When you view this film, make sure you go back a watch the bonus features, particularly the commentary about the making of the film.

This film is literally a work of art as all the pieces of the story are so artfully sewn together so that our interest in what is happening is always peaked.  This is one of those films where you literally cannot miss a single scene.  It is story of letting go and saying good bye to our ghosts.  Powerful.  A must see film.

Frozen River 

A movie about two women who are more similar than they are different.  It is interesting how we are open and tolerant to folks we love.  Well, some times!  But the women in the film are quite lovable, so we end up overlooking their bad decisions and perhaps even admire their bad decisions.  It's a great example of how we can learn to love someone we might otherwise harshly judge and reject.

This outstanding movie tells the true story of families during the civil war in El Salvador.  What is most interesting is that all of the same day-to-day issues of  our society today had to be dealt with in the midst of civil war.  Be sure to watch the special features.

Great Film about our relationships with our fathers.  It is also a film about healing, even after our father has died.  Great cinematography.  Be sure to watch the film a second time with the Director's commentary.

I will try to remember to update this film.  I have yet to view this film.  I have seen the website about the film and an interview on PBS with the Director of the film.  Check your HBO website for the listings of airtimes in your area.  It has won numerous awards and is a true story that took place but a few years ago (2005) in Brazil.  If only each of us, in some small way, could have the courage of our convictions the way Sister Dorothy did.

A funny and painful movie all in one.  A great depiction of the generational conflict between parents and children and the process of forgiveness that makes it possible for us to move on in the very healthiest sense of that word.

The filming of this fable, totally on location, makes for a very stark film experience.  You can almost taste the sand and feel the wind blowing against your skin.  When you rent this movie, be sure to watch the special feature that tells about the making of the film and the meaning of the film.  In short, a mother and a daughter and her daughter make their way through a desolate landscape to experience love, commitment, and healing.

What a film!  A lot of complexity.  It is a film about guilt, the guilt we sometimes carry from one generation to the next and don't quite know how to come to terms with.  It is about shame and the "dirtiness" we sometimes feel, but do not know how to make sense out of.  It's a film about power, perpetrators, and victims.  The dynamics of sexual abuse are acutely intertwined in this story and perhaps opens some new windows in looking at the whole issue of forgiveness.  It might also leave us wondering again what I, as an ordinary citizen, am willing to stand up and speak out against?  Or in how many "insignificant" ways am I literally wiping out people, both people I love and people I don't love or even hate.  The film has left me twirling in my heart and soul. 

This is a wonderful film produced and directed and starring Helen Hunt.  Co-starring Bette Mitler.  The subject matter has to do with adoption.  See it, you'll be moved!

This is a Broadway musical made into a movie in 1984.  You can still see the World Trade Towers in one of the pans of New York City.  The movie is a metaphor for life.  We are all auditioning all of the time and sometimes we are our own worst critiques, but we are also the worst critiques of the ones we love the most and who are trying to audition for our "team" so to speak.

This movie is sometimes difficult to find, but it is out there in many video stores.  It is at times difficult to watch.  However, it depicts quite well the process of becoming COLD and emotionLESS.  It also depicts the journey back to FEELING once again.  It is the story of so many of "our" children throughout the world who are forced to experience extreme VIOLENCE every day of their lives to the point that they do not believe that there is any place in the world that they would be free of violence.  That's happening right here in the Inland Empire.

This is not necessarily a religious movie, but one worth watching and then afterwards to wonder  "Am I listening?"  No matter what you believe, there are plenty of Gods out there, and we have conversations with them all!  Enjoy this thought-provoking film.  If nothing else, it will make you think twice before you judge a homeless person again!

 Every scene and every line of this movie tells us something about healing, about love, about relationships, about decision-making.  Watch it over and over.

We want so much to forget so many events of our lives, especially lost loves.  The movie, in a very unique and thought provoking way, tells us that perhaps FORGETTING is not so helpful afterall.

Funny, very funny, especially if you are a Catholic and lived pre-Vatican 2.  Also very inspiring.  It's about vision and dreaming and living the Impossible Dream.

Not sure why this is advertised as a family movie.  Has a lot to say about what is missing in our lives today.  It's a fun movie, a tickle to the imagination, and a great piece of science fiction.  The movie is based upon a short story written in the early 1940's.  That is just amazing.

This movie has so many layers to it.  I have used it lately for foster parent training.  The two "old folks" in the movie wonderfully model how to parent a teenager.  There is also a lot of good stuff about old men, young men relationships.

This film weaves together a documentary about quantum physics and quantum mechanics with the drama that occurs when a professional photographer is assigned to "shoot" a wedding in the same church she was married.  At one point in the film, a spokesperson comments that quantum physics and quantum mechanics is the only scientific theory that could explain both God and free will.  There is also a small reference in the movie to the phenomenon of the messages in the water.  Get the DVD and watch the special features as well.  Enjoy!

Sybil 

A movie from a long time ago, depicts the phenomenon of dissociation (multiple personality) from early childhood trauma.  Joanne Woodward does a tender job of playing the psychiatrist who so painstakingly helps the now adult woman (Sally Fields) reweave the fragments of herself into a whole person.  We each in our own way suffer from "fragmentation" and we all deserve a healer like the psychiatrist portrayed in the film.

This is a fairly recent film.  It is available for rent at your favorite video store.  The film depicts a Freshman English class at Woodrow Wilson High School in Long Beach, California shift from experiencing themselves as "failures" to forming a family with their fellow classmates, and they find a way to stay together as an English class for their entire four years.  There is an extremely moving scene in which the woman who hid Ann Franke actually comes to their classroom, upon their request, to share her story.  The movie also depicts the typcal battle between a school administrator who does not see these particular students as valuable and the teacher who works hard to win these particular students' trust and confidence.  An interesting part of the movie is the use of journaling as a tool for healing and quantum leaping!  The students' journals become a primary catalyst to their stunning success as students, thus the title, Freedom Writers.

I can't say enough about this movie.  Wonderful, wonder-filled, and slated to be one of my all time favorites.  The movie is about loss and how we deal with loss.  One kind of loss for many children, is the loss of their innocence, long before they are ready to lose that.  It's currently on the big screen.  See it soon.

Wow!  What a host of incredible actors and actresses.  I heard the movie got a "two thumbs down."  Being the movie critic that I am (not), I think I can understand the review.  HOWEVER, I think it is well worth seeing.  This is an interesting story of a woman literally on her death bed and reviewing the "mistakes" in her life.  It is not as depressing as it sounds.  The movie leaves a lot of unanswered questions and we could all sit around and come up with a different ending!  But SEE IT!

An Unfinished Life  The title may be just Unfinished Life.  At any rate, a great great flick about healing, forgiveness, love, relationships with the dead, being a grandparent, a friend, and so much more.  Enjoy.

Clean  A somewhat disturbing but well worth watching film.  The film tells the story of a woman hooked on heroine and her struggle to get clean and to become a mother once again to her child.  A good movie for those of us who don't think we are addicted or hooked because maybe it's not heroine or alcohol.

P. S. I Love You  May be a difficult movie to watch if you have lost a spouse recently, but the movie depicts the survivor grieving in a way that most people disapprove of because they want us to just move on, long before it is even healthy to move on.  The movie is also touching, healing, inspirational, and funny.

Harrison's Flowers  Not a movie to watch with the kids.  The movie puts in our face the real horrors of war.  However, it also depicts a wife's committment to her husband to the point that she travels to war-torn Yugoslavia to find her husband who is a reporter for Newsweek Magazine and presumed dead.  She thinks he is still alive.and is determined to be reunited with him.

Grace Is Gone  Powerful movie about family and the effects of our current war on our families.

Kite Runner  Another movie about war and its impact on culture, on relationships, and on humanity.  Inspiring movie.

Feel free to email any of your favorite movies and I will post them and your name if you wish.

Peaceful Warrior  The   movie adaptation of the book, Way of the Peaceful Warrior.  Books do not always adapt well to screen, but I think the screen writer did a pretty decent job with this one, although the book is much more powerful and a much more complete picture of the story.  A lot is missing in the movie including the ten years after his comeback from his motorcycle accident.

The Alpha Male  The first time I watched this movie, I really enjoyed it even though it seemed very slow moving.  The second time I watched it, it did not appear slow moving at all.  The movie tells the story of a family, who appears to be somewhat emotionally disconnected to start with, but who become really emotionally disconnected after the father prematurely dies.  The family is able to come together in a healing way many years later at a birthday party.