2024
Church Teaching on Cinema: Vatican II and Beyond
Thomas Mirus and Nathan Douglas's mini-series on magisterial documents about cinema comes to a close with an episode covering the Vatican II era - specifically between 1963 and 1995, spanning the pontificates of Pope St. Paul VI and Pope St. John Paul II. This was, frankly, an era of decline in terms of official Church engagement with cinema. Where previous pontificates had dealt with film as a unique artistic medium, Vatican II's decree Inter Mirifica set the template for lumping all modern mass media together under the label of "social communications" - discussing them as new technology and social phenomena rather than as individual arts. That said, even if it leaves something to be desired artistically, boiling everything down to "communication" does result in some valuable insights. And every once in a while in this era, a pope would deliver a World Communications Day message specifically about cinema. Important themes in the documents from this time include: -Artists should strive for the heights, not surrender to the commercial lowest common denominator -Communication as self-gift -Film as medium of cultural exchange -JPII: “The mass media…always return to a particular concept of man; and it is precisely on the basis of the exactness and completeness of this concept that they will be judged.” -The necessity to train children in media literacy so they can properly interpret, not be manipulated by, images and symbols -The role of critics Documents discussed in this episode: Vatican II, Inter Mirifica (1963) Address of Pope Paul VI to artists (closing address of Vatican II, 1965) Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Communio et Progressio (1971) Pontifical Council for Social Communications, Aetatis Novae (1992) Pope Paul VI, First World Communications Day address (1967) Pope John Paul II, 1984 World Communications Day address Pope John Paul II, 1995 World Communications Day address on cinema SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: DONATE to keep this podcast going: Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission.
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A Brighter Summer Day (1991)
08/27/2024
A Brighter Summer Day (1991)
The 1991 film A Brighter Summer Day, directed by Edward Yang, is considered by many one of the best movies ever made. The film is set in Taiwan, shortly after the Chinese Civil War, when the country was under martial law, with a political and cultural pressure felt at every level of society. At the center of this intricately plotted four-hour drama is the family of fourteen-year-old Xiao Si'r, whose strong sense of honor and justice is pulled in various directions as he gets caught up in a youth gang and romantically entangled with the girlfriend of a disappeared gang leader. But more than that, this incredibly textured four-hour drama gives the sense of a whole uneasy social fabric. As this is the first Chinese-language film the Criteria hosts have covered, they are joined by film festival programmer Frank Yan, who provides crucial historical and cultural context about Taiwanese history and cinema. SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: DONATE to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission.
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Pope Pius XII on The Ideal Film, Pt. 2 (Church Teaching on Cinema)
08/13/2024
Pope Pius XII on The Ideal Film, Pt. 2 (Church Teaching on Cinema)
Thomas Mirus and Nathan Douglas continue their discussion of Pope Pius XII’s apostolic exhortations brought together in the 1955 document “The Ideal Film”, which remains the high water-mark of official Church engagement with the art form. They also touch on his 1957 encyclical Miranda prorsus, on radio, films, and television. In the first audience, Pius XII had discussed the ideal film in its relation to the spectator. In this second audience, he discusses the ideal film both in relation to its content, and in relation to society. He makes general observations on the legitimate range of subjects which a film may take on as matter for its plot, and offers principles for films which deal with religious subjects and for the portrayal of evil. Pius XII puts his finger on one of the biggest problems with many Christian movies: “Religious interpretation, even when it is carried out with a right intention, rarely receives the stamp of an experience truly lived and as a result, capable of being shared with the spectator.” Two years after The Ideal Film, the encyclical Miranda prorsus (on radio, films, and television) reiterated much of the moral teaching of Pius XI’s Vigilanti cura, but with more detail for particular occupations within the film world—directors, producers, actors, theater owners, etc. Of particular interest is the teaching about the moral obligations of Catholic film critics. Links Pope Pius XII, Apostolic Exhortations on The Ideal Film Pope Pius XII, Miranda Prorsus SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: DONATE to keep this podcast going: Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission.
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Pope Pius XII on The Ideal Film, Pt. 1 (Church Teaching on Cinema)
07/30/2024
Pope Pius XII on The Ideal Film, Pt. 1 (Church Teaching on Cinema)
Continuing their survey of magisterial documents on cinema, Thomas Mirus and Nathan Douglas arrive at Pope Ven. Pius XII's two apostolic exhortations gathered under the title "The Ideal Film". Pius shows himself to be a true enthusiast of cinema with his poetic insights. "The Ideal Film" remains the high water-mark of official Church engagement with the art form. This episode covers the first of the two exhortations. Pius begins with an insightful discussion of the psychological effects of film on the viewer, not only insofar as the viewer is passive, but insofar as the viewer is invited to actively identify himself with the human figures on the screen and even, in some sense, participate in the creation of the events, by interpreting them for himself. He then begins his discussion of the ideal film, first in its relation to the spectator. In this relation, the ideal film will offer the following: respect for man, loving understanding, the fulfillment of promises made by the film and even of the inner longings brought by the viewer, and aiding man in his self-expression in the path of right and goodness. There is also a fascinating sidebar on the issue of whether it is legitimate for some films, even ideal films, to function as pure entertainment and escapism – to which Pius answers yes, for “man has shallows as well as depths”. Pope Pius XII, Apostolic Exhortations on The Ideal Film SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: DONATE to keep this podcast going: Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission.
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Church Teaching on Cinema: Pope Pius XI
06/28/2024
Church Teaching on Cinema: Pope Pius XI
In 1936, Pope Pius XI published his encyclical on the motion picture, Vigilanti cura. The encyclical deals with the grave moral concerns raised by the cinema, which had by then become a ubiquitous social influence (though it was also a still-evolving medium, as the transition from silent film to talkies had only recently been completed). Pius holds up for worldwide emulation the initiative that had recently taken by the American bishops to influence the motion picture industry in a moral direction, as well as to protect their own flocks from immoral movies. Vigilanti cura was ghostwritten by the American Jesuit Fr. Daniel Lord, a prolific pamphleteer involved with Catholic Action. Fr. Lord had written the original draft of the Motion Picture Production Code, and helped to found the Legion of Decency. He had also worked in Hollywood as a consultant on Cecil B. DeMille's silent Biblical picture, The King of Kings. This is the first of three episodes in which Thomas Mirus and Nathan Douglas survey the body of magisterial documents related to cinema, and discuss what we can take from these teachings today. Links Vigilanti cura SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: DONATE to keep this podcast going: Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission.
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Wildcat does justice to Flannery O'Connor's faith (w/ Joshua Hren)
05/24/2024
Wildcat does justice to Flannery O'Connor's faith (w/ Joshua Hren)
Joshua Hren, editor-in-chief of Wiseblood Books, joins the podcast to review Wildcat, the new Flannery O'Connor biopic directed by Ethan Hawke and starring Maya Hawke and Laura Linney. The film is a respectful and nuanced portrayal of O'Connor and her faith, accomplished by extensive quotation from her prayer journal and letters, as well as several interludes depicting her short stories (which keeps the film from feeling like a formulaic biopic). Wildcat's portrayal of the relationship between artistic ambition and faith is deeply relevant to Catholic artists. It should inspire them to find creative ways of dealing with the pressures that would subvert their God-given gifts, whether those pressures come from other Catholics, family, or the art world. Links List of places where you can see Wildcat (scroll down) Wiseblood Books Catholic MFA program at the University of St. Thomas DONATE to make this show possible! SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission.
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Malick’s humble camera: The New World (2005)
05/17/2024
Malick’s humble camera: The New World (2005)
The Criteria crew continue their journey through the works of today's most significant Christian filmmaker, Terrence Malick. The New World is an underrated masterpiece about Pocahontas and the founding of Jamestown in 1607. Starring the 14-year-old Q'orianka Kilcher as Pocahontas, Colin Farrell as John Smith, and Christian Bale as John Rolfe, Malick's retelling of the story remarkably combines realism and historical accuracy with poetry and romance, as all three protagonists explore not just one but multiple new worlds, geographical and interior. With The New World, Malick definitively entered a new stage in his career, particularly in his unforgettable collaboration with cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki. The result is an aesthetic that is humble and receptive rather than magisterial. Rather than dominating reality, the camera seems to enter into it, so that we can contemplate something the camera cannot exhaust. James, Thomas, and Nathan discuss Malick's style extensively in this episode, and make the case for why Catholics studying or making art should not focus only on "themes" to the neglect of form, because style itself conveys a vision of reality. Note: make sure you watch the extended cut or the 150-minute "first cut", not the theatrical cut. This film contains brief ethnographic nudity. DONATE to make this show possible! SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission.
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A study of pastoral prudence: Léon Morin, Priest (1961)
05/03/2024
A study of pastoral prudence: Léon Morin, Priest (1961)
In occupied France during World War II, a Communist woman named Barny (Emmanuelle Riva) enters a confessional for the first time since her first Communion. She is there not to confess but to troll the priest by saying “Religion is the opiate of the people.” To her surprise, Fr. Léon Morin (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is not thrown off balance, but offers a compelling response to each of her critiques of Catholicism. Barny starts to see Fr. Morin regularly for a mix of intellectual tête-à-tête and spiritual counsel, and is gradually drawn back to the Church—but mixed in with her spiritual attraction to the Church is a romantic attraction to the man. This, combined with subplots about the experience of wartime France, is the premise of the 1961 film Léon Morin, Priest, and it may on first summary sound like the sort of sensational and irreverent story no Catholic wants to touch with a ten-foot pole. But Fr. Morin does not break his vows. Instead, this is one of the best priest movies ever made, a realistic, tasteful (and not excessively cringe-inducing) treatment of a real problem that arises in priestly life. From the priest’s point of view, it’s a thought-provoking study of pastoral prudence; from the female protagonist’s point of view, it deals with the necessity of gradually purifying one’s motives in the course of conversion 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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Studies of ambition: All About Eve, The Bad and the Beautiful
04/16/2024
Studies of ambition: All About Eve, The Bad and the Beautiful
Thomas and James discuss two classic Hollywood films dealing with the moral problems of overweening ambition - specifically in the context of show business. All About Eve (1950), which won six Oscars and features razor-sharp dialogue and an unforgettable performance by Bette Davis, is set in the world of the theater, while The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) is a (perhaps more honest) self-examination of Hollywood itself. The latter contains the more perceptive observations of artistic genius and its operations, which tend to subordinate everything to the work to be done. More broadly, it's a study of leadership, in both its positive and its more self-serving forms. 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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Metaphysical Malick: The Thin Red Line (1998)
04/01/2024
Metaphysical Malick: The Thin Red Line (1998)
Continuing our trek through the filmography of Terrence Malick, the world's greatest living Christian filmmaker, we arrive at The Thin Red Line (featuring Jim Caviezel in his breakthrough role). This film came in 1998 after Malick's twenty-year hiatus from directing movies, after which he never took such a long break again. Focused on the experiences of U.S. soldiers during the battle for Guadalcanal during World War II, The Thin Red Line is remarkable in that it features all the poetry, interiority, and dreamy aesthetics we have come to expect from Malick, while still being, in Nathan Douglas's words, "a fully functioning war movie" - conveying the physical chaos as well as the psychological sufferings and moral challenges of war - challenges of leadership, sacrifice, compassion for one's enemies, and how to meet one's death with calm and dignity. The Thin Red Line is arguably Malick's first masterpiece - and his first film focused on metaphysical themes, or as James Majewski says, a "preamble" to the more explicit Christian faith found in his later work, using voiceover extensively to ask questions about the origins of good and evil, the unity of human experience, and most of all, how one can maintain faith in the transcendent in the midst of evil, ugliness and disorder. 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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Kiarostami: blurring the line between documentary and fiction
02/27/2024
Kiarostami: blurring the line between documentary and fiction
There are many ways to make a movie. Only a few of those ways fit within the Hollywood mold. We believe that rather than taking pop culture as their sole model, Catholics and Catholic filmmakers should be open to a wide variety of artistic approaches. Thus, in this episode James and Thomas discuss the early career of the great Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami, who came up with an approach to filmmaking that is not just different from Hollywood, but different from anyone else in world cinema. Kiarostami spent the first two decades of his career working for the Center for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults in Tehran, making a plethora of fascinating movies either for or about children (fiction, documentary, and educational). In addition to exploring his concerns with childhood and education, he developed a great ability to direct non-professional actors and this allowed him to blur the line between documentary and fiction in his later films - or, perhaps, just to be honest about how human behavior is affected by the presence of a camera, even in a documentary setting. If you only watch one of the films discussed in this episode, you might pick his 1987 feature Where Is the Friend’s Home?, an beautifully simple story about childhood, friendship and conscience. Through its patient attention to detail, this film allows us to rediscover a child’s-eye perspective on the world. Where Is the Friend’s Home? is the first in a sort of trilogy of films Kiarostami shot in the region of Koker in northern Iran. That first installment, while one of his best works, is not actually typical of the unique style he developed soon after, which can be seen even within the trilogy itself. The simplicity of the first story is succeeded by two films that take on multiple perspectives and blur the line between fiction and real life. In a word, things get meta. In the second film, …And Life Goes On, the director of the first film (played by an actor, not the real director) and his young son search for the two boys who acted in the first film, after the Koker region was devastated by a real-life earthquake that killed 50,000 people. Investigating real-life events through a fictional road trip, we get a new perspective on the simple fictional perspective of the first movie. The third film, Through the Olive Trees, gets very complex (but in a most entertaining way). While shooting a scene in the second film, Kiarostami noticed some tension between the two young actors playing a married couple. So he invented a love story about these two actors, and the third film is about this story that takes place while that scene from the second film was being shot. Shot, we should add, by a director who is directing scenes involving the character of the “director” from the 2nd film – so we have two different actors playing directors, both of which represent the real director, Kiarostami. As avant-garde as this sounds, it’s a highly entertaining story that never could have been done as well by a director hewing to commercial instincts. SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: DONATE to make this show possible!
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Godzilla Minus One, a profound appeal for a culture of life
02/05/2024
Godzilla Minus One, a profound appeal for a culture of life
You may be surprised to hear that one of the more morally profound new movies we’ve seen recently is a Godzilla reboot! The original 1954 Godzilla had its own ideas, being a way of processing Japan’s nuclear trauma and the ethical implications of superweapons. But the new Godzilla Minus One goes even deeper, examining not only the trauma of the war but the psychological and spiritual fallout of a culture that produced the kamikaze phenomenon. The film confronts the culture of death that dominated WWII-era Japan and its corruption of the idea of self-sacrifice, and shows how our sacrifices in war should be rightly ordered to preserving the value of human life rather than seeking a heroic death for its own sake. Visual artist Erin McAtee, co-founder of the Catholic arts organization Arthouse2B, joins to discuss the themes of the film as well as the director’s choice to produce a black-and-white version. 00:00 Intro 06:15 Black-and-white version 14:18 Story and themes Links Godsplaining episode featuring James Majewski and Erin McAtee Erin K. McAtee Arthouse2B SUBSCRIBE to Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast: SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: DONATE to make this show possible!
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Generational wounds in Tokyo Story (1953)
01/15/2024
Generational wounds in Tokyo Story (1953)
Widely considered one of the greatest films ever made, Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story is a quiet, gentle yet tragic family drama about the distance that can grow between elderly parents and their adult children. It's a critique of the transformation of culture and mores in postwar Japan, particularly the loss of filial piety, but it's not just specific to Japanese culture. The film holds a mirror up to both parents and children, and if it is critical of those who fail to honor and love their elderly parents, it also shows that this is often a result of the parents having failed their children when they were younger. Tokyo Story should provoke an examination of conscience in viewers of every generation. Irish Catholic multimedia commentator Ruadhan Jones returns to the podcast to discuss this canonical work of Japanese cinema. Links Ruadhan Jones links 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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Popcorn with the Pope: Word on Fire on the Vatican Film List
12/18/2023
Popcorn with the Pope: Word on Fire on the Vatican Film List
There must be something in the water – everyone’s talking about the Vatican Film List! Just after the Criteria crew concluded three years going through the list, Word on Fire has published their own book about it, Popcorn with the Pope: A Guide to the Vatican Film List, with essays on all 45 films by David Paul Baird, Fr. Michael Ward, and Andrew Petiprin. The three authors join the show to compares notes with James and Thomas about their overall evaluations of the list, great religious films made by non-religious directors, what makes a good saint movie, and their personal favorite items on the Vatican Film List. Links Popcorn with the Pope: A Guide to the Vatican Film List Buy it on Kindle 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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Introduction to Terrence Malick: Badlands and Days of Heaven
12/04/2023
Introduction to Terrence Malick: Badlands and Days of Heaven
This is the first episode of a series covering the complete filmography of Terrence Malick, who is arguably both the most important Christian filmmaker working today and the most important filmmaker working today, period. What sets Malick apart from a number of other directors whose work deals with a religious search, is that his films are not just about searching indefinitely with no answer, but they come from the perspective of a sincere believer who actually has a positive proposal about life's meaning. Some of his best-known movies in which this positive proposal is evident are A Hidden Life, The Tree of Life, and The Thin Red Line. But we are starting from the beginning, with Malick's first two films, Badlands (1973) and Days of Heaven (1978). In these two films we already see Malick's personality on display: his gorgeous visual style with a heavy focus on the beauty of the natural world, his use of voiceover narration and classical music, his improvisational approach, and the impressionistic rather than plot-driven nature of much of his work. His philosophical interests (Malick spent time as a philosophy professor and even translated a work by Heidegger) are also evident in both films but the second feature, Days of Heaven, is the first to introduce the extensive Scriptural references featured in all of his films since. James and Thomas are joined by Catholic filmmaker and critic Nathan Douglas for this series. 0:00 Introduction to Terrence Malick 32:10 Badlands 1:08:54 Days of Heaven Nathan Douglas's website 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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Review: Killers of the Flower Moon
11/14/2023
Review: Killers of the Flower Moon
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Wise Blood (1979): John Huston's film adaptation w/ Katy Carl
10/30/2023
Wise Blood (1979): John Huston's film adaptation w/ Katy Carl
Katy Carl, fiction writer and editor-in-chief of Dappled Things, joins the show to discuss the 1979 film adaptation of Flannery O'Connor's novel Wise Blood, directed by John Huston and starring Brad Dourif. Links Katy's short story collection, Fragile Objects Dappled Things SIGN UP for Catholic Culture's newsletter: DONATE at
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Catholic India's 'Master of Chaos'
10/12/2023
Catholic India's 'Master of Chaos'
Introducing a director you almost certainly haven't heard of - but who is well worth getting to know. Lijo Jose Pellissery is one of the major artists of a new movement that has developed over the last decade in the Malayalam film industry - that is, the cinema made in Kerala, the region where India's Christians have lived for many centuries. All of Pellissery's films are set within Indian Catholic or Orthodox communities. Indeed, while the director is clearly influenced by Western movies, much of his films' vitality comes from how regionally rooted they are, not just in Kerala but even in specific cities and villages. Pellissery's films show a remarkable level of craft, artistry and experimentation considering their mainstream success in India - indeed, as James Majewski says by contrast with contemporary Hollywood, this seems to be what an "alive film culture" looks like. Within the Malayalam film industry, Pellissery is known as the "Master of Chaos", presumably due to the spontaneous feeling of his scenes, often featuring large, rambunctious crowds, and perhaps also the way situations in his stories tend to spiral out of control. His films keep you riveted in a way that is not manipulative, and they are unpredictable without being dependent on contrived twists. James and Thomas feature three of Pellissery's films in this discussion, in order to explore his diversity of genre: Jallikattu is an off-the-wall action movie about villagers trying to chase down an escaped bull - framed within quotations from the book of Revelation which seem to indicate that the bull represents Satan. Ee.Ma.Yau (which means "Jesus, Mary, Joseph")) is about a son struggling to provide a good funeral for his father, but constantly being frustrated by his own limits. Pellissery's most recent film, Like an Afternoon Dream, is a slow, surreal drama - arguably a ghost story - about a man who suddenly takes on another man's identity. Here are links to view the films in their original Malayalam language with English subtitles: Jallikattu Ee.Ma.Yau Like an Afternoon Dream This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission.
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The Age of Innocence (1993)
09/06/2023
The Age of Innocence (1993)
The Age of Innocence may come as a surprise to those who associate Martin Scorsese with movies about gangsters. Based on Edith Wharton's novel, it's a sumptuous period romance set in late-19th-century Manhattan high society. Intriguingly, Scorsese described it as his "most violent film", though not so much as a punch is thrown: the violence portrayed is interior and social, not physical, in this depiction of a romance thwarted by the constricting social norms of the upper class. Scorsese faced the challenge of depicting a society in which, as the narrator puts it, "the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs" - and so the director cannot rely on characters stating things outright. His great accomplishment is that the film nonetheless reaches an operatic pitch of emotion, keeping the viewer on seat-edge. This is done not only through outstanding performances (Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder), but also by camera movements conveying repressed passion, by light and color, and by the gorgeous Elmer Bernstein score. For all that, if the film merely depicted the cruelty of social norms and mores stifling forbidden love, it would be of limited interest. Yet as the story develops, it doesn't allow itself to be reduced to a critique of the past. Indeed, though not without ambiguity, it shows the value of strong social rules and institutions - because often, if we follow our passion, we destroy ourselves and others. Donate to make these shows possible! Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents:
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When "engaging the culture" means loving mediocrity
08/17/2023
When "engaging the culture" means loving mediocrity
Today it's taken for granted that we as Christians are called to "engage the culture" in order to evangelize. Often "engaging the culture" means paying an inordinate amount of attention to popular commercial entertainment in order to show unbelievers how hip we are, straining to find a "Christ-figure" in every comic book movie, and making worship music as repetitive, melodically banal, and emotionalistic as possible. Past a certain point, "cultural engagement" begins to seem like a noble-sounding excuse to enjoy mediocrity - and Christians, unfortunately, are as much in love with mediocre entertainment as anyone else. The novel doctrine of "cultural engagement" is just one subject covered in Joshua Gibbs's challenging and entertaining new book, Love What Lasts: How to Save Your Soul from Mediocrity. Joshua joins Thomas Mirus for a wide-ranging conversation about how we choose to spend our free time and why it matters. Topics include: The dangers of artistic mediocrity The importance of boredom Why streaming has been terrible for music The different kinds of Christian "cultural engagers" Uncommon and common good things and how both are threatened by the mediocre How the "special" apes the holy The meme-ification of art Links Gibbs, Love What Lasts: How to Save Your Soul from Mediocrity Gibbs, "Film As a Metaphysical Coup" Thomas's favorite episode of Gibbs's podcast, Proverbial SUBSCRIBE to the Catholic Culture Podcast DONATE to make this show possible! Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents:
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Empires of death: Apocalypto (2006)
07/28/2023
Empires of death: Apocalypto (2006)
Mel Gibson's Apocalypto is one of those works of art whose reputation has suffered from its circumstances. Its release in late 2006, two years after The Passion and six month after Gibson's infamous DUI, more or less coincided with the director's blacklisting from Hollywood. Thus Apocalypto tends to be overlooked by critics, despite having been hailed as a masterpiece by the likes of Scorsese, Tarantino, Edgar Wright, and Spike Lee. Apocalypto has also been attacked for its portrayal of "first peoples". Set in Mesoamerica immediately before first contact with the Spanish, it features a protagonist from a small forest tribe who is captured by Mayans for the purpose of human sacrifice (depicted as the mass-scale brutality it was) and must try to escape back to his family. Gibson's depiction of Mesoamerican peoples is sensitive and sympathetic but not PC. Rather than sneering at how terrible a pre-Columbian civilization could be, in portraying the Mayans Gibson wanted to make us reflect on the decadence of the modern West and in particular the American Empire. The film is about a culture of death not unlike our own. Filmed, like The Passion, in a language most people have never heard, Apocalypto is a stunningly ambitious recreation of a lost civilization, but also a thoroughly entertaining chase movie. Gibson is known for his singular approach to cinematic violence, and Apocalypto gives ample opportunity to discuss the specific artistic choices that are overlooked when we wave off all movie "blood and guts" as the same. Links Essay by the film's historical consultant DONATE to make these shows possible! Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents:
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Asteroid City: delightful, decadent, or despairing?
07/13/2023
Asteroid City: delightful, decadent, or despairing?
0:00 The prosecution 39:15 The defense With the release of his new film Asteroid City and with memes imitating his cinematic style going viral on social media, Wes Anderson is having a real moment in the zeitgeist almost thirty years into his career. In Asteroid City, Anderson drives further into the immediately identifiable and somewhat polarizing style he has cultivated for the past decade, characterized by meticulous framing, camera moves and blocking, a certain color palette, and deadpan writing and acting. One is always aware of the director's hand tightly controlling a cute, harmonious little world of his own creation. The Criteria hosts look at Anderson's career and try to figure out what he's trying to achieve by making his movies so aggressively, well, Anderson-y. James Majewski calls it downright decadent and pretentious, style for its own sake to the point of self-parody. Thomas Mirus is concerned that the increasingly airless and emotionally closed-down aesthetic may be a reflection of Anderson's belief that life has no discernible meaning, and so there is nothing much to do other than create aesthetic illusions (an idea explicitly alluded to in more than one of his films). Nathan Douglas defends Anderson's style as sincere, in service to something more than shallow visual pleasure. But we all agree on one thing: Wes Anderson is in despair. DONATE to make these shows possible! Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents:
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Caviezel's Sound of Freedom: a thriller about fighting child trafficking
06/30/2023
Caviezel's Sound of Freedom: a thriller about fighting child trafficking
Jim Caviezel’s latest project, The Sound of Freedom, is a harrowing but thrilling look at the fight against the global sex trafficking of children. Caviezel's intense but nuanced performance plays well into both the serious subject matter and the film's mainstream appeal. The film's spiritual relevance is increased by the choice to include not only protective fathers, but a repentant exploiter among its protagonists. Though the film isn't about Hollywood, one of its best scenes offers what may as well be a portrayal of how the entertainment and modeling industries sexualize children. The impact is all the more unsettling for how subtly and tastefully the scene is handled. Though they praise the film, Thomas and James express some reservations about the “you must see this movie for the cause” style of promotion.
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We watched the WHOLE Vatican Film List
06/27/2023
We watched the WHOLE Vatican Film List
Since we started Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast in May 2020, we've been hosting in-depth discussions of movies from the Vatican's 1995 list of important films. Now, after three years, we've finished discussing all 45 films - and in this episode, together with Catholic filmmaker Nathan Douglas, we're taking a look back at the list as a whole. After discussing how and why the Vatican film list (actually titled "Some Important Films") was made, and putting it in the context of several decades of concern from the highest levels of the Vatican about the social and moral influence of cinema, we talk about our favorite and least favorite films on the Vatican's list, as well as the movies we think should be added in a hypothetical future update of the list. Ultimately, watching through the entire Vatican film list is not only an education in the classics of world cinema, but also gives important perspective on the strengths and weaknesses of past cinematic engagement with religion, allowing us to see both the potential fruit that could be borne and the dead ends that should be avoided in the Catholic cinema of the future. 0:00 Introduction 11:31 History behind the Vatican film list 43:34 What films should be removed from the list? 1:24:10 Our favorite films on the list 1:55:30 What films should have been included that weren't? 2:34:09 What post-1995 films would we add? 3:00:19 The most Catholic/edifying films on the list Links Pope St. John Paul II's address on the 100th birthday of cinema "100 Years of Cinema" document from the Pontifical Council of Social Communications with model curriculum Below is the 1995 list by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, "Some Important Films" (with links to our episode on each film): Religion Andrei Tarkovsky (1969, USSR) , Roland Joffé (1986, UK) , Carl T. Dreyer (1928, France) (Life and Passion of Christ), Ferdinand Zecca and Lucien Nonguet (1905, France) , Roberto Rossellini (1950, Italy) , Pier Paolo Pasolini (1964, France/Italy) , Alain Cavalier (1986, France) (The Word), Carl T. Dreyer (1955, Denmark) , Andrei Tarkowsky (1986, Sweden/UK/France) , Liliana Cavani (1989, Italy/Germany) , William Wyler (1959, USA) , Gabriel Axel (1987, Denmark) , Luis Buñuel (1958, Mexico) , Maurice Cloche (1947, France) , Fred Zinnemann (1966, UK) Values , Richard Attenborough (1982, UK/USA/India) , D. W. Griffith (1916, USA) (The Decalogue), Krzysztof Kieslowski (1987, Poland) (Goodbye, Children), Louis Malle (1987, France) , Akira Kurosawa (1974, Japan) , Ermanno Olmi (1978, Italy/France) , Roberto Rossellini (1946, Italy) , Ingmar Bergman (1957, Sweden) , Ingmar Bergman (1957, Sweden) , Hugh Hudson (1981, UK) , Vittorio de Sica (1948, Italy) , Frank Capra (1946, USA) , Steven Spielberg (1993, USA) , Elia Kazan (1954, USA) , Kon Ichikawa (1956, Japan) Art , Stanley Kubrick (1968, UK/USA) , Federico Fellini (1954, Italy) , Orson Welles (1941, USA) , Fritz Lang (1927, Germany) , Charlie Chaplin (1936, USA) , Abel Gance (1927, Italy) , Federico Fellini (1963, Italy) , Jean Renoir (1937, France) , F. W. Murnau (1922, Germany) , John Ford (1939, USA) , Luchino Visconti (1963, Italy/France) (1940, USA) , Victor Fleming (1939, USA) , Charles Crichton (1951, UK) , George Cukor (1933, USA)
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Sacrilege against Mary in the new Padre Pio film
06/01/2023
Sacrilege against Mary in the new Padre Pio film
The new film Padre Pio, directed by Abel Ferrara and starring Shia LaBeouf, is ruined by a pornographic and sacrilegious scene involving abuse of a sacred image. James Majewski and Thomas Mirus contend that conscientious Catholics must not see this movie. They explain the difference between portraying an act and committing that act, and how that line can be obliterated on a film set. They discuss the reality behind holy images, and the importance of making reparation for sacrilege. First Saturdays devotion to make reparation to the Immaculate Heart of Mary: Thomas Mirus wrote a summary of the arguments in this podcast for the Dappled Things blog: This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents:
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When artists feel lonely in the Church (Livestream)
05/16/2023
When artists feel lonely in the Church (Livestream)
In this livestream, James Majewski and Thomas Mirus we discussed errors artists can fall into in pushing back against a moralistic approach to art found within the Church. Rather than reacting away from rigidity to excessive openness, the mature Catholic artist has to get over himself and be a servant. Also discussed: The relation between order and surprise in beauty, morality and culture. Note: the video begins abruptly in the middle of our introductory fundraising campaign pitch - because of some glitched-out audio, we cut the first 6 minutes or so. We're a week into CatholicCulture.org's May fundraising campaign. Generous donors have offered a $50,000 matching grant, so any donation you make by May 24 will double in value! You can donate on our website or PayPal (tax-deductible). Donation links below: Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of content, including news, articles, podcasts, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents:
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The last great silent epic: Napoleon (1927)
05/12/2023
The last great silent epic: Napoleon (1927)
After three years discussing the Vatican’s 1995 list of 45 important films, Thomas and James have finally reached the final movie! Made in 1927, it’s a five-and-a-half-hour long, epic, technically dazzling silent film about Napoleon. Napoleon trailer This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission.
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Livestream announcement
05/04/2023
Livestream announcement
We'll be doing YouTube livestreams on the next 3 Monday evenings, as part of CatholicCulture.org's May fundraising campaign. In these freewheeling conversations, you'll have the opportunity to ask questions and prompt discussion in the live chat box! 5/8, 8pm ET - Mike Aquilina (host, Way of the Fathers podcast) 5/15, 8pm ET - Thomas Mirus & James Majewski (hosts,Catholic Culture Podcast, Catholic Culture Audiobooks, Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast) 5/22, 8pm ET - Phil Lawler & Jeff Mirus (CatholicCulture.org writers) You can use this link to connect to the Mike Aquilina livestream: The links to the other two livestreams will go up on the Catholic Culture YouTube channel a few days before each one.
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The Miracle Maker (1999) w/ Timothy Reckart
04/27/2023
The Miracle Maker (1999) w/ Timothy Reckart
The Miracle Maker, a little-known animated Gospel film with Ralph Fiennes as the voice of Jesus, deserves a place in any Christian family's Easter viewing. Its beautifully crafted mix of stop-motion and traditional 2D animation engages the imagination without dominating it in a way that live-action cinema can't. It's also a masterful piece of adaptation, compressing the story of Christ into 88 minutes. It somehow retains the compactness of the Gospel accounts, yet feels fleshed out by subtle touches and connections within the existing material rather than overmuch invention. For this discussion, Thomas and James are joined by Timothy Reckart (animator and director of the Oscar-nominated stop-motion short Head Over Heels, and of the feature-length Christmas movie The Star). Watch Tim Reckart's short film Head Over Heels Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission.
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