"Listen up. There is a storm coming like nothing you have ever seen and none of you are prepared for it!" - Curtis (Michael Shannon), TAKE SHELTER. 

Take Shelter in one way is the simple story of a working class husband and father who has visceral dreams of a strange powerful storm coming and reacts by expanding his storm shelter.  And in another way, Take Shelter is an emotionally complex story which questions a man's sanity.  It is also a story filled with loosely connected metaphors and sy...
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A Japanese classic made into a tamer version for a U.S. mainstream audience.

This was my first opportunity to see the original Japanese Godzilla movie called, Gojira. It was one of the first foreign films to be cut and dubbed for a U.S. audience which usually Hollywood assumes can't or won't read subtitles .  I can see that the U.S. film producers tried to dub the film gracefully.  Raymond Burr's character, U.S. reporter, Steve Martin, was inserted into the original film and was used to narrat...
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(Photo: George Clooney with baby goat and Iraqi prisoners in The Men Who Stare at Goats.)

"Mother Earth, you're my life support system. As a soldier I must drink your blue water, live inside your red clay and eat your green skin. Help me to balance myself. As you hold in balance, the Earth, the sea, and the space environments. Help me to open my heart, knowing that the Universe will feed me. I pray my boots will always kiss your face, and my footsteps match your heartbeat. Carry my body throug...
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"...different, but not less." - Temple Grandin

This HBO film, Temple Grandin is the true story of Temple Grandin, Ph.D. who is the first autistic person to write about and lecture about her own autistic experience.  She is also an inventor that has created humane systems for herding cattle which are utilized by 50% of the cattle industry today.  This is the most uplifting, inspiring film I have seen in the past few years.  It won 7 Emmys in 2010 for star, Claire Danes and HBO.

The film shows Te...
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Using and abusing immigrant labor without having them cross the border. The future of outsourcing!

I went to a special screening of Sleep Dealer, a low budget Sci-Fi border story.  I found this first feature by director, Alex Rivera, to be thoughtful and thought-provoking. Most border stories to me, seem to be very personal to all those involved in the drama in the U.S. Southern border with Mexico.  But this story brought the idea of illegal immigrants working in the U.S. to a whole new expand...
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Official movie website for Stone: http://www.stonemovie.com/stone.html

From a spiritual point of view, I LOVED this movie!!!!  It was such a great example of being grounded, centered and in the moment.

The story is about a guy named Stone (Edward Norton) who is up for parole and is being interviewed and scrutinized by a very emotionally closed down parole official played by Robert DeNiro.  Robert DeNiro's character always listens to the religious talk radio station.  The emptiness of all...
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