A wide ranging autobiographical tale of Mark Twain’s young adulthood in Nevada during the silver mining heyday, around Tahoe for a bit, in San Francisco during the gold rush, and even spending a bit of time on the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii). Fascinating for the depiction of the times (late 1800s) and brimming with hilarious spit and vinegar as one would expect from the author.

A purportedly heartwarming film about a 16 year old substitute teacher in rural China hunting for one of her runaway students in a big city. Through a combination of luck and stubbornness, she accomplishes her goal, capturing the sympathy of thousands of city-dwelling television news viewers in the process. Missable.

A deadbeat boyfriend gets saddled with taking a pesky kid way up north to find his long lost mother. The inevitable charming moments ensue and are accompanied by scenes so bizarrely campy that even Mel Brooks would think twice about putting them in a film. However, the deadbeat boyfriend was such a mean bastard that the whole schtick failed to come together.

An ostensible thriller about a budding pop star who gives up her career to become an actress, but is then haunted by one of her old fans and the bumpy start to her new career. It was scary at times, but mostly just incomprehensible.

It is something of a relief to see a film set in space that is neither related to some sucked dry franchise nor saddled with an absurd premise. Puns be pardoned, there was nothing stellar about Serenity, but it was generally enjoyable. Two things that detracted were the ignorant notion on which the plot twist hinged and the unshakable feeling that I was watching a television pilot.