This past month I traveled from cold, to hot, and then back to the cold again. My itinerary was New York City-Utah-Los Angeles-New York, all in the pursuit of keeping up with (or trying to, at least) the wealth of film-related activity that typically happens this time of year (from festivals to awards and much more). How to pack for such a trip? I had to remind myself to bring a winter coat with thermals but also include short sleeves with flip-flops. And in the age of massive charges for overweight luggage, this was not an easy task at all!

The whole concept of going from hot to cold reminds me of going from light to dark in Beautiful Creatures, the new film starring Emmy Rossum, Jeremy Irons and Viola Davis, based on the celebrated YA series. The story inCreatures is more or less everyone’s story (maybe with a little less magic), in how we perceive good and evil. With that said, I would like to give this month’s hoorah to the film, because everyone involved did a remarkable job in how, among other things, they showed what it means to be human. Never being afraid to stand out, figuring out who we are as individuals as opposed to just being part of a community, is so important.  

I was privileged to meet the cast and director of Beautiful Creatures, but even more exciting was the opportunity to meet the authors who got it all started with the books: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Both had wonderful things to say about the film and made a clear statement that “everyone will have something to say, comparing book to film, whether good or bad, all it is is conversation!”  Click here to take a look at our review of the film, and enclosed in this special newsletter is quite a bit more to peruse, which should get you through Valentine’s Day just fine.

-ML