The Great and Powerful Oz may be just like the rest of us, but that doesn’t make him any less great. Of course, like any other character who has walked down the yellow brick road, Oz must go on a journey to realize that.

Side Effects is a movie that begins by asking the question: What if one pill could change everything? It is also a movie that ends by challenging us to consider what the forces really are that have the power to change who we are and the lives we lead for the better or for the terribly, terribly worse.

The end of Silver Linings Playbook might look like any other rom-com. But, in the end, its story and its characters are the kind that make you actually believe in happy endings and hopeful new beginnings—even if the stories that unfold in our lives aren’t exactly the ones we originally set out to live.

Even after the many ridiculous moments it has involved, I am still drawn to the Twilight story because I see it not as an actual romance between a girl and a vampire, but as more of a metaphor for a greater spiritual romance between us and God.

As we see in both Whit’s life and the crash, no matter where past events, external pressures, or internal instincts may pull us, we always have a choice as to how we will face those events, deal with those pressures, and respond to those urges.

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