Blog Elul Day 29-Return

"I simply can't build my hopes on a foundation of confusion, misery, and death...I think...peace and tranquility will return again."~Anne Frank

We return to that place of peace and tranquility when we return to our authentic selves. May the coming year find us all in a place of beauty, truth, and peace. שנה טוֹבה ומתוקה

Begin Again (2013)
Directed by: John Carney
Written by: John Carney

**Blog Elul is the brainchild of Rabbi Phyllis Sommer. Her blog and various links can be found at http://imabima.blogspot.ca 
**My favourite movie and musical of the past two years. This movie is brilliant. Rent it or Netflix it. You will not be sorry. 
***Looking Back through this Elul list of movies, I am not surprised at all to discover that each and every one is wonderfully written, impeccably directed, and intelligent. There isn't a single one that is ridiculous or mindless and even the comedies have smarts. They are my personal favourites, but I do beg my readers to be more selective in viewing choices. We as audiences deserve the best.

Blog Elul Day 28-GIve

"Success is finding satisfaction in giving a little more than you take."~Christopher Reeve

We take so much without thought. We give so little with much thought. That trend needs to be reversed.

Toy Story 3 (2010)
Directed by: Lee Unkrich
Written by: Michael Arndt (screenplay) Lee Unkrich, John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton (story)

**Blog Elul is the brainchild of Rabbi Phyllis Sommer. Her blog and various links can be found at http://imabima.blogspot.com
**Always exciting to watch old friends create beauty. I can always say that I knew Lee "when.."

Blog Elul Day 27-Bless

"Every blessing ignored becomes a curse."~Paulo Coelho

Each day on this earth is a blessing. Cherish it all and with every connection may we all find ourselves closer to the Divine Spirit.

The Frisco Kid (1979)
Directed by: Robert Aldrich
Written by: Michael Elias, Frank Shaw


**Blog Elul is the brainchild of Rabbi Phyllis Sommer. Her blog and various links can be found at http://imabima.blogspot.ca

Blog Elul Day 26-Create

"The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves."~Steven Spielberg

We must continually re-create and redefine our souls in order to live fully and authentically.

The Fisher King (1991)
Directed by: Terry Gilliam
Written by: Richard LaGravenese


**Blog Elul is the brainchild of Rabbi Phyllis Sommer. Her blog and various links can be found at http://imabima.blogspot.ca 

Blog Elul Day 25-Intend

"I believe every human has a finite number of heartbeats. I don't intend to waste any of mine."~Neil Armstrong

When we live with intent, we live with honesty.

Citizen Kane (1941)
Directed by: Orson Welles
Written by: Herman J Mankiewicz, Orson Welles

**Blog Elul is the brainchild of Rabbi Phyllis Sommer. Her blog and various links can be found at http://imabima.blogspot.com

Blog Elul Day 24-Hope

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope."~Martin Luther King Jr.

Even in our darkest moments, hope shines a light through which we might be able to emerge.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Directed by: Frank Darabont
Written by: Stephen King (based on his short story) Frank Darabont

**Blog Elul is the brainchild of Rabbi Phyllis Sommer. Her blog and various links can be found at http://imabima.blogspot.ca 

Blog Elul Day 23-Begin

"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."~Walt Disney

We begin with our dreams, we move forward in our realities.

The Muppet Movie (1979)
Directed by: James Frawley
Written by: Jack Burns, Jerry Juhl

**Blog Elul is the brainchild of Rabbi Phyllis Sommer. Her blog and various links can be found at http://imabima.blogspot.ca 
** I have always identified with The Muppets. The dreams of one man expressed in a simple felt frog.

Blog Elul Day 22-End

"Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end."~Seneca

We begin where somebody else ends.

Casablanca (1942)
Directed by: Michael Curtiz
Written by: Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch (Based on a play by Murray Burnett and Joan Alison)

**Blog Elul is the brainchild of Rabbi Phyllis Sommer. Her blog and various links can be found at http://imabima.blogspot.com
**One of the greatest endings in film history. 

Blog Elul Day 21-Love

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage."~Lao Tzu

Love can be complicated and messy, but it should never be delayed because of our selfishness.

When Harry Met  Sally (1989)
Directed by: Rob Reiner
Written by: Nora Ephron

**Blog Elul is the brainchild of Rabbi Phyllis Sommer. Her blog and various links can be found at http://imabima.blogspot.ca 
**I am attracted to brilliant writing and Nora Ephron was one of the best.This story is one of the most realistic love stories ever filmed.

Blog Elul Day 20-Dare

"To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself."~Soren Kierkegaard

There are no lost causes, only lost people. Dare to upend the comfortable.

Mr. Smith Goes To Washington (1939)
Directed by: Frank Capra
Written by: Sidney Buchman, Lewis R. Foster

**Blog Elul is the brainchild of Rabbi Phyllis Sommer. Her blog and various links can be found at http://imabima.blogspot.ca 

Blog Elul Day 19-Judge

"Do not mind anything that anyone tells you about anyone else. Judge everyone and everything for yourself."~Henry James

Trust your own judgement and keep your own council. The minority opinion is often the righteous one.

Inherit The Wind (1960)
Directed by: Stanley Kramer
Written by: Nedrick Young, Harold Jacob Smith (Based on the play by Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee)

**Blog Elul is the brainchild of Rabbi Phyllis Sommer. Her blog and various links can be found at http://imabima.blogspot.ca 

Blog Elul Day 18-Ask

"Animals are such agreeable friends-they ask no questions; they pass no criticisms."~George Eliot

Do we ask questions to know the answers or to avoid them? We must be fearless in our inquiries and accepting of their truths.

Diner (1982)
Directed by: Barry Levinson
Written by: Barry Levinson

**Blog Elul is the brainchild of Rabbi Phyllis Sommer. Her blog and various links can be found at http://imabima.blogspot.ca 

Blog Elul Day 17-Awaken

"Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake."~Henry David Thoreau

We can only seize the day if we awaken to the possibilities.

Dead Poets Society (1989)
Directed by: Peter Weir
Written by: Tom Schulman

**Blog Elul is the brainchild of Rabbi Phyllis Sommer. Her blog and various links can be found at http://imabima.blogspot.com

Blog Elul Day 16-Pray

"In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart."~Mahatma Gandhi

I pray with full heart and full voice, but I continually question; what is the point of my prayer? Is it for me or is it about me? I worry that my sincerity has gone missing.

Keeping The Faith (2000)
Directed by: Edward Norton
Written by: Stuart Blumberg

**Blog Elul is the brainchild of Rabbi Phyllis Sommer. Her blog and various links can be found at http://imabima.blogspot.ca 
**We should always pray with joy like this. Music is the portal through which our prayers travel. For me..without music, prayer is meaningless.

Blog Elul Day 15-Change

"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything."~George Bernard Shaw

Growth is impossible without change.

Groundhog Day (1993)
Directed by: Harold Ramis
Written by: Danny Rubin, Harold Ramis

**Blog Elul is the brainchild of Rabbi Phyllis Sommer. Her blog and various links can be found at http://imabima.blogspot.ca 

Blog Elul Day 14-Learn

"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."~Pablo Picasso

Learning can never penetrate a closed-off mind.

The American President (1995)
Directed by: Rob Reiner
Written by: Aaron Sorkin

**Blog Elul is the brainchild of Rabbi Phyllis Sommer. Her blog and various links can be found at http://imabima.blogspot.ca 
** I just had to include the amazing writing of Aaron Sorkin. How I wish politics on either side of the border was as eloquent as he makes it out to be.

Blog Elul Day 13-Remember

"Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else."~Margaret Mead

Our memories are acute and define our realities. Every smell, every taste, every sound; they return us to another time, another place...and we remember.

Mostly Martha (2001)
Directed by: Sandra Nettlebeck
Written by: Sandra Nettlebeck

**Blog Elul is the brainchild of Rabbi Phyllis Sommer. Her blog and various links can be found at http://imabima.blogspot.ca 
**Non-English language films are amongst the most original and the most engaging. The English remakes are seldom as good. Open your minds to the cinema of the world. There is life outside your apartments. (yes..I stole that from Avenue Q!)

Blog Elul Day 12-Forgive

"Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave."~Indira Gandhi

It takes true strength of character to apologize for our misdeeds. It takes an even greater will to forgive someone else's.

The Big Easy (1986)
Directed by: Jim McBride
Written by: Daniel Petrie Jr.

**Blog Elul is the brainchild of Rabbi Phyllis Sommer. Her blog and various links can be found at http://imabima.blogspot.ca 
**This is one of my all-time favourite films. It has many weaknesses, but the chemistry between Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin is sizzling and the music and setting of New Orleans is captivating. I highly recommend it.

Blogging Elul Day 11-Trust

"Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement."~Golda Meir

Our life's path is dependent on the trust we have in ourselves. The most difficult decisions are often the most rewarding.

The Truman Show (1998)
Directed by: Peter Weir
Written by: Andrew Niccol

**Blog Elul is the brainchild of Rabbi Phyllis Sommer. Her blog and various links can be found at http://imabima.blogspot.com

Blog Elul Day 10-Count

"In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."~Abraham Lincoln

Every day finds us in the deep end of the pool. Leap in with both feet and start swimming.

Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
Directed by: John Hughes
Written by: John Hughes

**Blog Elul is the brainchild of Rabbi Phyllis Sommer. Her blog and various links can be found at http://imabima.blogspot.ca