With John’s social life at a standstill and his ex-wife about to get remarried, a down on his luck divorcee finally meets the woman of his dreams, only to discover she has another man in her life – her son. Written and directed by Jay and Mark Duplass, the iconoclastic filmmaking team behind Sundance Film Festival favorite The Puffy Chair, Cyrus takes an insightful and funny look at love and family in contemporary Los Angeles.

Billy and Brady were both raised in the small town of Idabel before Billy went on to become a prestigious thinker at Brown. Brady, on the other hand, remained in Oklahoma and become a prestigious grower of pot. Despite obvious differences, the two are cut from the same cloth. Billy is hard-and-fast when it comes to classic philosophy, while Brady is equally stubborn when it comes to classic country. Nelson does an excellent job of artfully surfacing the pair’s similarities by focusing on their differences.

Brady tricks Billy into returning to the small hometown to help him slip out of a now sour drug transaction. Pug Rothbaum, played by Richard Dreyfuss, is the noteworthy (if not notorious) neighborhood Jew that lends Billy the seed money to start his hydroponic pot business. With a baby on the way and Pug demanding his money quicker and quicker, Billy aims to retire from his weed ways. That always works, right?

Grass is a lot of fun when watching the interactions between the twins — impressively rendered, considering the small budget and quick shooting schedule — and the measured scenes of dialogue; one between Norton and his possible love interest, Janet (Keri Russell), is particularly well executed. When the plot gets moving, however, the film’s jerky turns (many of which are violent) are enough to give you whiplash. Nelson, despite an eye toward subtlety early on, uses some particularly jarring sequences to advance the plot down its intended path, causing Grass to feel a bit artificial. The film provides a few good laughs, still, but it isn’t an especially well-balanced hit.

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Aaron Johnson leads as Dave Lizewski (aka Kick-Ass), a geek turned citizen crime-fighter, whose only real power is being “invisible to girls.” The film takes potshots at the Spider-Man franchise here and there, providing a humorous context for Dave being just an everyday guy with a fancy wetsuit and pseudo-fetishist face mask. Indeed, Dave has no superpowers and swiftly collides with that bloody reality, simultaneously catching the attention of more capable purveyors of justice, Big Daddy (Nicholas Cage) and his daughter, Hit-Girl (Chloe Moretz). The trio gets entangled in a web of respective personal pursuits, which affords audiences one fantastic fight seen after another. Vaughn outdid himself with slow camera work, sophisticated choreography and a kick-…err, bad-ass soundtrack.

Various formulaic devices distract Kick-Ass from being a remarkable film both in visuals and story. But that’s not exactly what it’s going for in the first place, right? When it’s released next month, the film will certainly be the most fun you can have at the theater, hands-down. Pint-sized Chloe Moretz is the clear standout in the two hours of ass-kicking — the most vicious pre-teen you’ll ever come across who seems a cross between Hanna Montana and Wolverine. Kick-Ass is definitely worth catching when released next month.

Sadly, Popscorn had to scoot on over to Ed Norton’s Leaves of Grass, so we missed what was surely an insane mob of fans anxious to get a first glimpse of the new film. Fox, thankfully, has made most of the previewed material online in the two-minute sneak peek here. While I’m anxious to see what Rodriguez will bring to the franchise (especially considering the Aliens vs Predators nonsense that has seemed to tank the storyline in recent years), nothing here looks too ground-breaking or otherwise. At this point anyway. Predators is due out this summer, so we’ll have to keep tabs on how it’s shaping up.

Tron Legacy is a 3D high-tech adventure set in a digital world that’s unlike anything ever captured on the big screen. Sam Flynn (Garrett Hedlund), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), looks into his father’s disappearance and finds himself pulled into the same world of fierce programs and gladiatorial games where his father has been living for 25 years. Along with Kevin’s loyal confidant (Olivia Wilde), father and son embark on a life-and-death journey across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.

Of course, any film headlined by Wilson is worth seeing, particularly one with a subtext focused on manly bits. Fans of the Norfolk, VA-native will recall those bits coming under fire in his previous film, Hard Candy. Is this turning into a theme? No complaints. Just a question.