I always get a bit sad when a book I’ve been meaning to buy gets turned into a movie and I end up having to buy the book with a new slick, uncreative movie cover art on it. When I buy a book I really like it to stand on it’s own as a work of not only literary art but also visual art. All too often the movie cover of a book is nothing more than an advertisement. Which cover below is your favorite? Unless you’re a huge Julianne Moore fan my guess would be not the third one…

I was excited then to see the work being done on Steve Lopez’s The Soloist. The book has been turned into a movie and with that comes new movie cover art for Lopez’s inspiring and popular story and I am happy to say that change is good one! The cover is based on the artwork below and a smaller version of the book cover can be seen after the jump.

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Another Mother’s Day has passed (I hope you had a good one) but luckily for you the Top 10 Movie Moms are available all year round - here’s the final Top 10 - including 2 new ones not yet profiled! Keep in mind these Moms may not be the most typical (they’re all actually pretty unique) , but they are definitely the most dynamic and interesting to watch on the screen.

10. Carol White in Todd Haynes’ Safe

A disturbing and eeery portrait of a California housewife and step-mom that suddenly turns sick from the chemicals in the air is in part an attack of suburban culture and in part a more general metaphor for the AIDS epidemic. But these social critiques aside, Julianne Moore’s turn as Carol White is a fascinating look at a woman who wants more that to run a house. The scene of Carol at a pals baby shower, when a young child is sitting on her lap as she starts to experience an attack will sit with you for some time… As will the last moment of the film. It’s a true testament to the side our mother’s keep to themselves…

And even though Carol may have had other problems, to ensure we all have clean air to breathe!

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In keeping up with all things Cannes - I’m actually pretty excited to announce that Fernando Meirelles’s new film Blindness is going to open the festival. Meirelles’s is known for City of God and The Constant Gardener - the former looking at at the politics of a specific place and the latter looking at larger socio-economic and cultural issues.

Opening Cannes on May 14, and playing in Competition, “Blindness” stars Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover and Gael Garcia Bernal in a thriller about a city succumbing to an epidemic of blindness. [Variety]

to learn how you can help the blind today - since were not in an epidemic at the moment - and go below the fold to see the trailers for Meirelles’s older films.

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Since his unconventional Bob Dylan biopic came onto the scene, a lot more folks know who Todd Haynes is. Hopefully this means that a lot more know about his film Safe - but just to be “safe” I’m going write a bit about it.

Haynes’ 1995 film starring Julianne Moore as Carol White, is on the surface a slow, strange horror film where the bad guy isn’t a ghost, monster or a man in a mask, but is in fact the chemicals that surround all of us.

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One thing I’ve always had trouble with is my joint identity as a female and as a cinephile. Many films and directors I like, even love, often treat women in ways that either objectify them or seem to promote the mistreatment of them. But my anger at this is usually brought back down by the little voice inside my head screaming “but it’s such a good movie.”

On that note, yesterday, I noticed that Radar Online posted their take on the “decade’s most misogynistic movies.” Their picks ranged from Mona Lisa Smile and Wedding Crashers to She Hate Me and 13 Going on 30 and while in many cases I agree with their assessment, the list still troubles me. The fact is, despite their misogynistic nature, a lot of folks, women and men alike, went to see these films - and to me then, the questions becomes why? As long as people go to the theater, Hollywood will continue to make these films.

Of course, some might argue that people only see what’s put out there, what they have access to. With that, I present with an opposite list of sorts - “some of the decade’s more feminist movies” if you will - or to be less political about it all, films from this decade that portray real women, dealing with real issues, often showing how awesome, strong, complex and special women can be.

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