HELL BURNS OFFICIAL

In case you're thinking--as I was--that you pretty much know what the film "The Wife" is all about? You kind of do and kind of don't. If you think it's about a woman who has devoted her whole life to her husband while she stays in the background and then has regrets, you're half right. Glenn Close is absolute perfection in the role of an older woman whose husband has just been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Jonathan Pryce is sterling in all his irresponsible despicableness. The opening scene is the white-haired couple canoodling in bed, so you know their relationship is strong and sweet. So why the strange look on the wife's face when she listens in on the phone call announcing the prestigious award? The second wrinkle in the blissful afterglow of the jubilant news is the adult son, himself an aspiring writer, being patronized and rebuffed by the father he idolizes. In fact, it doesn't take long for us to realize that this Nobel awardee is a b...

Oscar-nominated for Best Picture, "Green Book" is a feel-good, road-trip, buddy movie. Or is it? Someone recently commented: "'Green Book' isn't saying as much as it thinks it is"--or maybe what it's saying is even worse than vapid. But first, my first impressions watching the film. The premise is delicious, of course. An uncouth, Italian-American New York bouncer becomes a chauffeur for a highly-cultured, fastidious African-American genius pianist in the 1960's. But that's not all. They're going on tour in the Deep South. It's the mismatched Odd Couple among wolves--a spin on the "fish out of water" story. Oh, and the title "Green Book" is apt. There was actually a book for "Negro motorists" telling them what they could and couldn't do, where they could and couldn't eat and sleep in the South. I think this title, this chilling and pathetic "little" piece of history is a bigger part of t...

My new Instagram account is: @sisterhelenaburns (@srhelenaburns was hacked)

...from a Caps fan. (I'm a Blackhawks fan.) Ooops! TWEEEEET! Ovi is high-sticking again! (See what I did there?)

I will be in #Milwaukee this Thursday, January 10, at the "Gigs, Geeks & Gods" Conference (Church & Media Literacy, basically). Come on down! https://www. archmil.org/G3/keynote.htm  

#Toronto I will be speaking on "The Feminine Genius" at St. Benedict Church on Kipling http://www. stbenedicts.ca /   http://www. CatholicMomsGroup.com   @ILoveMyCatholic Tues night, January 8! Mass at 7:30, Rosary at 8pm followed by talk. A small display of books on the topic as well! Join us!