KNIGHT & DAY

DIRECTOR: JAMES MANGOLD

Starring: Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Peter Sarsgaard, Paul Dano

KNIGHT AND DAY features the huge star power and on-screen sizzle of Tom Cruise (Valkyrie; Mission Impossible) and Cameron Diaz (What Happens in Vegas; Charlie’s Angels) in the action thriller directed by the acclaimed James Mangold (Walk the Line; 3:10 to Yuma). The film’s strong cast also includes actors Peter Sarsgaard (An Education, Garden State), Viola Davis (Eat, Pray, Love; Doubt) and Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine; The Girl Next Door). Big screen superstars Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz come together in this fun, action packed thrill ride that breaks all the rules. When a small-town girl named June (Diaz) meets a mysterious stranger, she thinks she’s found the man of her dreams. But she soon discovers he’s a fugitive super-spy, who thrusts her into a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase that spans the globe. As the bullets and sparks fly, June must decide if her “Knight” in shining armor is a dangerous traitor or the love of her life.

GENRE: ACTION
FORMAT: DVD & BLU-RAY
RUNTIME: 109 MINS
RATED: PG-13

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET

DIRECTOR: SAMUEL BAYER

Starring: Jackie Earle Haley, Kyle Gallner, Rooney Mara, Katie Cassidy, Thomas Dekker, Kellan Lutz

Five teenage friends living on one street all dream of a sinister man with a disfigured face and a gardeners glove with knives for fingers, but when one among them dies, they soon realize that what happens in their dreams happens for real and the only way to stay alive is to stay awake. Buried in their past is a debt that has just come due. To save themselves, they must plunge into the mind of the most twisted nightmare of all: Freddy Krueger. Jackie Earle Haley plays the legendary evildoer in this contemporary re-imagining of the seminal horror classic.

GENRE: HORROR
FORMAT: DVD & BLU-RAY
RUNTIME: 97 MINS
RATED: R

Yesterday, I read in read in the Vulture that Jay Baruchel “broke ranks” with the “Apatow crew’s unofficial policy of avoiding well-paying blockbuster crap” to make The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, meaning that should he be smarting from the “commercial and critical drubbing” that movie’s received, he really brought it on himself. This article is merely a trifle, not meant to be taken über-seriously (we don’t even know that he is smarting), but it’s unfortunately exactly the type of trifle that puts a bee in my bonnet. To wit: is Jay Baruchel even that big a part of the house that Apatow built?

Yes, he starred in Undeclared, which the Vulture is correct in reminding you is “so, so good.” Bear in mind that Judd Apatow, for all we credit him for, has written and directed exactly three movies: The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and Funny People. Of those, Baruchel has starred or co-starred in exactly zero. He’s a supporting player in Knocked Up. The article quotes Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill repeatedly. Rogen was a supporting player in Virgin, the star of Knocked Up, and the co-star of Funny People. Hill appeared in Knocked Up and Funny People and co-starred in the Apatow-produced Superbad and Get Him to the Greek. Of all the other Apatow-produced (and therefore, one assumes, approved) movies, Baruchel has appeared in none. Heck, his Undeclared love interest Carla Gallo has appeared in more Apatow movies.

In Canadian pop culture (particularly on the English-speaking side), we have this idea that you haven’t made it here until you’ve made if there (in the U.S.). Despite his comic talent and not inconsiderable charm, Baruchel hasn’t made it there in the way that fellow Canadian and ur-Apatow-ian Rogen or even Hill has. Instead, he’s carved out his own path in Canadian fare like Just Buried, The Trotsky, and the upcoming Good Neighbours. Not exactly the stuff of Apatow. This is not to say that he won’t in the future, just that for whatever reason he hasn’t played as big a role as the Vulture’s headline would have you believe. At the end of the article they offer up the “unlikely possibility” that Baruchel “genuinely thought The Sorcerer’s Apprentice would be good,” but that would have been my first guess. Who doesn’t want to make a movie with Nicholas Cage? If I got a call right now to appear in Ghost Rider 2, I’d be there.

Hollywood certainly has a diverse offering this week to suit you as follows:

• If you need to see Matt Damon, action, war, politics, Paul Greengrass' trademark shaky-cam, go see Green Zone
• If you need to see Robert Pattinson, brooding, romance, daddy issues, whatever possessed Chris Cooper to act opposite Robert Pattinson, go see Remember Me
• If you need to see Jay Baruchel, a sex farce, maybe romance, definitely a premature ejaculation joke in some sort of bizarre 40 Year-Old Virgin/There's Something About Mary mash-up, go see She's Out of My League.

All three sound hard to watch for wildly different reasons. Ah, well. At least Baruchel has two more movies coming out soon (How to Train Your Dragon and The Sorcerer's Apprentice).

If you're looking for something different, there's Genius Within: The Inner Life Of Glenn Gould, Oscar Nominated Short Films of 2009 (Animated), Oscar Nominated Short Films of 2009 (Live Action), World’s Best Commercials 2009, and Marina Of The Zabbaleen playing at the Bytowne.

At the movie theatre yesterday, I saw this poster for She's Out of My League. After a brief "hurrah!" for Jay Baruchel in a starring role (it's about time he got his own 40 Year-Old Virigin/Knocked Up broadsheet), I thought, "Wait, is Jay Baruchel a five?"

Alright, he's gangly, his voice can be quite nasal, and he still looks ridiculously young for his years. But is there nothing to be said for his dorky almost total foxiness (he could do with a couple of sandwiches) and crack comic timing? 

I'm guessing that a five would designate someone as perfectly average looking. Maybe I need someone to explain the scale to me because "average" doesn't seem to cut it with this one. On the other hand, the movie appears to be the epitome of my mom's favourite saying, "There's no accounting for taste." That, and "use your head for more than a hat rack."