I’m certain Patton Oswalt (Spence from King of Queens) never in his wildest dreams thought he’d ever in this lifetime get a chance to have a love scene with Charlize Theron. His romance with Rachel Dratch on the TV series was most likely more romantic action then he’d ever thought to see as a character actor.

Surprisingly, it’s the chemistry between these two actors which allows Young Adult to find its footing and like-ability. The movie is written by Juno screenwriter, Diablo Cody, who seems to have a knack for making geeks look desirable.

We meet Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) waking up disheveled, seemingly hung over, in a nice, but messy apartment. She guzzles soda from a 2 Liter bottle, does a half attempt at some video game exercise and sits down at her computer to write. Mavis makes her living as a ghost writer in what the publishing industry calls Young Adult Literature. She’s attempting to finish the latest edition of a teen serial; nothing as popular as Twilight, more in the vein of Sweet Valley High. The film is punctuated by Mavis’s writing voice over interjecting her own thoughts, insecurities and narcissism into the novel’s teen heroine.

Less than a paragraph in, Mavis does what I suspect all writers do, I know I do – start to write, and then get distracted by an email. Her diversion being an announcement on the birth of Buddy Slade’s daughter. Buddy (Patrick Wilson, the hot Dad from Little Children w/ Kate Winslet)  is Mavis’s old high school and college boyfriend/love of her life. The idea of Buddy being settled with a wife and daughter triggers something in Mavis that sets her on a mission to return to her home town of Mercury, MN. and win back Buddy Slade.

If Young Adult featured Katherine Heigl in the main role, and if it had been directed by say, James L. Brooks instead of Jason Reitman, this film would probably be classified as a Rom/Com/Chick Flick. However the team of Reitman, Cody and Theron gives the film a more thought-provoking, Indy feeling. Shining a spotlight on a subject near, yet not so dear to my heart – the feeling that time has passed you by. In not wanting to fall into the trapped, humdrum, married with children, suburbia lifestyle, you somehow find yourself displaced; still kinda living the life of someone in their 20′s, but realizing you’ve been doing that for almost 20 years! Which constitutes a feeling of desperation to catch up, examine where things went wrong and attempt to circle back somehow and fix it.

I wonder if Jason Reitman in some way identifies with this arrested state of development as well?  Seeing as his last film dealt with a similar theme. Mavis, although more stationary than George Clooney’s character in Up in the Air could be considered the female equivalent.

In summary, Young Adult is not as funny as Juno, not as engrossing as Up in the Air, but certainly worthy of notice for adult movie-goers, no matter your level of maturity.

Young Adult screening was courtesy of The Philadelphia Film Society’s Sneak Preview Series.

He was a mysterious figure in American history. His personal life was always shrouded in mystery … He was this bulldog figure, the face of the FBI, and he changed our country in a time of great lawlessness. Bank robbers were going from state to state becoming local heroes; he cleaned up all that mess. Got rid of the Commies and Bolshevik invasion while single handily creating this new federal police force. He was part of modern forensics and identifying everybody in our country. But then there were all those salacious rumors that you heard about him too. So it was very exciting to see somebody’s (Clint Eastwood) very specific take on who J. Edgar Hoover was through these different time periods. From the beginning of his career…  to the end …where he became a political dinosaur and didn’t adapt to the changing of our country – Leonardo DiCaprio (Access Hollywood)

Clint Eastwood’s latest film – J. Edar, stars Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role and Naomi Watts as J. Edgar Hoover’s trusted and lifetime assistant, Helen Gandy.

Films like this are why I love biopics. I was never a very good student of history and although I realize biopics are certainly no replacement for the accuracy of classes and books; they fill in hazy knowledge of what was going on in specific time periods. How certain events intersected and the origins of things we just take for granted now.

Before watching this film, what I knew of J. Edgar Hoover – he ran the FBI for a long time. I had no idea he created it, nor did I realize he served through 8 United States Presidents! And then of course, in later years, we all heard about the cross dressing. I like the way the movie handles this possible quirk – that if he wore women’s clothes, it may have been as a way to channel or bring himself closer to his mother (Dame Judi Dench) once she passed. Not like Anthony Perkins in Psycho or anything that over the top, just as a moment of grief.

This film is not played for sensationalism at all. Eastwood and writer Dustin Lance Black (Milk) keep everything very grounded and gray. As if you’re revisiting it all through a faded, old newspaper. It’s a veritable time capsule of history: from the post WW1 red scare hysterics, to the depression era outlaws, to the Lindbergh kidnapping, and into the turmoil and assassinations of the 60′s.

But the film finds its color in the close relationships Hoover had with just three people in his life; the previously mentioned, Gandy, his mother, who took on the role of confidant, advisor, champion and heavy task-master. And most importantly, his colleague, friend, second in command and lover? Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer). Although the two were life-long companions, the “G” in G-Man did not stand for gay.  And perhaps even more than the lack of societal acceptance of same sex relationships during his lifetime; Hoover’s sense of decorum, duty and pride would never have allowed him to admit to homosexuality.

I’ve seen most of Leonardo DiCaprio’s movies, not because he’s in them, but despite the fact. I’ve never really been a fan, however; in my opinion, this is truly his best work to date. He really loses himself in Hoover, particularly as the older version.

My prediction: The film will earn no less than 5 Oscar nominations, which considering the talent behind it, including producers Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, it doesn’t exactly take a crystal ball.

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My husband and I just wanted to go see a movie, and when we looked at the cinema list, we just picked whatever looked like it wasn’t a kids movie.

We didn’t know who was in it, and it wasn’t till the opening credits that I realized that Robert Rodriguez produced Predators.

I used to love Robert Rodriguez. His first movies were fantastic. Then he had kids and let them write his scripts… I lost faith in him for a while. I stopped going to see his films. So it was probably a good thing I didn’t know he had made this before hand. I will say though, that Predators has restored by love for Rodriguez. This movie is back to his action packed best. There’s lots of blood and gore, without it being too gruesome. There’s plenty of twists in the script to keep you guessing.It wasn’t directed by Rodriguez however, that was left to Nimrod Antal.

After seeing Predator versus Alien I wondered if there was going to be a test to see if these guys could all get along, but nope, they’re all just bait. They group includes elite military mercenaries, a rapist on death row, a Japaneze Yakuza, Mexican Mafia and a psychopath. The Predator costumes are great. They didn’t change them up from the original or give them some kind of overhaul. I hate it when movies do that.

Each character battles their own personal demons while battling the Predator.

There’s some bad reviews out there for Predators, but my husband and I really enjoyed it.

When I saw the trailers advertising yet another Robin Hood movie, I was not happy to say the least. Really, another Robin Hood movie? To go along with all the other remakes this year. Seriously, are there any original screenplays this year? Guess that’ll make it easy at Oscar time.

Anyway, we went out with a group of friends last night to the Alamo Drafthouse.

It’s starts off in the old school way, with scrolls and such, like a story book telling what is happening. Then, as you’d expect from Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe, it gets violent. This was no men in tights remake. This was blood, guts and gore. It was like no Robin Hood movie before. No stealing from the rich to give to the poor. No silly feather caps or hiding out in trees. No green pixie outfits. The old Robin Hood always reminded me of Peter Pan. Not in this version!

The only similarity to any previous Robin Hood movie was the fact that Robin Hood was an archer. However, in this version, he is a warrior in a bloody war. Maid Marion was there, played by Cate Blanchett. Just a heads up, she’s not pretty in this movie. She is also full of spirit and a warrior at heart.

The rest of the gang is also there. Little John, Friar Tuck and there’s a lot of other subplots that have never been dealt with before.

I’m not going to give any of them away or it will spoil the movie. Overall, I’m glad I went to see it. I think I’d like to see it again on DVD, since seeing it at the Alamo Drafthouse sucked. Too many distractions. Read my review on that place….

If you like me were not going to see it because you’ve seen Robin Hood eight times before, go see this one. I could never see Russell Crowe in tights, but he’s much more like “Gladiator” with leather pants on than any fancy archer you’ve ever seen before.