I Melt With You

Q: What’s the movie about?

A:  4 44-year-old guys (Thomas Jane, Jeremy Piven, Rob Lowe, & Christian McKay) reunite every year for one of their birthdays and take more drugs than seems humanly possible, as they work out their lives.  Let me tell you something about the number 4, in China, it's considered such bad luck, that the elevators don't have any floors with the number 4 in them.  Yes, this does mean that if you live on the 50th floor of a building, your direct downstairs neighbors live on the 39th floor.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A:  Thomas Jane, Jeremy Piven, Rob Lowe, Christian McKay, Carla Gugino, Tom Bower, Arielle Kebbel, Zander Eckhouse, Abhi Sinha, Sasha Grey, Joe Reegan, August Emerson, Rebecca Creskoff, Melora Hardin, Shane Roney

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A:  Proceed wit Caution.  This movie is love it or hate it.  Personally, I did both.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A:  If you are paying very close attention.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: There is a butt-load of crying in it, but will you relate?  That depends on how much you hate yourself and why.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A:  Surprisingly it's not yet.  And oddly, this is one overly-arty and borderline boring indy film that I would've voted for in a few categories-- particularly directing.

Q: How is the Acting?

A:  Christian McKay often seems to be in a much more melodramatic film than the others.  Jeremy Piven has moments where you begin to see his range, and others where you wonder if he'll ever be anyone besides Ari Gold again.  And Rob Lowe... Is it just me, or is he getting hotter with age.  I never went for him as a kid (I was a rebel), but now, his face is practically inhuman.

Q: How is the Directing?

A:  Mark Pellington directs this film as an independent film should be directed.  He shows individuality and a style all his own, without  coming off deliberately pretentious.  His shots are unpredictable and often have you wondering why he chose to shoot from a certain angle, but strangely, this time the thought is never accompanied by a feeling of anger.

Q: How is the story/script?

A:  I knew where this film was going to go about 30 minutes in, but it is such a strange place to go that I remained intrigued about how it would manage to go there.  Ultimately the characters' actions as a group are completely unjustifiable, despite the fact that their actions as indivuals make perfect sense.  I have you intrigued, don't I?

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

A:  The soundtrack wants me to comment about it, but I'm not going to.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: I Melt With You

Back To Top

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

Back To Top

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

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

Back To Top

Love and Other Drugs

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A heartless pharmaceutical rep (Jake Gyllenhaal) falls in love with a Parkinson's patient (Anne Hathaway).

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, Oliver Platt, Hank Azaria, Josh Gad, Gabriel Macht, Judy Greer, George Segal, Jill Clayburgh, Kate Jennings Grant, Katheryn Winnick, Kimberly Scott

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. When making your decision about whether or not to see this movie, there's really only one question you need to ask yourself: do you want to see Anne Hathaway's boobs? If it's any help, I can advise you that they are very nice looking.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Parkinson's disease is the one that gives you the shakes, so it goes without saying that it has been the source of much laughter through the ages. And if you're one of those a-holes who thinks that's funny, then yes.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Not really, but I'm still sad that Parkinson's sent Michael J. Fox into early retirement. I miss his comedic genius almost as much as I miss Leslie Nielsen's.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Did you hear? Anne Hathaway is hosting the Academy Awards this year, along with James Franco? This raises a lot of questions for me, like: What is the Academy thinking? And, why would Anne Hathaway and James Franco want to take that much time out of their schedules during the height of their careers, just to host a self-indulgent Awards show that no one will remember one week after it has passed? And mostly, how much time will each of them have to spend rehearsing their reaction to the moment when someone else takes home the statue they had hoped to win in the Best Actor and Best Actress categories... Awkward.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Jake Gyllenhaal gives his most convincing sexy-love face since the gay-cowboy movie. Anne Hathaway gives her most convincing I'm-screwy-so-don't-mess-with-me act since the got-out-of-rehab-right-on-time-to-mess-up-my-sister's wedding movie. And Hank Azaria pretends to be someone with a heart... Kinda.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: It looks like it was a lot of fun. Ed Zwick goes from multiple angles of making out to multiple angles of naked bodies and back. It was probably a closed set 50% of the time, and it's hard to imagine how anybody was able to focus on work.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The more I think about it, the more I think that Ed Zwick wrote this piece (with Charles Randolph) just so that he could spend the next few months filming two sexy, naked twenty-somethings doing it. Perv.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/love-and-other-drugs/10022018/trailers

Back To Top

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

Back To Top

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

Back To Top

Hot Tub Time Machine

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Four guys (John Cusack, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry, Clarke Duke) get transported back to 1986 in a hot tub that's a time machine, and as they try to retrace their steps, so as not to disrupt the present, they figure out where their lives went wrong.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: John Cusack, Craig Robinson, Rob Corddry, Clarke Duke, Sebastian Stan, Lyndsy Fonseca, Crispin Glover, Chevy Chase, Collette Wolfe, Lizzy Caplan, Charlie McDermott, Aliu Oyofo, Jake Rose, Brook Bennett

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! Why the Hell not?!

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: At first I was worried, as the audience around me laughed and I didn't. But when I finally did get around to laughing, they were big belly laughs.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Some of those 80s fashions might make you cry. Especially when you realize that they're not that different from the stuff that's coming into style right now.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Not so much an award as whatever the opposite of that is called. You see, while the movie takes place in 1986, the notoriously funny 80s styles that the film features are actually from 1982. I imagine the film was written in hopes of exploiting 1982's New Wave style, but it probably took several years to sell, get packaged, and get made, so they had to move the date forward or the main characters would've been pushing 50, if you do the math (which I did). At the same time, there's no point in doing a time travel theme to the 80s, if you're not going to highlight the beautiful colors and shapes that make up the look of 1982, so they cheated. But I was there, and I know the truth.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Sebastian Stan plays a dead-on 80s bad guy, and gets you wondering how the acting back then got away with being so bad. And if Rob Corddry hasn't broken out for you yet, this movie should do it. He's got most of the funny lines.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Steve Pink does a great job of spoofing 80s movies, from the two-dimensional good looking preppy bad guy who always wants to pick a fight for no good reason to the abundant gratuitous bouncing bare breast shots that used to be in every movie about teenage boys. Remember those? And remember how our parents used to let us go see them? Yeah, times have changed. You just can't make movies about teenage boys who have the power to pop open women's shirts with their eyes, anymore. (P.S. if you're too young to remember Zapped, I suggest you rent it. If nothing else, so that you can better understand why Generation Xers turned out the way we did. We grew up on movies like that.)

Q: How is the story/script?

A: While you can predict a lot of what's going to happen, the writers create original dialogue by following convention and then taking it back as soon as they've done their due diligence to the convention. So that the joke becomes, "We know how this scene is supposed to go, and we're going to make you think we're going that way, but we're not really going to go that way. Instead, once you're comfortable with your little convention, we're going to go much further, in a potentially offensive direction, that you didn't have the guts to predict." After you've seen it, think about what I'm saying. Preferably while under the influence of magical mushrooms. It will make perfect sense.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/hot-tub-time-machine/37538/trailers

Back To Top

The Messenger

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A wounded war hero (Ben Foster) comes back from Iraq with 3 months left to serve and is assigned to join the team of soldiers who inform the next of kin when their loved ones have died in battle.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Jena Malone, Steve Buscemi, Jahmir Duran-Abreau, Yaya DaCosta, Eamonn Walker, Lisa Joyce

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! This film manages to gut-wrenchingly portray the atrocities of war, without ever showing a single frame of the atrocities of war.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: What is it about Woody Harrelson that makes his most disturbed characters come off so funny? I guess there's a fine line between hilarious and clinically insane.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: If you don't cry, you might just be hilarious (as defined above).

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Woody is up for Best Supporting actor at the Oscars, as are the screenwriters, Oren Moverman and Alessandro Camon. They're all also nominated for Spirit Awards, along with Samantha Morton. Meanwhile, Ben Foster comes off like one of the most overlooked performances of the Awards season. And I'll tell you why I think he was overlooked... Because (at least in this movie) he looks like Owen Wilson.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: All the actors have so much going on underneath the surface that you empathize with them, without ever imagining that you might be able to relate to the inner torture of what they're going through.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: The directing is not particularly noticeable, except when the camera holds a little too long on several shots of Ben Foster staring off at someone he feels compassion for.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The dialogue is understated in exactly the right way. It doesn't give you everything, but it never leaves you hanging. At some point in the second half, the story meanders onto a different course than it originally set off on, and the movie starts to feel about 10 minutes too long, but in the end you forgive it, because it still feels important and new. How is it that this is the first time that anyone has ever thought to tell the sad story of the poor soldiers who are tasked with reporting the worst possible news to loving families, day in and day out?

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-messenger/36286/trailers

Back To Top

We Live in Public

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A documentary about Josh Harris, an early internet pioneer who predicted that social networking would take over and destroy our ability to interact with each other as kind, loving humans, long before social networking had been invented.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Josh Harris, members of his family, his most pivotal ex-girlfriend, Tanya Corrin, and a large number of New York freaks who sign up to live together for a month in an underground bunker where they were filmed doing everything from showering and sh*tting to f*#king and sucking, and where the only thing playing on TV were channels featuring the other nutzoids living in their cult-like community-- which they ironically called, Quiet.

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! This movie is both fascinating and disturbing. But I'm asking you to see it anyway, so that you can get the deepest possible understanding that everything you do and say on the internet can and will haunt you for the rest of your living days. And then, maybe you'll consider taking a break from that little screen once in a while.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Sure, if you're one of those people who gets joy from watching others suffer.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: If will certainly make you long for a simpler time, when we used to actually see each other in person. Oh, how I miss human to human connection... And do you remember hugging? That was awesome.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It won the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at Sundance, and I wouldn't be surprised if it got a shot at the Academy. It's just so topical!

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Internet millionaires are crazy. And not in a good way, like the bi-polar, suicidal, ex-junkies that they lock up in their basements to use as lab rats in their wacky attempts to call themselves artists.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: I always wonder, when a documentary director sticks with a subject for 10 years, how does she know when it's time to stop filming and just make a film already? At the same time, considering her subject's obsession with filming every detail of his life to play on the internet, I can kind of understand her optimism, since she was blessed with a giant amount of pre-existing footage. Which also begs the question: How come I never heard about this place, "Quiet" before?!

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Linear. It starts in 1984, when Josh Harris first discovered the potential of the internet, and clearly and logically takes us through the period of the 90s when anything was possible, to the dot-com crash, to today, when the things you may have done in the 90s are on your permanent record, and will prevent you from ever doing anything cool again... or at least until a movie is made about your life, alerting internet investors that you may actually have a small clue as to what you're talking about.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

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

Back To Top

Watchmen

(Guest Review by Jack)

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Adapted from Alan Moore's landmark comic book series, Watchmen is a story set in an alternative 1985, where the world is ticking closer to the brink of nuclear war, and a plot to eliminate a band of ex-crime fighters is instigated, but why? and by whom? It is up to two of those ex-crime fighters to investigate the plot, before the plot exterminates them.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Malin Ackerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson, Carla Gugino

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Stop! For all but the die hard fans of the graphic novel, this movie will not live up to expectations or the hype. It is not your typical Superhero movie, in that (much like in the novel) there aren't that many fight scenes or action scenes. Just a lot of standing around and talking– which is very heady when you're trying to enjoy your popcorn. Plus, if you have not read the book, you will most likely be lost a good portion of the time, since some of the key back story is left out. Concurrently, if you did read the book, and didn’t like it, you won’t feel any differently about this incredibly faithful movie adaptation.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Not intentionally. I did hear a few laughs during the screening– but they had that air of confusion, as if to say, "What is going on?" Having read the graphic novel, I could tell from what they weren't getting, that those laughing had not.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: At 2hrs40, my eyes were filled with tears from the large Coke I had to drink to get through it– I was running for relief when it ended.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Maybe Visual Effects, if somebody wants to throw it a bone.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Malin Ackerman, who plays Silk Spectre 2 (one of the major characters), falls flat most of the time. But the rest of the cast does well, and the standout performance by Jackie Earle Haley, as Rorschach, made me want to see a movie based solely on him.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: It is extremely faithful to the graphic novel– even framing most shots to replicate the novel’s visuals. While not requiring the imagination that made Lord of the Rings transcend its source material, Zach Snyder does a good job with this movie.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The problem with the movie is its source material, which holds this movie back from mass appeal. The Watchmen is a challenging deconstruction of the Superhero. This is something that works on the page in a way that can't possibly be translated to the screen. On top of that, some scenes come off campy, using word for word dialogue taken from the novel-- this is especially true of the final confrontation.

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

A: I don't know why Warner Brothers thought that Joe Blow in Idaho would like this story. And it begs the question whether the guy at Fox who thought the script was unreadable and passed on the project had ever read the graphic novel. My guess is that he only read the coverage.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/watchmen/26998/trailers
Back To Top

RockNRolla

(Guest Review by Russ)

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A real-estate scam leads some underworld tough-guys to millions in cash, but not before a lot of double-crosses with a lot of colorful characters set in the colorful city of London.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Jeremy Piven, Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges, Mark Strong, Karl Roden, Jimi Mistry, Toby Kebbell, Tom Hardy, Idris Elba

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. RockNRolla signals a nice return to form for writer/director Guy Ritchie, so if you loved Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, you will eat this up. If thick British accents, dark humor and plot-twists for days aren’t your thing, then maybe skip it.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: When criminals, Russian mobsters, gay and straight tough-guys and sexy accountants are all this smart, this dumb, this lucky and this snake-bitten, it’s hard not to laugh. But fortunately, you’re supposed to.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: No. If you want to see a Guy Ritchie movie that’ll make you cry, go rent Swept Away. On second thought, don’t, I can't want to be responsible for your suicide.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Probably not, but there would be no shame in seeing Tom Wilkinson and newcomer (at least to America) Toby Kebbell (as rocker Johnny Quid) get acting nominations.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: It’s all so natural that it makes you forget how good everyone is, and it’s always nice to see some fresh faces that are lesser known on American shores. How does Tom Wilkinson find these roles year in and year out and become such completely different characters? He’s amazing. Gerard Butler is slyly funny, confident and freaked-out all at the same time. And one more mention to Toby Kebbell (I know: Who!?) as the RocknRoller (i.e. singer) who wants to be a RocknRolla (i.e. gangster) that everyone is trying to find. He starts out as a side-note, until you realize he’s the most pivotal character in the film, and probably the most interesting.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Guy Ritchie is never at a loss for directing with true style that doesn’t come off as showy, but rather informs his story and characters. RockNRolla is less hyper than his past films, but in this case, that’s a good thing.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The thin plot is what makes RockNRolla a lesser film than either Snatch or Lock, Stock…, but it’s just engaging enough to keep you interested. And after an over-explained set-up that can be hard to follow, it doesn’t turn out to be that hard to follow. The final intersection of the two divergent stories could have been smoother, but that’s a minor quibble. Overall, it’s a satisfying framework in which to let these oddball characters loose, so they can rattle around and bump up against each other for two hours.

Back To Top

Young People F***ing

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Five intercut stories, about five different types of sexual relationships (the Couple, the Best Friends, the Exes, the First Date and the Roommates), as they each try to experience a night of pleasure.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Aaron Abrams, Diora Baird, Sonja Bennett, Callum Blue, Kristin Booth, Josh Cooke, Josh Dean, Ennis Esmer, Natalie Lasinska, Peter Oldring, Carly Pope

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Stop! While the concept of examining these various different types of relationships is interesting, and the structure of "Prelude, Foreplay, Sex, Interlude, Orgasm, and Afterglow" is original, the film is neither insightful nor titillating, and it won't add much to your life besides a few new mental images of bouncing breast... Hey, that might be enough for some of you.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: With a subject matter this relatable, they can't help but muster a few good laughs. By the same token, there should've been a whole lot more.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: If you're in a couple, the poignant reminders of how hard it is to keep your sex life interesting once you know all your partner's tricks could be saddening.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: In a sea of indy films that will never see the light of day, this one is lucky to be released at all. And the filmmakers should consider that to be the highest of honors.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: The story, having clearly been written and conceived by actors, plays like a series of scene study exercises. Thankfully, this cast is made up of the star-students from each acting class.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: For a movie that's supposed to be about Young People F***ing, there sure are a lot of talking heads! And unfortunately, I am talking about the head bone connected to the neck bone.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: If you're gonna give your film such an edgy title, you'd better have something new, clever and deeply perceptive to say about sexual relationships and how they improve and/or ruin a person's life. Otherwise, the title just seems like a marketing ploy, making your audience feel like the suckers who fell for it. I've been had.

Back To Top