THE LOOKOUT - Hooray for B-movies. It seems like that's all Hollywood can decently do these days. Case in point is this directorial debut from Scott Frank (who has previously done smart scripts for Out of Sight and Get Shorty) who also did the screenplay. This is interesting noir with just a few, little missteps along the way. Standout performances by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jeff Daniels, Isla Fisher, and Matthew Goode takes what should be a minor league picture into the majors.
The Grade: What else. B

THE NAMESAKE - Mira Nair directs from a novel by Jhumpa Lahiri about a married couple from India who move to America to raise a family. This is a well made but overly ambitious film that bores rather than enlightens us because it focuses on too many characters which results in shortchanging each one's potentially interesting storyline. In the end though, a worthwhile, memorable movie.
The Grade: B-

PREMONITION - This sterile Sandra Bullock drama is well acted and reasonably engaging. The problem is the Twilight Zone lite plotline makes up its own rules as it goes along and has an utterly stupid ending. Pfffftttttttttt. Rated PG-13.
The Grade: C-

ZODIAC - Director David Fincher brings the hunt for the famed Zodiac killer to the big screen and does a creepily fine job. A bit too long for it's own good it still manages to recreate the maze-like investigation of this somewhat unsolved serial killer case. Occasionally bloody, the movie focuses more on the mental drain the killer inflected on the Bay Area populace and the various police departments and media outlets. Quibbles aside it is the best film of the year, so far. Rated R.
The Grade: B+/B