“Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet” (2014 production, 2015 release). Cast (Voices): Liam Neeson, Salma Hayek-Pinault, John Krasinski, Quvenzhané Wallis, Alfred Molina, Frank Langella, Assaf Cohen, Leah Allers. Director: Roger Allers. Segment Directors: Gaëtan Brizzi, Paul Brizzi, Joan C. Gratz, Mohammed Saeed Harib, Tomm Moore, Nina Paley, Bill Plympton, Joann Sfar, Michal Socha. Screenplay: Roger Allers, Hanna Weg and Douglas Wood. Book: Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet. Web site. Trailer. What’s the essence of life? That’s a question mankind has been wrestling with almost from its inception. And, while answers may vary from individual to individual, there’s now a new animated fantasy that attempts to put this inquiry into a larger, thoughtful context, “Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet.” “The Prophet,” the latest offering from the director of “The Lion King” (1994), is based on the best-selling book of the same name by Lebanese-born author Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931), first published in 1923. The film tells the story of a spiritually inspired poet and painter named Mustafa (Liam Neeson). For the past seven years, the charismatic foreign-born artist has been under house arrest near the mythical city of Orphalese, a seaport with a Mediterranean ambiance. Its residents, landscape and culture resemble an amalgamation of the peoples, ...

“The Best of Enemies” (2015). Interviews: Dick Cavett, Christopher Hitchens, Matt Tyrnauer, Sam Tanenhaus, Andrew Sullivan, George Merlis, John McWhorter, William Sheehan, Fred Kaplan, Reid Buckley, Linda Bridges, Ginia Bellafante. Voiceovers: Kelsey Grammer, John Lithgow. Archive Footage: William F. Buckley Jr., Gore Vidal, Howard K. Smith, Paul Newman, Arthur Miller, Sam Donaldson, Ted Koppel, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford, Robert Kennedy, Eugene McCarthy, Hubert Humphrey, Richard J. Daley, Norman Mailer, Patricia Buckley, Shana Alexander, James J. Kilpatrick, Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin. Directors: Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville. Screenplay: Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville. Movie web site. Filmmakers’ web site. Trailer. At times we may look upon what we’ve manifested in our lives with shock, surprise and utter distress. Like a genie let loose from a bottle, these creations disrupt our realities in unimagined ways, causing havoc that takes our breath away – and that’s not easily remedied. Such instances often leave us unaware of how to proceed, too, largely because we’re overcome by what transpires. It’s conditions like these that become all too apparent in the provocative new historical documentary, “Best of Enemies.” In 1968, the fortunes of the ABC television network were seriously flagging. As the lowest rated ...

I’m pleased to announce that the consciouscreation.com web site has added my books, Get the Picture?!: Conscious Creation Goes to the Movies and Consciously Created Cinema: The Movie Lover’s Guide to the Law of Attraction, to the list of titles available through its online bookstore! On the bookstore page menu, click on the option “Various Authors/Titles” and then scroll to page 4 of the listings. For more, click here. And, while you’re at it, check out all the resources this wonderful web site (and its Facebook page) have to offer! Photo covers by Paul L. Clark, Inspirtainment ...

Keep up with the latest about my books, Get the Picture?!: Conscious Creation Goes to the Movies and Consciously Created Cinema: The Movie Lover’s Guide to the Law of Attraction, on Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest, as well as on their own web sites. Follow Get the Picture?! on Facebook by clicking here, on Google+ by clicking here and on Pinterest by clicking here. Visit the book’s web site by clicking here. Follow Consciously Created Cinema on Facebook by clicking here, on Google+ by clicking here and on Pinterest by clicking here. Visit the book’s web site by clicking here. And keep up with me on Twitter @Brent_Marchant. Cover designs by Paul L. Clark, Inspirtainment ...

“Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine” (2014 production, 2015 release). Interview Footage: Michele Josue, Judy Shepard, Dennis Shepard, Tim Galles, Walt Boulden, Zeina Barkawi, Cynthia Whisenant, Nikki Pearson, Julie Anderson, Rich Mack, Kate Chill, Romaine Patterson, Jason Marsden, Jim Osborne, Matt Galloway, Dave O’Malley, Rob Debree, Reggie Fluty, Rulon Stacy, Father Roger Schmit. Archive Footage: Matt Shepard, Logan Shepard, Aaron McKinney, Russell Henderson, Ellen DeGeneres, President Bill Clinton, President Barack Obama. Director: Michele Josue. Screenplay: Michele Josue. Movie web site. Television web site. Trailer. It’s easy to forget how those who are the inspiration for very public events are also individuals, flesh and blood people with their own personalities, traits and sensibilities. We often look past those qualities, not realizing how such traits often play an integral part in helping to bring their accomplishments into being. Under such circumstances, the only ones who get to see the private sides of these people are those who know them intimately. But now there’s a new film that attempts to correct that oversight at least for one public figure, a highly personal profile that provides the basis of the heartfelt documentary, “Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine.” In October 1998, the ...

“Irrational Man” (2015). Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Emma Stone, Parker Posey, Jamie Blackley, Betsy Aidem, Ethan Phillips, Sophie von Haselberg, Tom Kemp, Robert Petkoff, Kate McGonigle, Susan Pourfar, Paula Plum, Nancy Giles. Director: Woody Allen. Screenplay: Woody Allen. Web site. Trailer. Have you ever heard someone utter something that seems totally inappropriate or ludicrous, only to find out that the statement in question is one the speaker’s most cherished beliefs? Hard to fathom, isn’t it? Yet such instances are commonplace, since beliefs are highly personal, heartfelt sentiments, notions that everyone holds onto zealously (and that are generally unshakable except under the most coercive circumstances). That seemingly strange though routine proposition gets put under the microscope in the latest offering from director Woody Allen, “Irrational Man.” The ivy-clad halls of Newport, Rhode Island’s stoic Braylin College are about to get shaken up (or at least that’s what administrators think). Renowned philosophy professor Abe Lucas (Joaquin Phoenix) has agreed to join the school’s faculty as a visiting instructor for the summer program. His arrival is heralded as a major coup for the university, given his pedigree as one of the field’s most insightful academics. But his standing precedes him in other ways, too; ...