As we mentioned previously, last week Tara and I caught an advance screening of "Green Zone," or as I've lovingly retitled it, "The Bourne Iraq-ity." And, since this is 2010 and we live in a world of wonder, we've broken from tradition and recorded a podcast of our thoughts instead of our normal transcribed IM conversation. Be advised, there are a few SPOILERS in the podcast above, for which I apologize. What can I say -- suspenseful action movies set in war zones excite me. Please enjoy, and check back next week to vote in the poll for the next movie Tara and I review in our Movie Monday series.

11:07:50 AM Will Edmondson: Tara, per our readers' mandate, we saw "Cop Out" last night, and I, for one, feel pretty okay about it.
11:08:19 AM Tara Ariano: I didn't have especially high expectations for it (quite the contrary, in fact), but I was pleasantly surprised!
11:09:02 AM Will Edmondson: You seemed to be dreading it!
11:09:19 AM Tara Ariano: It was getting pretty horrendous reviews (like Richard Roeper's, above), so I had cause.
11:10:22 AM Will Edmondson: Yeah, and we'll get to that later, because wow, some people do not like Kevin Smith!

11:03:31 AM Will Edmondson: Last week, our wonderful readers had a choice between two "spooky, scary" movies, Tara. And they chose to eschew Marty Scorsese's "Shutter Island" in favor of "The Wolfman." Your thoughts on this choice?
11:04:03 AM Tara Ariano: It's not the one I would have predicted, that is for sure.
11:05:58 AM Will Edmondson: Well, yes, and I was initially concerned about this recap. I thought it was going to be four "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah" jokes and maybe a comment or two about how Anthony Hopkins and Benicio Del Toro do look rather "wolfish." But there is so much more to talk about!

10:56:15 AM Will Edmondson: Last night we finally went to go see "Avatar" in 3D IMAX, and before we get started, let's set the scene: We got to the theater 15 minutes early and found that the line was out the theater, halfway down the stairs, and full of excited people. And once we got in the theater, it was packed. SEVEN weeks after it first released. So obviously, James Cameron is doing something right, and this whole "Avatar" phenomenon might be bigger than I'd thought.
11:00:02 AM Tara Ariano: Sure. By the time we saw it, it had surpassed "Titanic" to be the highest-grossing movie ever* (*not adjusted for inflation).
11:00:56 AM Will Edmondson: So in that vein, there's no reason to talk about the plot of this movie, because I don't think we're wrong in assuming that by this point, anyone who wants to see "Avatar" probably has. We should probably just talk about what we thought about it.
11:01:07 AM Tara Ariano: Yes, I'm sure that's true, and yes, we should.

The people have spoken once more, and this time, it's a big one:

"Avatar": 51%

"When in Rome": 44%

"Edge of Darkness": 5%

That's right: after three previous chances, "Avatar" has won its chance to be critiqued by me and Tara. "When in Rome" gave it a good run, but ultimately, there's just no stopping the cat-faced blue alien juggernaut. Also, thanks for playing, "Edge of Darkness." Third prize is you're fired.

Stay tuned for my recap with Tara, coming next week, and thanks for voting.

11:01:39 AM Will Edmondson: Tara, last night was a night of firsts: It was our first (and only, presumably) time seeing "Tooth Fairy," of course, but it was also your first foray into live tweeting. How would you say it went?
11:02:12 AM Tara Ariano: Actually, I also live-tweeted "Twilight" when we watched that on Pay Per View, so...yes, this was a much more pleasant experience.
11:02:40 AM Will Edmondson: Wow, I thought I'd suppressed any memories I had about "Twilight," but here come the post-traumatic stress flashbacks! Thanks a lot, Tara! But I thought "Fairy" was pretty good! Or, let me qualify that: As good as we could possibly have expected "Tooth Fairy" to have been.

11:14:12 AM Will Edmondson: Last night, our beloved readers had us see "Daybreakers," Tara, and you know, I think it's time for me to have a little talk with them.
11:15:35 AM Tara Ariano: I'm sure I don't know what you mean. "Daybreakers" was extremely educational to me. But go ahead.
11:17:13 AM Will Edmondson: Look, I get that some people don't like "Avatar" for a variety of reasons: It's overhyped, maybe not that good (I haven't seen it yet), asinine, etc. But just because you, reader, don't want to see "Avatar" doesn't mean it's okay to inflict pain on a fellow human being.
11:18:05 AM Tara Ariano: It's like the READERS are VAMPIRES preying on us!

1:56:26 PM Tara Ariano: This week we experienced the beauty of democracy in action as the readers voted and we heeded their wishes by seeing "Up in the Air."
1:56:59 PM Will Edmondson: Yes, and thank you, readers, because "Up in the Air" was really great!
1:57:17 PM Tara Ariano: I'm glad you liked it; I didn't expect you to.
1:58:15 PM Will Edmondson: How would I not like it? It combines three of the things I hold dear: 1. Marriage is awful, 2. Being stagnant is next to death, and of course 3. Business travel is the best!

Tara and I have seen a lot of movies this year as part of our weekly Big Movie Recap series, in which we see the biggest movie in America, and post our IM conversation about it. And, because it is the season of giving, we've decided to give...these films some criticism. We've assembled lists of the five best, five worst, and five most enjoyable movies from our series, and talked about them in our second Couchcast -- "Will and Tara's Year in Embarrassing Big Movies." Also covered: The joys of seeing a man extruded through a chain-link fence, a glimpse at Robot Heaven, and Tara "T Tyme" Ariano tries her hands at gangsta rap with her song "Kill U B4 '2012.'" One of those is a lie. Try to pick which one!

Podcast Footnotes:

Here is the "2012" recap, in which I berate Tara for squealing while people die.

Here is "The Proposal" recap, in which I explain why it's a terrible movie.

Here is the "Paranormal Activity" recap, in which Tara complains about the crowd. (I rather liked the crowd.)

2:11:24 PM Will Edmondson: This week we saw how the world is going to end in "2012," Tara. How do you feel about humanity's fate?
2:11:57 PM Tara Ariano: Here's the best measure of the movie: I'm terrified of the apocalypse, and I laughed my way through the whole two and a half hours of this thing.
2:12:50 PM Will Edmondson: Right. Now, it should be said -- charitably -- that this is a very polarizing movie. The range on Metacritic is 100%-20%. And, it just so happens that both views of "2012" are well represented in this conversation, because I thought it wasn't very good at all.