Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

I saw this film on September 20th, 2007 in Indianapolis. I am one of the judges for the Heartland Film Festival’s Truly Moving Picture Award. A Truly Moving Picture “…explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life.” Heartland gave that award to this film.

This is a fantasy tale of a magical toy store. It’s big. It’s weird. The toys perform! And there are live animals too! But above all it’s magical. The owner (Dustin Hoffman) is 243 years old and has had the store for 113 years. But he has decided to “depart” and leave it to his store manager (Natalie Portman). He, in the meantime, has hired a straight-laced accountant (Jason Bateman) they affectionately call “mutant” to help out. And they have one other retail clerk, a nine year-old boy.

The humans are as motley as the toys and animals!

All the humans have issues. The store manager was a child piano prodigy, but now she can’t compose or perform. The accountant only knows how to work and has no life. The nine year-old boy has no friends. How are they to manage when Mr. Magorium “departs”? And…that’s the story.

The cinematography and sets are lavish and gorgeous. The acting is superb. Realism and fantasy are a blur.

Can the remaining threesome rely on each other? Can they grow into their new roles when the owner “departs”? Can their hope sustain them? Can they be optimistic? See for yourself!

FYI – There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past Truly Moving Picture Award winners that are now either at the theater or available on video.

Martian Child

I saw this film on July 25th, 2007 in Indianapolis. I am one of the judges for the Heartland Film Festival’s Truly Moving Picture Award. A Truly Moving Picture “…explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life.” Heartland gave that award to this film.

John Cusack is a grieving widower who tries to turn his emotional life around by adopting a young boy. The widower was an oddball child, but today is a successful and rich science fiction writer. But he calls himself only half-jokingly “…a deranged successful person.” He questions his ability to be a good father, but he dives in.

His young boy has a lot of problems. He stays in a large cardboard box during the day because he hates the sun. And, more importantly, he thinks he is a Martian, who someday will go back to his Mother Planet to report back on earth.

The widower tries to accept the boy the way he is and just love him, with the help of his sister and his friend who happens to be a woman. But it is not easy. The young boy has a wide array of quirks such as only eating Lucky Charms, borrowing/stealing items to study, constantly hanging upside down, requiring a gravity belt so he never floats away, and much more.

It quickly becomes apparent that the relationship is symbiotic. The widower needs the boy just as much as the boy needs the widower. But will the relationship making any progress? Will they both be damaged goods for life? It is unsure and the story has many ways to play out.

But through it all, the widower never gives up hope. The widower keeps faith that a good outcome is always possible. And he is willing to sacrifice everything to help the young boy. Whether he is successful or not, any parent, guardian, teacher, and mentor can admire the widower’s effort.

FYI – There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past Truly Moving Picture Award winners that are now either at the theater or available on video.

The Seeker

I saw this film on September 25th, 2007 in Indianapolis. I am one of the judges for the Heartland Film Festival’s Truly Moving Picture Award. A Truly Moving Picture “…explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life.” Heartland gave that award to this film.

Walden Media has a record of creating inspiring and moving fantasy films that are based on books and are driven by the story and characters and not the movie star(s); specifically, “Bridge To Terabithia” and “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.” “The Seeker” continues this tradition.

Will Stanton seems like a normal 13 year-old schoolboy. He and his large family are in England because of his father’s work. But to his great surprise, he has been chosen as the only possible person to save the world from the darkness. Only he can go through time to seek and recover the six signs that are needed to succeed. The future of the human race rests with Will. And, he only has five days to complete his mission. Will, unbeknownst to himself, is a warrior.

And so Will’s adventure begins. Going back-and-forth in time he fights off dogs, snakes, barbarians, birds and more to attempt to complete his very difficult mission.

Will shows exceptional traits for a 13 year-old or for that matter any aged man. He has courage and spirit. He has faith and is willing to sacrifice everything. Will also gathers strength from his family, demonstrating it’s easier to succeed at anything when you have a good and supportive mother and father and siblings.

All Walden Media films have exceptional art direction and cinematography. They have big budgets and you see the budget on the screen. This film is no exception. This is an artistically lush film.

FYI – There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past Truly Moving Picture Award winners that are now either at the theater or available on video.

Lars and the Real Girl

I am a judge for the Indianapolis-based Heartland Film Festival. This feature film is a Crystal Heart Award Winner and is eligible to be the Grand Prize Winner in October of 2007. The Heartland Film Festival is a non-profit organization that honors Truly Moving Pictures. A Truly Moving Picture “…explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life.”

Lars, played by last year’s Academy Award best actor nominee Ryan Gosling, is an unusual 27 year-old man. While he is somewhat normal in that he can drive a car and hold a job and go to church, he is painfully introverted and shy. He lives in a small room off of a garage and not in the main house with his normal brother and normal sister-in-law.

His life is an ever-repeating internal life with no other human breaking in. And then, his fellow cubicle worker gives him a web site address where he can order an anatomically correct plastic woman, and to exact specifications. She, a very attractive piece of plastic named Bianca, arrives via UPS and his immediate family and the town are never the same.

How should the family and the small town treat Lars and Bianca? They can’t ignore it because Lars takes Bianca everywhere in his car and a wheelchair. His family seek advice from a Medical Doctor/Psychologist. They convince Lars that Bianca is sick and needs weekly check-ups. And the plot thickens as everyone is affected by Lars and his delusions.

This is a very funny story. This is a very dramatic story. Ryan Gosling is incredible. You suspend disbelieve. This movie examines the question how do you love a person effectively when they have a mental illness. The answer or, one answer, will surprise you.

FYI – There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past Truly Moving Picture Award winners that are now either at the theater or available on video.

Man in the Chair

I am a judge for the Indianapolis-based Heartland Film Festival. This feature film is a Crystal Heart Award Winner and is eligible to be the Grand Prize Winner in October of 2007. The Heartland Film Festival is a non-profit organization that honors Truly Moving Pictures. A Truly Moving Picture “…explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life.”

This is a story of two unusual and non-conformist people. The first is a curmudgeon or surly old man, played by Christopher Plummer, and the second is a troubled high school junior. What they have in common is that they live in the same neighborhood in L.A. and they love movies, especially old classics.

The old man used to be a gaffer or electrician and made many movies at Hollywood studios, but now he is alone in the Motion Picture Residence of the Elderly. He is scruffy, a drunk, cynical, sarcastic and loudly and proudly acts badly. After he gets into an argument with patrons at a movie theater proclaiming, “I made more movies than you’ve been to”, the junior follows him to his old age home.

The junior wants to submit a short film to a contest that hopefully can get him a college scholarship. So he begins his quest to get help from the old man. The junior has serious adjustment problems. He challenges a high school gang leader and continually gets in trouble with the law for fighting and stealing. At home, he has a terrible relationship with his stepfather.

However, there is a goodness and decency in these two people and they slowly and painfully bring out the best in each other. For them, the journey is more important than a successful outcome. They simply both need a purpose to their lives.

The acting is remarkable and not just from Christopher Plummer, who dominates the movie. M. Emmet Walsh and Robert Wagner are particularly convincing. There are unusual, funky visuals and a hip sound track throughout the movie. They really work to hold your attention because they are such a contrast to the many elderly characters.
This is a very different and very good movie.

FYI – There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past Truly Moving Picture Award winners that are now either at the theater or available on video.

Mia Sarah

I am a judge for the Indianapolis-based Heartland Film Festival. This feature film is a Crystal Heart Award Winner and is eligible to be the Grand Prize Winner in October of 2007. The Heartland Film Festival is a non-profit organization that honors Truly Moving Pictures. A Truly Moving Picture “…explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life.”

This is a charming story of romance, comedy, tragedy, mystery and fantasy set in Spain. A young girl in her twenties, Marina, and her teenage brother, Samuel, have lost their parents in an accident three years ago. Samuel has taken it hard. He hasn’t left their apartment in these last three years and has created a bizarre world for himself and his once-famous literary grandfather. And his eccentricity and cleverness scares off his tutors who try to educate him. The very attractive Marina has no life as she is consumed with taking care of Samuel and working across the street as a waitress.

Marina accidentally meets up with a psychologist, Gabriel, and asks him to be her brother’s tutor. Almost immediately, Gabriel has a powerful positive effect on Samuel.
And Gabriel becomes smitten with Marina. The student Samuel reverses roles and begins to teach the shy Gabriel how to attract women.

Gabriel and Marina are very attractive people to the audience. We root for them and we want them to emotionally find each other. But it’s not certain or easy. Marina has financial and work problems and she focuses her life on Samuel. Gabriel is just wonderfully innocent and inept.

This film is beautifully made. The cinematography, settings, direction, music and acting are incredibly appealing. And the characters ring of honesty and decency and sincerity.
This feels like a Frank Capra-directed classic – but set in today’s world.

FYI – There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past Truly Moving Picture Award winners that are now either at the theater or available on video.

Bella

I am a judge for the Indianapolis-based Heartland Film Festival. This feature film is a Crystal Heart Award Winner and is eligible to be the Grand Prize Winner in October of 2007. The Heartland Film Festival is a non-profit organization that honors Truly Moving Pictures. A Truly Moving Picture “…explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life.”

This is a complex tale that takes all your attention to understand. In a series of now moments and flashback moments, we learn about two main characters. Jose is a handsome and empathetic Chef, who had a lucrative professional soccer career thrown away because of a careless automobile accident. Nina is a waitress at the same restaurant and has an unwanted pregnancy.

Nina wants to have an abortion. Jose, only a casual co-worker, wants her to keep the child, and takes off a day of his life to try to convince her.

The backdrop of this full day is NYC. And we see lots of New York moments; that is, rudeness, kindness, emotion, ethnic behavior, subways, trains, beggars, dancing,
street people and much more.

The film beautifully shows the power of a good family. Jose has a caring and loving Mother, Father, older brother and younger brother. With these relationships, it is easier for Jose to try to do the “right” thing than it is for Nina, who comes from a dysfunctional and tragic family.

FYI – There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past Truly Moving Picture Award winners that are now either at the theater or available on video.

Owl and the Sparrow

I am a judge for the Indianapolis-based Heartland Film Festival. This feature film is a Crystal Heart Award Winner and is eligible to be the Grand Prize Winner in October of 2007. The Heartland Film Festival is a non-profit organization that honors Truly Moving Pictures. A Truly Moving Picture “…explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life.”

This story takes place over the course of a week in today’s Saigon. Saigon is a teaming, energetic, cold, on-the-make city of 8 million. It can be a very lonely place for people without family and friends.

Three of these people include a ten year-old girl who has no parents. She has run away from her child factory labor duties and was living with an unloving, uncle tyrant. Now she lives and sleeps in the streets of Saigon selling single rose flowers for a living. The second person is a young, poor, hardworking animal keeper for the zoo. He has no family and has lived at the zoo his whole life. The third person is a 26 year-old stewardess who seems to have everything; that is, a good job and beauty. But she is unhappy because she lacks direction and meaningful relations.

They come together as a threesome via the determination and pluck of the ten year-old.
Will they find meaning to their lives leaning on each other? … or not? Life is just too difficult for each of them, but for different reasons. And, they are very different from each other.

But, there is a common trait among the three. They are all decent people. They are honest and direct and they treat each other with uncommon respect and dignity.

And by the way, the ten year-old girl steals the show.

FYI – There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past Truly Moving Picture Award winners that are now either at the theater or available on video.

August Rush

I saw this film on May 14th, 2007 in Indianapolis. I am one of the judges for the Heartland Film Festival’s Truly Moving Picture Award. A Truly Moving Picture “…explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life.” Heartland gave that award to this film.

This is a story of an eleven-year old boy, August Rush, who is very unlucky and very lucky. He is unlucky in that he is ostensibly an orphan who is bullied at an orphanage. But he is lucky because his Mother and Father are talented musicians, and he has inherited their musical talents to an extraordinary extent.

His Father is a rock guitarist and vocalist. His Mother is a classically trained cello player.
One night in NYC they meet and have a profoundly romantic but short-lived affair and August Rush is the result. Through strange circumstances, the Mother and Father lose track of each other and August grows up an orphan. But in a mystical, fairy tale like way, August knows he has parents and he believes in his music. No one will knock it out of him.

August escapes to NYC and is befriended by a mysterious and very weird stranger played by Robin Williams. This stranger is de-ranged, musical, and is constantly changing from good to bad, back-and-forth. But the stranger recognizes August’s talent and he can’t hold August back either. Through random serendipity of social workers, church choirs, and famous institutions, August pursues his music and his parents.

August Rush is an amazing boy. His hope for finding his parents and in pursuing his music is boundless. He will not be discouraged. His faith sustains him.

The story is half believable and half fairy tale. But the viewer suspends disbelieve because the characters are so well acted; that is, Kerri Russell (Mother), Jonathon Rhys Meyers (Father), Freddie Highmore (August), Terrence Howard (Social Worker), and
Robin Willliams. And … the soundtrack is incredible and eclectic … from rock n’ roll to classical.

FYI – There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past Truly Moving Picture Award winners that are now either at the theater or available on video.

Ratatouille

I saw this film on June 15th, 2007 in Indianapolis. I am one of the judges for the Heartland Film Festival’s Truly Moving Picture Award. A Truly Moving Picture “…explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life.” Heartland gave that award to this film.

Pixar has an incredible streak of commercial and artistic animation successes. This is their 8th in a row, and their riskiest. Toys and cars and bugs and fish and monsters and superheroes are easier to make endearing than a RAT. But, PIXAR pulls it off.

This is a story of a French rat, Remy, who dreams to be more. Instead of eating garbage like his family and friends, he aspires to create great food like his hero Gusteau. Gusteau is a famous chef and cooking writer and television cooking star and restaurant owner. Gusteau’s motto is “Anyone Can Cook.” The bad news is Gusteau dies, but the good news is he comes back as a ghost or a figment of the rat’s imagination to aid our rat in his dreams.

The rat arrives at Gusteau’s restaurant and uses the body of a lowly garbage boy to follow the rat’s instructions and to create great food. The rat even moves in with the garbage boy.

The animation is stunningly good. PIXAR has made the animation more detailed and more nuanced for every one of their succeeding films and this tradition continues. You learn about cooking and your mouth waters throughout the film. The Ratatouille, a French vegetable stew, can be tasted and smelled in the theater. By the way, the “Rat” in Ratatouille has nothing to do with a “rat.”

Remy is inspiring. Here is a character that will not settle on his expected life, but strives for greatness and to add to the world. And he will not give up or be discouraged. The ugly(?) rat becomes beautiful.

FYI – There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past Truly Moving Picture Award winners that are now either at the theater or available on video.

What is Storytelling

George Lucas quoted in a Wall Street Journal interview on 6-18-2007:

"There are two forms of entertaining. Circus is random. And voyeuristic. It's basically what you see on YouTube now. I call it feeding Christians to the lions. The movie term is throwing puppies on a freeway. It's very easy. You sit there and watch and see what happens. You don't have to write anything, you don't have to do anything, you just sort of watch it happen, and it's interesting.

Then you get to art. Art is where a person contrives the situation and tells a story, and hopefully that story reveals the truth behind the facts. Storytelling is trying to come up with an idea that is insightful in terms of giving you a different insight into how things work, or is amusing."

A Heartland Truly Moving Picture is always art.

Why Inspirational Truly Moving Pictures matter

From the Wall Street Journal - 6-12-2007 - "A Cultural Conversation with Micheal Flaherty ... His Movie Company [Walden Media] is Far From Hollywood in Many Ways"

And I am quoting...
"But as a young adult [Micheal Flaherty] , he found himself working on Massachusetts education reform during the week and tutoring disadvantaged kids in Boston on Saturday mornings. When he could ask the children what they did the previous evening, it was always the same thing - watching TV or movies. But when Titanic came out in 1997, Mr. Flaherty recalls, they started telling him about going to museums to see exhibits about the famous sinking. they even took books out of the library on ship-building. 'I saw a big idea here.' "

Becoming Jane

I saw this film on March 28th, 2007 in Indianapolis. I am one of the judges for the Heartland Film Festival’s Truly Moving Picture Award. A Truly Moving Picture “…explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life.” Heartland gave that award to this film.

The “Jane” is Jane Austen and this is a fictional depiction of her young adult life before her novel writing career. I suppose half of the tale is based on fact such as she rejected a marriage proposal, and half the tale is made up to create engaging story-telling. But that’s not important.

The essence of the story is the mores of proper English society around 1800. Woman had their place. And that place was to give oneself to an arranged marriage and become a dutiful wife and mother. It was even more important to be in these roles if you were a daughter of a minister of modest means who had lots of children to care for. Jane was one of those children.

But Jane has spunk and smarts and a stubbornness to live her own life as she sees fit. Anne Hathaway plays young Jane convincingly and Anne’s good looks are played down as much as possible. It’s Jane’s inner self that makes her attractive and not her exterior appearance.

And she is so attractive that she has three suitors; the rich and dull one, the poor and roguish one, and a secret and nefarious one. This circumstance allows us to see England from the various social strata, which is fun and informative.

Jane, 200 years ahead of her time, shows beauty and grace and charm and spirit, and will not buckle to her day’s lot in life. We should all have such courage “… to follow our bliss” knowing we have but one life to live.

FYI – There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past Truly Moving Picture Award winners that are now either at the theater or available on video.

Gracie

I saw this film on May 9th, 2007 in Indianapolis. I am one of the judges for the Heartland Film Festival’s Truly Moving Picture Award. A Truly Moving Picture “…explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life.” Heartland gave that award to this film.

This is a story of a loving, close-knit family in the 1970s. The father is obsessed with his love of soccer and for his children, which include two grade school sons, his high school son and soccer star, and high school daughter, Gracie. All of his children share his passion for the game. A tragedy occurs and the high school daughter is determined to play with the high school boys’ soccer team.

This is before title IX and the road to her joining the team is virtually impossible. Everyone is against her; that is, the male soccer-team players, the male soccer-team coaches, and her father. And everything is against her. Girls aren’t allowed to use the weightlifting room at school and the Board of Education is worried about her safety.

First she gives up and behaves badly. Then her love for the game and competition takes over. The only questions that remain are whether she will be given a chance, and whether given a chance, she is tough enough and good enough.

Gracie eventually becomes a role model for young people and especially for girls. She displays courage and spirit and even heroism, and she never gives up hope in trying to reach her goals.

Gracie’s parents are very compelling. Dermot Mulroney and Elizabeth Shue show being good parents is not about money. It is about being good role models and instilling positive values in their children.

FYI – There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past Truly Moving Picture Award winners that are now either at the theater or available on video.

Meet the Robinsons

I saw this film on March 12th, 2007 in Indianapolis. I am one of the judges for the Heartland Film Festival’s Truly Moving Picture Award. A Truly Moving Picture “…explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life.” Heartland gave that award to this film.

Lewis is the ultimate nerd in this Disney Digital 3-D animation. His life started out sadly as a baby left on the door of an orphanage. As a 12 year-old at the orphanage, he is smart beyond his years. He is a consummate tinkerer, inventor, and scrounger of parts. His goal is ultimately to make a time machine so he can go back in time to find his real parents.

His plans almost come to fruition at a science fair, but an evil presence interrupts his plan. A mysterious 13 year-old boy, Wilbur Robinson, then intervenes and takes him to the future with a Dream Memory Machine. The plot turns more than complicated. We deal with generations of good and evil – past, present and future. It takes a lot of storytelling to tie it all together.

There is much humor in this both serious and farcical movie, and it mostly comes from the bad guy – the evil yet lovable(?), inept and stupid bad character Bowler Hat Guy, who derives most of his power from the top of his head with the intelligent and even more evil hat named Doris. And there are more characters everywhere – singing frogs, an almost effective dinosaur and an octopus butler.

Lewis displays a tremendous amount of inspirational behavior. He wants to make the world a better place via his inventions. He never gives up. He “…keeps moving
forward…” no matter what happens, and no matter what the obstacles are. He is loyal to his friends and offers olive branches to his enemies. He is quite a mature and heroic little boy.

FYI – There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past Truly Moving Picture Award winners that are now either at the theater or available on video.

Bridge To Terabithia

I saw this film on January 23rd, 2007 in Indianapolis. I am one of the judges for the Heartland Film Festival’s Truly Moving Picture Award. A Truly Moving Picture “…explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life.” Heartland gave that award to this film.

This is a story of a poor 10-year old boy who wants to be the fastest boy in his class at school. To his surprise, the new girl who moves in next door to him beats him out fair and square and wins the race. This is no way to start a relationship or friendship.

However, they have something in common. They are both being bullied at school. And they each react differently. The boy, Jesse, is passive and tries to stay out of harm’s way. The girl, Leslie, is aggressive and challenges her tormenters. Who knows what the right way is to fight bullying, but they find their defense in friendship with each other. And, they find a wonderful way to experience this trying time in life via their vivid imagination and the creation of a magical and enchanting kingdom that is very real to them.

They are both creative people. He is an artist and she is a writer. These creative people are able to close their eyes, picture another world, and keep their minds open to fantastic visions.

But the bullying persists and they attempt to come to grips with their pain in various ways. They try to out smart their tormenters and do, but they don’t enjoy being bullies and becoming like their enemies. And then … a great tragedy occurs.

This story is based on a Newbery-winning novel. It is a child’s story. But, it is also a story for adults. It will bring you emotionally to your knees. It is lovingly and professionally told, and the fantasy part of the story – the magical kingdom – is
wonderfully and briefly shown on the screen. This keeps the story grounded and
believable.

Jesse and Leslie are beautiful people regardless of their ages. They show us how to enjoy life, how to do the right things, how to be faithful to one’s friends, and have hope for the future. We learn a lot from these ten year olds.

FYI – There is a Truly Moving Pictures web site where there is a listing of past Truly Moving Picture Award winners that are now either at the theater or available on video.