To top matters off, I played the closing scene about thirty times.

You might get the idea that I love this movie. And you’re right. And I’m not the only one. Countless high schools have presented it as a play.

This widely loved combination of drama, romance, excite, music, and dancing is yours whenever you wish.

I love the modern technology and the business structure that makes these wonders available to almost everyone.

After the initial opening credits with great music and dancing, the movie begins with a fire and brimstone preaching of Shaw Moore (John Lithgow) who condemns dancing as the root of potential destruction of the moral fiber of the youth. And of course, the music is equally sinful in his eyes.

This sets the scene for the basic plot.

Ren (Kevin Bacon) is the new kid in the small town of Beaumont. And he brings his big city mindset. Although he plays by the rules, he seems to get blamed for everything.

You’ll notice Rusty (a very young Sarah Jessica Parker) in her highly charming supporting role. Boy has she come a long way. She was good then and she’s great now.

Ren wants the senior class to have a high school dance. This is strictly taboo. So he spearheads an effort to legalize dancing within the City of Beaumont. With a growing support group, he takes his message to City Hall.

This film is overflowing with life lessons. One is to go for it. Do it legally. Do it peacefully. Have the guts to stand up and be heard.

This film is filled with great drama, great music, and great dancing, and pure joy.

Movie Feel Good Review: If you like being happy, see this movie.

[rating:5/5]

I brought my personal exhaustion to the party. By the end I was moving my body and totally into the joy of the experience.

The first thing that struck me was that Cher really loved her audience. And they loved her. You could tell by their smiling expressions and the waving cardboard signs.

There is so much packed into this ninety minute extravaganza that I can’t cover it all. But here are some highlights.

Cher started out with a body moving “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for”. She followed this with “All or nothing”.

The audience then delighted in a “Sonny and Cher” film sequence. Ah yes – the good old days.

Other performances included the popular “Half Breed”, “Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves”, and a “Take Me Home” dance sequence.

You’ve seen Elvis impersonators. Well – Cher was one also. And she was good.

This DVD rental also featured “The Shoop Shoop Song”, aka “It’s in his kiss”.

I absolutely loved the two flamenco dance sequences. It made me want to take up dancing.

Just when I thought I couldn’t, “Strong Enough” moved me forward.

Believe it or not, the next uplifting song was “If I could turn back time”.

The finale was Cher’s mega-hit “Believe”. As if the singing wasn’t enough, there was spectacular musical accompaniment, amazing dancing, and aerial acrobatics. I watched this finale six times! That’s one of the great things about DVDs.

It’s unusual to encounter a performance that inspires you to get out of the doldrums and do what the artists are doing. This is one of those performances.

Movie Feel Good Review – You absolutely must see this performance by Cher and her team.

[rating:5/5]

Saul Naumann (Richard Gere) is a religion professor and a highly dedicated Kabbalah scholar. However, his wife and two children each seem to be going in their own ways. These are ways different from his.

His wife (Juliette Binoche) for the most part is falling out of communication and mysteriously disappears for hours at a time.

Saul’s 11 year old daughter Eliza (Flora Cross) surprisingly starts winning spelling bees. Saul ignores the rest of the family and starts teaching esoteric Kabbalah principles to Eliza in order to help her go all the way to the top in spelling bees.

The film continues with a portrayal of how the emotionally abandoned wife and son cope in their various ways. The son Aaron (Max Minghella) starts on a path totally foreign to Saul. En route he befriends a young lady named Chali (the angelic Kate Bosworth).

Young Eliza gets increasing pressure for perfection and is exposed to highly powerful spiritual principles.

It’s quite a study to see the family see-saw between closeness and separation as the movie unfolds.

This DVD rental presents life lessons in many categories while holding you spellbound.

Movie Feel Good Review – Not suitable for young children because of a passionate scene. Fascinating study of human interaction. Definitely worth seeing.

[rating:4/5]

It all starts when ten year old Opal (AnnaSophia Robb) goes shopping at the local Winn-Dixie store. An unclaimed mutt seems to raise havoc in the store when nobody can catch her to take her outside.

When there’s a threat to take the lovable mutt to the pound, Opal thinks quickly and says it belongs to her. She takes a quick look around for name ideas and abruptly names the dog Winn-Dixie.

After taking Winn-Dixie to her trailer park home, Opal convinces her preacher father (Jeff Daniels) to keep the stray for "just a little while". However, the trailer park owner doesn’t like Winn-Dixie either. So he orders the father to get rid of the dog.

There is a series of adventures while Opal follows her pet around town and meets people she would have met otherwise.

She befriends a lonely librarian who would otherwise be alone with her books.

Winn-Dixie leads Opal to meet a wise blind woman in a seemingly abandoned property.

Opal takes up work in a pet store to earn a collar for her beloved dog. That’s where Opal meets a musician / ex-con who has an interesting story of his own.

The loving connections continue as Opal and Winn-Dixie spread joy throughout the small town.

This lovable film shows us that life can turn out just fine when we follow our heart rather than our head.

You might want to check out the movie trailer below.

Movie Feel Good Review: An uplifting film that’s fun for the whole family.

[rating:4.5/5]

This is a musical film about people in the music business. Many of the scenes are centered around performances on stage. There is also singing woven right into the plots. This is reminiscent of the 1950s MGM musicals where almost everything is sung.

However, the music is more like the rock and roll of the 50s and 60s.

I heard Eddie Murphy imitate James Brown on an old Saturday Night Live rerun. He was really good. And he’s really good in Dreamgirls. He’s not the only one who can sing in this movie.

You also have Jamie Foxx who won best actor Oscar for playing Ray Charles.

And then you have the beautiful Beyonce Knowles who is a fantastic singer in anybody’s book.

This is my first acquaintance with the singing of Jennifer Hudson. And she is amazing.

The whole cast if wonderful.

If you include this great movie among your DVD rentals, you’ll feel your body wanting to move from the beginning to end. The songs and the music are wonderful. You wind up feeling good, which is the major criterion for ratings on this website.

And there is a plot complete with emotional interactions, betrayals, back stabbing, ego trips, hurt feelings, enforcement of honesty, bouncing back, forgiveness, and personal redemption.

I especially enjoyed a scene where everyone walked away from somebody who started taking drugs. This might be a good lesson for the kids.

This is a great movie that is now on my list of favorites.

You might want to take a look at the movie trailer below.

Movie Feel Good Review: Great, uplifting movie with life lessons.

[rating:4.5/5]

Rhetoric, the effective use of language to please or persuade is often use to distort the truth. Perhaps the truth is distorted for personal gain or to support some personal position.

In this film, Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) used his journalistic power to take on the Senator in his campaign to spread the existing fear of communism.

Many innocent people lost their jobs. Hollywood celebrities lost their careers because of the paranoia back in the 1950s.

Having the guts to document the truth, Murrow risked his career in the pursuit of fairness and honesty.

This saga began when Murrow learned that an Air Force pilot, Milo Radulovich, lost his position due to unproven accusations about being a communist. After an exercise of courageous journalism, the reporter managed to get the pilot his job back.

Further in to the campaign for truth, Murrow devoted his half-hour CBS show making statements exposing McCarthy and his tactics. There was an open invitation to McCarthy to come onto the show to defend his position. The format was totally up to McCarthy’s discretion. McCarthy responded with attacks based on false data.

This movie is an excellent exposure of how false rhetoric can bring about mass hysteria and have a false impact on people’s lives. The good news is that documented truth can help counteract the damages.

Although this movie’s example is based on a national situation, the same principles apply in our jobs, our businesses, and our lives in general.

You might like to take a look at the movie trailer below.

Movie Feel Good Review – Very educational. A bit boring in places. However, it’s a very worthwhile film. Go for it.

[rating:3.5/5]

This film is centered around the events following the death of Princess Diana on August 31, 1997. The Princess’ death was followed by a worldwide outpouring of feelings of grief.

Diana was loved by an overwhelming number of people.

Yet Buckingham Palace royalty made no statement on the subject. After all, since the divorce from Prince Charles (Alex Jennings), Diana was no longer an official member of the royalty.

Never mind that the Princess was the mother of the Queen’s grandchildren.

Sensing a public relations disaster, Prime Minister Tony Blair (Michael Sheen) did everything possible to advise the arrogant queen to make a public statement of support for the late princess.

This DVD rental showed Blair’s artistry as it changed the course of history. It was not only God save the Queen. It was Blair save the Queen.

Queen Elizabeth II viewpoint was that it was only necessary to shield her grandchildren from the situation. So she supported their participation on hunting trips while the world mourned.

One very interesting sequence portrayed an interesting contrast of emotions. Elizabeth felt awe for the beauty of a stag deer while she seemed to feel indifference for Diana.

This story of an interesting part of English history portrays the interplay of royal pride, arrogance, compassion, and public relations. Elizabeth equated humility with humiliation.

It’s a fascinating study of ego, human emotions, and public relations.

Movie Feel Good Rating: Very well done. It’s well worth the viewing.

[rating:4/5]

There are at least three different versions available for rent. I’ve been enthralled with at least twenty-five viewings. And I’ve rented them multiple times from both Netflix and Blockbuster. They are that good.

Here is the list:

Riverdance: Live From New York City is the first one I saw. This was performed by the main troupe. However, Colin Dunne replaced Michael Flatley, the original male lead. Later I learned that after the first highly successful tour, Flatley refused to return when his impossible financial demands proved to be too impossible. Dunne, a multi-time world danced champion filled Flatley’s dancing shoes with perfection. Jean Butler rightfully continued as the female lead.

The lively performance invites a feeling of joy as you marvel at the seemingly impossible movements made in unison by the entire dance troupe. These physical artists all started as young children and were dedicated to Irish dance their entire lives.

One of the high points is the dance-off between two African American tap dancers and three Irish dancers. This joyous performance, choreographed by Colin Dunne, brings the entire music hall to their feet.

Later I marvelled at Riverdance: Live from Geneva. This featured an entirely different troupe that was as amazing at the first.

I finally saw Best of Riverdance. This recording told the entire story from the very beginning as a one time ten minute performance. The viewer sees how it mushroomed to a world-wide phenomenon. This shows performances by Michael Flatley, the Lord of the Dance. He exhibits a swashbuckling persona as he dominates the stage.

The three DVDs bring tears of joy. If you want to feel good, this is one very good way to do it.

The following video snippets give you an idea of the experience. However, the actual movies have much higher video quality.

Movie Feel Good Review: These are my favorite DVDs of all time.

[rating:5/5]

The movie includes Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd) who becomes Mr. Fantastic. He’s the guy who can stretch his body like a rubber band. You never know when you might want to do that.

His girlfriend Sue Storm (Jessica Alba) becomes the Invisible Woman although she is one of the last people you would like to become invisible.

Her brother, Johnny Storm (Chris Evans) becomes the Human Torch who can ignite himself to incredible temperatures with no adverse side effects. Only in the movies.

And finally Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis) becomes a powerful monster, The Thing, who can lift just about anything.

The bad guy of the film is their boss Doctor Doom (Julian McMahon), turned his incredible talents to serve his serious control issues. He’s getting even for having his financial backers withdraw after the space accident. He sets himself on a mission for domination.

To complicate matters, both Doctor Doom and Reed have romantic interests in Sue Storm. The plot thickens.

The foursome enter the realm of fame rather quickly as they avert a major disaster on the bridge. It’s quite a study in human character to see how the new circumstances mold each person’s character.

In this DVD rental, the Human Torch loves to be in the limelight. He absolutely soaks up the fame and adoration. He immediately takes maximum advantage of the fame and the women.

The Thing had a major life downturn due to his massive change in appearance. However, in major life crises we sometimes lose old friends and make room for new ones.

Mr. Fantastic humbly takes on the role of leader and is forced to become honest about his feelings for the Invisible Woman.

This film is one more Marvel Comic creation that made it to the silver screen. And I’m happy that it did. As with other Marvel DVD Rentals, this is just plain fun.

Leave your critical editor in the closet and enjoy this fantasy.

Movie Feel Good Review: It’s just plain fun. Go for it.

[rating:3.5/5]

The toddler is tested and passes by correctly identifying objects belonging to the 13th Dalai Lama. Tibet’s spiritual leader has come back and has been found. It’s an honoring of a pledge to keep returning as long as there is life on Earth.

The video shows fascinating scenes of adults bowing down to a two year old as he is brought to the palace. We witness the special education tailored to the new Tibetan leader.

Fortunately the overwhelming duties are assisted by a staff of advisors. And finally the teenage Dalai Lama announces that he is in charge. The advisers happily defer to him. They know he has finally arrived.

Tibet’s conditions rapidly worsen as Mao’s Red China invades Tibet in the name of liberation. Various high ranking military leaders visit the Dalai Lama and make demands. These demands are met with a stare and silence.

Kundun, another name for the Dalai Lama, finally visits Mao Tse Tung in Red China and is greeted with a thin veil of politeness. Mao’s parting words were "Religion is Poison."

The film’s main lesson is depicted by masterful artwork created with multi colored sand. It is an absolute beautiful creation of love. And then the masterpiece is wiped away.

This demonstrates the Buddhist belief that physical objects are only temporary. The only lasting reality is the being.

Although Kundun was forced out of Tibet, the victory is not in the physical universe. The victory for Tibetans is a victory of the spiritual being.

You can check out the trailer below.

Movie Feel Good Review: Good movie. Go for it.

[rating:3.5/5]