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Hostage

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Source: Catholic News Service

Taut -- if frequently violent -- thriller about former hostage negotiator Jeff Talley (Bruce Willis), who relocates to another town and becomes a police chief after a hostage rescue attempt goes tragically awry, but then finds himself back in action when the affluent Walter Smith (Kevin Pollak) and his children are taken hostage by three teenage hoodlums, but the twist is Smith himself turns out to have criminal ties and Talley's own family is soon taken captive by unknown forces out to get Smith. Director Florent Siri keeps up the unrelenting tension, which helps obscure some plot improbabilities; Willis gives a convincingly anguished performance, Ben Foster is scarily effective as the worst of the teens, and Alexandre Desplat has supplied a pulsating background score. Much rough and crude language, gunfire, violence with attendant blood, a raging fire and flaming bodies, a sadistic villain, some suggestive gestures and drug use. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted.

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Rita of Cascia: Like Elizabeth Ann Seton, Rita of Cascia was a wife, mother, widow and member of a religious community. Her holiness was reflected in each phase of her life.
<p>Born at Roccaporena in central Italy, Rita wanted to become a nun but was pressured at a young age into marrying a harsh and cruel man. During her 18-year marriage, she bore and raised two sons. After her husband was killed in a brawl and her sons had died, Rita tried to join the Augustinian nuns in Cascia. Unsuccessful at first because she was a widow, Rita eventually succeeded. </p><p>Over the years, her austerity, prayerfulness and charity became legendary. When she developed wounds on her forehead, people quickly associated them with the wounds from Christ's crown of thorns. She meditated frequently on Christ's passion. Her care for the sick nuns was especially loving. She also counseled lay people who came to her monastery. </p><p>Beatified in 1626, Rita was not canonized until 1900. She has acquired the reputation, together with St. Jude, as a saint of impossible cases. Many people visit her tomb each year.</p>

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