Paris is a city that lends itself to daydreaming, to walking the streets and imagining all sorts of magic, a quality that Woody Allen understands perfectly. <em>Midnight in Paris</em> is Allen's charming reverie about just that quality, with a screenwriter hero named Gil (Owen Wilson) who strolls the lanes of Paris with his head in the clouds and walks right into his own best fantasy. Gil is there with his materialistic fiancée (Rachel McAdams) and her unpleasant parents, taking a break from his financially rewarding but spiritually unfulfilling Hollywood career--and he can't stop thinking that all he wants to do is quit the movies, move to Paris, and write that novel he's been meaning to finish. You know, be like his heroes in the bohemian Paris of the 1920s. Sure enough, a midnight encounter draws him into the jazzy world of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Picasso and Dali, and an intense Ernest Hemingway, who promises to bring Gil's manuscript to Gertrude Stein for review. Gil wakes up every morning back in the real world, but returning to his enchanted Paris proves fairly easy. In the execution of this marvelous fantasia, Allen pursues the idea that people of every generation have always romanticized a previous age as golden (this is in fact explained to us by Michael Sheen's pedantic art expert), but he also honors Gil's need to find out certain truths for himself. The movie's on the side of gentle fantasy, and it has some literary/cinematic in-jokes that call back to the kind of goofy humor Allen created in <em>Love and Death</em>.The film is guilty of the slackness that Allen's latter-day directing has sometimes shown, and the underwritten roles for McAdams and Marion Cotillard are better acted than written. But the city glows with Allen's romantic sense of it, and Owen Wilson has just the right nice-guy melancholy to put the idea over. A worthy entry in the Cinema of the Daydream. <em>--Robert Horton</em>

Just when you were starting to sober up after <em>The Hangover</em>… along comes <em>The Hangover Part II</em>--a deft dose of hair of the dog that will keep fans of the original screaming with laughter once again. Director Todd Phillips brings back his great cast--Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, and Ed Helms for another splendid exercise in debauchery--and its painful aftermath. And perhaps surprisingly, <em>The Hangover Part II</em> keeps the laugh levels high. While the element of surprise is not here in the sequel, writer Craig Mazin, Scot Armstrong, and Phillips have upped the shock factor, resulting in humor that's sometimes not exactly politically correct, but is fall-down funny anyway. In <em>The Hangover Part II</em>, Stu (Helms) is marrying a Thai-American woman (Jamie Chung), and the entire wedding party is flying to Thailand for the ceremony. Quicker than you can say"bachelor brunch," the boys are off on some kind of mystery adventure that results in some pretty serious, and pretty hilarious repercussions. (There's an unfortunate tattoo incident, one not easily covered up; there's an unexplained monkey--in a Rolling Stones shirt--now added to the entourage; and one of the group is missing.) The setup is familiar, but the ensemble of actors is so confident, their chemistry so easy, that the viewer enjoys their long, strange trip with bust-out-loud laughs. And you can't ask for much more in a buddy comedy. --<em>A.T. Hurley</em>

Rowan Atkinson reprises his role as the slightly hapless, but still remarkably effective secret agent Johnny English in <em>Johnny English Reborn</em>. Atkinson's deadpan slapstick delivery is in fine form in this sequel to 2003's <em>Johnny English</em>. The sequel actually delivers as an excellent action film, with outstanding cinematography showcasing scenes as diverse as Hong Kong and Tibet, as well as a comedy along the lines of <em>Get Smart</em>. <em>Johnny English Reborn</em> opens in the mountains of Tibet, where a disgraced English has been living in a monastery, learning focus, attentiveness, and martial arts of the avoidance rather than of the über-attack variety. He is suddenly called back into action to serve Her Majesty in the spy agency MI-7, to help take down an international ring of assassins. English is reluctant at first, but then jumps at the chance to avenge the mistakes he made years earlier, and to deploy his new arsenal of skills. <em>Johnny English</em> is a very crisply directed, well-written, and even unpredictable comedy-action spoof, and it just might make fans out of Rowan Atkinson doubters. The timing of the gags is really well done, and Atkinson seems game for just about anything. He is also surrounded by a splendid supporting cast. Gillian Anderson plays the severe new head of MI-7, Pamela, with crisp assurance. Rosamund Pike is the comely Kate, a potential love interest for Agent English. And Daniel Kaluuya plays newbie Agent Tucker, who is assigned to accompany English, and who brings skills (and baggage) of his own. Director Oliver Parker, known mostly for his remakes of classics like <em>Othello</em> and <em>The Importance of Being Earnest</em>, brings a sure vision and entertaining pace to <em>Johnny English Reborn</em>. There's some crude humor, mostly in the form of blows to various groins, but there's no bad language or over-the-top grossness, so <em>Johnny English Reborn</em> is suitable for older kids and teens. --<em>A.T. Hurley</em>

<strong>Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 or region free DVD player in order to play.</strong>



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At fortysomething, straight-laced Cal Weaver (Steve Carell) is living the dream-good job, nice house, great kids and marriage to his high school sweetheart. But when Cal learns that his wife, Emily (Julianne Moore), has cheated on him and wants a divorce, his"perfect" life quickly unravels. Worse, in today's single world, Cal, who hasn't dated in decades, stands out as the epitome of un-smooth.<br /><br /> Now spending his free evenings sulking alone at a local bar, the hapless Cal is taken on as a wingman and protégé to handsome, thirty-something player Jacob Palmer (Ryan Gosling). In an effort to help Cal get over his wife and start living his life, Jacob opens Cal's eyes to the many options before him: flirty women, manly drinks and a sense of style that can't be found at Supercuts or The Gap.<br /><br /> Cal and Emily aren't the only ones looking for love in what might be all the wrong places: Cal's 13-year-old son, Robbie, is crazy about his 17-year-old babysitter, Jessica, who harbors a crush on Cal. And despite Cal's makeover and his many new conquests, the one thing that can't be made over is his heart, which seems to keep leading him back to where he began.

It all comes down to chemistry. And the two main stars of <em>Just Go with It</em>, Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler, thankfully, have chemistry to spare. Both actors have plenty of sheer likability and honest ease, as well as sparks in just the right places, which helps propel <em>Just Go with It</em> to its satisfying (if a bit predictable) conclusion. (Hollywood execs: Consider an update of <em>Moonlighting</em> starring these two.) If the premise, loosely based on the Goldie Hawn film <em>Cactus Flower</em>, stretches reality, the capability of the whole cast makes <em>Just Go with It</em> an enjoyable ride. Sandler plays Danny, a surgeon who falls for a much-younger bombshell, Palmer (swimsuit model Brooklyn Decker, a surprisingly natural actress). But when Palmer finds the fake wedding band that commitment-phobe Danny has used for his no-strings-attached previous relationships, the web of fibs begins. Danny asks his assistant, Katherine (Aniston), to pretend to be his soon-to-be-ex-wife, and Aniston plays it to the hilt. But soon Danny's wobbly house of cards includes Katherine's children--and, in the ultimate romantic-comedy trope, a group trip to Hawaii to work things out. The cast really is stellar, including very small supporting roles by Nicole Kidman and singer Dave Matthews, as an insufferable couple disliked intensely by Katherine. (Of course they end up in Hawaii with the gang, too.) Minka Kelly, Kevin Nealon, and Rachel Dratch also make memorable cameos. But it's Sandler and Aniston, along with the snappy direction by Dennis Dugan (<em>Happy Gilmore</em>, <em>Big Daddy</em>), who make <em>Just Go with It</em> one of the more romantic--and funny--romantic comedies in recent memory. Our advice: Sit back, and just go with it. --<em>A.T. Hurley</em>

At a time when mainstream comedy has been overtaken by rambling, pleasingly sloppy Judd Apatow-type improv-fests, director Will Gluck has been quietly doing his part to remind folks that sticking to the script and having a destination in mind can be fun, too. Much like his earlier <em>Easy A, Friends with Benefits</em> is a clever, just-this-side-of-painfully-hip relationship comedy that knows when to linger over a punch line and when not to break stride. A few minor speed bumps aside (filmmakers: can we can it with the musical montages, already?), it goes down extremely easy. The story in a nutshell: frustrated by the lack of viable dating options in their vicinity, two platonic friends (Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake) decide to embark on a casual, no-strings-attached physical relationship. However, as a briefly glimpsed clip from <em>Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice</em> foreshadows, things don't stay simple for very long. As opposed to the standard PG-13 rom com, things get surprisingly raunchy here, but organically so, with the slight snafus and briefly major embarrassments that should ring true to most relationship veterans. As in <em>Easy A</em>, Gluck has assembled a fantastically game supporting cast, including Woody Harrelson, Jenna Elfman, and especially the great Richard Jenkins and Patricia Clarkson as two vastly different parental figures, but it's really the two leads' show. Whether arguing the virtues of the band Kriss Kross or engaging in activities unprintable on an all-ages website, Timberlake and Kunis display the snappy back-and-forth of a classic cinematic coupling. When they're cooking, you don't want to be anywhere else. --Andrew Wright

Everything you know about aliens from pop culture is true. At least that's the message from <em>Paul</em>, a swift, sharp, and very funny movie from the creative minds that also brought us <em>Shaun of the Dead</em>, <em>Hot Fuzz</em>, <em>Superbad</em>, and <em>Adventureland</em>. The British stars of the first two, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, also wrote the snappy screenplay, and director Greg Mottola shows that he can make human and sentimental both the slapstick and the subtle, self-referential humour the same way he did in <em>Superbad</em> and <em>Adventureland</em>. The premise Pegg and Frost have laid out for themselves as likable, sci-fi fanatic supernerds is a dream vacation starting at Comic Con, then continuing through the American Southwest in an RV visiting historic UFO sites like Area 51, the Black Mailbox, and Roswell, and finishing up at Devil's Tower in Wyoming, the iconic centerpiece from <em>Close Encounters of the Third Kind</em>. After their inauspicious start, they happen upon an escaped alien who is 4 feet tall, and has the big head, classic diamond eyes, and features we've come to recognize as both the benevolent and evil kinds of space aliens from movies and TV. He is also the titular character, and as voiced by Seth Rogen, this CGI creature spouts a never-ending string of wisecracks, insider secrets, and frat-boy humour that comes loud and clear as classic Rogen in tone and attitude. As an aside and terrific example of the very clever throwaway punch lines that run throughout, there's a brief flashback to 1980 showing Paul on a conference call with Steven Spielberg (really), giving him advice about script development issues for <em>E.T.</em>

Paul crash-landed in the late 1940s and has been held prisoner by the government's men in black. They've not only been pumping him for knowledge, they've also leaked the fabric and features of his being to people who want to believe, especially the ones in Hollywood. Now Paul wants to go home, and he's found the perfect getaway with the want-to-believe team of Graeme (Pegg) and Clive (Frost), who take him to his rendezvous (at Devil's Tower, of course). The road movie that unfolds is consistently hilarious, moving nimbly through one-off gags and inside jokes, but also creating larger relationships and drawn-out humour that relies on us believing that the little CGI Paul is real. And mostly we do, again thanks to Rogen's delivery and distinctive vocalizing. Paul constantly quips, makes fun, gets drunk, smokes dope, and spouts a steady stream of patter about how aliens have been bowdlerized and reimagined in entertainment and the minds of people like Graeme and Clive. There's a jam-packed supporting cast that complements and complicates the story (in a good way), including Bill Hader and Joe Lo Truglio as the bumbling men in black, and Jason Bateman as the scary man in black. Also passing through are some fun familiar faces like Jane Lynch, David Koechner, Jeffrey Tambor, John Carroll Lynch, and an iconic sci-fi actress who shall remain unnamed. Especially good is Kristen Wiig as a fundamentalist Christian whose mind is literally blown by Paul. Amid the broad humour and nonstop punch lines there's also a sweetness that stays with each finely drawn character (including Paul) and gives <em>Paul</em> an amiable sentimentality that runs throughout. Everyone clearly had fun making this movie, and that's exactly how it is to watch. <em>--Ted Fry</em>

It's the age-old story of forbidden love between feuding families, but Shakespeare's classic tragedy <em>Romeo and Juliet</em> becomes quite a comedy when the young lovers in question are different-coloured gnomes from backyards on opposite sides of a tall wooden fence. Lured out of their respective gardens by wanderlust and an exotic orchid, Gnomeo (James McAvoy) and Juliet (Emily Blunt) meet and instantly fall in love. Their forbidden love blossoms with a little help from a plastic pink flamingo named Featherstone (Jim Cummings), and soon life-threatening lawnmower races ensue, an epic battle is staged, and wisteria trees and gnome hats are hacked to bits in the process. Shakespeare himself (Patrick Stewart) makes an appearance and declares that, while this story bears a marked resemblance to one of his own, he's not sure it will end in quite the same way. Shakespunian nuggets of wisdom include"A weed is by any other name, still a weed," and that fairness demands"a hat for a hat," and of course the philosophical question"What's in a gnome?" just has to be asked. Executive producer Elton John's penchant for over-the-top showmanship finds a perfect home in the gnomes' elaborate backyard sets, and his musical score is an effective blend of classic and original songs, including a new collaboration with Lady Gaga called"Hello, Hello." Other legendary musicians lending their talents to the voice cast include Dolly Parton and Ozzy Osbourne. This film is funny, engaging, and, with the possible exception of one particularly scantily clad gnome, appropriate for the whole family. (Ages 5 and older) <em>--Tami Horiuchi</em>

A delightful undersea world unfolds in Pixar's animated adventure Finding Nemo . When his son Nemo is captured by a scuba diver, a nervous clownfish named Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks) sets off into the vast--and astonishingly detailed--ocean to find him. Along the way he hooks up with a scatterbrained blue tang fish named Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), who's both a help and a hindrance, sometimes at the same time. Faced with sharks, deep-sea anglers, fields of poisonous jellyfish, sea turtles, pelicans and much more, Marlin rises above his neuroses in this wonderfully funny and thrilling ride--rarely do more than 10 minutes pass without a sequence appearing that's destined to become a theme-park attraction. Pixar continues its run of impeccable artistic and economic successes ( Toy Story , A Bug's Life , Monsters, Inc ). Supporting voices here include Willem Dafoe, Geoffrey Rush and Allison Janney. --Bret Fetzer

If you like your humour broadside up, hold the subtlety, you'll want to nurse this Hangover with your best mates. The ensemble cast meshes perfectly--it's like a super-R-rated episode of Friends: silly, slapstick, and completely in the viewer's face. When four pals go to Vegas to celebrate the imminent nuptials of one of them, they partake in a rooftop toast to"a night we'll never forget." But they're in for a big surprise: their celebration drinks were laced with date-rape drugs, so when they awake in their hotel room 12 hours later, not only are they hung over, but they can't remember what they did all night long. Oh, and they're missing the groom-to-be.<p/> The film is so cheerfully raunchy, so fiercely crude, that the humour becomes as intoxicating as the mind-altering substances. The standout in the ensemble is Zach Galifianakis, who is alternately creepy and hilarious. Ed Helm ( The Office ), in addition to his memory, loses a tooth in uncomfortably realistic fashion, and Bradley Cooper ( He's Just Not That into You ) has deadpan comic timing that whips along at the speed of light."Ma'am, you have an incredible rack," he blares to a pedestrian from the squad car the guys have"borrowed.""I should have been a [bleeping] cop," he tells himself approvingly.<p/> Director Todd Phillips brings back his deft handling of the actors and the dude humour that worked so well in Old School , as well as the unctuous Dan Finnerty, memorable as a lounge/wedding singer in both films. But it's the nonstop volley of jokes--most cheerily politically incorrect--that grabs the audience and thrashes it around the hotel room. Just watch out for the tiger in the bathroom. - -A.T. Hurley