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One True Thing’s False Message
BY John Prizer Mother-daughter melodrama presents assisted suicide as a noble choice
October 4-10, 1998 Issue 
The culture of death is slowly becoming mainstream. An example is the quiet embrace of pro-suicide, pro-euthanasia attitudes in mass entertainment. Only a few movies or television shows choose this kind of material for their primary subject matter. More insidious are those productions whose... READ MORE
The Wonderful Wizardry of OZ
BY John Prizer All ages identify with the life lessons learned by Dorothy and friends
September 27-October 3, 1998 Issue
Childhood is remembered as a time of innocence and trust. But it's also filled with primal fears, often triggered by the people and events of ordinary life. As we grow up, we learn not to be so afraid of what seem to be small things. Yet, at the same time we still want to retain the wide-eyed,... READ MORE
A Little Guy with Big Faith
BY John Prizer Simon Birch loves God, but not organized religion
September 27-October 3, 1998 Issue
Does God have a plan for each of us? If so, how can we discern it and live accordingly?
John Irving's 1989 novel, A Prayer for Owen Meany, explores these questions in depth, mixing black comedy with heart-rending tragedy in a universe peopled with outsiders and grotesques. Simon Birch is the... READ MORE
Struggling to Build Paradise on Earth
BY John Prizer The Mission offers one of the best depictions of Christian redemption ever filmed but is marred by its 'liberation theology'bias.
September 20-26, 1998 Issue
The Church is the hands and feet of Christ on earth. Her mission is to preach the Gospel and do good works. The Church is also an institution in the real world, and at times her organizational work clashes with her spiritual goals.
The Mission, winner of the 1986 Cannes Film Festival's highest... READ MORE
Big Questions, Empty Answers
BY John Prizer Cynicism undercuts the intriguing themes raised in Return to Paradise
September 20-26, 1998 Issue
Even drug-taking hedonists have souls, and sometimes they're given a chance to redeem themselves although the price to be paid may be steeper than they expect.
Return to Paradise, loosely based on the 1990 French film Force Majeure, shows three young men of college age being put to the test. Bad... READ MORE
A Farewell to Princes
BY John Prizer
September 13-19, 1998 Issue
Luchino Visconti's 1963 classic, The Leopard, captures the end of a way of life in Sicily
The goal of most revolutions is the removal of a ruling class to achieve the economic and social justice missing from the existing political order. But often after all the bloodletting, the result is merely... READ MORE
Shard of Light in the City of Glitter
BY John Prizer
September 13-19, 1998 Issue
A big-budget animated film on Moses raises hopes for the good that popular culture might do
HOLLYWOOD—The Christian press is usually treated as the poor relation of the American media. Barely acknowledged by its mainstream secular counterparts, its product is largely unknown even to people of faith... READ MORE
A Post-Feminist Cinderella for Our Times
BY John Prizer
August 30-September 5, 1998 Issue
Despite its politically correct trappings, Ever After still casts a charming spell
Considering current Hollywood trends, it finally had to happen: a politically correct Cinderella. After Disney perfected this revisionist type of storytelling in its animated versions of classic folk tales with... READ MORE
A Post-Feminist Cinderella for Our Times
BY John Prizer
August 30-September 5, 1998 Issue
Despite its politically correct trappings, Ever After still casts a charming spell
Considering current Hollywood trends, it finally had to happen: a politically correct Cinderella. After Disney perfected this revisionist type of storytelling in its animated versions of classic folk tales with... READ MORE
Seeds of Faith in Surprising Places
BY John Prizer In Fellini's 8 1/2, memories & dreams help a film director through his spiritual crisis
August 23-29, 1998 Issue
Unfortunately, most 20th-century artists aren't Christian, and their work has little to do with issues of faith. But a small number of creative figures were so touched by religion during their formative years that they can't keep away from the subject even though as adults they're not practicing... READ MORE
A Thief of Hearts and Goods
BY John Prizer The tragic story of a mother, a child, and a criminal symbolizes the collective ravages of communism on a people
August 23-29, 1998 Issue
There's a strong tendency in much of the media and the academy to downplay the moral stakes of the Cold War and to assume that the Soviet Union wasn't an “evil empire” after all. The fashionable buzz word is “moral equivalency,” which suggests that both sides were equally at fault and that American... READ MORE
The Power of a Holy Man’s Words and Deeds
BY John Prizer Richard Attenborough's epic Gandhi explores the private life and public impact of a champion of non-violence
August 16-22, 1998 Issue
Throughout history many leaders have tried to fuse politics and spirituality to accomplish their goals. Few have been as successful as India's Mahatma Gandhi, a practicing Hindu. Both his methods and his way of life have become an inspiration to Christian activists. America's civil rights movement,... READ MORE
Zorro Rides Again
BY John Prizer Latest version of screen hero's exploits wins the day with self- deprecating humor and old-fashioned derring-do
August 16-22, 1998 Issue
Opposition to political oppression is often expressed through banditry when legitimate dissent or organized rebellion isn't possible. Through these processes, outlaws can become popular heroes, and their exploits mythologized for succeeding generations.
Since the beginning of recorded history,... READ MORE
Faith and Superstition in the Time of the Plague
BY John Prizer Ingmar Bergman's classicThe Seventh Seal wrestles with questions of the end times
August 09-15, 1998 Issue
In times of great social turmoil or natural catastrophe, some people begin to believe they are living in the end times. Orthodox beliefs are set aside, and superstitions and the exploitation of religious fears blossom.
At different periods throughout the Middle Ages, the plague or “black death”... READ MORE
World WarII Meets the Hollywood Hype Machine
BY John Prizer The ultra-violent Saving Private Ryan is noteworthy, but it's not all that Spielberg and the media say it is
August 09-15, 1998 Issue
The Hollywood hype machine is dangerous. Expectations can be raised so high that even a good movie can seem to fall short if it fails to deliver on much promoted promises. With popcorn blockbusters like Godzilla, Deep Impact, and Armageddon, it doesn't matter. They were always more marketing... READ MORE
An Unusual Look Behind Enemy Lines
BY John Prizer La Grande Illusion sizes up war and the virtue of great men
July 12, 1998 Issue
Throughout history, warriors have usually been part of the ruling class. Most of Europe's pre-World War I nobility held their positions through blood descent from medieval war-lords. Their primary virtues were honor and courage. But centuries of wealth and privilege led them to confuse morality... READ MORE
Seduced by The South and by Scarlett
BY John Prizer The most successful movie of all time is re-released on the silver screen
July 12, 1998 Issue
The continuing hold of the pre-Civil War South on our collective unconscious is puzzling. That society's prosperity was created by a great evil—slave labor—which President Abraham Lincoln, among others, described as a curse upon our land.
Yet, the legend persists that it was a culture based upon... READ MORE
Silent Triumph of the Human Spirit
BY John Prizer Even without sound, Fritz Lang's classic Metropolis remains a haunting story of man vs. machine
July 5-11, 1998 Issue
Contemporary film culture often ignores silent-movie masterpieces. Shamefully, the recent American Film Institute poll of the 100 best movies included only three. The Vatican's list is better. Among the silents it recommends is the 1926 science-fiction classic, Metropolis.
The film's breath-taking... READ MORE
Alien Fascination for the Masses
BY John Prizer A big-screen-sized dose of paranoia to thrill X-Files fanatics
July 5-11, 1998 Issue
TV series have often been good vehicles for explorations of the paranormal. Episodes on the subject from classic shows as Outer Limits and The Twilight Zone still air regularly, decades after they first appeared. The X-Files, currently in its fifth year on prime time, has developed both a cult and... READ MORE
Running for God’s Greater Glory
BY John Prizer Chariots of Fire delves deeply into the souls of competitors on the track
June 21-27, 1998 Issue
Are sports about winning, or about how well you play the game? Probably both, but nowadays it's a billion-dollar international enterprise whose champions often become celebrity millionaires. Victory is held up as the only virtue, and losing is seen as a character flaw.
To address these issues,... READ MORE
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