The new BBC Emma

My four daughters and I enjoyed hours of watching the new BBC Emma these past few days. It is excellent! Faithful to Jane Austen's work, filmed in gorgeous photography, settings and costumes. The acting is impeccable and we just loved the actress who plays the main part--as well as her excellent Mr. Knightly, likeable, a man of integrity, generosity and nobility of soul.

Don't miss it! I have compared the two other versions available in this post.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, trailer

This is my personal favorite of the Narnia books... can't tell much about the quality of the literary adaptation from the trailer.

Don Matteo, priest-detective TV series on DVD

Don Matteo, Italian production for television, 1999-2000. Read about it on Ignatius Press page and the positive customer reviews on Amazon.

Does anyone remember the Trinity movies? My family loved those when I was a teenager... I remember Mother laughing so much. Terence Hill was the main actor of those Western films, and he is back as a good Catholic priest in Don Matteo. Our whole family has been watching one episode at a time and we love it!

The priest has a funny housekeeper, and two policemen-sidekicks who make my kids laugh out loud! Together, and with Don Matteo's loving heart, good Catholic morals and excellent detective skills, they solve various interesting murder mysteries. Last night we watched Murder in the Library, where Don Matteo is called to Rome to solve a murder of a scripture scholar, all filmed in the Vatican!

This is an Italian production and it is not dubbed, but the subtitles are well-done and my kids can handle them well. We were all saying Italian expressions by the end of the show! Enjoy! Available from Ignatius Press, Amazon or Netflix.

The Catholicism Project New Trailer

Coming soon to a DVD or TV station near you!


Fr. Robert Barron's Word On Fire - The Catholicism Project New Trailer

Black History Month and "Sounder"

Last year, I posted my family's favorite movie about Abraham Lincoln. This year, I thought it worth mentioning "Sounder" as a good family choice for Black History month and related unit studies on the Civil War or civil rights. Disney produced this movie in 1972, and it's a heart-tugging story about the Morgans, a strong family of Black sharecroppers in 1933. The father is convicted of stealing to feed his family and sent to a prison camp. The mother sends the oldest son, who is about 11 years old, to visit his father, and the movie is about that trip--with the dog, of course! Check the library and NetFlix.

The Mark of Zorro

We rented a new DVD copy of the original Zorro... a fun family movie, with plenty of Catholic references, and a very nice quality copy!

Cranford

Sorry to post mid-way through, but PBS is airing a new sequel to "Cranford" last Sunday and this Sunday (Jan. 10 & 17, 2010).



The original "Cranford" DVD is a compilation of stories from three books by Elizabeth Gaskell, a Victorian novelist: Cranford, Mr Harrison's Confessions, and My Lady Ludlow. Everyone will enjoy the humorous vignettes from an 1840s British town near Manchester, and its widows who fear such things as the modern progress of the railway as much they fear offending any one's gentility or accidentally exposing their poverty. Of course, we love Dame Judi Dench and her character Miss Matty, whose gentleness brings out the best in her neighbors. You might say she inspires everyone to avoid the near occasions of sin.