This Week's Predictions -

1. The Heartbreak Kid (DreamWorks/Paramount) - $28.5 million N/A

2. The Game Plan (Disney) - $14.3 million -38%

3. The Kingdom (Universal) - $9.8 million -43%

4. The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising (Fox Walden) - $8.8 million N/A

5. Feel the Noise (Sony/Tristar) - $4.2 million N/A

6. Resident Evil: Extinction (Sony/Screen Gems) - $3.7 million -54%

7. Good Luck Chuck (Lionsgate) - $3.1 million -50%

8. 3:10 to Yuma (Lionsgate) - $2.7 million – 35%

9. The Brave One (Warner Bros.) - $2.1 million -45%

10. Mr. Woodcock (New Line) - $1.8 million – 40%

Last year, Martin Scorsese had one of the biggest successes of his career, as his crime remake The Departed (Warner Bros.) with Leo, Matt and Jack opened with just under $27 million on its way to over a hundred million dollars and a number of Oscars, including a much-deserved one for Scorsese. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (New Line) didn't stand a chance at beating it, but the R-rated horror prequel took in $18.5 million itself while the Lionsgate comedy Employee of the Month (Lionsgate), starring Dane Cook and Jessica Simpson, grossed $11.4 million in fourth place. The Top 10 ended up making $98 million, but unless Ben Stiller pulls out one of the biggest openings of his career, that amount isn't going to be surpassed by this weekend's offerings.

The Heartbreak Kid (DreamWorks/Paramount)
Starring Ben Stiller, Michelle Monaghan, Malin Akerman, Jerry Stiller, Rob Corddry, Carlos Mencia, Scott Wilson, Danny McBride, Stephanie Courtney, Polly Holliday, Roy Jenkins
Directed by Peter and Bobby Farrelly; Written by Scot Armstrong, Leslie Dixon, Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly, Kevin Barnett
Genre: Comedy, Romance, Remake
Rated R
Tagline: "Love Blows"
Plot Summary: Eddie Cantrow (Ben Stiller) has not had a lot of luck with the ladies and when he meets the gorgeous Lila (Malin Akerman), he thinks he's struck the jackpot so he quickly marries her. While they're on their honeymoon in Mexico, Eddie starts learning new things about his new wife and sees her as the borderline psychotic she really is. At the same time, he meets the lovely Miranda (Michelle Monaghan) who seems saner, but he has to keep his new wife a secret from her.

Review (Coming Soon!)

The Farrelly Brothers already established themselves as the kings of gross-out comedy when in 1998, they put Ben Stiller together with Cameron Diaz for their third movie There's Something About Mary, a raunchy romantic comedy that became the big hit of the summer, grossing $360 million worldwide and hanging around long enough that it only hit the #1 spot in its eighth week. It became the precursor for the success of R-rated comedies like American Pie and the movies of Judd Apatow, but in the last few years, the Farrellys have softened up a bit, getting away from the raunch and the gross-out factor to make lighter, commercial fare like 2005's Fever Pitch, and they haven't found the success of their early movies in many years.

In that same time, Ben Stiller has become a huge box office star, having starred in eight movies that have opened over $25 million in the time since Mary, including the hugely successful Meet the Parents movies and two successful family films, Madagascar and the recent Night at the Museum. The thought of him reuniting with the Farrellys after all this time is intriguing, although the choice of subject matter, a remake of a 1972 movie written by Neil Simon starring Charles Grodin and Cybil Sheppard, might seem strange considering their tendency towards original material.

Stiller has a lot of help on this one both from veterans like his dad Jerry Stiller (best known for his run as George's father on "Seinfeld") and edgier newcomers like Rob Corddry and Carlos Mencia. Stiller also has not one, but two, hot and sexy love interests in the very funny Malin Akerman, who appeared on the short-lived HBO sitcom "The Comeback" and stars in Zack Snyder's Watchmen, and Michelle Monaghan, who was great in Shane Black's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and who played Tom Cruise's wife in Mission: Impossible III.

Stiller's last attempt at a romantic comedy was Along Came Polly opposite Jennifer Aniston, which opened with $27 million on a holiday weekend, and this has a similar vibe as the Farrelly's feature-length fat joke Shallow Hal, which opened with $23 million. The big difference is that this is rated R, the first movie with that rating for the Farrellys since the Jim Carrey comedy Me, Myself and Irene and Stiller's first since Mary, which might make it harder for him to bring in his usual teen audience, though enough of the college-age and older crowd will fondly remember There's Something About Mary and few will be able to connect this to the original movie. With a release into over 3,000 theatres, this is likely to continue the tradition of DreamWorks' other 2007 comedy hits Norbit and Blades of Glory, but with an R-rating, it's likely to open slightly softer than both of them.

Why I Should See It: Ben Stiller and the Farrelly Brothers are reunited!
Why Not: But why did they have to do it for another damn remake?
Projections: $27 to 29 million opening weekend and $95 million total.

COMPARISONS

The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising (Fox Walden)
Starring Ian McShane, Frances Conroy, Christopher Eccleston, Alexander Ludwig, Amelia Warner, Gregory Smith, Emma Lockhart, Gary Entin, Edmond Entin, John Benjamin Hickey, Wendy Crewson
Directed by David L. Cunningham ("The Path to 9/11"); Written by John Hodge (Trainspotting, Shallow Grave, The Beach)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Family
Rated PG
Tagline: "Even the smallest of light… shines in the darkness."
Plot Summary: On celebrating his 14th birthday, Will Stanton (Alexander Ludwig) discovers he has new powers, and after encountering an elderly couple (Ian McShane, Frances Conroy) who claim to be Old Ones, he is sent on a mission to find a series of signs that will help them in their age-old battle with The Dark.

Interviews with the Director and Cast

The first movie from the Fox Walden division set up between 20th Century Fox and the family-friendly production company Walden Media is this adaptation of Susan Cooper's "The Dark Is Rising" sequence, which consisted of five books—this movie being a loose adaptation of the second—but were not nearly as popular or known as the "Narnia" or "Lord of the Rings" series that have been turned into hugely successful film franchises. Still, Walden acquired the rights and decided to make a movie that would hopefully appeal to a wider audience even if it had nothing to do with the actual story from the novel. (Apparently, Jonathan Jackson's role as The Walker, a key part of the story, has been removed completely, according to sources who have seen it.) The story was adapted by John Hodge, who wrote most of Danny Boyle's early movies, and directed by David Cunningham, who helmed the TV movie "The Path to 9/11," neither of whom anyone might associate with family films, although they've turned the novel into an action-heavy adventure that should appeal more to boys than the girls who normally flock to fantasy and who were the primary readers of Cooper's books. There isn't much in terms of star power, at least not anyone that the studio is pushing in their commercials and trailer. For example, one would expect that genre fans would love to see Christopher Eccleston in a different role from the one he played on the popular "Doctor Who" or "Heroes" and he's joined by HBO stalwarts Ian McShane ("Deadwood") and Frances Conroy ("Six Feet Under"), and yet, none of them are mentioned in the commercials so few of their fans might even know they're in it. Instead, the movie is driven by young newcomer Alexander Ludwig in a similar way as Fox's failed adaptation of the bestselling book Eragon, which made $75 million last holiday season, which isn't so great when compared to its $100 million budget. The Seeker (as it's being called now to avoid angry fans of Cooper's book rioting… all six of them) didn't cost that much to make, but it still doesn't seem like they've done enough to really make it a must-see movie, especially by focusing the ads on the books' awards, then practically changing the entire story and even the title. This is an odd one, but it may be helped by Fox Walden releasing it into over 3,200 theatres, even considering that New Line did the same with the Walden Media produced Hoot last year and that tanked, making just $8 million total. Based on the fact that there's a strong market for fantasy as seen by the success of the "Harry Potter" and "Narnia" movies (and the Walden-produced Bridge to Terabithia last year) and being nothing else like this in theatres, one can expect a modest opening rather than an atrocious one ala Hoot, though it already seems like this is going to be another one of those "what happened?" Hollywood stories for the ages.

A Bunch of Interviews from the Set

Why I Should See It: Seems like it could be a cool visually-driven action-adventure.
Why Not: It probably will have very little to nothing to do with Susan Cooper's book on which it's based.
Projections: $8 to 10 million opening weekend and $25 million total.

COMPARISONS

Feel the Noise (Sony/Tristar)
Starring Omarion Grandberry, Zulay Henao, James McCaffrey, Kellita Smith, Malik Yoba, Melonie Diaz, Victor Rasuk, Giancarlo Esposito
Directed by Alejandro Chomski (Hoy y mañana, Dormir al sol); Written by Albert Leon (debut)
Genre: Drama, Musical
Rated PG-13
Tagline: "Dream Out Loud"
Plot Summary: Harlem rapper Rob (Omarion Grandberry) runs away from thugs by returning to Puerto Rico, the spiritual home of Reggaeton, the Latin-tinged hip-hop that inspires Rob and his half-brother Javi (Victor Rasuk) to become Reggaeton stars at the next Puerto Rican Day Parade in New York City.

It almost seems futile to try to analyze this movie, because this is the type of ethnically-driven urban movie that's almost impossible to evaluate using any of our regular means. Of course, it's using the same hip hop dance formula as surprise hits like You Got Served and this year's Stomp the Yard and being distributed by the same company (Sony) can't hurt. It's also more geared to the Puerto Rican community with its rags to riches story set in the world of Reggaeton (kind of like Latino rap) which may or may not find an audience, going by the lack of success of Franc. Reyes' Illegal Tender, a crime-drama that bombed despite a similarly focused campaign on the Puerto Rican communities in specific areas like New York City. The Hollywood debut of Argentina's Alejandro Chomski, the musical drama stars R ‘n' B singer Omarion Grandberry, who also "served" (ha ha) in You Got Served, and he's joined by Victor Rasuk, the Latin star of the acclaimed indie Raising Victor Vargas, and one can expect that Sony's strength in marketing these kinds of movies might win out. Then again, they also released last year's Crossover, a movie about streetball, that tried to use similar marketing tactics as You Got Served but failed miserably. The difference is in the music and the dancing and the younger teen audience who seem to enjoy seeing movies that feature it as seen by the above-mentioned movies and others like Step Up and even Save the Last Dance. The question is whether October is a good time to release a movie like this since most of the bigger successes of the genre have appeared in January. Sony's Tristar division is only releasing the movie into about half as many theatres as Screen Gems' successful dance movies, so it's likely to end up more in the ballpark of Crossover. (Yes, that was an intentional pun. Pretty good, huh?)

Why I Should See It: If you're a fan of Reggaeton, the hot Latin hip hop movement that's taking the nation, this movie should have a lot of it.
Why Not: Of course, I wrote the above as if I have any f*cking clue what "Reggaeton" is exactly, having never heard a single note as far as I'm aware.
Projections: $4 to 6 million opening weekend and $12 million total.

COMPARISONS

THE CHOSEN ONE:

Kurt Cobain: About a Son (Balcony Releasing)
Starring (the voice of) Kurt Cobain
Directed by A. J. Schnack (Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns)
Genre: Music, Documentary
Unrated

I was a big fan of Nirvana long before they exploded with "Smells Like Teen Spirit", having seen them play live a bunch of times around their first album "Bleach" and been blown away by what an amazing band they were, especially when they became so popular so fast at a time when I was working with some of those involved with their success. Because of this, I was just as shocked as everyone else when Kurt Cobain was found dead from suicide in 1994, leaving many to wonder and try to figure out what happened that someone might take their own life at the height of fame. (Unfortunately, as we learned from so many others during the '60s--Jimi, Janis and Jim Morrison--being creative and talented sometimes doesn't gel with being famous and popular.) With that in mind, I was intrigued by the prospect of an in-depth look at the life of Cobain told in his own words from the days before forming the band to the time before his death. I was also interested in this doc, because I really liked A. J. Schnack's previous music doc Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns, which was about a band I had worked with more directly, They Might Be Giants, which showed lots of interesting footage and interviews with their famous fans. Kurt Cobain: About a Son is a completely different beast altogether for ways that I'm hesitant at mentioning, because it might spoil what makes this film so special and such an amazing film experience. For those expecting a standard rock doc, I will say that the movie doesn't show any concert footage of Nirvana nor does it even use any of their music and yet, it might be the most insightful and comprehensive documentation of Cobain's life and music than any record or book could possibly provide. Essentially, it's 97 minutes of an audio interview Cobain did with journalist (and co-producer) Michael Azerrad for his book "Come As You Are" telling his story and getting into the mindset that ultimately killed the rock star, accompanied by images and music that influenced his life and songwriting. There's a dream-like quality to how Schnack has assembled the movie that's reminiscent of another Pacific Northwester, Gus Van Sant, and another doc from this year, Zoo. (Also centered in and around Washington State! Coincidence? I think not). I'm just amazed by what Schnack has achieved with this doc, especially considering how different it is from Gigantic. Either way, this really is one of the best music-related documentaries I've seen this year, and if you've ever been a fan of Cobain's music and want to learn what made him tick, this film is an amazing experience that's not to be missed.

Kurt Cobain: About a Boy opens at the IFC Film Center in New York on Wednesday and in L.A. on Friday. (Ironically, next week sees the release of Anton Corbjin's Control which takes a similar look at the life and suicide death of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis, only done as a dramatic feature with an amazing performance by Sam Riley.)

Honorable Mentions:

Michael Clayton (Warner Bros.) - Tony Gilroy, screenwriter of the "Bourne" trilogy, makes his directorial debut with this corporate thriller starring George Clooney as the "fixer" at a New York law firm who becomes embroiled in a conspiracy cover-up when one of his colleagues is killed. Co-starring Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson and Sidney Pollack, the film opens in New York, L.A. and Toronto on Friday and then expands nationwide next week.

My Review from the Toronto Film Festival

Interview with Tony Gilroy

For the Bible Tells Me So (First Run Features) - Daniel Karslake's acclaimed doc from the Sundance Film Festival looks at the relationships of a number of religious parents in dealing with their gay sons and daughters in an attempt to assess the church's views on homosexuality being an "abomination" as many right-wing fundamentalists claim. It will open at the Quad Cinema on Friday.

Mini-Review: At first, one might be hesitant about getting too absorbed into this well-intentioned documentary as it jumps from one family to the next, each talking about their religious background and upbringing, but it takes some time before we're made to understand why these people are so important to the debate about religion and homosexuality. In the meantime, the doc tends to meander around with inserts with the man on the street stating what they believe the bible says about homosexuality with a few expert opinions on the subject as well. Sometimes, it's hard to believe that there are still so many close-minded people about the subject in the 21st Century, but halfway through the movie, it changes gears and we see how the families start to come to terms with their gay sons and daughters, which leads to a number of surprising epiphanies that might convince the worst homophobes to see things differently. The most interesting story is probably that of Gene Robinson, son of ultra-conservative parents who becomes the first openly-gay Episcopal bishop, and there's also the case of Dick Gephardt and how his lesbian daughter Chrissy became active in his presidential campaign. Karslake does a good job creating a flow to the narrative, ultimately pulling all of the pieces together into a moving, emotional film about real people that's likely to effect you regardless of your religious background or sexual preferences. Rating: 8.5/10

Also in Limited Release:

Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door (Moderciné) is an adaptation of the horror writer's novel inspired based on the horrifying true story of a single mother (Blanche Baker) who takes in two teen girls (Blythe Auffarth, Madeline Taylor) and then abuses and tortures them with the help of her young sons. It opens at the Pioneer Theatre in New York City.

Lake of Fire (THINKFilm) - Tony Kaye, director of "American History X," spent fifteen years compiling footage and interviews for this comprehensive documentary about the divisive abortion debate in America, all shot in black and white to correspond with the two sides of the argument. It opens on Wednesday at New York's Film Forum. (Note: I won't be reviewing this movie because I wasn't able to get through it. Anyone interested in the abortion debate might have a stronger interest in the interviews expressed on both sides, but otherwise, it's very slow, long-winded and not particularly entertaining.)

Finishing the Game (IFC) - Justin Lin (The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Better Luck Tomorrow) switches gears with a comic retro-documentary that follows the auditions to fill the role of Bruce Lee in an attempt to complete the unfinished movie "Game of Death." Starring Lin regulars Roger Fan, Sung Kang and Dustin Nguyen from "21 Jump Street" as a few of the potential candidates, it opens at the IFC Center on Friday.

Mini-Review: Justin Lin pulls a pleasant surprise out of his bag of tricks with a high concept premise that allows for funnier situations and characters than some of Christopher Guest's last few offerings. Some of the funnier characters include the always-great Dustin Nguyen as a '70s television star trying to get out of being typecast as a Chinese delivery boy and Lin regulars Fan and Kung as a Bruce Lee knock-off and a naïve actor hoping to become famous, creating a rift with his girlfriend/manager. Sure, it's silly at times and some of the characters are barely more than a single joke like the "half-Chinese" Caucasian Tarrick Tyler who wouldn't stand a chance of getting the part if he hadn't slept with the right people. What's the most impressive is how Lin recreates the look and feel of Lee's movies and the action shows and sitcoms of the time, which will frequently make you do a double-take, although it never goes so far that you ever truly think you're watching an actual documentary. Those who enjoy the wacky hijinks that take place in today's world of reality TV should appreciate this, as should those interested in the subtler underpinnings of how this comedy looks at Asian stereotypes in Hollywood and how they haven't changed that much since the '70s. (One only needs to look at the recent comedy Balls of Fury to see this being the case. Rating: 7.5/10

Interview with Justin Lin (Coming Soon!)

The Good Night (Yari Film Group) - Jake Paltrow, son of the late Bruce and brother of Gwyneth, makes his directorial debut with this story of a musician named Gary (Martin Freeman from the British "Office"), struggling with his career and relationship with his girlfriend (Gwyneth Paltrow) until he finds freedom and happiness in the arms of his dream girl Anna (Penelope Cruz) who he literally only sees when he's asleep. Opening in New York and L.A.

Mini-Review: In terms of the look and feel of this surprisingly Anglocentric film (despite its New York setting), this isn't a bad directorial debut from Paltrow, but the material is often too bizarre and esoteric for ordinary people to be able to relate to any of it. The musician angle and the pseudo-documentary intro create an intriguing entrance into the world of these characters, but once it starts getting into Gary's obsessive dreams about Penelope Cruz's Anna--i.e. the plot--it becomes infinitely less interesting and appealing. While it proves to be a solid showcase for the talents of Martin Freeman--and an interesting counterpoint to his part in the recent "Dedication"--everyone else around him is fairly unlikable, especially his bitchy girlfriend played by Gwyneth, who's so edgy that you can understand why he'd be dreaming of another woman. Other than that, there's a lot of amusing interactions between Freeman and Simon Pegg as his more successful former bandmate and boss that are somewhat worthwhile, but they're interspersed with far weaker dream sequences with Cruz and Danny DeVito as a lucid dreaming coach who helps Gary spend more time with his dream girl. Even with the amusing muzak version of a Blur tune as a soundtrack for the dream sequences, they quickly get tiring and lose their appeal--even with the possibility of Cruz not having a speaking role--and things get better as it proceeds, the storytelling is awkward and all over the place and the downer ending (think "Brazil") makes it hard to get into the movie, and it makes Paltrow's debut far from essential viewing. Rating: 5/10

My Kid Could Paint That (Sony Classics) - Amir Bar-Lev followed the rise and (sort of) fall of Marla Olmstead, a 4-year-old who was thought to be an art prodigy as her elaborate paintings sold for thousands of dollars until it was questioned about who was really responsible for them. It opens in New York and L.A. on Friday.

Interview with Amir Bar-Lev

Mini-Review: What starts as a fairly innocuous chronicle of the discovery of hidden art talents within 4-year-old Marla Olmstead from upstate New York, proves to be a lot more than it seems. It questions the art world in the same way as last year's "Who the BLEEP is Jackson Pollack?" by offering lots of interviews with the people around Olmstead who are amazed by her talent, as her parents try to deal with the young girl's sudden influx of fame and media attention. What's interesting is how the movie makes the viewer believe in this little girl's talent as we watch her story unfold chronologically but then poses questions that might make one wonder what's true and what's real. Things get even more interesting when the filmmaker himself starts questioning the veracity of his own subject matter and has to deal with the parents turning on him when they realize that the documentary might not be the proof they require to exonerate accusations that their daughter's paintings have not been completely done by her. Like the "Jackson Pollack" doc, the telling of this story makes for an interesting look at the art world and how it's so willing to accept talent so blindly and pay top dollar for paintings that literally look like they've been made by a 4-year-old. Sadly, the open-endedness of the film makes for a rather unsatisfying non-conclusion to the story, which ultimately does hurt its strength as a documentary, but like the best documentaries, it leaves you asking questions without trying to answer them for you. Rating: 8/10

Strange Culture (L5 Productions) - Lynn Hershman-Leeson's pseudo-documentary about the arrest and trial of Steve Kurtz, an artist accused of being a bio-terrorist when his wife Hope dies of a heart attack and the FBI is called in to investigate suspicious substances which Kurtz uses in his artwork. It opens at the Cinema Village in New York after playing the Human Rights Watch Festival earlier in the year.

Weirdsville (Magnolia) - Scott Speedman and Wes Bentley play stoners who decide to bury their friend Matilda (Taryn Manning) when they think she's overdosed, but end up getting in trouble with a Satanic cult that wants to use the burial spot for a ritual. It opens in Austin on Friday and in Atlanta and Portland on October 19.

Next week, the Weekend Warrior celebrates its 6th Anniversary with James (The Yards) Gray's New York police drama We Own the Night, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg, Tyler Perry's (Self-Explanatory) Why Did I Get Married?, and something called The Final Season. Also Tony Gilroy's Michael Clayton and Sean Penn's Into the Wild are scheduled to go wide. Here's hoping the Warrior can survive another year of this madness!