I don’t necessarily consider myself a movie expert, but I know a good movie when I see one. I also know that movies usually have a good moral and are often inspirational. There are so many movies out there that you can really learn from and lot of them are set in the typical college atmosphere. Here are some movies that can certainly educate and motivate college students.

Mona Lisa Smile

This movie takes place at Wellesley College in the 1950′s, where Julia Roberts plays a never-married professor who has an open mind about life and love. She finds that her students are extremely book smart but do not know what they can truly do with their life. She encourages them to go on to law school and not focus on the social norm of getting married. The moral of the story? Have an open mind and don’t limit yourself. This is a good idea to remember as you are in school. If you are a woman, or a minority or don’t think you can succeed, remember that you should always aim for the best. Anyone can succeed if they try hard enough. Read the rest of this entry »

A ski resort which has been in a feature film is sure to see a boost in booking levels at the luxury ski chalets in the area. Appearing in a film is a great boost for a ski resort and can build interest in the area tremendously. A wide variety of ski resorts and ski locations have featured on the silver screen over the years.

Mt Baker is a ski resort in Washington which featured in the 1954 film White Christmas. Since the making of the film the lodge featured in the film has burnt down. White Christmas is one of the first film to bring skiing to the silver screen. Read the rest of this entry »

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie flew in on a red eye. George Clooney arrived to show off his new flick, The Ides of March, and his new girlfriend, lady wrestler Stacy Keibler. Sarah Palin was roundly booed. But nothing as outrageous as Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2006 appearance, when the actor turned up on the red carpet in character as Borat, inside a cart pulled by four women in Kazakhstanian peasant garb, occurred at the 2011 Toronto Film Festival, preserving intact TIFF’s reputation as one of the world’s most civilized film showcases.

Two hundred and sixty eight feature-length films and 68 shorts will be shown this year. What have been the standouts so far?

Moneyball: While the movie itself may not sound like a must-see unless you’re an Oakland As fan or own every season of the West Wing on DVD, Brad Pitt’s performance in Moneyball as baseball general manager Billy Beane has generated considerable buzz. Some TIFF insiders are lobbying hard for a Best Movie nod. Directed by Bennett “Capote” Miller and scripted by the indomitable Aaron Sorkin, Moneyball – which also stars Capote’s Philip Seymour Hoffman and Get Him To the Greek’s Jonah Hill – goes into wide release on September 23 at many theaters near you. Read the rest of this entry »

Vacations are over and now we have to find weekend entertainment to replace the beach and the barbecues. Luckily, Hollywood knows this and is always ready with a bold new lineup of films for the special month when we all start heading back to the movie theaters.

There are some interesting new concepts, but of course, we always have to have the tried and true themes that producers and directors know will draw the crowds. Here is a partial list of the interesting lineup: Read the rest of this entry »

Sure, Scotland has a great history of famous actors from Sean Connery to Ewan McGregor but we so often find them playing foreign characters. Sean Connery as a Russian submarine commander purely gets away with not even trying the accent because he has sh’tyle and Ewan McGregor plays a character from a galaxy far, far away. So where are the Scottish characters played by Scots or otherwise?

The fact is that there are a plethora of Scottish characters whether they’re a target for taking stick or a caricature of the bold heroic Scotsman.

Shrek

Arrgh! A big horrible ugly ogre with a bold Scottish accent. Yep the first Scottish character to appear in our list is the embodiment of a Scotsman isn’t he? He’s aggressive, brutish, poorly groomed and rarely washed. Above all else he’s anti-social and just ever so slightly grumpy. However, at least he comes to be a likeable character and the accent isn’t bad for a Canadian (Mike Myers). He even gets the girl in the end, even if she does turn out to be an ugly ginger headed ogre. Hmmm, this is quite realistic. Read the rest of this entry »

Whoever has not heard of Walt Disney and the famous theme parks that he has built in perfect spots all over the world has missed half of their lives. Ever since Disneyland was built, it has become every child’s dream to go there and experience the magic that the place brings. Adults who want to experience what it feels like to be a child again would always dream of taking a trip down memory lane where fairy tale castles and far away kingdoms came true. Indeed, the world that Walt Disney had created was a picture of innovation and creativity living up to his famous line, dreams do come true.

His humble beginnings in Chicago had inspired him to write stories about love, family and faraway kingdoms where anything was possible. His first sketches of Doc Sherwood’s horse where he got paid had enhanced his talent and paved the way for his realization that he could draw and that it was in those drawings that he would be known for all over the world. In fact, he claimed to have gotten the inspiration for the world renowned Walt Disney Castle from a classmate’s house. Indeed, his drawings and his playful imagination ahs brought him to places that were very different from where he grew up and his exciting stories moved a lot of people that anything is possible if you believed. Read the rest of this entry »

I spend a lot of my free time out in the garden, but the late night hours are devoted to watching movies in my home theatre. While I don’t often get a chance to combine my two loves, I am drawn to any film with the name of a flower in the title. If you happen to share my passions, here are 10 movies with floral titles to add to your queue.

Five Movies with Floral Titles

War of the Roses - Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner star in the dark comedy about a married couple who come to loathe one another. Danny DeVito co-stars and directs. Read the rest of this entry »

Netflix is already in some hot water with its 24 million users over recent price changes.  But there is a bigger problem the video rental company is having with a 1988 privacy law originally intended for video rental stores.  The Video Privacy Protection Act forbids movie rental companies from being able to share what movies its customers have rented in the past.  The law came down after a newspaper company revealed some video rental records of Robert Bork, who was hoping to serve on the Supreme Court for the United States.

Privacy concerns become a bigger issue now that Netflix is trying to integrate with Facebook so you can allow your Facebook friends to automatically know what movie you are watching, liked, and what movies you have seen in the past.  It might sound like a neat way to keep up with what your friends are watching, but with major privacy concerns and the 1988 law looming over Netflix, even the FTC has expressed concerns over this social interaction.

This is not the first time Netflix has faced privacy issues with the FTC, however.  Recently, Netflix ran a contest for analysts to examine over 500,000 Netflix users and their movie watching habits, to try to predict what movies they would want to see next.  For the company it was a huge success, but when the FTC put their foot down, Netflix had to cancel their second attempt to run a similar contest.

According to the Video Privacy Protection Act, someone who rents a video has to sign a consent form in order for the video rental company to be able to reveal what movies that person has rented from them, and now that Facebook is wanting to reveal this information without a consent form, it is causing quite a stir with privacy activists.  Netflix is claiming that the law is too generic to apply to their situation, but they are not the only ones facing privacy issues over this right now.  Facebook has already been to this rodeo before.  In 2007, Facebook’s integration with Blockbuster revealed what users were watching on the video rental site, and the result was a big, fat lawsuit.  The social networking giant also revealed other activity from a user when visiting websites other than Facebook, but the case was eventually resolved with a settlement.

Netflix users need to know that the company keeps a record of every movie you rent from them.   And it’s not quite as anonymous as you might think.  Even though the 1988 VPPA law is restricting the video rental company from distributing your renting habits now, this could all change in the near future, as privacy becomes a more difficult thing to protect.  It seems that privacy is always the thing needs to be sacrificed in order for technology to march on, but hopefully advancements in the protection of privacy will also stem from the surge of technological achievement.  Until then, Netflix will keep trying to find a way to integrate with Facebook, as this would greatly increase their exposure.  Although, according to their fanpage, many Netflix users are still angry at the price increase and they are not likely to be a source of much sympathy.

John is a writer for a website that compares the best identity theft protection services and writes reviews like Trusted ID reviews to help consumers better protect their identities.

Anticipation for the Avengers movie is rising every day.  It is arguably one  of the most highly anticipated movies that will come out next year. If not for the fact that Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight Rises movie is also coming out summer of 2012, The Avengers will undoubtedly be the hottest ticket in town during the summer movie season. Read the rest of this entry »

From the surprising box-office-hit of a critically-hated “Season of the Witch” to the multi-awarded Academy Best Picture “The King’s Speech,” here’s the complete list of never-to-miss movies of 2011…so far.

5 – Season of the Witch

Critics call it “slow, cheap-looking, dull” and a big failure on being an “unintentional comedy.” So what made “Season of the Witch” earned at least $71.6 million? Is it the Cage-Perlman tandem or the beautiful Claire Foy? Or maybe it’s the natural curiosity of moviegoers on why these stars were casted, in the first place? Well whatever it is, you got to see it before making a sound judgment.

Season Of The Witch – Blu Ray Disc

4 – Black Swan

So far, the psycho-thriller “Black Swan” has earned nearly half a billion dollars. Critics believe that it’s all thanks to Natalie Portman’s intense acting and Darren Aronofsky’s intelligent and creative directing. Well that’s true enough with Portman’s winning as the Academy’s Best Actress and Aronofsky’s nomination as the Best Director.

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