In "Young Adult," divorced young adult fiction author Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron) returns to her small Minnesota hometown to win back her high school sweetheart (Patrick Wilson), now a happily-married father.

She winds up forging an unexpected bond with another former schoolmate (Patton Oswalt) who's had a particularly difficult life.

"Juno" collaborators Jason Reitman and screenwriter Diablo Cody re-team for the Paramount Pictures production.

Fun fact: The dog Hummer from the film was nominated for a Golden Collar Award, and Quentin Tarantino listed the movie as one of his favorites of...

I have a superstition that a studio's confidence in a film can often be determined by length of the movie's Wikipedia page. Young Adult's Wikipedia is about 800 words long if you subtract links and other website jibba jabba. The recent Muppets has about 5000 words. The reason for invoking this completely unscientific ponderment of mine is because I'm a big fan of Director Jason Reitman, so this short wiki, not a week out from the release, was a bit odd to me.

And now I know why. “Young Adult” is shallow and awful, and, ha ha, has all the depth of a young adult novel about vampires. Except ...

Two Jews on Film - By Joan Alperin-Schwartz: Mavis Gary, (Charlize Theron) 37, has a very pretty face and very pretty hair...except for the bald spot on the back of her head...Seems Mavis has a nasty little habit of pulling out her hair, whenever the mood strikes her.

She also has a high-rise apartment overlooking the Minneapolis skyline and an adorable Pomeranian (are there any other kind) named Dolce.

Mavis is a writer of a once popular series of Young Adult, aka teenage books featuring, a girl named Kendra. The series is coming to an end...that is if Mavis can ever finish the last and ...

Things pick back up again this week with the release of the espionage thriller Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the Garry Marshall ensemble piece New Year's Eve, the Charlize Theron dramedy Young Adult, the raunchy Jonah Hill comedy The Sitter, the Madonna directed romance W.E., the middle age drama I Melt With You, and the tragic tale We Need to Talk About Kevin.

MY PICK FOR THE WEEK: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY

During the dark days of the Cold War, George Smiley (Gary Oldman), a veteran spy, is called out of retirement to help expose a Soviet mole within MI6.

Di...

'Ceremony' is directed by Max Winkler. In a press interview Max said that the inspiration for the film was himself....Well they do say to write what you know...But unfortunately in this case...it's not such a good thing.

Sam David (Michael Angarano) a broke, struggling writer of children's books, convinces his former best friend, Marshall (Reece Daniel Thompson) to spend a weekend with him under the pretense of rekindling their friendship. The two guys drive off in Marshall's smoking (as in the car leaves a trail of smoke in its wake) Mercedes and head to the beaches of Long Island f...

This has the chance to become the most exciting Oscar night ever.

Why? Because nobody seems to have any real clue as to which movie will win Best Picture. “Avatar” seems like a good choice – it made $700 Million, changed movies, James Cameron directs, yada yada yada – but so does “The Hurt Locker” with its crazy critical raves and industry buzz. Compounding the problem is the Weinstein-backed “Inglorious Basterds” which has been gaining momentum all month. It’s a logjam at the top.

This is created not only by the fact that we have ten Best Picture nominees this year, but because the n...

And there were ten.

It seems kind of strange to say that, right? Ten Best Picture nominees? We knew it was coming for nearly a year, but now it's actually there. In Black and white. Ten nominees. Strange.

After seeing the list, it's easy to see that the Academy might be on to something. Sure, it would have gotten the biggest blockbuster of all time with "Avatar" earning a Best Picture nomination if there were only five nominees, but it would have missed out on other massive hits like "The Blind Side", "Up", and "District 9".

Now, the telecast is going to get a lot more casual...

James Cameron's science-fiction sensation "Avatar" and the war thriller "The Hurt Locker" lead the Academy Awards with nine nominations each, including best picture and best director.

This year the Oscars are featuring 10 best-picture contenders instead of the usual five. The other eight are: District 9, Up, Inglourious Basterds, The Blind Side, Up in the Air, A Serious Man, An Education and Precious.

Best Picture: "Avatar," ''The Blind Side," ''District 9," ''An Education," ''The Hurt Locker," ''Inglourious Basterds," ''Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' By Sapphire," ''A Serious M...

"Just looking at all the faces here reminds me of some of the great work that's been done this year - by cosmetic surgeons. You all look great... I've had a penis reduction. (I've) just got the one now, and it is very tiny - but so are my hands, so when I'm holding it, it looks pretty big." Golden Globes host Ricky Gervais poked fun at the stars in the audience at the 67th annual prizegiving.

"I was not thinking, I want him.' He couldn't have been a more generous and amazing guy, but I was not thinking that." Actress Anna Kendrick was not starstruck while working with George Clooney in ...

Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds and movie musical Nine are leading the awards season charge with 10 nominations apiece from the Broadcast Film Critics Association.

The World War II film and Rob Marshall's all-star musical will both compete for the coveted Best Picture prize at the Critics' Choice Movie Awards, alongside Avatar, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Invictus, Precious, A Serious Man, Up, and Up in the Air.

James Cameron's epic Avatar picked up nine nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, while The Hurt Locker and Up in the Air received eight nominati...

George Clooney and his acclaimed new movie Up In The Air took home top honors at the Washington Critics Awards on Monday.

The film won the Best Movie award and Clooney took home the Best Actor prize, while filmmaker Jason Reitman picked up both Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay honors.

The Washington, D.C., Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA) accolades cap a golden week for Clooney's new film - "Up In The Air" received the Best Film honors from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures last Thursday.

Elsewhere in the WAFCA honors, Brit star Carey Mulligan was named ...

Last Tuesday I had the privilege of seeing Jason Reitman's "Up in the Air" and I have to say, it's a brilliant film. Much like he does in "Thank You for Smoking," Reitman takes a character that has the potential to be very unlikable and makes him sympathetic to the audience.

Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) is a man whose career involves laying people off around the country, which is a sensitive subject in America given the current economic state. Reitman exercises great care with Bingham, showing us that the man isn't coldhearted. Bingham inspires those he lays off to find new careers ...

Up in the Air is the third film from acclaimed director Jason Reitman. After the indie hit Thank You for Smoking and the Oscar-winning Juno, the name Reitman now makes everyone think "Oscar buzz." Reitman himself always thought the name would help him out all along.

"My whole life, people told me nepotism was actually going to pave the way for my career," Reitman joked. "Nepotism let me down."

Instead, the son of comedy hitmaker Ivan Reitman got his start when a different industry's success story gave him a break. "I got a call from my agent saying, 'There's an internet millionaire, ...

Tomorrow evening I will have the opportunity to see Jason Reitman's new travel comedy "Up in the Air" starring George Clooney. I have read a number of early favorable reviews of the film, and I really like Reitman's movies, so I'm fairly excited.

Comedy seems to prevail as a common theme this week. At the box office there will be two dramas and three comedies. Two of the films premiering are American adaptations of foreign films. In addition to "Up in the Air" films opening this week include "Armored," "Brothers," "Everybody's Fine," "Serious Moonlight," and "Transylmania."

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