|
DVD's
Below are some DVD's I have recommended
to students over the years. They are not always 'feel good' movies in
fact some are quite dark but I have found they have represented issues
I have come accross in practice and at the very least give windows into
other perspactives.
IMPORTANT Before you buy any of the
dvd's below, check that the dvd will play in your country or region. If
you are unsure you may want to buy it through your local amazon site.
 
|
3DCranio
is Edward Edward Muntinga's excellent DVD containing
3D animations of cranio sacral movement in real
time.
The more we can 'see' these structures in our
head the better we are able to work with them.
One of the most difficult things to grasp, when
learning cranio sacral, is the way all these structures
move as they reflect the cranio sacral rhythm.
This DVD gives a three dimensional insight in
these complex movements.
The animations are rendered with professional
3D-Animation-Software and are very sharp.
Edwards site is well worth a visit as he has
free downloadable images.
Top |
|
Reign Over Me - Alan
Johnson has everything he needs to get through life: a good job, a
beautiful and loving wife, and their wonderful children. Yet he feels
isolated because he finds having a hard-working job and managing a
family too much to handle and has no one to talk to about it. Charlie
Fineman, on the other hand, doesn't have a job or a family. He used
to have both until he lost his family on the fateful day of 9/11,
and the grief he felt caused him to quit his job and isolate himself
from everyone around him. As it turns out, Alan and Charlie were roommates
in college, and a chance encounter one night rekindles the friendship
they shared. But when Charlie's problems become too much to deal with,
Alan is determined to help Charlie come out of his emotional abyss.
Top |
|
Magnolia - This third
feature from Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights) is a maddening,
magnificent piece of filmmaking, and it's an ensemble film to rank
with the best of Robert Altman--every little piece of the film means
something, and it's solidly there for a reason. Deftly juggling a
breathtaking ensemble of actors, Anderson crafts a tale of neglectful
parents, resentful children, and love-starved souls that's amazing
in scope, both thematically and emotionally. Part of the charge of
Magnolia is seeing exactly how may characters Anderson can juggle,
and can he keep all those balls in air (indeed he can, even if it
means throwing frogs into the mix). And it's been far too long since
we've seen a filmmaker whose love of making movies is so purely joyful,
and this electric energy is reflected in the actors, from Cruise's
revelatory performance to Reilly's quietly powerful turn as the moral
center of the story. While at three hours it's definitely not suited
to everyone's taste, Magnolia is a compelling, heartbreaking, ultimately
hopeful mediation on the accidents of chance that make up our lives.
Featuring eight wonderful songs by Aimee Mann, including "Save
Me." --Mark Englehart
Top |
|
Happiness - At times
brilliant and insightful, at times repellent and false, Happiness
is director Todd Solondz's multistory tale of sex, perversion, and
loneliness. Plumbing depths of Crumb-like angst and rejection, Solondz
won the Cannes International Critics Prize in 1998 and the film
was a staple of nearly every critic's Top Ten list. Admirable, shocking,
and hilarious for its sarcastic yet strangely empathetic look at
consenting adults' confusion between lust and love, the film stares
unflinchingly until the audience blinks. But it doesn't stop there.
Happiness is an intelligent, sad film, revelatory and exact at
moments.
Top |
|
Jacob's Ladder - Vietnam
veteran Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) thinks he is going insane. Or worse.
When his nightmares begin spilling into his waking hours, Jacob believes
he is experiencing the aftereffects of a powerful drug tested on him
during Vietnam. Or perhaps his posttraumatic stress disorder is worse
than most. Whatever is happening to him, it is not good. Director
Adrian Lyne sparks our interest and maintains high production values.
Top |
|
Angel heart - Set in
Harlem and New Orleans in 1955, this supernatural thriller stirred
a brief controversy when released in 1987 because some scenes featuring
Lisa Bonet (then a popular cast member of The Cosby Show) were considered
too sexually explicit to be rated R. The edited material was restored
for the unrated video release.
A sullen detective (Mickey Rourke) is hired to find a missing person
by a shady client with pointy fingernails named Louis Cyphre . Rourke's
investigation leads him into an underworld of voodoo and forbidden
desires, and as the mystery unfolds director Alan Parker fills every
scene with conspicuous style and atmospheric exces. This movie casts
a spell of its own and the performances of Rourke, De Niro, Bonet,
and Charlotte Rampling are well suited to the ominous mood.
Top |
|
|
What the
#$*! Do We Know!? Also know as 'What the Bleep?'(2004)
Directed by William Arntz, Betsy Chasse, Mark Vicente
Cutting edge quantum physics strung together around
a loose storyline. Amanda, a divorced photographer,
finds herself in a fantastic Alice-in-Wonderland
experience when her daily, uninspired life literally
begins to unravel, revealing the cellular, molecular
and even quantum worlds which lie beneath. Inter
cut with interviews with leading scientists and
mystics, she finds that if reality itself is not
questionable, her notion of it certainly is.
Stunning special effects plunge you into a world
where quantum uncertainty is demonstrated - where
Amanda's neurological processes, and perceptual
shifts are engaged and lived - where everything
is alive, and reality is changed by every thought.
There has been a second movie released, which
I haven't seen but from what I can gather it is
an expanded version of the original movie. I include
a listing of it here. Top |
|
|
I Heart
Huckabees (2004) Directed by David O.
Russell.
Featuring: Dustin Hoffman, Lily Tomlin, Jude Law,
Naomi Watts, Mark Wahlberg, Jason Schwartzman,
Isabelle Huppert.
An existential comedy.
I particularly like the way each character in
this movie reacts to the story. I think it is
a reasonable reflection of the different ways,
different people respond to change.
Determined to solve the coincidence of seeing
the same conspicuous stranger three times in a
day, Albert hires a pair of existentialist detectives,
who insist on spying on his everyday life while
sharing their views on life and the nature of
the universe
Top
|
|
|
What Dreams
May Come (1998) Directed by Vincent Ward.
Featuring: Robin Williams, Cuba Gooding Jr, Annabella
Sciorra, Max von Sydow.
Tagline: After life there is more.
This movie looks like a moving oil painting.
Chris Neilson dies and finds himself in a heaven
more amazing than he could have ever dreamed of.
There is one thing missing: his wife. After he
dies, his wife, Annie killed herself and went
to hell. Chris decides to risk eternity in hades
for the small chance that he will be able to bring
her back to heaven. Top |
|
|
The Matrix
(1999) Directed by Andy and Larry Wachowski
Featuring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne
Moss, Hugo Weaving.
Here's the story: Computer hacker Thomas Anderson
has lived a relatively ordinary life--in what
he thinks is the year 1999--until he is contacted
by the enigmatic Morpheus who leads him into the
real world.
In reality, it is 200 years later, and the world
has been laid waste and taken over by advanced
artificial intelligence machines. The computers
have created a false version of 20th-century life--the
"Matrix"--to keep the human slaves satisfied,
while the AI machines draw power from the humans.
The interesting thing about this movie is that
it gets across the idea that reality is not as
real as it appears. It is a useful movie to watch
and let percolate in the back of your mind.
Top |
|
|
It's a Wonderful
Life (1946) Directed by Frank Capra.
Featuring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore,
Thomas Mitchell.
This is a classic that is usually trotted out
on one TV station or another, particularly at
Christmas. What I like about this movie is the
premise which is, what would the world look like
if you had never been born? or depending on your
mood, what is impact have you made on the world?
The story is about George Bailey who grew up in
Bedford Falls, a small town he dreams of someday
leaving and making his mark on the world. George
was all set to leave when his father died and
George had to take care of the business.
His family's business is all that stands between
the good citizens and Mr. Potter, a rich miser
who takes sick pleasure in taking from everybody,
without even caring how it affects them.
George would forever be stymied with his plans
to leave and when he thinks that he is nothing
but a failure, he decides to kill himself and
that's when his guardian angel in training, Clarence,
comes in and tries to convince him that he has
made something with his life and that he had a
"Wonderful Life".
Top |
|
|
Patch Adams
(1998) Directed by Tom Shadyac.
Featuring: Robin Williams, Daniel London, Monica
Potter, Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Fact-based story of Hunter "Patch"
Adams (Robin Williams), the founder of the Gesundheit
Clinic, a clinic which deals with their patients
with humor and pathos.
The film starts with Hunter admitting himself
as a patient in a mental ward. While there, he
found he enjoyed helping the other patients and
found the staff to be cold and separative from
the patients. Vowing to change things, he releases
himself from the hospital and headed to the Virginia
Medical College.
His unorthodox methods cast him up against many
of the doctors and deans of the university, despite
him getting some of the highest grades in his
class. Recognizing that many poor people were
not being treated, as a student he formed the
Gesundheit Clinic to aid those who were not getting
proper treatment at the hospital. However, this
brought him up before the Medical Review Board
for practicing without a license.
|
|
|
|
|
| 
