Leaves of Grass (2010)

Bill is a respected and loved (especially by his female students) ivy league philosophy professor who is often published and is currently being courted by a rival institution. He's worked hard to move on from his humble upbringing, choosing never to visit his hometown where his mother and twin brother live. Despite those efforts, when he must return there for a few days, he's quickly dragged into a ridiculous scheme designed to provide his brother with an alibi.

Though I enjoyed the characters, the script is so packed with convolutions that it nearly overshadows the main theme. There're accusations of impropriety at Bill's school, a love interest who's a poet and a noodler (catching fish without gear), fake antisemitism, a blackmail scheme involving a desperate orthodontist... I'm getting annoyed just typing these out and I could keep right on typing. Great performances and interesting characters stuck in a far too sticky narrative web.

B-

MacGruber (2010)

We were high and it made us giggle. If we hadn't been high, I expect we would've switched to something else by the 15-minute mark. Seriously: you already know if you're going to like this and under which circumstances you should watch it and with whom. You don't need a review.

C+

Shutter Island (2010)

When a patient goes missing, a couple of marshals visit the island mental facility to figure out what happened. No one seems to be completely forthcoming and there's some suspicion about a secret facility in the lighthouse. To make matters even worse, a hurricane's brewing, which means no one can leave the island for a couple of days.

Within the first 15 minutes I said "here's what I think is happening..." and proceeded to get roughly 85% of the plot correct. So, though it looks great, it was pretty obvious what was going on from the moment the head doctor gave the marshal some aspirin.

C-

The Killer Inside Me (2010)

Lou, a deputy in an oil town, has had vengeance on his mind for a while. When he falls in with a prostitute with a connection to the family he wants to teach a lesson, the crimes (and bodies) start to pile up quickly. And that's really about it. 

If Lou had any depth to him, this might've been something. But, since he's a blank, this never had a prayer of generating any real interest. Lou's only talents seem to be 1) feeling nothing 2) punching and punching and punching some more 3) getting females into bed. I mean, the women all seem to exist exclusively to stroke both his ego and his manhood. 

It's just all kinds of yucky. It's also super boring. And that's a fatal combination.

D

Cropsey (2010)

In '70s and '80s Staten Island, "Cropsey" is synonymous with bogeyman. The legend grew from a spate of missing children, most of whom had some kind of mental disability. This documentary covers the panic and the efforts to find the children and the culprit.

While the film is compelling due to the real-life footage of the disgusting conditions in the Willowbrook Institution (courtesy of Geraldo Rivera), there are no real answers here. The filmmakers insert themselves too much into the narrative and uncover no new information. Not worth the time -- better to just find information on the internet if you're truly interested in the story.

C-

Chloe (2010)

A wife suspects that her husband may be cheating on her. After chatting with escort Chloe in a restaurant bathroom, the wife decides to hire her to do some low-key flirting to see how her husband reacts. Chloe confirms that he took the bait and keeps the wife in the loop about more intimate activities in subsequent meetings. Somehow, the result of all of this is that the wife becomes sexually entangled with Chloe too.

Though there's a lot to like here, the whole thing felt incredibly sordid and cold. I'm not even sure how that was managed. Was it the soundtrack? The obvious distance between each of the family members? The friend who played "spot the hooker" while being over-demonstrative with his date? I don't know but it definitely existed and made me feel pretty icky.

C+

The Losers (2010)

After being double-crossed and left for dead, a special forces team seeks revenge on the decision-maker to blame. They hook up with a sexy yet not entirely trustworthy operative who has information they need to do the job, but the double-crosses and surprises are far from behind them.

Gary and I started watching this months ago and bailed. We started watching it again and it took us about 20 minutes to realize it was that same movie -- it's just so generic that it didn't stick in our minds. Hopefully I won't forget about it anymore because I seriously don't want to make the mistake of watching it again...

D

The Magician (2010)

Gary and I absolutely LOVE the show "Mr. Inbetween," so we looked up this faux-documentary that introduced the character more than a decade before the show debuted. 

It's gritty and funny -- just like the show -- but the character of Ray is less polished and in control of his feelings. I guess that's appropriate for a character that is now 15 years older than he would've been at the time this was shot. Basically, the show's better, but I think if I'd seen the movie first, I'd not have been disappointed and it couldn't suffer in comparison.

B

Remember Me (2010)

A girl witnesses the murder of her mother. Flash forward a decade and we're in the year 2001 and the girl is in college. A guy whose older brother committed suicide years ago has distanced himself from his wealthy family. The two meet and fall for each other and whatever. There seemed to be no reason to tell this unremarkable story nor any reason to set it in 2001. Which... come to think of it... is a sort of big year, right?

When the couple takes a short trip for Labor Day weekend, I was starting to roll my eyes because I finally got what this was. And, yes, it's true that most lives that got snuffed on 9/11 weren't huge ones. But it felt pretty manipulative to use such a tragedy to give this story importance. I don't think it worked.

C

Morning Glory (2010)

After being let go from her previous producer gig, the only employment Becky can find is as an EP on the lowest-rated national morning news program. She impresses the staff immediately but finds herself with an almost impossible challenge when she brings a celebrated but curmudgeonly newsman to her "fluffy" morning show.

This could've been great if it had embraced the "show don't tell" philosophy. If there had been a few approving glances, for example, we would've understood how valued Becky was. The same goes for her romance -- at the end of the movie she tells him he was the first person she wanted to tell her big news to, and I didn't even realize they'd made it past the casual sex phase. Basically, the movie needed about 8 more minutes to let some of the relationships breathe a little bit so we could see their depths. As it stood, this is fun, when it had the potential to be fun and moving (like a bran donut).

B

Four Lions (2010)

A group of British Muslim men call themselves jihadists but never seem to be able to bring a plan together. Their leader, Omar, rails against the "church of McDonald's" while living a comfortable and modern life with his wife and son -- they even mock his devout brother's hesitance to be in the same room with his sister-in-law. This crew is inept, to say the least. When they do get their big chance to train in Pakistan, Omar accidentally points a rocket launcher the wrong way and gets sent home early. It's absurd and silly -- these men playing at being soldiers when, really, they just want to be on a team. 

The ending is kind of a harsh juxtaposition. I almost didn't know what to feel. But, after having slept on it, I realize it's rather brilliant. It's important to remember that the result of violent imaginings is usually violent happenings. No matter how ridiculous those involved are, when repetition and indoctrination mix with weapons, the result is pretty much assured.

B

Mister Rogers & Me (2010)

The filmmaker's mother lived on Nantucket and was an actual neighbor of Mr. Rogers, who had a summer home on the island. Benjamin Wagner uses this barely-there relationship as a springboard for this look at who the late Rogers was in his everyday life. Spoiler: he was the same guy we see on TV.

It's not a good documentary. But it is about a very good and kind person, so one can't help but be inspired and happy. But, still, it's not a well-done effort -- it felt like a high-school presentation on "my childhood hero."

C-

Just Wright (2010)

Leslie Wright is a physical therapist with a janky car, a fixer-upper house, parents all up in her business, and a gorgeous cousin -- Morgan -- whose heart is set on being a trophy wife. Morgan gets her chance when she and Leslie attend a party at the home of the Nets star point guard, Scott. In short order, Scott and Morgan are engaged, but when Scott suffers a potentially career-ending injury, it's up to Leslie to get him back in shape and to pick up the pieces of his broken heart.

This movie is simply not good. They absolutely waste Pam Grier and Phylicia Rashad as Leslie & Scott's respective mothers and Common (as Scott) is incompetent at showing any true emotion. The script relies on at least three split-screen montages, none of which are any fun. As there's never any question about what's going to happen, this is definitely skippable.

C- 

Nowhere Boy (2010)

Teenage John Lennon is always in trouble at school and constantly trying the patience of his loving but stern guardian, Aunt Mimi. After the death of his uncle, he reconnects with his birth mother, who is thrilled to have him back in her life and teaches him to play the banjo. This leads directly to John heading up his first band.

Aside from the "oh hey! He's meeting Paul! And there's George!" moments, it's all pretty "meh." I think we're supposed to be moved by the hardships of poor John, but his life seems pretty good to me: he had a protective guardian and a free-spirited mother, both of whom loved him fiercely. That sounds like a pretty lucky boy to me.

C

Even the Rain (2010)

A movie crew goes on location to impoverished Bolivia to shoot a film, enlisting locals as extras and set workers. While there, the "Cochabamba Water War" is gearing up -- a true-life response by the population to the attempts to privatize the municipal water supply. The local cast in a key role as the leader of the rebellion against Columbus is, ironically, also at the forefront of the real-life uprising, which jeopardizes the film.

This is just a "wow" of a story. One of those rare films that really made me question how I'd respond in the same situation.

B+

The Winning Season (2010)

Rockwell is an alcoholic former high school basketball coach slumming it as a busboy and struggling to connect with his daughter who lives with his remarried ex-wife. He takes on the task of coaching a girls' team, thinking not much will be expected of him. But -- no surprise -- things don't turn out that way.

Though the film has heart, it didn't have a decent DP or -- apparently -- the budget to keep rolling until Emma Roberts delivered a half-decent take. Even the blooper reel that ran during the first part of the credits wasn't worth putting in. The director clearly doesn't know the meaning of "funny."

C-

I Love You Phillip Morris (2010)

Fascinating tale of the real-live Steven Russell (Jim Carrey) who pulled off several cons -- most because he was attempting to either keep his boyfriend in a life of luxury or get back to his boyfriend.

It’s such a wild story about a guy who is no doubt a genius, that I was supremely entertained despite the presence of Carrey, who usually annoys me nearly as much as Adam Sandler does.

B+

The Disappearance of Alice Creed (2010)

Two former cellmates execute a kidnapping for ransom, which doesn’t go according to either of their (differing) plans. A three-person cast filmed almost entirely on a single set; surprising and smart.

B+

Race to Nowhere (2010)

This reports that we’re putting undue pressure on our schoolkids & robbing them of childhood by overscheduling, teaching for tests, and assigning mountains of homework. Lots of good information here, but most of it is hit repeatedly, which doesn’t shore up the points so much as overdo them a bit. A tight 40 minute doc would’ve been more effective.

B

All Good Things (2010)

The minute I finished “The Jinx,” HBO’s fascinating documentary series on Robert Durst, I pushed play on this movie, which is a fictionalization of the same events covered in the doc by the same director. In comparison to the documentary, it was crap.

It's difficult to know whether this could stand on its own, but I seriously doubt it. I never felt as though David Marks was a danger the way Robert Durst was/is -- everything just felt low-stakes.

D+