Another Year

Q: What’s the movie about?

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

Q: Who’s in the movie?

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

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

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

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

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

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

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

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

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

Q: How is the Acting?

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

Q: How is the Directing?

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

Q: How is the story/script?

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

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

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

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Another Year Trailer

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Get Low

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A grumpy recluse (Robert Duvall) pays a funeral home operator (Bill Murray) to plan a funeral for him while he's still alive, so that he can attend it and hear what people have to say about him.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Robert Duvall, Bill Murray, Lucas Black, Sissy Spacek, Gerald McRaney, Bill Cobbs, Scott Cooper, Lori Beth Edgeman

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. People will want to argue that this is one of those original, special gems that you discover every so often and can't wait to tell your friends about... until they get to the funeral scene, which is disappointingly anti-climactic after all the great build up and anticipation.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: The humor is so smart and so serious and delivered in perfect dead-pan by Bill Murray.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: It's all about death and funerals, so obviou-- No.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Contrary to my review, I'm pretty sure it'll get nominated at the Spirit Awards for Best Original Screenplay. Those guys love to try to contradict me, so at least this time I'll be able to say "I told ya' so!"

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Bill Murray is quintessential in this one, but in quintessential Bill Murray style, he totally flaked out on the Q & A. Which is really too bad for him, because if he'd been there, he might've gotten a standing ovation like Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek did. Sure, their acting was good, but the standing O might also just be because when 'Boo' Radley walks into a room with Carrie, it becomes pretty impossible not to stand up.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: The main thing that impressed me about Aaron Schneider's directing was how well he captured the Coen Brothers' comic timing and sensibility. Not easy to do.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: So much is good about this script that it pains me to say: when your whole movie is about a guy throwing his own funeral so that he can hear all the nasty rumors that have been going around about him for the last 40 years, you have to have a least one person at the funeral stand up and tell us a nasty rumor!!!

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/get-low/36568/trailers

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Grown Ups

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A group of childhood friends (Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, and Rob Schneider) reunite for a long weekend at the lake house they used to stay at when they were kids, only this time they have kids… Ah the memories.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Adam Sandler, Kevin James, Chris Rock, David Spade, Rob Schneider, Salma Hayek Pinault, Maria Bello, Maya Rudolph, Joyce Van Patten, Ebony Jo-Ann, Di Quon, Steve Buscemi, Colin Quinn, Tim Meadows, Madison Riley, Jamie Chung, Ashley Loren, Jake Goldberg, Cameron Boyce, Alexys Nycole Sanchez

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. As I’ve gone to great lengths to demonstrate with the plot description, this movie has no plot. But it does give you a sense of what hanging out with Adam Sandler and his less successful Saturday Night Live cronies, plus Kevin James, must feel like.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: All they do is make fun of each other for an hour and half, and considering they are all professional stand-up comedians, they are bound to say something funny once in a while.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: If you have sophisticated taste, you will cry at how much America is going to love this movie. If you are America, you will be too busy laughing your ass off non-stop to have the energy to cry.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It actually is the best, most down to earth movie any of these guys has ever made. Except Adam Sandler, but only because he did The Wedding Singer.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Chris Rock simply can not act and he embarrasses himself by trying. On a positive note, he makes his comic friends look like Laurence Olivier. So that’s generous.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: I’m starting to notice that Dennis Dugan, who directs most of Adam Sandler’s comedies, relies more heavily on over-the-top sound effects for his prat falls and face plants, than he does on stunt men. Meanwhile, the scene which most of you have seen from the preview, where Kevin James is too scared to let go of the rope, so he instead crashes into a tree and then falls down a hill landing right on the part of his neck that would cause it to break and him to die, or at least be paralyzed for life, needed to be edited both for sound and for picture, because there is no way he survived that fall the way it’s depicted now. No way. Not even if it were a scene from Transformers.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: I’m pretty sure they didn’t use one. I imagine they all sat around saying, “Wouldn’t it be funny if we did a scene where we pee in the pool and it turns blue?” “Yeah, we’ll go to the water park for that. That way, production will pay us to have fun on the water slides.” “Yeah, we’re funny guys, we don’t need a story, people want to see us hanging out and having fun like we do.” “And anyway, so long as we say something funny every few sentences no one will notice that there’s no story here.” And the saddest part is that according to the crowd I saw it with, they were right.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/grown-ups/37887/trailers

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Drag Me to Hell

(Guest Review by Russ)

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A loan officer (Alison Lohman) makes a fatal mistake when she doesn’t approve an old woman for a loan and gets a supernatural curse placed on her that makes her life a living hell.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao, David Paymar, Reggie Lee

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! It’s scary, it’s funny and gross as hell (of the PG-13 variety). And you’re in the talented, masterful hands of a filmmaker who knows this genre inside and out. Grab your bucket of popcorn and 10 gallons of soda and go scream with two-hundred other people and have a great time. This is why we go to the movies, right?

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Yes. It’ll make you laugh in two ways, 1: Nervous laughter cause you know things are about to go horribly wrong and 2. Genuine laughter because the filmmakers meant for you to laugh.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Does projectile vomiting make you weep? If so, bring Kleenex.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Probably not, but I’d rather see Sam Raimi win something for this than a Spider-Man movie.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Lorna Raver as Mrs. Ganush, the gypsy woman who puts a curse on Alison Lohman, is brilliant. She’s all sorts of creepy-scary and her dentures alone will give you nightmares. And just wait till her eyelid gets stapled shut. Awesome! Also, I would be remiss not to mention a goat in this movie that is weirdly expressive and gets some good laughs.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Before becoming a mega-director overseeing the Spider-Man franchise, Sam Raimi made some cool horror movies in his early career and it’s obvious he’s having a great time returning to that genre with this film. If you’ve seen any of his Evil Dead movies, then you’ll have an idea of the tone of this one and what constitutes Sam Raimi Horror. He knows how to keep it suspenseful, scary and funny without the gross-out of severed limbs and tons of blood. Drag Me To Hell offers up a bunch of sequences that will make you want to hurl, but your revulsion will be tempered by how much you’re laughing. A five-minute sequence in a parking garage near the beginning of the film is worth the price of admission alone; it has to be seen to be believed.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: There is just enough back-story mumbo jumbo about the curse to make it work, and that’s about all this movie really needs to get you hooked. The humor (mainly from Justin Long) is appreciated and the plot zips along fast enough so that you don’t think too much about any plot holes or if Alison Lohman’s character really deserves the curse she incurs. I wish the twist had been cleverer – it’s not hard to figure out – but it doesn’t detract one bit from a great ending that still comes as a nice surprise. With a title like Drag Me To Hell, don’t expect this movie to wimp out for even one second of its 99 minutes.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/drag-me-to-hell/32362/trailers

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Ghosts of Girlfriends Past

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Structured like Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, but having nothing to do with Christmas, this is the story of a man who is visited by 3 ghosts, who take him on a journey to his past, his present, and his future, so that he can discover that he's a total douche.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Michael Douglas, Breckin Meyer, Lacey Chabert, Robert Forster, Anne Archer, Emma Stone, Daniel Sunjata, Noureen DeWulf, Rachel Boston, Camille Guaty, Amanda Walsh, Logan Miller, Christa B. Allen, and Christina Milian

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. It's not deep or anything, but it's a really good take on A Christmas Carol. When you go see a romantic comedy, you know who's going to end up together before the movie ever begins. So what makes one good isn't so much the "What?" as the "How?" When you genuinely wonder how one of the characters is going to get past the other one's irredeemable flaws, and the filmmakers find a way to convince you that they actually could overcome all the obstacles that have been keeping them apart, that's when a rom-com is worth watching. This one manages to do all that, within the predictable construct of being visited by 3 familiar ghosts, who usually only show themselves at Christmas time.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: The biggest laugh was during the preview trailer for the Wayans Brothers' Dance Flick, but that certainly wasn't the only laugh this film had to offer.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: I've seen 5 versions of A Christmas Carol in the last 6 months, but this one had the only "Christmas Present"scene that almost got me crying. When the nephew defends the "scrooge"-- in this case the younger brother defends his older brother-- behind his back, it usually seems like he's doing it out of obligation, but in this version, you can really feel the sincerity of his love.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: I think it'll win Biggest Box office for a movie based on A Christmas Carol, that was released before July. It could even take home Only movie based on A Christmas Carol released before July.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Matthew McConaughey plays the same guy he always plays, only this time with playboy dialogue. But I happen to have met this particular playboy before, and McConaughey's portrayal is realistic enough to serve as a poignant reminder to always run away from him, as fast as you can. Lacey Chabert turns in more of those magnificent freak-outs, she gave us a small taste of in Mean Girls. And if you haven't had a chance to fall in love with Emma Stone yet, you obviously haven't seen all her movies, like I have.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Mark Waters has a way of shooting comedies that keeps them feeling fun, upbeat and grounded in reality, without ever looking cheezy or too broad. He manages to keep an even tone, even when the script tries to get wacky. If you don't believe me, watch Mean Girls again.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Surprisingly unpredictable for a story we know by heart. Good concept, good gimmick, good title, and good resolution. You can almost hear screenwriters around the world pulling out their hair as they scream, "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, why didn't I think of that?"

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/ghosts-of-girlfriends-past/26716/trailers

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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: When an SS Commander gets a promotion to go run a concentration camp, his 8-year-old son is so starved for companionship, that he secretly forms a friendship with an imprisoned Jewish boy, through an electric fence.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Vera Farmiga, David Thewlis, Asa Butterfield, Jack Scanlon, Amber Beattie, Rupert Friend, Cara Horgan, Richard Johnson, David Hayman, Sheila Hancock

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. This is certainly a powerful movie-- how could it not be? It's about the Holocaust-- but it's not for those who need their conclusions tied up in a pretty pink ribbon.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: This movie is for very serious audiences, so don't laugh too loud, lest you offend someone.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: It doesn't deliberately pull on your heart-strings and bang you over the head with emotions and music like a Hollywood movie would, but if you fill in the unspoken thoughts and feelings in your head, you might still cry, because it is pretty sad.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: You have to admit the title is great! What a cute little way of describing a small child who is put in a prison camp to starve, perform hard labor, and die for no good reason.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Vera Farmiga is in her usual top form, and looking more stunning than usual, I might add. And the little boys, Asa Butterfield and Jack Scanlon, take their time with the moments and dialogue, to really think about what they're saying, as if they weren't acting at all.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: The film is beautifully shot, as the tones of the lighting shift from warm to cold, following their move from their happy life in Berlin, to the countryside, where their neighbors are concentration camp prisoners, and their lives becomes increasingly more and more grim.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The story is appropriately understated as it depicts how even the people closest to the top SS Commanders had virtually no idea how badly the Jews were being treated in the camps, and how they, too, could be adversely affected by the atrocities surrounding them.

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Gran Torino

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: After his wife dies, Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) is totally alone, with only his memories of the Korean War to keep him warm. Now he sits on his porch, disdainfully watching his all-White neighborhood get taken over by Asians, until one day, he intervenes in one of his neighbor's conflicts and ends up getting caught up in their personal lives.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang, Ahney Her, Christopher Carley, Doua Moua, Geraldine Hughes, Brian Haley, John Carroll Lynch, Brian Howe, Chee Thao

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. At first the film is slow and boring, and you can take a nap. Then it gets really funny, in an inside-humor kind of way, and then it gets really dramatic, building to a moment which is not nearly as important as they hoped it would be. And that's followed up with an ending that's predictable. I enjoyed it. Mostly for the funny parts.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: If Clint Eastwood tried to have Will Ferrell's career, this is what it would look like.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: The dog has something of a tear-jerking moment. But in order to be susceptible to it, you have to be the kind of person who can't handle puppy-dog eyes.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It's Clint Eastwood, so it's guaranteed to be nominated.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Clint Eastwood huffs and he puffs and he over-acts the house down. Everyone else in the film is much worse.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: It reminded me of the work of a really promising first time independent filmmaker. Not necessarily a compliment to a man who's directed 29 films and won 2 Oscars for it. Warner Brothers might consider averting its eyes in shame, too.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Tonally it's all over the place. Thematically, it feels like a vanity project in which Clint Eastwood can revisit his Dirty Harry character in a "Where Are They Now" kind of way. And the story itself? It's there...

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/gran-torino/33336/trailers

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