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Lauren Carlson

Red White and Blue

score: 
D
Director: 
Simon Rumley
Cast: 
Noah Taylor, Amanda Fuller, Marc Senter, Lauren Scheide
Running Time: 
102
Rated: 
NR
Author(s): 
Lauren Carlson
Erica (Amanda Fuller) spends her nights perusing the bars and nightclubs of Austin, Texas, having dark encounters with strangers that usually end in a romp in the sack. She doesn’t do the “friend” thing and is just out for emotionally detached connections. Then she meets Nate (Noah Taylor), a supposed former soldier who was honorably discharged from Iraq. She sparks a hesitant friendship with the mysterious stranger who seems to just want to protect her.

Kick-Ass

score: 
B+
Director: 
Matthew Vaughn
Cast: 
Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Moretz, Nicholas Cage
Running Time: 
117
Rated: 
R
Author(s): 
Lauren Carlson
In the movies, superheroes exist for one reason: to fight the bad guys. In the real world, we have plenty of bad guys, but no superheroes. A radioactive spider has never bitten Dave Lizewski; he doesn’t have the gadgets and cash of Batman; sure, he can deal with kryptonite, but he definitely can’t fly. His lack of superpower doesn’t stop him, though. He purchases a wet suit online, customizes it for a superhero’s needs and begins the necessary training: sit-ups, jumping from building to building.

Leaves of Grass

score: 
B+
Director: 
Tim Blake Nelson
Cast: 
Edward Norton, Tim Blake Nelson, Keri Russell
Running Time: 
105
Rated: 
NR
Author(s): 
Lauren Carlson
Bill Kincaid is a classics professor at Brown whose students swoon over his stimulating lectures on the great philosophers. He is moving ahead in his career with an opportunity to teach at the coveted Harvard Law School. He plays the role of sophisticated academic so well that no one would ever guess he came from a small town in Oklahoma where catfish noodling is revered and the definition of a good Saturday night is beers on the porch with friends and some hydroponic bud.

Shutter Island

score: 
A-
Director: 
Martin Scorsese
Cast: 
Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Michelle Williams
Running Time: 
138
Rated: 
R
Author(s): 
Lauren Carlson
Martin Scorsese is a cinematic force to be reckoned with. The Academy Award-winning director received the Cecil B. DeMille award at this year’s Golden Globes, and with the release of Shutter Island coming in the wake of this recognition, Scorsese’s spot in American film history has solidified exponentially. I am an avid fan of the director’s work and had high hopes coming into his latest film… They were more than met. Shutter Island is saturated with the characteristic Scorsese style, from the cinematography to the use of music in driving a plot line.

When in Rome

score: 
A-
Director: 
Mark Steven Johnson
Cast: 
Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Danny Devito, Anjelica Huston
Running Time: 
91
Rated: 
PG-13
Author(s): 
Lauren Carlson
We all know the old adage “What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” Well, what about Rome? Beth, a young and ambitious New Yorker, visits the ancient city for her sister’s wedding. Feeling forlorn about her own love life, she takes a dip in the Fontana d’Amore (Fountain of Love) and decides to steal a few coins, not knowing the Italian legend that if you take a person’s coin out of the Fontana d'Amore, you take their love as well.
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