Pauline Media Studies

Film & TV Reviews

Examined through diverse lenses – human, artistic, religious

Ad Astra – Reaching Beyond or Within?

At the Venice Film Festival Ad Astra was a hit, not because of the film necessarily but because Brad...

Joker – The Origin of Evil

When I saw Joker at its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival at the beginning of September, it...

The Laundromat – And the Rich Get Richer

When Netflix’s film The Laudromat premiered at the Venice Film Festival people cheered, mainly because that Festival, contrary to...

Overcomer – Identity in Christ

Faith-based films have been making a comeback since Mel Gibson directed “Passion of the Christ” back in 2004. While...

Photograph – Openness to Wonder

Rafi (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) works hard to get by. He takes pictures at the Gateway of India in Mumbai for...

The Peanut Butter Falcon – Wounded Healers

The new indie film, “The Peanut Butter Falcon,” qualifies, at least in my book, as one of the most...

Dora and The Lost City of Gold – The Real Treasure

If you groan at the thought of sitting through the new film, “Dora and the Lost City of Gold,”...

The Farewell – The Importance of Family

Family. Our place of origins and the place where love and hate, communion and division are played out in...

Where’d You Go, Bernadette – Facing Failure

Based on the 2012 best-seller by Maria Semple, “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” tells the story of Bernadette Fox (Cate...

Spider-Man Far From Home – Finding Your Courage

Yes, it’s another film from the Marvel Cinematic Universe come to entice us to drop our money at the...

The Lion King returns with stunning visual realism

Almost anyone above the age of five has seen Disney’s 1994 original animated feature film or more recently, thousands...

Toy Story 4 – Follow Your Inner Voice

Kudos to Pixar for making yet another film that satisfies on so many levels with “Toy Story 4.” While...