On Food & Culture
“We Are Sent: Eucharist And Our Living Amen” is a 17 minute video that features testimonials of a Catholic community in Minneapolis, tellling how important the Mass is for them. These Catholics are articulate. The simply produced video is just the right way to show […]
The bilingual education debate is the subject of “The Choosers” which will screen at Rice Cinema this Saturday, February 4, 2006 at 2 pm. It is made by Rafael Salaberry, a linguistics professor at Rice University. Grassroots productions like this one are becoming more “normal” […]
Last night I saw a wonderful documentary, “Maid In America” after proscratinating about it for weeks. Generally, I don’t like PBS films on Latina subjects because they are mostly depressing and circular in their vision. Although I know they are not all like that, nevertheless […]
Showtime aired “Our Fathers” last night. A badly acted, hurried production, nonetheless I’m glad Showtime did it. The bright exceptions are superb acting jobs by Christopher Plummer and Brian Denehy. The rest of it was a sloppy production. It does, however, remind us of the […]
Last night I saw “Santitos,” finally. It was so funny that I roared aloud in my chair. I’ve not laughed that hard in years, and I’m still happy over it. I’ve not seen the English subtitles so I don’t know if the humor translates well. […]
Last monday I saw “Tarnation” at the MFAH here in Houston. Jonathan Caouette, the filmmaker introduced the film and took questions following the screening. The film is a personal documentary about Jonathan’s violent and tormented life as he coped with growing up with trouble on […]
Am serving on the Signis Jury at the San Sebastian Film Festival and watching lots and lots of films. The week started off slowly with not much that interested me. Woody Allen did his world premiere of Melinda and Melinda. yawn. Just now i saw […]
Here’s a beautiful film, visually lush, sparse and gritty in parts. It probes death and forgiveness, revenge and remorse. “21 Grams” would be great for inclusion in church retreats. Make sure you have very good sound equipment so you can enjoy the score that lends […]
Technical notes: a relatively inexpensive way to capture digital video and format it for DVD is the Sonic Foundry Vegas and DVD Architect combination. Part of Sony Digital pictures, this software, Vegas, is making incursions into the Adobe Premiere market. Sonic Foundry is offering appealing […]
I saw Baraka, (1992, Ron Fricke), this weekend on my large screen/surround sound system. I recommend it for classroom use, after having been told by Alberto P�gola that he has been using it in his classes at the Catholic University in Montevideo. It can be […]