Short Films: Faster than a Speeding Bullet

Nancy DeVore, PhD Independent Researcher, Los Angeles ndevorepsych@gmail.com & Mary Gregerson, PhD Heartlandia Psychology mary.gregerson@aol.com Reviews of A Singe Life and The Box Directors for A Single Life: M. Blaauw, J. Oprins & J. Roggeveen Director for The Box: D. Kastelic Short films, like the superhero Superman, strike swiftly, deftly, and decisively. At 20 minutes…

Love’s Broken Arrow

Frank Farley, PhD Temple University, Philadelphia Frank.farley@temple.edu Mona Sarshar, PhD Temple University, Philadelphia tuf10665@temple.edu & Elisa K. Colchado, EdS CORA Services, Philadelphia ecolchado4@gmail.com A review of A Star is Born Director: Bradley Cooper A Star is Born is a remake (the 3rd one to date) of the 1937 original, and stars Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper.…

An Unsolved Murder in the Show Me State…Billboards Ineffective, No Solutions Were Shown!

Frank Farley, PhD Frank.farley@temple.edu & Lauren Butler Tug08349@temple.edu Review of Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri Director: Martin McDonagh In a small Midwest American town three roadside billboards on an obscure road outside of town stand unused and in disrepair. A local woman whose daughter was raped and killed many months earlier rents the billboards and…

H2O: Hail 2 Otherness

Frank Farley, PhD Temple University frank.farley@temple.edu & Ayse N. Olgun, Bachelor of Theology, Currently Psychology Student Bahcesehir University, Istanbul, Turkey olgunayseolgun@gmail.com Review of The Shape of Water Director: Guillermo del Toro The Shape of Water is an occasionally beautiful but totally absurd love story that pulls out all the stops fantasizing about unexpected connections and…

The Darkest Hour, The Finest Moment

Frank Farley, PhD frank.farley@Temple.edu Review of Darkest Hour Director: Joe Wright Darkest Hour is essentially a docudrama with Hollywood cachet. Its an actors’ movie, focusing heavily on speeches and interactions among forceful political and military figures in close quarters. It documents the drama preceding the Battle of Britain, and the incredible power of Prime Minister…

Clown Control

Frank Farley, PhD Temple University frank.farley@temple.edu Ayse N. Olgun, Bachelor of Theology, Currently Psychology Student Bahcesehir University, Istanbul, Turkey olgunayseolgun@gmail.com Review of IT Director: Andy Muschinetti We suppose the attention being given to the movie IT, a remake of the 1990 version, is due in part to its origins in the writing of Stephen King…

Reflecting Cultural Youth Heroes and Lifestyles Worldwide circa 2017

Mary Gregerson, PhD Heartlandia Psychology, Leavenworth, KS mary.gregerson@aol.com Review of Wonder Woman; Review of Baby Driver Director: Patty Jenkins; Director: Edgar Wright What startling news the popular and critically acclaimed 2017 films Wonder Woman (WW) and Baby Driver (BD) cinematically convey for American boys and girls, and those worldwide as well!  Rotten Tomatoes, a respected…

Frank Farley class photo

The Horrific Doings of DID

  Frank Farley (ffarley@temple.edu), Madeleine Frazier, Jesse Gropper, Joseph Heidt, Anna Hirsch, Devin Houser, Sarah Hurd, Brandon Kane, Bradley MacDonald, Joshua Obidike, Fiona Riso, Codee Ross, Jasmine Speaks, Osi Sprowal, Keaton Tauer* A Review of Split (2017) Director: M. Night Shyamalan Hollywood seldom delivers an important and credible film focused explicitly on psychological theory or…

“Dan”cing through Life

Mary Gregerson, PhD Heartlandia Psychology, Leavenworth, KS mary.gregerson@aol.com A Review of Beauty and the Beast (Director: Bill Condon, 2017) featuring Lion (Director: Garth Davis, 2016) “Let us read, and let us dance; these two amusements will never do any harm to the world.” Voltaire Dance defines both self and relational elements in Beauty and the…

Heroism Unsullied

Frank Farley, PhD Temple University frank.farley@Temple.edu A review of Sully, Director Clint Eastwood, 2016 On January 15, 2009, a fully-loaded Airbus 320 airliner Flight 1549 of U S Airways with 155 passengers landed on the Hudson River in the heart of New York City. In one of the most daring, risk-taking examples of aviation adventure…

HE SAID: “Our Lives are So Much Smaller than They Taught Us They Would Be.”

SHE REPLIED: “Look Across the Breakfast Table” … Mary Gregerson, PhD Independent Practice, Leavenworth, KS mary.gregerson@aol.com A Review of Bridget Jones’s Baby, Director Sharon Maguire, 2016 In reel film life Bridget Jones’s Baby, (BJB) 40-something Bridget’s fruitless musings confabulate “body” with “baby.” In real life, at an on-going Kansas City Sunday brunch group, our 40-something…

Hamilton the Musical Through the Lens of Positive Psychology

Susan Birne-Stone PhD, LCSW Systems Therapist, Private Practice & Kingsborough Community College drsusanbirnestone@gmail.com A review of Hamilton An American Musical Book, Music and Lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Richard Rogers Theatre, New York When I heard about an up-and-coming musical that was leaving The Public Theater to head to Broadway, I decided to take a shot…

Nautical Goliath Spares Defiant “David” in a Tables-Turning Whale Tale

Joseph Rodman Albuquerque, New Mexico joseph.r.rodman@gmail.com Mary Gregerson Booz Allen Hamilton Leavenworth, Kansas mary.gregerson@aol.com Marco C. Conners National Simulation Center Fort Leavenworth, Kansas marco.conners@gmail.com Review of Into the Heart of the Sea, Director: R. Howard (Director, 2015), Burbank, CA: Village Road Show Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures. Hollywood has a long history of telling stories…

Learn From the Animals: The Jungle Book

Frank Farley, PhD Temple University ffarley@temple.edu Lauren Renee Butler Temple University tug08349@temple.edu A review of The Jungle Book (2016), Director: Jon Favreau. Walt Disney Pictures. The Jungle Book is one of the most enduring and endearing children’s stories, a classic written by a literary giant, Rudyard Kipling.  But it is also beloved by many adults. …

Enough is Enough: Time for Culture Change

June Wilson, RN, PhD Media Health Connections junewilsonphd@gmail.com A Review of India’s Daughter Director: Leslee Udwin On December 16, 2012, in New Delhi, India, 23-year old Jyoti Singh, a medical student, had just finished her final exams.  She had only 6 months of internship left. “Happiness was just a few steps away,” her father, Badri…