Rebecca Redshaw

Before the craziness of awards season starts, and in the “giving” spirit of the holiday season, why not reflect back on the memorable films reviewed for the Sequim Gazette?

 

Perusing the list of movies recommended, it may surprise you how many are not the blockbusters with heavy advertising budgets, but instead are films that often don’t play in theaters on the peninsula.

 

If you missed these DVDs the first time around, consider this refresher (or possibly, refreshing!) list my holiday gift to you. Cozy up on the sofa and enjoy the cinema.

 

In alphabetical order:

“Buck” (2011)
Buck travels the country most weeks of the year giving workshops and seminars to horse owners on all levels. His training approach is unique and while watching him handle the animals (and their owners) you can’t help but be in awe of his patience and ability.

“Conviction” (2010)
Frustrated with the legal system and short of funds, Betty (Hilary Swank) decides the only way to make the legal system accountable is to take charge. With a family of young boys and only a GED to her credit, she starts the long road to becoming a lawyer.

“Dive!” (2010)
Filmmaker Jeremy Seifert is neither homeless nor hungry. With a small cadre of friends, he prowls the backstreets of Los Angeles searching for perfectly good food that our favorite supermarkets throw away.

“Freedom Riders” (2010)
The Freedom Riders integrated lunch counters and bus stop waiting rooms designated as “Whites Only.” Their mission, using non-violent tactics, was to make the United States aware of the thriving bigotry and prejudice. They never fought back even when confronted with life-threatening situations.

“Gnomeo & Juliet” (2011)
Shakespeare’s play of young lovers and the challenges they face has been told and retold hundreds of times, but never with adorable talking garden gnomes. Putting all reverence to the original work aside, “Gnomeo & Juliet” is a fun, animated outing and given the movie’s young target audience, the end is scripted differently than the original.

“Gone Madigan” (2010)
If you haven’t heard Kathleen Madigan perform (live or on tape), you’re in for a treat. Her humor is topical and intelligent and sprinkled with just enough irony to make you scratch your head and hold your belly at the same time.
“Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work” (2010)
Joan Rivers has lived a very public life for the last 40 years performing as a stand-up comedian and hosting (or guest hosting) late night talk shows. Who knows why she agreed to a documentary film crew following her for a year, but she did and the result is an intimate and revealing portrait.

“Jockey” (2004)
The bluegrass of Kentucky may offer a picturesque backdrop to the mint-julep-sipping crowd in haute couture chapeaus and the nostalgic strains of “My Old Kentucky Home,” but the grit and guts seldom seen on the other side of the track are revealed in “Jockey.”

“Made in Dagenham” (2010)
In 2011, a woman earns 80 cents compared to a man’s dollar for performing the same work. But the disparity was far worse in 1968 when the women working in the Dagenham Ford Factory in England went on strike. When the 187 women found out they were making a pittance of what the thousands of male workers took home, they walked off the job.

To be continued on Dec. 21.

Rebecca Redshaw is an author and playwright who worked for 25 years in the film industry in Los Angeles. Copies of her book, SOFA CINEMA: An Easy Guide to DVDs, may be purchased at the Sequim Gazette. She can be reached at r2redshaw@hotmail.com.