J. Edgar

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: The history of J. Edgar Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio) forming the FBI.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A:  Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer, Naomi Watts, Judy Dench, Josh Lucas, Ed Westwick, Josh Hamilton, Jessica Hecht, Denis O'hare, Stephen Root, Damon Herriman

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A:  Stop!  Technically this movie is stunning, but it has no hook, no stakes, and nothing that pulls you through it besides your deep-seeded love of J. Edgar Hoover-- a man who pretty much nobody loved.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A:  The guy behind me laughed awkwardly when Leonardo said, "I love you."  You never want that. He was right.  It was funny.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A:  It's sad that my favorite part of the movie was when they said J. Edgar was dead, because I figured the movie would be over soon.  It's sadder that the movie still went on for another 10 minutes after that.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A:  I usually don't like for awful movies to get any awards, but in this case it really deserves several, in particular for Cinematography, Make-up, and Leo's performance.

Q: How is the Acting?

A:  From the first off-screen line, Leo blows your mind with his talent.  And because I like to say it first, I'm predicting him for the win, despite the terribleness of the movie and that false and hoaky moment when he says, "I love you." Armie Hammer will probably get nominated, too-- because he deserves it-- but he's not a sure thing for the win.

Q: How is the Directing?

A:  The visuals are superb across the board, but why this boring piece of... history had to be 2 hours and 17 minutes, I'll never know.  Then again, in history's defense, I'm sure this story was much more interesting than this movie makes it seem.

Q: How is the story/script?

A:  If you haven't figured it out by now, I thought the script gave me a lot of time to think about all things I need to get done for the shoot I have tomorrow.  So that was good.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: J. Edgar Trailer

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Jumping the Broom

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A woman (Paula Patton) from a high class family jumps into a marriage with a man (Laz Alanso) from a lower class family.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Angela Bassett, Paula Patton, Laz Alonso, Loretta Devine, Meagan Good, Tasha Smith, Julie Bowen, DeRay Davis, Valarie Pettiford, Mike Epps, Pooch Hall, Romeo Miller, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Gary Dourdan, T.D. Jakes

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. Only the beautiful cast and gorgeous locations will keep your attention on this rehashing of an old and done story, that grasps at originality with scatterbrained plot twists seeming to fall from the pretty blue sky.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: The pronunciation of French might. I don't know if you've heard, but I speak fluently. Well, I understood none of it. Even after reading the subtitles, explaining what they were trying to say.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: It snuck up on me with a most predictable and obvious tear-jerk toward the end. I saw it coming and I still got watery. I feel so ashamed.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Best Reason I think I've Ever Seen to Be a Cougar. Lil' Romeo's all grown up, and oh, my...

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Loretta Devine is a special treat I've only recently discovered, and Mike Epps surprised me with his range in this character.But Paula Patton is beauty who has yet to convince me she can act (yes, I saw Precious). And Julie Bowen, whom I love in Modern Family, is just weird in this.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: I know the directing is good because the script is bad and I still didn't hate it.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The script plays like it was written for white people, and when they couldn't get it set up because it sucks, they said, "Hey, what if we did this with Black people instead? Black people will see anything!" Their words, not mine.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Jumping the Broom Trailer

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The Fighter

(Guest Review by Valerie)

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Based on a true story, The Fighter is not as much about boxing as it is about the journey and struggles of Micky Ward, and his brother, Dicky Ecklund, as boxers, sons, brothers, and town heroes.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo, Mickey O’Keefe,
Jack McGee, Jenna Lamia, Frank Renzulli

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! Even if, like me, your first thought is, “Not another boxing movie,” you do not want to miss this one. While there are some graphic fight scenes, it is really about family, and if you have one, or even just a group of friends that are like one, you will relate to this story.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Mostly as a coping mechanism.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: If you’re a sucker for personal transformations that DON’T involve beauty
makeovers, you have a shot at some tears.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: You mean, other than “Most Likely to Harm the Lowell, MA Tourist Industry, While Doing Wonders for its Crack Industry?” Actually, it's already up for four well-deserved SAG awards, as well as some Golden Globes, and it will likely be nominated for some Oscars, too.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Consistently great. They thoroughly convinced me never to go to Lowell, MA, if I'm determined to avoid the types of people these performances are advertising. I don't mean to sound like a snob, but even the ones with decent personalities have no sense of style!

Q: How is the Directing?

A: David O. Russell does a great job of making you feel totally anxious and claustrophobic whenever the family is in the shot. It rang pretty realistic to me. After all, I may or may not be related to Monique.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Surprisingly nuanced, given that it’s just “another boxing movie.” The moments
of epiphany and transformation could have easily been very trite, but are instead kept fresh with writing that truly captures the duality of situations.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: The Fighter Trailer

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Despicable Me

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: An evil villain (Steve Carell) attempts to steal the Moon, in a last ditch effort to prove that he's the best bad guy in the world, but his plans start to falter when 3 orphan girls come into his life.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Julie Andrews, Miranda Cosgrove, Kristen Wiig, Will Arnett, Dana Gaier, Elsie Fisher, Jack McBrayer, Jemaine Clement, Danny McBride, Mindy Kaling, and the Minions

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! Whatever the story departments in the animation world are doing, live action development people should figure it out and start imitating it as soon as possible. In some of these animated movies, it almost feels like someone cared about the user experience... and these are the movies that are supposed to be for little kids, you know, those small-sized people with completely undeveloped minds.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Most of the cleverness is in the details, so pay very close attention.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: It goes so far as to make you say, "Awwww." Out loud.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: As enthusiastic as I may seem about this movie, it's not that good.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: I was impressed with Steve Carell's accent-- not because I could place what country it was supposed to be from, but because it totally made you forget that it was Steve Carell. Same goes for Russell Brand, who really sounds old. But it goes without saying that the best voice comes from Elsie Fisher, a little girl who can't be more than 8-years-old, and should be able to parlay this into being the next Dakota Fanning.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Pretty standard.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The writers do a nice job of creating an antihero with a backstory that makes you sympathize with him. They quickly establish how mean he is, then suddenly show you why, then the plot sets in motion, and emotionally, you understand what a guy like this is getting out of hanging around a bunch of little girls. The girls are also established in such a way that you buy that they would be accepting of this man's strange home and lifestyle.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/despicable-me/36148/trailers

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We Live in Public

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A documentary about Josh Harris, an early internet pioneer who predicted that social networking would take over and destroy our ability to interact with each other as kind, loving humans, long before social networking had been invented.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Josh Harris, members of his family, his most pivotal ex-girlfriend, Tanya Corrin, and a large number of New York freaks who sign up to live together for a month in an underground bunker where they were filmed doing everything from showering and sh*tting to f*#king and sucking, and where the only thing playing on TV were channels featuring the other nutzoids living in their cult-like community-- which they ironically called, Quiet.

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! This movie is both fascinating and disturbing. But I'm asking you to see it anyway, so that you can get the deepest possible understanding that everything you do and say on the internet can and will haunt you for the rest of your living days. And then, maybe you'll consider taking a break from that little screen once in a while.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Sure, if you're one of those people who gets joy from watching others suffer.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: If will certainly make you long for a simpler time, when we used to actually see each other in person. Oh, how I miss human to human connection... And do you remember hugging? That was awesome.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It won the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at Sundance, and I wouldn't be surprised if it got a shot at the Academy. It's just so topical!

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Internet millionaires are crazy. And not in a good way, like the bi-polar, suicidal, ex-junkies that they lock up in their basements to use as lab rats in their wacky attempts to call themselves artists.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: I always wonder, when a documentary director sticks with a subject for 10 years, how does she know when it's time to stop filming and just make a film already? At the same time, considering her subject's obsession with filming every detail of his life to play on the internet, I can kind of understand her optimism, since she was blessed with a giant amount of pre-existing footage. Which also begs the question: How come I never heard about this place, "Quiet" before?!

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Linear. It starts in 1984, when Josh Harris first discovered the potential of the internet, and clearly and logically takes us through the period of the 90s when anything was possible, to the dot-com crash, to today, when the things you may have done in the 90s are on your permanent record, and will prevent you from ever doing anything cool again... or at least until a movie is made about your life, alerting internet investors that you may actually have a small clue as to what you're talking about.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XSTwfdFwIY

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