Carrie [2013]

Director Kimberly Peirce’s remake of Brian DePalma’s 1976 classic includes more blood, more whatever, but it seems perfunctory. Chloe Grace Moretz, 16, is the right choice and right age for the title role. Sissy Spacek was 27 when she was in the original.

d: Kimberly Peirce | imdb.com | trailer

Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)

The best parts of this almost winning romantic comedy are Ryan Gosling teaching Steve Carell how to dress and pick up women. Gosling also romances the (Emma) Stone. But Julianne Moore is barely there, and Jonah Bobo, 13, is an annoying sitcom character.

d: Glenn Ficarra and John Requa | imdb.com | trailer | Charlie Rose

The Kids Are All Right (2010)

Lesbians Annette Bening and Julianne Moore have a complicated marriage and two kids — just like everyone else! Then the kids contact forgotten sperm donor Mark Ruffalo, who again plays a scruffy, emotionally impotent fuck-up who fucks everything up.

d: Lisa Cholodenko | imdb.com | trailer | Charlie Rose
How did you meet? | So, Paul? | It’s her job. | Team sports

Chloe (2010)

Amanda Seyfried looks too young to be a call girl, and Liam Neeson is a colossal bore. Julianne Moore is the only believable part of this love triangle, which devolves into an intellectualized exploitation movie. At least the couple’s modern house is perfect.

d: Atom Egoyan | imdb.com | trailer | The Client

A Single Man (2009)

Fashion designer Tom Ford’s first film is a bit pretentious, but it captures the look and feel of Los Angeles in 1962 — from skinny ties to the Cuban missile crisis. Colin Firth, a gay college professor, mourns the death of his partner in a human performance.

d: Tom Ford | imdb.com | trailer | Becoming George.

The Big Lebowski (1998)

Jeff Bridges casually plays the Dude, a man for whom casualness is a way of life — Creedence, White Russians and bowling with his buddies. Meanwhile, the Coen Brothers construct one hell of a ride — mistaken identity, kidnapping and Technicolor blackouts.

d: Coen Brothers | imdb.com | trailer | They peed on your rug.
Blow on my toes. | Jesus | The Bag Man | Shomer Shabbos