Reviews & previews of Films, TV shows and Radio programs.
The London Irish Centre has partnered with the Irish Film Institute to bring film heritage to Irish communities in London and across the UK. Under the headings 'Ireland of Yesterday', 'Watch Irish History Unfold', and 'Rediscover Television Adverts', the Reels from Home collection includes materials which date as far back as the early 1900s. It includes both professional and amateur films docum...
As we approach the Feast of Pentecost, parish priest Canon Pat Browne and visiting seminarian Patrick van der Vorst, from Holy Apostles church in Pimlico, central London, have released a new film of reflection and prayer to the Holy Spirit using Art.
The Holy Spirit is not a thing. The Holy Spirit is a Person. Someone we can relate to as one person to another.
As human ...
The feature documentary Outside the City, about the Trappist Monks of Mount Saint Bernard Abbey was released to great critical acclaim last October. The film documents the lives and deaths of the monks living behind the walls of this closed monastic community, as they transition from dairy farming to brewing the UK's first Trappist beer, the world famous Tynt Meadow.
Director Nick Hamer s...
Just before the eve of the Feast of the Ascension, parish priest Canon Pat Browne and visiting seminarian Patrick van der Vorst, from Holy Apostles church in Pimlico, central London, have released a beautiful short film called Candles in the Night - a Prayer for the World. For the past few weeks, although the church has been closed because of the Covid-19 crisis, parishioners who are on lockdow...
After binge watching the second in the Medici series on Netflix last summer, I looked forward to the third and final series, 'Medici: The Magnificent - Part 2'. Set again in fifteenth century Florence, it had already been filmed and it was rumored that with an increased focus on Lorenzo the Magnificent, a generous patron of the arts, it would feature great artists nurtured by him - Leonardo Da ...
There will be a rare chance to meet Kate Hennessy, granddaughter of Dorothy Day, at Farm Street church in London next week, when she takes part in a discussion after a special screening of a film portraying the life of the celebrated Catholic social activist. Hosted by The Tablet and Farm Street Church, the screening of ' Revolution of the Heart: The Dorothy Day Story' on Thursday, 5...
Outside the City - a new film by Nick Hamer, documents the lives of the Cistercian monks living in the closed monastic community of Mt Saint Bernard Abbey in rural Leicestershire, as they progress from dairy farming to brewing the UK's first Trappist beer, the world famous Tynt Meadow.
The world premiere took place at the Off Cinema International Documentary Festival, Poznan, Poland on 18...
Austrian Franz Jagerstatter has long been inspirational to the peace movement. So, it is wonderful to see the life of this World War II conscientious objector revealed to the world through a new film, 'A Hidden Life'. It is written and directed by acclaimed director Terrence Malick, and has been described as "masterpiece" and "one of the most thought-provoking films of 2019". From the start, I ...
Westminster Auxillary Bishop John Sherrington, reviews 'A Hidden Life', the story of Franz Jägerstätter.
Last week I was invited to a private viewing of A Hidden Life. This deeply moving film, directed by Terence Malick, presents the struggle of Blessed Franz Jägerstätter to live his decision in conscience and refuse to take the military oath to Hitler. Franz Jägerstätter w...
As the Yuletide festivities built up in December, I anticipated a diet of popular TV programs and 'special' editions of regular favourites like University Challenge, alongside film classics such as Brief Encounter. Happily we seem to have escaped from The Guns of Navarone this year. There still was a wealth of sugary romantic comedy and thin domestic episodes, in addition to a new hallo e'en sp...
For those who've been watching 'The Crown' - Bishop Robert Barron gives a very insightful commentary here on season three of the series - particularly its focus on several religious themes - through its depiction of Prince Philip and his mother, and the Prince's meeting with the Apollo 8 astronauts.
He describes how "this marvellously written program presents one of the great fault lines ...
The upcoming documentary - Pray: The Story of Patrick Peyton - was awarded Best Documentary at the 2nd Annual God Country Family Christian Film Festival held last week in Eau Claire in Wisconsin.
Produced by Family Theater Productions (FTP) in association with Windrider Productions, PRAY profiles the Holy Cross priest, Venerable Patrick Peyton, who was born on 9 January 1909 in Carracastl...
Today, Pope Francis met with 400 members of Italy's Catholic Association of Community Cinema Hall Operators (ACEC) on the 70th anniversary of their founding. During the audience he encouraged them to build communion, saying cinema is a great instrument for bringing people together. He noted that particularly in the post-war period, cinema helped in the reconstruction of the social f...
The Two Popes - Directed by Fernando Meirelles; (City of God, The Constant Gardener) Script by Anthony McCarten (The Theory of Everything, Darkest Hour, Bohemian Rhapsody) PG 13 125 minutes; Netflix
If London is anything to go by, this movie will be shown at only a few arthouse cinemas before its upcoming release as a download. If you get a chance, do hurry to see it on the big s...
