I went to a screening of ‘The Artist’ last night, and it’s the first movie I’ve felt compelled to recommend in a loooooong time. I know what you’re thinking. It’s a silent film – how can it really be that good? It’s exactly what I was thinking. Can’t be that good, right?

But it was better than I could have hoped for. I loved every single minute of the movie. I seriously couldn’t wipe the smile off my face the whole time! It was such an enjoyable movie – from beginning to end. You MUST go see it. I command you!

Don’t want to take my word for it?

“The Artist,” which opens Friday in Chicago, has won best film honors from the New York Film Critics Circle (and several other critics’ groups), leads this year’s Golden Globes race with six nominations and looks to be an odds-on favorite for the Oscars.

I really feel like this is the one movie that will sweep the awards season. You really owe it to yourself to see it!

Here’s the trailer:

Not the type of movie I typically review, for sure. But I took my youngest son to see Nanny McPhee Returns last night, and I loved it so much I thought I’d share it with you!

I loved the first movie. Nanny McPhee was released in 2005, and Emma Thompson played the lead character, a strange and wonderful nanny of sorts. She wrote the movie herself, and the end result was pure magic.

Five years later Nanny McPhee Returns, and this time with an equally cute cast and storyline. The sequel finds us in the middle of World War II, on some farm miles from London. On this farm is Isabel Green, played by an adorable Maggie Gyllenhaal, and her three children, Norman, Megsie and Vincent. Her husband – who turns out to be EWAN MCGREGOR!! – is off at war, leaving Isabel to care for the children herself.

When her nephew and niece show up for a visit, Isabel finds herself utterly overwhelmed as the children can’t seem to get a long. In walks Nanny McPhee to save the day! Once she arrives all the magic begins, and it’s absolutely a joy to watch. It’s cute and charming.

Emma Thompson actually doesn’t even have much screen time. The children steal the show. Every one of the actors gave very strong performances for being so young! Did I mention that Rhys Ifans plays Isabel’s scandalous brother Mr. Green? And the brilliant Ralph Fiennes also makes an appearance as Mrs. Green’s brother in law!

I’m guessing Nanny McPhee won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. It’s cheesy and over-the-top and obviously very unrealistic. But it’s also totally cute and a great family movie!

Go see it!

I read Elizabeth Gilbert’s best-selling Eat Pray Love, and I loved it (well, most of it). I could connect with Liz, and feel her pain, her joy, and ultimately her love.

I waited until last night to see the big screen movie adaptation of the book, and I had high hopes.

I like Julia Roberts. I was talking about the movie with my mom about a week ago, and she said “but Julia Roberts isn’t a good actress.” I said “what are you talking about! There was that movie…” and I drew a blank. I mean I guess she was good in Erin Brockovich, no arguing that – she won the Oscar. But ever since – has she been great in many movies? Not really.

When I heard she had been cast to play Liz, I thought it was perfect casting. It would be a good opportunity for Julia to flex her acting muscles. But the whole time I was watching the movie, I couldn’t get past all the Juliaisms. The loud cackling laugh, the smiling, the crying. Julia Roberts was just too Julia Roberts for the movie. You never really saw her as Elizabeth Gilbert, all you could see was every Julia Roberts character she’s ever played. They’re all so similar – either that’s a sign that Julia’s a good actress, or as I suspected earlier, and she’s not a very good actress at all. The character was deep, and interesting, and Julia did not portray that on film very well.

From the beginning, I just didn’t care for how the movie was filmed. It was glossed over, and too cheesy for me. The first half hour is painful to get through. Julia doesn’t really connect with any of the characters. From her first husband, played by Billy Crudup, to her rebound boyfriend James Franco - to the friends she meets along her journey – I just felt the relationships weren’t deep enough for me to care about. I adore Richard Jenkins whom she met in India – and I thought Javier Bardem – whom she falls in love with in Bali – was the best part of the whole movie.

I thought the movie wasn’t bad – but it definitely wasn’t good. Immediately after seeing the movie, I thought they totally miscast Elizabeth. Julia Roberts was not the right choice. I get why they cast her – seems like a sure thing, financially. But she didn’t do the material justice. Sure she can cry with the best of them. She does that laugh that made her famous in Pretty Woman. She smiles and we’re supposed to melt. Those cutesy tactics were lost on me.

In my humble opinion,  better choices for Liz would have been Cate Blanchett, Naomi Watts or even Kate Winslet (even though she’s a bit young).

I’m not exactly sure where/why the movie fell flat…it just did. It was pretty bland. Sure, it was pretty to look at, and Julia Roberts is definitely gorgeous. But I could never really connect with the movie the way I did with the book.

Bottom Line? If you didn’t read the book, you might like it more than I did. It’s not a bad movie, it’s just not a great movie.

If you’ve seen it, I’d definitely love to hear your opinion.

Annette Bening and Julianne Moore star as Nic and Jules, a lesbian couple with teenage children in the brilliant The Kids Are All Right. Their children, played by Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson decide they’d like to look up their sperm-donor father, played by the amazing Mark Ruffalo. (Man, do I love me some Mark Ruffalo)

Mark plays a hippie-ish farmer/restaurant owner, who seems to be having the time of his life as a bachelor, who doesn’t realize how badly he wants a family until they are dropped in his lap.

The movie is smartly written, brilliantly acted, and I loved every minute of it. Every character is explored, every emotion is well played, and by the end, you really feel for all the characters individually. Annette was astounding, played Nic with force.

I don’t want to give much of the movie away, but I really think you should see it. It’s one of those movies that everyone is going to be talking about come awards season, I guarantee it. And if you like Mark Ruffalo, you should see it for the simple fact that he has literally – never looked hotter!

The most talked-about movie at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, and the winner of the Teddy Award for Best Feature Film at the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival, The Kids Are All Right is directed by Lisa Cholodenko (High Art, Laurel Canyon) from an original screenplay that she wrote with Stuart Blumberg (Keeping the Faith). The movie combines comedic surprise with poignant emotional truth in a funny, vibrant, and richly drawn portrait of a modern family.

When I first started hearing about Inception about a year ago, I was sold before I knew anything about it. Christopher Nolan? Love him! Leonardo DiCaprio? Genius. Put all the elements together, and it should be movie magic. In my opinion, Inception was absolutely brilliant.

Christopher Nolan was rumored to have worked on the script for Inception for 10 years. I’m not sure if that’s true or not, but if it is – I can clearly see why. It’s obvious he spent years going over and over the script, weaving a maze of a story, just as his characters did in the film. Come to think of it, I can’t think of another director who could pull off such an amazing movie. Nolan wrote directed it, and you can see his thumbprint over the whole movie.

It’s hard to even describe what the movie is about. I suppose it’s about the difference between reality and dreams, and the blurry line in between the two. I’m not really going to try and explain the movie in depth, because really, you need to see it for yourself, because anything I say wouldn’t make sense anyway!

Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are amazing in the movie, but Leonardo DiCaprio is fantastic. He is such an amazing actor, he really does better in each film. I just can’t wait to see what he does next!

If you liked Memento and Dark Knight, you’re going to love Inception. It’s very confusing, so pay attention! The movie opens and jumps right into the story, no warming you up to what’s going on at all. I think it took me 20 minutes just to figure out what happened in the first 5 minutes.

But enjoy it! It’s a great movie, and when I left, I wanted to turn around and go right back in and see it again. It was brilliant, that’s all I can say. It was brilliant.

Did you see it? What did you think?

You want my opinion? Was SATC2 good? No. Did I like it? Yes!

Saturday night, I arrived at the movie theater an hour early – expecting a line for the new Sex and the City movie. (When I saw the first SATC movie, the line was enormous!) When I gave the attendant my ticket, he handed me my stub – and sent me on my way to the appropriate theater. I walked in – and realized the movie was just ending from the previous showing. I looked in the hallway, and no one was there. NO ONE. I went back outside, and waited in my car for my friends to arrive.

In the half an hour that I waited in my car, it seemed like no one was showing up for the film, which really surprised me! As we finally picked our seats, we realized we were with about 20-30 people in the theater. I pulled out the cocktails I smuggled into the theater, and the four of us toasted Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte.

The movie (which is a whopping 2 1/2 hours) starts off with a thud. The first half an hour or so is absolutely PAINFUL to watch. The wedding of Charlotte and Carrie’s gay best friends is absolutely ridiculous, ending with Liza Minelli singing Beyonce’s Single Ladies. It was atrocious. The writing was terrible, the acting was shockingly bad, but luckily – it picked up the pace pretty quickly.

We catch up with the ladies to find Carrie bored in her marriage to Big, Charlotte can’t handle her two kids (even with a nanny), Samantha is losing her sex drive thanks to menopause, and Miranda is being disrespected at work.  When Samantha offers them an all-expense paid trip to Abu Dhabi, they all jump at the offer.

They’re whisked away via private jet to a fantasy land one could only dream up. Here Carrie meets up with past love Aiden (played by the incredibly hot John Corbett) and is tempted to cheat. Charlotte comes to realize that every mom needs a break, and Samantha meets some Australian Danish god who revives her sex drive. The movie spends over half it’s time in Abu Dhabi, it’s ridiculous, and unbelievable, but it was pretty to look at!

The movie was not good, but with that said – I still liked it. It’s eye candy for those of us who have watched every single SATC episode, who have followed these four girls since the beginning. I was a bit disappointed with how poorly it was written/acted, but you don’t go see this type of movie for Oscar-worthy performances. You go see this movie to escape the everyday ho-hum. This movie is definitely a good escape, and I’d recommend it to SATC fans. If you’re not a fan of SATC, and you haven’t watched every single episode, you might not like it at all.

The movie isn’t doing so well in the box office either. It was trampled by a green ogre over the weekend!

Not only did ‘Sex and the City 2′ fall far short of box office predictions — Carrie Bradshaw and the gals got trumped by ‘Shrek Forever After,’ a week-old film and the fourth in its franchise.

Predictions for ‘Sex and the City 2′ over the long weekend ran as high as $75 million; however, the film grossed just $37.1 million. The sequel earned less in five days than the 2008 original earned in its first three days.

“It’s possible,” Moviefone’s Gary Susman writes, “that the film was hurt by poor reviews, its R-rating and its 2 1/2-hour running time (allowing for fewer screenings per day) or its inability to attract male moviegoers (polling found the ‘Sex 2′ audience to be 90 percent female), but none of these proved obstacles for the first movie. Maybe it’s just that real-life women the ages of Carrie or Samantha were busy taking their kids to see ‘Shrek.’” Continue Reading

If you’ve seen it, I’d love to hear what you have to say about the movie! Let’s discuss!

Need a movie to see tonight? Look no further! Death at a Funeral is absolutely hilarious!!

Directed by Neil LaBute, Death at a Funeral is a hilarious day in the life of an American family that has come together to put a beloved husband and father to rest. As mourners gather at the family home, shocking revelations, festering resentments, ugly threats, blackmail and a misdirected corpse unleash lethal and riotous mayhem.

Starring: Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, Tracy Morgan, Zoe Saldana, James Marsden, Luke Wilson, Danny Glover, Columbus Short

Opens wide TODAY!!

I laughed all the way through, in fact. This is the best comedy since “The Hangover,” and although it’s almost a scene-by-scene remake of a 2007 British movie with the same title, it’s funnier than the original. – Roger Ebert

The resurrected Death at a Funeral is directed by Neil LaBute. And — the joke’s on us! — the dark-as-pitch playwright and filmmaker (In the Company of Men) turns out to have a playful hand when it comes to choreographing Three Stooges’-style nyuk-nyuks. As British as the original was (actors such as Matthew MacFadyen, Rupert Graves, and Alan Tudyk disappeared into character in a pip-pip display of national theatrical technique), this one could only come from our side of the pond. Personality driven, the movie takes proud advantage of a happy, casually crude, Crock-Pot American-ness. Reveling in mess and homegrown multiracial mayhem, Death at a Funeral finds a new lease on life. B+ – EW