Movie Review by Fr. Tom Condon, O.P.

I Can Only Imagine is a faith-based film that has become a surprise hit this spring. It tells the “story behind the story” of the song of the same name which became a popular hit for the Contemporary Christian music group MercyMe a few years ago.

The film tells the story of Bart Millard (J. Michael Finley), lead vocalist of MercyMe, who wrote the song as a tribute to his late father. Bart was raised in rural Texas by his father Arthur (Dennis Quaid) and his mother Adele. Arthur is angry and both physically and verbally abusive to Bart and Adele. When he was a young boy, Adele took Bart to a church summer camp to get him out of the house. Bart enjoyed the camp, where he met Shannon, whom he will eventually marry. When camp was over, Bart returned home and was shocked to find that Adele had left.
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Movie Review by Fr. Tom Condon, O.P.

Due to a very busy Lent and Easter season, I’ve missed some movies that have been released in the last month, including some faith-based films I wanted to see. I hope I can catch up with them!

Meanwhile, I did have the chance to see A Quiet Place, a suspenseful movie that has become a hit this spring. A Quiet Place begins with the scene of a family of five (Father, Mother, a hearing-impaired daughter and two young sons) scrounging through a deserted small town grocery store looking for food and supplies. The father (John Krasinski) puts his finger to his lips to remind the children to be silent. The audience soon learns that it is imperative that the family keep quiet or something terrible will happen. It doesn’t take long to find out what. Noise attracts terrible creatures, who look like aliens from the movie of the same name. These creatures, apparently blind, have wiped out all traces of civilization. This family looks to be the remnants of the human race, in this rural part of the U.S., if not beyond.
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Movie Review by Fr. Tom Condon, O.P.

I can’t remember any time in the last decade that a movie has opened with so much interest as the eagerly anticipated Black Panther. Not only has it been the subject of many media stories, but it has opened to great reviews, huge numbers at the box office, and long lines at the multiplexes. This is even more amazing for a movie opening in February, traditionally a slow month for movies.

Young director and co-writer Ryan Coogler must have felt an enormous weight taking on Black Panther. As the first African superhero, many from the entertainment industry followed every aspect of the production and were eager to see the finished product. If the movie was not a success, it would be a huge disappointment to many. As we now know, any fears about Black Panther’s success were unfounded.
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Movie Review by Fr. Tom Condon, O.P.

The Greatest Showman is a hit from the Christmas season, still going strong into February, quite unusual for a movie today, in which most are in and out of theaters in a few weeks. The movie is a musical biography of the 19^th Century American showman P.T. Barnum, played by Hugh Jackman. Most notably, Barnum is credited with creating the modern day circus, with animal acts, acrobats, trapeze artists, and side show acts like General Tom Thumb, the smallest man on earth, and a bearded lady.
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Movie Review by Fr. Tom Condon, O.P.

The Post is the new newspaper drama directed by Steven Spielberg. It takes place in 1971, when Richard Nixon was President and the U.S. was involved in the increasingly unpopular Vietnam War.
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