What's Your Number?

Q: What’s the movie about?

A:  When a girl (Anna Faris) finds out that the number of men she's slept with is considered high, she decides to go back through her ex's and try to marry one of them rather than sleeping with yet another guy.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A:  Anna Faris, Chris Evans, Ari Graynor, Blythe Danner, Ed Begley Jr., Dave Annable, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Heather Burns, Eliza Coupe, Kate Simses, Tika Sumpter, Joel McHale, Jacquelyn Doucette, Chris Pratt, Denise Vasi, Zachary Quinto, Mike Vogel, Martin Freeman, Andy Samberg, Thomas Lennon, Anthony Mackie, Ivana Milicevic, Aziz Ansari

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A:  Proceed with Caution.  There are a lot of "cute" moments, but they are surrounded by lines that are too cheesy or plot points that are too unbelievable, so you never buy into the premise completely.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A:  Aside from a few shots of unnecessary nudity, you can't help but wonder why they decided to make this cutesy rom-com rated "R."  That said, the few truly funny jokes do fit into the "R" category, they just don't fit into the rest of the script.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: In regards to this, my number is zero.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A:  In this category it will also remain a virgin.

Q: How is the Acting?

A:  Anna Faris is at her best when she gets to do really broad, over the top comedy.  She doesn't get to do a lot of that here.

Q: How is the Directing?

A:  Anna Faris doesn't look pretty in 90% of the film.  Rather than blame the fact that she's not aging well, I'm gonna blame the director for not looking out.  But only because there were so many other things that bugged me about his work, like rack focus shots that forgot to rack, and other such instances of random blurriness.

Q: How is the story/script?

A:  The two writers Gabrielle Allan & Jennifer Crittenden come from the very top of TV...  Jennifer Crittenden has written for Arrested Development, The Simpsons, and Seinfeld (to name a few impressive shows), and Gabrielle Allan is a name I'm familiar with because, not only did she write for Scrubs, but she wrote pretty much every episode that was good enough to get me to look up who the writer was for that episode... But somehow, in this case, their talent doesn't translate all that strongly to film.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: What's Your Number? Trailer

Back To Top

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) falls for a girl (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who has 7 evil exes that he must defeat, for no reason in particular.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Ellen Wong, Mark Webber, Alison Pill, Johnny Simmons, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaze, Chris Evans, Jason Schwartzman, Brandon Routh, Satya Bhabha, Brie Larson, Mae Whitman, Keita Saitou, Shota Saito, Ben Lewis

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. This film is all style and no substance. But there always seems to be some idiot who gloms onto that sort of a thing and calls it a cult classic.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: The style is pretty funny at times, but when I say style, I'm talking about dialogue more pretentious than in Juno.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: No, because you won't give a crap about anybody in it... not in you heart anyway.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Best Directing. Bet you didn't think I'd say that?

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Kieran Culkin steals the show because he has the best lines. And Anna Kendrick-- is there anything she's not in?

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Edgar Wright's visuals are the only reason anyone will be fooled into thinking this is a good movie.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Don't expect to care about anybody, or even understand why Scott Pilgrim likes the girl he has to fight for. Also prepare to wonder where he gets his superpowers to fight these exes, why the exes turn into money when they are defeated, and by the way, how he defeats any of them, when in most cases it looks like they killed him first, multiple times. Basically, we are shown a surrealistic world of magical reality, but the rules of the world and the magic are never set up or explained to us.

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

A: It tries to be a live action videogame, probably in order to pander to the young male audience that no one seems to be able to reach because they're busy playing actual video games. Since there's no user participation in this viewing experience, I don't see any reason for that audience to come out and see this. So why don't we all just accept that that audience is done with movies, and start making movies for the people who actually like to go to them. Like, for example, girls.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/scott-pilgrim-vs-the-world/35215/trailers

Back To Top

Fame

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Remake of the 1980 musical about a group of kids who attend New York's High School for the Performing Arts.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Kay Panabaker, Walter Perez, Naturi Naughton, Asher Book, Kherington Payne, Collins Pennie, Kristy Flores, Paul McGill, Paul Iacono, Anna Maria Perez de Tagle, and Cody Longo. And as their supervisors: Kelsey Grammer, Charles S. Dutton, Bebe Neuwirth, Megan Mullally, Debbie Allen.

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. More than anything this movie will make you long to see the original, partly because the nostalgic element is completely missed in the new version, and partly so you can find out if it was equally as trite as this one, and the only reason you didn't notice was because back then, you were too young to know better.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Not so much. Unless, like me, you have an adorable 6 year old boy sitting next to you, making peanut gallery comments like, "That song was beautiful!" And, "I like the lion!" Which refers to the MGM lion that roars at the beginning of the movie.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: I was on the verge of tears for a non-continuous 30% of the film. It was completely unjustifiable, and most likely had nothing to do with the content. Maybe it was hormones.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: They wrote a lot of new songs in their efforts to update this piece to present day sensibilities, but in all their efforts, the only song that really moves you is the one they kept from the original, "Out Here on My Own." And I'm pretty sure that won't qualify as Best Original Song.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: The one reason this is worth seeing is that you will have the opportunity to feel like you've discovered some great new talent. In particular, Naturi Naughton, who sings like a next generation Mary J. Blige, and Asher Book, whose vocal stylings make you hope he will fall in love with you. On the other hand, Kherington Payne-- who I just found out was a winner on "So You Think You Can Dance?"-- is not nearly as good a dancer as the extras who are playing backup dancers to her lead. The professional dancers surrounding her hit each move with a sharpness and precision, that make Kherington look like she was discovered on a reality show... This is just more proof, that when America votes, they get second tier stars.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Using lots of long lenses with action in the foreground doesn't make the story any more engrossing, and sometimes, you find yourself actually getting a little impatient with the scenes, as you wonder if anything interesting is going to happen once the director is done indulging himself in his own sense of beautifulness.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: A lot of the conflict is completely illogical, as kids fight with their parents over things their parents would never fight them for. Plus there are times when the dialogue seems either generic and predictable, or simply unnecessary.

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

A: After opening on an elaborate audition montage, it's hard to imagine how the majority of the main characters got into the school, with auditions that are sometimes humiliating, and shouldn't have garnered much more than a "Don't call us, we'll call you."

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/fame/30945/trailers

Back To Top

Last Chance Harvey

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A divorced man (Dustin Hoffman) goes to London to see his daughter get married, and while he's there he loses his job, and finds out that his daughter wants her step-dad (James Brolin) to give her away. That's when he meets a lonely woman (Emma Thompson), and spends a romantic day with her.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Dustin Hoffman, Emma Thompson, Eileen Atkins, Kathy Bates, James Brolin, Liane Balaban, Richard Schiff, Daniel Lapaine, Bronagh Gallagher, Michael Landes

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Stop! You know how some movies put all the funny parts in the trailer? Well, this one puts all the entertaining, romantic, and remotely interesting parts in the trailer. Watch the trailer, and skip the rest.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: This is one of those movies where most of the comedy is in the awkward pauses where people don't say something. That is often my favorite kind of comedy-- and it's certainly the most highbrow kind. But it didn't work on me here.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: As boring as the movie is, Hoffman's speech to his daughter at her wedding did bring tears to my eyes. So at least they got one thing right.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: The two lead actors are nominated for Golden Globes in the Musical or Comedy category, but this film doesn't even deserve that amount of recognition. Hoffman and Thompson are great, because they're always great, but these roles are nothing of a stretch for either of them, and they should lose points for picking a movie so full of nothingness.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Every bit of life this film contains comes from the predictably perfect performances of Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson. That said, the background performers are for the most part pretty terrible. They look like wanna-be actors who can't beleive they were sharing the frame with the likes of Dustin Hoffman, and the thought playing in their eyes is, "Look! There he is!" I probably shouldn't have been noticing the extras in the first place, and we can blame the director for that... or maybe we can blame the writer for causing me to be so bored that I would pay attention to the people walking by. As a compromise, I'll just blame them both, since it's the same guy anyway.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Directors are often judged on their taste in material, and in this case, Joel Hopkins proves that he's not to be trusted. If he couldn't get his hands on a stronger project then he should've made the writer develop this script into something that feels like more than a first draft based on a personal experience. Unfortunately, since he is the writer, he thinks his story is already perfect and has no way of seeing that it is completely underdeveloped . Hopefully for him, Harvey's last chance won't also be his.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: There is no conflict between the main characters. He asks if she wants to go on a walk, and she says yes. He asks if he can wait for her outside her class, and she says yes. He asks if she wants to go to a wedding, and she says yes. Because everything is so easy for them, all the romantic-comedy tricks that are supposed to keep them apart and build the tension so we think they might not come together, feel like stupid character choices that no real person would make. Meanwhile, all the parts where they're supposed to be getting to know each other are shown as musical montages of two people walking and talking, where you can't hear what they're saying. In the end we have no idea what it is they admire about each other besides that she's desperately lonely, and he's got nothing else going for him.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/last-chance-harvey/30332/trailers

Back To Top