Special Interest - Movies

A Rush of Hope: Find Answers to Life's Questions

Special Interest

Our life is like a movie. It has a beginning, middle, and end. We all have questions about this movie that we are in. Is this movie a tragedy? Is it a love story? Or is it a comedy? Do we win in the end? Why am I here? What is the meaning of my life? And what happens after I die? The big stories of life: hope, abuse, love, death, purpose- all intersect with our personal stories. Music, movies, art, interviews, and storytelling are all woven together to bring you a rush of hope.

Malcolm X

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Filmmaker Spike Lee, star Denzel Washington (the New York, Boston and Chicago Film Critics' choice as 1992's Best Actor) and other talents vividly portray the life and times of the visionary leader. "One of the decade's best and most important films." (Arch Campbell, WRC-TV/Washington D.C.) One of the most charismatic and politically controversial voices in history, Malcolm X burst into the public consciousness with a radical perspective on race relations in America. His inspiring and enlightening ideologies touched and continue to influence the lives of millions. The New York Film Critic's Circle awarded Denzel Washington Best Actor for his role in what Newsday calls "an extraordinary movie...powerful and compelling. Denzel Washington's performance is a tour de force!"

I Saw the Light

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I SAW THE LIGHT is the story of the legendary country western singer Hank Williams (Tom Hiddleston), who in his brief life created one of the greatest bodies of work in American music. The film chronicles his meteoric rise to fame and its ultimately tragic effect on his health and personal life. Also starring Elizabeth Olsen, Cherry Jones, Bradley Whitford, Maddie Hasson and Wrenn Schmidt.

Funny Lady

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Barbra Steisand is back and she's better than ever as the exuberant Fanny Brice in FUNNY LADY, sequel to acclaimed Academy Award(r) winner, (Barbra Streisand as Best Actress, 1968) Funny Girl. This lively, lavish musical opens a new chapter in Fanny's career and love life. Now divorced from wealthy Nick Arnstein (Omar Sharif), she teams up with songwriter Billy Rose (James Caan), a brash and unkempt showman who is bursting with enthusiasm and theatrical ambitions. They make an unusual couple, the polished performer and the upstart producer, but a friendship blossoms into love. FUNNY LADY is the poignant story of their show business magic, their unbridled temperaments, and their touching, bittersweet romance. Featuring dazzling production numbers, elegant costuming by Bob Mackie and an electric cast. Streisand is a FUNNY LADY you'll never forget!

Troy (Director's Cut)

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Brad Pitt stars in an epic tale of passion, heroism, betrayal and war that has been passed from generation to generation since the dawn of civilization--the story of the battle for Troy. A thousand years before the time of Christ, Trojan prince Paris (Orlando Bloom) abducts the legendary Greek beauty Helen, queen of Sparta (Diane Kruger), starting a war led by heroes Achilles (Pitt) and Hector (Eric Bana) that devastates the ancient world.

Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows

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Actor/director Clint Eastwood tells his life story--from his childhood in Depression-era California to his astonishing rise to superstardom. Each major period of Eastwood's life is juxtaposed with a corresponding phase in the thematic development of his work.

All the President's Men

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History comes alive in this supremely entertaining film that garnered eight Oscar nominations including Best Picture. Oscar-winners Robert Redford ("Up Close and Personal," "Indecent Proposal") and Dustin Hoffman ("Outbreak," "Rain Man") play Woodward and Bernstein, the intrepid newspaper reporters who broke open the Watergate scandal and toppled a President. The screenplay by William Goldman ("Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," "Indecent Proposal") won an Oscar, as did Jason Robards ("Philadelphia," "Parenthood") as Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee. Featuring an all-star supporting cast, including Hal Holbrook ("Evening Shade"), Jane Alexander ("Kramer vs. Kramer"), Meredith Baxter ("Family Ties"), Ned Beatty ("Roseanne"), Martin Balsam ("Psycho"), Jack Warden ("Heaven Can Wait"), Polly Holliday ("Alice"), Stephen Collins ("Sisters"), Robert Walden ("Lou Grant") and many others.

The Password Is Courage

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Dirk Bogarde stars as Sergeant-Major Charles Coward, a British officer and German prisoner of war who stops at nothing to harass and embarrass his captors and to escape with his fellow prisoners in an amazing -- and true -- series of events that he somehow survives.

In Cold Blood

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In Cold Blood is the powerful, true story of a callous murder, based upon the best-selling novel byTruman Capote. A prosperous and respected Kansas farmer, his wife and his two teenage children are wantonly and brutally slaughtered. The murderers are two mindless ex-convict drifters: Perry Smith (Robert Blake) and Dick Hickock (Scott Wilson). Neither of the men are sane enough to regret their crime. The story penetrates the inner workings of the criminals minds as it follows their purposeless meandering through Mexico and the United States in evasion of the law. After more than a year of wandering, the hunted men are finally caught, tried and in a dramatic conclusion condemned to hang.

Cadillac Records

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Written and Directed by Darnell Martin, "Cadillac Records" chronicles the rise of Chess Records and its recording artists. The film stars Adrien Brody as Leonard Chess, Jeffrey Wright as Muddy Waters, Columbus Short as Little Walter, Mos Def as Chuck Berry and Beyoncé Knowles as Etta James. Rounding out the cast are Gabrielle Union, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Cedric The Entertainer, Eamonn Walker and Tammy Blanchard. "Cadillac Records" is produced by Andrew Lack and Sofia Sondervan for Sony BMG Film and Executive Produced by Beyoncé Knowles and Marc Levin.

10 Rillington Place

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This is the horrifying true account of John Reginald Christie, whose crimes and subsequent trial summarily ended capital punishment in Britain. After savagely murdering a woman and her newborn baby, Christie was able to convince a jury that the woman's husband was the actual perpetrator. Years later, Christie admitted his guilt and a shocked nation learned an innocent man had been put to death.

Auto Focus

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Bob Crane (Kinnear) became well known as the star of the hit comedy series "Hogan's Heroes." With an abundance of fame, wealth and success, Crane dove headfirst into the darker, destructive side of the celebrity lifestyle. He eventually teamed up with a video technician (Dafoe) who helped him to systematically document his copious sexploits with beautiful young women. But when the fast living and hard loving got out of control, the end result was a brutal murder that remains one of the most scandalous unsolved mysteries in Hollywood history.

Young Tom Edison

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Mickey Rooney stars as the boy who would become one of the greatest inventors of the modern era--a Young Tom Edison. Edison (Rooney) received only three months of formal education: the precocious boy's curiosity was too disruptive for the one-room schoolhouse in his hometown. But his parents encouraged the voracious reader, who'd read Newton's Principia by the time he was twelve. At an early age, Edison also lost most of his ability to hear, which only helped him to better focus his concentration. Finding work as a "brass pounder," an operator in the new, cutting-edge telegraph industry during the United States Civil War, Edison moonlights on his own inventions--an automatic telegraph repeater, the light bulb, the phonograph--that will change the world.

Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth

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Former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson and legendary filmmaker Spike Lee bring Tyson's one-man hit stage show to HBO in this exclusive HBO Films presentation. Enjoy a front-row seat as 'Iron Mike' recounts the highs and lows of his life in his signature candid style. Over the course of 90 minutes, Tyson opens up about his troubled youth, landmark boxing career, key influences, personal and professional controversies, prison, personal loss, and most recently, his rehabilitation and redemption, forged by sobriety and a renewed commitment to family life.

The Gabby Douglas Story

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Moving away from her hometown and family in 2010 to pursue training with a world-renowned Olympic trainer, Gabby Douglas was selected to compete with the U.S. Olympic women's gymnastics team at the 2012 Summer Olympics. There, Douglas became the first African American to win gold in the individual all-around event.

Song Without End

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Dirk Bogarde plays legendary composer/pianist Franz Liszt in this sweeping biography in which he is torn between his two passions--composing music and playing it. The women in his life are Capucine as Princess Carolyne (whom he adores but who proves to be unattainable) and Genevieve Page as Countess Marie.

Jeanne Eagels

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Possessed with a relentless drive to succeed, actress Jeanne Eagels (Kim Novak) pesters producer Sal Satori (Jeff Chandler) for more substantial roles before her voice coach, Nellie Neilson (Agnes Moorehead), helps her land a spot in a Broadway chorus line that catapults her to stardom. When aging actress Elsie Desmond asks her for help in reviving her career, Jeanne's selfishness drives the fading star to suicide. Yet, after Jeanne becomes involved in a highly publicized affair with John Donahue (Charles Drake), the strain brought on by the collapse of the ill-fated union jeopardizes her career, too. And despite Sal's best efforts, it is a lethal combination of drugs and alcohol that finally leaves Jeanne Eagels to die sad and alone.

A Song to Remember

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The colorful film biography of Frederic Chopin, played by Cornell Wilde, with Paul Muni in fine form as Chopin's mentor. The lovely Merle Oberon plays George Sands, his obsession, whom the infatuated Chopin meets in Paris and follows to Majorca, where he becomes consumptive.

Howard Napper: Yoga Dynamic

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Yoga Dynamic follows Howard as he takes you through a fluid sequence of yoga postures that are both challenging and stimulating. This unique sequence combines flowing movements synchronised with the breath. The aim of this practice is to work with your internal dynamic structure known as core strength.

Salute to the Marines

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Once a Marine, always a Marine. After three decades in the corps, Sergeant Major William Bailey, a tough-minded drillmaster serving in the Philippines, retires. He leaves with one regret: he never had the chance to put his courage and fighting spirit to the test in real combat. Then comes Japan's World War II invasion of the archipelago – and civilian Bailey and the irregulars he's trained prove their mettle while defending a bridge vital to the enemy's advance. Wallace Beery plays gruff devil dog lifer Bailey in this wartime Technicolor flag-waver spiked with the fervor of its time. Fay Bainter plays Bailey's wife, whose courage proves as unflinching as her husband's in the film's final battle scenes. Also shining in the cast are Marilyn Maxwell in an early-career role, Keye Luke (Number One Son in the Charlie Chan mysteries) and uncredited child actor Robert Blake.

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