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Max Braden: Here's a series of ups and downs I've seen on DVD this fall:

G.I. Joe: Retaliation: You know, this wasn't as eye rolling as the first movie. The Rock continues to at least elevate the movies he's in. Bruce Willis was also a decent addition, but he's better in R.E.D.

Admission: I like Tina Fey, I like Paul Rudd, I wanted this to work, but it just felt flat. It fell in that nebulous area between drama and comedy.

Arthur Newman: Dysfunctional romances like this appeal to me. I still can't decide though if the chemistry between Emily Blunt and Colin Firth was actually there or if they're just good actors.

Empire State: I rented this mostly for Dwayne Johnson, but it's not really his movie at all. It also isn't really Liam Hemsworth's movie either, since I don't feel he can carry projects as a lead (the main reason I think Paranoia failed). Michael Angarano is kind of crazy good as a character you want to smack.

The English Teacher: Julianne Moore is kind of a love-her or ugh actress for me, and I'm especially "ugh" when she plays a character with no backbone. I hated her character in this movie.

Love Is All You Need: This romance surprised me. I thought I'd find it boring and generic and Mamma Mia-lite, but Trine Dyrholm is just lovely in this, and I didn't hate Pierce Brosnan. He had one of the best kiss-off monologues (to another character) I've heard in the movies in a while.

Peeples: This was also one that surprised me. I expected a vapid Tyler Perry comedy, but I don't know what the magic was, it turned out to be casually entertaining.

The Great Gatsby: The first half of this movie was way over-stylized, even for Baz Luhrmann, especially with the obvious green-screen backgrounds. It got better in the second half, and I did like Joel Edgerton's performance.

After Earth: After depressing my expectations to their lowest point, I found this movie to be a decent enough action flick. I watch plenty of indecent action flicks, though, so I'm not saying this was great by any means. The character accents were a distraction.

Disconnect: A bit like Crash, this is a depressing movie in that you can expect this sort of behavior and exploitation of kids is all too frequent in the real world. Jason Bateman does a good job in a straight up dramatic role.

The Look of Love: I like Steve Coogan and Anna Friel, and I wanted to learn about Britain's Hugh Hefner. Interesting enough, I guess. It reminded me of Helen Mirren's movie Love Ranch.

The Colony: This is kind of action flick I tend to watch that makes After Earth look exciting. I think the mostly-mute, mostly-indestructible, mouth-breathing cannibal villain was misunderstood and probably just had a nose and throat cold.

Much Ado About Nothing: In the first 30 seconds, the Shakespearian dialogue in the modern setting so put me off that I wanted to quit the movie. But I stuck with it. I'm still not sure if I like Amy Acker, but she was right for the role, and Nathan Fillion was really funny. By the end...yeah, I think it actually works.

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