Digital Resources Ebooks & Online MediaMovie and Music Reviews
Lady Bird
Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson is a teenager in her senior year at a Catholic high school in Sacramento, 2002.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle
Welcome to detention or rather Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is a story about four teens who enter the Jumanji digital world during high school detention.
Battle of the Sexes
"Battle of the Sexes" is a 2017 biopic about the legendary female tennis player Billie Jean King (1943 - Present).
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri is supposed to be about righteous anger -- in response to the killing of her daughter and the subsequent lack of progress on the murder case, Mildred Hayes (Frances McDormand) buys space on the eponymous billboards to take the local police to task.
The Queen of Hearts
"The Queen of Hearts" a music CD by Offa Rex, a group that is a collaboration between The Decemberists, an American Indie Folk Rock Band from Portland, Oregon, and British folk music singer Olivia Chaney who grew up in Oxford England.
Marshall
Thurgood Mashall doesn't strike most of us as an entertainment-worthy movie subject; however, the movie MARSHALL is thoroughly enjoyable because it draws one into the story.
My Little Pony: The Movie
My Little Pony: The Movie is a fun new addition to the TV series that makes a perfect film for family night!
Tyler Perry's Boo 2!: A Madea Halloween
Tyler Perry’s Boo 2!: A Madea Halloween is a 2017 comedy horror film written by Tyler Perry.
The Farthest: Voyager in Space
The Voyager has traveled to Uranus with a Chuck Berry recording, but it took a while.
Midwest Heartland: Theodore Roosevelt to the Homestead Act
This informational video caught my eye since I love to travel and have not had the ability yet to get farther west than Illinois.
Twin Peaks
A return, in the sense that the new season of Twin Peaks is often subtitled with “The Return,” implies a sense of comfort and familiarity, and in the context of a TV show, it implies the continuation of a story as well answers to lingering questions; Twin Peaks: The Return has some of these things.
Carry Fire by Robert Plant
"Carry Fire" by Robert Plant, his 11th studio album, was released October 13, 2017; I promise, my review will not be as long as the entry on Wikipedia (whew!).
Warmer in the Winter
For this holiday season, violinist Lindsey Stirling has released a wonderful collection of holiday music, featuring original songs as well as classics with her own unique twist.
Girls Trip
Girls Trip is a hilarious 2017 comedy about the "Flosse Posse" four life-long friends Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Tiffany Haddish who reunite and travel together to New Orleans to attend the annual Essence Festival.
Great Yellowstone Thaw: How Nature Survives
A wolf biologist, a geologist, scientists, and wildlife cameramen analyzed the effects of the Thaw of 2016 on the wildlife of Yellowstone National Park, in the iconic film, Great Yellowstone Thaw: How Nature Survives.
The Hitman's Bodyguard
The Hitman’s Bodyguard stars Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson, Elodie Yung, Gary Oldman, and Salma Hayek.
Unlocked
Unlocked, a straight-to-DVD movie starring Noomi Rapace, Orlando Bloom, John Malkovich, and Michael Douglas, centers around Alice Racine (Rapace), who is a professional interrogator for the CIA.
A Street Cat Named Bob
My wife and I have 3 cats, each with distinct personalities who provide endless companionship as well as comedic entertainment; so it was the cover of this video that caught my attention and forced me to take it home to watch.
The Story of China: With Michael Wood
As a homeschool mom who wants to make history come alive for my kids, I appreciate Michael Woods' The Story of China.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
With this latest installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, it struggles, and fails, to entertain.
Baby Driver
Baby Driver is an action-packed thriller of a movie that also gives you a taste of good music, fate, love, comedy, and the life of crime all wrapped up in one.
Food: Delicious Science
PBS’s Food: Delicious Science is an educational film about both the taste and chemistry of food, and how food keeps our bodies healthy.
Paris Can Wait
Diane Lane, Alec Baldwin, and Arnaud Viard star in Paris Can Wait. The movie starts out in the South of France at the Cannes Film Festival with all three characters on their way to the airport to leave for the next movie shoot. Anne (Diane) has an earache, and the pilot of the private plane warns she should not fly with ear problems. Jacques (Arnaud), the provincial French man and business associate of Michael (Alec), offers to drive Anne to Paris. She hesitantly accepts the offer and from there Jacques and Anne travel through France on a two-day road trip. They stop at various historic sites, have lunch along the river bank and slowly make their way to Paris. The scenery is beautiful and the food looks decadent and delicious. While the movie is a bit slow at times and the plot line is somewhat predictable, this sleepy romantic comedy didn’t disappoint. Taking the time to stop and smell the roses in this hurry- and- go lifestyle was a nice change of pace. I would recommend this movie to anyone looking for a lighthearted film to watch. Overall Rating : B
The Mummy
The Mummy (2017) is the first film in Universal’s newest franchise, The Dark Universe. The movie focuses around Nick Morton, a womanizing thief of antiquities played by Tom Cruise, and Princess Ahmanet, a 3000+ year-old woman – played by Sofia Boutella – who was mummified alive as punishment for making a pact with Set, the god of Death.
Shin Godzilla
Shin Godzilla is a satire of Japanese bureaucracy and a vaguely nationalistic underdog story about politicians uniting in the face of disaster, which all sounds like a terrible idea. It sounds very people-centric, and people are never the point of Godzilla. People exist only to string together the real meat of the thing, the guys in monster suits stomping on miniatures, so that the final product can pass for a halfway coherent story instead of just some chaotic scenes of rampaging monsters strung end to end. But people are also what make Shin Godzilla so fascinating. Though the film has its share of traditional Godzilla destruction, it zeroes in on the government response, which is unprepared and largely inept and also fascinating with touches of subtle comedy. Through quick cuts, dynamic camera angles, breathless dialogue, and tons of characters, the film gives the politicians their own engrossing brand of chaos. And as a commentary on the Japanese response to the 2011 earthquake/tsunami, Shin Godzilla is aspirational in a way few movies in the franchise have been since the original. It loses some steam toward the end and it’s certainly not what people expect from a monster movie, but it can easily count itself as one of the best. Overall Rating: A
The Head and the Heart: Signs of Light
When I feel like seeing what is available in new music, I check the library's website as a resource. Another, since I have Amazon Echo, is to ask Alexa to play some music; and, for example, she will respond with, "Here is some music by ‘The Head and the Heart.’" That is how I learned about this group, and I have enjoyed their music. They are in the rock category, but their music is controlled, not with loud guitars or heavy drums. The vocals are controlled as well, without the yelling or screaming of lyrics that seems to be prevalent in much of today's music. Lead vocals are good, as are the harmonies. It is an enjoyable, very listenable album, well worth the try. Overall rating: A
