?Failure is not the end. Failure is actually the beginning? In the early 1990s a group of Apple employees left the company to try to take computing to the next step?a handheld computer that people can carry around. And they did. Except the company they started failed. But failure isn?t always failure. General Magic documents…
For my final day at the 2019 Newport Beach Film Festival presented by Pacific Sales, I took in a pair of documentaries. But before I get to those movies, I want to thank the festival for providing me with tickets to see the films I saw, and especially thank the hundreds of volunteers without whom…
He was called ?the Conscience of the Nation.? He was the advisor and friend of Presidents of both parties from Dwight Eisenhower to Ronald Reagan. He served (and eventually chaired) the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. And around the Notre Dame campus (where he was President for 35 years) he was Father Ted. Father Theodore Hesburgh…
I mentioned in one of my earlier reports that I?m stingy with my ratings of Excellent on the Audience Award ballots we are given for each film. The choices are Excellent, Good, Fair, and Poor. My default is Good. To get an Excellent, a film needs to rise above the other films in some way….
The Newport Beach Film Festival presented by Pacific Sales continues to bring interesting films that may never make it to a wide distribution, but that doesn?t mean the films aren?t worthy of being seen. That is one of the values of film festivals. I would encourage everyone to look for film festivals near you. (Note…
Welcome back to the Newport Beach Film Festival presented by Pacific Sales. It was a full day for me, as you?ll see when you see the nine films I have to talk about. Okay, I?ll admit that six of them were shorts, but that still seems like a full day to me. Note that I?m…
The 20th edition of the Newport Beach Film Festival presented by Pacific Sales is now up and running. Films are shown at several venues, including Starlight Cinemas, Edward?s Big Newport Cinemas, the historic Lido Theater, and The Lot in Fashion Island. If you?re in the area, schedule and tickets can be found at the festival…
While many of my Screenfish colleagues (and most of the rest of the world) will be seeing The Avengers: Endgame this weekend, I?ll be absent from that crowd. Instead, I?ll be starting my weeklong coverage of the 20th Newport Beach Film Festival presented by Pacific Sales. This year?s festival includes 131 feature films and 321…
Aretha Franklin, The Queen of Soul, was a well-established star in 1972 when she chose for her next album to return to the music of her youth?gospel. The daughter of a Baptist minister, singing in church was where her sound was born. In Amazing Grace, we travel back to the two-night recording session/church service that…
This is the 10th anniversary of Disneynature creating documentary films about our planet and its inhabitants. This year?s offering (as always, being released for Earth Day) is Penguins. And as with previous Disneynature films, they will make a donation to Wildlife Conservation Network for every ticket sold during the opening week (April 17-23). The Disneynature…
