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Here are your weekend must reads. Netflix's "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom," based on a Tony Award-nominated play, is the best film of 2020, says an NCR movie reviewer. Join Dan Schutte for week four of his virtual Advent reflections. Instead of returning to a Christmas classic, it seems best to wrap up 2020 with an episode of the "Twilight Zone."
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** Viola Davis, Chadwick Boseman make 'Ma Rainey's' one of 2020's best films ([link removed])
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NCR movie reviewer Pauline Sr. Rose Pacatte says that "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" is the best film of 2020.

This much talked about Netflix film is based on the Tony Award-nominated 1984 play by August Wilson. Ma Rainey is part of the "American Century Cycle" of ten plays by Wilson that reimagines the 20th-century African American experience, decade by decade.

Except for Ma Rainey, Wilson's plays were fictional and took place in Pittsburgh, where he grew up. Gertrude "Ma" Rainey (1886-1939) was known as the "Mother of the Blues" and was one of the first blues singers to record. This play, based in Chicago, is the only one that Wilson places outside of Pittsburgh.

This is the last film of Chadwick Boseman's career. The actor died in August.

"His performance, his face, smile and youthful ambition and energy, make him a formidable counter antagonist to [Viola] Davis' Ma, who is just plain antagonizing so she can hold her own place in the world," writes Pacatte.

You can read more of the review here ([link removed]) .
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** Advent Reflections: Week four ([link removed])
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"This Advent season will be different from all the others we've experienced," writes composer and NCR board member Dan Schutte. "Those familiar Advent themes of longing for God and waiting in hope take on a special meaning for us in the midst of the storm that surrounds us. As always, God is perhaps giving us a special opportunity this year to grow deeper in hope and stronger in the embrace of God's love."

Join Schutte for a weekly Advent Reflection with an introduction by Schutte himself.

The video for the fourth week of Advent reminds us that God comes when we least expect it, sometimes fulfilling promises in unexpected ways.

You can read more and watch the video here ([link removed]) .

More background:
* All of Dan Schutte's virtual Advent reflections can be found here ([link removed]) .

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** More headlines
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* Every December, we return to certain holiday classics, seeking comfort and joy. But 2020 has been a "Twilight Zone" kind of year ([link removed]) , and the episode "The Night of the Meek" is quite resonant, writes Tom Deignan.

* Read Diane Scharper's review of Diana Oestreich's memoir ([link removed]) of her tour as a medic with the U.S. National Guard in Iraq, which details how the experience — and hearing God's voice — changed her as a Christian.

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** Weekend wrap-up
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Every Saturday, NCR posts a Scripture reflection ([link removed]) from either St. Joseph Sr. Mary M. McGlone ([link removed]) or Dominican Sr. Carol J. Dempsey ([link removed]) . In today's reflection on the fourth Sunday of Advent, McGlone writes ([link removed]) about how to figure out where God lives. You can sign up ([link removed]) for Sunday Resources to receive our Scripture reflections two months in advance or sign up for Scripture for Life ([link removed]) to get an email each Saturday.

See you next time,

Stephanie Yeagle
NCR Production/Online Editor
[email protected] (mailto:[email protected])
Twitter: @ncrSLY ([link removed])

P.S. I'll be out next weekend spending time with my family at home, but look in your inbox for a newsletter from engagement editor Brittany Wilmes!

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