The Sitter

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: An aimless slacker (Jonah Hill) gets stuck babysitting three difficult kids (Max Records, Landry Bender, Kevin Rodriguez) on the night when the girl he's trying to sleep with (Ari Graynor) gives him his big chance.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Jonah Hill, Max Records, Landry Bender, Kevin Hernandez, Ari Graynor, Sam Rockwell, J.B. Smoove, Kylie Bunbury, Erin Daniels, D.W. Moffett, Jessica Hecht, Bruce Altman, Samiri Wiley, Cliff "Method Man" Smith, Sean Patrick Doyle, Alex Wolff, Jack Krizmanich, Grace Aronds, Jane Aronds

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! Yes, it's R-rated and shows children swearing, stealing, blowing things up, and partying with dangerous grown-ups until the wee hours of the night, but isn't that what's great about it?!

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: The laughs aren't non-stop, but when they come they are subtle and clever, and generally make you happy you're there.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: It made me sad that there weren't more people in the theater. Mostly because there would have been a lot more laughs if there were.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Best Commercial Comedy that Nobody Decided to See.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Most of the laughs wouldn't be there if it weren't for the actors' awkward delivery. Jonah Hill is known for this style of acting, but Erin Daniels, in the small role of the mom, does a great job of laughing awkwardly at her own weird dialogue, too.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: David Gordon Greene has done bigger movies and smaller movies, and he seems absolutely comfortable at any level.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Okay, so it's not the most original or artistic thing you've ever seen, but it captures the fish-out-of water comedy caper genre at least as well as Date Night did. And frankly, after sitting through several weeks of mediocre to bad awards contenders, this kind of improbably fun ride is a welcome relief.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: The Sitter Trailer

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Rampart

Q: What’s the movie about?

A:  A very dark cop (Woody Harrelson) gets involved in some dark cop business, and before long his life and his state of mind get even darker than the darkness they began in.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A:  Woody Harrelson, Robin Wright, Sigourney Weaver, Brie Larson, Ben Foster, Ned Beatty, Cynthia Nixon, Anna Heche, Sammy Boyarski, Ice Cube, Steve Buscemi, Jon Bernthal, Stella Schnabel, Jon Foster, Robert Wisdom

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A:  Proceed with Caution.  It's just another character story with not much story-story to it, but there's no denying that this character is interesting-- at least so long as there's a screen standing between us, and keeping him at a safe distance away from my scorn.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A:  One guy talks about a barrel of monkeys, and monkeys are always funny.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A:  It's too cold for tears, but it could freeze your heart.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A:  Woody Harrelson is certainly in the running for the Oscar with this one-man-show of a film, and Oren Moverman has a good chance at an Indy Spirit Award for his directing.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Supporting Woody you'll find a plethora of A-level pros who never bomb, including Sigourney Weaver, Robin Wright, and Ben Foster.  You'll also find a breakout performance by the youthful Brie Larson.

Q: How is the Directing?

A:  Very hand-held and indy, but deliberate in an interesting and often original way.  Oren Moverman makes particularly daring choices when it comes to his high and low angles.

Q: How is the story/script?

A:  There are moments of intrigue, but you sort of know the whole time that it's not really going to lead to anything, and after about an hour and a half, it starts to feel extraneous, and you start to feel like if you got up and left you wouldn't really miss anything.  You'd be right.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Rampart Trailer

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The Twilight Sage: Breaking Dawn - Part 1

Q: What’s the movie about?

A:  Bella and Edward (Kristen Stewart & Robert Pattinson-- like you don't know) get married and defy all possibility when she gets pregnant from his demon seed, which threatens to kill her.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A:  Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Billy Burke, Ashley Greene, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Reaser, Kellan Lutz, Nikki Reed, Jackson Rathbone, Gil Birmingham, Sarah Clarke, Booboo Stewart, Alex Rice, Chaske Spencer, Kiowa Gordon, Julia Jones, Bronson Pelletier,  Alex Meraz, Anna Kendrick, Christian Serratos, Justin Chon, Michael Welch, Michael Sheen, Mia Meastro, Maggie Grace, MyAnna Buring, Casey LaBow, Jamie Campbell Bower, Christian Camargo, Mackenzie Foy

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A:  Proceed with Caution.  This movie is very weird, and the only reason you should see it is if you're a Die-hard Twihard, and you're going to see it anyway.  According to this weekend's box-office, that description accounts for a butt-load of you.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A:  Well it starts with a human marrying a vampire, followed by some teenie-porn, and finally concludes with what I'm pretty sure is a form of pedophilia between a half human-half werewolf and a half vampire-half baby, so yeah, it's just all very, very weird.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A:  "Everybody cries at weddings," one of Bella's cheesier lines, turns out to be kinda true.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A:  I'll tell you what it won't be up for, Make-up, special effects, screenplay, directing, cinematography... The clothes are pretty good-- mostly at the weddings.

Q: How is the Acting?

A:  Some of the lines are so bad, that I could actually hear the actors' inner struggle to get them out.  And that's why I have the utmost respect for these actors, especially Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, who have pauses and stares that make you keenly aware that this series could not have worked with anybody else in those roles.  Taylor Lautner still can't act.

Q: How is the Directing?

A:  Bill Condon is a great director, but there's no way to know that from watching this film.  Most disappointing for me are the warmer colors used in the cinematography, which are completely inconsistent with the look and tone of the first 3 movies in the series.  Even TV shows manage to look the same from week to week, and they sometimes have over 100 different episodes, using up to 50 different directors.

Q: How is the story/script?

A:  It starts with a wedding and then  strains to have anything to talk about for the next two hours, proving why movies are supposed to end with weddings.  There is some very strange and illogical drama around the now-defunct love-triangle-- which no longer makes any sense because Bella has already made a firm decision-- at the wedding.   The author tries her damnedest to find reasons to keep Taylor Lautner involved, but they all ring false.  And then there's some drama about whether or not Bella will survive her pregnancy, which is also kind of spoiled by the fact that the title includes the phrase "Part 1."

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1

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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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Son of No One

Q: What’s the movie about?

A:  Told between flashbacks to 1986 and present day 2002, a boy, who is now a cop (Channing Tatum) must deal with the on-going repercussions of having accidentally murdered 2 people in the tenement he grew up in.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A:  Channing Tatum, Jake Cherry, Al Pacino, James Ransone, Brian Gilbert, Ray Liotta, Katie Holmes, Tracy Morgan, Juliette Binoche, Lemon Anderson, Ursula Parker, Simone Jones, Peter Tambakis, Karen Christie-Ward, Decorte Snipes, Marilyn dobrin, Johnnie Mae, Roger Guenveur Smith, Michael Rivera

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A:  Stop!  Either everyone in my audience was an idiot or the film didn't make any sense.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: The funniest part to me were the multiple conversations in the bathroom afterwards as people tried to figure out what they just saw.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A:  Sure, maybe if you use the time to think about something sad.  Like a clown.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A:  Ursula Parker, a young blonde child, who looks like a cross between a young Elle and Dakota Fanning, will likely win All the Roles the Fanning Girls have Grown Too Old to Play.

Q: How is the Acting?

A:  Tracy Morgan will surprise you in this dramatic role-- mostly in that he can do it at all.  Al Pacino is strong and charismatic, despite the fact that his character motivations in pretty much all of his scenes are both unclear and illogical.  And Katie Holmes will impress you with the fact that she's not totally lame. 

Q: How is the Directing?

A:  Just about the same as in Dito Montiel's previous film, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints.

Q: How is the story/script?

A:  The whole story revolves around the mystique of figuring out who the mystery person is who is writing notes in 2002 about the forgotten murders of 1986, and all you can think is, "Who could possibly care about the 16 year old murder of two insane drug addicts who left no loved ones behind?'  Then at the end you find out, and you still don't care.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Son of No One

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50/50

Q: What’s the movie about?

A:  A 27-year-old guy (Joseph Gordon Levitt) discovers he has cancer, with a 50/50 chance of survival.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A:  Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Bryce Dallas Howard, Anjelica Huston, Serge Houde, Andrew Airlie, Matt Frewer, Philip Baker Hall, Jessica Parker Kennedy, Sugar Lyn Beard, Sarah Smyth

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A:  Proceed with Caution.  A lot of people are hyping up this movie, but I think it may be because it's inspired by the true story of writer Will Reiser's actual cancer, and they feel like they have to say good things about it because, shit, the guy had cancer!

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A:  Seth Rogen does his schtick, and it works, but guess what?  Cancer's not funny.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A:  There is one moment that almost got me, and surprisingly, it was a shot of a book.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A:  It will most likely win a Golden Globe for Best Comedy because it's not funny.  I've noticed that Awards shows don't like to recognize sense of humor as an award-worthy skill, so if they can find a project that was marketed as a comedy, even though it's not, they feel more dignified giving an award to that.

Q: How is the Acting?

A:  Joseph Gordon-Levitt is impeccable, as always.  This is by far Anna Kendrick's best performance ever.  And Seth Rogen is perfectly cast in the role of himself-- really, his character is based on the real life him.

Q: How is the Directing?

A:  Jonathan Levine finds ways to be interesting even in the most mundane of shots.

Q: How is the story/script?

A:  There's nothing wrong with it, but ultimately it's just like watching someone go through cancer, and as the friend who turned me down to go to this movie with me said, "Don't we do that enough in our real lives?"

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: 50/50 Trailer

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Brother's Justice

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Dax Shepard attempts to move his career out of comedy and into martial arts films, in this meta-mockumentary.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Dax Shepard, Nate Tuck, Tom Arnold, Ashton Kutcher, Jon Favreau, Bradley Cooper, David Koechner, Michael Rosenbaum, Ryan Hansen, Greg Siegel, James Feldman, Andrew Panay, Jessica Simpson, Carson Daly

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. The tone is tongue in cheek, pretending to be real when it's so obviously fake. And that's a tone that a lot of people can appreciate... Even though, at this point, we've seen a lot of fake movies about movies trying to get made.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: I'll tell you one thing, on more than one occasion, you can see the actors trying not to crack up, which is especially funny because they want so badly for you to believe this is all real.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: No, but I have to warn you, this movie hits high levels of homophobia, and medium levels of racism.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It won the Audience Award at SXSW Film Festival, and I can see why. This is the kind of humor that's best experienced with a hip, alternative festival audience.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Dax presents himself as a real jerk, which I'm not sure is a great career-move. But then again, since the whole movie is a joke, maybe it's brilliant?

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Aside from a few purposely-campy film trailers, scattered throughout the film, the movie is meant to look like a bad hand-held documentary, so there's nothing too showy, except the musical choices. I'm especially partial to a terrible auto-tune number, which uses some of the main characters' dialogue to create a bad techno-remix that instantly gets stuck in your head.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: It walks a very fine line between wanting to be real and fake. And, if you believe that it's real, you now know that all actors know each other, all actors are jealous of each other, and they deal with their jealousy by beating each other up. But I guess if you've ever read a tabloid, you already knew that.

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

A: Having just been picked up for distribution at the Tribeca Film Festival, this movie is currently released on VOD. But it's coming out in theaters on May 12th in New York and L.A. Having experimented with this release tactic tonight, I have to say, it doesn't make much sense to pay $11 to see it somewhere across town in two weeks, when I can see it right now for $6, without ever having to leave my living room. That said, I can see how this film would be better enjoyed with an audience... I'm starting to see why theater owners are pissed off about this new distribution model.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Brother's Justice 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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Hall Pass

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A couple of married men (Owen Wilson & Jason Sudeikis) get a week off from their marriages to do whatever they want.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis, Jenna Fischer, Christina Applegate, Nicky Whelan, Richard Jenkins, Stephen Merchant, Larry Joe Campbell, J.B. Smoove, Bruce Thomas, Tyler Hoechlin, Alexandra Daddario, Derek Waters, Rob Moran, Lauren Bowles, Joy Behar, Kristin Carey, Alyssa Milano, Andrew Wilson

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. I really could have liked it if it didn't make me feel so depressed about both monogamy and old age-- and by "old age," I mean 30s and 40s. Thank you, Hollywood!

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: There is this penis...

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: There's this other penis...

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: There are those penises...

Q: How is the Acting?

A: I miss thinking that Owen Wilson and Jason Sudeikis are either cute or funny...

Q: How is the Directing?

A: The hardest part about judging a directing team is that I'll never know which one of the Farrellys came up with the explosive fart splattering on the wall scene. I guess that's how they protect themselves from having to admit that at the respective ages of 52 and 54, their humor hasn't evolved at all since they were respectively 12 and 14. Hey, if I put that joke on film, I'd point the finger at the other guy, too.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Congratulations to all four of them for getting this impossible hypothetical fantasy made.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Hall Pass Trailer

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Tiny Furniture

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: After graduating from college, Aura (Lena Dunham) moves back in with her mom and tries to find herself.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Lena Dunham, Laurie Simmons, Grace Dunhan, Jemima Kirke, Alex Karpovsky, David Call, Merritt Wever, Amy Seimetz

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Stop! This film has been all the rage at Sundance and on the indy scene, even to the point where Judd Apatow hand-picked the writer-director, Lena Denham, to develop a television pilot with him, because he was such a big fan. You can imagine my curiosity about a movie that could draw the attention of the most important comedic auteur of my generation... but if I'm honest, I have to say that I totally didn't get it.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: It's supposed to, but it didn't make me.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: It makes me want to cry to see such acclaim go to a film that has a few redeeming qualities, and a few interesting turns of phrase, but ultimately is about nothing and goes nowhere.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Don't ask me, I'm out of the loop on this one.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: I was unable to take my eyes off of Jemima Kirke when she was on screen. She is talented and beautiful enough to claw herself all the way to the A-List. Lena Dunham, on the other hand, who stars in her own film, has my mind in a pickle. Due to the dialogue that she herself wrote, her friends in the movie constantly tell her that she looks great and is so pretty, but the girl I was looking at was borderline homely, and hadn't even brushed her thin, matted hair in the back. Normally, I might give her a pass for that because she can't see it in the mirror, but on movie sets you have a hair person, who can see the back of your head, so there's really no excuse besides that she wanted to look ugly with bad hair. Worst of all, her character isn't particularly good-looking on the inside either. She is whiny and selfish, entitled, and manipulative. All I can say is she never would've gotten this role if she weren't sleeping with the director.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Some of the shots are interesting. Especially the extraneous ones Dunham shows of herself getting dressed in see-through clothing, showering naked doggy-style, and walking around with no underwear on. Why she thinks anyone wants to see that is just further proof of how much I don't get this movie.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The one thing this movie does well is capture that after-college angst of being lost and aimless and living at home like a big loser. But at some point I found myself desperately wanting to leave the theater. Maybe it was too cold in there, maybe I had realized the movie was going nowhere, or maybe I had simply realized that I didn't care whether the movie was going anywhere. I stuck it out, though, just so I could tell you with certainty that the ending does not make the rest of the viewing experience feel worthwhile.

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

A: If anyone has seen this and got it, please share your insights. I really would like to know what's so great about this story.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/tiny-furniture/10033725/trailers

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Made in Dagenham

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: In 1968, Ford Automotive's female factory workers in Dagenham, England went on strike to try to get equal pay for women, and in the process shut down the whole plant, putting their own husbands out of work, and pissing everybody off.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Sally Hawkins, Bob Hoskins, Geraldine James, Daniel Mays, Andrea Riseborough, Miranda Richardson, Jaime Winstone, Rosamund Pike, Kenneth Cranham, Richard Schiff, Rupert Graves, Marcus Hutton, Roger Lloyd-Pack

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! Anything worth having is worth fighting for. But in this day and age, we've all grown so entitled about what we think we deserve that we don't think we still have to fight to get it, and sometimes I wonder if any of us will ever have anything worth having again.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: I finally understand why I'm reading so much about Andrea Riseborough in all the Hollywood trade magazines. In this movie, she looks like Angelina Jolie with a potty-mouth and a low class British accent. So as you can imagine, she has all the good lines.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Most of the time... then again, women's lib has been my issue since elementary school, where I used to pick fist-fights with the boys just to prove that a girl could beat them up, so maybe it's just me.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: I can't imagine any of the British Awards will overlook this Norma Rae for Limeys.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: The British don't ever seem to put actors in their movies who can't act. Can you think of anyone in any British movie that was less than excellent?

Q: How is the Directing?

A: I'm trying to figure out what it is about Nigel Cole that attracts him to so many projects about the plight of women. In Calendar Girls he fought against ageism geared at women by telling the story of a group of women over 50 who put together a nude calendar, and here he follows that up with what can only be described as part two of a natural trilogy. I'm thinking the final installment should be about a group of women who figure out how to get their husbands to do housework.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: You know this script is British because nothing gets overly dramatic or in your face, and right when you think of the obvious comeback for a character, they say something much more subtle, and possibly more effective than the obvious.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/made-in-dagenham/51718/video/made-in-dagenham-trailer-no-1/648405641001

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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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Four Lions

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A group of British Jihadists prepare to blow themselves up, but based on their behavior, they could just as easily be preparing for a Vaudeville act starring Larry, Curly, and Mo.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Riz Ahmed, Kayvan Novak, Nigel Lindsay, Arsher Ali, Adeel Akhtar, Preeya Kalidas, Julia Davis, Benedict Cumberbatch

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. The idea behind the idea is pretty genius, once you're in on the joke, but it's really challenging to figure out the joke.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: If you can get past the language barrier, and the style of the humor, I'm pretty sure this movie is drop dead hilarious. As for me, I understood about every third word, despite it supposedly being in English.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: The saddest thing about it is that many of the moronic things these would-be suicide bombers do and say are inspired by true events. Like the time the jihadist was on a bicycle, on his way to deliver a bomb, and he veered to avoid a pothole running right into a lamppost. Boom! True story.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: The Wash Your Mouth Out with Soap Award. Thanks to this movie, prematurely exploding doesn't have to be sexual innuendo anymore!

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Nigel Lindsay stands out as being Ali G level funny. Kayvan Novak and Riz Ahmed have the looks to be big stars-- which isn't to say that they weren't funny as all Hell, too. And Julia Davis is just... wow, she has a timing all her own.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: The directing is one of the few aspects of the film that is totally amateurish. You rarely know where the characters are in relation to each other or the room, and the look is of embarrassingly low quality. Director Chris Morris comes from a TV background in Great Britain, which is notorious for putting shows on the air that look like they were shot on a 1980s camcorder... but the poor resolution may also have been due to the projection system in the dumpy rent-a-theater I saw it in.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: It's particularly hard to figure out if these guys are serious about martyring themselves, or if they're just making some kind of a film within a film about what it would be like if they were. That said, some of the dialogue is pretty brilliant. In a nonsensical way.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/four-lions/10024302/trailers

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Micmacs

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: After getting hit in the head with a stray bullet, Bazil (Dany Boon) becomes homeless and is taken in by a group of other homeless people, each with their own strange talent. Together they embark on a convoluted plot to bring down the arms dealer who shot him, as well as the arms dealer who killed his father, by pinning them against each other.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Dany Boon, André Dussollier, Nicolas Marié, Jean-Pierre Marielle, Yolande Moreau, Julie Ferrier, Omar Sy, Dominique Pinon, Michel Crémadès, Marie-Julie Baup

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. It's sure to become a French cult classic, which some people will refer to as genius, and others will refer to as bizarre.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: The convenience of the many coincidences that lead the characters to formulate a perfectly played-out, mistake free, full proof heist plan might. But the Jerry Lewis-like antics won't.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: No, but it hopes to get you riled up against arms dealers... just in case you didn't already think they were the bad guys.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It really should be considered for Art Direction. It's pretty cool.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Over the top and clown-like. Think Jim Carrey crossed with Charlie Chaplin speaking a made up, nonsensical language. Not my thing.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Jean-Pierre Jeunet is the Tim Burton of France.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Surreal and requiring a great deal of suspension of disbelief. Yes, it's meant to be a fantasy version of reality (starting with the man surviving a bullet to the forehead), but ultimately this group of homeless misfits turns out to be more clever than Ethan Hunt, Macgyver, and Einstein, all rolled into one. So you have to either go with it, or go home.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/micmacs/10011343/trailers

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Finding Bliss

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: An award winning film school grad (Leelee Sobieski) discovers that the only way she's going to be able to make her feature film debut is by editing films for the adult film industry.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Leelee Sobieski, Matt Davis, Donnamarie Recco, Denise Richards, Kristen Johnston, Jamie Kennedy, Mircea Monroe, P.J. Byrne, Time Bagley, Caroline Aaron

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. For a movie about people who f#@* each other for a living, it's really cute! Like a puppy doing a bunny.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: It has dildos galore, and you'd have to be really horny not to think dildos are funny.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: If, like me, you never wanted to see Jamie Kennedy whip it out, there is one part that could make you a little queasy. The good news is that I'm 99% sure it's a prosthetic. Then again, if that 1% margin is actually the case, it would explain a lot about how he's made it so far in his career... Well, that, and Son of the Mask.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Here's a useless piece of trivia I've somehow kept in the recesses of my mind for the past 13 years: Julie Davis, the director of this film used to work as an editor in the porn industry to pay for her filmmaking habit. Which gets this movie the award for Most Unlikely True Story of the Year.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Mircea Monroe really stands out for me. I can see her becoming an A-list rom-com actress competing for roles with Malin Akerman. She has the looks and the comedy chops. You heard it here first, people. Check back in 2 years.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Either the directing is really ugly, or Julie Davis purposely made her film look like a B-movie from the 80s that was shot after hours at a porn studio to reflect the story she is telling about a girl making a B-movie after hours at a porn studio.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Loaded with cursing and sex, delving surprisingly deeper than it seems like it's going to go. And then deeper and deeper until the romantic storyline becomes filled with tension, and you just want so badly for it to... Ahhhh.

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

A: Now that I have my wits about me again, I'd like to apologize for what just happened in the script section. That was meant to be private. I'm so incredibly embarrassed and ashamed. Oh my God, my mother reads this blog.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/finding-bliss/1426113/trailers

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MacGruber

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Based on the Saturday Night Live sketch, MacGruber, which is based on spoofing the 1980s TV show, MacGyver, this is the story of a supposedly amazing ex-special operative who actually totally sucks. But don't tell him that.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Ryan Phillippe, Val Kilmer, Powers Boothe, Maya Rudolph

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. This is another one of those movies that is so dumb that it's funny. I learned from my review of Hot Tub Time Machine that some of you don't find humor in complete and total idiocy, so this yellow light is dedicated to you. The dumbditude of this movie makes Hot Tub Time Machine look like it's targeted at Mensa members.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: The people next to me giggled awkwardly and uncontrollably from the beginning to the end. I'm pretty sure they were high.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Personally, I had a tear of nostalgia, because in college, I, too, used to get high. With a couple of the writers of this movie, in fact. So the dialogue brought me right back to those good old days of the deep, important conversations, which if any of us had been sober, would have sounded completely nonsensical.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Best backstory in any movie, ever.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: It is some of the best acting I've seen out of both Will Forte and Ryan Phillippe... which I recognize, isn't saying much in either case.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Jorma Taccone shows a little too much gore for my taste, but aside from that, his style is perfectly matched to the broad tone of the script.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: High on potty humor and low on cleverness, but a good, dumb time, nonetheless.

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

A: There is a homophobic joke that wants to be funny, but is only offensive. You know I'm not easily offended by humor, as I try to be an equal opportunity offender, myself. But if you're sensitive to homophobia, be warned. This joke misses the mark for anybody who understands that you can be a buff manly-man, and still want to have sex with dudes.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/macgruber/38929/trailers

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Babies

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: This documentary follows four babies from different parts of the world (Namibia, Mongolia, Tokyo, San Francisco) during their first year of life, comparing and contrasting how child rearing in civilized and uncivilized society is completely different and also exactly the same.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Four kids under a year old who already have bigger acting careers than you. And three of them don't even speak English.

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. What I like about this movie (aside from all the cuteness) is the way that without telling us anything, it reminds us that we are animals in nature who function with or without the societies that we create. What some of you may not like, is that in the age of Facebook, you've probably already seen more footage of babies that aren't yours than you can stomach.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Less if you've already seen the previews, but still quite a bit.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: No, but I wouldn't want to be any of of these kids when they get to Junior High. When I was a pre-teen, I remember being embarrassed in front of my friends that my parents had naked baby pictures of me. Not only do these kids have a whole naked theatrical release about them, but two of them poop, one of them discovers his genitals, and one of them throws a temper tantrum over something really dumb.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: We may as well go ahead and give it the Cuteness Award, because babies don't appreciate it when you take that away from them. So far, it's all they've got.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Each child has such a distinct personality and disposition from the start, that it becomes hard to argue against nature's roll in providing us each with a soul and an essence that no one could ever imitate or duplicate.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Heartless. There are times when these babies are getting themselves into potentially perilous situations, and you can't help but wonder how the cameraman can just sit there rolling film, rather than jumping in and saving these poor, helpless things from themselves... Then again, those are the best moments in the film.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Seemingly simple and innocuous, but if you go see it with intelligent people, you will be surprised at how much there is to talk about (and argue about) afterward, both regarding societal norms and the constant learning curve of being human.

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

A: Yes. Enjoying life is not about money. We are survivors by nature and can adapt to any conditions. Don't ever forget it.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/babies/50452/trailers

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