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

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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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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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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

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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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Black Swan

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A ballerina (Natalie Portman) gets cast as the lead in Swan Lake and struggles with her inner demons, as her stardom alienates her, makes her paranoid, and generally drives her insane.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Barbara Hershey, Winona Ryder, Benjamin Millepied, Ksenia Solo, Kristina Anapau, Janet Montgomery, Sebastian Stan, Toby Hemingway

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. As you can tell from my late review, I didn't really want to see this film because it looked creepy. And it is. The members of my audience couldn't wait to get the hell out of the theater when the movie ended. But there's no denying that the filmmaking is at expert level.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Darren Aronofsky lives in a world of depressing self-importance. If there was ever any humor in this script, I'm sure he did away with it.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: It's not necessary. Just-- if you're considering becoming a ballerina, don't.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: According to all sources, Natalie Portman is going to win an Academy Award this year.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Believe the hype.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: While I'm rarely interested in any of the stories or subject matters that Darren Aronofsky is compelled to put to celluloid, visually, he is one of my absolute favorite directors working today.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: In the vein of Fight Club, the story deliberately confuses reality with the inner workings of a nutsoid person's mind. It is interpretable, though, and while I don't enjoy guessing what the storytellers want me to believe, I did enjoy the way the story of the film perfectly parallels the story of the ballet. Which brings me to my next question: why do the dudes who wrote and directed this know or care so much about this ballet?

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Black Swan 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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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

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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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Going the Distance

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A couple (Drew Barrymore & Justin Long) meet in New York, when she has only 6 weeks left before she moves back to San Francisco, but they fall in love anyway, so they decide to try a long distance relationship.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Drew Barrymore, Justin Long, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Christina Applegate, Ron Livingston, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Jim Gaffigan, Kelli Garner, June Diane Raphael, Rob Riggle, Sarah Burns, Natalie Morales, Matt Servitto, Leighton Meester, Kristen Schaal

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! As far as romantic-comedies go, this one actually has comedy in it.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Much more than the preview leads you to believe. But be warned, it gets pretty raunchy at times. Even when it's girls talking... and I know that many of you are hyper-sensitive to hearing girls talk about some of the things that girls actually talk about.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: It's sad that it's so much easier to fall in love with someone when you know they're leaving and you don't have any pressure to get into a serious relationship. But it's also stupid because you actually get your heart broken twice as hard that way.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Most successful film starring a couple who is actually dating, since the 1950s (I'm referring back to Lucy and Desi, of course.) Although it may be because they broke up before filming commenced... or maybe they're still together. No one seems to know the latest on this, but it's certainly better PR if they at least pretend to be together until the film passes $100 million at the box office, because you feel like you're getting a glimpse into their real life as a couple.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: As charming and funny as Justin Long is as the MAC guy, he's just not a leading man. Drew Barrymore is even more cute and disarming than usual, despite the fact that she has the laugh of a 60-year-old alcoholic. And Charlie Day is the new Zach Galifianakis.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Let's put this in the "You go, girl!" category. Nanette Burnstein, who has multiple awards for documentary directing, but has never directed a fictional script before, could have fooled me.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Apparently Geoff LaTulippe's original script made the "Black List," which is Hollywood's unofficial list of the best script each year that didn't sell. Knowing this, you can imagine my surprise when I found out in the Q & A, that the first thing the director did was to hire two different writers to rewrite the script completely, and then have the actors improvise most of their dialogue. In turn, I can imagine your surprise at the fact that I'm still surprised that the script got rewritten, even though I should get by now that this is pretty much true of every single movie that has ever gotten made in Hollywood. Then again, while I don't know what the Black List script was like, I did like this version.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/search/going%20the%20distance/trailers

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Get Him to the Greek

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: An aspiring music exec (Jonah Hill) has to get a famous rock star (Russell Brand) from London to Los Angeles in three days, without getting side tracked by drugs, sex, or the rock star's insane membrane.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Jonah Hill, Russell Brand, Elizabeth Moss, Rose Byrne, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, Colm Meaney, Aziz Anzari, Lars Ulrich, Lino Facioli, Nick Kroll, Dinah Stabb, T.J. Miller, Carla Gallo

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. If you liked The Hangover, you'll like this drug induced extended party sequence a little less than that one.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Clearly I see too many movies and I'm jaded because everyone else laughed a lot more than I did. Then again, I hardly laughed in The Hangover either. Shhhh. Don't tell.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: You won't, but according to the dialogue, Lars Ulrich, drummer for Metallica, can cry for 3 hours straight. On a more observational note, I thought it was clever that they had Russell Brand fall in a pool right before the scene where he's supposedly crying, because once his face is covered in water, it's harder to tell, that as an actor, he can't actually cry. I still noticed.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Best product Placement for a New Drug. I wonder how much money the drug dealer's union kicked in for that Jeffery sponsorship?

Q: How is the Acting?

A: My friend Meredith liked Russell Brand more as a bit part in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but I thought the character was still funny (even though I didn't laugh), and it was nice to see a deeper side to the comic relief character. Jonah Hill, for once not standing next to Michael Cera, gets his chance to play the put-upon innocent whom stuff just happens to, and he's unexpectedly good at it. But he really needs to lose some weight before I'll buy that he can get a girlfriend.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Nick Stoller, who never directed anything before Forgetting Sarah Marshall, is clearly getting more comfortable behind the camera, as he can be seen here experimenting more, especially when it comes to creating that drugged out POV.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: A lot of jokes try to make up for a total lack of substance. Despite the supposed urgency of getting him to the Greek, we never feel that the stakes are very high, because in a worst case scenario, Jonah Hill will lose his job, and at a certain point, we're not so sure that he cares about that anymore.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/get-him-to-the-greek/38930/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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Mother and Child

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: 37 years after a teenage girl gives up her child for adoption, she (Annette Bening) is still haunted by the ways in which it ruined her life. Meanwhile, the daughter she doesn't know (Naomi Watts) has grown up to be cold and independent to a fault. And in a separate story, a woman who can't conceive (Kerry Washington), struggles to adopt a child of her own.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Annette Bening, Naomi Watts, Kerry Washington, Jimmy Smits, Samuel L. Jackson, Elpidia Carrillo, Shareeka Epps, S. Epatha Merkerson, Marc Blucas, Cherry Jones, Carla Gallo, Britt Robertson, David Morse, Amy Brenneman, Simone Lopez, Tatyana Ali, David Ramsey, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Eileen Ryan

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. This is a gut-wrenching, powerful drama that all women will be able to relate to, as well as those few men who are in touch with their feminine sides. In other words, while this is a great movie, it may appeal to men about as much as No Country for Old Men appeals to women.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: For a movie that is in no way billed as a comedy, you will be surprised at how many laughs fill each scene. But be warned, they are sophisticated laughs, about the real problems people sometimes have being nice to each other when the world around them seems to have nothing good to offer.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Yes, and you won't even have to feel ashamed about it.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: I foresee some acting awards, as well as a screenplay nomination from the Independent Spirit Awards.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Annette Bening is so good that she manages to make herself look ugly using nothing but her personality. And by the way, Naomi Watts goes full frontal.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Rodrigo Garcia openly admits to not knowing how to direct actors. Instead of directing them, he is picky and painstakingly meticulous about casting the right person in each role, after which his technique is (and I quote): "When you have an actor who knows what he's doing, you as the director would do best to become the follower, not the leader. After all, you still get to take credit for their amazing work."

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Garcia enjoys leaving key details out of the dialogue, but most of them are well explained without words. He magically captures the unpredictable responses of that woman we've all encountered, whose life is going horribly. You know, the one who's always right in front of you in line at the post office or the grocery, yelling at the clerk for seemingly no reason besides that she really needs a punching bag today.

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

A: I learned in the Q & A that Samuel L. Jackson can be lured to most movies by that little brown envelope they call per diem and a guarantee of 2 days a week to play golf at the production company's expense.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/mother-and-child/10011344/trailers

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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

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Chloe

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: When a woman (Julianne Moore) finds out her husband (Liam Neeson) is cheating, she hires an escort (Amanda Seyfried) to hit on him and see how he responds.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Julianne Moore, Liam Neeson, Amanda Seyfried, Max Thieriot, Nina Dobrev, R.H. Thompson

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! It's in the same genre as Fatal Attraction, but with a twist... and some hot girl on girl action.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: I'm not sure if that was on the top of its list of things to do.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Not cry, but definitely squirm.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Men like to say that women are crazy, but I find that when women act crazy in relationships, a lot of the time it is their men's behavior that is driving them to it. This movie has my vote for the Best Depiction of How Men Make Women Lose their Minds Award.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Amanda Seyfried has the most incredible eyes. All she has to do is tilt her head down and look up, and you will believe anything she says.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Most of the time you don't notice it, and then there's the part where Atom Egoyan slowly pans Julianne Moore's naked body while she's in the shower, and then, in case you missed it on the first pass, comes back to a shot of her breasts and her long pointy nipples, and just rests his camera there for a good 10 seconds for absolutely no reason... like a baby grabbing for his mother's teat when he's no longer in the mood for milk.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Erotically thrilling.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/chloe/1430056/trailers

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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

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