Category: A Spiritual Look At All Forms Of Entertainment…

To think of Adam Sandler as a potential awards-worthy contender might seem a little preposterous in light of people’s first thoughts always being of him in silly goofball comedies such as Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore. Over the years though, Sander has dabbled in a few movies here and there that showed he actually has a true range of talent beyond comedy, including films such as Punch Drunk Love and The Meyerowitz Stories. With his most recent film, Uncut Gems, Sandler, playing a deeply-entrenched gambling addict named Howard Ratner, ultimately demonstrates his best performance to date.

In the movie, Howard is by all means driven on every level by his gambling addiction. Always consumed to the very core with getting that next big payout from one of his many gambling endeavors, nothing is beneath him to achieve it. He constantly lies, cheats, barters, looks for angles, makes promises he never seems to keep, uses other people’s property to borrow temporarily for cash solely to gamble away what was never meant to be used for that purpose in the first place, regularly commits infidelity on his wife, and pays little to no attention to any of his family, especially his children, unless it involves a part of his addiction. One day though, when Howard receives an uncut gem from Ethiopia, a black opal, that might be worth via auction over a million dollars, his addiction immediately becomes completely focused on the potential future payout of it. But when pro-basketball player Kevin Garnett from the Boston Celtics enters his store one afternoon and sees Howard’s new beautiful uncut gem, he asks to hold on to it as a good luck charm for his playoff game happening that night. As collateral, Howard is given Garnett’s championship ring to hold on to, which to the gambling addict he’s become, immediately is seen as potential cash to be used in another big sporting bet. As one bad decision turns into another, and ruthless people Howard owes money to begin to chase him down for collection on previous bad decisions, all stemming from his gambling addiction, Howard fully believes the eventual sale of his uncut gem and another high sporting bet on the side is going to be the very thing that will finally fix his broken life.

As I watched Uncut Gems, I was blown away at how accurate a depiction of addiction was portrayed on screen. There are few movies that truly make me feel the way Uncut Gems did, that being me feeling like I was back in my old addiction and its toxic behaviors. While I suffered from gambling addiction at a minimal level in the past, I have fallen prey to many others that carried the same destructive traits that Howard carried in this movie. What destructive trait was hardest to watch though was Howard getting one chance after another to entirely break free from his vicious cycle of gambling addiction, yet continuing to dig himself a deeper and deeper grave, always hoping that the next bet, would be the score to end all scores. I remember those days so vividly, constantly believing that the next drink, the next drug, the next sexual conquest, the next anything was going to deliver me immediately out of the hell I was living in and vault me straight back into the original state of pure ecstasy that originally kicked off my addiction in the first place. It never happened though and thus the sad plight of the hardcore addict like Howard and like I once was.

Uncut Gems will most definitely be appreciated for the recovering addict of any kind though. But I must say, that for someone who is living in any type of addiction that’s still controlling them, the film is probably only going to annoy or anger them, mostly because they’re not ready to face how sick they’ve become. That’s why I’m quite thankful I enjoyed Uncut Gems as much as I did, as it showed me how far I’ve come in my own recovery from all the addictions I’ve suffered from.

Overall, I highly recommend seeing this film and for Sandler’s sake, I really hope he finally receives the acting credit he deserves, as this movie most definitely showed he’s capable of delivering a performance that’s outstanding on every level…

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

“Richard Jewell”, a movie directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Paul Walter Hauser as Jewell, sheds light on something I’ve really come to detest when it comes to news and media, that being the willingness to put any story out there that will gain primetime exposure, even if it may be inaccurate or even completely false.

I know our current President is always talking about fake news and as much as I can’t believe I’m going to say this, on some level I agree with him. There is a lot of fake news that’s put out there for the world to see, which is precisely what happened to Richard Jewell back in 1996 when a bombing occurred in Centennial Park during the Olympics.

Richard Jewell may not have been the brightest person in the world, but he truly was a hero who saved many lives when he discovered a very large pipe bomb planted under a bench on the grounds of an extremely crowded Centennial Park during the 1996 Olympics. Sadly, the FBI saw him as something different during their initial investigation and erroneously labeled him as their main suspect and a potential terrorist. When a lead reporter from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Kathy Scruggs (played by Olivia Wilde), catches wind of this from her FBI contact Tom Shaw (played by Jon Hamm), she convinces her editor to immediately run with the story, even when there was no official proof that Jewell was guilty of anything. Once the story gets printed, Jewel suddenly goes from being lauded to loathed. As he becomes public suspect number one, Jewell quickly enlists the help of a lawyer, Watson Bryant (played by Sam Rockwell), to clear his name, while his mother Bobi (played by Kathy Bates) loyally stands by his side knowing he’s innocent, even when the media continues to viciously defame her son. It doesn’t take long for Bryant to believe in Jewell’s innocence, as Jewell gained much of that in a previous job they worked together at. From the moment Bryant becomes Jewell’s lawyer, the film does a brilliant job depicting the pain and hardship Jewell had to go through to clear his name from the villain the news and media painted him as, and return him to what he should have been all along, a hero.

As I watched “Richard Jewell”, I totally felt myself becoming angry at the government and all those news and media outlets for slandering the name of such an innocent person. It’s sad to think about the number of people whose lives have actually been ruined because of erroneous stories getting printed that weren’t completely factual. It is estimated that up to 10,000 people are wrongfully convicted every single year and I wonder how much of that is due to all the slander that news and media outlets often put out there. This is specifically why I rarely watch or read the news because I don’t want it to bias me, like so many people were when the media blamed Jewell before even having a shard of evidence against him.

This movie led me to wonder how many others have gone through what Jewell did. How many lives have been wrecked by what the news and media have reported over the years? I even began to question if Jewell’s heart attack that killed him in the mid 2000’s was a direct result of all the pain and stress his heart went through during the years he was vilified.

The bottom line that the film “Richard Jewell” so clearly reminded me of is to never fully believe everything I see in the news. Rather, to accept that much of it is sensationalized and often falsely represented solely to gain readership or viewership, rather than “accurate-ship”.

Maybe we all just need to stop following the news and instead, begin to follow our hearts…

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

In July of 2017, when Shia LaBeouf was arrested for the first time and got charged with obstruction, disorderly conduct, and public drunkenness, I totally judged him. I said, “Oh, here’s another one of those spoiled-rich Hollywood elite acting out again because they can, because they know they’re only going to get a slap on the wrist!” That WAS how I truly felt about Shia LaBeouf…until I saw the movie he made about his life titled “Honey Boy”.

“Honey Boy” was an eye-opening film for me and one that was another perfect reminder that I shouldn’t ever judge anyone. The movie begins with the arrest of an actor named Otis (played by Lucas Hedges) who’s completely inebriated and mouthing off to the police from the back of a squad car as they drive him to jail. The viewer is then quickly transported back into time where they get introduced to the pre-teen version of Otis (played by Noah Jupe), just as he’s beginning to emerge into the popular actor he’s destined to become. It’s immediately apparent how very little young Otis ever gets the chance to be a kid and be himself due to the constant pressures from his overbearing father James (played by LaBeouf himself). It also doesn’t take long to see just how abusive and controlling his father really is, none of which Otis deserves. Ironically his father is also a convicted sex offender who’s really just trying to find his way back into the world and hoping to escape the stigma of being a convicted sex offender by way of the Hollywood success of Otis. In turn, watching young Otis do his best through his acting to earn his father’s approval is extremely heart-wrenching, especially when Otis begins to pick up some of his father’s negative traits along the way, like chain smoking. In the end, it’s pretty obvious why Otis becomes the rebellious adult he becomes, and as sad as this movie is, “Honey Boy” is still a very realistic portrayal of how an innocent youth can become such a self-destructive adult.

I have to give it to Shia LaBeouf for completely exposing the truth of his life, on why he becomes the way he is, through “Honey Boy”. On some level, learning about his father’s toxicity was very difficult for me, as it reminded me so much of my mother. I constantly vied for my mother’s approval more than not during my youth, always wanting her to just look at me one day and say “I love you son and am so proud of you!” But like Shia with his Dad, I never got that from my Mom, instead, I picked up most of her negative traits as I frequently sought her approval and never got it, by engaging in alcoholism and other addictions, falling into self-pity, and eventually becoming so self-absorbed that only my problems mattered to me in this world. Ultimately, I became a very self-destructive adult because of it, no different than LaBeouf, and in many ways, I’m still trying to find my way back from. So, yes, “Honey Boy” was a great reminder of my own upbringing and in seeing clearly how far I’ve come from the toxic person I once was. But even more importantly, I’m grateful that this film helped me to dispel the judgments I was holding onto against LaBeouf and a number of other famous people as well, who too have walked in similar painful childhood shoes like I once did, who eventually became such self-destructive adults because of it.

The fact is, most self-destructive adults, whether famous or completely invisible in this world to the vast majority, are often simply only the by-products of tragic upbringings where unconditional love was more than absent or never present at all…

I highly recommend “Honey Boy” and truly commend Shia LaBeouf for his courage and his transparency, something I wish more of us in this world would exhibit a lot more of…

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson