With less violence than most, White Collar is a series I’ve been watching.  It’s got great plots, dialogue, and chemistry.

The premise is a senior FBI agent, Peter Burke (played by Tim DeKay) releases Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer) from prison in exchange for Neal’s help in solving white collar cases. 

These are the ones that no one else is able to crack. Neal’s got to wear a tracking anklet and is allowed a reduced radius of unaccompanied movement. 

The cases are well-conceived and interesting to follow as Peter, Neal, and the FBI team uncovers the villains and recovers stolen loot.

Something I really like about this show is the level of friendship and affection that exists amongst the characters—Neal’s friend Mozzie (Willie Garson)—a funny, neurotic, madcap, genius felon provides a lightness of spirit throughout the series.  

Peter mentors Neal and learns something from Neal as well—and there is a warm affection filled with jokes between the two of them (which is great to watch).  Peter and his wife, Elizabeth (Tiffani Thiessen), have a deeply loving relationship that most people desire for their own lives. 

And there is Peter’s FBI team of regulars—intelligent, interesting, and caring people who make the series stronger by their presence. 

The series is six seasons.  It’s just the right number to be entertaining to the end and feel sad with the final episode. 

On the cover of the final season are the words “Saving the best con for last”—and this is true!

Click on the DVD cover to begin watching, White Collar, today.

                                ***
Author and artist, Kathryn V. White loves well-written, beautifully-acted, life-affirming films and television series.  Her most recent book, Rumble Tumble Joy: A Journey for Healing, Inspiration, and Wholeness, is a finalist in the 2014 Wishing Shelf Book Awards.  Find out more at: www.kathrynVwhite.com

The film stars Mike Birbiglia as a comic stalled in his career and who begins sleepwalking into increasingly dangerous incidents.  

And even as he becomes engaged to his long-time, loving girlfriend and takes his act to the road, he continues to deny the inner message that calls to be recognized and expressed.  Until the danger becomes so large that he stops denying the truth—which has its own ramifications for him, his girlfriend (played by Lauren Ambrose), family, and friends.

Click of the DVD cover to watch this poignant and unusual film.  

Author and artist, Kathryn V. White loves well-written, beautifully-acted, life-affirming films.  Her most recent book, Rumble Tumble Joy: A Journey for Healing, Inspiration, and Wholeness, is a finalist in the 2014 Wishing Shelf Book Awards.  Find out more at: www.kathrynVwhite.com

So “step in time” by clicking on the DVD cover and watch this wonderful movie today!

Be sure to closely check out the shadows on the DVD cover...

                                   ***
Kathryn V. White takes time to jump on sidewalk chalk paintings to enter other realms of reality--just like Mary Poppins and her charges did! You may find some of these adventures in her short stories!  Find out more at www.kathrynVwhite.com

The film, The Theory of Everything, is based on Jane Hawking’s book, Travelling to Infinity: The True Story Behind the Theory of Everything (which is revised from an earlier edition).  
It reveals Jane’s indomitable spirit in taking on the emotional and physical challenges inherent in falling in love, marrying, having children, providing 24-hour care, and later divorcing the famous astrophysicist Stephen Hawking. 

You meet the two during their Cambridge years—full of intellectual curiosity and totally smitten with each other. And you watch their life change, become more difficult and still incredibly full as Stephen’s disease progresses—taking away his ability to walk, hold his children, and even talk until the development of a computer-aided speaking device.  

As time goes on, with the progression of Stephen's disease, his total immersion into his research, his increasing fame, and the need for outside help, their marriage breaks down under the strains.

And even though their marriage ends in divorce, you see how seemingly insurmountable odds are overcome and great achievements are made not only in astrophysics, but even more importantly—in growing as a person when loving deeply, maintaining hope, nurturing curiosity, actively helping others, not giving up one’s dreams, and being willing to let go.

This film is superbly written and acted—Eddie Redmayne looks uncannily like Stephen Hawking and provides an amazing portrayal of the progression of Stephen’s disease and its crippling effects on Stephen’s body.

Click on the DVD cover to find out more about the film and the book cover to find out about the book. 

                              ***
Author and artist, Kathryn V. White loves well-written, beautifully-acted, life-affirming films.  Her most recent book, Rumble Tumble Joy: A Journey for Healing, Inspiration, and Wholeness, is a finalist in the 2014 Wishing Shelf Book Awards.  Find out more at: www.kathrynVwhite.com

She was considered controversial, confrontational, and brilliant.

Her reporting of the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann (which was published in The New Yorker) portrayed Eichmann (who was responsible for the detention and transportation of millions of Jews to concentration camps) not as a monster, but as an ordinary man who choose to “follow orders” and not think for himself. In this way, Eichmann considered what he did was not a crime.  

Arendt's perspective on Eichmann's conclusion (unique to the time) and keen insights from this trial gave birth to the now-famous concept of the “banality of evil.”

Besides being a published writer, Arendt was the first woman to be named a full professor at Princeton.  She also taught at several high caliber schools including the University of Chicago, the University of California at Berkeley, Wesleyan University, and The New School for Social Research. 

To find out more about Arendt and this film, click on the DVD cover.   

It was the early 1960s—before the Beatles and the social unrest that have become the lens by which we view that whole decade.  

The filming of the movie is outstandingly beautiful—the framing and lighting of each scene made me want to paint so many of them as intimate snapshots.   

The film stars Elle Fanning, Alice Englert, Annette Bening, Timothy Spall, Oliver Platt, Christina Hendricks, Alessandro Nivola, and Jodhi May.

Sally Potter directed Ginger & Rosa as well as Orlando.

Click on the DVD cover to find out more.  (Affiliate link)

Below is a quote from Sally Potter's commentary on Ginger & Rosa that hits on a core issue of female adolescence and is beautifully portrayed by Fanning and Englert in her film.  (The photo is from Morguefile.com) 

                                  ***
Author and artist, Kathryn V. White's most recent book is Rumble Tumble Joy: A Journey for Healing, Inspiration, and Wholeness. Find out more at: www.kathrynVwhite.com

• his college-aged daughter (Lily Collins) whose anger at her mother’s infidelity and her cynicism leads to frequent one-night stands; and

• her teenage brother (Nat Wolff) who falls in love with the drug-addicted, class-beauty.

In the end, love weaves this fragmented family into a greater whole.

This engrossing, beautifully-acted movie is well-worth watching—click on the DVD cover to learn more. 

                                ***
A lover of life-affirming, well-written, and beautifully filmed and acted movies, Kathryn V. White shares some of what she has seen through her blog.  Her most recent book is Rumble Tumble Joy: A Journey for Healing, Inspiration, and Wholeness. Find out more at: www.kathrynVwhite.com

Thrilled with his new-found ability, Tim uses it to re-wind his life to fix his social fumbles, provide help to others, and meet his true love.

Yet, there are parts of history he can’t change and some that if he does, erases lives he doesn’t want to lose.

As he travels time, what Tim ultimately learns is even with bad days, making the most of the present is the real secret to a well-lived life.

By romantic-comedy filmmaker Richard Curtis (also known for Love Actually, Notting Hill, Four Weddings and a Funeral), About Time is the perfect movie to let go of a bad day and just relax, laugh, and enjoy.

Learn more about the movie, About Time, by clicking on the DVD cover.

                           ***
Author and artist, Kathryn V. White's most recent book is Rumble Tumble Joy: A Journey for Healing, Inspiration, and Wholeness. Find out more at: www.kathrynVwhite.com

The Ron Clark Story, starring Matthew Perry, is based on real-life teacher Ron Clark.  He’s a young, white teacher who leaves his small home town in the American south to move to New York City to teach at one of the toughest public schools in Harlem.  On top of that, he takes the most difficult classroom of children to teach.

Things don’t start well.  At every turn, he’s challenged by his students in his efforts to provide structure, order, and education.  

Yet, Ron sees the potential in each of his students and he works tirelessly using innovative teaching techniques to connect with them from a place of great patience and great love. 

Little by little, he earns the trust of his students—children with troubled lives such as violent home situations, no time for homework because they are taking care of their siblings, and unrelenting poverty.

And through his devotion, a big difference is made in everyone’s lives—his students, Ron, the school, and even the teaching profession as a whole.

Ready for a story that inspires, entertains, and revives hope that even the worst of situations can be turned around?  Then click now on the DVD cover to watch The Ron Clark Story. (Affiliate Link)

The two boys become friends and unite in an act of violent revenge. And yet, because of the compassion of Elias's father and Elias himself, healing and renewal comes to both families. 

Click on the DVD cover to experience this amazing film. (Affiliate link)

Even with their major flaws (which keeps the series interesting), you can’t help liking just about every character and wanting each of them to achieve their heart's desires.

In the second season, another Broadway-bound musical, Hit List, threatens to upset the hard-earned success of Bombshell.  

In both seasons, the curtain is drawn revealing the back-stabbing politics, deals, romances, divided loyalties, rivalries, betrayals, affairs, as well as kindnesses, love, and deep friendships happening backstage.

And from season to season, Smash’s characters grow into even more interesting people.

The two-season series stars Debra Messing, Anjelica Huston, Christian Borle, Jack Davenport, Katharine McPhee, Megan Hilty, and Jeremy Jordan.  Special guest stars include Jennifer Hudson, Uma Thurman, and Bernadette Peters.

Click on the DVD covers to enjoy this riveting drama today! (Affiliate Links)

You’ll have trouble leaving your seat once you hit play!

Time traveling, exploding planets, black holes, starships, lust, love, friendship, revenge, non-stop action, surprising plot lines, monstrous creatures—this movie has it all. 

Basically, Nero (a revenge-bent Romulan), travels from the future to destroy Vulcan and the rest of the planets of the Federation.  In the same time period, the Star Trek crew is coming together for their first voyage aboard Starship Enterprise.  

Things start out rocky between the young Kirk and young Spock—arrogance vying against logic.  But they must find a way to work together if they are going to save the Federation.

As each main Star Trek character came on screen, I laughed, loving the familiarities as well as the differences the new actors portrayed.

Watch it today! 

Click on the DVD cover to find out more.  (Affiliate link)

With womanhood, she begins to wrestle with her changing sense of identity, her unhappiness in her marriage, the restrictions imposed by the male-dominated religion of her community, and her limited roles that she wants to sunder. 

And as she questions her faith and tries to give voice to her yearnings, the ties that bind her to her husband and her community start to unravel.

A beautiful and poignant film about growing up and away from that which has defined us and the costs this brings.

Click on the DVD cover to find out more. (Affiliate link)

Lonely Jeremy stays in one place so that even as he feels lost, he has situated himself to be found.

Devastated Elizabeth leaves New York City and the pain of her break-up so she can find herself, grow in understanding, and heal by accepting and then letting go of her loss.

Through the interplay of the yin and yang of beingness, a greater love grows between the two main characters .

(And you don't want to miss the kiss, one of the most passionate I've seen on film!)

Click on the DVD cover to find out more.  (Affiliate link)

I don’t come across many good fathers in film, so it was
refreshing to watch both The Boys Are Back and Fat Kid Rules the World. 

The Boys Are Back stars Clive Owens playing Joe Warr, a
father who deserted his first son with his second marriage and subsequent move to Australia. 

Several years later, his second wife dies from cancer leaving Joe to figure out how to juggle dealing with grief, his job, and romance while raising his six-year-old son.  

He decides on a revolutionary approach—a no rule, no chore household that allows chaos to reign. And then his teenage, dutiful, troubled first son arrives from England on his doorstep.

How will Joe confront the issues from his past and find a way to
bring his fragmented family together?

Fat Kid Rules the World takes place in Seattle, WA. The mother has died a few years earlier and the father (played by Billy Campbell) and his two teenage sons cope with her death in varying ways.  

Troy, the older son, retreats into a world of video games and gluttony—becoming obese and increasingly withdrawn.  Then charismatic drug-addicted, punk-rocker, high-school dropout, Marcus enters their lives and draws Troy into his orbit.  

How does this family avoid disaster and learn to embrace life
again?

Click on the DVD covers to learn more. (Affiliate Links)