As students and teachers get settled into this new semester, and as the rest of us enjoy this fall weather [...]

Friday, Sept. 2, 2:04 a.m.Hi,I apologize for the delay in entries! This was our first week of classes at Marquette, [...]

Looking back on previous blogs, it has been a long while since I have given a book review or recommendation, [...]

Sara Paxton and Dustin Milligan star in a scene from the movie "Shark Night 3D." The Catholic News Service classification is O – morally offensive. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 – parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. (CNS photo/Relativity Media)NEW YORK –– The 3D in "Shark Night 3D" (Rogue) can best be interpreted as standing for "Dumb, dumb, dumb." That applies to the plot, the filmmaking technique and the characters -- as well as to any viewer foolish enough to waste money on seeing it.

Director David R. Ellis ("Snakes on a Plane") and screenwriters Will Hayes and Jesse Studenberg borrow their stale formula from 1980s screamers – such as the "Friday the 13th" franchise -- in which nubile young people head out to a lake for a weekend of drinking and casual sex, only to be slaughtered by some relentless killer.

As the title indicates, in this case it's sharks, and not only great whites – just about any kind of shark that can be attracted by blood: Big ones, little ones. ... Till you can't tell the preyers without a program.

This is a promotional poster from the movie "Apollo 18." The Catholic News Service classification is A-III – adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 – parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. (CNS/courtesy of Dimension/Weinstein)NEW YORK –– History records Apollo 17 in 1972 as the last U.S. manned space mission to the moon. Not so, according to "Apollo 18" (Dimension/Weinstein), an inventive horror film that purports to tell the "true" story of a top-secret adventure – and why we dare not return to the lunar surface anytime soon.

Spanish director Gonzalo Lopez-Gallego, making his Hollywood debut, borrows heavily from 1999's "The Blair Witch Project" in presenting "Apollo 18" as a documentary based on "84 hours of classified footage," recently discovered. The film unfolds in real time, piecing together grainy, herky-jerky but authentic-looking film clips to document nearly every moment of the mission.

It's Christmas 1973, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration prepares Apollo 18 for a top-secret launch, under the guise of an unmanned Department of Defense satellite project. The eager astronauts, including Benjamin Anderson (Warren Christie) and Nathan Walker (Lloyd Owen), ask no questions, excited to make history by joining the ranks of the select few who have walked on the moon.

Deposited near the lunar South Pole, Walker and Anderson go about their duties, a routine familiar to anyone who lived through the golden age of space exploration: planting the American flag, collecting rocks, driving around in the Lunar Rover, eating freeze-dried food. They also set up secret defense payloads, which resemble listening devices but may have a more sinister purpose.

Sam Worthington and Jessica Chastain star in a scene from the movie "The Debt." The Catholic News Service classification is L – limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America is R – restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian. (CNS photo/Focus Features)NEW YORK –– The spy thriller is alive and kicking in "The Debt" (Focus), a stylish – though frequently violent – remake of the 2007 Israeli film of the same name. Directed with flair by John Madden ("Shakespeare in Love"), "The Debt" follows top-rate actors across two time periods in a suspenseful game of cat-and-mouse that will keep mature viewers on the edge of their seats, guessing whether there's more to the central events than the official story recounts.

Thirty years after their secret mission in the 1960s to capture a Nazi war criminal, three Mossad agents – Rachel (Helen Mirren), Stephan (Tom Wilkinson) and David (Ciaran Hinds) – reunite to tell their tale in a new book. The details of their exploit are told in flashback by their younger selves, portrayed respectively by Jessica Chastain, Marton Csokas and Sam Worthington.

The trio became national heroes by tracking down and capturing Dieter Vogel (Jesper Christensen), the "Surgeon of Birkenau," a Josef Mengele-like monster who killed thousands of Jews, young and old, through viciously inhumane experimentation during the Holocaust.

"A Month of Mondays: Spiritual Lessons from the Catholic Classroom" by Karen Eifler. ACTA Publications (Chicago, 2011). 135 pp., $12.95.

"Will There be Faith? A New Vision for Educating and Growing Disciples" by Thomas Groome. HarperCollins (New York, 2011). 348 pp., $15.99.

After a long day of molding minds and grading papers, Catholic schoolteachers can find motivation and solace when reading two new books from Catholic educators Karen Eifler and Thomas Groome. While Eifler's "Month of Mondays: Spiritual Lessons from the Catholic Classroom" is a quick, anecdotal read for tired teachers needing a literary boost, Groome's "Will There be Faith? A New Vision for Education and Growing Disciples" is more for the scholarly type.

Eifler, an educator in the Diocese of Oakland and Archdiocese of Los Angeles for 15 years and professor at the University of Portland in Oregon, wrote her book with the busy educator, catechist and administrator in mind. It is a compilation of separate humorous, touching and meaningful reflections about the grace she discovered in her students and fellow teachers. The 30 true stories, which add up to a month of Mondays, open with a chocolate bar fundraiser heist, which clearly sets the stage for an interesting book.

"Understanding the Mass: 100 Questions, 100 Answers" by Mike Aquilina. Servant Books (Cincinnati, 2011). 116 pp., $13.99.

"Catholic Update Guide to the Mass," edited by Mary Carol Kendzia. St. Anthony Messenger Press (Cincinnati, 2011). 48 pp., $5.99.

It could be that those charged with instructing Catholics about the new Roman Missal realize that in an age where messages are transmitted with a minimal amount of characters and as quickly as possible, instruction will need to be conveyed as succinctly as possible. Not only can they expect the Tweeters and text-messagers to want information as concisely as possible, but those who use neither of those media may also welcome "the short form" – to use a liturgical term – of instruction.

"Understanding the Mass" is even more basic than "The Mass: The Glory, the Mystery, the Tradition," the book Aquilina and Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl co-wrote earlier this year. Basic but thorough. In a question-and-answer format, Aquilina provides information about which worshippers have wondered, but never knew who or how to ask, e.g., What are rubrics? How does the church pick the Bible readings for each Mass? Why does the priest mix water with wine?