With a lesser cast, Definitely, Maybe would probably be just another Lifetime Movie of the Week. But the executives were lucky enough to get Ryan Reynolds, Abigail Breslin, Isla Fisher, and Rachel Weisz to star, so the movie gets bumped up from Lifetime original production to movie I’ll probably wait to watch on Lifetime.

Maya (Breslin) asks her father (Reynolds) to tell her the story of how her soon to be divorced parents met. Turns out, dad was a bit of a man-whore back in the day, and there were several women in his life at the time he met his almost ex-wife. So he tells her the story of his relationship with all the women, with some names and events changed to protect the innocent, and Maya must solve the mystery of “which one is my mom”. I find it hard to believe that a kid Maya’s age (somewhere around 10-12 I’d guess) knows nothing about her parent’s history together, but whatever. I’ll still definitely, maybe, possibly, supposedly, indubitably RENT IT.

Definitely, Maybe is rated PG-13 and opens February 14. (Official site)

As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, I absolutely hate it when trailers give away the entire plot of a movie, especially when there’s some crucial plot twist in it. What I do enjoy, however, is when a trailer presents the movie’s twists and turns in such a way that it makes you even more confused about what the movie is really about, thus increasing your curiosity about the movie.

Such is the case for this trailer for The Nines. I’ve watched this thing a few times now, and I have absolutely no idea what is actually going on. Those colorful shapes on top of everyone’s heads make me think that maybe it’s all just one big video game, but that would be a way too obvious giveaway to put in the trailer. Plus, it doesn’t really make that much sense with the rest of the stuff that we see in the trailer. Anyway, the point is I’m intrigued.

Aside from the above average trailer, this movie also has a couple of other things going for it. For one, it’s written and directed by the screenwriter of Go and Big Fish, both of which were very well constructed scripts, even if they weren’t directed as well as they should have been. And also, I really like the idea of Ryan Reynolds getting a chance to do something other than a low-brow comedy for a change. I didn’t see Just Friends, but when I watched that trailer with him singing in a fat suit, I was pretty sure his career was over. This may be his last shot, so I’m hoping it’s a good film.

This trailer definitely sparked my interest in the movie, but I’d be lying to you if I said I was going to see The Nines in the theater. This is just one of those movies where I’m perfectly content to RENT IT and enjoy it in the comfort of my living room.

The Nines is rated R and opens in limited release on August 9. (Official Site)

I have a very fond memory of the night I first saw Pulp Fiction back in High School. This mainly has to do with the fact that I was with Beth Ritchie, a girl who was blatantly out of my league and who two years later went on to become Homecoming Queen (not that she acknowledged my existence at that point). But a big part of my memory has to do with how amazing Pulp Fiction was, especially that first time I watched it. I don’t think I had ever seen another movie that was so unabashedly cool before.

Since that time, I’ve tried hard to find another movie that equaled the coolness of Pulp Fiction, and like many of us, I’ve been fooled a few too many times by slick-looking trailers and unwarranted hype. (2 Days in the Valley is a perfect example.) This is sort of like trying to duplicate my luck of going out with the future Homecoming Queen, only to find out that the girl I was with is actually a Drag Queen.

The point is, I’ve become very skeptical over the years of movies that claim to be the “coolest film since Pulp Fiction.” And this is exactly what Smokin’ Aces has tried to bill itself as.

It’s sort of a shame that I’m so skeptical, because Smokin’ Aces does have a lot of things going for it. First and foremost, it’s got Jeremy Piven, and I’ve been a huge Jeremy Piven fan since before he had hair (and I’m so glad that Entourage has given him the opportunity to be more than just John Cusack’s sidekick in films). Smokin’ Aces is also the next project from the writer and director of Narc, which has somehow earned the simultaneous distinction of being both a movie that everybody loved and a movie that nobody saw. And lastly, the trailer for Smokin’ Aces does actually look kinda, well, cool.

But alas, I refuse to waste more money on another “coolest film since Pulp Fiction,” only to find out that it’s actually dumber than The Big Hit. It’s like our great president once said…fool me once, shame on you; fool me again,…uh…well, you can’t get fooled again!

There’s a slight chance that Smokin’ Aces may turn out to really be as cool as the trailer suggests, but I’m personally going to wait until I RENT IT to find out.

Smokin’ Aces is rated R and opens on January 26. (Official Site)