The Great Debaters
Catholic News Service
12/26/2007, by John Mulderig
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Resolved: "The Great Debaters" (MGM), with a story line drawn from real events, is an uplifting and thoroughly enjoyable film. The ayes have it. Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington, who also directed) is a gifted professor and debate coach at Wiley College, a small ...
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Catholic News Service
12/26/2007, by John Mulderig
NEW YORK (CNS) -- It pays not to think too hard while viewing "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" (Disney). Although paper-thin and thoroughly implausible, this adventure sequel is nonetheless diverting. Ben Gates (Nicolas Cage) is a successful treasure hunter and the proud descendant of Thomas ...
Charlie Wilson's War
Catholic News Service
12/26/2007, by John Mulderig
NEW YORK (CNS) -- A rollicking, hard-driving comedy, "Charlie Wilson's War" (Universal) is also a sophisticated political drama based on real events. The story it tells is, like its protagonist, at once breezy and serious, likable but morally muddled. In the early 1980s, Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) ...
P.S. I Love You
Catholic News Service
12/26/2007, by Harry Forbes
NEW YORK (CNS) -- "I'm trying to figure out why God killed my husband," cries Hilary Swank's character near the start of "P.S. I Love You" (Warner Bros.), an uneven but ultimately touching and well-acted love story. At the beginning of the film, Swank's character, Holly, is having a spat with her ...
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
Catholic News Service
12/26/2007, by John Mulderig
NEW YORK (CNS) -- A free-wheeling and, at times, genuinely funny satire of the music industry and of recent social trends, "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" (Columbia) too often succumbs to the temptation to be outrageous. Young Dewey Cox (Conner Rayburn) has some unusual problems. After ...
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Catholic News Service
12/26/2007, by Harry Forbes
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Most assuredly not for the fainthearted, but otherwise "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (DreamWorks/Paramount) proves a finely made adaptation of composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim's 1979 Broadway musical. It far surpasses the two previous cinematic incarnations of ...
The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep
Catholic News Service
12/26/2007, by John Mulderig
NEW YORK (CNS) -- "The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep" (Sony) is an engaging but, by the end, a surprisingly intense fantasy adventure. Set in Scotland during World War II, the film draws on Celtic legends to provide an explanation of the origins of the Loch Ness monster. Angus MacMorrow (Alex ...
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Catholic News Service
12/17/2007, by John Mulderig
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Those three familiar animated warblers, Alvin (voiced by Justin Long), Simon (voiced by Matthew Gray Gubler) and Theodore (voiced by Jesse McCartney) return -- this time, in computer-generated imagery -- to sing, dance and even rap in the live-action "Alvin and the Chipmunks" ...
I Am Legend
Catholic News Service
12/14/2007, by Harry Forbes
NEW YORK (CNS) -- At the start of "I Am Legend" (Warner Bros.), a grim but effective thriller, Emma Thompson, in a delicious cameo, plays a self-satisfied doctor informing an incredulous news interviewer that she has found the cure for cancer. Next comes a quick cut to shots of New York devoid of ...
Youth Without Youth
Catholic News Service
12/12/2007, by John Mulderig
NEW YORK (CNS) -- You might want to brush up on your ancient Sanskrit before going to see "Youth Without Youth" (Sony Classics). This visually rich but dramatically deficient fable ponders everything from the nature of language and time to the possibilities of reincarnation. When 70-year-old ...
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