Ten to See

Here are ten movies that are worth checking out.

In Theaters
1. Flipped - Rob Reiner brings us a childhood romance that, while dealing with the loss of innocence, never loses its own.  It's a sweet movie unlike anything else playing right now (or, generally, ever).

2. Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World - This adaptation of the hilarious graphic novels doesn't an amazing job of bringing the over-the-top action to life.  Hilarious and brilliantly edited.
3. The Kids Are All Right - One of the best movies of the year, featuring Oscar-worth performances from Annette Bening and Julianne Moore.  At turns hilarious and heart-breaking, this is a movie worth tracking down.

4. The Other Guys - Even as a nonfan of Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, this movie is a lot of fun.  Wahlberg goes for super macho while Ferrell underplays as the nerdy desk-cop, leading to great chemistry and lots of laughs.
5. The Switch - It isn't a completely successful comedy, but Jason Bateman is always compulsively watchable, and newcomer Thomas Robinson is adorable and hysterical.

On DVD
1. Un Prophete (A Prophet) - This French film competed for the Foreign Language Oscar earlier this year, and for good reason.  It's a gritty, epic prison film with a phenomenal turn by Tahar Rahim.
2. Mother - This Chinese murder mystery plays like a good Alfred Hitchcock movie, with lots of twists and turns and a beautiful performance from Hye-ja Kim as the titular mother.

3. Cemetery Junction - Sadly, Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's latest didn't get a theatrical release here in the states, but at least it made it at all.  It's a change of pace for the pair, and a successful one at that.  It's more or less your typical coming-of-age tale, but with lots of funny dialogue and a great ensemble of lesser-knowns and more recognizable stars.
4. Me and Orson Welles - Zac Efron is a capable actor when given the right part, as he is here.  But it's Christian McKay who steals the show as Welles, perfectly capturing the ego (and the talent) of the genius as he stages a production of Julius Caesar.
5. Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Though it was unfairly dismissed by critics, Diary of a Wimpy Kid is one of the funniest movies of the year.  Zachary Gordon and Robert Capron are hysterical, and the movie pulls lots of the series' funniest moments and recreates them extremely well, adding some fresh laughs, too.