There has probably not been a more committed public figure in defending children and voicing their needs than Fred Rogers, the man who brought the television show, “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” into American homes for 30 years to talk to children about everything. He could make children feel good about who they are, and be reassured about things […]
If you plan to see this film, make sure your menu plan for dinner does not include meat. This informative documentary by Christopher Dillon Quinn (21 Up America, God Grew Tired of Us) and narrated by Natalie Portman is based on a book by Jonathan Safran Foer who helped write the screenplay. All three are producers of
Wim Wenders, writer with David Rosier and director of the documentary, shows from his speeches all over the world how Pope Francis is a man of his word. He is the only pope taking the name of Francis, inspired by St. Francis of Assisi who took a vow of poverty and spent his life working for
Ireland’s submission to the 90th Academy Awards is by far the worst of the selections I have reviewed. Song of Granite is also one of the worst films I’ve ever seen. To be fair, Pat Collins black and white film is mixed media, combining documentary style interviews, recreations of characters and songs with archival footage.
“Stepping” or step-dancing is one in which the dancer’s body is used like an instrument to make complex sounds and rhythms with footsteps, spoken words, and clapping. This award-winning documentary by Amanda Lipitz was filmed at the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women (BLSYW), a charter school founded by Lipitz’s mother, Brenda Brown Rever, for
It is rather dismaying to see how little people have changed since An Inconvenient Truth (2006). Yes, Al Gore makes a big point in this sequel to express optimism (justified, I’m sure) about the future, and certainly we can be pleased with the fact that President Trump’s pulling the U.S. out of the accords in
There was a recent National Geographic Channel program called “Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of Isis”, which reconstructed events in the Middle East that led up to the terrorist organization’s establishment in the area, which I reviewed earlier (https://drdonnasfilmreviews.blogspot.com/2017/06/hell-on-earth-fall-of-syria-and-rise-of.html?m=0). This documentary is a report of subsequent events that have occurred
This documentary will sweep you off your feet with its brilliant images of underwater life, then bring you up short in informing you of the precariousness of ocean reefs and the dangers to us all in the event that a whole eco-system on which 500 million people rely for food and livelihood disappears (which could
It’s hard to imagine a woman in the early 1900’s forging ahead in a man’s world like Gertrude Bell did. Born in 1868 into a family of means, Gertrude Bell early on set her sights on places far from her native England. She was always cheeky, and when she graduated from Oxford, she was sent
The Buena Vista Social Club dates back to 1996, when a loosely connected group of veteran musicians were brought together in Havana rather spontaneously to record two albums by African and Cuban musicians. The African musicians did not arrive because of visa problems, but band leader Juan de Marcos Gonzalez was determined to reinstate music