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Mark Wahlberg is a Roman Catholic who goes to church every day to pray to be a better servant of God, a better man.

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Brent Bozell:

In an interview on the Catholic cable channel EWTN, Estevez joked about the horror of making the pitch for this movie about a pilgrimage – no massive special effects, no parade of gore or bedroom scenes with nudity. It’s just an old man hiking across Spain with three people he meets along the way. It’s a small movie, made on a small budget. It’s about our humanity and our spirituality. It’s so easy to imagine Tinseltown’s eyes glazing over.

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But what Estevez said in that interview was still striking. “Hollywood is a very difficult place to be earnest and be heartfelt. And I am not interested in making films that are anything but. There’s a lot of vulgarity in films. There’s a lot of violence, casual sex – things that make me uncomfortable watching – and I’m not interested in perpetuating that message.”  …

Here’s how “The Way” unfolds. Sheen’s character, California ophthalmologist Tom Avery, is a widower who’s been angry at his son’s decision to forego a graduate degree to wander the world. While Avery’s out on the golf course, a French policeman calls to tell him his son has died in a storm in the Pyrenees. When Avery arrives to identify the body, the policeman tells him about the “camino,” and he resolves to travel the route with his son’s cremated remains. On this very long walk, he finds companionship with a burly Dutchman who wants to lose weight, an Irish writer with writer’s block, and a bitter Canadian woman trying to quit smoking – and ultimately rediscovers his lost faith.

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Here we go again. Prepare to be shocked, appalled — even offended! — by another attack on Christians, namely Catholics, by none other than pope hater Sinead O’Connor. I’m just kidding about being offended; it’s obvious she’s screaming for attention (killing the pope? bet it took her a few weeks to think up that one) and, unfortunately for her, this article won’t just be about her but all of Hollywood. Sorry, Sinead.

What the formerly relevant singer said is not surprising, but then again, it’s never surprising to hear a celebrity disparaging Christianity. Remember this gem from Rosie O’Donnell?

I have news for Hollywood. It’s not risque to attack Christians, and it’s long been a cliché even for our side to say it’s overdone. If you want to be risque, attack Islam, atheists, or agnostics. My husband is a cradle Catholic (meaning raised Catholic), and he says most of these attacks just roll off his back. Most don’t offend or bother him anymore because it’s simply become the norm. But that doesn’t mean it should be ignored or criticism should be spared for trite offense-mongering like Lady Gaga’s “Alejandro” video.

If you don’t want to watch the video, I understand. Lady Gaga is dressed in a blood red habit and swallows a rosary. This desecration of the rosary is offensive to Catholics because of our veneration (not worship) of Mary, mother of God. The director of the video claims Lady Gaga just wanted to take in the Holy. As a lifelong Catholic, Miss Gaga should know better than that, and if she wanted to “take in the Holy,” there are ways of doing it that won’t cause as many digestive problems, like attending Mass and taking Communion. (more…)

THR:

Mel Gibson’s decision to make a biopic of the Jewish religious icon Judah Maccabee is the latest twist in the star’s long, tortured history with the Jewish community.

In a May 2003 interview with National Catholic Reporter Jesuit Fr. William J. Fulco, who translated the script into Aramaic and Latin, assured the nervous Jewish community, “In no way do I experience it as offensive to Jews or anyone else.”

But as Gibson began to screen the film to selected Catholic and Jewish leaders, accusations of anti-Semitism sounded louder and louder in the media. Unhappy with the film’s tone towards the Jewish people and their culpability in the crucifixion of Jesus, leaders such as New York Assemblyman Dov Hikind.

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Here’s “The Tailor,” an adorable short from the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, written, directed and edited by Gordon Grinberg.

1. The film is based on an old and well known Jewish joke. So old is the joke that I actually heard this back in high school when I was a student at the Brooklyn Talmudic Academy.

2. A certain segment of orthodox Jewish men wear black suits and black hats only. Think of it as a regulation uniform. Why? The most common explanation is that black signifies mourning and the Jewish people are still mourning the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE. Also—and this is just my personal opinion—black is, y’know, slimming. (more…)

The Great Catholic Scandal!

Hmmm … does this really have to do with child abuse or, to use the Reagan perspective, are these arrests and possibly further imprisonments of high level Catholic authorities “bargaining chips” to convince the Catholic Church that her ban on abortion should be … how shall I say … “seriously reconsidered?”

All is politics these days … and all will be used to further the political game.

However, considering the Catholic Church’s major hand in overturning the Polish Communist State, the “game” is decidedly beyond politics.

The increasingly deadly Game has been a not-so-Cold War for quite some time.

Unfortunately, it is now not only Catholics versus Communists. (more…)

I want to preface this by saying that I do enjoy listening to a Lady Gaga song now and again. But her attempts to push the limits on what is acceptable are dragging her down to the level of a prettier version of Beavis and Butthead. 

Call me old school but I like music videos that at least loosely match their song. If you’ve got a song about love and your music video is about war, there’s something wrong – unless that song is Jordin Sparks’ “Battlefield.” For this reason, I’ve got a problem with Lady Gaga’s “Alejandro.” 

Lady Gaga is a fad for people who thrive on thinking they don’t thrive on fads. Actually they all do. To prove this I submit the fact that the music video for “Bad Romance” is the most viewed YouTube video ever (haven’t seen it because “rah-rah-ah-ah-ah / Roma, Roma-ma / GaGa, ooh la la” is artless). Lady Gaga’s latest, “Alejandro,” seems to follow a girl trying to break free from a controlling Mexican boyfriend or series of boyfriends. 

There’s really not much to the song. In the first verse there’s a good girl that is controlling (“halo around her finger around you”), and in the second verse there’s a guy that is controlling (“her boyfriend’s like a dad”). I think he’s supposed to be good too, because he’s “gonna fool the bad.” Whatever. As long as we know he’s got a Spanish/Mexican name and Lady Gaga is sick of him, we’re on the same page.  (more…)

Lady Gaga’s Alejandro is mesmerizing in its decadence, shamelessly in debt to Christopher Isherwood’s Cabaret, Rudolf Valentino, any number of tales about Latin Lovers, Alexander the Great and, finally, that unbeatably hypnotic premonition: the triumphal return of Nazism.

Gaga’s eternal return to the garb of a Nun … The Nun … is a backhanded tribute to her Catholic role model, Madonna.

The key, however, to her triumph over the World’s Music Empires, and The World Media That Makes Them, lies in the unshakably blasé expression on her face.

Obviously nothing about success could faze a Disciple of Madonna who has clearly fantasized how boring it might be to spend the night in bed with Genghis Kahn.  (more…)

If Hollywood hadn’t spent most of the post-9/11 decade portraying Islamic terrorists as nuanced victims driven to violence by the West, their open cowardice when it come to taking on Islamists might make some sense. After all, if these extremists are — as leftist Hollywood would have us believe – nothing more than misunderstood freedom fighters, what is there to be afraid of – why so spineless?

And doesn’t Leftist Hollywood’s refusal to take on Islam add up to a politically incorrect and culturally insensitive insult to Muslims? As Penn Jillette Tweeted so elegantly last week:

“I believe the most damning thing that can be said about Muslims is saying you’re afraid to say anything.”

Or as an agnostic friend of mine emailed last night: 

“Your headline needs to read, ‘Comedy Central Determines That Christians Are Nicer and More Tolerant Than Muslims’”

So I guess that means we Christians should take the announcement of what looks to be another tired, old, cliched, cinematic attack on our faith as a compliment, right?

Hayden Christensen has signed on to star in Snakes of a Plane/Cellular/The Final Destination director David R. Ellis‘ big screen adaptation of John Case’s thriller novel The Genesis Code.

And what is “The Genesis Code” about? As though you have to ask. From the press release announcing the film [emphasis mine throughout]: (more…)

OBITUARY                           August 27, 2009                     Ned Rice

The whole world suffered a terrible loss yesterday with the passing from cancer of a great American icon who overcame unspeakable family tragedies and his own alcoholism to become a legendary advocate for justice.  Born to privilege in a large and wealthy Irish Catholic family, he attended elite prep schools, served in the military, and after a family member’s murder devoted the rest of his life to social causes and fighting injustice wherever he found it.  This larger-than-life character’s quick wit and compelling speaking style made him a friend to all who knew him – even those of different political beliefs-and helped advance the many causes he believed in so passionately.

May you rest in peace, Dominick Dunne.   

OTHER DEATHS YESTERDAY:  Ted Kennedy           

So Mel Gibson’s getting flack for having sex with a woman who was not his wife – something that never happens in Hollywood – but made newsworthy because he’s a hardcore Catholic. Meanwhile, Carrie Prejean continues to be crucified – for she’s a Christian who posed topless to get a job. And of course, there’s Bristol Palin, unwed and baby in tow, talking abstinence.

Of course, when it comes to this stuff, the media shifts into the only gear they know – the typed-in equivalent of Nelson Munz`s laugh.

Yeah, we get it: these Christians are all hypocrites, and you’re not. (more…)

Another Easter season comes and goes without a single offering from mainstream Hollywood to attract oh, say, a billion or so believers into theatres. We’re not political, they say. We’re not agenda-driven, they say. Our choices are based on profit, they say. We have to appeal to an international audience, they say.

Right.

“The Pink Panther” sequel no one asked for we get, but where’s, “The Passion II: Acts of the Apostles?”  –and anyone familiar with the Bible knows I’m not joking.

Once again Hollywood steps over dollars to make pennies on “Observe and Report” and we’re forced to return to a more tolerant Hollywood on DVD. Congratulate me, tomorrow I celebrate my first year as a Roman Catholic and here are my five favorites over this Holy Week. (more…)