MOVIE: Conclave (2024)

by benmweilertNo Comments
ConclaveYear: 2024Rating: PGLength: 120 minutes / 2.00 hours While I’m not Catholic myself, the process of selecting a new pope is fascinating. There’s so much secrecy behind the event that it’s difficult to know what goes on behind closed doors since all the public really sees is either black or white smoke outside the Vatican. I initially thought little this film until it was nominated for Best Picture, but once I saw it, Conclave (2024) became one of my favorites for the year, partly because it perfectly captures similar political turmoil elsewhere in the world. Perhaps my love of Conclave comes from the pageantry of the whole thing. It’s all serious and ceremony, but the little cracks in the façade start to appear as scandals and twists are revealed to the audience. Considering all the drama around the Catholic Church (Spotlight (2015) or Doubt (2008) anyone?), I was glad to see this movie address many of the issues that currently challenge this...
Read More

MOVIE: Doubt (2008)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Doubt Year: 2008 Rating: PG-13 Length: 104 minutes / 1.73 hours Years before Spotlight (2015) won the Oscar for Best Picture, Doubt (2008) took a hard look at the scandals that have been in the Catholic Church for some time and presented a gripping parable of gossip versus evidence. Aside from this central point, I found Doubt to be a fantastic movie filled with contrasts. The differences between male and female leaders in the Church only heightened the fundamental conflict between Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman’s characters. Add to this the hardline stance of Streep’s Sister Aloysius, who has no flexibility for rules that aren’t actually in the Bible, and the result is an incredible look into changing times. Aside from Streep and Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis also gave superb performances full of raw and heartfelt emotion. In fact, I’d recommend everyone watch this film just for the career-defining roles of these individuals. Even among these, the intense ambiguity involved with Doubt’s...
Read More

MOVIE: Spotlight (2015)

by benmweilert1 Comment
Spotlight Year: 2015 Rating: R Length: 128 minutes / 2.13 hours For many years, the running joke about the movies that have won the Best Picture Oscar is that they only won because another film should have won years prior. Spotlight (2015) is this generation's All the President's Men (1976) in that it is an excellent film about investigative journalism that broke open a huge cover-up, changing the world forever. Both films deserved to be Best Picture, but Spotlight manages to take an uncomfortable subject and be frank and open about the problems that we still see in today's society. Since most of the movie is comprised of uncovering the truth behind the sexual abuse scandals in the Catholic Church, it's surprising how gripping and well-paced the film ends up being. Part of the genius of this film is the high-energy dedication these four journalists have in uncovering the terrifying truths that had been lurking in the shadows for decades. While such a subject could easily create a...
Read More