It’s not always easy to do the right thing, even in a stable world. When the going gets tough, you know you’re supposed to do what’s right, but instead you do wrong. That’s the unfortunate reality of our responses to everyday situations . . . but what happens when your support system is gone? What…
With In the Heart of the Sea, director Ron Howard, despite his Midwest Oklahoma roots, decided to be the umpteenth moviemaker to take on the epic (and almost unconquerable) tale of “Moby Dick,” Herman Melville’s world famous novel about a 100-foot white bull sperm whale that simply will not be captured. He follows such other…
“Art thou pale for weariness of climbing heaven and gazing on Earth, wandering companionless?” — Percy Bysshe Shelley, “To The Moon” A film about loss, loneliness, and love, Todd Haynes’ (“I’m Not There”) Carol is the story of Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara, “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”), a nineteen year-old salesgirl whose chance encounter…
While we are now awash in public expressions of hysteria directed towards Muslims, the voice of fear in American society has always been there in one form or another. Witness The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the forced removal of Japanese-Americans to internment camps during World War II, and the on-going discriminatory laws against blacks…
We know, in that achingly familiar phrase, that “absence makes the heart grow fonder” but we sometimes forget that our memories will remain only in our experience and cannot be recreated in time. It is a hard lesson to be learned and one that Eilis Lacey (pronounced Ailish) (Saoirse Ronan, “The Grand Budapest Hotel”), a…
A superstar athlete surprises us with what they can do in their sport. They don’t just make it look easy, they make it look like no one else can do what they have accomplished — ever again. College football provides us with one of those platforms where superstar athletes are born. Some players won’t hit…
As the brace is removed, and Katniss’ terribly bruised and raw neck is exposed, a horrifying memory descends upon the audience — Peeta loathes and attacked our heroine at the end of “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1.” We begin The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 shortly thereafter, as Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence, “Silver Linings…
