The Tribune

At one point in The Town, Doug MacRay gazes upward at an airplane jetting through the sky, signifying the possibility of life beyond small-town Boston. But the image is as fleeting as the lives of the bank-robbing bandits the film portrays, and it seems as though MacRay (played by a melancholy Ben Affleck) is in this town to stay.

Everyone loves a good comedy, and in that respect Easy A does not disappoint. The movie tells the story of a scrupulously ordinary high-schooler, Olive Penderghast (Emma Stone), whose clean reputation becomes unexpectedly tarnished when uber-Christian classmate Marianne (Amanda Bynes) spreads a rumour that she lost her virginity over the weekend. Although Olive was the one who originally started the rumour, this is quickly forgotten as the situation snowballs throughout the first half of the film.

Last week, New York Magazine put Jon Stewart’s cherubic face on its cover, accompanied by a bold headline: “The Jon Stewart Decade.”

In the article, Chris Smith outlined a fairly familiar argument: that Jon Stewart is our generation’s Walter Cronkite, the most trusted man in America at a time when the issues facing the country seem tailor-made for mockery.

Thailand. Guatemala. Panama. Fiji. Micronesia. The list goes on. Any television show filmed in these places is automatically cool in my books. Of course I’m talking about Survivor, the best show on television. I usually get the same reaction when I talk about the show; “You still watch that?” Or eve; “That’s still on?” Yes, Survivor is still on and I still watch it. It’s been 10 years, 20 seasons, and Survivor is still just as awesome as it was when it first aired. No one can convince me otherwise.

The latest movie to tackle the age-old convention of nerds trying to lose their virginity is aptly called The Virginity Hit. The film, with its newcomer cast, was produced by Will Ferrell. With the support of such a typically hilarious actor, one might assume that the movie promises to be as funny as some of his other film exploits. While it does have some funny moments, The Virginity Hit ultimaetly doesn’t hold a candle to Ferrell’s past work.

Reclining in my IMAX chair and slipping on my 3-D glasses, I was totally prepared for Shrek 4 to suck. Instead, I partook a fun, genuine, and hilarious ride through the fairy tale world in absolutely gorgeous IMAX 3-D. The movie gets off to a bit of a slow start, with Shrek trapped in a “Groundhog-Day-esque” scene of mundane family life.

Just when you thought that Pixar couldn’t perfect another timeless movie, they’ve done it again. Although I’ve always been pretty skeptical about sequels within the animated genre-need I mention Little Mermaid 2, Lion King 1.5- this third instalment of Toy Story has truly proven that sequels can rank up to par with their original.

Picking up immediately from the intriguing cliff-hanger of season two, season three begins with Sookie Stackhouse enlisting the help of the (very sexy) vampire Eric in order to look for Bill, who has just been abducted by a mysterious source. As the season unfolds, it turns out that it is Russell Edgington-the vampire king of Mississippi- who, along with a brigade of werewolves, has taken Bill as a prisoner.

It would not be presumptuous to call Inception the movie event of the year. Certainly no other film this year has generated nearly the same amount of buzz as Christopher Nolan’s most recent blockbuster. Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is an extractor, a thief who steals thoughts from the minds of his targets through their dreams.

Despite wavering in popularity, The Real World is to reality TV what Columbus is to accidentally finding continents. Call it an innovator, call it an institution-either way, the franchise has produced 23 seasons, not including their latest, The Real World: New Orleans.