Grade: A | Genre: Drama
Summary: This film was one of the year's best and deserves to be showered with accolades for Clooney and Reitman come awards season.

The Great Recession has claimed the heads of countless jobs as the days painfully snowball into months. The unemployment figure currently sits at 10% while the number of underemployed is a staggering 17.2%. We feel for our friends, family and neighbors as they bring news of being the latest to join the unemployment line, but have you ever thought about the person who is sitting on the opposite side of the table from them? I'm talking about the man wielding the rope to the guillotine. "Up in the Air" takes on that unenviable task through telling the story of Ryan Bingham, a hired gun who executives hire to fly in for the afternoon and take care of their dirty work. Just like Reitman's previous work, "Thank You for Smoking," "Up in the Air" does a fabulous job presenting Bingham as a character that we sympathize with and want to see grow as a person.

Grade: C+ | Genre: Romantic Comedy
Summary: "It's Complicated" is largely a dumbed down version of "Something's Gotta Give"

Have you ever walked out of a movie thinking, "this movie so wasn't made for me?" That's how I felt leaving the theater after seeing "It's Complicated." I thought to myself my mom would love this. "It's Complicated" is largely a dumbed down version of "Something's Gotta Give" swapping out Meryl Streep for Diane Keaton and Alec Baldwin for Jack Nicholson. Both films are puff pieces cleverly constructed to separate the Baby Boomers from their hard earned cash on a Friday night. At least "Something's Gotta Give" felt somewhat fresh and not bland and contrived like "It's Complicated." Nancy Meyers, writer of both films as well as other chick fare like "Father of the Bride" and "The Holiday," must be running thin on ideas.

Grade: A | Genre: Romantic Comedy
Summary: "(500) Days of Summer" is a very good film that sheds the conventions of Hollywood to give us an honest look at why relationships work and why some don't.

Too often Hollywood gets too bogged down in its own 'happily ever after' mischief when approaching romantic comedies. Granted most people would rather leave the theater uplifted and happy than have our protagonists hurling plates at one another ala "the Break-Up," but shouldn't real life factor in to the movie making process? The reality is most relationships end badly or else we'd all be paired up with the first person who caught our fancy in kindergarten. That's what makes "(500) Days of Summer" so intriguing. It opens the movie telling us that this isn't a love story. Just like our title character Summer, we aren't held under any pretenses that these two characters will somehow back their way into love. It's just not in the cards for this couple, but watch your mind as it furiously tries to put the pieces together and somehow figure out how we can trigger that spark of love between these two wet branches.

Grade: C | Genre: Drama
Summary: ultimately it is disappointing as well as ironic that a thriller, with a train as its setting, ends up being so very pedestrian.

The Taking of Pelham 123, adapted from John Godey's novel and a remake of the original 1974 classic, follows Walter Garber (played by Denzel Washington), a subway dispatcher in New York City, who gets entangled in a hostage crisis. When the train gets hijacked underground by the mysterious villain Ryder (played by John Travolta) and his thugs (which include Luis Guzman), Garber unwittingly finds himself the unwilling liaison to the authorities for the bad guys. Ryder demands a $10 million ransom from the city in one hour or else he will start killing the 18 people he is holding as hostages.

Grade: A- | Genre: Drama
Summary: The film's essence is a boxing match comprised of words lasting four rounds. You have two men desperately fighting for their lives and looking to rewrite their futures. Losing just wasn't an option. .

The fascination with Richard Nixon seems to carry on with the years, and Hollywood certainly isn't immuned. In 1995, Oliver Stone directed his gaze on the fallen President, largely painting him as a man plagued by mental issues. Our most recent take Frost/Nixon doesn't focus so much on the life of Tricky Dick, but rather one moment in time -- a post resignation set of interviews he has with talk show host David Frost in 1977. It marked Nixon's one chance to tell his side of the story, and to reinforce to the American public that he wasn't the bad guy everyone had painted him out to be. He just got caught up in a massive smear campaign spearheaded by journalists that were hell bent on his political destruction. While Nixon is busy fashioning the interview to repaint his legacy, Frost saw this monumental interview as his key back under the American spotlight which dimmed for him years before. Frost stakes his entire fortune and reputation on his ability to make Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) accept his wrongdoings and fork over an apology the American public has been waiting for. A tall order indeed.

Grade: B+ | Genre: Comedy
Summary: While it may not have nailed immortal comic status like Old School or 40-Year-Old Virgin, I guarantee this will go down on the shortlist of the best comedies of the year.

The bachelor party is the ultimate rite of passage for modern man. It's that last hurrah before settling down and agreeing to be responsible and stable. It's also a time for the other men to revel in their buddies' last gasps of bachelorhood as if it were their own. Few evenings create more lasting memories even if the memories are the utter lack there of. Now the difficult part for a filmmaker and scriptwriter is to capture all that craziness in a way that isn't cheesy (Tom Hank's Bachelor Party) or disturbing (Very Bad Things). The Hangover managed to do it in spades and has introduced us to the comic talents of virtual unknown Zach Galifianakis and Bradley Cooper.

Grade: B- | Genre: Drama
Summary: I'd definitely recommend this to the pet owners out there. Regardless of how much of an angel your pet is, every animal has its days where they are wild like Marley, and its easy to see ourselves in these characters.

Marley & Me is a family film aimed squarely at all those pet owners out there. You all know you who you are. You're the ones with bumper stickers proudly proclaiming, "my child drinks out of the toilet." You're the ones who keep silly things like doggy day cares in business. While watching a movie, you will not weep a tear when humans bite the dust, but if its a dog -- Niagara Falls here we come. Adapted from the book by the same name, Marley & Me was brought to the screen with none other than you in mind. The non-pet loving populace might see Marley & Me as little more than a puff piece, meant to bolster the careers of Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston while raking in some solid holiday coin. But to the pet owners out there, this may be your modern day Old Yeller.