Hitchcock (2012)

Filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock and wife Alma have a little marriage crisis during the filming of Psycho in 1959.

Although it has a more serious topic at its core this movie manages it be a lighthearted and loving homage to the master and presents some enjoyably stellar performances from its cast.

On rewatching: Light-weighted, but quite entertaining depiction of the making of Psycho.

Maltin***: "As an account of the making of PSYCHO this is evocative and fun to watch. As an exploration of what made Hitchcock tick it must be taken as pure entertainment and not literal truth."

Jessica Biel

Bio:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jessica_Biel

Playing For Keeps (2012)

A former sports star who's fallen on hard times starts coaching his son's soccer team as a way to get his life together. His attempts to become an adult are met with challenges from the attractive soccer moms who pursue him at every turn.

Lots of star talent wasted in this minor, mostly uninteresting dramedy about (believe it or not) the marital/parental aches of a has-been football star.

Maltin*1/2: "Innocuous romantic trifle populated by attractive star; easy to take and just as easy to forget."

Powder Blue (2009)

Four Los Angelenos, a mortician, an ex-con, a suicidal ex-priest, and a stripper, are brought together on Christmas Eve by a mixture of circumstances.

Ambitious, multi-layered drama has atmosphere and is watchable for some good performances, but otherwise unnerves with its pretensions.

The Rules of Attraction (2002)

The incredibly spoiled and overprivileged students of Camden College are a backdrop for an unusual love triangle between a drug dealer, a virgin and a bisexual classmate.

Wily and gimmicky adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' novel is pretentiously in love with its tricks and appears as hollow as its protagonists; it is to be feared that this is an accurate interpretation of the author's intentions.

Halliwell*: "A story of callow students indulging in fleshly pleasures; tricked out with a narrative that goes backwards (as sometimes does the film) and other gimmicks, it's like experiencing the day after the night before in a hungover flashback."

Maltin BOMB: "Repellent look at amoral college kids whose sole interests are sex, drugs, and booze...Writer-director Avary...uses a take-no-prisoners approach to Bret Easton Ellis' book, a prequel to American Psycho. Yuccchhh."

The A-Team (2010)

A group of Iraq War veterans looks to clear their name with the U.S. military, who suspect the four men of committing a crime for which they were framed.

The movie manages to recreate the TV series not-so-serious tone and does entertain in that fashion, but is weighed down by over-the-top (and expensive) pyrotechnics.

Maltin**1/2: "A B movie tricked out with big-budget production values...Neeson establishes the seriocomic tone with self-mocking sass and steely-eyed authority. Overdone, to be sure, but surprisingly entertaining."