Here are some new releases that are worth watching (or avoiding).

Footloose
This is a remake of the original film (which came out before some of us Staff members were even born) starring Kevin Bacon (Sebastian Shaw from X-Men: First Class). It talks about a teenage boy who comes to a small town and by the end of the movie has convinced the town to accept teens drinking, doing drugs, having sex, and breaking other laws. The remake, like the original, portrays religion as something that prevents people from living life and encourages parents to just let their kids do whatever they want as long as they are happy. It is no wonder that the Catholic News Service has rated this film O for morally offensive. In other words, Catholics regardless of age should avoid watching this film.

Real Steel
Hugh Jackman (aka Wolverine) plays a single guy whose world is turned upside down when a kid, who turns out to be the son he never knew he had, shows up at his doorstep. His occupation is in the field of robot wrestling (remote-controlled robots are made to wrestle each other). The kid develops this fascination of robot wrestling as well and starts competing with a robot himself. Despite using an older model robot, the film quickly turns into a David and Goliath story. It may be a Disney movie, but the Catholic News Service has rated it A-III for adults, although there is a footnote that says it is probably suitable for older teens.

Courageous
In contrast to the two films above, which show parents neglecting their duties to their families, Courageous is the exact opposite. This film tells the story of a Christian police officer, who commits himself to being a better father to his living children after his daughter dies unexpectedly. A few of his friends join in his pact to be better fathers and all are faced with challenges to the resolution during the course of the film. Even though one of the fathers leaves the Catholic Church, the underlying premise of the film makes it a good family film for teens and their parents. It (fittingly) is rated A-II for teens and adults by the Catholic News Service.

Casting Crowns also made a music video for a song in the film.

BUMP+ is a provocative new web series from Yellow Line Studio that follows the stories of three women facing unintended pregnancies.

Conflicted military wife Katie Donahue (Tina Schlapprizzi), fame-seeking sorority girl Hailey Kirsch (Lyndsey Doolen), and free-spirited mother of two Denise Jensen (Isabelle Giroux) have just one thing in common. They’re all expecting…unexpectedly. Each woman has her own reasons for accepting a reality show producer’s invitation to chronicle the very personal journey toward a decision about her pregnancy; but no one, including their physician, Dr. Patterson (Andray Johnson), is prepared for what happens when the cameras start rolling.

Check it out.

For most people, the things of God are not given priority, they do not impose themselves on us directly. And so the great majority of us tend to postpone them. First we do what seems urgent here and now. In the list of priorities God is often more or less at the end. We can always deal with that later, we tend to think. The Gospel tells us: God is the highest priority. If anything in our life deserves haste without delay, then, it is God’s work alone.

Today too there are simple and lowly souls who live very close to the Lord. They are, so to speak, his neighbors and they can easily go to see him. But most of us in the world today live far from Jesus Christ, the incarnate God who came to dwell amongst us. We live our lives by philosophies, amid worldly affairs and occupations that totally absorb us and are a great distance from the manger. In all kinds of ways, God has to prod us and reach out to us again and again, so that we can manage to escape from the muddle of our thoughts and activities and discover the way that leads to him.