Away We Go starts with a sex scene. There's no nudity, it's not overtly graphic, but it's unexpected and a bit jarring. It's certainly not the overture I was predicting. But just as I was starting to get uncomfortable, the moment becomes quite humorous. The hilarity of the scene is grounded in the screenplay (which was written by Dave Eggers and his wife Vendela Vida), but brought to life by John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph. Known for their respective work on The Office and Saturday Night Live, the duo's comedic chops may not come as a surprise, but here these two are playing it pretty straitlaced. It's this juxtaposition that makes the film so good — seeing funny people playing serious roles with serious situations that end up being funny.

It's a formula that's worked before. As I guessed from the trailer, the film is very similar in tone to Garden State and Juno. All three are quirky little gems with heavy subject matters and great soundtracks (seriously, check out Alexi Murdoch if you haven't already). If I had to fault the film with anything, it would be that it didn't feel particularly fresh, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable.

To learn more about the film, and its cool costars, read more

Greed is good. Sex is easy. Youth is forever.

Or so goes the tagline for The Informers, a new film adapted from a collection of short stories by Bret Easton Ellis. You may recognize Ellis's name from the posters of several films in the past decade, namely American Psycho and The Rules of Attraction (there's also Glitterati, if that ever sees the light of day). If you're familiar with his work, you'll know, loosely, what to expect from his latest venture: Sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. There's plenty of all the aforementioned (hence the tagline), but, unfortunately the end result is more of a melodramatic mess than an examination of the excesses of the '80s.

Don't blame the actors, especially the more seasoned among them. A few — Kim Basinger, Mickey Rourke and to a slightly lesser degree Winona Ryder and Billy Bob Thornton — even give memorable performances in a movie that is anything but. The younger newcomers don't fare quite as well with the inane script that contains far too many storylines with far too many unlikeable characters. What's worse, the stories barely intersect, adding confusion on top of disdain.

Let me try to explain what goes down, when you read more

Critics may draw comparisons between this year's Sunshine Cleaning and 2007 Best Picture nominee Little Miss Sunshine. Both were Sundance darlings, both star the wonderful Alan Arkin, and both have optimistic-sounding titles. And despite each film's light-bright disposition, both skew closer to comedy of the darker sort. This intriguing juxtaposition worked quite well for Little Miss Sunshine, and, to a slightly lesser extent, it works for Sunshine Cleaning, too.

The off-kilter premise is what first drew me to the movie when I previewed it for last year's Sundance Film Festival. I loved that the film focuses on the dirty and demeaning task of cleaning up crime scenes, yet didn't seem as gloomy as the description suggested. By the time I saw the trailer, it was clear: No CSI confusion here. Luckily the film delighted me as much as I had hoped, mostly because the two lead actresses, Amy Adams and Emily Blunt, are so compelling to watch.

To hear a little bit more about the plot and what else I liked, read more

This week's episode of Grey's Anatomy continues along the same path as last week's, and really, there doesn't seem to be a lot of newness, or resolution, to any of the storylines. It feels a little like the second film in a trilogy — but that's not all bad. We do get to meet Derek's mother (played by the delightful Tyne Daly) during her visit to Seattle Grace, which adds some variety, as well as a little comic relief. To talk about it (and about that gift she gave Derek!), read more