movie reviews

‘Wonder Woman’: A Win at the Box Office and for Equality

There Be Dragons

For some, it will not be possible to separate the movie There Be Dragons from their views about Opus Dei, as it tells the story of that organization’s founder, St. Josemaría Escrivá. The majority of viewers, though — whose only awareness of Opus Dei is the absurd fictional albino killer monk in Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code — will find an inspiring and moving, if at times melodramatic and muddy, film about forgiveness and the choices people make in tough times.

Soul Surfer

Bethany Hamilton never really saw the 14-foot tiger shark that bit off her arm in the Hawaiian waters. In the recreation of that scene in Soul Surfer, a film that follows the incident and its aftermath, the viewers don’t see much of the animal either. Which is fine. Because although the way in which the now-nationally-ranked surfer lost her arm in 2003 at the age of 13 is terrifying, it is, in many ways, the least interesting part of her story. Far more engrossing and inspiring are the role of faith in her recovery, the series of physical struggles, and the family tensions that followed, all of which are captured successfully — for the most part — in Soul Surfer.

Of Gods and Men

The first images of the monks’ daily lives in Of Gods and Men are peaceful ones: They tend to gardens, pour jars of golden honey,…