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"A Case of You" is worth singling out if some great flicks like "Ruby Sparks" made you dig for more. Though, this movie is sort of reliving the dumb formula from the comparison. Okay, an honest opinion is that viewers will be fractured by the plot's predictability, but I'm buying. That doesn't prevent me from saying that the film is one of the sweet romantic comedies bolstered with energy from its young cast ensemble of bright comedians. I dunno, but call me crazy.

Sam (Justin Long) is a well-known author that suffers a block to his next book. An inspiration is what he totally needs, suffice to say. Until she meets the cute blondie coffee gal named Birdie (Evan Rachel Wood), he develops a quirky obsession. As soon as Sam learns that she was fired for frequent tardiness at work, he decided to stalk her Facebook account and decisively scan her likes, interests, and routines. Sam is the ideal manly stalker. And one by one he tries to learn what she likes to do: Play the guitar, read Darwinian, and rock climbing. This is in no doubt a rudimentary principle of we follow in order to woo our special someone, and I admire the film for having the guts to deliver it regardless of being stereotyped.

The chemistry between Long and Wood feels cheesy but endearing. Though, their kismet might be unfairly familiar but at least it's sugar-coated with their funny moment and both make it work. We also get the most of Keir O'Donnell as Sam's buddy roommate Eliot especially from his late- bloomer taboo jokes therein. And the same goes to Peter Dinklage as a gay barista and Brendan Fraser as Birdie's ex Tony. Too bad Dinklage and Fraser is alarmingly hilarious they deserve more time frame than Busy Philips and Vince Vaughn (although he's too substantial) who are both fruitless here. Also adding Sam Rockwell to the mix as the guitar lesson instructor, it gets ticklish funny.

The credits for the screenplay goes to Justin, his brother Christian, and O'Donnell themselves. Kudos to them. They keep me howling in some of their one-liners and made me attracted to their persona. However, like I said their notion for the narrative may disappoint for its jaded impression. This explains why major distributors refused to finance the film for trust issues and let IFC do it anyway. Nevertheless, this made me look forward for Justin for his next screenplay pitch and see what he could bring new to the table other than acting well in this film. He's proved to be an actor and auteur.

The film doesn't just focus on the love story per se. As we delve into Sam's motivational ease, we're starting to care for whether what he's potent feelings towards Birdie is ideal to be in his own writing or not. The message is too simple to guess, but heck we all have our Sams within us. If Sam don't end up winning Birdie's heart, at least she ends up helping him close the chapter.

"A Case of You" is essentially sweet quirky rom-com that kept me howling with hilarity straight up. If you're a fan of Ruby Sparks, this touching gem is worth singling out.

"Drinking Buddies" might turn out to be a misleading letdown if you're expecting the movie to be an autopilot-generated-sassy-rom-com that combines "Friends with Benefits" and "Beerfest". You'd be drunk wrong. This new movie by Joe Swanberg (one of the directors of V/H/S) is perhaps a whole new take in a mature subgenre consists of smart and profound chemistry and performances from its four leads in a story of hopeless relationships and the inevitability of it. And for the most part, the movie set asides the raunchiness where viewers might essentially be mistaken judging by its title.

We start with Kate (Olivia Wilde) and Luke (Jake Johnson) who both work in a Chicago-based brewery called the Revolution Brewing where they spend countless flirting and drinking as they work. But they are not lovers, because the two have their own special someone. Kate is with Chris (Ron Livingston) who's a soundtrack producer living together for six years, and Luke is with Jill (Anna Kendrick) who's an educator. As the four meet in the brewery, a sudden turn clicks as they discover who's truly bound with one another.

It's funny how director Joe Swanberg is inviting us to a narrative which is unique and absorbing. The concept is primitive and the dialogue too overstuffed, but Swanberg makes it establishing between the actors and make them interpret the longing and depressing nature of their characters. Good thing he let their dialogue be an improvisation than a screenplay and that's how the twists develop its bittersweet moments despite being too long for a 90 minute feature.

Olivia Wilde as Kate drives the film with exuberance. She is the typical one for a social drinker with a lot of sense of humor. Anna Kendrick seems to be the odd one out and sometimes gets lost in the mix. However, she fits as a tandem to Livingston's Chris. There're something about the two which makes them sensible to one another. As for Jake Johnson, his Luke is where we get the major comic relief.

Needless to say, with some of the supporting roles of few of the guys at the brewery like Dave (played by Ti West), we get to witness Luke's developing jealousy if some guys ever laid their hands on Kate, even though it's just an infatuation.

However, the film could have made something intriguing if Swanberg's intention is to shift the exposition from a different mood. Maybe make a situation something even more considerably depressing or will make a pang of greater distress to be it more effective. But I don't blame the film to be going in a different direction.

Drinking Buddies might slightly feel overlong for a 90-minute runtime, but what Joe Swanberg is getting into is a delightful observational comedy with remarkable performances from its four A leads.

Director Eric England's new flick "Contracted" yields effective scares and quite a good spoonful amount of new goodies to the horror subgenre. As you have seen by the movie's poster, the protagonist is indeed a female who looks terrible like the undead grabbing our attention, but the story focuses on a different plot.

Samantha (Najarra Townsend) gets invited to a party despite being in the midst of a conflicting lesbian relationship and identity crisis. A party-crasher introducing as B.J (Simon Barrett) is very convincing whereas Samantha becomes date-raped by the stalker. Later on, she feels something really bad and gets very sick being infected by some sort of STD as examined by the doctor. B.J. is obviously the culprit, though the movie ensues ambiguity to his true motive in the plot aside from being a full-time maniac.

By the time the movie arrives during the stages of Samantha's nasty transformation, we naturally couldn't help but to resist the relentless gore and repugnance despite being laughably red. The make-up and effects team gloriously made Townsend's character looks atrocious and terrifying. Two of my favorite points of the effects are Samantha's rotting phase and the contagion which crosses Eli Roth's Cabin Fever and Brandon Cronenberg's Antiviral which is way better.

I could care less about the party scene though, for it looks tiresome to start the movie to as we have seen it countless times before. Writer- director Eric England could have made something more bona fide to begin with the characters. On top of that, some of his dialogues between Samantha and the other kids seems hackneyed and too stagey. However, the narrative offers a clever opening sequence for the plot and ends it with an alarmingly horrifying finale.

Contracted is a good icky, bloody, and insane indie horror film. It may not be the best of the bloodiest, but the movie is well-acted by new talents and delivers seriously f***ed up scenes, mystery, and dark humor you could possibly desire and a little more. With this, as anyone may have observed already, it may persuade you to wear a rubber again.