With a nearly $50 million take last weekend and a pretty scattered new release field this one, Talladega Nights stands a good chance of repeating as box office champ. Still, the competition is stiff as summer winds down. Will another film achieve blockbuster status before America’s kids head back to school and people forget about movies until fall? I’m going to go out on a limb here and say no. It’s all downhill from here. Next week might be a good time to start exploring art house options.
But who cares how much money Hollywood execs have to swim through in their money bin. Let’s look at which new releases are worth watching this weekend:
Limited Releases(Opening in fewer than 500 theaters.)
For this week, avoid limited releases. The most noteworthy is Waltzing Anna, but even that is barely a blip. Spend time catching up on summer movies you might have missed, or seek out Little Miss Sunshine as it opens up in a few new theaters.
Step Up (Opens in 2,467 theaters.)
Channing Tatum returns to the screen, and teenage girls everywhere swoon. If you buy a ticket to see it, you might want to bring along a rain slicker to protect yourself from the tidal wave of estrogen heavy drool that’ll be rolling across the audience. The ladies love this guy. Everyone else… not so much. In Step Up he’s a nobody who bumps into a rich bitch and turns into a competitive dancer. You’ve seen this movie a dozen times before, though perhaps it’ll seem new to Channing’s teenage bimbo’s in training.
Zoom (Opens in 2,051 theaters.)
Tim Allen stars in the superhero academy for kids movie, Zoom. Basically it’s Sky High with the Tool Man. Zoom might have been my pick of the week, except it wasn’t screened for the local press. I’ve heard it was screened elsewhere, so maybe someone was just singling out us. Still, whenever a studio tries to hide a movie, that’s a bad sign. In an act of almost complete desperation Tim Allen has been traipsing around town trying to draw some weird correlation between this and Galaxy Quest, but I’m not buying it. This one gets the wagging finger of shame and a big, bright scarlet “A” (for Avoid) sticker stuck on its chest.
World Trade Center (Opens in 2,957 theaters on Wed.)
Oliver Stone helm’s the second 9/11 movie to hit theaters in the wake of America’s greatest tragedy. Stone shows remarkable restraint in the direction he takes the film, and avoids most of the political wackiness that has so often been his hallmark. That doesn’t mean you should see it. A lot of people aren’t ready to relive that day, and if you are then United 93, not this, is probably the best way to do it. Still, Stone’s film is getting great reviews, and if you’re up for two depressing hours with two men buried under burning rubble then Oliver’s latest might be worth bracing yourself for and taking in. For most though, this movie may be more than you can handle.
Pulse (Opens in 2,323 theaters.)
In this newest Japanese horror movie remake, “Veronica Mars’” Kristen Bell stars with “Lost’s” Ian Somerolder in the story of a group of computer hacker friends who find a monster in the machine. In Pulse, our wireless technology is a connection into a world beyond our own, a connection which can’t be shut down. Maybe it’s just another horror import, or maybe Pulse is something pretty cool. The trailers are sharp, and not afraid to engage in a good wide shot. Kristen Bell is hotter than hot, and while the women of the world are throwing their panties at Channing Tatum, I’ll be in a theater somewhere throwing my stained tighty-whities at the screen for Kristen Bell.
STILL IN THEATERS AND WORTH YOUR TIME: Superman Returns, Monster House, Clerks II, A Scanner Darkly, Talladega Nights
