Whether you feel Moonlight deserved it or not, it now holds its place as an Academy Award Best Picture award winner. Was it due to the political climate of the day? Was it due to newer younger Academy voting members that may identify with current issues? Could their votes have toppled the establishment voters who may have voted La La Land as a reminiscent piece? Or Is its recognition part of a cultural movement? We will never know how it won but many reviews say it deserved it.

The US film industry has always welcomed foreign films, many of which we have copied with a more American version, but often over looked by its neighbors in Ireland, which has a rich and great film history besides the stereotypical ideas of leprechauns and Riverdance. In the last few years Ireland has not only produced some fine films (Once, Brooklyn) but we also see a rise in excellence in Irish performers like Cillian Murphy, Saoirse Ronan, Michael Fassbender , Brendan Gleeson and Lenny Abrahamson. 

Film festivals such as Sundance, Tribeca, Toronto and Telluride and the films they exhibit offer an escape into a world where movies can take chances, contradict themselves and ignore cinema ratings.

For years Walt Disney Animation Studios has captured the hearts of children everywhere. Now grown children are making up a high percentage of animated movie goers. It’s clear from the numbers that animated family films are not just for families anymore. More and more millennials are going to the cinema to see films traditionally marketed to a much younger demographic, and that’s not even taking into consideration viewing habits on outlets like Netflix. Film companies have caught on, too. It is an opinion that the lure of animated and young adult features to millennials is much more complex than pure nostalgia.

Whether it is Tom Hanks playing a WWII hero, Will Smith protecting the White House, or Matt Damon as Jason Bourne keeping our CIA honest, Hollywood has supplied us with incredible Patriotic Films. The Reel Corner challenges you to a Patriotic Films “Find the Film Words Challenge”

How much influence has Hollywood had on how we define Love? Whether it be a historical romantic film, drama, thriller, comedy, or fantasy, when love is portrayed on the screen, it sends a message. Love has been portrayed in a variety of ways over the years in film and has evolved over time. Thus, it is often debated whether films influence society or society influences film. While you contemplate this thought try to match a well-known love quote to its movie.

Born to a US Army Captain and a contract player for Paramount Pictures, Field got her start on television as the boy-crazy surfer girl in the sitcom Gidget (1965–66). Her big break was playing Sister Bratille in The Flying Nun. She went on to more formidable roles, which won her two Academy Award Best Actress awards and several Golden Globes.

Her role as “Doris” in Hello, My Name is Doris shows that her talent has endured the test of time.

A few years ago, researchers at Yale University sent out a fictional application to science professors at top U.S. research universities asking them to evaluate an applicant. There was one variation in what the professors received—the name of the applicant for some was Jennifer and, for others, it was John. Both male and female professors showed a significant bias toward John in their evaluations of competency, hireability and salary to offer. This study came ten years after a study at Harvard University that asked students to share impressions of an entrepreneur—named either Heidi or Howard—with similar results. These studies disclosed unconscious bias—a bias that you are unaware of and, therefore, unable to control. This is not just a gender bias issue. Studies have confirmed that unconscious bias applies to numerous other factors including race, nationality, height, weight, accents and beliefs to name a few.

“To describe our growing up in the low country of South Carolina,” his alter-ego narrator wrote in “The Prince of Tides,” “I would have to take you to the marsh on a spring day, flush the great blue heron from its silent occupation. Scatter marsh hens as we sink to our knees in mud, open you an oyster with a pocketknife and feed it to you from the shell and say, ‘There. That taste. That’s the taste of my childhood.’ I would say, ‘Breathe deeply,’ and you would breathe and remember that smell for the rest of your life, the bold, fecund aroma of the tidal marsh, exquisite and sensual, the smell of the South in heat, a smell like new milk, semen and spilled wine, all perfumed with seawater.”

Even though the cool weather is behind us and more outside activities are drawing us to cleaning out our garages or planting new shrubs, don’t forget to allow time to catch a good film or two this month.

Films about families can be powerful in many ways: Reminding us not to take our relatives for granted; showing us the love of a parent is never ending; missing those who are departed; or that it’s okay to make a statement that’s not always popular in order to move on.

Whether a drama, comedy or offbeat romance, films about families are often cathartic and offer the viewer a double dose of escapism and self-reflection.

Films about families can be powerful in many ways: Reminding us not to take our relatives for granted; showing us the love of a parent is never ending; missing those who are departed; or that it’s okay to make a statement that’s not always popular in order to move on.

Whether a drama, comedy or offbeat romance, films about families are often cathartic and offer the viewer a double dose of escapism and self-reflection.

Underrated is a difficult term to use when referring to actors and actresses. Appreciation for a tangible work of art—a song, a painting, a movie—is easy to label.

Spies are everywhere in pop culture, including tons of spy movies and TV shows. So why are we so obsessed with secret-agent madness? Is it nostalgia, or a reflection of new, real-life preoccupations?

Jurassic World, a theme-park populated with cloned dinosaurs, begins 22 years after the incident at Jurassic Park on the same island. Owen Grady (Pratt) trains the park’s four Velociraptors, who consider him their alpha. The head of security believes raptors can be trained for military use, but this is disputed. Brothers Zach and Gray Mitchell are sent there to visit their aunt, Claire Dearing (Howard), the park’s operations manager. Claire’s assistant is their guide, while Claire recruits corporate sponsors with a new attraction—a genetically modified dinosaur called Indominus rex. The dinosaur has the DNA of several predatory dinosaurs and modern-day animals, designed to satisfy the public's demand for ever-higher-levels of dinosaur excitement. Chief geneticist Dr. Henry Wu keeps the exact genetic makeup classified.

Since comedy is not a science, but an art, there are no rules and it can be very subjective. The original meaning of the word comedy was merely a dramatic play that featured a happy ending, basically the opposite of tragedy.

Binge viewing or binge watching shows is not the future, it’s the present.In a survey conducted by Netflix February 2015, 73 percent of people define binge-watching as “watching between 2-6 episodes of the same show in one sitting.” Binge-watching, as an observed cultural phenomenon, has become popular with the rise of online media services such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, which the viewer can watch on-demand.

Between May and August, movie studios typically release their biggest and most
crowd-pleasing films. So, you’ll want to have a tub of popcorn within reach at all times!

Last month I said we would talk about some of the statistics one reads in magazines and sees in the paper. In fact, it seems these days that those sorts of numbers are bombarding us at every turn. Their goal seems to be to get us poor little people to change our minds. I have read unemployment statistics ranging from 5.7 percent up to 12 percent. Both of those cannot be correct, can they?

When “Saturday Night Live” aired for the first time on Oct. 11, 1975, no one knew it was the beginning of a comedy revolution. Never before had the ‘60s generation’s style of irreverent humor and unabashedly anti-authoritarian perspective found a weekly home on American television. Audiences discovered a hip and hilarious cast of “Not Ready for Prime-Time Players,” which included Chevy Chase, John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Laraine Newman, Garrett Morris, Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd. This new era comedy show was lead by Canadian Lorne Michaels, an unknown 30-year-old producer.

Halloween (or Hallowe’en ... also known as Samhain, Summer’s End, All Hallow’s Eve, and Witches Night) is a holiday celebrated annually on the night of October 31. It originated in Ireland and is said to be among the world’s oldest holidays. It has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture). The essential elements of Halloween—bonfires, costuming, trick-or-treating, telling ghost stories and attending parties—can all be traced back to as early as 2000 years ago.

 School has started, which means most children are encouraged to read more. Whether you have a child or grandchild who loves reading or not, try the following method for added interest and perspective: Select a book that has been made into a movie. The reward for reading the book is getting to watch the movie together afterward (add popcorn for extra enthusiasm). Children may become much more interested in reading after realizing how much of the storyline is often left out of films. Here is a list of films and their book origins that might be of interest:

Get ready for Superheros, Sequels and Wild Comedies

As part of my itinerary for a trip to Rome to celebrate my birthday I put the Cinecittà Studios, the hub of Italian cinema, on my list. As a film enthusiast, I could not miss the opportunity to explore memorabilia of great Italian directors, such as Fellini, or catch a film clip of my favorite Italian actress, Anna Magnani. With a convenient subway stop, Cinecittà was easy to locate and packed full of fascinating information.

Get ready for Superheros, Sequels and Wild Comedies