The new Netflix animated feature “The Mitchells vs. The Machines” — which came out just four days ago – is an amazingly clever and totally hilarious romp of a film that is scorching hot right now, already the most-watched movie of the moment on the streaming service. The film is wholeheartedly unique, daring to sing the praises of us folks who are different.
Parents across the country are outraged about the Netflix show 13 Reasons Why — which tells a story of teen suicide — and its potential for triggering copycat suicides.
New in theaters, Touched With Fire is an indie film starring Katie Holmes and Luke Kirby that tells the story of two bipolar poets in love. The acting isn’t great, and it isn’t horrible. It’s the script that’s the problem.
Katie Holmes has been mostly lying low the past few years, appearing in small indie flicks as opposed to big Hollywood vehicles. Now the Batman Begins actress is back in her indie comfort zone with Touched With Fire, a film about two bipolar poets in love.
Robert Downey, Jr. is at the top of his game. He’s the highest-paid actor not just in Hollywood but the world — he made $80 million last year, according to Forbes. And he’s sober, having kicked alcohol, cocaine, and heroin.
Quirky. Eccentric. Adorable. In Infinitely Polar Bear, the bipolar character Cam Stuart is a super-likable guy. Played by Mark Ruffalo, Cam is a fun-loving father in a family of four just trying to get by. Bipolar characters are few and far between in high-profile pop culture. There’s Pat, the bipolar football fanatic played by Bradley Cooper in Silver Linings Playbook, and Carrie Mathison, the bipolar CIA agent played by Claire Danes in the hit Showtime TV show Homeland. And that’s about it. Until now.
Brian Wilson is the mastermind behind the Beach Boys and he is a bipolar genius. Love & Mercy — a new biopic — explores his life and legacy. And while I have to say it’s an enjoyable movie, the film looks at his life through rose-colored glasses. Wilson’s true diagnosis of bipolar disorder isn’t even touched upon in the film.
As the machine-gun-wielding Sarah Connor in the Terminator movies, Linda Hamilton is the ultimate badass action hero. She’s battled cyborgs in the dystopian world of the Terminator series — the latest installment of which, Terminator Genisys, recently came out. But off-screen, she’s battled bipolar disorder.
We’ve seen it in movies – think Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest or Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange. In the case of both films, electroshock therapy is shown as a punishment. The efficacy of the treatment is shrouded in mystery. But electroshock therapy is not archaic, as some would believe. The treatment has evolved.
When you hear the words “mentally ill,” the first thing that comes to mind is probably “crazy” — and we have the media’s negative depictions to thank for that. The truth is, many of us who are mentally ill manage our symptoms with medication and therapy and are able to lead normal or near-normal lives.
