A Good Goodbye Funeral Planning for Those Who Don't Plan to Die
- What The Big Lebowski Teaches Us About Funerals (Yes, Really)
by Gail Rubin on February 24, 2026When people hear I teach about death through movies, they usually expect something solemn. Tender. Maybe subtitled. They do not expect The Big Lebowski. And […]
- Leaving It to Chance: Estate Planning Lessons from “Being There”
by Gail Rubin on February 17, 2026Over the weekend, we screened the 1979 film Being There with Peter Sellers. As a Mortality Movie, it’s one of those deceptively quiet films that starts with […]
- 98.6 Mortality Movies to See Before You Die Coming Soon!
by Gail Rubin on February 10, 2026A New Book, Two Covers, and 142 Movies and TV Shows That Get People Talking About Death I’m happy to officially share some news that has been a long time […]
- Chuckles Bites the Dust: How to Talk About Death Without Ruining Dinner
by Gail Rubin on February 3, 2026If you only had 30 minutes to help someone feel less weird about talking through funeral wishes, what would you show them? A spreadsheet?A legal document?A […]
- Critical Care: When the ICU Meets Kafka (and the Billing Department)
by Gail Rubin on January 27, 2026Critical Care (1997) is going to be my next Mortality Movie Night selection on February 7. Register through this Meetup event. If you’ve ever wondered what […]
- Big Hero 6: A Superhero Movie That Sneaks in a Grief Lesson
by Gail Rubin on January 20, 2026Big Hero 6 Big Hero 6 looks like a turbo-charged animated superhero romp, at first glance. There are flying robots, neon cityscapes, and a team of unlikely […]
- Gravity: Grief, Survival, and the Courage to Re‑Enter Life
by Gail Rubin on January 13, 2026Gravity (2013 – PG‑13, 1 hr. 31 min.) may look like a white‑knuckle sci‑fi disaster epic, but at its core it is a profoundly human story about loss, […]
- The Top Three Mortality Movies of 2025
by Gail Rubin on January 6, 2026As The Doyenne of Death and expert on Mortality Movies, I’m often asked if I spend all my time thinking about death. My answer? Of course not. I also think […]
- Remembering Rob Reiner: Love, Laughter, and the Movies That Made Us Feel Aliveby Gail Rubin on December 16, 2025
There are moments in life — and in death — that leave us blinking at the horizon of our own mortality, wondering how something so sudden, so shockingly […]
- Medical Aid in Dying: We offer our pets a good death, why not our people?by Gail Rubin on December 9, 2025
Medical aid in dying is misunderstood. This TEDxABQ talk presented by Gail Rubin, the Doyenne of Death®, on September 27, 2025, helps dispel myths and […]
