By: Mary Fran Bontempo "Into the woods and out of the woods...and happily ever after!" When my middle child, Laura, was young, she saw a PBS version of the Stephen Sondheim musical, Into the Woods, which I taped for her on VHS. (Shows how long ago that was.) If she watched the show once, she watched it 500 times. To put it in a modern context, Into the Woods was Laura's Frozen. And [...]
By: Mary Fran Bontempo It's Grand Torino without the gangs. Take a curmudgeonly old man, add a young new neighbor in need of some guidance, throw in lots of wisecracks, mix with a little conflict, have the kid learn and the cranky old guy redeem himself and there you have it--Grand Torino, or, in this case, St. Vincent, the new film starring Bill Murry in the title role. Murray takes on the old [...]
By: Chrysa Smith Serendipity. It's the wonder of life. That one second in time where everything is aligned according to a divine plan and comes together for your good. Sounds great. But its usually preceded by those dark nights of the soul or some other less than ideal circumstances. And so it was in the movie The Hundred Foot Journey. Through some less than ideal events, including the death of a wife [...]
By: Chrysa Smith If you're looking for a good time at the movies this weekend, and are lucky enough to live near an arts house---or a big enough theater that shows 'arts' movies, check out 'Chef.' It's a light, fun, visually and audibly entertaining film that touches most of my favorite topics: food, love, life, friendship. Jon Favreau stars, acts in and directs this comedy that follows the life of a renowned chef. [...]
By: Mary Fran Bontempo Free. That's not a word used frequently regarding education, entertainment, or, well, much of anything these days. But on the website, Open Culture, it's all free. Yep, all of it, from online classes and lectures, to movies, books, educational worksheets, web resources listed by subject matter, and on and on. I stumbled across Open Culture recently, but the site was founded in 2006. Lead editor, Dan Colman, is the [...]
By: Mary Fran Bontempo It's Oscar time again, and as usual, I'm hooked. I love to pretend that I find Hollywood's self-congratulatory attitude with its proliferation of awards shows somewhat pathetic--I mean, just how many parties to you need to throw yourself, anyway?--but where the Oscars are concerned, I'm just plain envious. Really, who wouldn't want to be part of the entertainment celebration of the year? A chance to be "styled" and wear [...]
By: Mary Fran Bontempo The 70's never looked so good. In the heavily Oscar nominated film, American Hustle, stars Amy Adams and Jennifer Lawrence make 70's era polyester look positively glamorous. The slinky, clingy, cut down-to-there fashions sported by the movie's two leading ladies would make anyone who didn't live through the 70's think the decade was loaded with fashion highlights. It wasn't. Seventies' attire, although high in glitz, was generally cheap, poorly [...]
