The Fighter

(Guest Review by Valerie)

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Based on a true story, The Fighter is not as much about boxing as it is about the journey and struggles of Micky Ward, and his brother, Dicky Ecklund, as boxers, sons, brothers, and town heroes.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Melissa Leo, Mickey O’Keefe,
Jack McGee, Jenna Lamia, Frank Renzulli

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! Even if, like me, your first thought is, “Not another boxing movie,” you do not want to miss this one. While there are some graphic fight scenes, it is really about family, and if you have one, or even just a group of friends that are like one, you will relate to this story.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Mostly as a coping mechanism.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: If you’re a sucker for personal transformations that DON’T involve beauty
makeovers, you have a shot at some tears.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: You mean, other than “Most Likely to Harm the Lowell, MA Tourist Industry, While Doing Wonders for its Crack Industry?” Actually, it's already up for four well-deserved SAG awards, as well as some Golden Globes, and it will likely be nominated for some Oscars, too.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Consistently great. They thoroughly convinced me never to go to Lowell, MA, if I'm determined to avoid the types of people these performances are advertising. I don't mean to sound like a snob, but even the ones with decent personalities have no sense of style!

Q: How is the Directing?

A: David O. Russell does a great job of making you feel totally anxious and claustrophobic whenever the family is in the shot. It rang pretty realistic to me. After all, I may or may not be related to Monique.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Surprisingly nuanced, given that it’s just “another boxing movie.” The moments
of epiphany and transformation could have easily been very trite, but are instead kept fresh with writing that truly captures the duality of situations.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: The Fighter Trailer

Back To Top

Megamind 3D

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Megamind (Will Ferrell) was born evil, so it's his moral obligation to conquer good. But when he finally succeeds, he goes into full-fledged identity-crisis mode.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, David Cross, Brad Pitt, Ben Stiller, J.K. Simmons

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. It's cute, but the superhero movie has been so overdone, that there's not much left to imagine about it that's fresh or original.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: The superhero movie has been so overdone, that it's easy to make jokes out of all the cliches that aren't fresh or original, and that can be quite original.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Your kids might cry when one of the characters announces that there's no Easter Bunny or Tooth Fairy. I suggest you prepare a comeback (read: lie) to tell them, if you want to keep the myth alive after they see this. Hey, maybe that's why it's rated PG, so you don't bring kids who are too young to find out that their stupid old teeth aren't really worth money to anybody, and the brown egg-shaped things that comes out of a rabbit's butt aren't really chocolate.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Prettiest Eyes... Or is it Giantest Eyes?

Q: How is the Acting?

A: It's animated, so it's weird that they were able to come up with characters who fit Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, and Jonah Hill's shtick so perfectly... It's also weird that they're all so much better looking in this movie.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: What I love about 3D is that after you pay a $4 surcharge, you get confused and a headache for about 5 minutes, and then you totally forget that you're watching 3D. It's worth it... Okay, I obviously have a vendetta against this whole trend, but for those of you who like 3D (read: idiots), I should tell you that director, Tom McGrath, uses it very well. By the way, no offense. (Did that work? Are you not offended now?)

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Will Ferrell's evil character is so sweet that you sort of know right from the start where the story's gonna go, so the only question you're left asking yourself is "how?" In this case, the how gets somewhat convoluted with a body switch scenario that goes in 3 Directions. Yet another example of one too many Ds.

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

A: Prepare to introduce your children to the smooth vocal stylings of Ozzy Osborne and AC/DC.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/megamind/33136/trailers

Back To Top

The Next Three Days

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: When a man's (Russell Crowe) wife (Elizabeth Banks) is incarcerated for a crime he knows she didn't commit, he constructs a plan to break her out of jail himself.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks, Ty Simpkins, Olivia Wilde, Lennie James, Liam Neeson, Brian Dennehy, Helen Carey, Jason Beghe, Aisha Hinds, Allan Steele, Michael Buie, Moran Atias, RZA, Daniel Stern, Kevin Corrigan, Peyton Grace Allen

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! Both the good guys and the bad guys are so many steps ahead of each other, that you get to a point where you're not sure if the good guys are bad or the bad guys are good.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: There's not a lot of room for humor when you're trying to keep the tension high.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: Not really, but things sure can get awkward when your mom is in prison. And sometimes, it's really hard not to take it out on her.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Paul Haggis, Russell Crowe, and a November 19th release date... probably.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: I love Elizabeth Banks, especially in comedies, but as hard as she tries in some of her difficult dramatic moments, you never forget that she's acting opposite Russell Crowe, and she's just not on his level.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: It starts out dull and boring, much like the lives of the protagonists, and it ratchets up as the suspense builds.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Paul Haggis is an Academy Award winning screenwriter, and yet there's something about this French remake of Pour Elle that feels like it's simply a translation of the original screenplay. Though, to be clear, that's not an insult to the original film... Which, to be even more clear, I didn't see.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-next-three-days/1441492/trailers

Back To Top

Waiting for "Superman"

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: This documentary explains how the public education system in America sucks the big one.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Aside from a few presidents and Bill Gates, the most famous person in the movie is Ralphie from The Simpsons... because working in education is thankless.

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. The beginning and end focus on compelling stories about actual children who are hurt by having to win a lottery if they ever want to get into a good elementary school and on the path to making something of their lives. But the middle is reminiscent of a Statistics 101 class, which these children will probably not be in school long enough to get to suffer through.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Many of the statistics are demonstrated through cute little animations, which provided me with my biggest laugh. Not so much the animations, but the animators' final credit, which read: "Animation by Awesome and Modest."

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: If you don't cry in this movie, it's because you hate the childrens.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: President W. Bush makes a cameo appearance that reminds us that whatever elite private school he went to should get an award for giving him an Education Most Like That of a Public School Student. Oh, how I miss getting to hear him talkinating on those podium stands.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: The kids come off like miniature adults... who happen to have no chance at a future worth becoming adults for.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: The images created in this movie are proof that just because you're shooting a documentary doesn't mean you have to make it look like crap. Some of the frames Davis Guggenheim discovers could double as wall art. Or at least grace the cover of a Trapper Keeper.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The script has too many numbers in it. I can only handle so many statistics in a row before I start to think about other things. Like cake. And I don't particularly like cake.

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

A: Despite anything negative I've said about the entertainment value of this movie, you should still probably see it. Just so you know.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/waiting-for-superman/10024296/video/waiting-for-superman-trailer-no-1/84743779001

Back To Top

The Town

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Charlestown, MA has historically cultivated more bank and armored car robbers than any other city in the world, because it's a family trade passed down from one generation to the next. This is the fictional story of one such gang of guys who grew up together, and the fate they face due to having been born into this life.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Ben Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jon Hamm, Jeremy Renner, Blake Lively, Slaine, Owen Burke, Titus Welliver, Pete Postlethwaite, Chris Cooper

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! Like an Irish mob movie, every time you try to get out, they pull you back in.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Somehow they managed to slip in two belly laughs. That's more than most romantic-"comedies" seem to muster.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: No, but it certainly does get morbid at times. Like when one character points out that sunny days remind her of her brother's death. I'd hate to think what rainy days remind her of.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: I wouldn't mind seeing either Blake Lively or Jeremy Renner get a Supporting nod. And while we're on the topic, I'd like to complain about a preview for a new Clint Eastwood film that played before this, which proclaimed that it starred, "Academy Award Winner, Matt Damon." I know we all think Matt Damon is a good actor, but he won for writing, not acting. And he shares that award with Ben Affleck, so I guess I just saw a movie starring Academy Award Winner, Ben Affleck. What I'm trying to say is that this is a gateway advertising campaign, and if we don't use some restraint now, it won't be long before we're seeing movie advertised as starring Academy Award winners Eminem and Mafia 360.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Blake Lively and Jeremy Renner should get married and have lots of great actor babies to populate the future movies of America. Separately, by making himself the lead in this movie, Ben Affleck pointedly neglects the main reason we're all so complimentary of his directing career-- it's because we've been hinting and hoping that he'd be so busy behind the camera, he wouldn't have any time to get in front of it.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Ben, we love your directing!

Q: How is the story/script?

A: For a bunch of dumb idiots, these robbers really come up with some clever ideas about how to rip everybody off and get away. Thanks writers!... But I still have no idea why they took the girl hostage after the first robbery.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-town/38942/video/the-town-trailer-no-1/605531563001

Back To Top

A Prophet (un prophète)

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A young Arab man (Tahar Rahim) goes to prison, where he is forced to kill or be killed. Before he knows it, he is rising through the ranks in a gang of Corsican natives who hate Arabs.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Tahar Rahim, Niels Arestrup, Adel Bencherif, Hichem Yacoubi, Reda Kateb, Jean-Philippe Ricci, Jean-Emmanuel Pagni, Leila Bekhti, Slimane Dazi, Rabah Loucif, Frederic Graziani

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! Navigating politics is never easy, but navigating prison politics is so hard, you'd have to be some kind of prophet to do it. This film plays out like a season of Survivor, where if you get caught lying and manipulating, you get your flame snuffed out-- but literally.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: More than you'd expect from a film filled with blood and murder. But for me the funniest bit was a conversation about conjugating the French subjonctif plus-que-parfait, which reminded me of the time I spent in French school asking the teachers why, if nobody used it anymore, I (along with every other French child in the world) was required to learn it? It would be like Americans having to learn old English... or new English, for that matter.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: If you didn't want to go to prison before seeing this, then after seeing this film, you really won't want to go there. You might even get scared right into passing your GED.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: All of them. Here's a condensed list of the ones it's already won: BAFTA, Cesar, National Board of Review USA, European Film Awards, Cannes... And this weekend we'll see if it adds Spirit Award and Oscar to the list. I think it will.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: There were actors in this film? I didn't recognize any of them.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: The movie is way too long, but there is a lot of information to get out, and certainly some moments when you notice how interestingly that information is gotten out.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Intricate, intense, original, and with an Arab protagonist, who is not a good guy, but only doing bad things because he has to. He is also smarter than anyone else in the room, and more honest, so you never stop feeling for him, despite the fact that he's not usually doing anything that commendable.

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

A: As a native French speaker, I wondered if it would be confusing to mono-linguists watching subtitles where the Corsicans often speak their language, and the Arabs often speak their language, and there is no differentiation on screen for those who don't know that they're no longer speaking French-- which is relevant because it means certain people in the room can no longer understand what is being said. And what is being said could potentially at any time be, "Kill that guy."

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/a-prophet-un-prophete/38552/trailers

Back To Top

The Yellow Handkerchief

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: Three lonely strangers (William Hurt, Kristen Stewart, Eddie Redmayne) end up together on a road trip, each of them searching for the love that isn't where they came from.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: William Hurt, Kristen Stewart, Eddie Redmayne, Maria Bello

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. People are strange when you're a stranger. This pretty much sums it up. But Jim Morrison may have said it with more feeling.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: I heard some people in the theater laugh once, and it jolted me out of the movie, like a sound I couldn't recognize in the context of my experience.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: It's sad that people are so desperate for love that they will take whatever is right in front of them, only because it's less disappointing than whatever had been right in front of them in the past.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Only movie this year named after a color and a decorative body draping that isn't nominated for an Oscar. (I'm contrasting it with The White Ribbon, she said, well aware that if you have to explain your joke, it probably isn't that funny to begin with, but desperately trying to prove that theory wrong... only to further prove it absolutely correct.)

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Kristen Stewart is a one trick pony... it's not a terrible trick, but it does get redundant.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Udayan Prasad weaves clearly between the past and the present, as the mystery behind why William Hurt's character started the story in jail is revealed.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The reasoning behind each character's motivations for staying, leaving, running away, and coming back are vague at best. I could read into them and decide for myself what each person was driven by, but I don't relate enough to people this marginal to try to wager a guess... My God, did that sentence make me sound like an elitist snob! I'm sorry, marginal people of the world. Oh, no, I'm only making it worse! That does it, I'm locking my mouth shut... for today.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/the-yellow-handkerchief/32578/trailers

Back To Top

City Island

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: The father (Andy Garcia) of a dysfunctional family discovers the son he never told anyone he had (Steven Strait) in the jail he works at. So he decides to bring him home, and that's what causes all of the family's secrets to suddenly crash into their lies.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Andy Garcia, Julianna Margulies, Steven Strait, Ezra Miller, Dominik Garcia-Lorido, Alan Arkin, Emily Mortimer, Carrie Baker Reynolds, Hope Glendon-Ross

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! Cute, cute, cute! This indy comedy is surprisingly complex underneath its simple exterior.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Ezra Miller, who will undoubtedly remind you of a cuter and younger Justin Long, has most of the good lines.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: It's moving, but more in the way that makes you smile. That said, you may actually laugh at the thing that makes Andy Garcia throw up.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Julianna Margulies would be an obvious choice for next year's Spirit Awards, if only because she plays a convincing working class New York matriarch, but between now and a year from now, I'd be surprised if anyone remembered to nominate her. On the bright side, the film did win the Audience Award at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: You wanna learn about acting? Watch the audition scene in this movie. It's cringe inducing, then bad, and that's when we get to see how good Andy Garcia really is. And by the way, Ezra Miller, who I already mentioned above, is going to be a huge star.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: This is the kind of independent comedy that most first time filmmakers only wish they could have made. Of course, Raymond De Felitta has directed at least five films already, so perhaps that's not a very nice comparison. For anyone involved.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: The most impressive thing is the way they argue. Right when they say they can't tell somebody something, they let it all out, in your face, here's the whole f-ing truth, now you deal with it!

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/city-island/37115/trailers

Back To Top

The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: When a subway train gets hijacked, a central control dispatcher (Denzel Washington) finds himself getting a crash course in hostage negotiations.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Denzel Washington, John Travolta, Luis Guzman, Victor Gojcaj, John Turturro, James Gandolfini, Michael Rispoli, Ramon Rodriguez, Aunjanue Ellis, John Benjamin Hickey, Alex Kaluzhsky, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Katherine Sigismund, Jake Siciliano, Gary Basaraba

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Go! It's a fast paced Hollywood-style thriller, with a pinch of action, and as usual, this time it gets personal!

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: It's not quite as funny as it thinks it is, but every once in a while, one of those clever comebacks you'd only hear in a studio movie doesn't sound cliche.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: There is one part that's pretty moving, where we find out Denzel's backstory, and surprisingly, it's nowhere near the end.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: Best Denzel Washington film involving hostages and taking place in one day to come out this year. (I've watched the movies you pick, Denzel, and I'm onto you.)

Q: How is the Acting?

A: It's like a smörgåsbord of top professionals doing what they do best: be badass.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Tony Scott never stops moving the camera. So even though you're watching two guys in static locations talking on the phone, (by which I mean walkie-talkies), you feel like you're watching a non-stop action-filled roller coaster ride.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: I didn't find any flaws in it. And if you've been reading my blog you know that's saying something.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/search/taking%20of%20pelham%20123/trailers

Back To Top