Wonderful World: This one played at SIFF last year, and I totally missed it. Matthew Broderick plays pessimist Ben Singer; divorced, jobless, and completely hopeless. When his roommate gets sick, hot sister Khadi arrives and shakes up Ben’s world. Sounds pretty formulaic, I know, but I’m interested.

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Up in the Air: The ever-adorable Clooney seems tailor-made for the role of Ryan Bingham – a charming, smart-ass loner in fear of losing the job he LIVES for. An expertly clever take on a story told many times over, Reitman elevates this to perfection, with the two female leads (Anna Kendrick & Vera Farmiga) rockin’ it to the extreme. I’m definitely adding this one to my collection.

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Where the Wild Things Are: Love it or Hate it, you have to give a movie props for causing so much debate. I’m personally in the LOVE category, totally in awe of the special F/X, and the way in which it made me remember my childhood struggles with emotional fondness. If you’re at all curious, give it a watch and see how it affects you.

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The Crazies @the Metro and Meridian: Normally I wouldn’t recommend anything with Timothy Olyphant, but since I’ve had a years-long crush on Radha Mitchell, I’m hoping she’ll balance it out. Also, I’m partial to a film called The Crazies – because it just puts it out there. No mystery. It just is. Let’s see: small town, sudden insanity, murder, and possible buckets of splatter? I say yes (Amazingly I have never seen the original 1973 Romero film – need to remedy that before I see this one!).

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The September Issue: I’ve been dying to see this (although I totally hate that they're selling it as "the REAL Devil Wears Prada"), since I missed its short run in Seattle last year. A chance to see the mysterious and iconic longtime editor of Vogue, Anna Wintour, putting together the biggest issue of the year? Yes, yes and yes. I have a serious love/hate relationship with the fashion & beauty industry, so I’m curious as to which way this will sway me….even if I think I already know the answer.

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Hunger: I hesitate to use the word "buzz" – but Michael Fassbender (from Inglourious Basterds) is getting all kinds of acclaim for his role as an IRA volunteer Bobby Sands, who organizes a hunger strike in 1981 as a protest to improve Britain’s Prison conditions. Sounds depressing, but I’ll give it a try because Fassbender intrigues me:

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A Serious Man: The Coen Brothers really wowed me with this Best Picture-nominated black comedy about the disintegrating life of Larry Gopnik in 1967. Michael Stuhlbarg is PERFECT as a good guy suffering through a tidal wave of bad luck: his wife is leaving, his kids don’t respect him, his brother is suicidal, and he’s being blackmailed by a student for a passing grade. Turning to his faith for answers, Larry visits (or tries to, anyway) 3 Rabbis for advice, with each result being more hilarious than the last. I really, really love this film you guys.

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Putting aside Oscar mania for a day - here's some good stuff that just came out on DVD!

Zombieland: Hard to believe, but true: I haven’t seen this yet. Mainly because I’m not a Woody Harrelson fan, so I’ve been wary that I’ll like it. However, I did adore Jesse Eisenberg in Adventureland, and we all know how much I heart Zombies, so I’ll give it a whirl now that it’s on DVD (although I am sick of hearing: "Time to nut up or shut up!", but they get extra points for playing Van Halen in the preview):

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Whip It: I was pleasantly surprised by this one – admittedly, it looks like it’ll play out as a predictable coming-of-age comedy, but somehow it worked itself into a great story. Plus the roller derby bouts are an awful lot of fun to watch. Ellen Page (as always) is adorable as the teen misfit trying to find her way, but my favorite thing about this movie was seeing Zoe Bell on the track. This is pretty much the perfect girly flick, minus the gimmick of Drew injuring herself repeatedly. Good job on your directing debut, Ms. Barrymore!

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Full admission: I haven’t seen ANY of these (but they all got added to my Netflix queue this morning!)

The Final Destination: What can I say? I LOVE this series. Each installment is more insanely ridiculous then the rest, creating an impossible-to-believe chain of events that results in everyone’s splatterffic end. Therein lies the fun: you already know that cheating death just isn’t gonna happen – so you’re just waiting to see what new and inventive ways they cook up to kill people. Hooray!

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