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Ramona Quimby (Joey King) is a wildly imaginative 9 year old; meanwhile, her sister Beezus (Selena Gomez) is the picture perfect daughter and sister. When stress enters the household in the form of layoffs at their father’s office, the whole family struggles to adjust to a new standard of living. In particular, Ramona is moved to help the family stay afloat, but how will her efforts be received, and what about this mysterious guy named Hobart (Josh Duhamel) who seems determined to win the affection of Ramona’s Aunt Bea (Ginnifer Goodwin)? Based on the popular children’s book series by Beverly Cleary, Director Elizabeth Allen has done a notable job capturing the essence, wit, and complexities of Cleary’s characters in a refreshingly polished film for the whole family. With subject material that could have easily been cheated to reach only a young audience, Allen instead has taken the higher road to make a film that’s not only well written, and well acted, but also well produced in all elements. In particular, the child actors really knock their parts out of the park to set the bar high for all that follow in their footsteps. Sadly, despite the film’s accomplishments I for one am particularly concerned about the studio’s choice of a release date. With several other strong performing films for families and children currently in theatres I’m worried audiences won’t really give Ramona and Beezus the attention they deserve, I suppose only time will tell. Worth at least a matinee, Ramona and Beezus is rated G.

A military project that allows for individuals to share a lucid dream together becomes the new battleground for corporate espionage as Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his team of information extractors take on on their hardest mission yet. To complete their job Cobb, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Ariadne (Ellen Page), Eames (Tom Hardy), and Yusuf (Dileep Rao) will need to accomplish the previously thought impossible– instead of stealing thoughts and memories from an individual in their dreams, they’ll need to plant an idea, an inception. If they successfully plant an idea in the mind of Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy), they’ll be admonished of all previous wrong doing and Cobb will be allowed back into the U.S. to see his children. But, what deep rooted issues of the subconscious might be lurking in the group that could stop them from accomplishing their goal, and just how far will they have to go? Perhaps the film that saves the summer of meh, it looks like director Chris Nolan has struck again with a smart, engaging, twisting, action thriller. All of the actors pretty much nail their roles, in particular DiCaprio and Gordon-Levitt have a lot to be proud of. I’m not as sure about Page, but she doesn’t hurt anything either. Special effects worked fantastically, Hans Zimmer’s score adds the right amount of tension and release, and the cinematography is show stopping. I know I know, I’m gushing on this one, but seriously, there’s lots to think about and discuss with wild imagination starters happening here. This is one film not to be missed. Inception is rated PG-13.

Thousands of years ago, Merlin the sorcerer had three students of note, Balthazar (Nicholas Cage), Horvath (Alfred Molina) and Veronica (Monica Bellucci). As the legend is told, corrupted by the evil sorceress Morgana (Alice Krige), Horvath turned against his teacher and fellow students killing Merlin. Now, many lifetimes later the pressure is on as Balthazar continues his search for the Prime Merlinian, the natural born wizard who will be able to defeat Morgana. Enter Dave (Jay Baruchel), the Prime Merlinian and geeky college student with an affinity for Tesla coils. It’s now up to Balthazar to teach Dave all he needs to know to stop Morgana and overthrow the forces of evil; meanwhile, Dave’s priorities seem to involve the opposite sex, how will it all break down? Produced by Jerry Bruckheimer The Sorcerer’s Apprentice seems to follow Bruckheimer’s recipe for action adventure which has proved successful for Pirates of the Caribbean; unfortuantely, yes, it’s formulaic. While all the actors pull off decent enough performances and there’s nothing technically wrong with the film, there’s also a feel of ho-hum because we’ve already seen this same plot told before. Sure there are a few variables to provide a little twist here and there; but, I can’t say they’re enough to sway my opinion of the overall film to a more positive stance. Maybe a matinee, but probably better off as a rental. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is rated PG.