Popcorn Pick- October 2012

October has arrived, and with it comes better movies than last month brought. (Alas, not a lot of horror movies; only one appears on this list.) Oscar season has apparently also started, but in my mind it's just the fall season, and that simply means good movies, award-worthy or not.

Friday, October 5th
Taken 2

I never saw the first movie myself, but it was a big hit, and people loved it, so this one will be an even bigger hit. Liam Neeson returns as a father and husband who gets really pissed off when you kidnap members of his family. In the first movie, his daughter was taken. In the sequel, it's his wife. Expect more blood and more of Neeson being an action star. (Still don't see it.) Also stars Maggie Grace and Famke Janssen.











Friday, October 12th
Argo

Ben Affleck has turned a lot of heads with his newest movie, both a directorial piece and a chance to flex his leading-man chops. Based on a true story, this is about a CIA agent who travels to Iran during the hostage crisis to rescue six Americans who are in hiding. His cover is that he's making a B-level sci-fi movie. Filled with suspense, thrills, and humor, this is sure to be one of the best movies of the year. Affleck the actor may have failed us a few times (remember Daredevil?), but as a director he never has (remember The Town?). This is churning up some major Oscar buzz, so be sure to see this one early. Co-stars Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine), and John Goodman.







Friday, October 19th
Paranormal Activity 4

I think I've picked every movie in this horror franchise for Popcorn Pick. (I can't be sure, though. When did I start writing these?) When Hollywood gets a hit, they make a ton of sequels, and that rule is doubly true for horror films. This installment continues the tradition of telling the story purely through amateur video recordings, this time using Skype on a laptop. (Wouldn't that get old, carrying it around all the time?) A young girl is terrorized by a demon after the boy across the street comes to stay with her family. Screams and scary stuff ensue. Mythology deepens.









Friday, October 26th
Cloud Atlas

How can one describe Cloud Atlas? I'm not sure; the trailer is probably your best bet. That, or reading the book it's based on. From the Wachowski siblings (can't call them the Wachowski brothers anymore as Larry is now Lana), directors of the Matrix trilogy, comes a new kind of epic mind-bender. This tells several different stories, spanning several different time periods and even genres. There's a Victorian-era romance, a modern-day crime story, a swashbuckling adventure at sea, and a futuristic sci-fi action tale. Actors play several different parts to show the idea of interconnectivity. It may end up being a mess, but here's hoping that it turns out to be one of the most original movies of the year. Stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Jim Broadbent, and many others.

Popcorn Pick- September 2012

September is one of the trickier months for me: most of the films that come out in the early fall are crap. Naturally, that's not entirely true, as there are at least a couple decent films coming out mixed in with the forehead-slappers. So let's get right to it.

Friday, September 7th
The Words

Bradley Cooper continues his leading-man status with this drama about a struggling writer who discovers an unpublished manuscript and decides to plagiarize the work- and becomes famous for the resulting novel. The obvious second act happens- the real author shows up to ruin his life. Because of the nice cast and the promising plot, this might be worth a look.
Zoe Saldana plays his girlfriend, while Jeremy Irons plays the real author looking for revenge.
I would have preferred to pick Bachelorette, a Bridesmaids clone with Kirsten Dunst and Wedding Crashers' Isla Fisher, but the film was made by the indie circuit and so isn't in wide release for a couple of weeks. :(







Friday, September 14th
Finding Nemo 3D

Am I really going to pay the price of a ticket to see this movie in theaters again, with inserted-in-later 3D? You bet your tail I am!
This 2003 Oscar-winning gem from Disney/Pixar is the latest to receive a 3D "upgrade," but of course I'm mostly just excited about the theatrical re-release. Re-experience Dory, Bruce, Nigel, that fish that likes the bubbles, and the whole gang all over again on the big screen, in the digital glory it was meant to have.
(Monsters, Inc. is next! Coming this holiday season.)









Friday, September 21st
Resident Evil: Retribution

The fifth movie in this zombie series (based on a video game franchise) has more of Milla Jovovich kicking ass, alive and walking dead alike. I've kind of lost track of the plot at this point...something about the zombie apocalypse spreading worldwide. (I thought it already did that...) But, Michelle Rodriguez is back, through the magic of movie cloning! Hmm... Michelle Rodriguez in an action movie...do you think she'll die?











Friday, September 28th
Trouble With the Curve

Clint Eastwood returns to the big screen, in this little drama about a baseball scout who takes his daughter (the wonderful Amy Adams) out on scouting trips with him because his eyesight is now so bad he can't see the games. Father-daughter bonding occurs. Justin Timberlake also stars as her love interest.
Also out this week is the time-travel actioner Looper, with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis (they play the same character at different ages). Buzz is building around this one, but it looks stupid to me. If it turns out to be good, someone let me know.

Popcorn Pick- August 2012

People disagree on how to label August: is it a summer month, or a fall month? I've always believed it to be a fall month- after all, August is when school starts, and everyone knows there's no school in the summer. But people insist on calling it summer to describe the seasons.
When it comes to movies, August is a strange mix of late summer and early fall- perfectly exemplified by this crop of movies I've chosen, which include actioners left over from the summer months, and the first bunch of forgettable-but-still-good fall films.

Friday, August 3rd
Total Recall

A remake of the popular 1990 flick with Arnold Schwarzenegger, this version scraps the Mars subplot and sticks to futuristic, action-packed fights and chases. Colin Farrell plays a man unhappy with his life who goes to a virtual-reality place to get some excitement, and ends up discovering that all of his memories are false. His wife is not really his wife, but an assassin assigned to kill him if he ever steps out of line. Kate Beckinsale co-stars (in a role originated by Sharon Stone), as does Jessica Biel as his ally.










Friday, August 10th
The Bourne Legacy

Just call it Bourne Without Bourne. For the fourth entry in the blockbuster franchise, we meet a new Treadstone agent named Aaron Cross, who is suddenly targeted for assassination by the people he works for. Moving away from the Jason Bourne storyline (and the star power of Matt Damon) is a tricky move, but the film looks just as intense and exciting as the original trilogy. This is clearly the studio wanting to make more money off of a popular brand name, while trying to make the continuing storyline look graceful, or at least not awkward. My attitude is the same as it was with The Amazing Spider-Man: I'm against the idea, but if you're gonna do it, at least do it well.
Jeremy Renner will finally become a full-fledged star with the leading role in this film (and his second big hit of the summer, after The Avengers). Rachel Weisz and Edward Norton co-star, alongside returning cast members Joan Allen and Albert Finney.
I feel I also have to mention The Campaign, a hilarious-looking comedy with Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis as rival candidates in a local campaign for Congress. Obviously Bourne is the more headline-grabbing movie, but if you're in the mood for comedy instead of action, this is your best bet.

Friday, August 17th
The Expendables 2

Following the success of the 2010 hit, Sylvester Stallone returns with an ensemble of burly (and mostly older) men to continue shooting things, punching things, and making things blow up. I wasn't a big fan of the original (too dumb), but the formula works, so it was exactly the kind of movie that demanded a sequel. Returning cast members include Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Terry Crews, and Randy Couture; new cast members include Jean-Claude Van Damme as the villain, Chuck Norris (!), and Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games). Bruce Willis and (drumroll please!) Arnold Schwarzenegger expand on their cameos from the first film to get in on the action here.








Friday, August 24th
Premium Rush

The world's first bicycle thriller...at least, so far as I'm aware. Joseph Gordon-Levitt (so good in The Dark Knight Rises) plays a bike messenger in Manhattan who gets stopped by a disgruntled customer wanting his package back, then has to run for his life after refusing to give the package up. That's pretty much the whole plot right there- if you want to know more, just see the movie!












Friday, August 31st
Lawless

Originally toted as an Oscar-bait film, this is being released a little too early to gain any real attention, and so is probably not stellar. (I'm betting that most people reading this have not heard of this film.)
It follows three bootlegging brothers in the South during the Great Depression as they face off against the corrupt police force. In an interesting bit of casting, Tom Hardy and Shia LaBeouf play two of the brothers. (The third is played by character actor Jason Clarke.) Gary Oldman and Guy Pearce play the bad guys, while Jessica Chastain and Mia Wasikowska play the love interests.






That's it for this month, so I'll see you later this fall.

Popcorn Pick- July 2012

Franchises are the theme of this month's movies, predominantly superhero franchises.
Not that I'm complaining.
At least a couple of the year's most anticipated movies open this month. At least one of them I'm going to the midnight premiere of. (Three guesses which one that is!) And at least one of them will break box-office records, forever.
Enough with the unnecessary introduction stuff. Let's look at July.

Tuesday, July 3rd
The Amazing Spider-Man

First off, why is this opening on a Tuesday? Wednesday would make more sense, especially since that Wednesday is the Fourth of July. Even that Thursday would make sense. The studios are getting very greedy with a six-day opening weekend.
And second of all, the big news story surrounding this movie is obviously the fact that it's a reboot that is happening way too soon. So soon that a lot of moviegoers don't even truly know what this is. (I heard one girl actually refer to this as Spider-Man 4. How wrong you are!) Like Batman Begins and Casino Royale before it, Amazing presses the restart button on a popular franchise to bring a different vision of the same story to the screen. And yes, it is too soon: it's only been ten years since the original Spider-Man with Tobey Maguire- and only five years since the last movie, Spider-Man 3! The reasons are very simple: the last film sucked spider-ass, but it made a lot of spider-bucks. Therefore they decided while that specific franchise would end with a trilogy, that the superhero himself was not yet dead.
Well, strangely enough, it seems to have worked out. Stepping in as director is Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer), who sends Peter Parker back to high school, gives us a new origin story, and a new girlfriend in Gwen Stacy (instead of Mary Jane). While there is a new villain in the Lizard (a fan favorite), the story seems more focused on Peter's dead parents, and the secrets they left behind. This one looks funnier and more intense than the original, and even though I disapprove of the project, the film itself looks worth it.
Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) plays the webhead, while Emma Stone (love her!) plays Gwen and Rhys Ifans (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1) plays the bad guy.

Friday, July 13th
Ice Age: Continental Drift

20th Century Fox is milking its one animated franchise hit for all it's worth, making yet another unnecessary sequel. Regardless, these movies have been reliably entertaining, especially for the small fries, and let's face it, most everyone really just wants to see the continued adventures of Scrat, the little acorn-loving rodent.
This film's plot (the fourth in the series) has something to do with getting captured by animal pirates, I'm not really sure, it's just another pickle our three heroes have to get out of.
As usual, Ray Romano, Denis Leary, and John Leguizamo return to lend their voices to the talking animals.







Friday, July 20th
The Dark Knight Rises

Without a doubt, one of the most highly anticipated movies of the year. Christopher Nolan brings us his third and final Batman film to complete the trilogy.
After the immense success of the second film, The Dark Knight, still considered by many to be the best superhero movie ever made, this movie leaves us with many questions. Will the bad-guy combination of Bane and Catwoman possibly live up to the Oscar-winning role of the Joker? Will Batman die at the end of this film? Is he really flying a hovercraft in the trailer?
As usual, plot details are being kept very tight-lipped- as they should be- and so we only have to wait a little while for all the questions to be answered. What we can for sure expect? Loud music. Christian Bale's gravelly Batman voice. And that this will be one hell of a wild ride.
From what I can tell of the plot, it's many years later, and involves the terrorist Bane coming to Gotham City to cause mayhem, forcing Batman to come out of retirement, despite the people hating him after he was framed for murder.
Returning cast members Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Gary Oldman, and Morgan Freeman are joined by Tom Hardy (Inception), Anne Hathaway, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Marion Cotillard.

Friday, July 27th
The Watch

An original comedy/action film. It's basically a buddy-cop movie with a twist: four guys started their own neighborhood watch program, and they take their volunteer jobs way too seriously. But then when aliens attack, they find a powerful weapon and a cause they can actually fight for. This experienced a small PR fiasco earlier this year after the shooting of Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood watchman, which involved them changing their title and advertising campaigns. Looks stupid but funny.
The four guys include Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, the newly fit Jonah Hill, and newcomer Richard Ayoade.








Hooray for summer films!! And in case you missed the news, there is reason to celebrate in Movie Land because May's The Avengers has now become the third-highest grossing movie in American history! Something tells me things will change this month...

Popcorn Pick- June 2012

The summer trucks on, and with it comes the largest variety of films I think I've ever had on this blog. Sci-fi, fantasy, comedy, even musical- every genre seems represented in my list this month. Now, May had The Avengers, and July has The Dark Knight Rises, so while June may seem like just the middle month (indeed, while most of these movies will probably be hits, none of them look like they're going to break any records), allow me to convince you to spend your well-earned money this month on what promises to be some top-notch entertainment for all ages and tastes. Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you June.

Friday, June 1st
Snow White and the Huntsman

Charlize Theron Summer Movie #1
The big news story surrounding this movie was, of course, the fact that it's the second Snow White movie this year, following March's disappointing comedy Mirror Mirror. However, this film looks so dramatically different that I think hardly any comparisons need to be made. (This is the dark action version of the fairy tale.) I think most people miss the real news story about this movie- that even though Kristen Stewart is in it- indeed, that she plays the title character- she is hardly in the advertisements at all! All the trailers and TV spots are focused on the evil queen, played by a delicious Theron. Methinks that after her bad rap starring in all those god-awful Twilight movies, the studio (or possibly the director!) seriously regretted putting young Stewart in their movie...and are trying to make people forget that she is.
What do you think it is? Her unconvincing accent? The fact that Snow White spends half her screen time biting her lip? Or is it just that no one would buy her hooking up with a guy that's not pale? (Observe the burly Huntsman, played by the now-famous Chris Hemsworth.) Only watching the movie will answer those questions.
However bad Stewart may or may not be, the film looks kick-ass, a seriously twisted and visceral take on an otherwise very familiar story. This ain't Disney's Snow White.

Friday, June 8th
Prometheus

Charlize Theron Summer Movie #2
(Yep, two movies, two weeks in a row!)
The big news story surrounding this movie is whether or not it's a prequel to Alien. (Viral promotional videos has shown that it does, in fact, take place in the same universe, but it looks like it has little to do with the original series, plot-wise.) It's too bad that most people will be going into Prometheus with that old movie rattling around in their heads, because they should be focused on this movie instead. This looks like the (original) event movie of the summer, the one with the biggest stakes and the possibility to wow the most viewers.
The plot is strangely kept tightly under wraps, but we do know it's a futuristic space thriller about a group of astronauts who travel to a distant planet looking for the secrets of the origin of life on Earth. What they find there is scary...and that's about all we know. However, the trailers are some of the best I've seen in years, and director Ridley Scott returning to the sci-fi genre after three decades is certainly a welcome sign.
The film stars Noomi Rapace (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows), Michael Fassbender, and Theron. Her again! This woman's gonna have a good summer.

Prometheus is rated R, so take the kids to see Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted instead. This sequel finds the four zoo animals still trying to get back home to New York, but finding themselves in Monaco instead. Wacky adventures ensue.

Friday, June 15th
Rock of Ages

Based on a Broadway musical, this film fills Hollywood's quota of one movie musical a year. (I would say it's a dead genre except for that one-film-a-year thing that nobody plans but happens anyway. Instead I'll go with "endangered.") Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a fan of musicals, but this one is decidedly different from the rest- and that's the point. Set in the '80s, and featuring actual hit songs from that decade, this is one movie where stopping the action to have the characters bust out in song might actually be forgivable. In a word, it looks like it rocks.
An all-star cast includes Alec Baldwin, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Russell Brand (he looks like he was born to be in a movie like this), and in an against-type, surely Oscar-worthy performance, Tom Cruise as the biggest rock star of the age.





Friday, June 22nd
Brave

After last summer's disaster Cars 2 (a movie that earned the undistinguished position of #1 on my Worst Movies of the Year List), Disney/Pixar is going with something completely different for this year's movie: the studio's first fairy tale, and their first heroine as lead character.
The animation juggernaut (the minds behind the Toy Story trilogy, WALL-E, and Up) are returning to form with Brave, the amusing and exciting tale of a princess who rejects her fate of being sold off to marry a man she doesn't love, and takes her trusty bow and arrow to go on an adventure to find some magic that will help her change her inevitable doom. As usual, Pixar is keeping plot details quiet, but it looks like it has equal doses action, humor, and heart. As a long-time fan of Pixar, I am very excited for this one.
Our heroine, Princess Merida, is voiced by the excellent Kelly Macdonald (No Country For Old Men).




A note must also be made about the other big movie opening this week, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. This seems destined to go the same way as Cowboys and Aliens: it's a serious movie with a silly title, and thus bound to confuse and bore audiences. Unlike last summer's misfire, this one actually looks awesome, and is, at least to me, worth a look, even if it does throw history out the window.

Friday, June 29th
Ted

To a certain group of people, this is the event movie of the summer. The mastermind behind TV's Family Guy (and the less successful sister shows American Dad! and The Cleveland Show) is breaking through not only into live action, but into movies. Ted has a simple premise: a young boy makes a wish that his teddy bear would come to life, and it does. Thirty years later, it's still alive, and living with his boy, now a grown man, like a roommate. The catch: the bear is foul-mouthed and horny. This movie is very dirty (one poster actually shows only Ted the bear proudly holding up the R rating), because it's always where Seth MacFarlane has wanted to go on television, but has never been allowed to go. That's why this is more than just a feature-length Family Guy joke. (I can totally see them doing this idea on the show in, like, 30 seconds.)
I may sound like I'm criticizing the film before I even see it, but au contraire- it looks hilarious, and definitely one to see with your buddies. (If you haven't, check out the riotous red-band trailer online.) Starring Mark Wahlberg (after The Other Guys, this guy seriously needs to do more comedy), Mila Kunis (who's been the voice of Meg on Family Guy for years), and MacFarlane himself as the voice of the CGI Ted.

July awaits, and while that month holds the real treasures of summer, June has more than enough to tide you over until then. What are you excited to see? The space adventure? The dark fairy tale? Or the randy teddy bear? Or all of the above?

Popcorn Pick- May 2012

And just like that, the summer movies have arrived once more. We have now entered my favorite time of year (with the possible exception of Oscar season) where the biggest and some of the best movies will come out. If someone goes to the theater once a year, they're likely gonna do it this month. I would, of course, advise against that, because there will be so many films coming out, it's impossible to pick just one to see. Whether you like action or comedy, vampires or superheroes, the multiplex has you covered.

Friday, May 4th
The Avengers

If you just watch the trailers or TV spots, it appears on the outside to be a standard superhero movie. Not so. This promises to be unlike anything we've seen before: it's more than just an ensemble action movie. This isn't a sequel. Or a spin-off. This is something entirely new, a culmination of four different movie franchises all leading to this project. The heroes of the Iron Man movies, The Incredible Hulk, Thor, and Captain America: The First Avenger come together (in the same time period) to form the title team and save the world. The villain is Loki, Thor's brother, who has an army of aliens looking to conquer Earth. If that sounds familiar, re-watch the films listed above: none of them features a plot about saving the world.
And I haven't even gotten to the best part: it's written and directed by Joss Whedon! Haven't heard of him? I'm not surprised. Well, you will. The creator of TV's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly is finally getting his shot at something big-budget and mainstream and will undoubtedly impress fans around the world. (Tony Stark's dialogue written by Whedon the master? I can't even imagine!)
The impressive cast includes returning stars Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, newcomers Mark Ruffalo and Jeremy Renner, and Samuel L. Jackson as the eyepatch-wearing badass Nick Fury, the leader of the team. I've never been a fan of comic books so I know next to nothing of what to expect, except for one of the best movies of the summer.

Friday, May 11th
Dark Shadows

The newest Tim Burton-Johnny Depp smorgasbord is even weirder than usual. Based on a soap opera no one's ever heard of, Depp plays a vampire imprisoned in a coffin for 200 years, only to escape in 1972 and take up residence with his descendants in their mansion. Part comedy, part...I don't even know what this is supposed to be going for...horror? Action? Maybe just supernatural comedy. I'm not sure exactly what the movie is, and if I don't know, then neither will moviegoers, so this probably won't be any good.
But Burton has a devoted fan base who have accepted him as their own personal Goth God, so this will naturally be a hit.
The cast also includes (duh) Helena Bonham Carter, Eva Green (Casino Royale), Chloe Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass), and Jackie Earle Haley (Watchmen).






Wednesday, May 16th
The Dictator

Following the immense success of Borat (and the less successful but equally funny Bruno), the always-controversial Sacha Baron Cohen is unleashing his newest character on the world. This time he plays a Saddam Hussein-like dictator of a Middle Eastern country who comes to America and experiences culture shock when he is stripped of his rank. While his earlier films experimented in Punk'd-style interactions with non-actors, and were based on existing characters, this is a traditionally scripted movie and therefore less likely to end in lawsuits against its star.
The guy is offensive but usually knows which buttons to push, so I'm a fan, and I'll be looking forward to it.
The other big movie opening this week, which will undoubtedly top The Dictator at the box office, is Battleship, which is being marketed as Transformers at Sea. Yep, this is based on the old board game. (Say it with me...you sunk my battleship!!!) I grew up playing this game- still have it stashed in a closet somewhere- and I think this movie looks like the biggest piece of garbage of the summer.


Friday, May 25th
Men in Black III

This film joins the grand Hollywood tradition of long-delayed sequels. Ten years after the last film (and fifteen years after the original), this threequel brings the world of the MIB back, a world where different species of aliens live on Earth, in secret but in peace. Until the bad-guy aliens come down looking to take over. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones reunite with original director Barry Sonnenfeld. This go-round, Agent J goes to work one day to find Agent K has disappeared from the face of the earth. He goes back in time to 1969 to find a younger K, played by Josh Brolin (Milk), and together they stop the bad guy from changing history.
Converting to time travel may be an old ploy, but it makes sense in this universe, and it's all for good fun, so I say tally-ho, even though it looks trifling and forgettable. (Anyone remember Men in Black II? Yeah, I didn't think so.)

Forgive me if I'm long-winded sometimes, but it's only because I get excited. There's even more good stuff coming out in the other summer months. Prometheus! The Amazing Spider-Man! Brave! And the piece de resistance, The Dark Knight Rises! Get ready for summer 2012, sure to be one of the best movie summers of the last decade!

Popcorn Pick- April 2012

Ah, the awkward spring season continues. This month brings us the usual mixed bag of comedies and thrillers while we count off the days until summer. I will use this month to catch up on the movies I haven't watched yet, while just tasting the local cuisine of what's out currently. Of course, for those who still go to the movies regularly, even in this hard-to-define month of April, here are my picks, as usual.

Wednesday, April 4th
Titanic 3D

Now, before you say anything, this is no run-of-the-mill 3D re-release. James Cameron (writer, director, producer, and co-editor) is the man who revolutionized the 3D craze with Avatar. He's also the man who has the two biggest movies of all time. So if he wants to re-release his other big epic movie with a conversion to 3D, you know he isn't half-assing it. (I'm looking at you, George Lucas!) Bonus points if you see it in IMAX.
To coincide with the 100-year anniversary of the actual sinking of the ship, the 1997 Best Picture winner is getting a facelift into the third dimension, sans any director's-cut-like changes or extensions. A young Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet star as passengers on the ship who fall in love despite differences in class, and must band together to survive when disaster strikes.
The movie has gotten a bad rap in the years since it's come out, but not from me. It remains one of my all-time favorites, because I believe it to be one of the all-time best.
(Now, what about the movie that's actually new that's coming out this week, American Reunion? Calm yourselves, I haven't forgotten it. See below.)

Friday, April 13th
The Cabin in the Woods

Everyone who's a fan of Joss Whedon has been aware of this film and has been waiting for it for some time. This movie got shelved for years because of MGM's financial troubles, and is finally seeing the light of day. In the vein of the Scream movies, this is a horror/comedy that borders on self-parody. It features the old plot of a group of teenagers going out into a cabin in the middle of nowhere for a drunken sex-filled vacation and end up being killed off one by one by an unknown menace. Beyond that, though, the plot is being kept tightly under wraps, which means that it goes through many twists and turns. A fine ensemble cast is led by Chris Hemsworth (Thor).








Friday, April 20th
American Reunion

There's no good movies opening this week (with the possible exception of the ensemble romantic comedy Think Like a Man), so go see this comedy sequel instead, which actually opens Friday, April 6th. The fourth theatrical movie in the American Pie series, this film reunites the entire original cast for their ten-year high school reunion. Jim, Oz, Kevin, Finch, and Stifler reflect on where their lives have gone and how it differed from what they imagined it to be. The usual raunchy humor is back, as is Jim's lovable doofus dad, but no maturity is to be found among this group of grown-ups. The ensemble cast includes Jason Biggs, Alyson Hannigan, Seann William Scott, and Eugene Levy.








Friday, April 27th
The Five-Year Engagement

Yet another R-rated comedy, as if people ever get tired of them! This one stars Jason Segel and Emily Blunt as a couple who get engaged but keep putting their wedding off while their lives get in the way. A potential one-joke idea is given the Apatow treatment with wry observations on men and women, sex, and family. And lately, Segel can do no wrong.












Other movies coming out this month I neglected to mention include The Three Stooges (looks awful) and The Raven (looks exciting but dumb). At any rate, the summer movies start in the first week of May, which is where my calendar is marked. See you then!