Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat Movie Reviews & Previews

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Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat

Agrees with the Tomatometer 74% of the time.

Biography:: Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat have been discovering spiritual meanings in films for 40 years. We are always on the lookout for movies that "speak to our condition" (a Quaker phrase) and reveal new possibilities for our lives. We love dramas that touch on universal experiences, knock down barriers between people, and evoke our compassion. We are enriched by stories that touch our hearts and send us out of the theater rejoicing. A truly good film is not only thought-provoking and entertaining, it also leaves the viewer with a sense of what it means to live deeply and fully every day. We are the authors of two books, Spiritual Literacy and Spiritual Rx, in which we frequently use movies to illustrate spiritual "takes" on everyday experience. We also regularly prepare "Values & Visions" Discussion Guides for film clubs. You can read about our approach to movies in "Befriending Films" and "Spirituality and Films" in the Spirituality & Film section at our website.
Favorites:: We publish an annual list of the "most spiritually literate films of the year" (see "Other" section). Some all-time favorites are: Gandhi, My Life as a Dog, Babette's Feast, Wings of Desire, Forrest Gump, Dead Man Walking, Babe, Enchanted April, Jesus of Montreal, The Last Wave, Grand Canyon, Sunshine State, In America, Brokeback Mountain, American Beauty, Little Miss Sunshine, Water, Lars and the Real Girl, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The Visitor, and Slumdog Millionaire.
Publications:: Spirituality and Practice
Critics' Group:: New York Film Critics Online, Online Film Critics Society

Total Reviews:: 4867
Total QuickRatings:: 197

Location:: New York, New York

Listing Of All Reviews & Articles

Showing 1 - 50 of 4867

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Rating	T-Meter	Title \| Year	Add Date
4/5	100%	Elena (2012)	" A Russian domestic thriller set in Moscow where the gap between the rich and the poor has grown into an abyss." — Spirituality and Practice Posted May 15, 2012
4/5	50%	Small, Beautifully Moving Parts (2012)	" An intimate and well-acted drama about the technological tools in our lives and the quest of a young pregnant woman to reconcile with her long estranged mother. " — Spirituality and Practice Posted May 10, 2012
5/5	86%	I Wish (2012)	" A charming and inventive Japanese movie about wishes, questing, friendship, sibling solidarity, and the wonderful support of grandparents when we need them the most." — Spirituality and Practice Posted May 10, 2012
3/5	94%	Bons�i (2012)	" A creative film from Chile about love, books and bonsai." — Spirituality and Practice Posted May 10, 2012
—	82%	Last Call at the Oasis (2012)	— Spirituality and Practice Posted May 4, 2012
5/5	75%	The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012)	" A top-drawer dramady about a band of English retirees in India and the challenges and transformations they undergo." — Spirituality and Practice Posted May 2, 2012
3/5	22%	Elles (2012)	" An emotionally rich and nuanced performance by Juliette Binoche as a woman journalist experiencing a sexual crisis." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Apr 25, 2012
3/5	63%	The Five-Year Engagement (2012)	" A comedy about the struggle of two people in love to keep their relationship alive as a work-in-progress. " — Spirituality and Practice Posted Apr 25, 2012
4/5	85%	Bernie (2012)	" An inventive drama about a gregarious assistant funeral director in a small Texas town where he is widely cherished." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Apr 25, 2012
3/5	80%	Inventing Our Life: The Kibbutz Experiment (2012)	" An ethically rich and bold documentary on the 100 year old kibbutz movement in Israel." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Apr 25, 2012
—	54%	Bully (2001)	— Spirituality and Practice Posted Apr 20, 2012
2.5/5	20%	The Lucky One (2012)	" Another excessive melodrama based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Apr 19, 2012
3.5/5	74%	Chimpanzee (2012)	" Another documentary teaching children a dualistic view of the world with good versus evil communities." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Apr 19, 2012
5/5	94%	Marley (2012)	" An astonishing documentary charting the life and legacies of reggae superstar Bob Marley." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Apr 19, 2012
4/5	21%	Darling Companion (2012)	" A Lawrence-Kasdan directed dramody about how a lost dog helps a long-married couple find their way back to each other." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Apr 19, 2012
1/5	36%	Lockout (2012)	" An under-whelming sci-fi thriller." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Apr 12, 2012
4/5	50%	Late Bloomers (2012)	" A comedy about the changes and the challenges faced by a couple entering the far country of old age." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Apr 11, 2012
3/5	89%	Post Mortem (2012)	" The violence in Chile in 1973 when the government of Salvador Allende was overthrown seen through the eyes of a mortuary assistant." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Apr 11, 2012
1/5	28%	L!fe Happens (2012)	" An unappealing comedy about a friendship between two women that is put in jeopardy when one of them has a child." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Apr 5, 2012
1/5	43%	American Reunion (2012)	" Plenty of raunchy and funny scenes but not enough character development." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Apr 5, 2012
3/5	59%	We Have a Pope (2012)	" A light-hearted comedy about the Vatican and the Papacy under pressure due to a surprising development." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Apr 5, 2012
4.5/5	70%	The Hunter (2012)	" A mesmerizing drama about a lonely and malevolent man's possible spiritual transformation." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Apr 5, 2012
3.8/5	79%	Surviving Progress (2012)	" A thought-provoking documentary on the major crises of our times brought on by an uncritical acceptance of the idea of progress." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Apr 5, 2012
5/5	76%	Damsels in Distress (2012)	" A most clever and unusual campus comedy about a female crusader and her special missions." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Apr 5, 2012
5/5	87%	Bully (2012)	" An eye-opening documentary that focuses on five youth who were bullied, including two who committed suicide, and how their families, schools, and communities respond. " — Spirituality and Practice Posted Apr 5, 2012
1/5	50%	Mirror Mirror (2012)	" This retelling of the famous Grimm fairy tale tries too hard to be funny." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Apr 5, 2012
5/5	33%	The Lady (2012)	" An inspiring portrait of a passionate female freedom fighter and an exquisite love story set in the darkness of violence, repression, and tyranny in Burma." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Mar 30, 2012
4/5	100%	Atmen (Breathing) (2011)	" Poignant story of a nineteen-year-old at a Austrian juvenile detention center who gets a probation job at a morgue and begins inching toward a new life." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Mar 26, 2012
5/5	——	How To Survive A Plague (2012)	" A documentary on the impact of a passionate group of dedicated and creative individuals in raising awareness of the AIDS epidemic." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Mar 26, 2012
5/5	——	5 Broken Cameras (2012)	" A remarkable documentary which charts the impact on a Palestinian village, and one of its children, of Israeli oppression during the past five years." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Mar 26, 2012
4/5	94%	Oslo, August 31st (2012)	" A searing portrait of a young man's chronic loneliness. " — Spirituality and Practice Posted Mar 26, 2012
2/5	50%	4:44 Last Day on Earth (2012)	" A dreary and unappealing film about a couple of messed-up New Yorkers and what they choose to do just before the end of the world." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Mar 23, 2012
3.5/5	79%	The Deep Blue Sea (2012)	" 1950s story about an alluring woman who leaves her husband in search of sexual passion with a younger man." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Mar 23, 2012
3.5/5	29%	Musical Chairs (2012)	" An endearing romantic drama about a creative young Puerto Rican with a passion for dance." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Mar 22, 2012
4/5	——	Found Memories (2012)	" A visually poetic parabolic drama about aging, death, community, hospitality, and transformation." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Mar 22, 2012
5/5	84%	The Hunger Games (2012)	" This adrenaline-pumping drama of survival is the most exciting and engaging action adventure since Avatar." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Mar 21, 2012
4/5	——	Mister Rogers & Me ()	" An uplifting documentary in praise of the work and legacy of Fred Rogers." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Mar 20, 2012
4/5	50%	An Encounter with Simone Weil (2012)	" A creative and compelling documentary about Simone Weil, a French philosopher, activist, and mystic whom writer Albert Camus called the only great spirit of our time." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Mar 15, 2012
4/5	77%	Jeff, Who Lives at Home (2012)	" A delightful film about how synchronicities can open people up to fresh adventures which have the potential to transform and revitalize them." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Mar 15, 2012
4.5/5	52%	Detachment (2012)	" A grim but thought-provoking depiction of a failing inner-city high school and a gifted substitute teacher with a big heart." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Mar 14, 2012
4.5/5	72%	Free Men (2012)	" A compelling and captivating film based on the true story of an Algerian immigrant who is transformed into a freedom fighter during the Nazi occupation of Paris in 1942. " — Spirituality and Practice Posted Mar 14, 2012
4/5	96%	The Kid with a Bike (2012)	" A salute to the art of empathy and the need to cultivate it in our approach to troubled kids and other outsiders on the fringe of society." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Mar 14, 2012
3/5	91%	Footnote (2012)	" A morality drama about Talmudic studies, ambition, a father-son struggle, and the quest for recognition." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Mar 7, 2012
4/5	——	Be Omid E Didar ()	" A portrait of life in Iran through the eyes of an oppressed woman lawyer who yearns to escape to freedom." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Mar 7, 2012
5/5	46%	Where Do We Go Now? (2012)	" An inventive Lebanese film about the creative efforts of Christian and Muslim women in a small village to create peace and end religious hatred." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Mar 7, 2012
5/5	67%	Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2012)	" A quirky and thoroughly entertaining spiritual drama about the multiple meanings of faith." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Mar 7, 2012
4/5	——	17 Girls (17 Filles) ()	" A rare film focusing on the feelings, fears, dreams and emotions of girls." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Mar 6, 2012
4/5	——	Farewell, My Queen (2012)	" An exquisite French costume drama about the early days of the French revolution and a servant girl at Versailles who sees it all." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Mar 6, 2012
3/5	55%	Being Flynn (2012)	" A homeless father and a troubled son are reunited for an uneasy and revealing encounter which changes them both." — Spirituality and Practice Posted Mar 2, 2012

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