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2012 Books, Films, Music and Apps for Body, Mind & Soul

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NEW BOOKS Application of Impossible Things: A Near Death Experience in Iraq, by Natalie Sudman (Ozark Mt. Publishing), 128 pages, $14 -- This is an amazing true story of a female civilian employee of the Army Corps of Engineers in Basrah and Nasiriyah, Iraq. She was riding in a truck with other men when a roadside bomb destroyed the vehicle. Her body was so severely damaged that there was no possible way she could live. She vividly recounts her Near Death Experience when she went out of the … [Read more...]

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Top 11 Transformation Films in 2011

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As we start 2012 with all of the promise that it brings for transformation, let's take a look back at some of the amazing films or 2011 that brought us to this point, as judged by readers and editors of the AwareGuide, an online resource presented by Transformational Media, a company working with visionaries who are creating media to make a better world. The results of the voting are in for the Viewer's Choice, and the editors at AwareGuide offer their top picks for 2011, and recognize some … [Read more...]

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Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival returns

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MINNEAPOLIS - The Film Society of Minneapolis-St. Paul has announced that the 2011 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival is slated for April 14 through May 5 -- presenting over 170 films from some 50 countries at the five-screen St. Anthony Main Theatre. For three weeks, the Twin Cities celebrates the arrival of the best of international and independent filmmaking in the region. Included in this year's programming is a great slate of French films marking the Year of France in … [Read more...]

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My Favorite Films of 2010

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I am honored and proud to be a voting member of The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences that nominates and then votes each year for the Oscars. I have said often, however, that I have absolutely no idea how to judge a "Best" film or actor or screenplay or anything else. To attempt to do so seems akin to going into the Louvre and picking out the "best" painting. So the Van Gogh is "better" than the Renoir or Gauguin or any other painting? Oh, please! In addition, movie politics (as … [Read more...]

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Ten Things I Like about Inception

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Recently, ABC News asked me to comment on Christopher Nolan's new movie Inception, since it involves lucid dreamers who "extract" information from other dreamers. Because it's impossible to do the movie justice in a 15-second sound bite, here's my list of ten things I like about Inception. 1. "Dreams, they feel real while we're in them," Inception's main character, Cobb, says. It's a simple point, but an important one. As Inception's newest student, Ariadne, learns, the assumed reality of our … [Read more...]

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Dreaming and the Creative Process – The Movie Inception

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"It is never JUST a dream." - Dom Cobb Recently I saw the new film Inception by Christopher Nolan. It was an absolute delight. As someone who has devoted the bulk of my life to celebrating and exploring the mysterious connection between dreams, the creative process and healing, I was especially thrilled to see a mainstream film inspired by dreaming. In this film, Nolan builds a highly engaging story around the unlikely premise of an international team of dream thieves who are able to … [Read more...]

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A Film Review: ‘The Secret of Kells’

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The Secret of Kells, directed by Tomm Moore and Nora Twomey, art directed by Ross Stewart (Cartoon Saloon), animated, 76 minutes. A 2010 Oscar® nominee for best animated feature, The Secret of Kells introduces us to Brendan, a 12-year-old Irish boy, who has spent his young life living among monks in an abbey. He is the nephew of Abbott Cellach, a disciplinarian who is creating a fortress of high walls around the abbey as defense against an inevitable attach by Viking hordes. Brendan begins … [Read more...]

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My 10 Favorite Films Of 2009

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As always, my list includes my own personal favorites, not the films I consider best, a classification I find to be both impossible and absurd. I have no idea what the "best film" is. I only know the films I enjoyed the most. Happy 2010! 1...The Blind Side. One of the most touching, charming, wondrous, uplifting and miraculous movies of the last several years. Sandra Bullock was born to play the lead role and has never been better. Hollywood has to stop equating dark, cynical and dreary with … [Read more...]

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Avatar: A Spiritual Journey of our Soul

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Landmark films literally change the face of the art form itself and are rare indeed. The Great Train Robbery, the first big hit silent film; The Jazz Singer, the first talking film; The Wizard of Oz, the first huge family film; Jaws, the first summer blockbuster; Star Wars, the first science fiction epic of the new technology era; and now Avatar. Avatar is simply unlike any other film ever made. The experience of Avatar in 3D is a glimpse into the potential of film to literally immerse the … [Read more...]

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Film explores Science & Consciousness

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In her self-funded, 10,000-mile spiritual journey from South Africa to the United States, Dutch filmmaker Renee Scheltema challenges scientists for straight answers about psychic and paranormal experiences: Can we predict the future? Can our thoughts and intentions affect the physical world? Can we be spontaneously healed? Are we "mysteriously" connected? The result is a moving documentary film in an "everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask" style that concludes science and … [Read more...]

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A Review: The Blind Side

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Remember what it was like to go to a movie and cry and laugh and applaud and feel great about just being alive when you walk out of the theater? I do. And you will too when you run as fast as you can to a neighborhood theater to see The Blind Side, one of the most touching, wondrous, uplifting and miraculous movies of the last several years. And, what makes the experience even more delicious is that the film is based on a true story. Michael Oher was a homeless teenager in Memphis, TN. His … [Read more...]

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Oh My God? : An interview with Filmmaker Peter Rodger

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Maasai Dance, Shompole, Kenya

In every corner of the world, there's one question that can never be definitively answered, yet stirs up equal parts passion, curiosity, self-reflection and often wild imagination: "What is God?" Filmmaker Peter Rodger explores this profound, age-old query in the provocative non-fiction feature Oh My God? This visual odyssey travels the globe with a revealing lens examining the idea of God through the minds and eyes of various religions and cultures, everyday people, spiritual leaders and … [Read more...]

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Review: Cold Souls

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It feels so good to have a movie to write about again. For those of you who have followed this column for the last seven years, please know that, as long as films like Cold Souls are released, I will continue this column, even though it will be on an irregular basis. Now, to the film. Cold Souls is a jaw-dropping, original film, with the only possible comparison being to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, one of my favorite films in Spiritual Cinema. In Cold Souls, the gifted actor … [Read more...]

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The Perception of 2012

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So, it has already begun. The drumbeat of doom and gloom about the so-called end of the Mayan Calendar in December 2012 can now be heard, seen and read with increasing frequency in all forms of media. Apocalyptic books about 2012 are on publishing schedules worldwide. Networks are preparing documentaries and series about the “end times.” A recent search of www.imdb.com – the movie business go-to website for past, present and future films – lists these upcoming titles from now through … [Read more...]

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Beyond Borders Film Festival

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These monks are featured in the film, Unwinking Gaze.

MINNEAPOLIS - As spring makes its way to the Twin Cities, so will a spate of new films promoting cultural understanding of people across the globe. This is the primary mission of the Beyond Borders Film Festival, which features films and cultural performances with a strong emphasis on cultural heritage. The festival will become a permanent fixture in the Twin Cities' arts scene, appearing annually. "My hope for the festival is to use film to bring together people from different … [Read more...]

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