The Five-Year Engagement picks up where most rom-coms leave off — with the proposal. Tom (Jason Segel) pops the question to Violet (Emily Blunt) exactly a year after they meet at a New Year’s Eve party. But it doesn’t go exactly as planned. Tom plans to surprise her with a ring on the deck of the restaurant where he works. But Violet objects so much to making a stop on their way to a party that Tom pulls over the car and confesses the whole plan. And thus begins their long and winding trip to the altar. But is their story engaging enough to make it worth a trip to the theater?

Jason Segal and Emily Blunt are likeable and fun as the engaged couple and at first it seems like everything is going to go off without a hitch. But what fun would that be? Things get derailed at first when Violet gets an offer to work on her doctorate at the University of Michigan. The problem with that is they live in San Francisco and Tom is an up-and-comer in the city’s culinary scene. But Tom decides to put his career on hold and go to Ann Arbor with Violet. She thrives there but he never seems to find his way. Instead, he ends up working at Zingerman’s Deli and hanging out with another bored faculty spouse  (well-played by the talented Chris Parnell) who knits ill-fitting sweaters and teaches Tom to hunt.

As the months tick by, the pressure mounts for them to set a date as grandparents start dying and Violet’s sister (Alison Brie) ends up taking the expressway to married life after she gets knocked up by Tom’s loutish friend (Chris Pratt) at Tom and Violet’s engagement party. But as Tom grows unhappier and Violet grows closer to her faculty adviser, the couple seems like they are headed anywhere but marriage. Tom’s downward spiral makes for some good laughs and Violet’s co-workers at the University are an amusing bunch. But there comes a point when you want to say, “oh just break up already!” The movie could have used some judicious editing to tighten things up a little bit.

So yes it’s worth the trip to the theater if you’re in the mood for a rom-com or if you’re a big Jason Segel and/or Emily Blunt fan. It’s got some good laughs and some honest emotional moments. It’s definitely chick flick territory. But if you’re the impatient type you might find yourself looking at your watch wondering when the hell they’re just going to figure it out.

Using archival footage and a ton of interviews, the film paints a portrait that goes far beyond the pot-smoking reggae musician most people see him as. Born to a black teenage mother and much older white father in Jamaica, Marley grew up not only poor but also as an outcast because of his mixed-race background. But it was clear at an early age, he knew not only how to play music but how to market it — from delivering records around town on a bicycle to sometimes intimidating DJs to make sure The Wailers music got played on Jamaican radio. It is also clear that Marley knew the political power of his music in Jamaica — power that ended up getting him shot in 1976.

But the movie doesn’t just document his rise to fame, it’s an examination of the man behind the myth — warts and all. The fact that he fathered eleven children with seven different women isn’t whitewashed. Both his wife and his longtime girlfriend are interviewed for the movie. His kids speak openly about their father’s competitive nature and the fact that other parents wouldn’t let their kids play with them because their parents were just smoking and playing music all the time. It also tells the story of the last months of Marley’s life — how he kept on performing despite that fact that his body was riddled with cancer, and a final attempt at treatment at a holistic clinic in Germany. The film gives us a full picture of a man who became a legend and left us far too soon.

Marley is playing in select cities around the country, but it is also available On Demand and to stream on Facebook. Coming in at two and a half hours, I’d recommend viewing at home. That way you can pause to go get munchies whenever you need to.

Charlize Theron plays Mavis Gary, a divorced 37-year old author of young adult novels whose book series is coming to an end. She is a hot mess, and not in a good way. She sits around her Minneapolis high-rise apartment watching reality TV, binges on booze and fast-food, hooks up with random guys and looks down on pretty much everyone. In the midst of her emotional breakdown, Mavis decides to return to the small Minnesota lake town where she grew up. It’s a desperate attempt to revisit her glory days as the prom queen who dated the hottest jock in school, Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson). And speaking of that jock, she also intends to seduce him and get him back, even though he’s married with a newborn baby.

Once she gets there, she checks into a hotel to avoid seeing her parents and heads straight for a bar. She ends up sitting next to a former classmate she doesn’t recognize until she see his crutches and realizes he’s the “hate-crime guy” — who was beaten by a bunch of jocks back in high school and left crippled for life. Together Mavis and “hate-crime guy,” whose name is Matt, form an unlkely alliance — the pretty girl and the geek — a couple of emotionally stunted wrecks. It’s their relationship that is at the core of this movie.

Most of the outright laughs in Young Adult come courtesy of Matt who is played by comedian turned actor Patton Oswalt. He turns in an excellent performance. But it’s Theron who is truly outstanding as the high school mean girl who never got over being mean. She plays Mavis without flinching, without giving you even a hint of something to find remotely likable in the character. She totally embraces the role and I hope she gets some recognition for it this awards season.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Gary Oldman, who is barely recognizable as Smiley, leads an outstanding ensemble cast. Toby Jones, Colin Firth, Ciaran Hinds, and David Denick are excellent as the quartet of mole suspects, as is John Hurt in the role of “Control.” Smiley is aided in his endeavors by a renegade field agent named Ricki Tarr played by Tom Hardy, and his handler inside “the Circus,” Peter Guillam, played by Benedict Cumberbatch. It’s a lot of Brits to keep track of, and there are a lot of details to piece together before the truth is revealed. Good thing Smiley is there to sort it all out because like I said this is a plot full of twists.

This one is a thinker. But if you’re in the mood for something more than mindless movie escapism (not that there’s anything wrong with that), it doesn’t get much better than Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

The couple is Jacob (Yelchin) and Anna (Jones). They meet at a university in California where she is studying English and he is learning furniture design. She leaves a vaguely stalkerish note on his car and they meet for coffee. They bond over Paul Simon’s Graceland album (seems an odd choice, but okay) and quickly become a couple. The connection between them is powerful. Then senior year is almost up and they wonder “What are we going to do after we graduate?” What she should do is go back to England where she’s from so that she doesn’t overstay her student visa. But, matters of the heart trump legal matters for her and she stays. Too bad love doesn’t actually conquer all – especially immigration law. When she takes a quick trip back to the UK and then tries to return to the U.S. and Jacob, Anna isn’t allowed back into the country. This is when things get difficult.

She can’t resolve her immigration issues and he can’t/won’t give up his furniture business to move to England. So what are they to do? They text, he visits, they both fall into other more convenient relationships. He with a California blonde played by Jennifer Lawrence (who will most likely become a household name come March when The Hunger Games hit theaters). She with a yuppie Brit named Simon. As the months and years go by, Anna and Jacob drift apart and back together trying to figure out if they can overcome all the obstacles and whether this thing they have is really worth the effort.

It’s a fine little love story, well acted and directed. But like I said I just didn’t care about the couple. In fact, they kind of annoyed me. Her heartfelt poetry… His block-like furniture… Graceland? Really? One thing I did admire was Anna’s penchant for single malt whisky. I left the theater wanting a scotch. And one of the reasons I didn’t want to leave early to get one was the movie only runs 90 minutes. I can put up with anything for 90 minutes. I suspect if you consider yourself a romantic, you may enjoy this one more than I did. So don’t let me put you off it completely. I’d say get it on pay-per-view or Netflix when it’s available and you’re in the mood for some sappy romance, and pour yourself a scotch.

It’s time to play the music. It’s time to light the lights…

It’s been more than a decade since Kermit and the gang were together on the big screen and this movie’s plot is all about reuniting them. It begins with a trip to the now decrepit Muppet studios in Hollywood by the world’s biggest Muppets fan, Walter (a Muppet himself although he doesn’t realize it yet), and his friends Gary (Jason Segel) and Mary (Amy Adams). While they’re there, Walter overhears a plot by nefarious oilman Tex Richman (Chris Cooper) to gain ownership of the place so he can tear it down and drill for oil.  Walter is devastated.

The only way to save the studio is for Kermit the Frog to come up with ten million dollars. Walter, Gary and Mary track him down at his run-down Bel Air mansion and convince him he’s got to try to do it. They set out to find the rest of the gang so they can stage a Muppet telethon to raise the money. The first stop is Reno, where Fozzie Bear is performing with a “tribute” act called “The Moopets.” They track down Gonzo, who’s now a plumbing magnate, and Animal, who’s in rehab for anger management. Then they tell us it’s ”time for a montage” as they pick up the rest of the cast – except for Miss Piggy. She proves a bit more difficult to convince. After all, she’s built a new life for herself as the plus-size editor of Vogue in Paris.

Then it’s a race against time to convince a network, any network, to air their telethon and find a celebrity host. Will they get the show together in time? Will they raise the money to save the studios? It’s a Muppet movie – what do you think? It’s all about the journey, not the destination with the Muppets. And there are classic Muppet elements all along the way: musical numbers – some that, admittedly, I thought dragged a bit – characters breaking the fourth wall – like that “time for a montage” reference – and celebrity cameos galore.

For me, a Muppets fan from back in the day, it was just right and it plays well to the next generation too. My eight-year old movie companion says he loved it too because it was “funny and so cool.” He particularly enjoyed when Miss Piggy jumped on Kermit, and Fozzie’s fart shoes were “hilarious and so farty that they made me laugh like heck!” This movie’s a winner for all ages. Enjoy the show!

I’m not surprised. The dashing feline outlaw, voiced by Antonio Banderas, is irresistible. We first met Puss in the Shrek movies. But this is his story before he met the ogre and his donkey friend. We learn that Puss was raised in an orphanage in a western town called San Ricardo. But because of some youthful indiscretions, he became an outlaw there and had to flee. Now he has returned to redeem himself. To do that he decides to pull off one last caper and steal the goose that lays the golden eggs.

He reluctantly teams up with his old friend/nemesis Humpty “Alexander” Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) and a rival cat burglar called “Kitty Softpaws” (Salma Hayek) to go after the goose. But to get to it, they to get past the evil “Jack and Jill,” delightfully voiced by Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris. Yes, there are all kinds of fairytale references in the movie, but what you won’t see are any Shrek characters popping up, and that is a good thing. Doing that would have been a distraction. This is Puss’s tale and it is a good one.

The swashbuckling cat can more than carry his own movie, and he’s got a cast of interesting supporting characters. Humpty Dumpty has some serious issues – you might say he’s got layers – oh wait wrong movie. And in Kitty Softpaws, Puss has met his sword-fighting, flamenco dancing match, and naturally, love interest. Then there’s the “Ohhh Cat” – a minor character but unforgettable.

This is just a fun movie. Like any good animated feature, there’s enough sly adult humor to keep mom and dad amused and a great story with lots of action to keep the little ones happy. If you haven’t seen it already, take the kids, or go alone – like I did – if you’re just looking for 90 minutes of feeling like a kid again.

Olsen plays the title character, a 20-something woman who is fleeing from a cult in the Catskills as the movie opens. She calls her estranged sister, Lucy (Sarah Paulson) for help and she comes to pick her up. At that point we learn her name is Martha. They go to Lucy’s Connecticut lake house where Martha tries to adjust to normal life. But we immediately see that is going to be nearly impossible. This girl’s head has been seriously messed with.

The movie cuts back and forth in time from the present at the lake house to her past with the cult. At first, things at the cult’s farmhouse seem safe and supportive to Martha – full of guitar strumming, organic gardening hippies and their leader, the charismatic and creepily calm, Patrick (John Hawkes). Patrick decides Martha looks like a Marcy May and he puts her through the same disturbing initiation ritual all of the women there go through. Patrick’s outward appearance is subdued but he manages to ooze menace from every pore. The guy will totally creep you out. It is a great performance by Hawkes.

As Martha, Marcy May (the Marlene becomes clear later in the movie, but I won’t spoil it here) tries to cope with the memories of what happened to her in the past, she becomes more and more paranoid in the present. The psychological abuse and brainwashing has taken a heavy toll and she struggles to figure out what is real and what is just in her head. It’s a tense and disturbing journey that takes us to a chilling climax.

This is a psychological thriller that will get inside your head. So if you’re looking for a movie that will haunt you this Halloween weekend, this is the one to see.

It’s set in the near future when the sport of boxing no longer involves humans. Instead robots battle it out in the ring because apparently the sight of two humans pummeling each other didn’t involve enough carnage to satisfy bloodthirsty spectators (Commentary on where we’re headed as a society perhaps? Nah. That’s too deep for this movie.)

Jackman plays Charlie Kenton, a down on his luck former boxer who is now a promoter in the world of robot boxing and is not doing well… at all. Just when it seems like things can’t get any worse, Charlie finds out the 11-year old son he hasn’t seen in, well, 11 years has lost his mom and now wants to get to know his father, who has zero paternal instincts. Cue the father-son conflict.

After Charlie loses yet another robot in yet another disastrous fight, his son Max finds an old “sparring bot” named Atom in a junkyard and cleans him up. Despite his dad’s initial hesitation, they start getting the bot fights – and they start winning. Cue the father-son bonding. Eventually they end up with a match fighting the undefeated robot champion, Zeus, who was designed by an evil looking Asian computer genius and paid for by an evil looking Russian heiress. Will the underdog Atom defeat the mighty Zeus? Will Charlie realize he loves his son and likes having him around? I won’t tell you – but this is a Hollywood studio movie, so you can probably guess how everything turns out. And again, I’m okay with that because this  is a sweet movie.

Real Steel is a great movie choice if you’re looking for something to see with the whole family in tow. And it will be perfect for ‘family movie night’ at home once it’s available “on demand” and on DVD.