Is it surprising that a clever and unique interpretation,not adaptation, of The Scarlet Letter can be made right now.  Well regardless of what you think of silly high school remakes of literature This was actually interesting. Emma stone will steal you in Easy A.  She is a Sorkin character stuck in a cookie cutter HS flick and the film is better for it.

Sure the film was a bit ham-fisted in its dealing with Christians.  But lets look past that as this is a modern open retelling of The Scarlet Letter.  We have to give some leeway to the writer and director for their “puritan” characters.  This film is obviously not a direct corollary to real life so lets just not go there. OK? OK.

Easy A gets HS down better than most films and it is obvious that they are in no way trying to be a John Hughes film although there are copious amounts of guided references they make it clear that at the best this is a bad John Hughes film.  I personally think that this is a good try though.  Not a film you can say a lot about except maybe “Go see it”.

This film takes Scarlet Letter a few steps further.  Olive (Emma Stone) is a really nice person and really can’t help but be nice to people and do something selfless. it isn’t a typical coming of age story this is a film that really just travels with the character and watching them make good mistakes and being punished and hurt for doing good.  That is awesome!  sometimes being nice sucks and makes life really hard and that is OK.  Too often we are told that if you just finally do the right thing everything will be OK.

All said and done it was a fun film.  Nothing amazing but really worth watching.  I was honestly surprised.  I was expecting cute and got a little more than I expected.  Don’t expect your world to be changed just something nice and well rounded.

Saw The Thin Man last night and it was supurb.  My best compliment and description is only: Jeves and Wooster mixed with classic Sherlock Holmes set in America.

One of the most charming and lovely films I have seen in months.  This film is a new addiction.  I plan on reading the Novel as soon as possible.

Honestly there is a lot to say about this film but I will leave it at the simple description.  I have only seen this film 3 times: once as a kid once in College and just now again.  What a shame. This film deserver an annual viewing.

Im not even going to bother with a picture. I’ll put the coolest thing I can find.

Was this whole film shot on green screen in someones backyard?

Is there a petition to have this film removed from the worlds collective memory?  Ill sign…twice.

What a waste.

I thought it would at least be fun action film yet it was o bad I couldn’t even laugh.

Between the Folds is sort of an unexpected hit for me.  I a simple exploration of origami I was shown the boundless world of folding.  This Documentary was not only about origami it was about science and art in every area.  What you can glean from this film are virtues and ideas you can apply to any discipline.  This film could make you consider every field deeper and more elaborate than you ever thought.  This is a simple documentary yet it is what documentaries should be in many ways.  If makes you a better person and shows you part of the world you never really thought about.

This film is another I have the kids watch. Im changing things up this year a bit because Im getting tired of the same films after 7 years of teaching.  I love this film as I am a huge fan of anything Jules Verne.  This film is actually fairly terrible though.  the acting is bad even for the time and the editing is so drawn out I want to take a nap between scenes.  As for the story its fun and fi you like sci-fi you really cant resist Verne adaptations because they fel so much more plausable since nearly everythign he proposed is real now.

I am still amazed at the underwater photography and the absurd 2 minute pans of coral. I forget that nobody had seen this before and even in B&W it is amazing.  So to really enjoy the majesty of this film and capture the magic you have to really let yourself fall back into the teens and immerse yourself in some early silents so you can truly appreciate the amazing progress this film made.

This film is pure spectacle a lot of Verne seems lost but even with what is left it is better than other adaptations.