Girl who Played with Fire: Burn Daddy Burn

She's back. Lisbeth Salander, the waif who can out-fight, out-smart and out-hack any guy in the Universe, is at it again. In the second installment of the late Stieg Larsson's "Millennium Trilogy," she takes on the man who wounded her both mentally and physically, creating the flawed and wounded gal that fascinates both readers and movie-goers.
Lisbeth not only plays with fire in this movie — also the second in the series — she plays with guns, too, ones that shoot bullets and others that stun. And she also fiddles with the minds of everyone unlucky enough to shamble onto her path. And that includes journalist Michael "Fucking" Blomkvist, who spends most of the movie ten paces behind her.
"Fire" clears up some of the questions that remained at the end of "Dragon Tattoo," but not all. For that we need book and movie No. 3.

Inception: You Snooze, You Lose

Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung must be rolling over in their graves. All that work they did to unravel the mysteries of dreams. And now this!
In "Inception," the always riveting Leonardo DiCaprio is a dream wrangler. He inhabits other people's dreams and steals their thoughts and ideas.So far so bad. But it gets worse. Now, he's asked to take his dream scheme a step further: to enter a dream and plant an idea. Can it be done? Of course. This is a sci fi flick.
The Movie Slut loves sci fi. The trouble is this movie is more about special effects. If only director Christopher Nolan had kept movie-goers in the loop. In the end, "Inception" is an elaborate structure of a movie built on a foundation of Jell-O. It wobbles as movie-goers struggle to hang on. Still, you'll have fun tumbling through the dream layers, at the bottom of which you'll meet DiCaprio's movie wife, the exquisite Marion Cotillard. What's she doing down there in dream level three? Who knows? Who cares?

The Sorcerer's Apprentice: It ain't magic

Nicholas Cage had the Movie slut at Raising Arizona. That was 1987 and she's been a fan ever since. Still, she was not swept away by "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," in which he plays a quirky, mysterious sorcerer. Yes, the movie was mildly diverting. No, MS was not bored. But memorable it is not.
Jay Baruchel is the apprentice, a young physics geek who's the heir to the most powerful magician who ever lived: Merlin.
There's some fun to be had in this flick, which may be more appropriate for the middle-school set. Movie-goers are even treated to a broom scene. But no Mickey.

The Kids Are All Right: What about the Moms?

If you haven't had enough of bickering couples slogging through marriage, then this flick's for you. What's new? Worse haircuts and wardrobes. And oh, yes, the spouses share four X chromosomes between them.
The critics raved, calling this the best contemporary family flick since forever. And the Movie Slut thought it was darn good cinema.
Still, she had problems: Why did the movie have to make this couple act like every other bored married twosome? How come they're universally accepted in a country that's vociferously divided on the issue of same-sex marriage? And why, oh why, are the steamiest sex scenes reserved for a hetero tryst?
Annette Bening and Julianne Moore are convincing as the couple. They walk the L-walk and talk the L-talk. Moore even owns a truck! The monkey wrench that dives into the story discombobulating moms and kids is Mark Ruffalo, who plays the clueless male to perfection.

Cyrus: Trouble Times Three

Three characters in need of relationship therapy. That's what this flick is all about. The poignant moments are overshadowed by the laughs. A good thing? Or bad thing? That's up to you, dear viewer, to decide.
"Cyrus" is a movie that moves to the edge of issuey relationships. But the Movie Slut sees tons of truth on the screen. A secondary triangle echoes the first, adding depth to the goings on.
Unfortunately, the movie ends too soon and too easily. Still that's not a reason to skip it. The pitch perfect cast includes Jonah Hill in the title role, Marisa Tomei, as his mother, John C. Reilly as her boyfriend and Catherine Keener as his ex-wife.

Grown Ups: Not so much

Forget Raymond. Everyone loves Adam. Okay, maybe that's an exaggeration, but he is a likable guy. At least in the movies. And this flick is no exception.
What you'll have to do in preparation for viewing is simple: Put your brain on pause. There's nothing to tax your gray cells here. But the movie is, well, likable. And the cast is positively lovable. Among those joining Sandler on the screen are Salma Hayek, who plays his wife, David Spade, Chris Rock, Maya Rudolph and Maria Bello. If only they'd been given more to do, here. But this is a Sandler flick.

The Last Airbenders: Good clean fun

This summer, the kids can go to the movies and study science, too. Quick, name the four elements. If you answered air, water, earth and fire, then you can skip this movie, but it's a good one for tweens and pre-tweens.
The plot is simple but compelling enough to keep the interest of those who still need a ride to the multiplex. Sex and gratuitous violence are absent. So fire up the SUV, put air in the tires, grab a bottle of water and, what was the fourth one?