Film & Music

Hail, Caesar! is the much-anticipated addition to the canon of the famed Coen brothers’ films—a list which includes both dramas like True Grit and quirky cult classics like O Brother, Where Art Thou? Their latest movie certainly bears that clever […]

Is The Bridge of San Luis Rey, with which in 1927 Thornton Wilder obtained his first—almost his only—huge success as novelist, still read widely? It deserves to be. If a book can survive having its […]

MPAA Rating: PG  USCCB Rating: A-II  Reel Rating: (2 out of 5 reels) Right from the beginning, this installment of the Kung Fu Panda franchise commits a cardinal sin by violating its own universe, creating […]

In “Sing to the Lord, All the Earth”, a surprising instruction sent to priests, deacons, and parish leaders this past Tuesday, Bishop John F. Doerfler laid out a series of mandates intended to implement wide-ranging sacred music […]

I met the newest member of the International Polka Association (IPA) Hall of Fame, Randy Koslosky, at a large bagel establishment east of Pittsburgh for lunch. If you think of Gus Polinski, the “Polka King […]

The Biblical epic, once a mainstay in the film industry of a bygone era, may be poised for a comeback. 2014 saw the release of Darren Aronofsky’s Noah as well as Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods […]

Alejandro Iñárritu’s new film The Revenant is one of the most talked about movies, and for good reason. The opening twenty minutes, which feature a frighteningly realistic Indian attack and a horrifically vivid mauling by a grizzly […]

When this year began, I was skeptical. In addition to way too many sequels, the first film I reviewed was Fifty Shades of Grey. Ugh. To my utter joy, this slow start turned into a […]

MPAA Rating: PG-13 USCCB Rating: A-II Reel Rating: (4 out of 5 reels) The Force Awakens may be the most anticipated film of the Millennial generation as proven by the insane number of internet plot […]

Given that for even the best-educated music-lovers so much valuable Christmas repertoire slumbers largely undisturbed by any hint of modern revivals, it is hardly surprising that most Advent repertoire tends to be even less known. […]