Pariah

Q: What’s the movie about?

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

Q: Who’s in the movie?

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

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

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

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

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

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

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

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

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

Q: How is the Acting?

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

Q: How is the Directing?

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

Q: How is the story/script?

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

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

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

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: Pariah Trailer

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Easy A

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A high school girl (Emma Stone) lies to a friend (Aly Michalka) about losing her virginity, and before long, the whole school thinks she's a slut, which leads to her pretending to have slept with all the guys in school who need to boost their reputations, which leads to the whole school thinking she's a whore.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Emma Stone, Aly Michalka, Penn Badgley, Amanda Bynes, Dan Byrd, Thomas Haden Church, Patricia Clarkson, Stanley Tucci, Cam Gigandet, Lisa Kudrow, Malcolm McDowell, Fred Armisen, Jake Sandvig

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. It wants to be a John Hughes movie. I know this because it mentions at least 4 John Hughes movies and then goes on to imitate at least 3. The problem is you need John Hughes to make a John Hughes movie, and John Hughes quit making teen movies 20 years before he became incapacitated.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: There are a lot of laughs, but the best ones come from the girl's parents. The funniest part of Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci's joyful portrayal of a set of parents so open that they make my (usually naked) parents look conservative, is the mere idea that parents like this could exist.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: It's sad to me that girls get to be considered promiscuous just for giving up their virginity one measly time. I gave mine up at least 3 times, and I never considered myself a slut.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: The Diablo Cody Award. The dialogue in this movie makes the dialogue in Juno seem banal. Nobody talks like that. Most teenagers don't even know the meaning of banal.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Emma Stone is cute, charming, and complex, as always. And the adults, Patricia Clarkson, Stanley Tucci, and Lisa Kudrow are all delightful. Yes, I did leave Thomas Hayden Church off that list, despite my being a big enough fan of his from Wings to have watched Ned & Stacey in its entirety. For some reason, he comes off sounding like a robot in more than one scene. That reason isn't so much a mystery as it is the dialogue, which is witty and clever to the point of making him seem like a totally unbelievable person.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Will Gluck was born to make comedies. I mean, look at his name, "Will Gluck." Doesn't it just makes you wanna laugh? Maybe because it has a "K" in it. I was once told that "K's" are funny. Did you know that some letters of the alphabet are funnier than others? Well, now you do. I'm reporting this nonsense to you because there's nothing much to say about the directing of this movie. It does the job, but doesn't give you anything to talk about-- besides which letters of the alphabet are the funniest. Please discuss your personal favorites in the comments section.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The script has an original point of view and an original premise, which is commendable. Then again, I couldn't relate to the point of view. A good girl choosing to be known as a slut just so that people will notice her is almost inconceivable to me. Especially when you consider that being coined a slut and a whore is possibly the all-time greatest badge of dishonor for emotionally vulnerable high school girls. I mean, sure, maybe if she were a more damaged character, but this character is smart, confident, witty, attractive, self-assured, and has a good relationship with her parents. I just never bought that she would care what people thought of her. She's way too cool. But, hey, a guy wrote it, and if you look at it from the point of a nerdy guy who might've dreamed of paying a cute girl to pretend she hooked up with him so he could upgrade his reputation, yeah, it's a total wish fulfillment fantasy.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/easy-a/10027142/trailers

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Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera) falls for a girl (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) who has 7 evil exes that he must defeat, for no reason in particular.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Ellen Wong, Mark Webber, Alison Pill, Johnny Simmons, Anna Kendrick, Aubrey Plaze, Chris Evans, Jason Schwartzman, Brandon Routh, Satya Bhabha, Brie Larson, Mae Whitman, Keita Saitou, Shota Saito, Ben Lewis

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. This film is all style and no substance. But there always seems to be some idiot who gloms onto that sort of a thing and calls it a cult classic.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: The style is pretty funny at times, but when I say style, I'm talking about dialogue more pretentious than in Juno.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: No, because you won't give a crap about anybody in it... not in you heart anyway.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Best Directing. Bet you didn't think I'd say that?

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Kieran Culkin steals the show because he has the best lines. And Anna Kendrick-- is there anything she's not in?

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Edgar Wright's visuals are the only reason anyone will be fooled into thinking this is a good movie.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Don't expect to care about anybody, or even understand why Scott Pilgrim likes the girl he has to fight for. Also prepare to wonder where he gets his superpowers to fight these exes, why the exes turn into money when they are defeated, and by the way, how he defeats any of them, when in most cases it looks like they killed him first, multiple times. Basically, we are shown a surrealistic world of magical reality, but the rules of the world and the magic are never set up or explained to us.

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

A: It tries to be a live action videogame, probably in order to pander to the young male audience that no one seems to be able to reach because they're busy playing actual video games. Since there's no user participation in this viewing experience, I don't see any reason for that audience to come out and see this. So why don't we all just accept that that audience is done with movies, and start making movies for the people who actually like to go to them. Like, for example, girls.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/scott-pilgrim-vs-the-world/35215/trailers

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