Pariah

Q: What’s the movie about?

A:  A semi-closeted teenage African-American lesbian comes of age.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Adepero Oduye, Pernell Walker, Aasha Davis, Kim Wayans, Charles Parnell, Sahra Mellesse, Zabryna Guevara, Kim Sykes

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A:  Proceed with Caution.  You've seen one lesbian coming of age film, you've seen them all.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A:  I laughed in my head when I realized that I spent the first 10 minutes of the movie trying to decide whether the main characters were women or men.  It was a seriously heated debate in there!

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A:  Going in I thought this would be this year's Precious.  But it's like a Disney Channel movie in comparison, breaking almost no new ground... Except maybe uncovering how women make themselves look like men.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It won Cinematography at Sundance, which is especially surprising when you consider that all the out of focus shots were the one thing in this film that kept me annoyed throughout... Then again, most of what Sundance likes tends to annoy me, so I don't really know why I'm surprised.

Q: How is the Acting?

A:  It is good to see Kim Wayans-- and in a dramatic role, no less!  I worked with her on a sit-com, back in the day, and I always thought she was one of the most under-rated talents I had ever come across.

Q: How is the Directing?

A:  The odd choices about where to center the focus in many shots is clearly deliberate and artistic, but it doesn't work.  It's distracting and looks like a mistake.

Q: How is the story/script?

A:  For a film getting so much attention, it's surprising how little feels original about it.  I mean, who hasn't already seen at least one movie where the Black husband is a cheater, the teenage girl hates her mother, and the mother is a homophobe?

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

A:  Warning: despite the scary title, this is NOT a horror film or a video game.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Pariah Trailer

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Martha Marcy May Marlene

Q: What’s the movie about?

A:  You can take the girl out of the cult, but you can't take the cult out of the girl.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A:  Elizabeth Olsen, Sarah Paulson, John Hawkes, Hugh Dancy, Maria Dizzia, Louisa Krause, Brady Corbet, Julia Garner, Christopher Abbott

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A:  Proceed with Caution.  Interesting subject matter.  Interesting character study. I have no idea what I was supposed to think happened at the end.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A:  It was developed at the Sundance Institute, so I'll give you one guess, and the answer isn't "yes."

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A:  It's more likely to cause the deep pondering of questions like: "Why do people fall for cults?"  "How do they find them?" And, "How are they so easily brainwashed?"... I guess my parents were too loving for me to ever understand the answers to questions like these.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A:  Director Sean Durkin won his category at Sundance, and it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize, but lost out to the previous movie I saw, Like Crazy.  Still, even the nomination looks a little bit like self-nepotism.  If you develop a movie, is it really fair to nominate yourself for a prize?

Q: How is the Acting?

A:  Elizabeth Olsen gives a star making performance, but I knew that before I even saw the movie because of all the press and hype that's been surrounding her since last January.  What I didn't know is that she would be so interesting, that I would find myself struggling with how exactly she's related to her sisters Mary-Kate and Ashley.

Q: How is the Directing?

A:  Despite Sundance nominating itself for prizes, Sean Durkin actually does deserve recognition.  He seamlessly shifts between the past at the cult and the present at a Lake House, using color schemes and clever editing that has your brain working just the right amount throughout, as you try to keep up with where each scene is taking place.

Q: How is the story/script?

A:  Mostly, I just wish I understood what I was supposed to take from it.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Martha Marcy May Marlene Trailer

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Like Crazy

Q: What’s the movie about?

A:  An American boy (Anton Yelchin) falls in love with a British student (Felicity Jones), and before they know it they become star-crossed by immigration problems, when she can't get back into the country.  Stuck in a long distance relationship that can only exist on her side of the pond, they must now decide if it is worth it or not to give up on the love of their lives.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A:  Anton Yelchin, Felicity Jones, Jennifer Lawrence, Charlie Bewley, Alex Kingston, Oliver Muirhead, Finola Hughes, Ben York Jones, Chris Messina, Jamie Thomas King, Amanda Carlin

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A:  Proceed with Caution.  I am torn between my respect for the art that they attempted to create and my feeling that the end result is rather trite.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A:  The entire movie is improvised.  It turns out that the word "improv" isn't always followed by "comedy."

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A:  It's been so long since I was in love with anybody, that I can't personally relate to these emotions. Maybe you could be the judge and get back to me.  Thanks!

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A:  So far it has won every award it's been nominated for, which includes 2 prizes each for the lead actors, Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones, as well as the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, which only re-iterates how little I understand about what that high mountains altitude can do to your taste in movies.

Q: How is the Acting?

A:  Improvisation always makes the actors look good.  How can you not be in the moment when you don't have to memorize other people's words and say them back as if they are your own?  When you improvise, the words are your own.  So all you're doing is having a made up conversation, like when you were 4.

Q: How is the Directing?

A:  The directing is intimate and interesting, but the credit clearly belongs as much to the cinematographer and the editor in this case, as it does to the director, because when it's all improvised, the camera guy has to figure it all out on the fly, and the editor has to take those 70 hours of footage and turn them into something cohesive... Kind of like on a reality show.

Q: How is the story/script?

A:  The couple meets when she leaves a four page love letter on his car windshield, which we never get to read or hear.  Their love develops through a series of shots of them writing silly notes to each other, which we never get to see.  Many other standard moments are left out, too, like their first kiss, and any clue as to why they like each other.  Apparently the script was a 50 page detailed outline, with character back-stories, emotions, and beginnings, middles,  and ends to each scene, but no dialogue whatsoever.  Again, I am torn between my respect for the risks the filmmakers took in doing it this way, and my feelings for how the story turned out.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Like Crazy Trailer

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Our Idiot Brother

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A man (Paul Rudd) is so sweet and naive in his belief in the good in people that he gets himself and his three sisters into a lot of trouble. But it's also because he has a big mouth.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Mortimer, Rashida Jones, Steve Coogan, Adam Scott, Kathryn Hahn, T.J. Miller, Shirley Knight, Matthew Mindler, Sterling Brown, Hugh Dancy, Janet Montgomery, Lydia Haug

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Stop! This is a very sweet character and a perfectly sweet movie, but there's nothing engaging about any of it.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: It is marketed as a broad comedy and it's not. There are still some good clever laughs, but the humor is much more subdued than you might think. It's almost British, in fact.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Still not engaging.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Best Movie I've Ever Told You Not to See... It's going to be more enjoyable on the small screen anyway. Wait for that.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: There are a lot of stand out performances. Paul Rudd is perfectly dumb. Elizabeth Banks is a perfectly uptight bitch, not dissimilarly to Kathryn Hahn's perfectly hippie bitch.While T.J. Miller is perfect at seeming like he's understudying for the role of the idiot brother.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: There is an energy missing from the film that keeps it from being as fun as it should be, and it seems to have something to do with the directing.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: It just doesn't feel original in any way... and you really want it to.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Our Idiot Brother Trailer

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Restless

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A young man (Henry Hopper) obsessed with death falls in love with a young woman (Mia Wasikowska) who is dying.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Henry Hopper, Mia Wasikowska, Ryo Kase, Schuyler Fisk, Jane Adams, Chin Han, Lusia Strus

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. There are a few sweet moments within the slow paced story, and the jokey attitude toward death is somewhat entertaining, but overall, it's been done before.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: You might chuckle once or twice at some of the quirk.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Bryce Dallas Howard's complete ignorance of how nepotism works in Hollywood makes me cry a little. This, her first film as a producer, was made under her father's banner, Imagine, and she is very concerned about being seen as having gotten it made there out of nepotism, so she goes out of her way to explain in a Q & A how she met with people at the company who weren't her dad (Ron Howard). The fact that these people liked it was proof to her that it wasn't nepotism. What makes me sad is thinking about how she grew up in Hollywood since birth and still has such a poor understanding of how nepotism works. See, the thing is, Bryce, those people you met with are employed by your dad, and they know better than to say no to his little girl. Their children are depending on it. Your dad pays for their food and shelter.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: In honor of Bryce Dallas Howard's first producing effort, I'd like to give my younger siblings and niece a Nepotism Award, because I have already begun to shower them with nepotism at every opportunity, and I plan to continue passing on my many years of experience and contacts to them, guilt free, for as long as I am able. Here's my best advice to Bryce and any other lucky recipients of nepotism: take it, see it for what it is, and be grateful that you get to partake. I sure would've been!

Q: How is the Acting?

A: The chemistry between Mia Wasikowska and Henry Hopper is the only reason to see this film. Mia is quite charming. And Henry, in his first on-screen performance ever, grows on you throughout the film, and is the son of the late Dennis Hopper-- speaking of nepotism.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Gus Van Sant clearly did this film because they were over-paying him and he would be able to shoot in his home town of Portland. Normally he makes films like this for $3 million dollars, but because Sony and Imagine were involved, he made this one for over $14 million. He couldn't even figure out how to spend the money... what was left of it, anyway, after Imagine's giant fee.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Apparently, in development they spent a lot of time talking about the "physics of the world" in which the main character has an imaginary/ghost friend. The "Rules of the world" note is one of the most common notes you will get from a producer any time you are dealing with fantasy, magic, alternate realities, or other-worldy creatures, like ghosts. So common is this note, that it shouldn't have taken them more than 5 minutes of conversation to see that they never established a justification in the "rules of the world" for how this imaginary/ghost was able to punch a living person in the face leaving a bruise and putting him in the hospital. Nope, that's not how ghosts work. Newton's Law explains clearly that ghosts can't exert force on things in the material world unless you, the writer, establish that they can.

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

A: I finally figured out which one of my friends Mia Wasikowska looks exactly like... Amy, I have found your doppleganger! Mia, if you ever need a dead-on double, call me. I'll put you in touch.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Restless Trailer

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The Future

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A very strange couple (Miranda July & Hamish Linklater) decide based on some convoluted logic that they only have one month to live-- really live-- so they quit their jobs and follow the Universe to a place that's unexpected, and not necessarily more pleasant than the lives they lead before.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Miranda July, Hamish Linklater, David Warshofshky, Isabella Acres, Joe Putterlik, Angela Trimbur

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. If you enjoyed Miranda July's first effort, Me, You, and Everyone We Know, then you should probably see this less sophisticated but equally as bizarre and intriguing second effort.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: You'll want to laugh at it, but you won't because you will know that they are in complete control of your mind-- even your desire to laugh at them is premeditated.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: No, but it will make you crawl out of your skin every time you are forced to listen to the cat, Paw-Paw's narration of the events. I hated cats before, but this film, which in some ways revolves around the affection this couple plans to feel for this cat, only re-confirmed how disgusting they are.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Best Unintended Incest of the year. Miranda July and Hamish Linklater play soul mates, but they look like brother and sister, and I'm pretty sure they are. (Seriously, look at the picture.)

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Miranda July plays the voice of Paw-Paw, so I'm just gonna assume that she doesn't do voices. As herself, she's quite watchable, and almost looks like a poor-man's Vera Farmiga. Hamish Linklater, who I'd only known previously from The New Adventures of Old Christine, proves that he can commit to the off-beat without seeming out of sync.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Miranda July has a performance art background, and it shows in no uncertain terms, that she is an artist, a risk taker, and one of the few distinct voices in filmmaking.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: July's voice is so strange and specific, in fact, that her dialogue makes Diablo Cody look like she's writing Kevin James films. But for as witty as her turn of phrase may be, her sense of story needs more development. The story is mind-boggling, up until the last third, when it runs out of steam, loses its direction, and makes you wonder if it ever had any in the first place. So you wait for the ending, in hopes that all will be explained, and then Miranda July simply gets bored of writing, and puts down her pen.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: The Future Trailer

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Circumstance

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A pair of teenage girls (Nikohl Boosheri & Sarah Kazemy) fall in lesbian love in Iran, where it's illegal to be gay.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Nikohl Boosheri, Sarah Kazemy, Reza Sixo Safai, Soheil Parsa, Nasrin Pakkho, Sina Amedson, Keon Mohajeri

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. Those of you who love truly independent should run to see this movie because you will love it. For the rest of you, I'm going to throw out some keywords, and you can decide for yourself if it sounds up your alley: lesbian teens, oppression, surveillance, religious fanaticism, men controlling women, secret lives, secret clubs, lack of freedom, rape. So, you in?

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: As part of their rebellion, they decide to dub the movie Milk into farsi... but mostly we watch them do the sex scenes.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: More like rise up and fight for these poor Iranians.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Best Foot Rape scene. Did you know that it's possible to rape someone just by rubbing their foot? Well, you do now... Oh, and it also won the Audience Award at Sundance.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Superb. Every single actor in the film brings something unique and unexpected to their role.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Very independent. At times it jumps around, leaving scenes abruptly and entering others without warning. You are often left wondering what a scene was doing in the film, and yet you find yourself giving the director the benefit of the doubt, thinking to yourself that it probably needed to be there and you're just a little too dumb to figure out why.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: This is a script of few words. And many long stares. Sometimes too long, bordering on melodrama. But sometimes just right, bordering on letting you in on the storyline.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Circumstance Trailer

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Project Nim

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A family of wacky hippies in the 70s decides it's a good idea to move a baby chimp (Nim) into their Upper West-side Brownstone and raise him like a human being, teaching him to communicate through sign language.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Stephanie, Herb, Laura, Bob, and a bunch of other first names they made a point of writing across the screen real big, which I don't remember.

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. The pace is fairly slow, then it overcompensates to keep your attention with suspenseful music and intriguing camera pans that imply that something fatal is around the corner. SPOILER ALERT: nothing is.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Yeah, the 70s are funny as shit, no matter how many monkeys got hurt in the process.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: It didn't me, because I'm a cold-hearted animal non-worshiper-- by which I mean that I would never put their needs before those of human beings. That said, some pretty messed up things end up happening to this monkey.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It did win the Best Documentary award at the Newport Beach Film Festival, but the Newport Beach Film Festival wins the award for the Closest Film Festival to Los Angeles that No One in Hollywood has Ever Been to.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: One of the best things about this movie is its demonstration of how, in researching this monkey, humans once again prove that they themselves are the stupidest species in the Animal Kingdom.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Similarly to how I felt about James Marsh's previous effort, Man on Wire, there is a constant impending sense of doom, which never leads to doom, and therefore leaves me feeling very... shall we say, "tantric"?

Q: How is the story/script?

A: I'm pretty certain that this is the best story coming out this summer about monkeys acting like humans. I'm talking to you Rise of the the Planet of the Apes! DISCLAIMER: I haven't seen Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The trailer was quite enough for me, thank you very much! Rise of the Planet of the Apes Trailer

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Project Nim Trailer

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The Trip

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A possible documentary or improvised comedy about a food tour of Northern England that comedian Steve Coogan (Steve Coogan) goes on with comedian Rob Brydon (Rob Brydon), because in this, they're not just comedians, they're also food critics.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Steve Coogan, Rob Brydon, Claire Keelan, Margo Stilley, Rebecca Johnson, Dolya Gavanski, Kerry Shale, with cameos by Paul Popplewell and Ben Stiller

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. The dynamics between Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon are so pure, that you feel like a fly on the wall of their strange friendship. But it is repetitive and has no story.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: I just found out that this movie was based on a British TV series of the same name, with the same actors. That's mostly funny because Steve Coogan, who plays himself, spends most of the movie turning down TV acting jobs because he only wants to do films!

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Yes, if you go on an empty stomach, you will cry at the fact that they are on a culinary tour of England's best cuisine, and you are hungry.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Most Scallops. They are served platter after delicious looking platter of seared scallops. At first, you become pretty sure that you will go eat some just like that as soon as this movie is over. But by the end, you're so sick of looking at scallops, and you will decide to eat pretty much anything else instead.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: These guys do impressions. Then they do more impressions. As impressive as their impressions are, I really hate impressions.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Michael Winterbottom pulls off the feeling that you are watching a documentary better than any of the other fake documentaries I've seen this week. And I've seen three. Yeah, because something you may not know about me, is that I see about twice as many movies as I write about-- which I realize makes me officially insane, all while proving that I have virtually no life.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: No way! This movie has a script? I'd have to see that to believe it.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: The Trip Trailer

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Beautiful Boy

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: An estranged couple (Monica Bello & Michael Sheen) find out that their son (Kyle Gallner) has just opened fire on his classmates and then killed himself, and they have no idea how to deal with this information.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Maria Bello, Michael Sheen, Kyle Gallner, Alan Tudyk, Moon Bloodgood, Meat Loaf Aday, Deidrie Henry, Austin Nichols, Cody Wai-Ho Lee

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. After nobody saw either Rabbit Hole or American Gun, I guess these filmmakers took it as a sign that audiences want more movies about school killers and the loss of a child. Despite it being a completely misguided commercial effort, the movie is still pretty gripping-- in an independent way.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Only if you're demented.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Possibly the whole time.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: I'm sure it will be up for all kinds of Spirit Awards, it's just the right mix of quality actors, low budget, and depressing.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: At the Q & A, Michael Sheen said that working with Maria Bello was, "Literally the best experience I've ever had working with another actor." Which is sweet to her, but kind of an insult to all the other brilliant talents he's worked with. Then again, I've seen a lot of movies with both of them, and I can't think of any time either of them was less than spectacular, so maybe they should just get married.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Listening to Shawn Ku describe his technique was more inspiring than watching it. But listening to the actors discuss how the technique opened them up to be in the moment got me thinking that maybe I should try it on my next film!

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Don't expect any answers as to why someone would shoot up a school, because we'll never know, so there's no point in speculating. What you get instead is a love story about how misery loves company, especially when there's no one else in the world who can relate to the kind of pain and confusion you're in after your kid becomes a monster... one who's never coming back to tell you if his becoming a monster was your fault.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Beautiful Boy Trailer

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Elektra Luxx

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Retired porn star, Elektra Luxx (Carla Gugino), is pregnant, and getting sucked into all sorts of other people's problems due to the mistaken assumption that she will have sex with anyone.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Carla Gugino, Adrianne Palicki, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Marley Shelton, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Timothy Olyphant, Malin Akerman, Vincent Kartheiser, Justin Kirk, Kathleen Quinlan, Amy Rosoff, Lucy Punch, Matt Gerald, Isabella Gutierrez, Julianne Moore

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. Despite making fun of porn movies, this film has very little plot.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: It's meant to be a comedy, and a lot of times it is.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: It doesn't make you feel that much, but for me there's always an underlying sadness about what terrible things must've happened to these women to drive them into the sex trade. And it gets a little sadder when they start to want to be treated just like everybody else.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Most Subtle Sequel. It's not being billed as a sequel to 2009's Women in Trouble (which I did not see, and had never heard of until I looked up some of the actors from this film on imdb and realized they'd played characters with the same names before), but the two films have 6 characters and a writer-director in common. Hmm. Has anyone else seen or heard of Women in Trouble?

Q: How is the Acting?

A: There's a lot of hype around Adrianne Palicki getting cast as TV's new Wonder Woman. I had no idea who she was before I saw this movie, and was surprised to see that my favorite performance in the film was the very person all the hype has been about. On a sadder note, I fell asleep during a scene between two actors that I absolutely love, Malin Akerman and my future cougar bait, Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Yes, it was because the scene was boring.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Sebastian Gutierrez, who is this guy? His most notable credit is as the writer of Snakes on a Plane, and I have to assume that movie made him rich because he's found a way to write, direct, and produce a trilogy of films about this particular set of invented porn stars, back to back to back. Yes, he's already got a script in the works for the threequel, and I can't imagine any financier, besides himself, who would have gotten on board for more than one of this series.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: There are several vaguely intertwining stories, and I only cared about the title character, Elektra Luxx. Because of the cutaways to all the side characters' stories, we are taken away from what she is supposed to be going through, which frankly isn't very deep or realistic to begin with. On the plus side, the dialogue is cute and sometimes even clever to the point that some of the people in my audience were still laughing as they walked back to the parking garage. I imagine this is because they saw the prequel.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Elektra Luxx Trailer

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Another Year

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: An old married couple (Jim Broadbent & Ruth Sheen) deals with all the tragically desperate single people around them.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville, Ruth Sheen, Oliver Maltman, Peter Wight, David Bradley, Martin Savage, Karina Fernandez, Michele Austin, Phil Davis, Imelda Staunton

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. It's tragically long and desperately tragic, but the acting is so mesmerizing, that it's almost worth enduring.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Isn't "desperate" a quality that's always funny?-- I mean, when it's another person's desperation.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Okay, you're right, desperation is tragically depressing regardless of whose it is.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: This film may actually contain this year's Best Performance by a man or a woman. But Leslie Manville will probably get screwed out of her deserved Academy Award because Natalie Portman's got all the hype. My advice, go for Supporting and win!

Q: How is the Acting?

A: A series of well executed subtle and not-so-subtle shared looks and glances tell stories more complex than any words ever could.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: In making movies like Happy-Go-Lucky and Topsy-Turvy, Mike Leigh has tried to fool us into thinking that he makes upbeat spirited movies, only to lure us back into his original world of movies with the word "Bleak" in the title. Thankfully, he puts hyphens in the titles of his upbeat movies, and not in the titles of his downbeat ones, so in the future, we'll have to pay closer attention to that, if we don't want to find ourselves in a 2hr 20mn exploration of desperately tragic loneliness.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The dialogue is well written and perfectly executed by the actors, but the ending doesn't give you a lot of hope for these tragically desperate characters... which I guess is the point, since after all, it's not called "A Pivotal Year," it's just Another Year.

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

A: The Brits are known for having bad teeth, but some of the teeth in this film are distressing enough to be showcased in some kind of bizarre human museum, like Ripley's Believe It or Not. Even the normal-looking teeth are shown filled with scraps of food for entire scenes at a time.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Another Year Trailer

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Blue Valentine

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: The two halves of a married couple (Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams) reminisce about how great their relationship used to be, as it quietly falls apart.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, Mike Vogel, John Doman, Ben Shenkman, Faith Wladyka, Jen Jones

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. If you've ever been in a marriage, you probably already know how this one goes. And if you haven't ever been in a marriage, it's probably because you think this is how it will go.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: They go to a motel for a sexy weekend and book the "Future Room," which is about the most depressingly funny place to try to make romance that I've ever seen.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: The great thing about not being in a marriage is that you don't have to cry about how lonely it's making you feel. Hey, I'm not the one writing these movies. I'm just picking up what they're dishing out!

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Michelle Williams is up for an Independent Spirit Awards, but Ryan Gosling is the one who would've had a chance of winning.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: The performances are the main reason to see this film. Both Gosling and Williams show complexity and depth as they display their youthful joie-de-vivre in the scenes when they first meet and fall in love, and contrast that with their tired, worn-down married sides, in all the rest.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: It almost looks like they shot on film and then tried to make it look like poor quality video. That seems a little moronic to me, but the only other possibility is that they shot on video and then used special effects to make the "print" look scratched. Which, I'm sorry, is equally moronic.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The story somehow manages to hold your attention despite the nagging feeling that it won't ever amount to anything more than one random couple's rise and fall from love. Which it doesn't.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

Blue Valentine Trailer

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They Came to Play

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: This documentary follows the 2007 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, who for the most part, play just as well as professionals despite their "real" jobs as doctors, lawyers, and dental assistants.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: The biggest star is the music, so let me do some name droppin': Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Beethoven, Schubert, Rachmaninoff, Gershwin, Debussy, Schumann... and for you specialists: Alkan, Barber, Ravel, and Liszt

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. If you enjoy classical piano and stories about regular people with amazing musical talent, this film is for you. If you enjoy Piña Coladas and makin' love in the rain it's not.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Surprisingly, there is an erroneous belch in this film. But that's about as rowdy as it gets.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: If you put your kid in piano classes thinking he'd have a big career, you may as well start crying now, because you only have to watch this doc once to know that for every amazing piano player, there are about 74 amazinger ones, and that's not counting the prodigies.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It actually won an Audience Award in Fort Lauderdale. Them Floridians must be some highfalutin' audience types!

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Culturally, I enjoyed watching how the foreign competitors acted when they lost, in comparison to the American ones. And here is my conclusion: everyone who's not American lets their hurt and disappointment show, while everyone who is American bites his tongues and hopes that no one will notice that he cares. Chew on that, Americans.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: There's not a great variety of shots, but they are all well lit, and the 3 angles chosen to shoot the piano competition are the right ones.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The structure is in line with all the other docs of this nature, including Spellbound, Wordplay, and Mad Hot Ballroom. Only in this doc there are really no great stakes to winning or losing because, as one character puts it, "It's all right, I've got a day job!" (which happens to be as doctor). Sadly, because of the low stakes, there's not that much suspense as to who wins or loses.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2SedHd93DQ

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The Freebie

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: The most happily married couple in the world decides that to spice up their sex life, they should each have a one night stand.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Dax Shepard, Katie Aselton, Frankie Shaw, Ross Partridge, Bellamy Young

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! It's short, (bitter)sweet, and to the point.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: The cute couple's cute banter would be incredibly funny if you were in the cute relationship. But it's a lot less so for those of us that aren't, which includes everyone. This should serve as a good reminder that all your cute little couple's jokes are really only funny to you, so don't expect me to laugh when you try to explain them to me.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Cheating, even with permission, is a very bad idea. Does that make you cry?

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: This is a truly indy film that deserves to steal some indy film awards away from all those "indy" movies with big stars and name directors, whose budgets are higher than what most people will make in their whole lives.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: I liked Katie Aselton in The Puffy Chair but I loved her in this. And while Dax Shepard can't hold a candle to her, this is a great opportunity for him to showcase his acting in a non-goofball role.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Katie Aselton also directs. She uses the classic indy style of a loose, vaguely swaying camera, along with the very modern zooms in and out, which used to be considered a directing faux-pas, but ever since the rise of digital cameras has become known as a way of saying, "Hey, look how hip I am." It's all been done before, but it serves her purpose nicely here.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The story is told out of order, once in a while, so you find out how it's going to turn, long before it happens. The shift in the time line is used here to create tension in scenes that would otherwise feel redundant and banal. That said, I could've done without some of the happy couple montages. We immediately get that they're happy, so the montages end up seeming like filler trying to lengthen the film to a feature theatrical running time.

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

A: Not about the movie, but for those of you who've wondered why I've slacked so much over that last couple of weeks, I did not quit movie blogging, I was on vacation for the first time since I started this site. I'm back though, so check back often, as awards season is upon us, which means lots of movies will be watched.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-freebie/10024214/trailers

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The Romantics

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A girl (Katie Holmes) is asked to be the maid of honor as the love of her life (Josh Duhamel) marries her best friend (Anna Paquin).

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Katie Holmes, Josh Duhamel, Anna Paquin, Malin Akerman, Adam Brody, Dianna Agron, Jeremy Strong, Rebecca Lawrence, Candice Bergen, Elijah Wood

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Stop! I was all set to moderately like this movie until the ending, which was like when a guy is torn between the woman he's marrying and the woman he loves, and then it rains... Oops, spoiler alert.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Yes, it's like Rachel Getting Married, but with jokes.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: It might have if you got to find out what happened.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: I'd like to give an Irony Award to the Casting Director, who placed 5'8'' Katie Holmes next to hobbit Elijah Wood in scene after scene, and picked Anna Paquin for a character that is continually referred to as "enviably gorgeous," when she's clearly the least attractive woman in the movie. Even Candice Bergen at 64 is sexier.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Once I got over the fact that Katie Holmes is fake-married to Tom Cruise, I began to enjoy her performance. But Malin Akerman (as always) and Adam Brody were the ones with the chemistry.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Several shots are visibly grainy as if they had to push the exposure in post-production.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Galt Niederhoffer has way too much experience to think it's okay to tell a story without an ending.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-romantics/10024556/trailers

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Never Let Me Go

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Three kids (Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley) grow up together in an English boarding school, where their love triangle is confused by the fact that they are the only family the other two know... and they're clones whose sole purpose for existing is to donate organs.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley, Isobel Meikle-Small, Charlie Rowe, Ella Purnell, Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins, Nathalie Richard, Andrew Riseborough, Domhnall Gleeson

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. There are many unanswered logic questions, which all turn out to make perfect sense if you get a chance to listen to a Q & A where the book's author, the filmmaker, the screenwriter, and the actors explain their intentions. I got that after my screening, so I know what they were trying to do, and it's quite deep. Unfortunately, most audiences won't have the cast and crew there to explain all the pitfalls in the logic, and in making up their own excuses, those who guess correctly will love it, and the rest will find it not to depict humanity very well. But the bottom line is, if the film requires a live person telling you answers, then they didn't communicate it on the screen.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Some of the hairstyles might... aside from that it's all pretty bleak.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: The friend I saw it with, who really loved it, says she was holding back tears. She was one of those who had guessed correctly, I imagine. I, on the other hand, felt detached from the characters, because they had too many passive reactions that made me write them off as clones who don't act like humans. By the end of the film I realized that was not what the filmmakers had hoped I would think.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It is certainly angling for that.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Carey Mulligan is not a one hit wonder. In fact she may be the next Meryl Streep. Isobel Meikle-Small, who plays her as a child, channels Mulligan perfectly, despite the fact that she has never been in front of a camera before. And Andrew Garfield is the next Spider-man, so you may want to catch him here, in an acting role, before he never gets to do a small independent movie again.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Coming from a music video background, Mark Romanek has a mastery of the technical aspects of shooting a film, and he uses color expertly, as he gradually desaturates the picture from the first section of the film, to the second, to the third, in an effort to depict the slow deterioration of the characters' life-spans.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: This script implies that the book it's based on is quite beautiful. What I'm saying is that the screenwriter fell in love with the book, and stayed too faithful to it, ultimately failing to translate the material cohesively to a medium that requires more direct explanations and less poetry. A film is not a book. In part because you can't hear the ramblings from inside the author's head, which normally fill the pages of a book, creating the tone and subtext. A film is a visual medium and is generally shorter than a book. To adapt it, you have to pick it apart and chop it up, which usually requires moving things around, and then you have to bring the important elements to life again in a clear, visual, and brief way, telling the same story differently, yet equally as beautifully.

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

A: The sci-fi twist seems like it wants to be the main thrust of the movie, and draws a conclusion about clones that feels trite and obvious. Surprisingly, in the Q & A, the book's author, Kazuo Ishiguro, explained that he only used the sci-fi twist as a device to show how short our time is, here on Earth. It will improve your viewing experience to know going in that the filmmakers are more interested in examining mortality and how quickly death approaches, than they are in examining the pros and cons of human cloning. Without knowing this, the cloning stuff will look like it's meant to be the main hook.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/never-let-me-go/1428581/trailers

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