A self-identified romantic comedy built around a priest’s struggle with his vocation is bound to be doubtful fare for viewers of faith. And so it proves with The Good Catholic.

When a group of 24 pilgrims took part in the Camino Salvado Pilgrimage from Subiaco to New Norcia last week, they took with them a valuable resource: a booklet reflecting on the life of Benedictine Bishop Rosendo Salvado, after whom the Camino is named.

Dr Ryan Messmore has broadcast his love life to the world.
The Catholic theologian, who is based in Brisbane. Queensland, has written a book about his four-year courtship and subsequent marriage to his wife Karin Messmore. Born to a devout Methodist family as one of triplets and later became an Anglican then a Catholic, Dr Messmore said writing a book had always been in the pipeline. By Emilie Ng.

The annulment process provides the unusual courtroom setting for the romantic drama The Tribunal (Freestyle). While the movie’s Catholic values are strong, they come filtered through some faulty filmmaking.
Divorced musician Joe Seacker pursues a decree of nullity so that he can wed his devout girlfriend, Emily Vanderslice. However, his case requires the testimony of his estranged former bandmate and best friend, Tony Mirakul. By John Mulderig.

Most of the mayhem wreaked by the figurine-haunting demon at the centre of the horror prequel Annabelle: Creation is restrained. Yet, as the film progresses, director David Sandberg and his collaborators allow their imagery to become briefly but disturbingly graphic. Accordingly, only those grown moviegoers willing to brave flashes of intense gore should say hello to this particular dolly. By John Mulderig.

Anyone who’s endured the ignominy of grinding poverty with an alcoholic, out-of-work parent understands that there’s nothing ennobling about the experience. It’s something to endure, to escape if one can. The screen version of Jeannette Walls’ 2005 account of her impoverished youth entitled The Glass Castle, the viewer sees a cheery gloss on everything, as if all the excruciating history was somehow not as bad as it seems.

Awash in high-flown metaphysical hooey, director and co-writer Nikolaj Arcel’s dull sci-fi fantasy The Dark Tower is inappropriate for the impressionable. As for grown viewers, they should be prepared to slog through an involved exposition of non-scriptural ideas borrowed from the series of novels by Stephen King on which the film is built. By John Mulderig.

Western Australia’s oldest Catholic primary school last month celebrated their 120-year anniversary with a Gala Evening on 29 July. By Josh Low.

A Ghost Story (A24) could be the best film about purgatory you’ll see this year.

For West Australian poet and writer Andrew Lansdown, Japan has long been a subject of fascination, for its literary styles, its history and landscape – and this is something he draws on again in his most recent release, Kyoto Sakura Tanka.