INSPIRATIONAL FILES

" I Think I love My Wife"  (2007) is a romantic comedy co-written and produced by Chris Rock. In the movie, Richard Cooper (Chris Rock) is a very successful New York business executive and a happily married man. Happily married and loves his wife, Brenda (Gina Torres), at least it seems until an encounter with a very attractive and certainly seductive old friend, Nikki (Kerry Washington) suddenly begins to cast doubts on the certainty of Richard's love for his wife. Just in case you have never seen this, it would make you laugh, even as serious as the theme might sound. Statements such as “I think so” and “I hope so” communicate probabilities and uncertainties rather than assurance and certainty. Both statements are responses to questions seeking a certain type of affirmation. Four husbands were asked if they loved their wives. The first husband’s response was “I think so.” The second husband replied “I hope so.” The third husband took a little longer but he eve

"Fantasy Island" (1977 - 1984) was a TV series created by Gene Levitt and starred Ricardo Montalban, Herve Villechaize, Christopher Hewett, and Wendy Schaal. It was an island where guests (strictly by invitation) paid a phenomenon amount of money ($50,000) to live out their fantasies, even if it was just for one weekend only. And the fantasy was always far more than what they bargained for. Each episode always begins with a toast "My dear guests, I am Mr. Roarke, your host. Welcome to Fantasy Island." And in one unforgettable weekend and one attempt, usually, to relive their pasts in one form or another, Mr. Roarke taught his guests very important life lessons, frequently in a manner that exposes the errors of their ways. And more so it is a lesson that sometimes the past is better left alone where it is, in the past. There are three phases in the journey of a man - yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Yesterday always starts out as today. It is what has already bee

Following in the footsteps of Lee Daniel's "Precious" (2009), starring Gabourey Sidibe and Mo"Nique", Shattered" (2011), produced by Gilbert Lukalian and starring Nigerian Rita Dominic in the lead role, explores the same dark theme of mental and physical abuse of children in the hands of parents. It won two awards at the 2012 African Movie Academy Awards. Rita Dominic rendered an unforgettable performance as Kezia Njema, a Keyan girl whose life was shattered through no fault of hers but by just being simply the right child in the wrong hands, in the wrong place, and at the wrong time. Gilbert Lukalia's "Shattered" is a true story of the excruciating pain of child abuse, the plight of defenseless children caught in a spider's web that they did not spin, frailty of the human psyche, mental and physical pain, nightmares, demons, a wounded spirit that may never heal, and indelible scars that will always be there. For example, your average f

                                                                         Intended ignorance is one of the causes of the disappointment in many relationships. Look at it as the basket of some of the few things that you do know and the little things you do not know, mixed with a lot of the many things you ignore to know about a person that's coming into your life. Boy meets girl is the case of "When Harry met Sally" (my own spin of course), Sally was so excited and in so much awe she became bli nd to the things she really needed to see about Harry and deaf to the words she really needed to hear about Harry. And of course mute to all the things she needed to have said to Harry. Then Harry married Sally in no time. At the beginning, it was like a marriage made in heaven, but not long, and not very long at all, it became a life lived in the depths of hell. At least it was for Sally. And suddenly, at least it seems, the man in Sally' s dreams has become the demon in her

Real life couple Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell light up the screen in "Overboard (1987).  Joanna Stayton (Goldie Hawn) is an idle rich woman who fell overboard her luxury yacht just to be rescued by a passing garbage barge. The comedy of the movie “ Overboard ” is that of error and the irony of unexpected change. Within a twinkle of an eye, Joanna went from being on the deck of a posh yacht to being on the deck of a garbage barge. She went from being Joanna, an idle rich wife, to being Annie, the assumed wife of a carpenter [Kurt Russell] and the "mother" of four unruly boys. Though hilarious in the movie, this is the type of change that we neither expect nor even think about. The story of Joanna is a comedy that will make anyone laugh, but the story of Jonah on the other hand is not a comedy to make anyone laugh. It is the tragedy of a disobedient prophet who changed the direction of God for his life with his own direction just to end up at a destination h

Eight strangers, eight different points of view, but only one truth. And what matters most is the one truth. " Vantage Point " (2008), a political action thriller film, recounts a series of events surrounding the "assassination" of a US president on foreign soil from several different perspectives and viewpoints in order to reveal a "truthful" account of what actually happened. In what is unquestionably one of the best movies of 2008, Dennis Quaid led a star-studded cast including Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt, and Matthew Fox to light up the screen in one of the most intense political action thriller films of all time.   Now check this out. As they were leaving, Jesus spoke to the crowds about John. " What did you go into the desert to see? Tall grass swaying in the wind? Really, what did you go to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? Those who wear fine clothes are in royal palaces. Really, what did you go to s

Frank Sinatra is more remembered by many for his silky, love ballads than for his many movie roles. Yes! In his lifetime, Mr. Sinatra appeared in not less than fifty – six (56) films, including his number one, “ From Here to Eternity ” (1953], with Burt Lancaster and Donna Reed. And I really doubt if many people still remember or have ever even seen Frank Sinatra in “ Suddenly ” (1954), in which he plays the role of John Baron, a psychopathic assassin. Don’t feel bad if you have never seen “ Suddenly ”, it happens to be just one of those forgotten Sinatra classics that now runs once or maybe twice a year on The TCM (Turner Classic Movies) Channel.  In “ Suddenly ”, John Baron (Sinatra) leads a team of hired assassins to Suddenly, a sleepy little town in California, on a mission to assassinate the President of the United States, as the President’s campaign train makes a brief stop at the town’s train station. As the camera rolls in on the opening shot, Sheriff Todd Sh