In Theaters: **** Stan and Ollie (2018)

****Stan & Ollie (2018) This movie features the classic comedy duo, Stan Laurel (Steve Coogan) and Oliver Hardy (John C. Reilly) at the end of their careers.  They have agreed to do a European tour, mostly through Great Britain, Ireland and Scotland.  This is a great character biopic.  It adds their wives, Ida Laurel and Lucille Hardy, (Nina Arianda and Shirley Henderson) when they catch up with the tour.  These two women tolerate each other.  The driving force, who hopes to make money off the tour is Hal Roach (Danny Huston).  When Laurel and Hardy go after each other for past perceived wrongs the movie gets very interesting.  Of course after this there is a heart attack on the part of Ollie, and a reconciliation with genuine caring and affection. 

Movie Review: ****^Wild Hearts Can't be Broken (1991)

This is a Disney movie, and tells the true story of Sonora Webster Carver (Gabrielle ANwar).  It is a depression era movie, and Sonora was determined to make it to Atlantic City to make her future.  She manages to gain employment with Doc Carver (Cliff Robertson), first as a stable hand, and later as a diving girl.  Doc Carver,  a famous sharpshooter, and contemporary of Wild Bill Hickok and Buffalo Bill, had put together an act using diving horses with a young woman rider.  Unfortunately Doc passes away before they take the act to Atlantic City.  His son, and Sonora's future husband, takes over the show.  In this movie you have a young woman determined to be a  (Michael Schoeffling) success, and she learns how to mount a moving horse to be a diving girl.  What is even more dramatic is that after losing her eye sight to an accident where she went into the water face first with her eyes open, causing the detachment of her retinas, she continued to perform as a diving girl.  I discovered in real life she performed for eleven more years blind, and a total of 20 years.  In real life passed away only ten years ago at the age of 99.
The actress that portrays Sonora is Fionna on "Burn Notice."

Movie Review: *****The Dreamer of Oz (1990)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMMjwMkpcXw
Every once in a while you find something very good and so unexpected, you want to let everyone know about it.  If you follow this blog, you know I am a fan of l. Frank Baum, and the Oz series, and his other books.  I found this made for TV movie very enjoyable.  This is the history of L. Frank Baum, and the history of his writing the stories of OZ, starting with “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”  Baum was a delightful teller of tales, however they were not well received in the publishing community at first.  John Ritter stars as Baum and Annette O'Toole as his wife, Maude.  Baum was a regular character, with business ups and downs, and a heart condition, until age 40. His first break was "Mother Goose: in Prose" followed by "Father Goose: in Prose."  However the Oz book was his first love.  No one wanted to produce it.  He went from publisher to publisher and still no luck.  He was at his wits end.  He finally proposed self publishing the book, and that was the turning point.
This is a motivational movie about a relationship, but also about a very gifted and creative man.  This is a great family movie.