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Following the runaway success of "The Jungle Book," Disney announces 9 more films.

The post Disney Announces 9 Projects Including ‘Dumbo 2,’ ‘Mary Poppins 2,’ and ‘Tinker Bell’ appeared first on Cartoon Brew.

Today’s post comes to us from Amanda, a Youth Advisory Board member who tuned into the Academy Awards last night and provided a thoughtful recap and analysis of the show from a Millennial perspective. Like many viewers, Amanda feels that the 2012... Read the rest of this post

The official trailer for an upcoming adaptation of Kathryn Stockett‘s The Help has been released. The film will hit theaters in August 12th.

We’ve embedded the video above–what do you think? According to Deadline, the film stars Easy A actress Emma Stone as Eugenia ‘Skeeter’ Phelan and Doubt actress Viola Davis as Aibileen Clark. Tate Taylor served as both director and screenwriter.

On her site, Stockett explains her research process: “Once I’d done my [library research] homework, I’d go talk to my Grandaddy Stockett, who, at ninety-eight, still has a remarkable memory. That’s where the real stories came from, like Cat-bite, who’s in the book, and the farmers who sold vegetables and cream from their carts everyday, walking through the Jackson neighborhoods.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

I might be dating myself here, but who remembers Can’t Hardly Wait? What about American Pie? Or the gloriously evil Mean Girls? That’s right: I’m talking about high school angst movies, and they’ve been rockin’ the big screen since The Breakfast Club. For your consideration, I introduce a newer, smarter, shinier version of these comic fests in Easy A.

The plot is perfect for a literary nerd. Olive (played by Golden Globe nominee Emma Stone) is a senior, and as such, she’s studying The Scarlet Letter. You remember The Scarlet Letter, don’t you? In it, Hester Prynne is a bad, bad lady in seventeenth century Boston. She commits adultery and has to wear a scarlet “A” so that everyone knows she’s been bad. Well, beneath this pretext, Easy A begins.

Olive, who’s your basic overlooked smart girl in high school, says some things that start a rumor. The rumor is that Olive had sex with a college guy. Well. The rumor explodes in true high school fashion. Add this generation’s smart phone fascination, and the rumor moves even faster than it did in my day. Instead of denying any of it, Olive gladly accepts her new rank as school slut in an attempt to retain popularity. (She even pins a scarlet “A” on her clothes.) However, rumors have a way of spinning out of control … especially when Olive’s crush shows up.

There are priceless back-up players to this scandalous plot line. Most notable are the uber-Christians, led by the wicked Marianne, who want to ruin Olive’s life. Not a very Christian sentiment, no, but that’s what makes their guitar-playing, picketing behavior so ironic … and clever.

There is Olive’s gay pal, Brandon, who really starts the Olive-as-adulterer rumor. See, Brandon was sick of getting picked on for being gay, so he asked Olive to pretend to have sex with him at a high school party to save his rep. She agrees, and it is Brandon who opens the door to other nerd guys, who offer Olive gift cards in exchange for additional rumors.

One of the comedic highlights: Olive’s parents, played by Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson. They’re an example of the perfect parents, who have raised a practically perfect daughter in Olive, despite the rumors. Their jokes are snort-worthy, but at the same time, they offer Olive the intellectual, moral, and psychological support she needs, while retaining her freedom to make her own decisions.

Finally, there’s Thomas Haden Church as Olive’s English teacher. He’s a comic genius. Yeah, the brilliant writing in Easy A helped, but when he goes from talking about Olive’s new slut attire to a reminder (“Don’t forget, tomorrow’s Earth Day”) in one sentence, it is comic genius.

It’s easy to tell you all about the comedy, but Easy A is deeper than a comedy and filled with social commentary. Emma Stone deserves an award for portraying the high school kid who suddenly gets popular for the wrong reasons. Not only does she often doubt her decision to play the part of school slut, but she searches for deeper meaning, as she sinks deeper into her own rumor.

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'Kids are not going to want to see 30-minute infomercials' (says an exec behind The Hub by way of curbing revived concerns around the commercialization of shows built around Hasbro products. CEO Margaret Loesch adds that those will comprise less... Read the rest of this post