“Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” (2016). Cast: Eva Green, Asa Butterfield, Samuel L. Jackson, Judi Dench, Rupert Everett, Allison Janney, Terence Stamp, Chris O’Dowd, Ella Purnell, Finlay MacMillan, Lauren McCrostie, Hayden Keeler-Stone, Georgia Pemberton, Milo Parker, Raffielle Chapman, Pixie Davies, Aiden Flowers, Nicholas Oteri, Helen Day, Philip Philman, Jack Brady, Scott Handy, Kim Dickens, O-Lan Jones. Director: Tim Burton. Screenplay: Jane Goldman. Book: Ransom Riggs, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Web site. Trailer.In an age where many of us feel like we’re being coerced into various forms of social homogenization, it can be difficult for those who are “different” – perhaps even downright unconventional – just to get by. The pressure to conform can be unbearable, maybe even [...]

“The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years” (2016). Cast: Interviews: Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Whoopi Goldberg, Sigourney Weaver, Elvis Costello, Larry Kane. Archive Footage: John Lennon, George Harrison, Brian Epstein, George Martin, Yoko Ono, Ed Sullivan, Pete Best, Billy Preston. Director: Ron Howard. Screenplay: Mark Monroe. Story Consultant: P.G. Morgan. Web site. Trailer.When one thinks of a cultural icon that helps to shape the character of a generation, a rock ‘n roll band probably wouldn’t be the first candidate that comes to mind. Yet, for those who came of age in the 1960s, fewer symbols hold nearly as much meaning, both personally and collectively, as a quartet of musicians from across the pond – the Fab Four, [...]

Reviews of "The Birth of a Nation," "Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children" and "Howards End" and a Chicago Film Festival preview are all in the latest Movies with Meaning post on the Blog Page of The Good Radio Network, available by clicking here.

In a book publishing world that's rapidly changing, I've really come to enjoy the freedom and satisfaction that come from being a self-published author. Seeing a project come together from so many different angles, and then realizing its fulfillment in a finished product, is an indescribably exhilarating experience. I've been through this process twice now with my two books about how movies reflect the principles of conscious creation/law of attraction philosophy, Get the Picture?!: Conscious Creation Goes to the Movies and Consciously Created Cinema: The Movie Lover's Guide to the Law of Attraction. And I'm now in the process of my third trek down this path with Third Real: Conscious Creation Goes Back to the Movies, slated for release in [...]

Join host Frankie Picasso and me for this month's Movies with Meaning segment on this week's edition of Frankiesense & More on The Good Radio Network. Tune in this Thursday, September 29, at 1 pm ET, or listen to the on-demand podcast thereafter, by clicking here. Join us for some lively movie talk!

A review of "Queen of Katwe," a Helen Mirren retrospective and a radio show preview are all available in this week's Movies with Meaning post on the Blog Page of The Good Radio Network available by clicking here.Aspiring chess prodigy Phiona Mutesi (Madina Nalwanga, right) learns the game from mentor Robert Katende (David Oyelowo, left) in the inspiring new biopic, “Queen of Katwe.” Photo by Edward Echwalu, courtesy of Disney Enterprises Inc.Madame Mallory (Helen Mirren), owner of an acclaimed upscale French bistro, struggles to keep a smile on her face with the unexpected arrival of new neighbors whom she believes will threaten her establishment’s reputation in director Lasse Halström’s comedy-drama, “The Hundred-Foot Journey.” Photo by François Duhamel, courtesy of Walt [...]

“Sunset Song” (2015 production, 2016 release). Cast: Agyness Deyn, Peter Mullan, Kevin Guthrie, Daniela Nardini, Jack Greenlees, Ron Donachie, Linda Duncan McLaughlin, Niall Greig Fulton, Gilbert Johnston, Douglas Rankine, Simon Tait. Director: Terence Davies. Screenplay: Terence Davies. Book: Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song. Web site. Trailer.Making one’s way in the world can be difficult enough, even under the best of circumstances. But, when conditions offer repeated challenges, the chances of success can become that much more difficult, as evidenced by the experiences of a young Scottish farm girl in the days before World War I, the subject of the moving drama, “Sunset Song,” now available on DVD, Blu-ray Disk and video on demand.Chris Guthrie (Agyness Deyn) lives a rather hard [...]

“Snowden” (2016). Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene Woodley, Melissa Leo, Zachary Quinto, Tom Wilkinson, Nicolas Cage, Rhys Ifans, Ben Chaplin, Joely Richardson, Ben Schnetzer, Scott Eastwood, Lakeith Lee Stanfield, Patrick Joseph Byrnes, Timothy Olyphant, Bhasker Patel, Edward Snowden. Director: Oliver Stone. Screenplay: Kieran Fitzgerald and Oliver Stone. Books: Anatoly Kucherena, Time of the Octopus, and Luke Harding, The Snowden Files. Web site. Trailer.Heroes come in many forms. Some are obvious by their acts and deeds. Others are less apparent, working quietly behind the scenes to effect meaningful change. And others still may take drastic measures that leave them unappreciated for their efforts, perhaps even being vilified as criminals, agitators or traitors by members of officialdom. Those who fall into this last [...]

Join me and fellow reviewers Miriam Knight and Cynthia Sue Larson this Wednesday, September 21, when we’ll get together to discuss some of the latest book and movie releases on the quarterly Reviewers Roundtable broadcast of New Consciousness Review radio. Tune in at 2 pm ET by clicking here. Join us for some lively chat!