Reviews of “The End of Oak Street,” “We Shall Not Be Moved,” “Magic Hour” and “Departures,” along with a film festival preview and a look at a new movie web site, are all in the latest Movies with Meaning post on the web site of The Good Radio Network, available by clicking here ...

Looking for something good to watch but can’t make up your mind? Such is the “film dilemma” that many movie fans face when trying to pick out an evening’s viewing. But now there’s help from a new clearinghouse/data base web site that addresses this very question – Film Dilemma. The site features a wealth of movie information, including recommendations, award and film festival listings, genre-based suggestions, fan favorites, reviews and much more. What’s more, it’s free to sign up to create your own customized account. And I’m pleased to announce that I have become one of the site’s critic partners, so be sure to check out my ever-growing repertoire of celluloid suggestions (you can find a sample here by scrolling down to the movie page’s reviews section). In the meantime, have fun, and good movie hunting! ...

Tune in for the latest Cinema Scribe segment on Bring Me 2 Life Radio, beginning Tuesday August 25, 2 pm ET, available by clicking here. You can also catch it later on demand on Spreaker, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Castbox, Podchaser, Audible, Deezer, Podcast Addict and ...

“The End of Oak Street” (USA) (2026). Cast: Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella, Christian Convery, Jordan Alexa Davis, P.J. Byrne, Hudson Meek, David Alexander Kaplan, Anne Gee Byrd, Emily Kuroda, Denitra Isler. Director: David Robert Mitchell. Screenplay: David Robert Mitchell. Web site. Trailer. Movies about second chances are fairly common fare in the world of cinema. They provide opportunities to explore the value of themes like redemption and forgiveness. And these notions are usually examined within the context of interpersonal dramas or gentle comedies. So it’s truly unusual to find them as thematic underpinnings in as unlikely a context as science fiction. Nevertheless, such is the case in the new Spielbergian summertime blockbuster, “The End of Oak Street.” It’s summer 1982 in suburban Michigan, and the Oak Street community is holding its annual block party. All the neighbors are participating in the festivities, including cookouts and fun and games for the kids. So it is for the Platt family, a prototypical nuclear family headed by mother Denise (Anne Hathaway) and father Greg (Ewan McGregor), parents of teenage children Audrey (Maisy Stella) and Brian (Christian Convery), and proud owners of a mischievous but resourceful Australian cattle dog named Starbuck. On ...

Tune in for the latest Cinema Scribe segment — this one featuring two new movie reviews — on Bring Me 2 Life Radio, beginning Tuesday August 11, 2 pm ET, available by clicking here. You can also catch it later on demand on Spreaker, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Castbox, Podchaser, Audible, Deezer, Podcast Addict and Jiosaavn ...

“Magic Hour” (USA) (2025 production, 2026 release). Cast: Katie Aselton, Daveed Diggs, Brad Garrett, Susan Sullivan, Leonora Pitts, D.J. Shangela Pierce. Director: Katie Aselton. Screenplay: Katie Aselton and Mark Duplass. Web site. Trailer. “Departures” (UK) (2025 production, 2026 release). Cast: Lloyd Eyre-Morgan, David Tag, Liam Boyle, Lorraine Stanley, Saira Jackson, Tyler Conti, Ali Afzal, Olly Rhodes, Jacob Partali, Kerry Howard. Directors: Neil Ely and Lloyd Eyre-Morgan. Screenplay: Lloyd Eyre-Morgan. Web site. Trailer. The hope most of us hold for romantic comedy-dramas is that everything will ultimately work out in the end. But, in real life, relationships don’t always turn out that way. So when filmmakers try to fuse those two divergent scenarios, the results can be unexpected, even dismaying, if not handled properly. However, when addressed with a skillful touch, such stories can be surprisingly entertaining, even revelatory, in many ways. So it is with two alternative love stories now available for streaming online, “Magic Hour” and “Departures.” Whether we like it or not, life is full of new beginnings, and adjusting to them can indeed be difficult. Nevertheless, sometimes they present us with circumstances that we must find a way to address, given that we seemingly have no other ...