Pitch Perfect (2012)

A film about college a cappella competition, Pitch Perfect basks in its own ridiculousness but never loses its heart. Adapted from the 2008 nonfiction book by Mickey Rapkin, the screenplay by 30 Rock and New Girl writer Kay Cannon incites members of the movie’s female ensemble to hilarity without impeding their humanity. Oscar-nominated Anna Kendrick shines as the edgy co-ed finding the desire to share her voice.Read the full review here.

Trouble With the Curve (2012)

Randy Brown's screenplay for Trouble With the Curve — his first — is rigged. As the plot goes through the motions toward the ending, inevitably happy, it requires nothing more of its lionized lead than to depend on his innate traits, now iconic. In collusion, director Robert Lorenz, Clint Eastwood's long-time assistant director, lets Eastwood squint and growl through the film without having to act or even talk much about baseball. Read the full review on KCActive.com.

For a Good Time, Call (2012)

Despite a sweet girl-on-girl friendship at its heart, For a Good Time, Call is swamped by contrived dirty talk. For his first feature film, director Jamie Travis attempts to fashion a contemporary, platonic Pillow Talk out of the script, co-written by Katie Anne Naylon and Lauren Miller — who also co-stars. But the plot gimmick just keeps getting in the way. Read the full review on KCActive.com.

Arbitrage (2012)

Writer/director Nicholas Jarecki’s first feature film is as glossy as a shareholder’s report—and just as bloated. Shot in 35mm by French cinematographer Yorick Le Saux (I Am Love, Swimming Pool) with a heavy synthesizer score by veteran composer and Steven Soderbergh’s go-to guy Cliff Martinez (Drive, Traffic), Arbitrage embraces the high-production trappings of studio pics. The cast even includes several Hollywood heavyweights, a few up-and-comers, and the editor of Vanity Fair. The film is slick and rich but completely missing any sense of paradox or ambivalence. It’s Dynasty with a predictable twist.

To read the full review, visit About.com.

Celeste & Jesse Forever (2012)

Celeste & Jesse Forever is the screenwriting debut for actors Rashida Jones and Will McCormack. The two attempt to subvert the romantic comedy genre by following some of its conventions while revealing its main couple, played by Rashida Jones and Andy Samberg, are going through a separation and divorce. Directed by Lee Toland Krieger, who showed off a smart, dark sensibility in 2009’s The Vicious Kind, this film exhibits a development stunted by being too tightly wrapped in its own conceit. Neither funny nor dark, Celeste & Jesse Forever cowardly avoids a much-needed push in either direction.

Read the rest of the review on About.com.

Hit & Run (2012)

The vanity project of writer/lead actor Dax Shepard, which he co-directed with David Palmer, Hit & Run risks being considered parody — Car Chase Movie — instead of homage. Although the filmmakers clearly esteem the great car chase movies of the ‘60s and ‘70s, the film lacks the mechanical muscle, brooding anti-heroes, and unexpected turns of those American classics.

Read the full review on KCActive.com.

The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012)

The Odd Life of Timothy Green, directed by Peter Hedges (Pieces of April) and co-written by Hedges and Ahmet Zappa, exhibits failure of imagination. The story clumsily grounds the make-believe elements in reality in a way that makes it both humdrum yet unbelievable. For all its striving for fairytale status, the film is essentially formulaic.

Read the rest of the review on KCActive.com.

Hope Springs (2012)

Great performances from Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones carry director David Frankel's latest film Hope Springs, but fail to make up for the stock comedic tropes from the screenplay by Vanessa Taylor and an intrusive soundtrack that strives to manipulate the film's emotional quotient. Profound exhibitions of loneliness and longing by the talented leads are cheapened by the small scope of the film.

Read the rest of the review on KCActive.com.

Savages (2012)

Full of fancy tricks and beautiful but empty sun-kissed people, Savages has no soul. The film relies too much on voiced-over dispatches from O for the narrative, the unreliability of which wouldn’t be a problem if she weren’t given the burden of having to tell more than the film is allowed to show. And when it is allowed to show something, it does so in silly post-production graphics, which is really just another form of telling.

Read the rest of the review on KCActive.com.

Magic Mike (2012)

Don't let the marketing campaign for Magic Mike fool you. Although there's plenty of beefcake in the film, it's not without substance. Director Steven Soderbergh returns to his indie filmmaking roots to make a lesson of the exhibition of the hunky male stars as hunks of meat — implicating his audience in the process.

Read the rest of the review on KCActive.com.

Ted (2012)

Despite the novelty of the initial premise, Ted relies too much on the relentlessly goading harangue of writer/director/voice Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy). Essentially a buddy picture, the movie misses prime opportunities for true absurdity by sticking to the same purposely offensive spiel ubiquitous on the small screen on any Sunday night.

Read the rest of the review at KCActive.com

Hysteria (2011)

By fashioning Hysteria as a romantic comedy, director Tanya Wexler and screenwriters Stephen and Jonah Lisa Dyer conspire to minimize the misogynistic catchall diagnosis commonly given to women for centuries. Although the film purports to expose prudish Victorian mores and sexual double standards, by lampooning the disorder's symptoms and treatment, it unintentionally perpetuates the outmoded ideas.

Read the rest of the review at About.com.