Parent Previews Podcast

VidAngel is a company that wants to clean up Hollywood movies right in your living room. However even with their basic concept protected by the 2005 Family Home Movie Act, many major studios are taking VidAngel to court. We speak with CEO Neal Harmon who fills us in on the current state of the conflict and his views on why the movie industry is picking this fight. Finally, he reveals some future plans for VidAngel, and it's a funny direction for this company to head.

The LEGO Batman Movie has obvious kid appeal, but is it good for your kids? For parents with kids sensitive to frenetic editing and high motion sequences, the answer may be no. For the rest of you, it's a little more complicated. Listen and find out why. We also cover Rings (released last week in theaters), and titles on home video, including Trolls and more.

Looking for a little romance for Valentine's Day, but want to avoid the hot and steamy scenes? We dug through thousands of reviews to bring you 10 that teach the difference between lust and love. Rod and Donna also discover they don't necessarily share opinions on which of these romances are their favorites. You can check our full list with links to our reviews. 

In the movie The Space Between Us, Rod and Donna disucss why there should be a little more space between these two teen characters. Also a look at the week's home video releases from a parent's perspective. Click the link to see our full Parent Previews review of The Space Between Us.

Rod and Donna Gustafson review A Dog's Purpose and give parents some ideas of what they can expect after taking their children to this fuzzy film. Then they check out this year's Oscar nominations and reveal a very unusual trend that parents will appreciate. You can also find a full review of A Dog's Purpose and a complete listing of the 2017 Oscar nominations with links to content summaries and reviews for parents on ParentPreviews.com.

Like it or not, celebrities have a huge influence on our beliefs and opinions. So much so that they may even affect life changing choices. A husband and wife medical team, Drs. Mark Bogus and Michele Berman have authored a book that not only helps women better identify and understand specific cancers, but also looks at how different celebrities have coped with their own cancer challenge. Woven throughout the scientific information are stories, both medical and anecdotal, from women such as Angelina Jolie, Joan Lunden, Melissa Etheridge, Sandra Lee, Rita Wilson, Christina Applegate, and Suzanne Somers. Parent Previews' Kerry Bennett speaks with the authors about the book and what led them to explore how celebrities can change cancer outcomes. Here's a link to the book on Amazon. (Disclosure: If you purchase through this link Parent Previews receives a small commission.)

Disney's movie The Queen of Katwe is releasing to home video and is a wonderful choice for family viewing. But how did this story of an impoverished girl growing up in the slums of Katwe, Uganda get discovered? One of the first people to recognize the potential of Phiona Mutesi was David Johnson from SilentImages.org. David talks to us about Phiona, the accuracy of Disney's movie and how it has changed this girl's life.