The same essential arguments made against smoking in movies can be made against almost any kind of activity that can be depicted in a film. Alcohol is highly addictive, poses public health risks, and intrigues teenagers. Are all activities capable of causing harm therefore unsuitable subject matter for movies? Of course not, because if this were policy, no one would watch movies, which is the last thing the MPAA wants. 

Kathryn Stockett’s novel “The Help” has spent more than 100 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and the movie adaptation is easily one of the best films of 2011. Set in Jackson, Mississippi, in the 1960s, the picture focuses on Eugenia “Skeeter” Phelan (Emma Stone), a progressive white journalist disgusted with the way black maids are being treated.

If Jesse Eisenberg has an acting superpower, it’s his ability to deliver pitch-perfect representations of the Generation Y everyman. His unassuming charm goes a long way in “30 Minutes or Less,” an entertaining comedy that is completely reliant on his ability to make the audience care.

Writer-director-producer J.J. Abrams had a hit with his 2009 reboot of the “Star Trek” franchise, and his latest project has elements of science-fiction as well. In “Super 8,” Abrams tells the story of six youths who find themselves in a spectacular and frightening adventure when a train derails near their small Ohio town.

To conservatives, the makers of movies are purveyors of socialism, the disintegration of “traditional values” and the nuclear family. As far back as the McCarthy Hearings in the 1950s, when Republican Senators tried to ferret out communist Hollywood screenwriters, friction has existed between the entertainment industry and conservative entities in the United States. 

From New America Media: Has a Bill Cosby show equivalent finally arrived for Muslim-Americans with the TLC network’s reality series, “All-American Muslim”? The series, which premiered on November 13th,  could be that first step of offering an alternative image to common stereotypes for American Muslims.  It centers around five Muslim-American families who all have roots in southern Lebanon, living in the Detroit, Michigan suburb of Dearborn.

From New America Media and FirstPost: “Sex is now our guilty pleasure [in India],” says Imran Khan. "Watching it on screen gives us the comforting illusion that our taboos are shrinking as if liberation was all about libido. “But people’s personal freedoms are being eroded around them,” Khan adds. “And they just don’t notice.” Meanwhile around us, the nanny state keeps expanding. No drinking until you are 25. No dancing in the pubs. No commentary on gods and goddesses in your art. No talking about anything that can upset anybody....

Tom Hanks has an extensive filmography as an actor and producer, but he’s not nearly as prolific as a director. During his career, he’s helmed a handful of TV projects, but – prior to this year – his only attempt at directing a feature film was 1996’s “That Thing You Do!” After a 15-year wait, Hanks decided to direct again, producing “Larry Crowne,” a film he co-authored with Nia Vardalos (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”).

Film lovers have seen plenty of body-swap comedies over the years, but “The Change-Up” offers a fresh and irreverent take on the genre. The action revolves around the relationship between Dave Lockwood (Jason Bateman) and Mitch Planko (Ryan Reynolds), childhood pals with drastically different approaches to adult life. 

There now exists an unprecedented opportunity to become the next Sir Laurence Olivier or Guy Standing at Bar. Thanks largely to Sofia Coppola, daughter of famed director Francis Ford Coppola, for single-handedly butchering The Godfather Part III (starring as Mary Corleone), and, oddly enough, the adult film industry for bringing casting couch sexploitation to the fore of public consciousness, two traditional barriers to acting—nepotism and/or a requisite lacking of dignity—have largely been eradicated.