A large part of the inspiration for, and popularity of, a certain subgenre of the Gothic novel dealing with unseemly church life can be traced to the ever-reliable anti-Catholic prejudices of the British public from the Reformation onward. Such page turners depict hidden ecclesiastical corruption and other dark secrets with gusto.
An understated tone bolsters the impact of the fact-based drama "One Life" (Bleecker Street). The educational value and formative potential of the film's uplifting story, a lesser-known chapter in the history of the Holocaust, moreover, make it probably acceptable for older teens, despite some off-color vocabulary in the script.
The feel-good elements of a sports movie and a pet bonding tale are mingled in director Simon Cellan Jones' fact-based drama "Arthur the King" (Lionsgate). The combination results in a mildly diverting movie that might have been especially appealing to athletic-minded teens were it not for an excess of vulgar dialogue in the script.
The non-Judeo-Christian philosophical ideas that weighed down its immediate predecessor have mostly been excised from "Kung Fu Panda 4" (Universal). As a result, all but the smallest, most easily frightened moviegoers can patronize director Mike Mitchell's good-hearted, but not especially memorable, production.
If its 2021 predecessor was a fine film, "Dune: Part Two" (Warner Bros.) is nothing short of a knockout. While director and co-writer Denis Villeneuve is firing on all cylinders aesthetically, however, this continuation of the franchise includes a few morally problematic ingredients that were absent from the original.
In 1946, less than 30 years after her death, aged 67, Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini was canonized by Pope Pius XII. Four years later, she was named the patron saint of immigrants. To judge by the luminous profile "Cabrini" (Angel Studios), however, she might just as easily be regarded as the patroness of the indomitable.
Every year, in the run-up to her Dec. 12 feast day, more than 10 million pilgrims flock to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City. The uplifting documentary "Guadalupe: Mother of Humanity" (Goya) provides viewers with an insight into the background of this remarkable phenomenon.