Limitless

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A loser writer (Bradley Cooper) discovers a drug that gives him heightened brain activity as well as the ability to recall any and all information he has ever been exposed to from his entire life. Unfortunately, once you take the drug, you can't stop taking it or your body will deteriorate and you will die. Oh, and there's an extremely limited amount of it going around.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Abbie Cornish, Andrew Howard, Anna Friel, Johnny Whitworth, Tomas Arana, Darren Goldstein, Ned Eisenberg

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! Talk about life or death stakes...

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Cocky people are funny... so long as they aren't the star of your hit sitcom.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Cocky people are also sad, because what goes up must come down. But I don't like to think about that, because it defies my medication-induced optimism. And medications are too expensive to defy.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: This deserves an Academy Award for Directing, but will most certainly be overlooked. Why it will be overlooked? Because it's early in the year and at first glance it seems like standard Hollywood fare. Why it deserves it? Because a director's job is to get you inside the mind of the story, and by the time I walked out of the theater, I felt like I had taken NZT.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Like the directing, Bradley Cooper's performance seems straight forward enough, but in fact demonstrates incredible nuance, as he seamlessly switches between a dangerous, know-it-all, drug-induced pit bull and a weak, insecure, natural lamb. And it's not just the intensified lighting of his frighteningly blue eyes.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: At first all the special effects felt a little gimmicky, to me. But once I realized that I was completely riveted by a scene where Bradley Cooper cleans up his apartment, I knew that I had been a fool to mistrust this director's instincts. Team Neil Burger, all the way to the Oscars!

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Leslie Dixon presents interesting twists in such a way that you get to feel smart, because you know what's going on without being told. I love feeling smart. Which is why I've gotta get my hands on some of that NZT... And if that's not available, maybe I could get me a dose of that Charlie Sheen. From what I can tell, the effect of either drug is about the same.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Limitless Trailer

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Gangster's Paradise: Jerusalema

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: After Apartheid ends in South Africa, the Black people start to realize that they're not gonna get their 40 acres and a mule, and the only way to get social justice is to steal it by hook or by crook.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Rapulana Seiphemo, Ronnie Nyakale, Jeffrey Zekele, Jafta Mambolo, Motlatsi Mahloko, Robert Hobbs, Shelley Meskin

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! It's like District 9, only this time, instead of aliens, they use Black people to show the racism in Johannesburg.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Of course! Racism is hilarious!... Okay, that's not even funny when you say it as a joke.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Yes, but only because white people are soooo mean!... It's like looking in a mirror.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It's the kind of film that will get a lot of buzz in the Best Foreign Film category, and then not get a nomination.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: A good job was done casting younger actors who look like their older counterparts.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: A lot of shaky-cam, a fair amount of blood and people splatting on the ground after falling from high buildings, but clearly Ralph Ziman is a talented filmmaker with a vision and a voice.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: On some levels it doesn't feel like something you've never seen before, but it certainly makes you question your ideas about right and wrong.

Q: Is there anything else worth mentioning about the movie?

A: In South Africa, this film came out before District 9.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/gangsters-paradise-jerusalema/37498/trailers

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Cop Out

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A pair of buddy cops (Bruce Willis & Tracy Morgan) get suspended from the force for playing by their own rules, but continue to play by their own rules when one of them gets robbed of a rare baseball card, which he needs to sell so he can pay for his daughter's wedding. Further proving that weddings get you into trouble.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Bruce Willis, Tracy Morgan, Guillermo Diaz, Seann William Scott, Kevin Pollak, Adam Brody, Cory Fernandez, Michelle Trachtenberg, Rashida Jones, Jason Lee, Francie Swift, Ana de la Reguara, Susie Essman, Fred Armisen

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. Did you ever wonder what would happen if you remade Lethal Weapon, but you made the Black guy the crazy one and the White guy the one who's getting too old for this sh-t? Add in some zaniness, some dick jokes, and a far less professional filming style, and presto! You don't have to wonder anymore.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Probably, but the humor is as annoying as it is funny.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Maybe if you're a baseball collector.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: This script was on the 2008 Blacklist, which is an elite list of the best films that executives in Hollywood read that year. Either they changed a lot of it since then, or Hollywood executives are easily fooled by a few clever jokes, into thinking that an entire script is good.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Bruce Willis was once considered a comic genius of his time, but this film makes him look like he's getting too old for this sh-t. He works too hard in his performance, and still has no clear character definition, as he holds back from laughing at Tracy Morgan's improvs. Adam Brody, on the other hand, has an understated naturalness to his comedic style that I'd be happy to see explored more in bigger roles.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: It's hard to believe that after 14 years, Kevin Smith still directs like an amateur. His close ups are too tight for the big screen, they are inappropriate for the emotional level of the story, his shot selections are boring and don't always help us follow the story, and he manages to make veterans (like Bruce Willis) look like they can't act. Look, he seems like a nice, intelligent guy, and I would love to sit down at the dinner table with him for some stimulating conversation, but why does he continue to get away with such embarrassing work? Will somebody please tell him to take a directing class?

Q: How is the story/script?

A: So long as you leave your sense of maturity and reality at home, there are a few good jokes and sequences, within this cliche story that could have been any rejected buddy cop script after a quick search and replace to, "Insert raunchier dick joke here."

Q: Is there anything else worth mentioning about the movie?

A: The original title of this movie was A Couple of Dicks. Which is both more clever and explains why so many dick jokes.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/cop-out/36928/trailers

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Gran Torino

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: After his wife dies, Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) is totally alone, with only his memories of the Korean War to keep him warm. Now he sits on his porch, disdainfully watching his all-White neighborhood get taken over by Asians, until one day, he intervenes in one of his neighbor's conflicts and ends up getting caught up in their personal lives.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang, Ahney Her, Christopher Carley, Doua Moua, Geraldine Hughes, Brian Haley, John Carroll Lynch, Brian Howe, Chee Thao

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. At first the film is slow and boring, and you can take a nap. Then it gets really funny, in an inside-humor kind of way, and then it gets really dramatic, building to a moment which is not nearly as important as they hoped it would be. And that's followed up with an ending that's predictable. I enjoyed it. Mostly for the funny parts.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: If Clint Eastwood tried to have Will Ferrell's career, this is what it would look like.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: The dog has something of a tear-jerking moment. But in order to be susceptible to it, you have to be the kind of person who can't handle puppy-dog eyes.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It's Clint Eastwood, so it's guaranteed to be nominated.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Clint Eastwood huffs and he puffs and he over-acts the house down. Everyone else in the film is much worse.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: It reminded me of the work of a really promising first time independent filmmaker. Not necessarily a compliment to a man who's directed 29 films and won 2 Oscars for it. Warner Brothers might consider averting its eyes in shame, too.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Tonally it's all over the place. Thematically, it feels like a vanity project in which Clint Eastwood can revisit his Dirty Harry character in a "Where Are They Now" kind of way. And the story itself? It's there...

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/gran-torino/33336/trailers

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