Well, you can decide to continue reading after this if you desire to do so. I did not enjoy this movie at all. I really tried to keep an open mind going in; I mean, it is “based on a true story.” The disappointment lies in the fact that as a horror movie, it has great bones, but in the end the lost potential is the most horrifying thing about it.

The Campbell family must relocate to Connecticut to be closer to an experimental treatment that they hope will save the life of their teenage son, Matt Campbell (Kyle Gallner). Virginia Madsen is Sara Campbell, Matt’s mother, and she promptly finds a house to rent that seems perfect. Of course it does. Matt takes up residence in the basement with a mysterious locked room, later revealed to be an old abandoned embalming room. The house was once a funeral home, but the family decides together that they shouldn’t move just because of the location’s past. So of course hauntings start to occur, Matt begins to lose his mind, and slowly the story is revealed.

Here is where the good bones come in. Turns out that the funeral director’s assistant, back in the day, was a medium. He could contact the dead and was forced to do so on a regular and very public basis. I think if more emphasis was placed on the backstory, delving into the medium’s captivity, his revulsion at what he was forced to do, it would have been so much more interesting, and yes, creepier. How were the souls contacted? What do they mean when they say the séances were amplified? The movie answers all the wrong questions in order to fit in more ghostly sightings and poltergeist-like occurrences. And there is a completely superfluous story line involving the father’s alcoholism.  It didn’t fit in with the movie in any way. This movie seriously disappoints.

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Ok, I admit it. Yes, I’ve been in love with Paul Rudd ever since he portrayed the long-suffering step-brother to Alicia Silverstone’s bratty princess in 1995’s Clueless. It was actually a bit of a shock for me when he showed up as a misfit store salesman in The 40 Year Old Virgin. This was not the Paul Rudd I was used to at all. It took me just a minute to realign my expectations. I’m very glad I did, because not only was he hysterical in his role supporting Steve Carrell, he gets a chance to shine by headlining in I Love You, Man.

In this film, he is Peter, a really nice, average, real estate agent who gets engaged to Zooey (Rashida Jones) and realizes that he is what other people refer to as a “girlfriend guy”.  He has always been content to spend time with the current flame in his life, and only when he needs a best man to fill out his side of the church does he realize that he has no real male friends. Peter begins to go on man-dates and discovers that there is a whole new set of rules involved with male socialization. It is during this process that he meets Sydney (Jason Segel) at an open house he is hosting to sell Lou Ferrigno’s home, and they bond over the excellent paninis that Peter provides.

I thought the flick was an interesting twist on the romantic comedy by focusing on so-called “bromance”. If you’re a fan of The Office you’ll note Rudd’s use of awkward comedy, perfected by Steve Carell in his role as Michael Scott.  There are so many moments when Peter’s mouth continues to form words when he should really just stop talking. The supporting cast is also hilarious, including Andy Samberg, Jaime Pressly and John Favreau. I spent a good portion of the movie laughing out loud and would recommend the experience to almost anyone.

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I couldn’t wait to see Adventureland.  I think it’s because I don’t want to admit that I’m not that age anymore, just out of college and trying to decide what to do next.  So I was excited to see this movie and get a little bit of that retro feel.  Granted, this movie is set in 1987, so not quite my generation, but you know all about those universal themes.  The action takes places in a so-awful-it’s-cool theme park, with clown heads on the trash cans and games and rides (with more clown heads) that can barely make it through the day.  So basically, the place everyone wants to be.

James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) is forced to take a job at Adventureland after he graduates college and realizes that because of his father’s demotion he won’t be able to afford his trip to Europe over the summer.  He also desperately needs money to move to New York City in the fall and begin his graduate degree at Columbia. So  he dons the “Games” t-shirt and begins working doubles every day to achieve his dream.  Here he meets a whole crew of similarly stuck co-workers and falls head over heels in love with Em (Kristen Stewart). The whole movie is your basic coming of age tale, where Brennan realizes that what he wanted is maybe no longer what he wants.

I thought the movie was extremely funny.  There is such a good cast of misfits and ridiculous situations (and a large amount of puke) that it really makes it fun to watch.  My two favorites are Martin Starr as Joel, the sad, smart, pipe-smoking nerd, and Matt Bush as Frigo, Brennan’s childhood best friend who has morphed into an evil little elf bent on making Brennan’s life miserable (he has the most laugh-out-loud moments). And really, who can resist those outfits?  Yeah, me either.

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Julia Roberts and Clive Owen join together again for this fun adventure in corporate intrigue. Actually, I’ll let the individual decide how much fun it is to watch two billion-dollar corporations try to ruin each other. Duplicity comes to us from the writer/director behind Michael Clayton, Tony Gilroy. In a lot of ways, the movies are similar in that you have no idea what will happen next and there is always that next twist.

Claire (Julia Roberts) and Ray (Clive Owen) are ex-CIA and MI6, respectively. They decide to partner up and combine their skills in deception in order to defraud the private sector and live the rest of their lives happily ever after. Claire goes to work undercover for one company while actually working for the other. Ray later joins the team, and they pretend not to know each other in order to gain their own ends. The movie reveals its twists and turns through a series of flashbacks, where the layers of deception become more and more dense.

I personally really enjoyed the movie once I decided not to try and figure out what was happening. And just fair warning, there will be one twist too many. I also thoroughly enjoyed Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson as the CEOs of the competing companies. They are an absolute hoot.

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This is yet another movie that tries to do so much that there is little to it. The cast is huge and all the various story lines crisscross and tie in, and it makes you want to try and figure out how (but it’s really not worth it). The basic premise is an examination of the lies women tell themselves about men to make not-so-great situations better. There is the man who won’t get married, the man who is going to leave his wife (soon, he promises), and the guy who isn’t going to call back.

The movie stars Jennifer Connelly, Jennifer Aniston, Ginnifer Goodwin, Ben Affleck, Bradley Cooper, and Justin Long. Each character is in some stage of romantic unhappiness, with Janine suspecting her husband of lying to her, Beth unable to get her boyfriend to marry her, and Gigi desperately seeking a connection, any connection. The men are just placeholders. I really don’t know if I liked it or not. I guess I’m indifferent. Some of the stories have a happy ending, some don’t, and I’m left wondering what the message was supposed to be.

I think you should wait for cable.

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