“Inside Llewyn Davis” (2013). Cast: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, John Goodman, Garrett Hedlund, F. Murray Abraham, Ethan Phillips, Robin Bartlett, Max Casella, Jerry Grayson, Sylvia Kauders, Ian Jarvis, Adam Driver, Stark Sands, Jeanine Serralles, Stan Carp. Directors: Ethan Coen and Joel Coen. Screenplay: Joel Coen and Ethan Coen. Web site. Trailer.Getting out of our own way is often one of the biggest challenges we face in attaining success. For whatever reason, we often become stymied by various fixations, blind spots and pet peeves that hold us back from fulfilling our aspirations – and our potential. That’s a problem illustrated through the experiences of a beleaguered musician in the Coen Brothers’ new period piece film, “Inside Llewyn Davis.”Folk singer [...]

After several years' work (and many hours in front of the silver screen), I'm very pleased to announce the upcoming release of my second book, Consciously Created Cinema: The Movie Lover's Guide to the Law of Attraction. This new title, a followup to my first book, Get the Picture: Conscious Creation Goes to the Movies, will be available in ebook and print-on-demand softcover formats, with a launch projected for the second half of February. I'm very excited about this new release!Like its predecessor, Consciously Created Cinema examines how movies illustrate the principles of conscious creation (also known as the law of attraction). The book explores some of the concepts first raised in Get the Picture and introduces some new principles [...]

“Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” (2013). Cast: Idris Elba, Naomie Harris, Tony Kgoroge, Riaad Moosa, Thapelo Mokoena, Terry Pheto, Gys de Villiers, Jamie Bartlett, David Butler, Zolani Mkiva, Simo Mogwaza, Fana Mokoena, Zikhona Zidlaka. Director: Justin Chadwick. Screenplay: William Nicholson. Book: Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom. Web site. Trailer.Life can toss us some extremely trying challenges, but, no matter how difficult those tasks may be, we always have the power to overcome them if we put our minds to it. Such is the power of the human spirit, a quality of our character showcased in the inspiring new biopic, “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.”The struggle to achieve racial equality and social justice in South Africa was a decades-long ordeal [...]

“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” (2013). Cast: Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig, Sean Penn, Shirley MacLaine, Patton Oswalt, Kathryn Hahn, Adam Scott, Adrian Martinez, Ólaf Darri Ólafsson, Marcus Antturi. Director: Ben Stiller. Screenplay: Steve Conrad. Story: James Thurber, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The New Yorker magazine, 1939. Web site. Trailer.The allure of living a larger-than-life existence holds an undeniable appeal for many of us. Our conception of such a life can indeed inspire and propel us into a richer, more rewarding, more fulfilling way of being – that is, as long as we actively seek to bring it into realization. By failing to move past a purely hypothetical view of said reality, we run the risk of cheating [...]

Considering a New Year's resolution? You might want to think about that before you make it. Read more about it in "Be It Resolved: Making Every Day New Year's Day," my latest blog post at www.smartwomensempowerment.org.

“American Hustle” (2013). Cast: Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence, Louis C.K., Jack Huston, Michael Peña, Shea Whigham, Alessandro Nivola, Elisabeth Röhm, Paul Herman, Danny Corbo, Sonny Corbo, Robert DeNiro (uncredited). Director: David O. Russell. Screenplay: Eric Singer and David O. Russell. Web site. Trailer.Getting what we want out of life often takes considerable moxie. But all the chutzpah in the world won’t matter a damn if it’s not properly backed up with traits like personal integrity and sound intent. That can be a difficult lesson to learn, too, as a coterie of colorful characters finds out all too well in the new, fact-based, period piece comedy, “American Hustle.”The plot of “American Hustle” is rather complicated, [...]

“Saving Mr. Banks” (2013). Cast: Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Colin Farrell, Paul Giamatti, Rachel Griffiths, Annie Rose Buckley, Ruth Wilson, Bradley Whitford, Jason Schwartzman, B.J. Novak, Kathy Baker, Melanie Paxson, Andy McPhee. Director: John Lee Hancock. Screenplay: Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith. Web site. Trailer.Have you ever looked at something one way only to find that everyone else sees it completely differently? That might seem improbable to some, but, if we accept the notion that we each create our own reality, the idea doesn’t seem quite so far-fetched. In fact, it might even be seen as downright magical. However, if we’re unable or unwilling to recognize the existence of such personal distinctions, we set ourselves up for trouble, as illustrated [...]

“Philomena” (2013). Cast: Judi Dench, Steve Coogan, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Mare Winningham, Barbara Jefford, Ruth McCabe, Peter Hermann, Sean Mahon, Anna Maxwell Martin, Michelle Fairley, Charlie Murphy, Cathy Belton, Wunmi Mosaku, Kate Fleetwood, Tadhg Bowen, Saoirse Bowen. Director: Stephen Frears. Screenplay: Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope. Book: Martin Sixsmith, The Lost Child of Philomena Lee. Web site. Trailer.When we go looking for something, sometimes we find more than we anticipated. Searches driven by heartfelt, introspective concerns in particular often lead us to unexpected revelations and discoveries. Such is the case for an unlikely duo in the touching, fact-based comedy-drama, “Philomena.”Philomena Lee (Judi Dench), a retired nurse living in London, harbors a painful secret, and she desperately desires to unburden herself. [...]

I'm pleased to announce an addition to the family of web sites featuring my online writings. You can now find my works posted to the web site of the Smart Women's Empowerment program, available at www.smartwomensempowerment.org. The first of my contributions has been posted, and others will follow soon. Stop by and give a look to my posts, as well as those of the many other fine experts featured there!

“Nebraska” (2013). Cast: Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, Bob Odenkirk, Stacy Keach, Mary Louise Wilson, Rance Howard, Tim Driscoll, Devin Ratray, Angela McEwan. Director: Alexander Payne. Screenplay: Bob Nelson. Web site. Trailer.It’s easy to take our world for granted. In fact, sometimes we can even lose sight of what connects us to it and everything that makes up its being. But what do we lose when we embrace such an aloof, disconnected outlook? Arguably, it could be far more than we realize, and getting it back may be more difficult than we can imagine. Such is the challenge put to the protagonists in the offbeat new comedy-drama, “Nebraska.”Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) is a man on a mission. The retired [...]