Holiday. Family Gathering. Romance.  Heartwarming. Encouraging.

This is a fun-loving movie that the family can enjoy together. When you are overworked it's so easy to lose track of what's really matters around holiday time or more importantly anytime.  A fun-filled movie that quickly reminds you of what you can accomplish when you step out on faith.  If you like inspiring, believe in yourself, follow your heart type of movies.. this one is for you.

Romance. Heart-warming. Holiday.  Memorable Characters. Depression Issues. Emotional

This movie was fun to watch. It was very touching and unperdictable. It dealt with lots of family issues and forgiveness. It dealt with love and giving.  This was a feel good movie with a little twist. This movie constantly reminds you to "always look up!!".  The music was good as well. I reccoment this movie if you like tear-jerkers with a little romance.

Ashby starring Mickey Rourke and Nat Wolff is about Ed (Wolff) who moves to Virginia from Oregon with his mom and befriends his neighbor, Ashby (Rourke.) First their relationship starts as a school project and a way for Ashby to get toa nd from places as he can't drive because he's dying. However, their bond becomes something more.

Ed joins the football team, looks out for his mother (Sarah Silverman) and likes a girl (Emma Roberts) from his school. His father makes promises that he can't keep. But the more Ed and Ashby get to know each other, including knowing Ashby's secret that he is an assassin, makes an impact on Ed and they learn a lot from each other.

This movie told a nice story and how a stranger can suddenly change your life. I don't think this movie was different than any other or there was anything unique about it, but it was still a good movie and enjoyable to watch. It felt predictable in a sense, but if you're looking for a feel-good movie, go ahead and watch it.

Instant Family starring Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne is based on a true story about a couple Pete (Wahlberg) and Ellie (Byrne) who decide they want kids and make the choice to become foster parents. They end up adopting there siblings: an independent teenager, a sassy little girl, and a very sensitive boy. While Pete and Ellie aren't the perfect parents and parenting three kids who have had a hard life isn't easy, they manage to give them a loving home. Instant Family was a great look into fostering children and what life is like in the foster system. It's one of those feel good movies and can make you laugh. It's a movie I'd definitely watch again knowing there are people out there like Pete and Ellie and other families fostering children.

Permanent Record is going to yield what every geek has hoped for as far as knowing all about Snowden's upbringing in Elizabeth City, his childhood rebuttal of a mediocre public education and his transition into a state of accute classified document reading prowess his personal knowledgebase and career trajectory. However he leaves out next to nothing, builds a wonderful narrative, double exposes alot of what is wrong regarding the administration of the US Army, not just NSA and CIA asyncronous protocols. This man's entire life has been about duct taping together solutions in all areas so if whistleblowing is what you want to read about whistleblowing is what you are getting. I'm not sure what is more wowing, the strength it took to work while organizing this level information retreival heist while doing it with a straight face or the tech skills involved in mass collecting that amount of data without being detected.

Suspenseful. Horror. Violent. Confussing. Super-natural. Out-of-body experiences. Law Enforcement. Very Dark.

Bad cop vs. good cop movie. This was a fast moving film with lots of chilling scenes. It will definitely keep you in suspense. Mary J. Blige plays a police officer investigating the death of a co-worker while dealing with the death of her own son  .Most of the scenes were too dark for me. If you like movies with lots of creepy graphic effects I would reccomend this movie.

You Can't Touch My Hair : and other things I still have to explain by Phoebe Robinson is a great read. I highly recommend the audiobook on overdrive as well since she is reading in her own voice. This is alot of her comedic content which she wanted to cover on stage early on, specifically a history of African American hair which spans over 20 pages and is very tongue in cheek the writer is a stand up comedian. I am recommending it for it's stand up laughs alone; she is actively breaking down the barriers to mainstream feminism parlance and use of vagina in non-derogatory speech in literature so support her feminism go-getter culture changer that she is.

Another Stephanie plum story. This time while trying to bring in some of her hunted they end up dead and she is part of the murders game. Another good book

Thank you to Net Galley and Source Books Fire for this ARC of BE DAZZLED by Ryan La Sala, a YA queer love story about Raffy who has a passion for crafting, even though it isn’t approved by his mother. Raffy always has to plan and get projects finished on time or his anxiety will rise. However, when Luca comes into his life, Raffy learns that he should just go with the flow. Luca’s parents don’t approve of his bisexuality and liking of anime and arts and crafts, so he sneaks around dating Raffy and doing those things until it gets too much and he breaks Raffy’s heart. Raffy enters a cosplay competition and finds out Luca is someone he’s going up against. This is a story of love, being who you are, self-doubt, and self-acceptance.

This book was so much fun! If you love LGBTQ representation, arts and crafts, cosplay, Sailor Moon, and a book that will keep you up until 3am, this is the book for you! I related a lot to Raffy as we are both passionate about creating art, but we can be hard on ourselves. Going with the flow is hard when anxiety and time isn’t on your side, but there are people who are going through the same things as you. You should never have to hide in the shadows, but you should always find the people that will help you shine. In this book, you'll love characters like May, dislike characters like Evie, and may not know how you feel about Luca because he often played with Raffy's heart. (His character has a great arc, though.) But I wish I could be as talented as Raffy or should I say La Sala, as he created Raffy and all of his projects!

I can’t wait until this book comes out on January 5th, 2021. It’s a lot different than La Sala’s REVERIE, but it’s still filled with so much heart, passion, creativity, and fun. It’s a book that we need in a time like this because making art is something we all still have that can bring us together when we are apart. We need to use our creativity and show what we got! Just don't forget the rhinestones!

Comedy. Family. Fun-filled. Adventurous. Secrets  Romance.

This is a family friendly, fun-filled movie. The suspense is heart-warming and touching. The characters are funny and believable.Although this is a movie from 1987 it is still fun to watch as if it was the first time seeing it. Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell was made for each other. They act so well together. A movie the family can watch and enjoy together.

Drama. Inspiring, Heart-warming. Uplifiting.

This is a true story which made it more enjoyable.  As then, still today, African Americans do not get the reconcillation they deserve for work they have done. This movie was inspriring and encouraging. When you are good at what you do never let anyone try to make you think less of yourself or your abilities.

Good movie . Always enjoy a feel good movie around the holidays. Will Ferrell is really good as Buddy. Even my grandson enjoys this movie

Ben is Back, starring Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges is about a mother, Holly (Roberts), whose son, Ben (Hedges), comes back home unexpectedly after living in a rehab center due to drug addiction. Holly is very happy to have her son home and believes he is doing better like he says, but soon learns over the course of the day that Ben is still not doing well. She does whatever she can to help him get better for him and her family.

This movie was a great example of what addiction looks like and what it can do to your family and yourself. You really feel for Holly and can see how much she loves her son and believes in him. Holly has two kids from her previsious marriage and two kids from her current one. I wasn't really sure of the point of that. Holly's first husband is barely mentioned. However, all in all, this story was very told well and while it had its heartbreaking and tough moments to get through, the ending feels like you can take a breath that you didn't know you were holding.

Beautifully worded and heartbreaking Ta-Nehisi Coates not only shares his personal views or insights on living fearfully as a black male in America; creating a dialogue which portrays a pre-millenial portrait of the reality of the emotional harm, parenting, lessons, and all manner of events that stemmed from this origninal wrongdoing like a stone causing a ripple in a pool that goes on and on.

Ta-Nehisi is a wonderful writer and philosopher and truth teller and National Book Award Winner.

I loved this book because you can jump right in and it's engaging the crux of the message immediately; which is that the broken system is toxic at the root and has been and needs to end; that the emotional harm inflicted has gone way beyond what any HR40 dialogue about reparations can bring and instead vocalizing that pain of existence that others might know they are not alone in such a broken system is enough. This could be a history textbook for schools as well.

Holiday Good Cheer. Family Gathering. Comedy. 

When the Kranks decide to skip Christmas and go on a cruise instead  the whole neighborhood frowns on them. It becomes interesting when at the last minute they change their minds.Them trying to get the canned ham at the last minute was interesting.  Even though this film is rated PG I don't think some scenes are appropriate for younger children. I think this movie portrays the values of enjoying the little things and simple things in life.

Fantasy. Suspenseful. Romance. Family.  A Little Creepy At Times. Fun To Watch.

When the Avon Lady discovers a strange teen with scisssors for hands...she decides to take him home and fix him up (with Avon, of course). Johnny Depp does a awesome acting job along with Winona Ryder.  All of the characters are memorable. The music eerie at times went well with the acting. Some very funny scenes. The nosey neighborhood residents are hilarious. The movie is fun to watch from start to finish.  Teens would love this movie.

Silver Linings Playbook starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence is about Pat (Cooper), a man who just gets released from a mental hospital after beating up a man who was having an affair with Pat's wife. Pat has bipolar disorder and throughout the movie, he is trying to get metally healthier while also believing there is some hope left of his marriage. However, when Tiffany (Lawrence) comes along and meets Pat, who is mentally unstable as he is, everything changes.

This movie focuses on mental health, love, and family. I really enjoyed this story and I don't think it was just about two people falling in love, but we saw Pat's relationship with his father (Robert DeNiro) and with other people like his therapist and friends. Cooper and Lawrence did a great job in portraying these characters. They didn't play stereotypical mentally ill characters -- they played realistic characters trying to get by every day with their mental illness. I recommend watching this movie and what I love even more about it is how it takes place in Philadelphia, which definitely worked for this movie.

This is an informative book on the perspective about woman who don't have kids whether it is by choice or for health reasons. A term that was used in this book is nonmom. This book presents different chapters begin with a presentation of facts with notes at the end of the book for references. Then the chapter is filled with anecdotal experiences of woman from age 30 and up who share their story. There is an tradition where women who are childfree are stigmatized and this goes into the traditions of civilization and with woman's liberation in the last century, having children or not is a reality that affects woman. This is a book that is important for woman who are living life without children and toward later chapters there is a guide for how to structure conversations or small talk between women who have children and those who are child free. 

Pretty good book, the art is is clean and the content of the story interesting. This is the story of an ordinary man who became famous because of his larger than life size and died young because of his size. 

Before the Coffee Gets Cold is a thought provoking book that is set in a coffee shop hidden among the streets of Tokyo. I greatly enjoyed the four different stories that was written in this book and cried through many scenes in this book. The secrets and draws of this coffee shop is that a customer can time travel to any point of their life. Their trips won't affect the present stage, but will create a resolution of sorts for the cast of colorful characters that is written in this book. This book was originally written in Japanese and translated into English. There is another book in this series that is a similar title, but with four different stories. Before the Coffee Gets Cold: Tales from the Café