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The Nativity Story Hollywood, at least, has declared a truce in the Christmas wars. The Nativity Story is a pious, reverent, if languorous, account of the birth of Jesus, culled from the gospels of Matthew and Luke, and has enjoyed generally good reviews from the mainstream media (if not the best opening-weekend box office).The performances are dignified. The language is generic biblical-epic-speak, in which No Contraction Shall Pass My Lips, O Lord, Lest the Audience Think I Am Speaking English. The angels are suitably translucent. The Three Wise Men provide comic relief—and are very wise, indeed, as one of them...

CINCINNATI, Ohio (St. Anthony Messenger) – If you ask first-time film producer Marty Bowen what he would most like to see happen as a result of New Line Cinema’s “The Nativity Story,” he will say quite candidly and with characteristic enthusiasm: “I would like even the nonbeliever who sees it to be touched. I would like it to be a film my sister will take her kids to see, and one that her children will take their kids to see one day. I hope it will be a classic that theaters will show every year because of its authenticity, because...

'The Nativity Story' Movie Problematic for Catholics, "Unsuitable" for Young ChildrenBy John-Henry Westen NEW YORK, December 4, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A review of New Line Cinema's The Nativity story by Fr. Angelo Mary Geiger of the Franciscans of the Immaculate in the United States, points out that the film, which opened December 1, misinterprets scripture from a Catholic perspective. While Fr. Geiger admits that he found the film is "in general, to be a pious and reverential presentation of the Christmas mystery." He adds however, that "not only does the movie get the Virgin Birth wrong, it thoroughly Protestantizes its...

The Christkindl, or Christmas Fairy, is welcome at a Christmas festival in Chicago. So is Santa Claus. But a film about the birth of Jesus has provoked city officials to lower the boom. Chicago officials deny actually ordering Christkindlmarket officials to cancel an exhibit of “The Nativity Story.” They just sort of asked them to dump it, kind of the way Da Bears ask an opposing runner to gently drop to the turf. Dose Bears would be embarrassed, however, by the sheer cowardice and political correctness on display this week in Chicago’s Daley Plaza. Here’s what happened. Christkindlmarket, based on...

Biased reviews or just a bad movie? The wife and I were thinking about seeing "The Navity" this weekend. This morning going to RottenTomatoes.com, I find its gotton a 26% out of 100% fresh or good rating. My question is it a fair assessment or liberal bias against Christianity? Has anyone seen early showing of this movie?

Are you ready for “The Passion of the Christ: The Prequel”? The self-explanatory “The Nativity Story” arrives at local theaters in time for the holidays, and it’s a sweet, live-action version of an elementary-school Christmas pageant. The big story behind the scenes is that Australian Keisha Castle-Hughes, this film’s Blessed Virgin, is pregnant in real life at age 16, which is the kind of publicity money can’t buy. As Mary, she is young, strong and vulnerable, but her performance is a bit of a blank slate. The action begins with a paranoid Herod ordering the murder of all Hebrew first-born...

It’s that time of year again: time to scrub the public square clean of any evidence of Christmas—from baby Jesus on town hall lawns to Christmas carols in school plays—in favor of winter-themed décor or Kwanzaa celebrations. Some folks in Hollywood didn’t get the memo. New Line Cinema’s new movie, The Nativity Story, opening today, is the first explicitly Biblical film released by a major Hollywood studio in fifty years—the last two being Ben-Hur and The Ten Commandments. Yes, there have been many faith-related films lately: for example, The Passion of the Christ, One Night with the King, the Narnia...

LOS ANGELES, CA -- It has been over 20 years since a major Hollywood studio made a live-action Bible movie for the big screen. The last such movie was King David, with Richard Gere, and it was regarded by many as a disappointment -- both for the revisions it made to the biblical story, and because it flopped big time at the box office. The few Bible-related films that have come out since then have tended to be either self-financed independent movies (e.g., Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ) or low-budget art-house flicks (e.g., Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation...

Pregnant star misses Vatican gala Keisha Castle-Hughes has said she is too busy to attend the premiere The teenage star of a film about the Nativity is missing its Vatican premiere because she is expecting a baby with her 19-year-old partner. New Zealander Keisha Castle-Hughes, 16, who was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Whale Rider, plays Mary. Pope Benedict XVI will also be unable to attend the Vatican's first premiere due to his forthcoming visit to Turkey. A member for the Papal Council for Culture said the actress was expected to play her part well, not be...

For eleven years the city of Chicago has supported the Christkindlmarket Chicago, a traditional German American market and festival that lasts 4 weeks long and offers shopping, music, traditional German American food and drink, and entertainment. It's a free family friendly celebration of the Christmas season that hosts over one million people and is home to the Chicago Christmas Tree. It's so popular that a variety of groups and companies are eager to sponsor it every year. However, this year there seems to be a problem. Since one of the sponsors was The Nativity Story Movie the city of Chicago...

I attended tonight the world premiere of the new film “The Nativity Story”. It was shown to a full house in the Paul VI audience hall in the Vatican. Having the premiere of a film like this was a first for the Vatican. The woman Catherine Hardwicke (Tombstone, Three Kings, Vanilla Sky) who directed it was in attendance, as well as Secretary of State Tarcisio Card. Bertone (Archbp. Vercelli, Secretary CDF, Archbp. Genoa) was there, though not the Holy Father (Archbp. Munich, Prefect CDF). Also we saw in the hall the writer Mike Rich (Finding Forrester, The Rookie), the actor...

With one of the largest retail weekends immediately behind us, and a huge season of shopping upon us, I have a bone to pick with some Christmas retailers and reductionists. Shop until 'Christmas' dropsThe National Retail Federation, the largest retail trade association, is projecting only a 5 percent increase in Christmas season sales over last year, to the tune of $457.4 billion. That compares with last year's 6.1 percent increase. It appears as well that the majority of that increase (61 million people) will do their shopping on the Internet (up from 51.7 million last year). What alarms me most,...

A movie about the birth of Jesus Christ made its world premiere Sunday at the Vatican, the first time a feature film debuted here.Some 7,000 people showed up at the benefit screening of "The Nativity Story" in Paul VI Hall, the auditorium regularly used for audiences with pilgrims, although Pope Benedict XVI was not present."I think the pope is pretty busy," quipped director Catherine Hardwicke, referring to Benedict's upcoming trip to Turkey."The Nativity Story," which opens in the United States and Italy in time for the Christmas holidays on Dec. 1, describes Mary's pregnancy and the trip she and Joseph...

A career change from Hollywood agent to producer was more than a leap of faith for Marty Bowen, who remembers well his days as an altar server growing up in Fort Worth. It’s been the fulfillment of a dream to work on a project he passionately believes in. Co-producer of “The Nativity Story,” expected to be the big Christian movie this Christmas season, Bowen found himself, after 15 years in Los Angeles, searching for a new direction. Two years ago, while still an agent at United Talent Agency, Bowen challenged his screenwriter client Mike Rich to pen a Biblical story....

MovieGuideÒ on The Nativity StoryBy Dr. Ted BaehrMovieGuide November 14, 2006(AgapePress) - Following are information and comments from Christian movie reviewer Dr. Ted Baehr on the upcoming New Line Cinema movie The Nativity Story, which open in theaters on December 8. More details about this film and others are available at Dr. Baehr's website, MovieGuide.org. Mary, played by Keisha Castle-Hughes, and Joseph, played by Oscar Isaac, flee the wrath of King Herod by escaping to Egypt with Baby Jesus TITLE: THE NATIVITY STORY Genre: Biblical epicIntended audience: All agesQuality*: 4 starsAcceptability**: EXEMPLARY: Biblical, usually Christian, worldview, with no questionable elements...

Los Angeles (AP) - On Sunday, November 26th, New Line Cinema's "The Nativity Story" will become the first feature film ever to premiere at the Vatican, it was jointly announced Thursday by New Line's President and COO of Worldwide Distribution and Marketing Rolf Mittweg, and Stefano Dammicco, CEO of Eagle Pictures, the film's Italian distributor. "The Nativity Story" is scheduled for a Dec. 1, 2006 release in the U.S., and will open in territories worldwide throughout the month of December. The premiere, to be held at the Vatican's Aulo Paolo VI (Pope Paul VI Hall), will be attended by "The...