Morning Glory

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: An up-and-coming morning show producer (Rachel McAdams) gets hired way out of her league on a show that's tanking in the ratings, has a majority of difficult personalities working on it, and the morale of a prison camp.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford, Diane Keaton, Patrick Wilson, Jeff Goldblum, John Pankow, Matt Malloy, Ty Burrell, J. Elaine Marcos, Arden Myrin

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! It's predictable and fluffy, but considering its main point is to validate the very fluffiness we all seem to give our attention to when asked to choose between things that are mindless and things that are intellectual, it's almost impossible to judge it adversely for ultimately being trite.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Physical morning show comedy from a particularly untalented weather caster will have you belly laughing for a good minute and a half.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: No, but it might get you banging your head against a wall about how often Rachel McAdams' character purposely bangs her head against a wall, or her hand, or whatever may happen to be in her proximity. Personally, I haven't banged my head against a wall since I was 9, and I found out that Ronald Reagan had just won the Presidency. Shortly thereafter, I found out that banging your head against cement hurts, and when something has just made you feel bad, the bruises and scratches on your forehead will only make you feel worse. By the end of the movie, McAdams actually has a line of dialogue where she says, "I feel like I'm banging my head against the wall." Which for me only aggravated my aggravation, because as a nine-year-old I knew that yes, banging your head against the wall does make you feel like you're banging your head against the wall.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: This movie is being compared to an update of Broadcast News, which was nominated for 7 Academy Awards. But this movie is not Broadcast News, this movie is the fluffication of Broadcast News if you were to fast-forward Broadcast News 23 years into a future society where nobody has the intellectual capacity anymore to care about real news. Welcome to today, and just remember, when you choose to watch junk, you cause the ratings of junk to go up, which leads to being served more junk. But that's what you want, right?

Q: How is the Acting?

A: The acting is the one aspect of this movie that truly is comparable to Broadcast News. Rachel McAdams has a scene where she goes from excited to depressed in one stagnant shot, and the only thing that changes on her entire smiling face are the tears that suddenly, almost imperceptibly show up in her eyes. Diane Keaton gets hotter and funnier with age. And I'm not mentioning Harrison Ford because I'm too busy wondering how a man who over-acts, under-acts, and has virtually no comic timing, has a career... Oh yeah, he was Han Solo, 33 years ago. Lucky for him.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: One shot, when she finds out she gets the job, is overly showy and obvious, but in the rest of the film, Roger Michell finds ways to work around difficult transitions and even add laughs.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Aline Brosh McKenna has a way of making it all look so easy. The dialogue is cute, though not often laugh out loud. The happy Hollywood ending, on the other hand, has a few elements to it that made me very uncomfortable about how things are going to be for these people about two months after the movie ends. Once you've seen it, let me know if you felt that, too.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/morning-glory/31567/trailers

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The Time Traveler's Wife

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A romance about a little girl who falls in love with a time traveling man (Eric Bana), and grows up to marry him, despite all the complications of building a life with a man who comes and goes at random. You know, put that way, it's not that different from a lot of regular marriages out there.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Rachel McAdams, Eric Bana, Ron Livingston, Hailey McCann, Tatum McCann, Michelle Nolden, Arliss Howard, Jane McLean, Brooklynn Proulx, Stephen Tobolowsky, Philip Craig

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. Thinking about what you would and wouldn't know about the past, present and future is engaging, but the pace is often too slow, the tone too melodramatic, and you can tell from watching the movie that the book is more romantic.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Some say melodrama is a less subtle form of comedy, so you might laugh at all the intense stares, but I don't think they mean for you to.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Because we know the future, we are never caught off guard by the sad things that happen, but there is a moment or two that could induce tears in those of you who are emotionally unstable to begin with.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: I'm giving it the award for the Most Predictable Studio Note of the Year. There is a moment so inauthentic and obvious, that even without reading the book, I could tell it was 100% pure Hollywood concoction. And without giving anything important away, I will tell you that it has to do with the Lottery, and the fact that any movie with time travel has to do this beat, even though we've all seen it a million times before... To quote my ex-boyfriend, misquoting Jay-Z, "So unnecessary."

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Rachel McAdams is as talented and beautiful as she always is, but I don't yet get why Eric Bana, was plucked off the streets of Australia to become the next big Hollywood star. He does nothing particularly wrong, but he's not super great looking, and I have yet to see him do any acting that answers the question "Why him?"

Q: How is the Directing?

A: From the first frame I was bored by both the music and the tone. Thankfully there were scenes that exceeded my low-set expectations, but still, this movie is more proof that first impressions can taint your whole experience.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: There are too many times when the young versions of Rachel McAdams say to the time traveling man, "You've never said that before." This is used to telegraph the rules of time travel to the audience, and it works, but it's way too on the nose. It's also a pretty good example of the level of finesse the rest of the script displays.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-time-travelers-wife/28722/trailers

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Bruno

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Gay fashionista, Bruno (Sacha Baron Cohen), experiences a public fashion faux-pas, and suddenly goes from hot to not in his home country of Austria. Solution? Go to America to try to rebuild and contrive his celebrity anew.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Sacha Baron Cohen, Gustaf Hammarsten, Clifford Banagale, and cutie pies Chibundu and Chigozie Orukwowu, with cameos by Bono, Sting, Snoop Dog, Chris Martin, Elton John, Slash, Paula Abdul, Harrison Ford, Ron Paul, and a bunch of randoms.

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. It's a bit much. And by "a bit much," I mean, totally hard to stomach and offensive in ways that make you want to shower until you run out of soap.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: You'll spend more time saying, "Eew," than "ha ha ha," but I know that for some of you freaks those emotions are pretty interchangeable.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: If you go in expecting the brilliance and depth of Borat, you will at least be sadly disappointed.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Larry Charles and Sacha Baron Cohen should consider their R rating to be the highest of awards, because the MPAA I know would've given any other filmmakers a minimum of NC17 for this raunch-fest.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Nobody can deny that this man has balls. It's only too bad we had to spend so much time looking at them.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: What worked about Borat was that the situation and the people felt real and authentic. I'm sure I won't be the first or the last to say that despite its authenticity, this pseudo-documentary feels totally staged.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: What worked about Borat was that the character was an innocent, trying to be sympathetic to his new world, and approaching it with very humble goals. Bruno is the opposite of that, and borders on unlikeable. Also in Borat the brilliance came from the real people, who showed their ugly true colors to the foreigner. Whereas in this film, it's the main character, Bruno, whose colors are ugly, and the real people who end up seeming fake.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/bruno/34365/trailers

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