Voices
Richard A. Blake, S.J., served as managing editor and executive editor of America and director of the Catholic Book Club, as well as America's regular film reviewer for many decades. He is the author of Afterimage: The Indelible Catholic Imagination of Six American Filmmakers, among other books.
Arts & CultureVantage Point
America’s film editor reviews “The Godfather,” a film he thought too long but otherwise a remarkable movie by a 33-year-old Francis Ford Coppola.
FaithVantage Point
From 1977: How Catholic journals covered the perilous journey of Jack and Jill up that treacherous hill in 1977.
Books
Yes, Peter O’Toole did have a life after “Lawrence of Arabia.”
Film
"In short, it is the story of a media manipulator who strove to turn his celebrity into elective office. Draw what parallels you may."
Arts & CultureVantage Point
"Star Wars" is original and surprising. It is witty, not only in its comic dialogue, but in its ability to spoof itself and the science-fiction genre without going for the cheap laugh.
This year marks the centennial of D. W. Griffith’s masterpiece, “The Birth of a Nation.” Who cares? Or who should? After all, it’s really only an embarrassing antique. Film historians have long extolled its artistic innovation as the foundation of the modern motion picture. S
A selection of reviews of Woody Allen's films from former America film critic and Allen biographer, Richard A. Blake, S.J.