Pixar watch: Cars 2 Trailer/Brave

Pixar has seemed to be a little behind the cylinder when it came to promoting its next film, the sequel to Cars, due next summer. I was surprised not to see at least a teaser for it in front of Toy Story 3.

The studio has rectified that situation with the release of this ... well, doesn't even seem right to call it a teaser. More like a tease of  a teaser. Take a look-see:



Not what you expected, is it? But I can sorta see how it might fit, given that the sequel is supposed to be set on the overseas racing circuit. In any case, label me intrigued. Like many people, I believe that Cars is the least great of Pixar's movies, but it had great moments, and this teaser-teaser takes the Cars world for a fun little spin. I just now found out that Pixar guru John Lasseter, who directed the original picture, is now co-directing after so-called "creative problems."

That seems to be cropping up a lot at Pixar lately. First there was the cancellation of Newt, which was to be the first feature by sound maestro Gary Rydstrom, who made the short Lifted (about the alien taking the drivers' test). And now there comes news that the company has replaced the director of Brave (formerly titled The Bear and the Bow). That's notable because the director was Brenda Chapman, who was to be the first female to helm a Pixar movie. Her replacement is Mark Andrews, who made One Man Band, the short that preceded Cars.

The move has prompted some to call Pixar sexist. My gut tells me that accusation is more than a little churlish. It's a legitimate criticism that Pixar's stories have been male-centric, but it is also well known that Pixar doesn't make such drastic moves unless absolutely necessary. Same thing happened with Ratatouille, which Brad Bird retooled at the 11th hour, and it turned out pretty well. And it's worth noting that Disney's three great fairy tales of the late 1980s/early 90s were each directed by two men.

All us outsiders can do is sit and idle ...

What I watched on my break

It's time once again to play catch-up, with various titles I've viewed since our last game. First, the titles new to the big screen. 

Buried: It's 90 minutes of Ryan Reynolds in a coffin. While at one time, that would have been appealing in a cynical way, now it's the basis for a terrific film  The entire picture takes place inside the coffin buried underground, with Reynolds in it. Director Rodrigo Cortes keeps the film visually interesting with an impressive array of camera angles, editing techniques and other surprises, while Reynolds delivers an emotionally intense performance. Screw all that usual Halloween junk - this is the scariest film I've seen in quite some time. GRADE: A

Never Let Me Go: Some people proclaim this sci fi drama a stirring masterpiece. Others proclaim it cold and aloof.  As happens often in such debates, I identify with both sides. The pacing is a bit too stilted, and I felt the clinical storytelling kept me at arm's length from the film - and yet I can't get it out of my head. I think that's due primarily to the strong performances, particularly by the haunting Carey Mulligan. GRADE: B

Nowhere Boy: This biopic of John Lennon's teenage years covers territory familiar to most fans and is occasionally a bit maudlin, but it works surprisingly well thanks to the three key performances. Aaron Johnson  impresses as Lennon, particularly considering his last role was the title character in Kick-Ass. Anne-Marie Duff is lively and fetching as Lennon's ill-fated mother Julia, while Kristin Scott Thomas shows impressive range with her performance as the stern but loving Aunt Mimi. The other acting surprise? Thomas Sangster, Liam Neeson's son in Love, Actually, plays Paul McCartney. So much for his favorite Beatle being Ringo. GRADE: B+

Coming soon: The retro films I watched.

The scariest shots of all time?

My dear friend Kimberly Scampone (who runs her own film site here) came up with a freaky idea for a topic: The scariest movie shots of all time.

Her choice was certainly a good one: the shot of Jack frozen at the end of The Shining.

So the wheels/reels of my movie-mad mind started turning. What did I think were the scariest shots of all time? Here are a few of mine, in no particular order, save for the last.

The close-up of Janet Leigh's mouth in the shower scene of Psycho.

The subtle change in Anthony Perkins' visage at the tail end of the same film.

Raymond Burr's "death stare" directly into the camera when he realizes he's being watched in Rear Window.

The chilling shot of Robert Walker, all calm, cool and concentrated during the tennis match in Strangers on a Train.

The first track-in/zoom out in Vertigo



And lest people think all my choices are Hitch shots, I would also go for the blood pouring from the elevators in The Shining.

The shot of Michael Meyers verrry slowly rising in the background in Halloween.

The very first shot of Anthony Perkins in Silence of the Lambs.

The shot of blood spurting from Linda Blair during one of her medical procedures in The Exorcist.

The chest-burster baring its teeth in Alien.

And finally, the only shot that has ever made me scream out loud  - the chumming scene from Jaws.

This list cannot possibly be all inclusive, so I want to see LOTS  of comments on this. (Note: The selections do NOT have to be from horror movies.)  If I don't get them, I'm going to find you, clamp the Clockwork Orange device on your head and make you watch ALL these shots on an endless loop so that you'll have nightmares for the next 20 years!

Twelve + hours of fright: Ohio Horrorfest 2010

Last year I attended a horrorfest full of birds and zombies. This year's lineup in Yellow Springs was full of devils, trolls and hacks.

The second Ohio Horrorfest I attended kicked off with Best Worst Movie, a delightful documentary about the legendarily bad Troll 2, billed as "the worst movie ever made." What's particularly fun about the doc is the dichotomy it displays between the cast and the filmmakers. Most of the actors knew they were in a really stupid movie, and knew that they weren't very good in it, but enjoyed the ride anyway. They stand in sharp contrast to the behind the camera crew, especially the director, who actually still seems to believe he made something approaching art. Great fun. GRADE: A-

Troll 2: Well, what else could follow that? It is truly dumber than advertised. Not only is the acting below the bottom of the barrel, but the filmmaking is so slipshod, it results continuity gaffes that would make Ed Wood proud. It's the "so bad it's good" kind of movie that results in a rare GRADE: Z (It is worth noting, however, that Troll 2 no longer occupies the very bottom of the pile at IMDB. That dubious distinction goes to Superbabies: Baby Geniuses 2. Somehow, I don't think that would play well in a horror marathon. For the record, Troll 2 now sits at a highly #64.)

Scream: Still very effective 14 (!) years later, and one of Wes Craven's best films, although my best friend pointed out, possibly correctly, that Craven's underrated New Nightmare may be even better. The sequels suffered diminishing returns but were at least good movies. I hope next spring's Scream 4 fits in. GRADE: A

The Brood: I can't review this one, as unfortunately, I fell asleep after about the first 20 minutes. As is the case with many David Cronenberg films, the pacing is too stately (that's a polite word for slow) to sustain consciousness at 4 in the morning. It sucked the energy out of the room; most people left after this. GRADE: zzzzzzzzz

The Evil Dead: I reawakened to catch most of Sam Raimi's ticket to the big time. It's a lot of fun, and well made, especially on such a limiteed budget, but I greatly prefer the sequel, Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn. GRADE: B

Child's Play: I was pleasantly surprised by this one, although maybe I shouldn't have been. This series follows the pattern set by so many horror franchises: a first entry that's better than decent, followed by a long string of mostly worthless sequels. This one is imaginative and fun, and it made me sad to realize that director Tom Holland (who also made Fright Night) essentially gave up on filmmaking in the early 90s. GRADE: B+

The Exorcist: Still gets my vote as the scariest movie of all time. It absolutely kicks my ass with every viewing, even if it's "the version you've never seen" with the STUPID ending, which was shown here. (Actually, I liked most of the changes the recut made and believe the ideal version of the film would be most of the recut without the "happy" coda. GRADE: A (docked a plus for having the wrong ending).

He said/She said: The Social Network review

They say that two heads are better than one, and that principle lies in a new blogging experience that begins with this post.

There is now not only one film buff working at Cox Media Group's southwest newspapers, there are two. Just as I maintain this film site, my colleague Hannah Porturalski maintains her film own site, One Chick's Take on Flicks.

From time to time, Hannah and I will co-review a film, each bringing our own perspectives to it and hopefully making our sites even more interesting to read. Since this is our first outing, and I am the chvalrous sort, I will let Hannah go first. Here's an excerpt from her review; mine follows after the jump.

"I never thought I would think of Jesse Eisenberg as a jerk, but man does he know how to play a neurotic ass, and well. He was the opposite type of character in 2009′s Zombieland when he played a soft-spoken sweetheart. The Social Network shed a lot of light on Mark Zuckerberg’s mindset and life. But you’ve got to take the unauthorized Facebook movie with a grain of salt, seeing as Zuckerberg has said, “It’s a movie, it’s fun.” It’s hard for me, the average viewer, to know how true it really rings.

"While the film was very entertaining it was also draining. Eisenberg as Zuckerberg was great at acting as a fast-talking, fast-thinking, fast-acting college student with nothing but time to waste. Zuckerberg was portrayed as a loner with insecurities as large as his ego. It was great though to watch the mind of a computer-obsessed guy just whiz by everyone else and dominate the Internet. These character flaws were effective at making the viewer jump between liking Zuckerberg and hating him. He was extremely intelligent and witty, but was almost bipolar because he’d switch to a cold, calculating jerk. Even when Zuckerberg tried to act sincere, i.e. the bar scene when he tries to apologize to Erica Albright (Rooney Mara), he does it in a condescending way that shows it isn’t sincere. Zuckerberg seemed to have a very hard time relating to people and the root of that problem never became apparent."

Read the rest of Hannah's review. 

My review is after the jump.

It's an alien! It's a spider! It's an agent!

So Superman and Spider-Man have both flown back into the headlines with news on their reboots. Superman has his director in Zack Snyder, Spider-Man has his girlfriend.

Superman's new director is Zack Snyder, the so-called "visionary" director of Watchmen, 300, and The Night of the Living Dead remake. Snyder is a very talented guy, and not many directors would veer from a zombie flick to an adrenalized Greek action epic to a comic book movie to an animated owl movie (Legend of the Guardians, now in theaters).  I'll say this for him, he's nothing if not ambitious. And he certainly knows his way around an action scene better than my favorite whipping boy, Michael Bay.

Still, with four big-budget action films under his belt, it concerns me that Snyder still seems underdeveloped as a storyteller. He's not really good at getting to the emotional core. Granted, Night of the Living Dead and 300 didn't suffer much for it, but Watchmen certainly did. And perhaps more than any superhero, you need a strong emotional core to make Superman fly. I'm not convinced Snyder is there, but this film will certainly be the ultimate test. I'm at least encouraged that Christopher Nolan is producing the project. I'll trust his judgment.

Then there's the  Spider-Man reboot. The fabulous Emma Stone, who proved with Easy A that she could carry a film with flair, will make a great Gwen Stacy (I guess because of her red hair, people assumed Mary Jane. Turned out not to be the case.)  Based on his very fine work  in The Social Network as the scorned creator of Facebook, I'm convinced Andrew Garfield has what it takes to play Peter Parker. The director, Marc Webb, made one of my favorite films from last year, 500 Days of Summer.

So why am I so iffy? I'm still not convinced of the whole reboot business. Spider-Man 3 was a mess, but it wasn't a Batman and Robin-level travesty that left the characters with nowhere to go.

My suggestion to both franchises? Forget the origin stories. Everyone knows them by now and telling them again will just slow things down. Suggestion two: Use villains that haven't been done yet. That means no more Luthor or Green Goblin. Superman can battle Braniac, maybe, and Spider-Man can go the James Bond route. Just as Judi Dench stayed as M, even when Bond himself changed, Spider-Man can keep Dylan Baker, who appeared in the previous films, and cast him as The Lizard. The solution is right under their noses. Let's just hope their Spidey senses are strong enough.

Somewhat lost in all this superhero business is the news that Jason Bourne is getting closer to coming up for air. The franchise seemed at a standstill when Paul Greengrass, who made 2 and 3, said he would not be back, and Matt Damon said he would not be back without Greengrass. However, it was announced that Tony Gilroy has almost signed on the dotted line to direct the fourth movie. Gilroy is a skilled director, having made the excellent Michael Clayton and the underrated Duplicity. And more to the point, he knows the series, having had a hand in writing all three films. And I'm willing to bet if Gilroy is on board, Damon will be too. And so will I.

A tribute to Tony Curtis, Shell oil and such

Forgive me for writing this Tony Curtis tribute somewhat belatedly, but to be honest, I struggled with it a little. 

Tony Curtis was a great talent. I greatly enjoyed his work in most every film I've seen of his. But I find myself coming up with caveats for them.

The Sweet Smell of Success? He was very good in that, but he was the straight man there. It's Burt Lancaster you remember.

Spartacus? Some of his Bronx-ish line readings were a little silly. And again, that's mainly Kirk Douglas' show.

The Great Race? Funny, but Natalie Wood was much cuter. 

Some Like It Hot? Unquestionably his best work. But even that has a caveat - his female voice was not his own - it was dubbed by voice-over actor Paul Frees, who was also the voice of The Haunted Mansion's ghost host, and, it should be noted, both John and George in the Beatles Saturday morning cartoons. 

And truthfully, I always felt much closer to Tony's former wife - quite literally so. 

And yet ... and yet ...

That IS Curtis doing the great faux Cary Grant in Some Like It Hot. (I imagine that must make watching Operation Petticoat, which came out the same year, 1959,  rather funny.) There is no question that, in his time, he was a star of the first rank. Perhaps I just haven't seen enough of that star. A little DVR-ing of TCM's Tony Curtis tribute Sunday will help take care of that. I'm especially anxious to see The Defiant Ones, which got him an Oscar nod. But even if I wouldn't rank him among my personal favorites, I can say he was still larger than life, even if he was a lower-tier star in the grand scheme of things.

So, forgive me, Tony. I'm not the best person to pay tribute to you. You are much better served by the writings of others more learned than I, particularly Leonard Maltin. But as a certain film of yours said ... nobody's perfect.

Two very sad passings: Gloria Stuart and Sally Menke

The film world has suffered two great losses this week - of a familiar and unfamiliar name - but both were vital in their own ways.

The first loss, was, of course, Gloria Stuart, whom most people know as the elder Rose in Titanic.  She had a solid career in cinema's early days, having appeared in everything from movies with Shirley Temple to James Whale-directed frighteners like The Invisible Man and The Old Dark House. She never became a great star, a fact she lamented, but she was always a striking presence in those films. She wasn't quite the tough dame but not quite the damsel in distress, either. She occupied a fascinating middle ground, and had a very striking look.

Perhaps this is suggestion is a little too on the nose, but she had a fascinating life - and you know who I'd like to see play her in a biopic? Kate Winslet. It will probably never happen, but it's a tantalizing prospect.

On balance, though, it's probably better that she wasn't better known, because otherwise, she would not have gotten the part of Rose in Titanic - a part she played beautifully. Her Oscar nomination for that film wasn't just a case of "Let's give the old movie star something before it's too late" - she fully deserved her nod. Again, she struck just the right balance between spunkiness and sensitivity. And if you ask me, she, not Kim Basinger of LA Confidential - should have WON the Oscar. But living to be 100 was a great reward. Wasn't she a dish?

The other passing this week was of a woman whose name few people know, but her work has been seen and admired by millions, even if they don't know what exactly it is they're admiring. Sally Menke, who edited all of Quentin Tarantino's films, perished in a hiking accident Tuesday. She was only 56.

Many tributes to Menke will call attention to big action scenes like the fights in Kill Bill or the car chase in Death Proof - as well they should. Her work on those scenes was among the best of their kind. 

However, I think Menke's best work was in the kind of editing you're not supposed to notice, like the date between Vincent and Mia in Pulp Fiction - and no, I'm not talking about the dance scene or the needle into the heart. I'm talking about the conversations of the date. Check it out again and listen. They're perfectly balanced. Tarantino has said the date was originally much longer, but he and Menke cut it down to perfect effect so it had just the right air of mystery. 

Whenever Pulp Fiction is shown on TV now, it includes a scene excised from the theatrical cut - the "Beatles people vs. Elvis people" scene between Travolta and Thurman. It's a great scene. It's probably the most widely quoted scene that was not actually in a movie. But Menke and Tarantino were right to cut it, because it dispels the mystique around Thurman's character too soon. 

That's where Menke truly excelled. Check out her work in Jackie Brown, which I think is Tarantino's second-best film, and certainly his most mature one. That film juggles multiple characters and subplots, but the movie breathes just right. The viewer never gets lost and gets caught up in the overlapping stories. That's the mark of  a great editor. 

If you have Netflix, check out the editing documentary The Cutting Edge, which has interviews with Menke and Tarantino, and you'll see what I mean. More importantly, you'll learn more about an "invisible" art at which Menke excelled. (Note: The free streaming ends this Thursday, so catch it soon.)

For Sally, for Quentin and for us who love their movies,  final cut has come far too soon. 

Bye Sally.

REVIEW: Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps

Maybe money never sleeps, but Oliver Stone's follow-up to his 1987 film comes closer than I expected to being drowsy.

It's a perfectly decent, enjoyable picture, but coming from a firebrand like Stone, it feels surprisingly tame. A movie with a plot wrapped around our economic woes would seem rife with dramatic possibilities, but it doesn't really mine them as deeply as I hoped.

The film begins with Gordon Gekko's release from prison, claiming among his belongings a mobile phone the size of a shoe. Crossing his path is - what else? - a young, opportunistic hustler, Jake Moore (Shia LeBeouf), who falls under Gekko's spell. Gekko may not be rolling in dough anymore, but he still has charisma to spare, and Jake is hooked.

And this time, the emotional stakes are high  - Jake just happens to be engaged to Gekko's estranged daughter Winnie (Carey Mulligan) - and she refuses to have anything to do with her father.

On paper that sounds dramatically intense - on film, not so much. And that's strange. The actors all do good work. If anything, years of wear and tear on Gekko makes him more interesting for Douglas to play, and he does so to the hilt. Shia is well cast as the cocky rookie, and Mulligan is one of the brightest talents around. Stone directs the picture energetically, as well, creating several montages that pulse with energy, and the sequel moves fairly briskly.

Usually, however, if Stone errs, he does so by overplaying his hand, often underlining his points with sledgehammer dialogue. This time, however, the movie feels undercooked.

The original Wall Street had a fairly predictable plot, but it unfolded with a sense of urgency - and that sense is mostly missing here. And as is so often the case, I think the failure lies at script level. LaBeouf's character doesn't have much depth, so it's hard to develop a rooting interest in him. Gekko's daughter spends most of her time either scowling or crying - and not even Mulligan's considerable charisma can make her character compelling beyond surface level.

With all the financial peril in the headlines, the movie is certainly timely - and yet, in a strange way, maybe that's why it feels half -baked. Bombarded as we are with information 24/7 about the economy, a movie about it feels like old news by the time it comes out.

Wall Street famously told us that "greed is good." This new film tells us it's legal. As Gekko points out, his misdeeds were small time compared to today's financial shenanigans, and the sequel doesn't capitalize on that enough. The new movie doesn't crash, but it certainly doesn't explode either. GRADE: B-

Oeuvres: Oliver Stone

When many people think of Oliver Stone, the first word that comes to mind is "controversy." The first word that comes to my mind is "frustrating."

There is no doubt that Stone is a very skilled director. The trouble is, Stone himself often seems to doubt that.

Time and again in his films, Stone stages brilliant visual sequences, with his early- to mid-90s work being especially enthralling. Using hallucinatory imagery and innovative cutting, Stone's movies in this period were often hypnotic and mesmerizing.

However, his biggest flaw in all his movies is, he doesn't trust his own instincts. He'll do a great job pf making a point visually, then he'll beat the viewer over the head with truly ham-fisted dialogue that dilutes the power of the film. Sometimes the man just doesn't know how to get out of his own way - and more to the point, doesn't know when to shut the hell up.

When Stone does control his excesses, however, he's one of the best directors working. Here's my overview of his films I've seen, which excludes his early work. Given what I've heard about The Hand, that's probably all for the better. A review of Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps will follow soon.

Salvador: The first part of a terrific one-two punch that established Stone as a director. The storytelling (and indeed the story itself) is a bit high strung, but James Woods' outstanding work as Richard Boyle carries the film. GRADE: B+

Platoon: If Salvador put Stone on the map, Platoon is the movie that made him an A-lister. Despite some overwrought dialogue, this is still the best Vietnam movie ever made. Sorry, Deer Hunter. Sorry, Apocalypse Now. And sorry, Full Metal Jacket. GRADE: A+

Wall Street: A movie about insider trading might not seem a ripe subject for high drama, but Stone pulls it off by getting some excellent performances from the cast and crafting fine, Scorsese-like visuals in some scenes. If only it were a bit less dramatically obvious ... GRADE: B+

Talk Radio: Few people have seen what is essentially a one-man show with Eric Bogosian as a caustic radio talk show host, and more's the pity. This is one of Stone's most underrated films, with the director and cinematographer Robert Richardson crafting striking imagery out of a limited setting. GRADE: A-

Born on the Fourth of July: The story of Vietnam vet Ron Kovic starts out very well, and then loses its way in the second half once Kovic comes home and struggles with his demons, and Stone struggles to keep his dramatics from overheating. Still, one of Tom Cruise's best performances makes it highly watchable. GRADE: B+

The Doors: Denis Leary summed up the dramatic arc of this film very well. "I'm drunk, I'm nobody; I'm drunk, I'm famous; I'm drunk, I'm dead." A fine lead performance by Val Kilmer and some trippy visuals can't save it. GRADE: C

JFK: Here is the film that is most emblematic of Stone's career. He crafts an astonishing look and feel for the movie, brilliantly capturing the paranoia surrounding the Kennedy assassination - then he undermines it with dull homefront sequences and courtroom speeches that don't just beat the audience over the head - they pummel it with a jackhammer. But even if one thinks it's BS as a historical document, it's visceral power deniable only by the foolish. Sadly, the only version available on DVD is the longer director's cut, which magnifies the flaws and is worth only a B. The theatrical cut is good enough to rate an A-.

Heaven and Earth: Stone's third film in his Vietnam triptych is the least successful. There are good performances and individual moments of power, but the story simply isn't especially well told. GRADE: C+

Natural Born Killers: If the script were as good as the direction, this would be one of Stone's best. As it is, it's the old familiar tale: great visuals, painful sledgehammer storytelling, For the wild imagery alone, though, it's unforgettable. GRADE: B+

Nixon: Stone takes his unorthodox, hypnotic visuals and makes them work in a most unexpected place: a presidential biography. And for once, the script doesn't undercut the film too badly. Terrific acting also bolsters this attempt not to condemn or pardon Nixon, but to understand him. GRADE: A

U-Turn: Once again, the visuals are hypnotic and the cast is solid - but this time the story is so undercooked as to barely be memorable. GRADE: C+

Any Given Sunday: Stone's football movie has some good acting, particularly from Al Pacino and Cameron Diaz, who turns in a surprisingly tough performance. They make it worth a look, but again, the story doesn't stick. GRADE: B-

Alexander: Hoo boy. All of Stone's worst tendencies come to the fore here. And this time, not even the visuals are enough to save what is a long, slow, and improbably boring mess. GRADE: D+

World Trade Center: Stone redeems himself by exercising restraint and simply telling a story straight and telling it very, very well. Some might miss Stone's florid images, but a story this powerful has no need for them. Excellent. GRADE: A+

W.: Stone's second attempt to understand an often vilified president isn't as successful as the first, partly because of cheap psychology,  and partly because Bush was still in office when this was made and so was unfinished.  It's just compelling enough to work, and Josh Brolin's lead performance is outstanding. GRADE: B 

To be continued ...

REVIEW: Easy A

Emma Stone has bloomed into a leading lady.  But she's not QUITE the "it" girl. And that's why Easy A truly lives up to its name.

Make no mistake - all those people who have hailed the movie as Stone's coming out party are absolutely correct. She is simply sensational playing a girl who enjoys her new notoriety as the school harlot after  the rumor mill buzzes that she's done it - never mind that she didn't.  I first took notice of her as someone to watch in Superbad. She was also great fun in The House Bunny, one of the few Happy Madison/Adam Sandler movies with at least half a brain. And she was great again in the hilarious Zombieland. 

Easy A marks the first time she has to carry a picture, and she doesn't just carry it - she gives it a piggyback ride, flips it in the air and then catches it again on her very capable shoulders. Stone is wonderfully sassy and sarcastic. At one point in the film, talking about The Scarlet Letter, she deadpans, "Make sure you watch the original, not the Demi Moore movie where she talks in a fake British accent and takes a lot of baths." Give that girl an Oscar nod, not just a Golden Globe nod.

And yet, it is almost possible to overpraise Stone. She's tremendous, but she isn't the whole show. Notice the number of talented adults in the cast: Stanley Tucci and Patricia Clarkson as her parents. Thomas Haden Church as her favorite teacher. Lisa Kudrow as the guidance counselor All are terrific, and I don't think they all would have been here if the script by Bert V. Royal weren't crafted so well. 

Not only is Easy A very funny, it's also very smart - smart enough to give its story and characters real weight. I loved that the parents weren't the usual well-meaning dolts who come through with the pearls of wisdom at just the right moment. I loved the teacher's new world weary rant about Facebook, addict though I am. And I especially loved that Bert V. Royal's screenplay creates real consequences - there's much more at stake in the movie than mere popularity.

My only significant quibble is the overemphasis of the religious zealots who make Stone's life miserable. For one thing. lampooning these Bible-thumpers is akin to shooting fish (and loaves) in a barrel. And for another, Saved mined similar territory more gracefully. Amanda Bynes plays the ringleader very well, but Mandy Moore got there first and did it even better.

Even if the movie sometimes picks easy targets, it hits all of them. Easy A is the best high school comedy since Mean Girls - and like Mean Girls, it's not just for teens. This is a movie for people who graduated high school (and college) too. 

GRADE: A- (Natch)

REVIEW: The Town

Ben Affleck's The Town never really surprised me - and that's both a complaint and a compliment.

It seems to have surprised a number of my critical brethren, who have generally exclaimed, "Wow, Ben Affleck really CAN direct," and/or "Wow, the chick from Gossip Girl really CAN act!" While I agree on both counts, neither of these views surprised me. Affleck had already turned in the very assured Gone Baby Gone, and as such, I had faith in his talent. If Affleck cast Blake Lively, I was reasonably confident she could do something other than a wear a cleavage-baring dress.

Everyone in the A-list cast delivers, but I was most impressed by Rebeca Hall's touching, nuanced performance. From Vicky Cristina Barcelona to The Prestige to Please Give and beyond, Hall always makes for an engaging presence that suggests something intense lurking beneath her placid surface, and that's especially true here, where she plays a bank manager who unknowingly falls for one of the men who abducted her (Affleck). Jon Hamm proves himself a very capable  action hero of sorts, and Jeremy Renner (The Hurt Locker) performs well as Affleck's hot-headed cohort, though I do hope Renner doesn't get typecast as "the loose cannon" too often.

What's truly impressive about The Town is what goes on behind the camera. Affleck directs cleanly and confidently, and what helps here are key behind-the-scenes personnel. His cinematographer is Robert Elswit and his editor is Dylan Tichenor, both Paul Thomas Anderson regulars. Other key collaborators include second-unit director Alexander Witt, and additional editor Christopher Rouse, both veterans of the Bourne series, who came in handy in shaping the complex and exciting action scenes.

As accomplished and enthralling as The Town often is, it doesn't quite hit the heights of other recent Boston crime dramas like The Departed or Mystic River, the latter of which is particularly echoed in this picture. The script, by Affleck, Aaron Stockard and Peter Craig, based on Chuck Hogan's  novel Prince of Thieves, unfolds rather predictably and isn't very good about misdirecting from its big reveals. Nothing here should come as a great surprise to anyone unless they've seen very few crime movies.  The ending, in particular, is too neat and tidy.

Still, The Town's flaws detract very little from it's considerable impact. Blake Lively should no longer have to atone for being a babe on a CW show, and Affleck does not have to atone for the J.Lo years either.

GRADE: A-

Second Rapunzel trailer less Tangled than the first

Disney has released a second trailer for its November fairy tale, Rapunzel, which I refuse to call by its more marketable than thou name.

That's appropriate, considering this trailer is much more Rapunzel-centric than the first trailer, which baffled many  people, including me. Disney seemed to be trying so hard to sell a princess movie to boys that it seemed to me to be in danger of selling its soul. It was just this sort of clouded thinking that contributed to Disney animation's decline in the past decade.

I will give credit where it's due. The new trailer is an improvement over the first. Maybe that's because I'm somewhat old-fashioned in my Disney tastes, and because I think Mandy Moore, who voices the lead, is an underrated talent.

But Disney isn't quite out of the woods here, in more ways than one. The trailer gives no indication that the movie is a musical, but it is - with songs by Alan Menken, no less - the composer of Disney's latter glory days who wrote the music for the "big three" - The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. Shouldn't that be a selling point?

Apparently not. Does Disney think that the mention of songs will send today's kids screaming for the hills, even in a more female-centric trailer?

Then again, Menken's partner on this picture is Glenn Slater, who collaborated with him on the utterly forgettable songs for the udderly forgettable Home on the Range, so maybe Disney has a point, though I prefer to give Menken the benefit of the doubt.

At the very least, this new trailer gives me more hope than the old trailer that Rapunzel will be a fun film - even if Disney's marketing is awfully tangled.

A few words on Jean Arthur/The Devil and Miss Jones

Jean Arthur rarely ranks among the very greatest stars of all time. That's both unfair - and kind of fitting.

It's unfair because Arthur had an irresistible charm, and what made it so irresistible was that she wasn't really trying to lay on the charm, like, say, Marilyn Monroe - she just naturally was. And yet her not falling into most greatest stars lists is appropriate, because she had a way about her that was different from other great players. She didn't have the effervescence of Audrey Hepburn or the snap of the other Hepburn, Kate - but her characters combined a shield of sass that masked a core of romanticism. That made her fascinating.

I've seen quite a few of her pictures (as they called them back in her day), and many of them are flat-out classics. Even if they're not, they're at the least very good, partly because she's in them. Such is the case with The Devil and Miss Jones (1941, Sam Wood) which I watched last night. Charles Coburn stars as an uber-wealthy department store owner who poses as a lowly employee to thwart unionizers  - and one of those employees is Arthur.

The movie loses focus whenever it concentrates on anyone besides Coburn and Arthur, especially toward the end, but on the whole, it's great fun and well worth seeing. Jean Arthur always is.

GRADE: B+

The Jean Arthur films I've seen:

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
You Can't Take it With You
Only Angels Have Wings
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
The Talk of the Town
A Foreign Affair
Shane

PS - Whatever you do, don't mix this up with The Devil IN Miss Jones. 'Nuff said.

Big ol' review catch-up

It's time to play catch-up with all the movies I've seen lately but not reviewed. And it's also time to make a fall resolution: to begin reviewing films as I watch them to generate more posts here and bring things back to life a bit.

On the Big Screen

I Am Love: I had heard many good things about this film, from Tilda Swinton's fine performances to the lush cinematography. Both are indeed pluses, but Luca Guadagnino's overly showy direction kept pushing me away from the story, making the film a near miss. GRADE: C+

The Kids are All Right: Outstanding performances from all five principals (Annette Bening, Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson) combine with a canny, observant script to make this the indie film of the year. Attention, Academy: This is an EXCELLENT occasion to get Julianne Moore her Oscar. GRADE: A

Please Give: Nicole Holofcener's film about New Yorkers around an irascible old woman has many knowing moments and an excellent cast. but the screenplay is ambitious to a fault. Holofcener tries to cover so much ground, she doesn't find a shape for everything she has to say - but it connects often enough to work. GRADE: B

Restrepo:  This documentary about U.S. troops stationed at a particularlly deadly outpost in Afghanistan captures very well the mix of emotions involved in enduring such a place. I only wish it had devoted a little more time delving into the personalities of the individual soldiers. I would have liked to have known them better.GRADE: B+

Piranha: This goofy, lurid remake offers up a surprising number of genuine scares - and I would rate it even higher even if it didn't go for the sick gross-out gag a few times too often. This was shot in 3D, but I saw it flat at a drive-in, and I would say that I missed something - except I'm rather glad that a bloody dismembered penis didn't break the fourth wall. GRADE: B

Solitary Man: Note to filmmakers: When you make a movie about a completely irredeemable prick, you have to give the audience something to latch onto in the script or the direction. This movie fails to do that. A strong cast tries their best, but when I don't care if a terminally ill man lives or dies, something has failed to connect. GRADE: C-

Winter's Bone: Jennifer Lawrence's sensational performance as a young girl searching for her meth-head father has caused some people to mistake a very good film for a great one. The filmmaking is a bit too dry and ponderous, but Lawrence is a wonder. GRADE: B+

On the Small Screen

Following: Prototypical Christopher Nolan, which is to say that even in his early career, working in black and white with a shoestring budget, he was bending minds like no one else. I'd actually like to see him scale back and do something  more low-key again. GRADE: A

Hush ... Hush, Sweet Charlotte: This high-camp follow-up to Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, also starring Bette Davis and directed by Robert Aldrich, plays like a decent sequel - it's not as good as the original, but it's delerious enough to be effective. It's especially fun to see Olivia de Havilland chewing scenery. And gee, poor Bruce Dern - between this and Marnie, it appears his early career was devoted to being bloodily dispatched. GRADE: B

The Old Man and the Sea: The filming of Ernest Hemingway's classic novel unsurprisingly gets most of its power from Spencer Tracy's performance, but it tries too hard to maintain Heminway's prose in distrracting voice over narration. That narration breaks Billy Wilder's writing rule: When using voice-over narration, don't tell the audience what they already see. GRADE: B

Wild Boys of the Road: This is one of many very fine movies I discovered via  Martin Scorsese's Personal Journey Through American Movies. Directed by William Wellman, the film plays like a junior version of the seminal I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang. The story structure is a bit repetitive (kids get in trouble, escape, kids get in trouble, escape), but it packs a punch nonetheless. GRADE: B+

The American is neither as good nor as bad as you've heard

On the one hand, there's Roger Ebert, who raves.

And then, on the other hand, there are members of the general public who rant.

Both reactions came  after seeing The American, George Clooney's latest film. Roger 4-starred it, but the general public forsook it, giving it a Cinemascore grade of D-. That's quite bad, considering the usually generous Cinemascore crowd rarely grades below a C.

Maybe it's the Libra in me, but I'm all about balancing the scales. As I so often do in disputes like this, I come down squarely in the middle. I LIKED The American, but I did not love it. I could understand why most audiences rejected it. The American is not for all tastes

If you harbor any resistance toward movies that are character studies -if you've never heard of director Michaelangelo Antonioni, whom Clooney's director Anton Corbijn tries to emulate - if your idea of a great action movie is anything with Stallone -  do  NOT see The American. You won't like it. You will find it about as exciting as watching a glacier melt. And the film movies at about the same speed.

But does that mean that if you like arthouse movies, and you know who Antonioni is, you will love The American? Not necessarily. I like arthouse movies and I know who Antonioni is, even though I've only ever seen Blow Up.  But I did not love The American. I thought the story of a weapons manufactuerer on the run was beautifully shot, with reliably solid work from George Clooney playing a lost soul.  Put in layman's terms, the theme of the movie is,  "It's no fun being a gunman." I found the idea of an assassin as a lonely soul was fascinating,

And yet, I found The American a little full of itself, a bit self-consciously pretentious. At heart, this is a tale best told as a short lasting an hour or less. But endless shots of Clooney's solitary  figure in a vast landscape overemphasize the themes of isolation and make the movie gaseous. There's just not much THERE there in the story. For me, that adds up to a good movie, not a great one. I'd give it a B.

So what do we learn from all this? Well, as many moviegoers have found out, trailers and TV spots can be deceptive. LA Times columnist Patrick Goldstein calls Focus Features disingenuous for knowing they had an arthouse movie on their hands but selling it as a thriller in the mold of Bourne or Bond.

But what else was Focus to do? If they sold the picture for what it really was, no one would have gone! People may come away hating the film, but it only cost about $30 million to make. It will turn a profit. Goldstein argues that Clooney may be hurt in the outcry over the film, but I doubt it. After all, this is a man who has made movies as uncommerical as Solaris and  The Good German. He's not going anywhere.

But you know who else could come out ahead in this? Critics.

That may sound preposterous because some people feel they got suckered by a movie those smarty-pants egghead critics liked. It just furthers the notion critics and Joe and Jane sixpack will never see eye to eye.

But you know what? The moral of the story is that even if you don't agree with critics, reading what we have to say will tell you what kind of film you're getting. We will tell you, better than the trailer, what the movie is like. You may not agree with us, but we'll be honest. Some people may say "If the critics like it, I'll hate it." Well, fine. So be it. Being used as a reverse divining rod is better than not being used at all.

But there's an even larger point to be made here. Movies come in all shapes and sizes, just like people do. Audiences may love Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, critics may hate it. Critics may like The American, even if audiences turn up their noses. And you know what? Both are OK. Neither means the death of American cinema. Popcorn flicks and arthouse fare will always be made, and as long as both are out there, then that's what matters.

The quote about movies I cite most often comes from Orson Welles, and it's especially apt here. He said, "To the movies, to good movies - to every possible kind."

He's right - even if you thought The American sucked.

Holiday movie preview: December/Undated

I changed the title of the blog post because even though most of December IS technically autumn, it just doesn't seem right to call it "fall," does it? On with the show ...

DECEMBER 10

The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader: The Narnia franchise moves from Disney to Fox, although I don't expect there will be much of a difference. One encouraging sign: the presence of the usually steady hand of Michael Apted behind the camera. PROSPECT: B

The Fighter: Amy Adams is in it, which is all I need to know, although I suppose it's also cool that Christian Bale and Mark Wahlberg co-star and that David O. Russel (Three Kings, I (Heart) Huckabees) directs.  PROSPECT: A

The Tourist: The director of The Lives of Others makes a thriller with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. On the basis of the names alone, I'm interested. I shall withhold further judgment until I see a trailer. PROSPECT: B

DECEMBER 17

How Do You Know: James L. Brooks directs Reese Witherspoon, Paul Rudd and Owen Wilson. Good enough for me, althrough it remains to be seen if this is closer to As Good as It Gets or Spanglish, the latter of which wasn't bad but needed an extra pass through the typewriter. PROSPECT: A

Tron Legacy: I had a big Tron Poster and the silly little electronic game when I was 12. I'm SO there. PROSPECT: A

Yogi Bear: Attention, Hollywood studios: Turning 2D cartoon characters into CG mutations is profoundly wrong and ugly, whether it's , Scooby-Doo, The Chipmunks or  Garfield. Enough!  PROSPECT: F

DECEMBER 22

Gulliver's Travels: I like Jack Black and Emily Blunt but I have to agree with IMDB that this has a very Land of the Lost vibe too it. I'm wary. PROSPECT: C

Little Fockers: I'm not quite so in love with this series as the general public, but not quite so down on it as some critics. The notion of trying to shoehorn in Dustin Hoffman at the last minute via pickup shots troubles me. PROSPECT: B

True Grit: The Coens remake John Wayne's Oscar winner with Jeff Bridges in the lead. How can one NOT be interested in that? PROSPECT: A

DECEMBER 29

The Debt: John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) directs Helen Mirren, Sam Worthington and Tom Wilkinson in a story about Mirren being a Mossad agent. The premise and the trailer are intriguing enough.

UNDATED LOCALLY

Another Year: Mike Leigh directs. Attention must always be paid on that fact alone. PROSPECT: B

Black Swan: Darren Aronofksy moves from The Wrestler to The Dancer in a gritty ballet movie that is generating very strong buzz, particularly for Natalie Portman's performance. PROSPECT: A

Fair Game: Don't worry, this is not a remake of the Billy Baldwin/Cindy Crawford caper, but the film version of the Valerie Plame story, starring Sean Penn and Naomi Watts and directed by Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity). PROSPECT: A

The King's Speech: The King in question is George VI, father of Elizabeth II. Such period pieces often strike me as stuffy, but I can't fault the cast: Helena Bonham Carter, Colin Firth, Guy Pearce, Michael Gambon, Geoffrey Rush, Timothy Spall, Derek Jacobi. PROSPECT: B

I Love You Philip Morris: This has been jockeyed all over the schedule, probably because the distributor fears that the notion of Jim Carrey playing a gay man in a dramatic role will make people's heads explode. Here's what makes my head explode: it's directed by the guys who wrote Bad Santa. PROSPECT: B

Never Let Me Go: Adapted from a story by Kazuro Ishiguro, the author of The Remains of the Day,  the new film by Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) has divided critics, with some saying it's a masterpiece and some saying it's too chilly and remote. But that very division is what intrigues me, along with the female leads: Keria Knightly and Carey Mulligan. PROSPECT: A

127 Hours: Danny Boyle follows up Slumdog Millionaire - and that's enough to hook me, but the premise ups the intrigue: a man becomes trapped under a boulder in a canyon and resorts to desperate measures to survive. PROSPECT: A

Somewhere: Sofia Coppola returns with a film about an actor (Stephen Dorff) holed up in the Chateau Marmont hotel, where his daughter (Elle Fanning) visits him. Dorff turns me off a bit, but Fanning is looking to match her sister in the eerie talent department. PROSPECT: A

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger: The buzz says that Woody Allen's latest is not one of his better movies, but as a film buff, I must obey the commandment: Thou Shalt Always Give Woody a Shot.

What fall/holiday movies are you most looking forward to? Least? I would put The Social Network in the "most" slot and Yogi Bear in the "least" slot.

Fall movie preview: November

Apologies for the delay in continuing this preview - work got very busy and I needed the Labor Day weekend to recharge. Depending on how you're viewing this entry, my September and October entries can be seen either by scrolling down or hitting the hyperlinks.

NOVEMBER 5

Due Date: The trailers for this certainly look amusing enough, but I hope this isn't a case of huge hit (The Hangover) followed by letdown. That's another way of saying I hope the best jokes aren't all in the ads. PROSPECT: B

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide when the Rainbow is Enuf: Tyler Perry's movies have not interested me. Can't say if  this one, an adaptation of someone else's work, will be the one that hooks me. PROSPECT: C

Megamind: The good news is that DreamWorks has been on a strong streak of late, with How to Train Your Dragon and Shrek Forever After both being better than expected. The bad news is, the lead voice is Will Ferrell, whom I generally cannot stand. On the other hand. I did like him in Elf. We'll see. PROSPECT: B

NOVEMBER 12

Skyline: Yawn. Haven't we been through this before with War of the Worlds, Independence Day, Cloverfield,  etc. etc? It'll take more than a trailer showing the sky falling to hook me. Quite frankly, I'd be more interested if this were about the chili.  PROSPECT: C

Morning Glory: Rachel McAdams and Harrison Ford in a morning news environment, directed by Roger Michell, who made Notting Hill and the underrated Changing Lanes? We're on in 5, 4, 3, 2 ... PROSPECT: A

Unstoppable: Well, that was quick. Just last year, Tony Scott and Denzel Washington took a train ride with their remake of The Taking of Pelham 123. That movie was decent, but rather tepid. The premise of this one, an out-of-control train,  looks just ridiculous enough that this movie might be more entertaining. PROSPECT: B

NOVEMBER 19

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I: The trailer boldly calls this, "The Motion Picture Event of a Generation" - and it actually doesn't sound like so much hyperbole. After all, can YOU think of another long-running franchise that has been so consistent? Where even the least compelling film (my vote is Chamber of Secrets) is still pretty good? Not even James Bond has managed that. PROSPECT: A

The Next Three Days: This thriller starring Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks and directed by Paul Haggis, about Banks being accused of murder and Crowe trying to clear her, looks pretty good - so why is Lionsgate  putting it up against Potter, which EVERYONE is going to see? Either Lionsgate knows something we don't or has performed the dumbest counter-programming of all time. PROSPECT: B

NOVEMBER 24

Burlesque: Co-starring Cher and Christina Aguilera. Wow. Sounds like a train wreck. Just hope it's the good kind. PROSPECT: C

Faster: Dwayne Johnson and Billy Bob Thornton co-star in a revenge drama, directed by George Tillman, whose output is not all that distinguished. No read. PROSPECT: C




Love and Other Drugs: Anne Hathaway is earning very strong Oscar buzz for her reportedly sexually charged re-teaming with Brokeback Mountain star Jake Gyllenhaal - and this is romantic COMEDY, we're told. One blip is that the director is Edward Zwick, who is sometimes great (Glory) but is often middling (Blood Diamond, Defiance). PROSPECT: B

Red Dawn: Sigh - a remake of another movie where nostalgia clouds judgment, elevating a movie that was never that good in the first place. Casting for the Dirty Dancing reimagining in 5, 4, 3, 2 .... PROSPECT: C

Tangled: I really and truly hope the Disney magic is there with this musical fairy tale about Rapunzel. Yet I remain deeply suspicious of gearing the marketing to boys and changing the title in the wake of The Princess and the Frog's unspectacular box office. ("It underperformed because we didn't get the guys!") That's exactly the sort of corporate groupthink that stifled Disney animation in recent years. It would be the greatest joy of the season if the movie proved me wrong. PROSPECT : B

Fall movie preview: October

Ah, October 2010. It's looking to be an important month in a number of ways. Not only is it the month I turn 40, but it's also the month of some of the fall movies I most want to see - and some that I  least want to see.

In case you missed my September issue, click here.

OCTOBER 1

Case 39: This wouldn't be one of the movies, but I am sort of intrigued by the idea of Renee Zellweger heading up a horror flick. Let's just hope she's done a better job of picking scripts than she has of late. It would not be good if this were the bloody equivalent of New In Town. PROSPECT: B

Let Me In: This isn't the movie I was referring to either, but I AM very curious to see this one. Since it's the American remake of the well-loved vampire film Let the Right One In, some will dismiss it out of hand. I'm going to give it a chance. The director, Matt Reeves, has talent - he made Cloverfield. And the lead is ideal: she's  Chloe Grace Moretz, a bright young talent who was the best thing about Kick Ass. PROSPECT: B

The Social Network: What's on your mind? Eric Robinette is majorly stoked to see the movie about Facebook's formative years. He also wants to see Rooney Mara, AKA The Girl who Will Play Lisbeth Salander in the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo remake. Eric Robinette likes David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin. GRADE: A

OCTOBER 8

Buried: There was a time when I would have applauded the idea of Ryan Reynolds being buried in a coffin underground, in a schadenfreude sorta way. Now I applaud it for more sincere reasons. The premise and the trailers have got me quite intrigued. PROSPECT: A

Life as we Know It: Katherine Heigl in a romantic comedy. Blah. And to think that once actually sounded attractive. Not after junk like The Ugly Truth. And supposedly Takers. PROSPECT: C

My Soul to Take: Normally I would scoff at 3D horror, but Wes Craven directed. Gotta give him a shot. PROSPECT: B

Secretariat: It has a fine cast with Joan Allen, and a great true-life sports story in the titular horse, but a mediocre director in Randall Wallace (The Man in the Iron Mask) and a mediocre writer in Mike Rich, who piles on the sentimental glop in treacle like Radio. Unless the reviews come in strong, I'll pass. PROSPECT: C

OCTOBER 15

Jackass 3D: How to kill the 3D revival Part I. PROSPECT: F

Red: The good news: This thriller stars Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren. The bad news: It's from the writers of Whiteout and the indistinct director of Flightplan and The Time Traveler's Wife. Wait and see. PROSPECT: C

OCTOBER 22

Hereafter: All you have to say is "Clint Eastwood directs," and I'm in. Don't care what it is. PROSPECT: A

Paranormal Activity 2: I liked the first Blair Witch Project. I heard the Blair Witch sequel sucked. I liked Paranormal Activity. Why do I get the sense history is about to repeat itself? PROSPECT: C

OCTOBER 29

Saw 3D: How to Kill the 3D Revival Part II. PROSPECT: F

Fall movie preview: September

Having just returned from vacation, having played catch-up at work, and having noticed that it's now officially September, it's time to start the fall movie preview - even if it's officially still summer.

As always, each film gets a prospect grade, which goes like this.

A = Woohoo!
B = Cool
C = Eh.
D = *Mumble, grumble, gripe*
F=  #$!%!@$

Here's how September looks:

SEPTEMBER 3

The American: If George Clooney toplines a film, I'm automatically there. Even when he kinda-sorta misses (e.g. The Men Who Stare at Goats) he at least misses in an interesting way. Those expecting a Bourne-style thriller may be disappointed; this feels much more low-key and European. In fact, I've heard it resembles the work of Antonioni, which to me is not entirely a good thing -  much of his work strikes me as self-important. Still, this is one of the top picks for the month, kinda by default. PROSPECT: B

Going the Distance: On again/off again couple Drew Barrymore and Justin Long hook back up and - meh, can't find much of a reason to care. PROSPECT: C

Machete: The trailer from Grindhouse sprouts into a full-length movie. Looks rollicking enough, and I'll probably check it out, but Rodriguez's endless genre riffing is starting to feel a bit stale. PROSPECT: B

SEPTEMBER 10 

Resident Evil: Afterlife: I liked the first Resident Evil well enough, but not well enough to muster much interest in the sequels. PROSPECT: C

SEPTEMBER 17

Devil: This jeopardy in-an elevator thriller actually looked fairly intriguing until seven unlucky words popped up onscreen: "From the Mind of M. Night Shyamalan." What was once promising has become a total buzzkill.     I don't care if he didn't direct, his name has become a liability. Crowd in big cities have reportedly jeered when seeing Shyamalan's name - but it was happening in Dayton, Ohio too. Unless the reviews direct me otherwise, count me out. PROSPECT: D

Easy A: Teen comedies don't typically ring my bell, but this one has a funny premise (girl repeatedly fakes losing her virginity) and has a very appealing lead actress: Emma Stone, who was delightful in Superbad, The House Bunny and Zombieland, among others. Count me in. PROSPECT: B

The Town: I suppose one could say this looks a little too much like director Ben Affleck trying to be like Marty, but so what? The trailer is dynamite, and so is the cast. This is the movie I most want to see in September.  PROSPECT: A

SEPTEMBER 24

Legend of the Guardians - The Owls of Ga'Hoole: Gesundheit. And yeah, it looks like Happy Feathers as opposed to Happy Feet. But I am most intrigued by the director credit: Zack Snyder, that "visionary" who made 300 and Watchmen, but I won't hold the latter against him. PROSPECT: B

Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps: Maybe money never sleeps, but the quality of Oliver Stone's movies has sort of been snoozy lately. Still, a sequel is more than a little timely, and he has an excellent cast. Let's just hope he doesn't give Mr. LaBeouf an excuse to bad-mouth the movie months down the line. PROSPECT: B

You Again: Certainly has a likable roster of actors, including Sigourney Weaver, Kristen Bell and the ubiquitous Betty White, but I have no read on this one. PROSPECT: C