Ah, the chick flick. Much maligned. Often contrived. And, every now and then, downright satisfying. To be perfectly honest, I like a good chick flick — emphasis on good, of course. For me, the appeal is built right into the name. Chick: Well, I am one, and I like them. Flick: Well, movies; who doesn’t love movies? Two upcoming releases seek to find just the right chocolate-and-peanut-butter formula that results in the good kind of chick flick we all love to watch on lazy Sunday afternoons when we should be paying bills or regrouting the tub.

Both also fall into what is usually my favorite of the chick flick subgenres: the female bonding movie. Sure, romantic comedies are the more popular subgenre, but you just get more estrogen for your buck with bonding pictures. The films are Bonneville (opening Feb. 29 limited and March 21 wide) and The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (opening Aug. 8).

Bonneville, which stars 50-somethings Jessica Lange, Joan Allen, Kathy Bates and Christine Baranski, centers on a cross-country road trip taken by three friends when one of their husbands dies. The trip is done in — you guessed it — a big old convertible Pontiac Bonneville.

Is anyone else getting a decidedly Thelma & Louise feel from that photo? I just hope it doesn’t end the same way. Though, from the trailer, it looks like the ladies have their automotive high jinks in the Utah salt flats, not the Grand Canyon. … continue reading

I think you'll agree with me that we just haven't seen enough of Amber Tamblyn lately.

Her talent was evident in the still-lamented Joan of Arcadia, and I expected to see a lot more of her, even when the series was canceled. True, she was cast in Babylon Fields, but the show didn't make it to air. (Actually, I was kind of relieved about that once I saw some of the icky trailers.) She also starred in a Hallmark movie, The Russell Girl, but if it aired, I missed it.

Tamblyn's upcoming movie, Spiral, is not the kind of film I normally watch, but the trailer drew me in. Spiral is the story of Mason, a reclusive artist with a boring job in a phone bank. Nobody but his boss, played by Chuck's Zachary Levi, even notices Mason until Tamblyn's character Amber (yes, Amber) befriends him. And then things get spooky. … continue reading