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Mister Rogers documentary released to home theater outlets this week

By Rachel Basinger rbasinger@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read
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If you’re from Southwestern Pennsylvania, you more than likely know who Fred Rogers is.

He was the local PBS icon who daily put on his sweater, taught children lessons through fun learning and always asked, “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”

This phrase is the title of the documentary on Rogers that was released to DVD and home theater outlets this week.

The movie review website Rotten Tomatoes said the documentary is a “portrait of a man whom we all think we know, this emotional and moving film takes us beyond the zip-up cardigans and the land of make-believe, and into the heart of a creative genius who inspired generations of children with compassion and limitless imagination.”

According to the IMDb website, Director Morgan Neville was partly inspired to create this documentary after asking Yo-Yo Ma about how he handled his status of being a celebrity. Ma said Fred Rogers mentored him on how his fame could be used for good.

The film premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and was released in theaters across the United States on June 8, 2018. It has grossed $22 million, making it the highest-grossing biographical documentary of all time.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the documentary holds an approval rating of 99 percent based on 173 reviews, and an average rating of 8.8/10.

The website’s critical consensus says, “‘Won’t You Be My Neighbor?’ takes a fittingly patient and honest look at the life and legacy of a television pioneer whose work has enriched generations.”

Top Critic Rafer Guzman with “Newsday,” said the documentary is “a poignant tribute to the mild-mannered father-figure who served as a moral compass to generations.”

Other than Rogers himself, the cast includes “Mister Roger’s Neighborhood” regulars, François Clemmons, Yo-Yo Ma, Joe Negri, Kailyn Davis and David Newell. There is no rating on the film.

Other movies to hit home theater outlets this week include:

n “Hereditary,” directed by Ari Aster and starring Toni Collette, Milly Shapiro, Mark Blockovich and John Forker. When her mentally ill mother passes away, a woman named Annie and her husband, son and daughter all mourn her loss. The family turn to different means to handle their grief, including Annie and her daughter both flirting with the supernatural. They all begin to have disturbing, otherworldly experiences linked to the sinister secrets and emotional trauma that have been passed through the generations of their family.

This film is rated R for Disturbing Images, Drug Use/Content, Language, Nudity and Violence.

n “A Reckoning,” directed by Justin Lee and starring June Dietrich, Kevin Makely, Todd Robinson and Todd A. Robinson has a western feel and follows Mary O’Malley, whose husband was murdered. The brutal death has left her behind as a widow. Determined to avenge his murder, Mary drops everything to find the killer. The trip that she takes is a dangerous one, as she navigates the depths of the wild.

This film is not rated.

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