There are a couple of things that might lead a skeptical viewer or anyone over the age of 12 to suspect Monsters University is going to be stinker.

First, Pixar’s track record with sequels is hit or miss. Yes, they’re responsible for Toy Story 3, but they’re also to blame for Cars 2 — a movie that seemed to exist solely to sell tikes on toys, toothpaste, underwear and yogurt in a tube. And secondly... Wait. This is a prequel not a sequel? Yikes. Why did I agree to go see this?

Ah, yes. Because: Pixar tends to make the grade with even its more meh movies being passable efforts at the whole post-musical family-friendly animated feature craze they kicked off back in 1995. Monsters University is no exception.

Set about 10 years before the events of Monsters Inc., here we get a look at how the charismatic one-eyed monster Mike Wazowski (voiced by Billy Crystal) first got interested in the scaring business. Monsters University follows Mike’s college years and shows how he meets up with the big blue guy, James Sullivan (voiced by John Goodman) and the slithery Randall Boggs (Steve Buscemi).

In the Monsters universe, everything runs on scream energy, and the best and beastliest of creatures are trained to get the biggest screams from children to keep their world powered. The members of this scream team are idolized like sports heros or rock stars, so of course, young Mike wants in — even if he falls somewhere between Humpty Dumpty and Yoda on the scares scale.

This is well-tread territory that owes a lot to Revenge of the Nerds, Animal House, PCU and the like, but it's done in a G-rated heart-warming Pixar manner. And, like most Pixar movies, it's miles above the brain-numbing crap of other kid-friendly fare. It may not go down as cherished as Toy Story 3, but it works in a similar way — touching on those simple themes that children and adults can relate to.

--Eric Pulsifer

Disclaimer: I haven’t read World War Z, the “Oral History of the Zombie War,” written by Max Brooks (Son of Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft). So, I have absolutely no comparison for the novel and its big budget blockbuster adaptation, but from what I hear, they are nothing alike.

Oh well! C’est la vie, right? While the book apparently told the decades-long tale of how the zombie outbreak spread from China and toppled nations, the Marc Forster-directed tale follows one man (Brad Pitt), a former UN troubleshooter (no clue what his actual job was—it’s a little vague) who traverses the world to try to figure out how to stop the ongoing plague.

The movie starts off with a bang in Philly as we watch Gerry and his family escape the city as the zombies begin to takeover. From there, the film begins its formula: story + tense scene X one jump-in-your-seat moment and REPEAT. While I spent all weekend watching Greg play Last of Us and have watched all (mostly mediocre) seasons of The Walking Dead, I’m still not super equipped for tense scenes of undead villains. Luckily, World War Z gives you a little time to breathe in between each of these to try to...you know....build the story along.

So, long story short...World War Z ain’t bad. It has some truly gripping scenes, like one in a plane as an outbreak quickly turns the once safe haven incredibly deadly, or another scene in a grocery store as humans turn ugly trying to scavenge the last bit of water and medicine they can. But, still....it also ain’t great. The 3D is truly awful. The already dark movie is completely hampered by trying to make the film more intense. Avoid at all costs. The CGI is also not the greatest here. Swarms of zombies are actually less frightening than one incredibly scary biter chomping his teeth at our hero.

World War Z (the movie anyway) isn’t going to change the lexicon of zombie culture, but it’s a not terrible distraction for two hours. Just seek it out in 2D.

--Darcie Duttweiler

I feel conflicted about the new Superman movie by Zack Snyder, Man of Steel, which I’ll get into further detail below. There is so much to really connect with during this movie, and there is a lot that just doesn’t feel quite as good as you hoped for. There is so much thrown at this movie that you’d expect to be engrossed for the entire (slightly bloated) run time, and that’s not quite the case.

Snyder’s rendition of Superman tells the tale of how Krypton doomed itself and Jor-El (Russell Crowe) sends his newborn son to Earth to keep him safe. In the midst of all this, General Zod (Michael Shannon) tries to throw a coup and lands himself in a spaceship prison while all of Krypton blows up (well, that worked out for him....) Flash forward 33 years, and the Kryptonion Kal-El (now known as Clark Kent) is running from job to job in order to keep his unique powers hidden...until one day Earth needs him to reveal himself.

Now onto what worked and what did not....

On one hand, I loved the scenes set in Smallville that show Clark Kent’s budding powers, his desire and obligation to help those in peril, and his relationship with his adoptive parents (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane) and how they shape him. But, the problem is that these scenes are peppered in sporadically, in attempt to create a non-linear story (thanks, Christopher Nolan), and I feel like they’d have more weight if the story was told in a more linear fashion. The scenes with Costner and Lane are just so downright moving that I wish we got more of an origin story than just a mere peppering of their stories.

On the other hand, Lois Lane (Amy Adams) just does not work for me in this movie. I liked that she was strong and determined like all Lois Lanes should be, but I couldn’t quite grasp her romance with our Man of Steel (Henry Cavill). It made zero sense. Plus, all of her cohorts at the Daily Planet are pretty wasted here too. I feel like they filmed more scenes but were left on the cutting room floor.

Also, Cavill, who realllllllly looks the part, is just sorta ho-hum. Where is his great sense of wit and humor he had in The Tudors? I get that Superman is sorta one-dimensional, and Cavill DOES bring out a little bit of Superman’s torment at having to enact violence on his enemies, but the little kids playing Clark Kent were much more emotive than he.

Of course, I adore Michael Shannon, and I do buy him as a villain hell-bent on destroying earth, but the real weight of his menace didn’t really hit me until the very end of the film. There are several battle scenes in the climax of Man of Steel, and the ones that really work are when it’s just mano-y-mano instead of Superman versus some weird tentacle machine thing (which will really send you back to the days of the Matrix).

On a whole, the emotional weight from the Kent family was enough for me to feel engrossed, but the tediousness of the Man of Steel definitely weighs on you towards the end. The spectacle of it all isn’t quite grand enough, even though it desperately tries by throwing SO MUCH CGI in your face, and the film is definitely bogged down by its 3-D.

So, go in looking for a Pretty Greatman, maybe just not a Super one.

--Darcie Duttweiler

Perhaps you’ve had the conversation: “What’s the last really funny movie you saw?” My mind goes blank. I “hmm” and “umm” and struggle to grasp something from the gray — a funny movie that has knocked me on my ass laughing anytime in the past few years. The delay of my response goes from awkward to frustrating. “Man, maybe I don’t like comedy. Do I hate laughing? What kind of soulless monster am I?”

Today, I have an answer. If the measure of funny is in laughs per minute, I can’t remember the last thing I’ve seen as funny as This Is The End. 

In This Is The End, buddies and frequent co-stars Seth Rogen (played by Seth Rogen) and Jay Baruchel (played by Jay Baruchel) find their friendship and laughable survival skills tested by the apocalypse. Jay arrives in L.A. with less than 24 hours left before things will go to hell. He’s planning on low-key high-times for the weekend with Seth, who has mapped out a marijuana-fueled weekend of junk food and Xbox binging.

But Jay and Seth’s bromance has hit a bumpy patch as of late. Jay’s tired of rubbing elbows and pretending to be chummy with Seth’s fake Hollywood friends — particularly the oh-so-punchable Jonah Hill (Moneyball). But Seth urges him to give the gang more of a chance and proposes a break from gaming and ganja to stop by James Franco’s swanky new pad for a housewarming party packed with beloved C-listers: Danny McBride (Eastbound and Down), Craig Robinson (The Office, Hot Tub Time Machine), Emma Watson (the Harry Potter films), Michael Cera (Arrested Development), Aziz Ansari (Parks and Recreation), Jason Segel (Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and a few other familiar faces and surprise cameos I won't spoil here.

As the party is hitting its peak, things outside are hitting the fan. The world has become a fiery hellscape, and Seth, Jay, James, Danny, Craig and Jonah may be the sole survivors. Fortunately, Franco has plenty of provisions (bottled water, booze, cereal, a candy bar, weed, a porno mag and a pistol) to ride out this mess until someone can show up to rescue them. After all, since they’re important actors, they’re obviously going to be top of the military’s to-rescue list.

What follows is Superbad meets Shaun of the Dead with Extras’ celebs playing hyperbolic versions of themselves. This might not be much of a stretch; Rogen and McBride are no strangers to playing the same role time and time again. But, in the meta magic of This Is The End, Rogen as Rogen and McBride as McBride produce the biggest funny moments I’ve seen from either of them.

As you might expect from the cast, it’s mostly weed and weiner jokes, but these are the crème de la crème of weed and weiner jokes by a group who seems well read on both subjects. It’s a wonderful R-Rated romp. Yes, it’s a juvenile stoner comedy with gore and end of times–related gross-out gags, but it’s one that never gets into the too-stupid territory of “here’s a fart sound — now laugh” that so many adult comedies seem content with.

I’d hate to mention too much more for fear of robbing the experience of its shock value, but the dick joke centerpiece of the film —a gut-busting exchange between Franco and McBride on... etiquette matters related to self-pleasuring — alone warrants the price of admission.

This Is The End is in theaters today.

--Eric Pulsifer

If you're not a fan of zombie movies because you find them to be unoriginal, unnecessarily gory and a part of a genre which has turned stale, Warm Bodies might just warm you up to them a little bit. Having checked this one out on a long flight just last week, I fully expected to miss being able to check Twitter and play games on www.foxybingo.com. I thoroughly enjoyed it though.

I first became aware of Warm Bodies while I was playing bingo on one of my favorite sites online, due to its interactive community. When you play on there for a long time you start to build up a connection with some players and regularly exchange recommendations of film titles, music and many other things. This one time, a regular bingo player suggested I should watch Warm Bodies, so once I had finished my game of bingo I began to research more about zombie genre to see if it was something that I was interested in.

If you were to look at it outside of the zombie genre, no it's not particularly original. In fact, if I were to compare it to anything I would call it The Walking Dead version of Beauty and the Beast. Romance between a rotting corpse and a human girl has never been an appealing idea before. Cast Nicholas Hoult in the role of the zombie and make him look a little less disgusting, add some black humor to proceedings, hire Teresa Palmer's pretty girl with an open mind, and you've got yourself a real contender for the most messed up romance you can't help rooting for.

Let's set the scene. The vast majority of the human race has been turned into zombies by a deadly virus, with the last remaining humans taking refuge behind the high walls of their base, occasionally venturing out to find resources. R is a zombie, shuffling his way through his existence, living at an abandoned airport and entertaining himself with his inner monologue of questions and curiosity. That is until he stumbles across the human Julie who warms his heart (literally). It doesn't take a genius to work out that R and Julie are supposed to be a representation of Romeo and Juliet.

It's difficult to describe the film without giving away some of the most surprising and best bits. I will say this though. It's predictable. You know how the ending will turn out. It's how they get there which is the fun part. There are a lot of details which are a tad messed up (you'll understand when you get to the situation with Julie's human boyfriend). What struck me was the thematic social relevance though. With our eyes glued to our smartphones and computers, limiting our social interaction with the human race, are we that far away from being zombies ourselves?

Warm Bodies will be out on DVD and Blu-Ray in June.