With great word-of-mouth spreading for last week’s ‘The Social Network,” the box-office race is wide open this week. Three films open wide, all targeting vastly different audiences this Columbus Day weekend. First up, Disney gives us the family horse-racing drama “Secretariat,” which looks to capture the hungry “The Blind Side” crowd and drum up some award attention. The rom-com “Life as We Know It” is less generic than it looks, but ultimately falls victim to convention. We know better than to count out Katherine Heigel at the box office, though. Wes Craven returns with 3D Halloween entry “My Soul to Take,” which has been generating zero buzz prior to its release. Interesting options in limited release, the Edward Norton/Robert DeNiro crime drama “Stone” isn’t quite up to their their best work, but will leave you thinking afterwards. Zack Galifanakis stretches his skills in the mental hospital dramedy “It’s Kind of a Funny Story,” while young John Lennon is given the warts-and -all treatment in “Nowhere Boy.” Your best bets this weekend may be the fascinating financial crisis documentary “Inside Job” or if you’re looking for something a little more pulpy, the British gangster tale “Down Terrace.”
In Wide Release: Disney puts its horse in the Oscar race this week with the crowd-pleasing true story “Secratariat,” directed by “Braveheart” scribe Randall Wallace. Diane Lane stars as a bored housewife who takes over her family’s Virginia stables, even though she has no knowledge of the horse-racing business. With the help of a veteran trainer, played by John Malkovich, they overcome the odds and develop the first triple crown winner in 25 years and arguably the best racehorse of all time. We posted our review earlier in the week, finding it to be a handsome film, but wholly predictable and slightly boring. We can’t really see the film competing at the Oscars like 2003’s “Seabiscuit,” but as far as Hollywood entertainment goes, you could do a lot worse.RT: 64%Metacritic: 60
Katherine Heigel and Josh Duhamel headline the romantic comedy “Life as We Know It.” The stars play unfriendly acquaintances who are suddenly thrown together in parenthood when their mutual best friends die in an accident. In respect to their dead friends, they move in together and start a tentative life, even though they still hate each others guts. We reviewed the film, surprised by some of the more dramatic turns the story takes and the charm of the lead performances, but let down by the conventional tidy conclusion to a messy tale. RT: 27% Metacritic: 40.
Also out wide is horror great Wes Craven’s first 3D film, “My Soul to Take” which he also wrote. The film tells the story of a serial killer who returns to his hometown to terrorize a group of teens born on the night he died. The studio didn’t screen the film for critics, which is never a good sign, so if you see it, let us know if we’re missing anything special.
In Limited Release: Edward Norton and Robert DeNiro, co-stars in 2001’s “The Score,” team up once again in “Stone.” Norton plays a convicted arsonist who plans to use his beautiful wife (Milla Jovovich) to seduce his hard-ass parole officer and secure his early release. While the movie is thought-provoking and has some very strong elements, notably Norton’s performance, we were let down by the lack of freshness or insight (check our review here). RT: 48% Metacritic: 54.
The directing duo of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (“Half Nelson,” Sugar“) take their first stab at the mainstream with an adaptation of Ned Vizzini’s novel, “It’s Kind Of A Funny Story.” Keir Gilchrist stars as Craig, a teenager who convinces his doctor to admit him into the mental ward of the hospital where he is shown the ropes by Bobby, played by Zach Galifianakis. As we noted in our review from Toronto, despite a first-rate cast, the film meets its early comparisons to “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” and “The Breakfast Club” with a bare minimum of inspiration. RT: 59% Metacritic: 63.
“Nowhere Boy” is director Sam Taylor Wood‘s take on the coming-of-age of John Lennon and the events that led to the founding of The Beatles. Aaron Johnson (“Kick-Ass”) stars as an unsympathetic Lennon, who as we wrote in our review “is at first a brash rebel dancing on the grave of propriety, and later an apple-cheeked thug with an authority problem.” We weren’t moved by the stock characters and shaky casting, but critics-at-large seem to be responding with plenty of good reviews coming in. RT: 80% Metacritic: 62.
Also out this week in limited: the fantastic documentary “Inside Job,” from “No End In Sight” director Charles Ferguson. The film is an eye-opening and infuriating look into the financial crisis, with all the suspense of a great heist film. We reviewed the doc back at the Toronto Film Festival, so check that out here. RT: 87% Metacritic: 89. The fresh and darkly comic British gangster tale “Down Terrace” may not be on par with recent classics of the genre like “A Prophet” and “Animal Kingdom,” but it’s definitely worth a look this week (our review here). RT: 87%. The horror remake “I Spit on Your Grave” may be of interest to some fans of the original, but as we note in our review, the new film is ugly, inhuman, and irredeemable. Last week’s “Let Me In” is much more deserving of your horror dollar this week. RT: 30% Metacritic: 24.
