What a horrible idea. I heard from a blog I frequent much less after the egregious 2012 presidential elections that this was a patriotic film. Pardon me? Explosions are American now?   I decided to dip my toes in the mainstream movie stream just to keep tabs on what teenage boys think is good entertainment. Even by their standards, I can’t see how they could appreciate the....

Julia Roberts plays Katherine, a naïve graduate student who thinks she can change the world by teaching affluent young girls about canonical Western art, such as (shockingly) Mona Lisa. The logline is that her “progressive” ideals clash with the obstinate Wellesley College ways, which has inherited a certain rigid decorum to pass on to their girls. Katherine frankly does not believe women....

  Disclaimer: this movie is as Hollywood manufactured as they come. What do I mean? I do not, fortunately, suggest that it is over-indulgent in melodrama, begging to be nominated for best motion picture. But it is incredibly formulaic.   Even after viewing it for the first time, I am quite surprised the screenplay and film was nominated for academy awards. It is quite a....