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Little Women (1994)

Drama
1994 / 118 min
Rating: 9/10

Taking only minor liberties with Louisa May Alcott’s book, Little Women tells the tale of Marmee March’s four daughters: Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy as they grow up in the shadow of the US Civil War. Each sister is quite the character, with Meg, the older sister, who dreams of marriage and starting her own family, Jo the tomboy who wants to write, the sickly but caring Beth who is always thinking of others, and the spoiled littlest sister Amy who does some growing up, becoming a lovely young lady.

This is all about family, coming together in hardship when Beth gets sick, and coming together for family fun too, like when all the sisters take parts in a play written by Jo. Oh, and there’s also falling in love too!

Cautions

Nowadays, if a film isn’t made by Christians, it seems almost a given that it is going to have some sort of vulgarity, blood-splattering violence, or woke agenda. Little Women has none of it. Yay! The worst I can think of is a few strange references to Transcendentalism (an early New Age movement) but it is referred to only in passing.

Conclusion

This may be appreciated more by the ladies: a female friend has watched this 10 times while her husband thought once was more than enough.

However, if you are a fan, you’ll want to check out the 1949 version, which is both funnier and sadder, but also a bit harder to follow if you aren’t already familiar with the book. A 1933 version is over the top, but the 1940 sequel of sorts, called Little Men, is another good one.

Check out the trailer below.

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Family, Movie Reviews

Good Sam

Drama / Family / Romance 2019 / 89 minutes RATING: 8/10 Kate Bradley is a TV news reporter following the "bummer beat" in New York City, covering fires and other tragedies. That's left her a little cynical, and her boss is worried that it's also left her more than a little jaded about the dangers she risks to get her stories. So when a story breaks about an anonymous good samaritan leaving a bag of $100,000 outside a financial-strapped older lady's door, Kate's boss decides to give her this safer assignment. Kate isn't happy about her new beat, and presumes there has to be some sort of angle behind the good deed. As she tells her cameraman, "It's hard to believe that there's somebody out there doing good deeds and expecting nothing in return." But when the money keeps coming the mystery only deepens; "Good Sam" leaves a second bag of cash with a doctor who isn't in any sort of need. The third recipient, a carpenter who'd been laid up with an injury, has no connection to the first two. And the news just keeps getting better when folks who've heard about Good Sam start acting like him, and starting their own Good Samaritan clubs, to do anonymous good deeds in their neighborhoods. Good Sam would have been too sugary-sweet if it'd keep on this track, but we find out that Kate's cynicism isn't baseless: a tech programmer claims to be Good Sam, but Kate quickly exposes him as a fake. And that's not the only dirt that Kate uncovers. I appreciated a romance angle that was less predictable than most. Kate gets two love interests, both pretty stalwart sorts... or so it seems. Kate's father is a US senator, and when she meets charming hedge fund manager Jack Hansen she initially turns him down, as she has a rule against dating anyone in her father's political circles. Eric Hayes is a firefighter Kate keeps bumping into in her day job. He is as brave as he is private... or might the right word be secretive? Which of these two will she end up with? That's another mystery, and viewers are left in suspense for most of the movie. Cautions No language or violence concerns to share. There is some kissing, right at the end, but exchanged in a public park. The more notable caution is for what the movie doesn't have – this is a part of Netflix's "Faith and Spirituality" category, but it isn't either. While the original Good Samaritan story (Luke 10:25-37) teaches us what it means to live out the Second Greatest Commandment, this one avoids any mention of God. Conclusion The moral of the story trends in a humanist direction – people aren't as bad as we think as they will sometimes do things for completely unselfish reasons. However, the Calvinist in me can recast this in a more orthodox direction, seeing it as an illustrated of how the world is broken but not utterly depraved, and the cyclical Kate has no right to be so in the face of the many undeserved blessings she (and we) receive daily. While this is just a Hallmark-ish kind of romance, I'd give it two thumbs up for being way better than the average sort. The acting is solid throughout, the mystery and romance will keep most viewers guessing for the first three quarters of the film, and the lack of problematic content make this one you can watch with almost the whole family (though I don't know if it'll grab the under 8s). That makes Good Sam a pretty rare treat. ...