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

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You Again

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A woman (Kristen Bell) goes home to her brother's wedding and finds out that he's marrying her high school nemesis (Odette Yustman).

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Kristen Bell, Odette Yustman, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Jimmy Wolk, Betty White, Victor Garber, Kyle Bornheimer, Billy Unger, Sean Wing, Kristin Chenoweth

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. This movie will be passable on video because Sigourney Weaver, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Kristin Chenoweth are fun in it. Other than that it consists of a series of bad impulse decisions made by its characters, which sometimes lead to comedy, and sometimes lead to lame attempts at comedy. Hey, at least they tried...

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Maybe out of peer pressure.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: If it could, it would have made me, because I was feeling extra sensitive, as proven by the fact that I nearly cried in the preview for Burlesque, simply from the sound of Christina Aguilera's amazing singing voice.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: This may surprise you, but I'm gonna give Odette Yustman the Breakout Star of the Year Award. Her performance reminded me of early Rachel McAdams, and we've all seen what she's been able to do since then.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Bottom line, Kristen Bell's agent should not have let her do this role. It makes her look less attractive than her buzz claims her to be, and after When in Rome, it's the second in a line of not very good romantic comedies, she's been expected to hold up. Granted, this one is a chef d'oeuvre in comparison.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: Andy Fickman's work hearkens back to absolutely nothing you'd remember having watched.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Think Mean Girls: the Sequel, 10, 30, and 50 years later (keeping in mind that sequels are rarely as good as their originals). High school is over, but those old traumatic memories linger on... which is why it's a good policy to be stoned throughout high school. Take my word for it, you won't remember anything that happened!

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

A: Is The Rock having a hard time getting hired these days? This movie has, like, the third single-scene cameo I've seen him play recently.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/you-again/38333/trailers

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Whip It

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: A teenage girl (Ellen Page) discovers roller derby, and against her parents' wishes, she sneaks out to a secret world, where she becomes a celebrity bad ass.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: Ellen Page, Marcia Gay Harden, Alia Shawkat, Daniel Stern, Landon Pigg, Kristen Wiig, Drew Barrymore, Juliette Lewis, Andrew Wilson, Eve, Zoe Bell, Jimmy Fallon, Sarah Habel, Eulala Scheel, Carlo Alban, Ari Graynor

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Proceed with Caution. For such a simplistic movie, I was surprised at how difficult a time I sometimes had following along. On the positive side, there is a potentially interesting mother-daughter conflict, and a lot of cool characters inside of a lot of arbitrary scenes.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: In true sports-comedy form, the best laughs come from the game time announcer.

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: That is certainly its goal, as confirmed by the actors who showed up for a Q & A, and told us that director, Drew Barrymore, got emotional and cried regularly while explaining what each scene was about to her actors.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It wants to be this year's Juno, but it's really not. That said, Drew Barrymore will probably get a few nods in the First Time Director category, wherever those are available, because it's a good way to get her to show up for your ceremony.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Andrew Wilson (the oldest, cutest, and least famous Wilson brother) will finally have a chance to break out in his role as the disrespected coach, possibly even making his way toward the status his sibs have enjoyed since Bottle Rocket. Drew Barrymore has a small but delightfully unusual role. Kristen Wiig continues to deliver lines in her own strange manner, which is always weird at first, but grows on you, and delivers unexpected laughs. And I guess I sort of have to mention Ellen Page, who is cute as a button, but not always at home in character traits that don't involve being a smart aleck. She's supposed to be a Texan pageant girl who goes through a transformation to become a hard core derby girl. And while she's great as the tough bitch she becomes, you never really buy her as the sweet Texan she was supposedly passing as before she began her rebellion.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: You really root for Drew in her first foray into directing, but this movie, and the directing in particular, have got a lot of problems. Several scenes seem to exist purely because they were fun for her to film. One is a food fight, which advances the story in no way whatsoever, but looked like it might have been fun to participate in. And even more jarring, is an extended, underwater love scene in a swimming pool. For no reason and with no prompting, the two teenagers jump in wearing all their clothes (including dress shoes and leather jackets) and then undress underwater-- basically implying that they were planning to take off their clothes all along. So it makes no sense that they would deliberately ruin their best gear. Not even a teenager would be that illogical! Then the underwater seduction leads to an underwater kiss, which I don't have to remind you, isn't even possible for those of us who don't have gills. Furthermore, not being able to breathe is one of the least sexy things I can imagine... It would make a cool music video (which I'm sure it eventually will, since the boy is in a band in the movie, and a singer in real life), but in a movie that's supposed to be logical, this scene reeks of, "Hey, look guys! They gave me an underwater camera! We should use it! Where can we get a pool?"

Q: How is the story/script?

A: A lot of the scenes are energetic and fun, but this movie had some of the worst transitions I have ever seen. I struggled to understand how much time had passed from one scene to the next, and how far along we were in the progress of the sports season or the school year. Often, characters would just suddenly be somewhere new-- like at an indoor swimming pool-- and you didn't really know why or how they'd ended up there. And then there is the dialogue, some of which was so cryptic to me, that I literally had to turn to my friend and ask, "What was that supposed to mean?" Saddest of all being that after the conclusion of the love story, I couldn't be sure if the lovers had just broken up or made up.

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

A: The music and the roller derby are pretty cool.

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/movie/whip-it/32591/trailers

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The Hurt Locker

Q: What’s the movie about?

A: An elite Army bomb squad is in constant peril, as they go around Iraq’s war zone finding and disassembling camouflaged, hand made bombs.

Q: Who’s in the movie?

A: : Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Christan Camargo, Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes, Evangeline Lilly, David Morse, Suhail Aldabbach

Q: Is this movie worth the price of admission?

A: Stop! Plot-wise, this movie would’ve worked better as a video game. Mainly because it’s the same scene over and over: We find a bomb, we disarm it. We find a bomb, we disarm it. We find a bomb, we disarm it. At least if it were a game, we’d get to participate at levels of ever-increasing difficulty.

Q: Will this movie make me laugh?

A: Why anybody would want to see a movie that tries to make you feel like you’re in the middle of the Iraq War, at this particular juncture in our history is beyond me, so if you’re going to this, I probably can’t relate to you enough to tell you if it will make you laugh…

Q: Will this movie make me cry?

A: …or cry.

Q: Will this movie be up for any awards?

A: It won several awards at the Venice Film Festival (none of which I’ve ever heard of), and it was up for 2 Spirit Awards for acting. But before you question my harsh judgment of this film, may I remind you that I’ve watched it, you haven’t.

Q: How is the Acting?

A: Jeremy Renner is the most under-rated actor in Hollywood, and has been for years. Maybe because he tends to pick dark, interesting roles in dark, uninteresting movies.

Q: How is the Directing?

A: As proven by her body of work, Kathryn Bigelow is a director who feels more confident about shooting action scenes than telling a story. This frantically shot film, with only a semblance of a story, continues in the tradition.

Q: How is the story/script?

A: Some of the characters are interesting, but you won’t gain much insight beyond the fact that war is Hell… And we already knew that.

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

A: If you still want to see an Iraq war movie after reading this review, rent Traitor. Here’s a link to my review of Traitor: http://moviereviewfaqs.blogspot.com/2008/08/traitor.html

Q: Where can I see the trailer?

A: http://www.moviefone.com/search/the%20hurt%20locker/trailers

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