This article contains mild spoilers for "The Exorcist: Believer."
In William Friedkin's 1973 adaptation of William Peter Blatty's "The Exorcist," the film opens not on the possession of 12-year-old Regan MacNeil, but on Catholic priest and archaeologist Father Merrin (Max von Sydow), who is on a dig in Northern Iraq. He comes across a medallion of Saint Joseph, as well as an idol representing the demon Pazuzu. Fans of the film "The Exorcist II: The Heretic" will know that this is representative of the demon that will later possess Regan. According to Babylonian and Assyrian myth, Pazuzu is a wind demon, and his presence in the opening indicates that Merrin has dealt with Pazuzu before.
But with this desert setting, this scene also implies that there's something foreign — other, about this statue and medallion. Almost as if the intrusion of artifacts from the Middle East is truly responsible for...
In William Friedkin's 1973 adaptation of William Peter Blatty's "The Exorcist," the film opens not on the possession of 12-year-old Regan MacNeil, but on Catholic priest and archaeologist Father Merrin (Max von Sydow), who is on a dig in Northern Iraq. He comes across a medallion of Saint Joseph, as well as an idol representing the demon Pazuzu. Fans of the film "The Exorcist II: The Heretic" will know that this is representative of the demon that will later possess Regan. According to Babylonian and Assyrian myth, Pazuzu is a wind demon, and his presence in the opening indicates that Merrin has dealt with Pazuzu before.
But with this desert setting, this scene also implies that there's something foreign — other, about this statue and medallion. Almost as if the intrusion of artifacts from the Middle East is truly responsible for...
- 10/6/2023
- by BJ Colangelo
- Slash Film
“Everything changed after St Joseph came” is a line you can perhaps expect from a priest, but not from an owner of one of the quirkiest manufactures in the Philippines. Unless you are talking to the boss of Tml Holy Crafts, a company devoted to the production of statues and Christian memorabilia. Thanks to Pope Francis’ public comments and admiration, various representations of St Joseph (3 apiece) were the craze of the recent years, and workers at Tml were swamped with high-volume orders of the saint’s figurines. In “Divine Factory”, Joseph Mangat, a Filipino American director, takes a look behind the inner workings of the business, and witnesses how the sacred mixes with the profane behind the walls of the eponymous factory. Although the starting premise feels quite confrontational, the end product is an observational documentary which decides not to go for the easiest of blows. It still lacks, however,...
- 10/29/2022
- by Olek Młyński
- AsianMoviePulse
Film editor Raul Davalos, whose work on TV’s Empire and such films as Benny & Joon and Dreamcatcher was widely respected, has died. He was 62 and passed away at Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, CA after being diagnosed with a brain tumor in December. His family confirmed the death. Davalos and wife Cindy Fret were both employed on Empire since the show’s 2015 debut. They had met in 2003 and were to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary on New Year’s Eve. Fret…...
- 10/27/2017
- Deadline
Film editor Raul Davalos, whose work on TV’s Empire and such films as Benny & Joon and Dreamcatcher was widely respected, has died. He was 62 and passed away at Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, CA after being diagnosed with a brain tumor in December. His family confirmed the death. Davalos and wife Cindy Fret were both employed on Empire since the show’s 2015 debut. They had met in 2003 and were to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary on New Year’s Eve. Fret…...
- 10/27/2017
- Deadline TV
D. Dominick Lombardi: Saints, Sinners, and the Collective Unconscious (2014-2017) Hampden Gallery University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Ma
Saints, Sinners, and the Collective Unconscious is riveting. Mr. Lombardi is an artist with an intimate understanding of history in regard to religion and popular culture. After careful viewing of the 30 works in the exhibition, I was compelled to research the titles of the works because they seemed to hold the key to unlocking Lombardi’s intentions. I focused on the works in the Saints section of the exhibition because I found their cryptic iconography most intriguing. The research of the saints depicted in Lombardi’s work opened up a new route for me to access the works’ meaning.
Saints Francis of Paola (2016-2017)
Lombardi started this piece (below) in 1964 when he was first getting into painting as a ten-year-old boy. He came back to it fifty years later. He first painted...
Saints, Sinners, and the Collective Unconscious is riveting. Mr. Lombardi is an artist with an intimate understanding of history in regard to religion and popular culture. After careful viewing of the 30 works in the exhibition, I was compelled to research the titles of the works because they seemed to hold the key to unlocking Lombardi’s intentions. I focused on the works in the Saints section of the exhibition because I found their cryptic iconography most intriguing. The research of the saints depicted in Lombardi’s work opened up a new route for me to access the works’ meaning.
Saints Francis of Paola (2016-2017)
Lombardi started this piece (below) in 1964 when he was first getting into painting as a ten-year-old boy. He came back to it fifty years later. He first painted...
- 9/29/2017
- by Matt Oliver
- www.culturecatch.com
Just minutes after Erica and Niv Davidovich hopped into the back of their Uber ride on Friday night, a new passenger and member of the family would soon be joining them.
When Erica went into labor last week in Los Angeles, the couple requested an Uber because they did not want to drive on the Jewish Sabbath. According to Kabc, their driver, Raymond Telles, only made it about a mile and a half before Erica screamed, “Call 911 or something!”
Turns out, the baby wasn’t waiting for the hospital.
Telles pulled in front of a grocery store in the...
When Erica went into labor last week in Los Angeles, the couple requested an Uber because they did not want to drive on the Jewish Sabbath. According to Kabc, their driver, Raymond Telles, only made it about a mile and a half before Erica screamed, “Call 911 or something!”
Turns out, the baby wasn’t waiting for the hospital.
Telles pulled in front of a grocery store in the...
- 7/18/2017
- by Jason Duaine Hahn
- PEOPLE.com
Harry Archinal, who served as president of Buena Vista International, the foreign distribution arm of the Walt Disney Studios, for nearly two decades, has died. He was 88.
Archinal died Saturday from natural causes at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, a Disney spokesman announced.
A native of Brooklyn, Archinal was promoted to president of Buena Vista International in 1972 and remained in the position until he retired from the company on Jan. 1, 1988. During his 33 years with Disney, he became a pioneer in the world of international film distribution and a central figure in establishing the company's...
Archinal died Saturday from natural causes at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, a Disney spokesman announced.
A native of Brooklyn, Archinal was promoted to president of Buena Vista International in 1972 and remained in the position until he retired from the company on Jan. 1, 1988. During his 33 years with Disney, he became a pioneer in the world of international film distribution and a central figure in establishing the company's...
- 5/17/2017
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Missouri nurse Rachel Adrian welcomed a healthy baby boy on Thursday — while her husband, a Kurdish man from northern Iraq, remains overseas due to President Donald Trump‘s controversial executive order banning entry into the U.S. from seven predominately Muslim countries.
Hoger Ameen met his son Aland on Skype shortly after Adrian gave birth, with her mother by her side, in Saint Joseph, Missouri, at 10:59 p.m.
Ameen says it was painful being apart from his wife for an occasion that should have been “the happiest moment” of his life.
“I have a message for my son: Aland,...
Hoger Ameen met his son Aland on Skype shortly after Adrian gave birth, with her mother by her side, in Saint Joseph, Missouri, at 10:59 p.m.
Ameen says it was painful being apart from his wife for an occasion that should have been “the happiest moment” of his life.
“I have a message for my son: Aland,...
- 2/3/2017
- by Rose Minutaglio
- PEOPLE.com
Rachel Adrian is expected to give birth to her first child on Thursday, but due to President Trump’s controversial executive order banning entry into the U.S. from seven predominantly Muslim countries, she will likely have her baby without her husband, a Kurdish man from northern Iraq, by her side.
Adrian met Hoger Ameen in Iraq three years ago when she moved there to do relief work. She ran into Ameen, a telecommunications specialist, at an interdenominational church and married him the following year. The couple, both 29, settled down temporarily in Iraq and began applying for a spousal visa.
Adrian met Hoger Ameen in Iraq three years ago when she moved there to do relief work. She ran into Ameen, a telecommunications specialist, at an interdenominational church and married him the following year. The couple, both 29, settled down temporarily in Iraq and began applying for a spousal visa.
- 1/30/2017
- by Rose Minutaglio
- PEOPLE.com
Daliah Lavi had an odd career, when you think about it: ballet student, German pop singer, Israeli soldier and international film star, maybe best known for Casino Royale (the silly one). In 1963 she got the living crap beat out of her in two films, Mario Bava's The Whip and the Body, a ripe slice of S&M gothic horror with Christopher Lee as a flagellating phantom (maybe), and Brunello Rondi's Il demonio (The Demon), which is an even weirder piece of work.Rondi also had an odd career: an intellectual who provided regular screenwriting services for Fellini (La dolce vita, 8 1/2, Satyricon), his directing career slid rapidly into exploitation movies, crime to gialli to porno, which he appears to have attempted to imbue with some social commentary, with who knows what success? Il demonio is the first of his directorial efforts I've seen.Rondi plunges us into a strange world,...
- 4/28/2016
- MUBI
In the one-stoplight rural town of Pewamo, Michigan (population 475), four 7-year-olds have formed an unusual bond that will likely stay with them for the rest of their lives. What are the odds, their first-grade teacher at Saint Joseph School wonders, that one-third of her 13 students fought incredible obstacles to live and thrive before they all ended up in the same classroom? "It really is a precious gift to witness each day when they walk into the classroom ready to learn and interact," Connie Warcinsky, who has taught for 16 years at the Catholic school, tells People. "They truly are 'miracle children.
- 4/12/2016
- by Cathy Free, @cathyjfree
- PEOPLE.com
In the one-stoplight rural town of Pewamo, Michigan (population 475), four 7-year-olds have formed an unusual bond that will likely stay with them for the rest of their lives. What are the odds, their first-grade teacher at Saint Joseph School wonders, that one-third of her 13 students fought incredible obstacles to live and thrive before they all ended up in the same classroom? "It really is a precious gift to witness each day when they walk into the classroom ready to learn and interact," Connie Warcinsky, who has taught for 16 years at the Catholic school, tells People. "They truly are 'miracle children.
- 4/12/2016
- by Cathy Free, @cathyjfree
- PEOPLE.com
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