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When her hospital co-worker Anna asks this of Catherine in the cafeteria, these five simple words bring all of human life into sharp focus. Our ability to communicate with one another and with our Creator is what sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom. For the record, my own personal top ten list of the greatest movies of all time (BEN-HUR, THE QUIET MAN, SEABISCUIT, STAGECOACH, 2001:A SPACE ODYSSEY, THE WIZARD OF OZ, THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, HARVEY and RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK)runs the gamut of elements that make for great cinema: chase scenes, animal stars, physical comedy, music score, special effects, scenic locations, and fight scenes of all kinds. Beyond these elements, these great movies provide a palette for movie makers to explore the way people connect with each other on human terms (OK, I'll admit that HAL in 2001 is not human, although his logical reasoning functions mimic human thought devoid of emotion.) As good as it is, FIREPROOF is not in the same class with my top ten films, although I would place it in the bottom half of my top ten list for just that genre. Having said that, at the time of its release in late September of 2008, the film became a huge box office hit with audiences then. People were seeing a society on the brink of economic collapse due to a breakdown in moral and spiritual values. Its message of faith in God and fidelity in marriage was a welcome contrast to the greed that had fueled astronomically high gas prices and a breakdown in the financial services sector of the economy. All of this factored into the victory of a presidential candidate who promised change in the way he planned to govern a nation teetering toward a great depression. Last week, shortly after Tax Day rallies across the country were protesting this leader's changes, our Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church in Spokane took a welcome respite from these events to view FIREPROOF. As a widower myself more than a few years separated from his spouse, I was as deeply moved as the married members of our small audience by this story of a man troubled by not one but two fractured family relationships. How the protagonist Caleb meets these challenges is well worth watching for anyone seeking to improve their own interpersonal relationships. I'll warn you, though, before you see it, even for a second time, to keep the Kleenex handy. FIREPROOF is definitely not tearproof. Dale Roloff

As a film reviewer with over 50 comments and plot summaries to his credit, films featuring animals have always been among my favorites. When I recently compiled a personal list of the all-time ten greatest movies (no CITIZEN KANE, THE GODFATHER or CASABLANCA among them), my love of motion pictures with animals as stars or as integral parts of the plots therein were points of consideration. The ten, in order, are BEN-HUR, THE QUIET MAN, SEABISCUIT, STAGECOACH, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, THE WIZARD OF OZ, THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, HARVEY, RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. Numbers 3 and 9 involve animals as the main focus, and 1,4,5 and 6 have them in key scenes. 7 and 10 are less obvious, but still provide essential elements in the story: Robin Hood becomes an outlaw after killing a deer and who can forget Maid Marian riding Roy Rogers' future co-star? And RAIDERS' most memorable action sequences are Indy in the snake pit and his chase of the Nazi caravan that starts on horseback. Hollywood history is replete with animals stars as well. Rin Tin Tin and Lassie were superstars of their studios and Tony, Trigger and Champion garnered nearly as much adulation as the Western stars who rode them. But none of these four-legged thespians talked, at least in human terms. Cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse and Betty Boop were among the first to vocalize human speech, and nobody was better at it than Bugs Bunny. But except for a talking lion in THE WIZARD OF OZ, no live-action film tackled the notion of animals making like Mickey and Bugs until 1950, when Universal released FRANCIS. Chill Wills, the voice of the talking mule, never received any screen credit for his voice work, but his voice was so recognizable that it was never an issue to him. Call it coincidence or maybe Providence, our Lidgerwood Presbyterian Church screened RACING STRIPES last Friday on what would have been the late Wills' 105th birthday. As the church's members and neighborhood guests sat in the parking lot and enjoyed this mostly funny family flick together, I like to think that if Chill Wills could, he would have been looking down at us and joining in with that famous Francis laugh. Dale Roloff

One of my earliest childhood memories was getting home from school and sitting down in the family kitchen to hear "The Lone Ranger" on our big console radio. Of all my first TV heroes, none were bigger or braver than Davy Crockett, Superman and The Lone Ranger (not to forget his "faithful Indian companion and a fiery horse called Silver.") Until now, I'm sure I'd never seen Fess Parker, George Reeves or Clayton Moore as a bad guy. A few hours before this movie aired on cable, I saw the text of the preview box which read "Pete:Clayton Moore" so I was curious to see what color hat he was wearing. Actually, I later found out from IMDb filmographies that Parker, Reeves and Moore had each played villains more than once. Still, I had to wait until the third reel before I could be sure I was seeing Moore. In the first few scenes, what little dialogue he spoke didn't really identify him. But in the last scene he played with Autry, he spoke long enough that his clear deep voice revealed the familiar one we would grow to recognize from the long-running series which began not many months after the release of this film. There's little else about this oater I'd recommend. There are some good but forgettable songs, by Gene and others, just fair action and cinematography, no real romance, and not even a comical sidekick. It's not a great western by any stretch or even one of Autry's best films. For all that, it's still a passable way to spend an hour and ten minutes, which is about the length of one of my church's Sunday morning worship services. Forgive me, Pastor Mark, but Gene Autry's films haven't yet put me to sleep. Now, Rev, if you're hankerin' to liven up the congregation, I'd reckon you might try to wear a Stetson and fire a six-shooter (blanks-loaded, naturally) now and then. Dale Roloff