Nerd in the 'Noke

The Way Way Back (2013), PG-13, 103 minutes - I saw the trailer for this film earlier this year but missed it once it was released.  I was able to catch it on the plane on the flight back from our honeymoon and it made two hours of the nine hour flight quite entertaining. The Way Way Back is a 'coming of age' story, but it manages to do so without seeming run of the mill.  It uses the same formula that made Little Miss Sunshine the darling of a film that it was: a great cast, funny dialogue (despite some very serious moments), and a strange family dynamic.  Bear in mind, these components make it difficult to mix correctly, but The Way Way Back gets it right. Duncan (Liam James) is on a summer 'family' trip with his mother Pam (Toni Collette), her boyfriend Trent (Steve Carrell) and his daughter Steph (Zoe Levin).  He's a shy kid and is completely out of place.  He doesn't trust or like Trent and feels increasingly outcast in this home away from home. ...

Warm Bodies (2013), PG-13, 98 minutes - This is not your typical zombie flick and the easiest way to describe it is probably by borrowing the tagline from Shaun of the Dead - a romantic comedy with zombies.  It tells the story of R (Nicholas Hoult), a zombie in a post outbreak world.  He's a relatively new zombie who still has some brain function and humanity intact.  In the Warm Bodies world, the virus is degenerative and he knows that one day he'll become a 'bonie' a zombie with no humanity left that will prey on anything it can get it's hands on. One day the group of zombies he is roaming with crosses paths with a group of humans that are making a provisions run.  During the altercation he sees Julie (Teresa Palmer) and is instantaneously smitten.  He saves her from the zombie horde and provides her with shelter (he has taken up residence in a plan at the deserted airport).  She turns out to be the daughter of the leader of the area's human populati...