Bless the beasts and the children

The Men Who Stare at Goats

Crit

Too goofy to be taken seriously, not consistently funny enough to be a completely satisfying hoot.
Ewan McGregor seems uncertain what movie he's in (understandable, given its schizoid character), but Clooney, Bridges, and Spacey soldier on admirably, and more successfully than the material deserves. And there are a lot of goats.

An Education

Crit

From the stills I'd seen, I was concerned that 20-something Carey Mulligan wouldn't convince me of her sixteenness, in a film where her sixteenness is crucial. Not to worry: she is spot-on throughout as the unusually-sophisticated-but-still-16-16 Jenny, and even as the answer to her key dilemma is painfully obvious to us, we can see (and feel) why it's not for her. And why she manages to blink out all the danger flares that flash whenever David (Peter Sarsgaard, perfectly cast) flips the vulnerable grin switch.

One thing, though: the event that finally tells her (and us) why it is necessary to run away as fast as her field-hockey-fit legs can carry her is a really clumsy bit of plotting that would get red-penciled in Screenwriting 100. Uh-uh. Would. Not. Happen.

Trailers

• A Single Man--Funny, a gay friend of mine knows My Future Wife Julianne Moore ("Julie," he calls her) and pronounces her sometimes too beautiful to carry on a conversation with. So you can sympathize with Colin Firth's character, who, though gay, is apparently expected to carry on more than a conversation with her here. Maybe "sympathize" isn't the right word.
  
• Bronson--Gosh. It sure doesn't look boring.
• The Crazies--I never thought I'd say this, but maybe it's time to let zombies rest for a while.