In Theaters Now: Capitalism, A Serious Man, The Invention of Lying & More

A Serious Man
directed Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
The trailer for this movie makes it look more than a bit gloomy—a math professor with marital problems getting his head slammed against a chalkboard? What fun! It’s being billed as a dark comedy, a genre that the Coen brothers have proven they can do well. The cast is filled with relatively unknown actors, but while George Clooney (alum of three previous Coen brothers films) won’t be making an appearance, A Serious Man still looks promising, if a little depressing.

Capitalism: A Love Story
directed by Michael Moore
The trailer for Capitalism: A Love Story calls Michael Moore “the most feared filmmaker in America.” I don’t know how true that is—there may be some Congressmen who have nightmares about Moore knocking on their door, camera crew in tow, but personally I find Michael Bay a bit more terror-inducing. Capitalism: A Love Story looks like more of the same from Moore: Taking a serious and complicated topic and making it accessible by cracking jokes and making fun of people. It’s a tactic that worked on his three previous movies, so if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Zombieland
directed by Ruben Fleischer
Zombies seem to have become a hot topic in recent years, with movies like Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later reaching large audiences, and books like The Zombie Survival Guide and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies becoming popular. Currently zombies aren’t as popular as vampires or werewolves (there should really be some sort of color-coded, terror alert-esque graphic to chart this), but Zombieland, starring Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg, might just change all that. Then again, it might drive a final nail into the coffin of the zombie genre. Even if that does happen, I’m sure the zombies will find some way to resurrect themselves.

Whip It
directed by Drew Barrymore
I honestly don’t know what to expect of Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut, which stars Juno’s Ellen Page as a small-town girl who joins a roller derby league. The film’s trailer makes it look like a fun-but-superficial foray into the world of female empowerment. Even the tagline, “Be Your Own Hero,” makes Whip It seem like something teenage girls might find inspirational, which is probably what Barrymore was going for. Still, will it be a good movie apart from its message? We’ll have to see.

The Invention of Lying
directed by Ricky Gervais & Matthew Robinson
In addition to his role as director, Gervais also co-wrote (with Robinson) and stars in this inventive-looking comedy (“inventive,” get it?) in which Gervais is the only person in the world capable of telling a lie. The trailer gives the movie an inspirational twist: “Don’t you wish you could change things?” says Gervais. “If you could make the world the way you want it to be, if you could do anything, what would you do?” So is The Invention of Lying a straight comedy or something meant to impart some sort of life lesson? Am I a bad person if I’m rooting for the former?