www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall The Hollywood Gospel

No since in beating around the bush, just go straight to the point, and they did.

The Hollywood Gospel: At War with American Culture

http://www.catholicexchange.com/vm/index.asp?vm_id=2&art_id=33621

It is 3:30am and I think I can finally go to sleep so I am not going to listen to this right now, but I think it would be really good.

The "Dangers of Apathy". I think todays society makes us apathetic, we see things we should be shocked about and just say 'oh well' and go on. But this is from the bottom of the previous page.
http://www.mindszenty.org/radio/apathy.html

http://www.mindszenty.org/misc/jcm.html

Dear Pani Rose,

...Thanks for this article. Unfortunately, it is all too true. I just don't know how Hollywood can be fought. Various religious groups have tried, but the evil one only raises his head stronger and even more immorally each time. There seems to be no end to this roller coaster ride of perversity in our culture...or will the end be like the end of the Roman Empire?

Just some thoughts,
Alice

BTW: It quotes the film critic 'Michael Medved'. Wasn't he a poster here once?

No Alice - our Medved is not that one

I saw our Medved lurking last week - he's alive and hopefully well

I was discussing this with my assistant and a patient today. There were these movies calles Saw and Saw II and it was about some kind of psychopath who makes his victims mutilate themselves or he'll brutally kill them. (I don't watch those kinds of movies, someday I'll explain why.)

What kind of putrescence are people into these days? Where are the Ben Hurrs, the Philadephia Stories, the True Grits of today? Hollywood is a vapid wasteland of banality, it has truly buried its talent instead of producing 5 or 10 fold for the Master.

Isn't it strange how people are so particular about what they put into their mouth but don't care what they put into their mind? And yet "you are what you eat" applies also to viewing/reading.

Very true my friend.

On the flip-side (and a positive note) I have noticed more Catholic video's available to rent in our local video store.

I was trilled to find film's such as: The Miracle of Our Lady of Fatima; St. Theresa (of the Child Jesus); and various Mother Teresa films. If only they would play them on the big screens, so people could 'vote' by attending these wholesome and faith-growing movies.

On the down-side, I've seen films targeting Christian audiences, containing perverse things that the review on the back of the movie 'failed' to mention. If you ever find a movie called "Faith Healing" - don't rent it! It's very sick, full of perverse images. I thought I'd be watching a movie about how a woman�s faith was healed. This film was so fifthly, I shut it off after 10 minutes. Better to eat dinner staring at the wall, than watching that smut.

Another one I will not watch is something like Confessions. It�s about the Catholic sex-abuse scandal, and a priest's confession for abusing a minor. -- Hollywood loves to trump this stuff up, to make it seem as if every priest is guilty.

Just have to be very careful, and try to read between the lines. This is one reason I rent and don't go to theaters (you can't fast forward at the theaters or skip scenes like you can with a DVD).

my $0.02....

Unless I'm sure it is something I want to see, I go to the video store and pick from what's on the racks there. I tend to rent more of the older films anyway. I like old versions of "Treasure Island" and "Moby Dick" and the old Bible epics like "Ben Hur" and "The Robe."

I'm not sure I really want to pay to be grossed out or offended. I ended up doing Netflix, so I could order what I want to see. I like old adventure films mostly and those grand epic films. No one makes a "Ben Hur" any more, really.

Some of the best relatively modern films were throw backs to old genres from a kinder age, IMHO.

Okay, I do intend to see the latest "Pirates" installment. The first one was silly and harmless and funny and although violent, it was highly fantastical and contained very little to gross out or offend in other than slapstick fashion. And as I mentioned awhile back, I was very much persuaded by the review in Our Sunday Visitor (they liked the first one - haven't seen the review for the current one yet).

I actually read Catholic papers' movie reviews, which rather surprised my husband for some reason. I always have. They influence what I pay to see in the theatre or to rent. I was suprised how many people I know who read them but who don't necessarily seem like they would. A lot of parents I know don't take their kids to the theatre, but they do rent videos. I imagine that has a lot to do with some video stores having more wholesome fare. Also, previews can be raunchy sometimes, even though they allege they are for all audiences.

Btw, I saw "Saw." I had no desire to see the sequel. I had been led to believe that it might actually be some sort of tense thriller. It was just gratuitous gore as far as I could tell. Nothing clever. Nothing that hadn't been done before better. Just a yukky, ugly movie.

By contrast, I liked the Nicole Kidman film called (I think) "The Others." It was fascinating. I was offended very little of it and when I figured out what was really going on, I was impressed by the cleverness. It was rather like an old "Twighlight Zone" episode, but a little deeper, and seemed to have some of the sad and tragic cleverness of the original and recently restored WW1 classic "J'Accuse." (Okay, "J'Accuse" was serious stuff and difficult to watch.)

OK I'll come out and admit it: I am a movie fanatic. I love to watch movies and I like to analyze them. Our youth group has movie nights where we analyze movies. We look for good things in films as well as "pretty poison" as Fr Tom calls it. Its really something great for young people to be able to look at a movie and get something out of it.
I just saw the Devil Wears Prada. I liked it because it is really all about choices. The main character (Anne Hathaway) is comstantly saying "I don't have a choice". It's about priorities. What is important to us? Money or out family?
The article touched on the movie Crash. I saw Crash and I think it truly deserved the Oscar. It made me feel somewhat uncomfortable while watching it but I think that might be because it struck a cord. Do we act that way unconcsiously? Sandra Bullock's characted really made an impact to me.
Even though it doesn't seem like it good movies are being made. I just saw a teaser trailer the other day for a movie that I am very excited about called "The Nativity Story". It is set for release on December 1, 2006. I will have to look into it more as the time of release comes closers but it looks good. It looks like the writer really put an effort into making a decent pic and really bring the audience into the story instead of just seeing it as a string of events.

-Katie g

You??? Never..... :rolleyes:

It really is sad how bad things have gotten. I'm almost wishing that God would crash the country...but fortunately that's a thought that entertains me for about two seconds, cause then things would be far worse than they are on the screen now adays.

Prayer's all we have.

And the language used in films . Profanity has become so prevasive that I recently read where Pres. Bush used the "s" word in a discussion w/ Tony Blair, and some Christian posters thought it was great: https://www.byzcath.org/bboard/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=003382
they even expressed a desire for thier hierarchs to speak that way.

David,

I went over that thread and did not read that anyone wished their hierarchs would speak that way.

I think that our posters were being refreshingly honest, and remembering our Lord's words: "he who is without sin, cast the first stone".

There are many curse words and sayings which are much more offensive in that they use our Lord's name in vain.

Getting back to this topic on Hollywood, I for one, am SICK of hearing Hollywood movie characters in just about ANY movie I see, use the holy name of Jesus Christ in a non-prayerful way!!!

In Christ,
Alice, Moderator

Alice,
That is a great point.Why don't more people get offended when people use the name of Christ in an unholy manner in the movies(or anywhere for that matter)? What if they misused the name of Mohammed or Buddah? It would raise such controversy but man Christians just let is slide.

-Katie g