Film/TV Archives - The Culture Mom

19Dec

Reflecting on Meeting Some of the Cast and Crew from “The Greatest Showman,” a Musical Feast

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Disclosure: I attended a screening and press junket hosted by 20th Century Fox. I was not paid to write this post. It's so crazy that two weeks ago I knew very little about Phineas Taylor Barnum. I knew he started the circus I grew up with, but little more. Since seeing the upcoming Christmas motion picture "The Greatest Showman," I have thought little else but this man, his life, and the story that inspired this beautiful new movie, which is fortunately a musical but not just a musical. He was not ony a brilliant business man, but he was a family man Read More

08Aug

Where You’ll Find Me

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I haven't been writing as much as of late, not due to a shortage of things to talk about, but mainly because of a workload that has been taking me away from doing some of the things I love. Yep, when you work full time, it's hard to partake in the things you love. Last week a business trip took me to Los Angeles, and I went a few days early and enjoyed the beauty of Southern California. I went boogie boarding in Santa Monica, dining in SilverLake, exploring in Pasadena and hiking in the Palisades. It was heaven, and a bonus, I was on my own, without the Read More

24May

An Early Look Inside “Me Before You”

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When Jojo Moyes walked into the room during a press junke for "Me Before You" a few days ago, the first question didn't come out of my mouth; it came out of hers. She asked, "Did you cry?" The funny, or not so funny, thing was that I had just had this very conversation with others about the film and whether it had made me cry. My answer was yes, absolutely. I was as spell bound and smitten with the characters as when I read the book a few months ago, and my fondness for the leads grew even more intense after seeing the film. However, since I had Read More

24Feb

Talking with Eddie the Eagle’s Hugh Jackman, Taron Egerton and Ania Sowinski

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I'm a sucker for feel good films that make me want to get up and do something. Some movies have made me feel as though as I could do anything, like Billy Elliot and Shirley Valentine, for example. These movies have a major theme in common - determination and fulfilling life long dreams. I've seen both again and again and have been waiting for another film to come along in the same vein. And along comes Eddie the Eagle - another British film, ironically, like the two mentioned above, and like both films, it's about people from a lower-class background Read More

12Feb

#HeNamedMeMalala To Premiere on National Georgaphic

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Last year I wrote about Malala Yousafzai, an amazing young woman. Her story is so inspirational. Named for an Afghan folk heroine, the activist Pakistani teenager was shot in the face and left for dead by the Taliban in 2012 — but recovered and went on to speak out about the gross injustices in girls’ education in her country and around the world, winning the Nobel Peace Prize along the way. The Malala Fund, which she co-founded with her father Ziauddin Yousafzai, is building schools in Jordan, Pakistan and Lebanon. I was so inspired by the film made Read More

13Nov

Holiday Giveaway: Love the Coopers

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I'm a sucker for holiday movies. Some of my greatest memories are of my sisters and I snuggling up with my grandparents on our annual visits to their home in Philadelphia and watching some of the best ever made. We grew up watching Miracle on 34th Street to It's a Wonderful Life over and over, year after year. Holiday films bring families together and bring in a sense of warmth, nostalgia, family, tradition. In recent years, the classics have turned from black & white to color and my kids now love watching Elf, Home Alone and Scrooged. Love The Read More

03Nov

Review: Brooklyn the Movie

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Every now and then a film comes along that offers a sense of connection and a reminder that it’s important to be happy where you are in life, with what you have, with whom you are. BROOKLYN the movie, which starts tomorrow, is one such film. It’s a story originally written by Com Toibin, with a deeper purpose, and its film adaptation by Nick Hornby does its story justice. I moved to New York City in my 20s, just as the main character, Ellis (pronounced Ay-liss) does. Her circumstances are very different to my own – I came to NYC as a theater lover who Read More

22Oct

Why I Recommend “Suffragette”

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Suffragette hits theaters today and I can't express how important it is for you to see this film...with your mothers, with your girlfriends, with your daughters. I can say it firsthand as I saw a preview screening it but I have also done something very special that accentuates my interest in the film and gives me credence when advising you to see this film. I spent a lovely afternoon having tea with the movie's production team: Director Sarah Gavron, writer Abi Morgan and producers Alison Owen and Faye Ward. I was also thrilled to meet Helen Pankhurst, Read More

06Jul

Giveaway: Woman in Gold Blu-ray & $50 Visa Gift Card

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Update: This giveaway is closed. Available on July 7th, Academy Award winner Helen Mirren stars in Woman in Gold, the incredible story of a Jewish refugee who was forced to flee Vienna during World War II, and the paintings that were left behind. When I saw Woman in Gold early this year, I was spellbound. The film had a poignant intensity about a particular time in history and it's a story that demanded to be told. In the film, Mirren plays Maria Altmann, a Viennese-born resident of Los Angeles, who in 1998 battled the Austrian authorities for Read More

31May

Review: HBO Doc’s Haunting THE LION’S MOUTH OPENS

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"I will better serve the world if I don't have it." These are the words expressed by actress/filmmaker Marianna Palka. She is referring to Huntington’s disease, an incurable hereditary degenerative brain disorder which she watched her father die a painful death from as a young mam In the acclaimed short documentary premiering tomorrow on HBO, THE LION’S MOUTH OPENS, Palka gathers her friends to find out if she has inherited Huntington’s disease. Several other family members got it, including her sister, so the potential for her is quite high. Read More