What I saw over the holiday break & what I thought:
Crushing
Up in the Air: I wish I were as thin as the script.
It’s Complicated: A complete abomination save Alec Baldwin’s twinkle. This could be the first movie Meryl Streep is in and not nominated for an Oscar. Steve Martin: Botoxaddictfreak, what happened to you, man? And tall guy from office, you should play Shaggy from Scooby Doo (and that advice is absolutely free).
Nine: Three words: Daniel Day Louis. I love everything about him including his strange hands, esp. his thumbs. Two Words: Penelope Cruz. Two Words: Marion Cottilard. One word: Fergie. Even Kate Hudson was winning — a first! If you love women as much as I do, please see this movie.
Secret Lives of Pippa Lee: If you like the “my mother was a pillhead therefore I am emotionally remote and all men are dickheads” genre, this is for you. One reason not to miss this movie is when Keanu Reeves puts his hand down Robin Wright’s jeans in the back seat of his truck. Wide-on! (That’s a female boner, credit to BR). Also, Winona, I’m sorry, but stick to shoplifting.
Sherlock Holmes: Robert Downey, Jr. you make life worth living, and you know I don’t say that lightly. And I thought Guy Ritchie was just Madonna’s butt boy — apologies are in order. He even made Jude Law sympathetic. Kudos!
Precious: My audience was laughing when Precious was being beaten by her mother or puking or falling down. WTF. If Halle Berry had been beaten I doubt anyone would have laughed. Obesity is still okay to laugh at. Pisses me off. I applaud the movie for tackling obesity, teen pregnancy, abuse, incest. I think the director Lee Daniels is amazing. And finally: revelation: Mariah Carey as social worker. Star turn. If her agent isn’t working on getting her an HBO series based on that character, he is OUT TO LUNCH. Mariah, call me.
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Betsy Lerner 
But … what about the amazing spot-on attention to detail in Up in the Air, whether it was the wedding rehearsal gathering, his apartment, the Miami hotel lobby where they had drinks? Those are the kinds of significant details I crave to translate into my writing. What about the great ambiguity of the ending scene? Was he giving up his old way of living or back in the game? Another thing I’d love to see in my fiction. And I’ll defend the script. When the niece shows off her ring, doesn’t everyone say EXACTLY the right thing for their characters? Especially the love interest character? No gushing, since that would be a lie, no commenting on the fact the groom-to-be designed it? Just enough to be polite. “Lovely,” she says. Struck me as a great piece of dialogue. True to the character. The whole movie struck me as truthful, another element I long for in writing. My two cents.
Wait. Meryl Streep was in It’s Complicated? Because all I could see was Alec Baldwin. And those whiny cry-baby kids who, in their 20s, still need their mother to tell them that the divorce (ten years ago) wasn’t about THEM because, you know, NOBODY gets divorced in America and therefor their pain is so very isolating that they all have to huddle in bed together (ew, BTW): well, if the movie had been a book I would have ripped it apart and burned it at that point…Alec didn’t have any more scenes any way.
Loved Precious. I wrote a review of it on my blog called “The Power of Precious” and totally agree with your aassessment. Sherlock Holmes – loved! RDJ — the best. It’s Complicated — would have liked it better on DVD, but didn’t hate it.
Jayne
It’s Complicated—a Pottery Barn catalog come to life.
Precious—Would that the protagonist was more fleshed out.
Avatar—The P.T. Barnum of our era does it again.
Up in the Air—Too much like life—everyone’s unlikable and your job is at risk.
Loved Alec Baldwin. Loved Mo’Nique.
Next up two of my favorite actors, Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart and RDJ in Sherlock Holmes.
A Serious Man is still the best (saw it again last night), also good: A Single Man (also a troubled teacher in the 60’s), Me and Orson Welles, and Coco Before Chanel. Walked out of Up in the Air.
PS: as good as Daniel Day and the rest are, I can’t forgive NINE for cutting out my favorite number from the show, “The Bells of St. Sebestian.” Very moving, ended the first act. Were they afraid it was too religious for today? It’s integral to the character and his Catholic upbringing.
Those are on my list to see. Also, don’t discount A Single Man. Very moving performance and meticulous art direction. Still, a little too stagey for a film.
I want to like Daniel Day Lewis, but I haven’t since his freak turn in “My Left Foot.” Maybe “NINE” will change my mind.
As a friend said to me, “I loves me some Downey Jr.” So I did. Twice. I hope it was as good for him as it was for me.
Inappropriate laughing at Precious showing I attended, too. In fact, I often notice inappropriate laughing during dramatic movies these days. I thought only suburbanites were so clueless.
At Sherlock homes, audience cheered during preview for Iron Man 2 when Robert Downey Jr came on screen. Never saw that happen before, but totally get it.