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Catholic

2015-06-03T12:20:17-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Road Less Traveled: Reconsidering the Easy Life

Last updated on: June 3, 2015 at 12:20 pm By Joseph Susanka

Americans love a good con man. Perhaps it is our implicit endorsement of P. T. Barnum’s well-known axiom: “There’s a sucker born every minute.” Perhaps it is our begrudging appreciation for cleverness and intellectual ingenuity, no matter its object. Or perhaps it is our deep-seated respect for the chronic overachiever that has led to our love for these Promethean self-made men whose artful schemes are practiced upon an unsuspecting world—dashing rogues, every one. That love is nowhere more clearly seen... Read more

Movies

Through a Lens, Darkly

2015-02-09T18:12:39-07:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Divorce, Granted

Last updated on: February 9, 2015 at 6:12 pm By Joseph Susanka

C. K. Dexter Haven: Sometimes, for your own sake, Red, I think you should’ve stuck to me longer. Tracy Lord: I thought it was for life, but the nice judge gave me a full pardon. It is difficult to watch Cary Grant’s effortless cinematic grace without envy mixing with that admiration. The former acrobat, christened Archibald Alexander Leach, exuded sophistication but with a wry, self-deprecating touch of humor and humanity that kept him humble and accessible to the audience. He was one of... Read more

Movies

Through a Lens, Darkly

2015-01-07T16:52:50-07:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Trust and Doubt: Our Endless Dichotomy

Last updated on: January 7, 2015 at 4:52 pm By Joseph Susanka

A mighty fortress is our God, A bulwark never failing; Our shelter He, amid the flood Of mortal ills prevailing. The White Ribbon, Michael Haneke’s chilling tale of mystery and violence engulfing a small German town prior to the start of the First World War, is a drama that bears as much relevance to our modern times as it does to the historical period it presents. Set in the fictional, idyllic community of Eichwald, the film recounts the experiences of a... Read more

Movies

Through a Lens, Darkly

2015-01-07T12:57:28-07:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

To Be Pickering in a Henry Higgins World

Last updated on: January 7, 2015 at 12:57 pm By Joseph Susanka

When George Bernard Shaw first learned of the creative licenses taken in an effort to make the ending of his play Pygmalion more marketable, he was outraged. Confronted by Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree’s claim that “My ending makes money, you ought to be grateful,” he responded (with his trademark sharpness of wit and tongue): “Your ending is damnable; you ought to be shot.” Two years later, still stinging from the change, he penned a 5,000-word essay—“Sequel: What Happened Afterwards”—in which he emphatically... Read more

Movies

Through a Lens, Darkly

2015-01-06T18:18:23-07:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Jumpstarting Grown-Up Wonder in Tarsem Singh’s “The Fall”

Last updated on: January 6, 2015 at 6:18 pm By Joseph Susanka

The Fall, a genre-defying film from the Indian-born director Tarsem Singh, perfectly encapsulates the occasionally awkward marriage between Hollywood’s independent filmmakers and their commercial counterparts. Tarsem, probably best known for his visually arresting music video to R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion,” has produced a mind-bending, one-of-a-kind work one could accurately describe as both a vanity project and a labor of love. The film, which took more than four years to shoot and features more than twenty-eight extraordinary locations from around the globe, was primarily self-financed. After viewing,... Read more

Movies

Through a Lens, Darkly

2015-07-23T12:08:45-06:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Capes, Masks, and Ordinary Heroes

Last updated on: July 23, 2015 at 12:08 pm By Joseph Susanka

Few popular art forms have so perfectly encapsulated the peculiarly dual nature of the Heroic American Spirit as that of the superhero comic. On one hand stands Superman, Captain America, Thor, Wonder Woman and the like—idealized, anatomically-unlikely characters motivated by such universal principles as Truth, Justice, and The American Way. These heroes, whose perfection and altruism conjure up images of the sparkling City on the Hill so popularized by our Puritanical forefathers, use their extraordinary, superhuman gifts to rule and... Read more

Television

Through a Lens, Darkly

2015-01-08T17:13:22-07:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Death, Where Is Thy Sting?

Last updated on: January 8, 2015 at 5:13 pm By Joseph Susanka

To say that death has become an unimportant part of our cinematic vocabulary would seem like the height of absurdity. The body count from Sly Stallone’s two latest features alone could easily populate a small country, and there are few plot points so frequently used as: “unexpected death of parent/sibling/lover throws protagonist into deep, expressive turmoil.” Yet shuffling off this mortal coil, while omnipresent, is rarely the focus of much cinematic attention; all too often, movie mortality finds itself cast... Read more

Movies

Through a Lens, Darkly

2015-01-06T14:57:13-07:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Bedford Falls: The Post-Clarence Years

Last updated on: January 6, 2015 at 2:57 pm By Joseph Susanka

The arrival of the holiday season can mean only one thing for classic film buffs everywhere: it is time to once again turn our attention to that most definitive and dualistic of Christmas films, Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life. Released in 1946 amidst charges of unrealistic and excessive sentimentality, the film has become a Yuletide staple. Subsequent generations of movie-watchers have embraced the story’s warmth and optimism while cultivating a growing appreciation for the dark clouds lurking behind Capra’s trademark... Read more

Movies

Through a Lens, Darkly

2015-01-06T13:43:07-07:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

“Bicycle Thieves” and the Victory of Our Fragility

Last updated on: January 6, 2015 at 1:43 pm By Joseph Susanka

For a father, there are few moments filled with more deeply conflicting emotions than when he holds his newborn child for the first time. To that tiny little infant, mewing and squirming in his arms, he is the ultimate, a godlike power. In the coming years, this child will trust him absolutely, love him unreservedly, and rely on him completely for everything it needs. Yet at that same moment, rejoicing over this new, priceless life that has been given to... Read more

Family

Movies

Through a Lens, Darkly

2015-01-06T12:59:43-07:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Seeing All the Colors of Paradise

Last updated on: January 6, 2015 at 12:59 pm By Joseph Susanka

This review discusses a number of SPOILERS. Proceed with caution. “…out of gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind will see.” — Isaiah 29:18 From time to time, a film will end in a way so unexpected and so significant that it profoundly influences its audience’s reaction to everything that has come before. In most films, this is achieved by a twist — letting the audience members in on a secret they could not have known beforehand. But in a... Read more

Movies

Through a Lens, Darkly

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