End of Watch

Ayer mines the familiar territory of the police drama, but turns the genre on its head—delivering a film with heart, humor and pathos in between moments of violence.  read more

ParaNorman

The beautifully crafted new stop-motion film ParaNorman opens with two important pieces of information. First, we observe our young hero as he watches a B-zombie flick, complete with choppy edits and a boom mic that creeps its way into the frame. This lets us know that the filmmakers approach the upcoming story with tongues firmly planted in cheeks. Second, Norman carries on a conversation with his grandmother. This part of the scene is only significant once we learn that grandma is quite dead....  read more

What to Expect When You’re Expecting

What to Expect When You’re Expecting has been treated with a bit of skepticism, and rightfully so. Kirk Jones’s fourth feature film is based on a hugely popular book, has an all-star ensemble cast reminiscent of last year’s floppy New Year’s Eve), and, perhaps most dire, stars Jennifer Lopez. However, J-Lo or no, What to Expect is as hilarious as it claims to be. With a brilliant script that embraces and challenges the philosophies of the original book by Heidi Murkoff, What To Expect serves up an adult-sized sippy cup full of good fun, good drama, and—most importantly—dirty pregnancy jokes....  read more

Up in the Air

Release Date: Dec. 4 (limited), Dec. 25 (wide) Director: Jason Reitman Writers: Sheldon Turner, Reitman (novel by Walter Kim) Starring: George Clooney, Jason Bateman, Anna Kendrick, Vera Farmiga Cinematographer: Eric Steelberg Studio/Run Time: Paramount Pictures, 109 mins. Despite some fine acting, young director’s third film is uneven and formulaic Jason Reitman has only made three feature films, but his work is already falling into familiar patterns. His first two films, Thank You for Smoking and Juno, were slickly produced, but the surface niceties were bolstered by sharp satire in the former and heartfelt emotion in the latter. His third,...  read more