“Her” (2013). Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson (voice), Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Brian Cox (voice), Olivia Wilde, Matt Letscher, Chris Pratt, Laura Kai Chen, Kristen Wiig (voice). Director: Spike Jonze. Screenplay: Spike Jonze. Web site. Trailer.What makes a good relationship? That’s a question mankind has wrestled with for ages (or at least ever since Woody Allen started making movies), but the answer has always seemed to elude us, shifting like an ever-moving target. And the clarity we seek on this point may be even harder to come by with the release of the latest offering from director Spike Jonze, the romantic comedy-drama, “Her.”Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) leads a pretty isolated life in the Los Angeles of the near future. In [...]

“The Hunt” (“Jagten”) (2012 production, 2013 release). Cast: Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Anne Louise Hassing, Annika Wedderkopp, Lasse Fogelstrøm, Susse Wold, Lars Ranthe, Alexandra Rapaport, Sebastian Bull Sarning, Bjarne Henriksen. Director: Thomas Vinterberg. Screenplay: Tobias Lindholm and Thomas Vinterberg. Web site. Trailer.In an age when so many aspects of life seem so inherently transient, it’s hard to fathom how some can persist with dogged determination. This can be particularly maddening when it comes to those we’d rather rid ourselves of, yet they’re almost always the ones that endure the longest. When such circumstances arise, there’s usually some kind of life lesson involved, one that we’d be wise to address, a point driven home in a poignant drama from Denmark, [...]

I'm pleased to announce the upcoming release of my new book, Consciously Created Cinema: The Movie Lover's Guide to the Law of Attraction, available in softcover and ebook formats from your favorite online book sellers in late February. In the meantime, get a preview by checking out my new book trailer, available by clicking here.My thanks to Paul L. Clark and Mary Giuffre of Inspirtainment (www.inspirtainment.com) for an excellent job in creating this wonderful new video and to the many distinguished experts in the movie, writing and new thought communities for lending me their kind words and support.Cover design by Paul L. Clark, Inspirtainment, www.inspirtainment.com

“August: Osage County” (2013). Cast: Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Ewan McGregor, Chris Cooper, Sam Shepard, Benedict Cumberbatch, Juliette Lewis, Margo Martindale, Abigail Breslin, Dermot Mulroney, Julianne Nicholson, Misty Upham. Director: John Wells. Screenplay: Tracy Letts. Play: Tracy Letts, August: Osage County. Web site. Trailer.Whenever we see someone rise to greatness, we’re inspired by the impressive personal power that they wield. But managing such power can be a dual-edged sword as anyone can attest who has witnessed its unleashing in the manifestation of terrible atrocities. The challenges associated with this issue can become apparent in a variety of arenas, too, including everything from the world geopolitical stage to the everyday theater of family relations. That point gets driven home with riveting [...]

“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, [...]