It’s rare that we can work in an obscure ’80s reference like The Powers of Matthew Star, and yet I didn’t feel like we had to work that hard for it this week. First up, we look at The Secret Life of Bees and The Color Purple as part of our Artist of the Month program. Then we discuss why nothing this weekend could drag us into theaters (and our surprise that “Bieber Fever”... 

In many ways, Disney’s The Princess and the Frog is a return to a formula that spelled success for the animation house in the past. Most notably, it’s a return to hand drawn animation for the studio, who had moved to strictly computer animation ever since 2004’s Home on the Range, a movie that was poorly received. It’s also a return to a story structure that has proven itself time after time...