A gaggle of films are going to be released this weekend in the U.S. Among the flock, four are being released wide. The four are: the Samuel L. Jackson feuding neighbor film, “Lakeview Terrace,” the formulaic Dane Cook rom-com, “My Best Friend’s Girl,” (Seriously, who keeps hiring this guy?) the slightly more intelligent rom-com with the unwatchable Ricky Gervais, “Ghost Town,” and the shoddily animated film starring John Cusack, “Igor.” ‘Terrace’ will probably take the crown, because of it’s safe PG-13 rating with ‘Girl’ coming in a slightly distant second. Any fans of the original ‘Office’ starring Gervais would probably be the only people who would support the snide performer. The guy can write very well, but watching him act is just painful for the viewer. Despite the film’s solid reviews, we doubt that even Greg Kinnear’s 80 year-old fans will add much money to the pot, let alone Téa Leoni’s 90 year-old fan. We honestly hadn’t even heard of “Igor” until today, so that one will most likely go the way of “Space Chimps” and “Space Chimps Minus the Chimps and Add Flies.”
Now for the more quality indy fare. The Keira Knightley period piece, “The Duchess” opens in limited release.
It wasn’t that good besides
Haley Atwell‘s character. Ed Harris’ follow up to the 2000 film “Pollock,” “Appaloosa,” opens this weekend in limited release. A western starring Harris, Viggo Mortensen, Renée Zellweger, and Jeremy Irons,
the film isn’t getting the best of reviews though. The star studded “Battle in Seattle” opens this weekend in limited release too. The film marks the directorial debut of Stuart Townsend, whose crowning achievement so far is that he gets to nail Charlize Theron. It’s evidently as much about riots gone awry as it is about poor city planning and crowd control response and stars Theron and Andre 3000 as an animal rights protester in a turtle suit. Yeah, it’s going to need a ton of help. Dakota Fanning gets raped in “Hounddog.” There isn’t much more to say about that one, but
Fanning is earning some rave reviews (for her acting, not for getting raped). Also new is the latest Bella Tarr film, “The Man From London”which hits a few screens over the weekend. Finally, the Berlin Film Festival’s top winner, Jose Padilha’s “Elite Squad” opens in a very limited release. Although it sounds like a Chuck Norris movie shown on USA channel, it’s supposedly much more fierce and pentrating. The film takes a deep looks at the shady workings of Rio’s Special Operations Police Battalion. Here’s what the critics are saying: “
Brutal. Lacks flair, and is never quite sure where its morals lie.” It’s not quite receiving positive reviews which sucks because we were kind of excited for it.
You might be better off renting and staying home this weekend.
