MercatorNet editor Michael Cook has asked me to introduce the newest addition to the MercatorNet family (the rowdy teenager of the blogs if you like) - Popcorn.

Popcorn is a MercatorNet blog on the Movies. Our aim is to look at what’s going in mainstream cinema and to hopefully give Hollywood the MercatorNet treatment, so to speak, to “put a sound vision of the human person” right at the heart of the movie world.

The idea of this post is to give you a heads up of what you can expect from Popcorn over the coming weeks and months (provided Michael doesn’t pull the plug on us before then!).

As editor I want the input of our readers and contributors to form the basis of my plan to take over the world and... Sorry, thinking out loud.

Our job on Popcorn is to look after the ‘pop culture’ side of media debates, in the hope of giving the dignity of the human person a front row seat at all the news, events, and cinema releases we think are worth your time.

A fundamental part of any blog is of course to have some fun. As legendary director Steven Spielberg put it, “This is a time when we need to smile more and Hollywood movies are supposed to do that for people in difficult times”. We agree with Mr Spielberg, so you can expect a light-hearted approach here.  

I don’t know about you, but for me, movies have to be more than just entertainment, more than an opportunity to escape from the world. As far as I’m concerned a good movie helps us to keep in mind what is most important to the world outside the movie theatre - the dignity of human person. Something we care strongly about on MercatorNet.

My aim as editor of Popcorn is to hopefully show you the things that make going to the movies worthwhile so the next time you decide what to see at the cinema you can make sure it’ll be time and money well spent.

If, like me, you agreed with Peter Parker’s uncle Ben in Sam Raimi’s Spider Man (2002) when he said, “with great power comes great responsibility” then, like me, you’ll probably agree that the entertainment industry as a whole (that means blogs as well!) must take this responsibility seriously.

Whenever I sit down to watch a movie I try to keep this invaluable advice in mind: “Whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (Google it. Hint: well-known author of more than 70 books.)

 I’ll admit there isn’t exactly an over-abundance of “whatever is pure, whatever is lovely” doing the rounds in Hollywood these days but if there is, we’ll try to represent it on this blog. 

You’ll find no hint of ‘moral subjectivism’ on Popcorn, we don’t sit on the fence around here. As far as I’m concerned, a ‘good’ movie promotes and defends the dignity of the human person. A ‘bad’ movie doesn’t.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to invite you to share your views and opinions about the content produced on this blog. What do you like about Popcorn? How do you think we could improve?

If there’s anything you think you could contribute to the site (bearing in mind the guidelines mentioned above) drop me a line via email. We’re keen to get a hold of passionate and committed writers who care about the future of the movie industry enough to be counter-cultural, to brave the label ‘dignitarian’. Moral relativists need not apply. (But feel free to disagree in the comments).

Hope you enjoy the blog!

Ronan Wright, Editor, Popcorn