"Letters from Iwo Jima" **** (out of four): Clint Eastwood has done it again, creating a companion piece for his "Flags of our Fathers" that not only enriches the original but stands on its own as one of our most powerful and unique war movies.

During one of the many moving moments in “Letters from Iwo Jima”, Clint Eastwood’s second film based on that pivotal World War II battle, Japanese officers read a letter off the dying body of an American soldier. The letter is from his mother. She tells her son to “do what’s right, because it is right”. The Japanese men remark that their mothers give them the same advice. It’s a quiet moment, but it says it all – about men, about politics, about war. It also says a lot about Clint Eastwood. The man whose “Flags of our Fathers” covered Iwo Jima from the American point of view, now turns his camera to the other side of the battle lines, and it results in one of our most powerful and unique war movies.

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"The Pursuit of Happyness" **1/2 (out of four): Will Smith gives his best performance yet in the story of Chris Gardner, a true-life rags-to-riches story which somehow, unfortunately, feels made up.

I’m sure the story of Chris Gardner – a struggling salesman who put himself through a wildly competitive Dean Witter internship while supporting his 5 year-old son – is full of inspiration and hardship, but you’d hardly guess that from “The Pursuit of Happyness”, director Gabriele Muccino’s going-through-the-motions adaptation of Mr. Gardner’s life story. Maybe it’s because Will Smith is such a strong screen presence that you feel as though he can handle anything life throws at him, but somehow the film never achieves the stakes necessary to make this a rousing underdog story is wants to be. Still, Mr. Smith’s performance as Chris is nearly worth the price of admission.

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Attrition.org is a computer security website. They answer most questions, no matter how stupid or psychotic they may be. Todd Shriber turned to them for help in changing his college GPA. The email exchange lasted months and had me giggling so hard I thought I’d wake the kids. Then just a few days ago, we find out who Todd Shriber is, which made me giggle even more!
(via Scribal Terror)