Marc Turtletaub Movies

When slacker thirtysomething couple Burt (John Krasinski) and Verona (Maya Rudolph) discover that his parents are moving overseas, the duo -- who expect their first child in a few months -- set off on a cross-country tour to figure out where they should lay down some roots in Sam Mendes' poignant comedy Away We Go. They visit a number of different cities, and meet with a different friend or family member's family at each stop. Their hosts include a set of emotionally detached parents (Allison Janney and Jim Gaffigan), a pair of overprotective new-age parents (Maggie Gyllenhaal and Josh Hamilton), and old college pals (Chris Messina and Melanie Lynskey), who have adopted a number of kids. Novelist Dave Eggers wrote the script with Vendela Vida. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

A sad sack has to come to term with his own demons after a long run of bad luck in this downbeat comedy drama from writer and director Matt Mulhern. Duane Hopwood (David Schwimmer) lives and works in Atlantic City, where he's a pit boss on the night shift at one of the city's resort hotels, and has a wife, Linda (Janeane Garofalo), and two young daughters, Mary (Ramya Pratt) and Kate (Rachel Covey). Duane also has a drinking problem, and while Linda loves him very much, she's begin to wonder if he's still capable of living up to his responsibilities as a father. The final straw comes when Duane gets arrested for drunk driving while Kate is in the car with him; Linda files for divorce, and the court opts not to give Duane visitation rights. With Duane struggling to hold on to his family, he gets more bad news when he loses his job after he's caught giving money to an argumentative customer to shut him up. With only his friends from work to keep him company -- Anthony (Judah Friedlander), a maintenance man who wants to be a comedian, and Gina (Susan Lynch), a kind-hearted bartender -- Duane realizes he's come to a crossroads where he has to get his life back on track before he loses what little he still has left. Duane Hopwood also features supporting performances from Dick Cavett and Jerry Grayson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Boy A director John Crowley followed up that award-winning film festival favorite with this eerie yet eloquent drama concerning a young boy fascinated by death due to the fact that he lives in the hospice home for the elderly that's owned by his parents. Perhaps due to the morose surroundings in which he was raised, wide-eyed Edward (Son of Rambow star Bill Milner) possesses both an acute sense of death and an obsessive desire to find out what happens after we pass on from this life. These interests are most noticeably evident in Edward's ongoing fascination with the paranormal, an obsession that his overworked parents merely tolerate as the curious boy makes his way around the hospice with a tape recorder determined to better understand the concept of mortality. Suddenly, into Edward's world rolls embittered, burned-out ex-magician Clarence (Michael Caine) -- who makes no attempts to hide the fact that he's not in the hospice by his own free will. Clarence has long since ceased to practice his trade, and no longer possesses the ability to recognize anything positive in either his surroundings or the people who inhabit them. He's irascible, ornery, and indignant, and he's just barely able to tolerate the young boy who's so interested in the one topic that plagues his thoughts most -- death. Before long, however, these two outsiders discover that their mutual need to make sense of the world means they have more in common than initial appearances would suggest. Soon embarking on a series of comic misadventures that help them both to better understand the many mysteries of life, Edward and Clarence form an unlikely bond that provides them both with the comfort they so desperately need during this uncertain stage in each of their lives. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Though equally respected in their field, divorce lawyers Audrey Woods (Julianne Moore) and Daniel Rafferty (Pierce Brosnan) are opposites inside and out of the courtroom. Audrey is meticulous and by the book, while Daniel relies on personality and luck to get by. Despite the difference in methods, neither lawyer has lost a case, and neither plan on ending their streak after being respectively hired by Serena (Parker Posey) and Thorne (Michael Sheen), a celebrity power couple gone wrong. The divorce settlement hinges on a particularly spectacular Irish castle, which both parties would like to keep for themselves. Audrey and Daniel hurry to Ireland with depositions in their eyes, but a growing mutual attraction manages to squirm out from beneath, and, after being immersed in a romantic Irish festival, the rival lawyers wake up married. Reeling, potentially in love (to Audrey in particular's dismay), and faced with the type of media explosion capable of leading to the end of their careers, the mismatched lawyers contemplate how to go about their clients' divorce hearings as man and wife. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

An emotionally stunted ex-convict whose recent release from prison finds her attempting to form a relationship with her young daughter finds that redemption doesn't come easy in this emotional family drama, the feature debut of award-winning documentary filmmaker Laurie Collyer. When Sherry Swanson (Maggie Gyllenhaal) was sentenced to three years in prison on a drug-related robbery conviction at the age of 22, she had just given birth to a daughter named Alexis (Ryan Simpkins). Placed in the care of Sherry's brother, Bobby (Brad William Henke), and sister-in-law, Lynette (Bridget Barkan), while her mother was behind bars, young Alexis has grown into an affectionate young girl eager to reconnect with the mother she has never met. Though Sherry at first seems determined to stay on the straight and narrow, increasingly infrequent visits to Alexis and a troubling revelation about her family past soon begin to lead the protective Lynette to take a stand in protecting the vulnerable youngster. Later, when compassionate 12-step veteran Dean (Danny Trejo) makes an effort to help Sherry become the mother she longs to be, the troubled ex-con is faced with the choice of truly living up to her word or potentially losing her daughter forever. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

One of television's most beloved sitcoms gets an overhaul for the big screen in this comedy. Ralph Kramden (Cedric the Entertainer) is a New York City bus driver who has great ambitions and plans to make something of himself one day. However, Ralph's big ideas usually take the form of half-baked get-rich-quick schemes which invariably fail, much to the chagrin of his long-suffering wife, Alice (Gabrielle Union). But Ralph always has a loyal ally in his best friend and upstairs neighbor, Ed Norton (Mike Epps), a sewer worker who also has a wife who is weary of his antics, Trixie (Regina Hall). Alice and Trixie have a plan to come up with the down payment for a dream house: a suburban duplex that's being eyed by a shady developer (Eric Stoltz). But when Ralph and Ed decide to spend their savings on training a stray mutt for the New Jersey dog races, they threaten both couples' futures. Based on the classic Jackie Gleason and Art Carney series, The Honeymooners also stars John Leguizamo. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide