Written and directed by Greg Nichols, this film recounts the true story of Richard and Mildred Loving, a couple whose interracial marriage was ruled illegal by the state of Virginia in 1958, banning them from the state and sending their lives into constant turmoil. Put on probation with the threat of 25 years in prison if they were caught together in Virginia, they were forced to live a good portion of their married life in exile.

The movie covers their lives from the time they decide to get married due to Mildred’s pregnancy, through the U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled Virginia’s ban on interracial marriage unconstitutional in 1967. So that’s nine years that two people lived their lives in America as convicted criminals simply for being two consenting adults who married.

The law banning interracial marriage was abolished in many other states as a result of the ruling, and the Loving case was used as an argument in last year’s ruling to allow for same sex marriage.

Simply put, when it comes to the institution of marriage and what it stands for here in the states, you might not ever find a more historically important couple than Richard and Mildred Loving.

Joel Edgerton, who delivered a terrific performance in Midnight Special (also directed by Nichols and released this year) is a sure Oscar contender as Richard. His face is one of constant pain and confusion, as if always saying “Really, you have to be kidding me!” The moments when Richard gets to smile and laugh in the film are like drinking a pitcher of iced water while another is being poured over you on a 110-degree day. Ruth Negga, a relatively unknown actress, is equally wonderful as Mildred, a woman who must sneak the birth of her baby in Virginia under the stress of possible arrest. Like Edgerton, hers is a performance of quiet reserve, made all the more powerful by her expressive face.

This is one of 2016’s best films.

There's no way Gen. Michael Flynn has the temperament or judgement to be Trump's national security advisor. It's far more frightening that Trump lacks the temperament and judgement to be president, but that's all the more reason he needs a stable, competent person whispering in his ear. Trump is on course to be our least knowledgeable president, a man with a 20 minute attention span who tends to adopt the viewpoint of the last person he talked to. His national security advisor, whose job is to sort through the information and opinions of cabinet members and governmental agencies, then present it to the president and help him figure out how to respond to international crises needs to be an honest man capable of distinguishing fact from fiction and able to arrive at cool, rational conclusions.

Let's ignore Flynn's famous temper and past inflammatory statements—except to note that when he was director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, his subordinates referred to his questionable assertions as "Flynn facts"—and look at the "Pizzagate" conspiracy theory which circulated during the last weeks of the presidential campaign. It was a fake news story, completely without basis. It was made up. It was a lie created to damage Hillary Clinton. And Flynn did his part to fan the conspiracy's flames.

The "Pizzagate" lie began right after FBI Director James Comey revealed that a new batch of Clinton-related emails were found on Anthony Weiner's computer. The "Pizzagate" lie was that some of the emails pointed to a child-trafficking ring run by Clinton and her campaign manager John Podesta out of a pizza restaurant. The story flew around the internet and may have been one of the fake news stories that influenced the outcome of the election. It should have been old news after the election, but it made headlines Sunday when a man burst into the pizza restaurant with an AR-15 rifle, looking to investigate and expose the "scandal" himself. Fortunately, he didn't hurt anyone and is now in custody.

Ever wondered what would happen to your kid if you raised her in the middle of nowhere with no friends and showed her how to perform surgery on decapitated cow heads?

Writer-director Nicolas Pesce has and, heck, he’s made a whole damned movie about it.

After a really strange guy (Will Brill) visits her farm home and a series of really bad things happen, Francisca (Kika Magalhaes) is left alone with nobody to talk to. Well, actually, she does have a pet, but we won’t go into that right now. Francisca has had very little social interaction over the years, other than with that pet, and she ventures out to see what the outside world is like. As it turns out, it would’ve been much better for a few people if she had chosen to just stay home and watch TV.

Shot in black and white and coupled with an effectively eerie score, this is old school horror. Like, early Wes Craven/Tobe Hooper kind of horror. Francisca turns out to be a memorable movie monster in this gothic fairytale, one that will leave you extra cautious about picking up those hitchhikers.

Pesce knows what scary is, and he certainly knows how to direct a scary picture. If you don’t like horror films already, I can pretty much guarantee you are going to violently hate this one. It’s nightmare fuel for sure. Pesce has certainly succeeded at what he has set out to do, and that’s to totally freak his audience out.

Available for rent on iTunes, Amazon.com and OnDemand during a limited theatrical release.

Betsy DeVos, Trump's pick for Secretary of Education, and her husband Dick devote a chunk of their $6 billion fortune to funding the political campaigns of candidates who are for more charters, private school vouchers and the rest of the privatization/"education reform" agenda. The couple also has a family foundation which contributed more than $10 million in 2015. Politico looked over a copy of the Foundation's 2015 tax forms and listed some of the recipients. The money makes Betsy DeVos's priorities clear. She likes school choice in its many forms and has a soft spot for religious organizations. Here are some highlights from the Politco list.

The Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation is a primary funder of a reasonably recent news-format education website, The 74, begun by former CNN anchor Campbell Brown, which is pro-privatization/"education reform" and pro-DeVos. The Foundation gave $400,000 to the website and another $400,000 to Brown's nonprofit, The Partnership for Educational Justice.

New York's Success Academies, a chain of charter schools, got $150,000. Success's founder, Eva Moskowitz, was being talked about as a possible Secretary of Education pick until she took herself out of the running. (Word has it she's angling for the New York City mayor job.)

The American Enterprise Institute is a major voice of the conservative movement. It received $750,000.

Is it really wintertime without the classic beauty of the Nutcracker? Ballet Tucson says, "of course not!," and they're offering you a chance to see their version of the classic free of charge.

We're giving away two sets of four tickets, and winners can pick which show they want to attend. The options are:

Dec. 22., 7:30 p.m.
Dec. 23, 3 or 7:30 p.m.
Dec. 24, 1 p.m.

We'll be picking winners Wednesday, Dec. 7. Want to go with your three favorite people? Enter here:

Hi, I'm Hershel!

I'm a handsome 6-year-old chocolate lab and I need a home! In my previous home I was a really good boy and even got along well with a cat.

I'm looking for a home where I can get daily exercise and play time and a cozy bed to sleep in.
If you have a current dog bring them over to Humane Society of Southern Arizona Main Campus at 3450 N. Kelvin to do a doggy meet and greet! For more information or to check on my availability contact HSSA at 520-327-6088 ext. 173.

Lots of love,
Hershel (834377)

Director Otto Bell’s documentary actually plays out like a cool, dramatic adventure film as a young girl aims to be the first eagle hunter in her family.

Aisholpan, a 13 year-old Mongolian girl living with her tribe, has always been fascinated with eagles, and wants to become a champion eagle hunter like her father and grandfather (They hunt using eagles to catch game, rather than actually hunting eagles). The film follows her through initial training, including the capturing of her own baby eagle on a treacherous cliff side (This kid isn’t messing around; she really wants this).

It’s fascinating watching the eagle acclimate to its new home; you feel a little sorry for it, but its captors feed it well and it certainly bonds with Aisholpan. It’s an amazing animal, and there’s a lot of joy in simply seeing food gong into its mouth. It’s also amazing to see its particular brand of voracious eating going on just inches from the young girl’s face. This kid has a lot of faith in the goodwill of her big bird.

Yes, that’s Rey herself, Daisy Ridley, chiming in with the occasional narration—her voice was made for this sort of thing. Parts of the doc feel a little staged, but its overwhelming charm cancels out the phony moments.

Aisholpan and her big bird do eventually make it to the eagle festival, with her being the only female participant. It ends with the girl and her eagle going on a winter hunt, and some pretty amazing battles with foxes.

I didn’t even know eagle hunting was a thing until I saw this. This is an entertaining nature documentary, and Aisholpan will put a smile on your face.

For the last 10 years DJ Sid The Kid has been bringin' the funk to Tucsonans. As an open format DJ, Kid specializes in playing all genres and primary focuses on music that has been or is in the Top 40. You can see Kid at Hotel Congress on Saturdays.

What was the first concert you attended?
An LL Cool J concert actually. He was beefin' with this rapper called Canibus at the time and Canibus was just annihilating him and this is LL Cool J, one of the biggest MCs of all time and you have this new comer who was just murdering him on wax left and right. I snuck in actually. I'm from a small town in Sierra Vista so the fact that LL Cool J came out to our area was a big deal.

What was the first album you owned?
It was a Def Leppard album—and it sucked. So, the most memorable album that I owned was a Christmas in Hollis Queens album. Run-DMC is on it and I remember rapping it. It was like "Its Christmas time in Hollis Queens. Mom's cooking chicken and collard greens." Yeah, that was it.

What are you listening to these days?
As a Top 40 DJ, I'm definitely focusing on Top 40. In terms of my at home recreational listening, I'm doing a lot of oldies but I'm not stuck there. I like ASAP. Ummm, I'm listening to a lot of Public Enemy actually with all the events going on, its definitely something I will be listening to a lot. Rae Sremmurd, who ever they are. Drake, obviously Kanye. I'm a big Kanye fan.

Somehow it's already December and 2016 is slipping through our fingers—not that anyone is going to miss this year, it's been rough. While I personally think you should spend your remaining movie watching hours for the year filling your brains with performances by Alan Rickman, Florence Henderson and Gene Wilder, I suppose you also have the option of watching some more current films.

Here's your weekly look at what's popular at Casa Video:

1. Finding Dory

"I have decided to stop taking offense," Betsy DeVos wrote in a Roll Call column, "at the suggestion that we are buying influence. Now I simply concede the point."

Betsy DeVos, Trump's pick for Secretary of Education, knows plenty about buying influence and has plenty of money to do so. Dubbed "The New Kochs" by an article in Mother Jones, Betsy and her husband Richard earned multiple mentions in Dark Money, the authoritative book on the topic by Jane Mayer. True, among the über-rich who participate in the Koch brothers' seminars, Richard and Betsy rank a few notches below the top ten. Their almost $6 billion valuation isn't near the combined $86 billion of Charles and David Koch or the $31 billion of Sheldon Adelson. But $6 billion ain't chopped liver. It can buy you a whole lot of influence. And it has, in the pursuit of removing any restrictions from political donations and in promoting the spread of vouchers and charter schools.

Betsy DeVos, born Betsy Prince, came from a wealthy family, and she moved up a rung or two when she married into the Amway marketing empire fortune. Betsy and Richard have been part of the upper echelons of the state and national Republican Party. Richard ran for Michigan governor in 2006, unsuccessfully. In 1997, Betsy was a founding board member of the James Madison Center for Free Speech, a group whose only purpose was to wipe out legal restrictions on spending money in politics. (A school choice group she ran still owes a $5.2 million fine to the Ohio Elections Commission for making illegal political contributions in 2008. One of the lawyer's arguments against paying the fine is that the contribution would have been legal if the Citizens United decision had been in place at the time.)  In 2000, DeVos put $2 million into a state referendum pushing school vouchers, which was voted down by 68 percent of the voters. Vouchers lose when they're put to a popular vote every time, so she decided to devote her efforts to electing pro-voucher legislators who could enact the necessary legislation without needing voter support.