Genesis Potini (1963-2011) (Cliff Curtis), a Maori tribesman who became a seemingly unlikely chess master (which earned him the fitting nickname “the dark horse”), may know the intricacies of the game he loves, but he has considerable trouble managing the affairs of his life. In part that’s due to his battle with bipolar disorder. But there’s more to it than that, namely, his impoverished background and troubled family life. That becomes all too apparent when he’s released from a psych ward and left in the care of his long-estranged brother, Ariki (Wayne Hapi), a gang member and the irresponsible father of a teenage son, Mana (James Rolleston).
value fulfillment
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Arts & Entertainment
‘Demolition’ probes tearing down old lives to build anew
by Brent Marchant April 22, 2016When successful, button-down investment banker Davis Mitchell (Jake Gyllenhaal) loses his wife, Julia (Heather Lind), in a car accident, he tries to grieve but, inexplicably, he can’t. Even with the passage of time, the shock never seems to set in, leaving family, friends and colleagues somewhat perplexed. Why won’t he let out his feelings?
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Ever since Eddie Edwards was a child (Tom Costello Jr.), he desperately wanted to be an Olympic athlete, despite health challenges and the nonstop criticism of naysayers, including his own father (Keith Allen). But Eddie was not deterred by these obstacles; he was determined to see his dream realized, especially when his health improved as a teen (Jack Costello). He tried his hand at many sports, though not with much success, prompting even more ridicule from virtually everyone except his mother (Jo Hartley). He seemed reconciled to spend his life working as a plasterer like his dad – that is, until he discovered winter sports.
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Arts & Entertainment
‘Peggy Guggenheim’ celebrates our life’s purpose
by Brent Marchant February 6, 2016What does the heiress to a vast fortune do with her time and financial resources if she’s in a male-dominated world and not necessarily expected to accomplish much? What’s more, how does someone like that fit in when she possesses a headstrong, eccentric personality, one that could easily ruffle the staid feathers of a society with little imagination or tolerance for unconventional thinking? If you’re Peggy Guggenheim (1898-1979), you chart your own path – and become quite a trailblazer in the process.
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Arts & Entertainment
‘Concussion’ hails the merits of value fulfillment
by Brent Marchant January 6, 2016When forensic neuropathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu (Will Smith) performs autopsies in the morgue of the Allegheny County Coroner’s Office, he treats his subjects with a sense of respect and dignity one might not expect in such a cold, clinical setting. The highly educated Nigerian-born immigrant even speaks to his “patients,” asking them to help him discover why they died, a sensitive, humane approach that goes beyond simply cutting open the victims’ bodies and performing calculated scientific analyses to find the answers behind their demise.
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In 1947, screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) was one of the most acclaimed and best paid scribes in Hollywood, having achieved success with the scripts for such films as “Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo” (1944) and the Oscar-nominated “Kitty Foyle” (1940).
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Arts & EntertainmentFamily & Relationships
‘Freeheld’ explores the power of change
by Brent Marchant November 14, 2015In 2005, decorated New Jersey police detective Lt. Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore) was living the good life. Her career was going well, she had just moved into a beautiful new home and she was enjoying her relationship with the love of her life, Stacie (Ellen Page), with whom she had formally established a domestic partnership under the state’s recently enacted law governing such arrangements. There were some trade-offs, such as Laurel’s belief in the need to keep her lifestyle secret for career advancement purposes, but, on balance, everything seemed to be going well. That all changed one day, though, when a nagging pain thought to be a pulled muscle turned out to be something far more serious – Stage IV lung cancer.
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Arts & Entertainment
Conventional wisdom challenged in ‘Testament of Youth’
by Brent Marchant June 26, 2015During a time of shifts in public opinion and social values, it can be difficult to maintain the status quo, especially among those who are helping to drive those forces of change. So it was in 1914 England with Vera Brittain (Alicia Vikander), a headstrong, self-assured, independent thinker with aspirations far different from those of most women at the time. Rather than be relegated to a life of conventional marriage and homemaking, for example, Vera fought for the right to apply to Oxford to earn her college degree and become a writer, much to the consternation of her parents (Dominic West, Emily Watson). What’s more, despite the subtle matchmaking attempts of Vera’s brother, Edward (Taron Egerton), to fix her up with his friend Victor (Colin Morgan), the idealistic young nonconformist resisted these efforts, insisting that she preferred to live her life without a husband. Clearly, Vera was a force to be reckoned with.
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Arts & Entertainment
‘Woman in Gold’ chronicles the search for one’s calling in life
by Brent Marchant April 10, 2015At the age of 81, many of us might be content to settle in and get comfortable for the remaining days of our lives. But not Maria Altmann (Helen Mirren). Despite her advancing age, she embarked on one of the most arduous, yet satisfying, undertakings of her life.
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Arts & Entertainment
Lackluster ‘Citizenfour’ implies much, delivers little
by Brent Marchant November 30, 2014When presented with one of the biggest news stories of the century, one would hope that those covering it would make the most of the opportunity to inform the public about its scope and implications. That’s especially true when those ramifications have impacts that are far-reaching, both in our everyday lives and our metaphysical deliberations. Unfortunately, when it comes to coverage of one of the most significant milestone news events of recent years, those goals never reach the fruition they deserve, as becomes regrettably apparent in the recently released documentary feature, “Citizenfour.”
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Arts & Entertainment
READ: Magic comes to life in ‘Hugo’ by Brent Marchant
by Brent Marchant December 16, 2011In many ways, “Hugo” is a primer on a variety of conscious creation principles. It clearly illustrates how our beliefs and expectations – for better or worse – yield the reality we each experience. Hugo, for example, is so convinced that the completion of his task is essential to his future well-being that he repeatedly draws circumstances to him that make fulfillment of his vision possible. He carries on, despite seeming obstacles, and he’s richly rewarded for his efforts.
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‘Green Lantern’ Celebrates the Hero Within
by Brent Marchant July 1, 2011Rising to our potential is one of the most heroic acts we can pursue in life. It’s an audacious undertaking that forces us to face—and ultimately overcome—our fears, those irrational forces that can hold us back from becoming who we were meant to be. That theme is at the heart of this courageous endeavor, as well as the narrative of the new sci-fi action film, “Green Lantern.”
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The magic of ‘Midnight in Paris’ charms, inspires
by Brent Marchant June 24, 2011Anyone who has ever been creatively blocked can certainly appreciate Gil’s circumstances. The frustration that comes from being unable to express oneself, despite strong but undefined urges to the contrary, can lead to a desperate search for inspiration. And that’s why the energizing effects that come from finding it—or even the belief that one has found it—seem so thoroughly satisfying.
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Arts & Entertainment
‘Wake Up’ chronicles the search for one’s spiritual self
by Brent Marchant April 23, 2011Imagine going to bed one night, assuming that the physical reality you take for granted is all that there is to existence, and then waking up later to discover it’s merely a part of a much bigger picture. Such was the experience of a self-described ordinary guy who suddenly found out that the world was a much more extraordinary place than he ever thought possible, an odyssey explored in the documentary “Wake Up.”
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Sooner or later, the life we live comes to an end. But the conclusion of this life is merely the close of a single chapter in our soul’s journey, with death providing the conduit to whatever comes next. Whenever that end comes, the more at peace we are with the transition, the more we’ll get out of the experience, not only of what we’re going to but also of what we’re leaving behind.