This weekend we have a surprisingly good weekend of new movie releases regardless of the end of the crazy summer season of blockbusters. The four new big movies couldn’t be more different, and while I still have films from the last few weeks that I want to see (Scott Pilgrim, The Expendables), I also sorta want to see some of these. We’ll start with the film that is most likely to get an Oscar nomination…

The American
Directed by Anton Corbijn, this action thriller that stars George Clooney as an American assassin that is being hunted in Italy while on his last assignment.  It is a story that has been told many times, but I trust George Clooney. He usually has a great eye for characters and has been on a great streak with his acting (Michael Clayton, Up in the Air, Fantastic Mr. Fox). I’m not familar with Corbijn, and from the look of his IMDB he has more experience in directing concerts and music related projects. The flick co-stars Irina Björklund.

Machete
Robert Rodriguez’s spoof trailer turned movie is the one I’m most excited about this weekend! It is an over the top b-action/horror/crime/thriller that stars one of film’s biggest badasses, Danny Trejo, as Machete.  Machete is an ex-Federale who launches a brutal rampage of violence after being betrayed by an organization that hired him. The flick co-stars Robert DeNiro, Jessica Alba, Steven Seagal, Michelle Rodriguez, Jeff Fahey, Don Johnson, Cheech Marin, and Lindsay Lohan.

Going the Distance
Next up is the long distance romantic comedy Going the Distance. The movie stars the on again/off again real life couple of Justin Long and Drew Barrymore, along with Christina Applegate, and Always Sunny‘s Charlie Day (who needs to be in more films!). The trailer was cute, and while it didn’t fully pull me it, it pulled in my wife who wants to check it out. A perfect dinner and a movie date movie. The flick is about two lovebirds that try to keep their romance alive regardless of living across the country from each other.

The Tillman Story
Last up is a documentary by Amir Bar-Lev that focuses on Pat Tillman, a pro football player who left a multimillion-dollar contract to join the military in a time of war and how the government manipulated his death into a tool for propaganda.

Will you be going to the movies this weekend?

Happy Holidays everyone! We’ll keep updating through New Years, just at a bit of a slower rate (as we have been this past week). Thanks for checking out the site!

• Owen Wilson provides the voice for the newspaper comic strip dog turned movie Marmaduke. Sadly, his voice and the opening shot makes me think its Marley and Me 2. Click here to give it a look. Did anyone know they were making the dog talk?

• After 23 years Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins have split up. What? Seriously? I guess no Hollywood couples are safe, no matter how long they’ve been together or how happy they seem.  On a side note, Sarandon is wonderful in The Lovely Bones. She deserves some Oscar supporting actress love.

• Warner Brothers have released a synopsis for their DC Comics adaptation of the Losers.  “An explosive tale of double cross and revenge, The Losers centers upon the members of an elite U.S. Special Forces unit sent into the Bolivian jungle on a search and destroy mission. The team — Clay, Jensen, Roque, Pooch and Cougar — find themselves the target of a lethal betrayal instigated from inside by a powerful enemy known only as Max. Presumed dead, the group makes plans to even the score when they’re joined by the mysterious Aisha, a beautiful operative with her own agenda. Working together, they must remain deep undercover while tracking the heavily-guarded Max, a ruthless man bent on embroiling the world in a new high-tech global war.”

• There are a lot of movies opening this weekend! For the older crowd we have Maryl Streep and Alec Baldwin in It’s Complicated.  For the kiddies there is Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.  For the ladies there is the musical Nine. For the guys there is the action re-invention of Sherlock Holmes from Guy Ritchie. And for both kinds of adults we have Up in the Air with George Clooney expanding, and Heath Ledger’s final film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

This week sees three releases; the latest entry in the Harry Potter franchise, a quirky “anti-romance” with a top notch cast, and a college-aged Fatal Attraction.

Okay, so technically the sixth Harry Potter film hit theaters at midnight on Wednesday and has already pulled in more than 100 million dollars worldwide (God I hope it takes this year’s box office crown from Transformers 2). David Yates, who helmed the last journey through J.K. Rowling magical universe (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) returns for Half-Blood Prince along with all of the familiar faces along with the addition of Jim Broadbent as Professor Horace Slughorn. It is refreshing to see a series go this long with all of the key players firmly in place. While I have not read the books, I enjoyed the last film and I think that the Prisoner of Azkaban is a marvel of filmmaking. The trailer and posters for this entry of the series have been top notch and have made this non-reader excited about the new flick.

(500) Days of Summer looks awesome. Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt are two of the most likable actors around, and together they make sparks. Gordon-Leavitt is a greeting-card writer who falls for a new colleague, Summer (Deschanel) on her first day of work. The move spans over the next 500 days of their relationship. The trailer is quirky and fun.

Last up we have Morgan J. Freeman’s Homecoming, starring The OC‘s Mischa Barton, the new 90210‘s Jessica Stroup, and Matt Long. The film is getting a limited release in New York and LA. Fatal Attraction meets Obsessed with college aged actors. What guy wouldn’t be lucky to have Barton and Stroup fighting over them?

What will you be seeing this weekend?

This weekend we have five new films opening wide and its an interesting mix. Two book adaptations that couldn’t be more different, a wannabe comic style superhero film, a sequel that noone demanded, and a film with a sci-fi cult following who have been waiting for years to see “their” film on the big screen.

The film that I am easily most excited for is Coraline, based on the book by Neil Gaiman and directed by Henry Selick, the innovative director behind The Nightmare Before Christmas. The film features the voice talents of Dakota Fanning, John Hodgman, Keith David, and my favorite Lois Lane, Teri Hatcher. The film is a very dark (maybe even too dark for some) kids tale that was made in stop motion and is being released in 3d! I have been excited for this film since about two years ago when I saw a 20 minute presentation with footage at comic con.

Next up we have Push, a film that really wishes that it was based on a comic book.  From Summit Entertainment (the company that brought us Twilight), the film was directed by Paul McGuigan and stars Camilla Belle, Dakota Fanning, Chris Evans as a trio of super powered people in Hong Kong who are being hunted by a US government agency and Djimon Hounsou. Sound familar? Yeah that’s been pretty much the plot of every X-Men film.

Steve Martin returns in the sequel that shouldn’t be made for the remade that should have never been made, The Pink Panter 2. The talented pair of Jean Reno and Emily Mortimer return from the film film and they are joined by the also talented Andy Garcia and Alfred Molina. His mission in the new film is to stop a “globe-trotting thief who specializes in stealing historical artifacts.”

He’s Just Not going to see this movie, or even write about it.

Fanboys took just as long as Coraline to hit theaters, but for very different reasons. The film has been screened at dozens of sci-fi conventions and comic con. The film is about five friends who take a cross-country trip to the Skywalker Ranch to steal a print of Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace so their dying friend can see it before its world premiere.  The film was picked up by the Weinsteins and the major content of the film, the plot line about the dying friend, was cut out sending fans into a rage. After more than a year of protesting and chants of “Darth Weinstein”, the film was returned to its original form and is finally being released. Directed by Kyle Newman, the film stars Dan Fogler, Jay Baruchel, and the ever loveable Kristen Bell, along with Christopher McDonald, Seth Rogan, Ethan Suplee, and Danny Trejo, and a ton of fun cameos.

This weekend brings us a man who can bring characters from a book to life, along with the continued fight between vampires and werewolves, and an epic showdown of vikings verse aliens verse monsters.

Inkheart from director Iain Softley (The Skeleton Key) is based on a novel by Cornelia Funke, and stars Brendan Fraser as a man who can bring characters from a book to life by reading aloud.  When he is taken hostage by the evil Capricorn (Andy Serkis), his daughter (Eliza Bennett) must rally her friends, both real and imaginary, to rescue him. The great Helen Mirren co-stars.

If you are in the mood for supernaural action instead, there is Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. Rise is the  third entry into the Underworld series and is an origin story that uncovers the cause of the centuries-old feud between the vampires and werewolves (aka the Death Dealers and the Lycans). Rhona Mitra, Michael Sheen, and Bill Nighy star in the film.

Also opening today, but in a limited release, is Outlander.  The films stars James Caviezel, John Hurt, Sophia Myles, and Ron Perlman with direction by Howard McCain.  Outlander’s plot is really difficult to explain, but in a nutshell it is Vikings teaming up with an alien (Caviezel) to fight a monster.  Oh, and did I mention they fight with futuristic Iron Age weaponry.

I think I’ll be staying in this weekend, how about you?

Today we have a weird assortment of films hitting theaters. Not quite something for everyone and no real stand outs. It should be interesting to see what takes home the box office.

First off is the film I’d be most interesting in seeing. My Bloody Valentine 3-D by director Patrick Lussier (White Noise 2: The Light, Dracula 2000 Trilogy) and starring Jensen Ackles (Supernatural), Jaime King (Sin City), and Kerr Smith (Dawson’s Creek). There is something about 3D horror that I love! When Freddy’s insides flew at the audience (Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare) or when the giant shark crashed through the glass at seaworld (Jaws 3D). It might be cheesy, but it is really entertaining. Valentine is a remake of a 1981 cult horror film. In the new version, Ackles plays Tom, a man who returns to his hometown on the 10th anniversary of a Valentine night massacre that claimed more than 20 lives. After his arrival, the murders begin again, causing Tom to be the lead suspect.

Not in the mood for horror? How about some family, kid and dog hi jinks with Hotel for Dogs. The Paramount Picture stars Emma Roberts, Jake T. Austin and Friends’ Lisa Kudrow. The kids star as orphaned teens that turn an abandoned house into a canine safe haven as they attempt to provide homes for stray dogs.

Also safe for the family is Paul Blart: Mall Cop, a movie written, produced and starring Kevin James (TV’s King of Queens) as an overzealous mall security guard who is forced to step up and save the day after his mall is over run by a gang of organized criminals. The film has direction by Steve Carr who helmed the enjoyable Daddy Day Care.

Looking for something a little more adult? Fox Searchlight gives us Notorious, a biopic about the Christopher “Notorious B.I.G” Wallace from George Tillman Jr. Jamal Woolard portrays Wallace, while rising talent Derek Luke steps into the shoes of Sean Combs.

Lastly, we have Chandni Chowk to China opening in limited release. China is definitly the wackist of our new releases. Described as the first Bollywood kung fu comedy, the film follows an Indian cook (Akshay Kumar) who is mistaken in China as the reincarnation of an ancient peasant warrior and is forced to fight a notorious smuggler. The film costars Deepika Padukone and Chia Hui Liu.

The Unborn is from David S. Goyer, a pretty good writer turned not so good director. He helmed Blade Trinity and The Invisible, two films I was very much looking forward to and let down by. This new horror flick from Rogue Pictures stars Odette Yustman from Cloverfield, the legendary Gary Oldman, and Twilight and The OC actor Cam Gigandet. Yustman is Casey Beldon, a young woman who is haunted by ghostly visions and reoccuring strange dreams. She turns to a spiritual advior for help and together they discover that Casey had a twin brother that never made it to turn. The twins are tied to a curse that requires Casey’s death in order for the unborn sibling to manifest itself in our world.

Bride Wars, from director Gary Winick (13 Going on 30), stars Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway as two best friends who become bitter rivals after a clerical error puts their two perfect weddings at the same place on the same day. With neither willing to back off the date, it becomes an all out war. Candice Bergen also stars.

The third release of three very different films is Not Easily Broken. Directed by Bill Duke, this Sony Picture’s release stars Morris Chestnut and Taraji P. Henson as a couple whose already fragile bond is threatened after a car accident as they both begin to develop feelings for other people.

What will you be seeing [if anything] this weekend?