If that weren't enough choices, Michael Bay's The Transformers will reopen in a special IMAX presentation with 2 extra minutes of footage, and the Disney family comedy The Game Plan, starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, will get national sneak previews in 800 theatres on Saturday afternoon.

You can read more about all of the movies in wide and limited release after…

This Week's Predictions -

1. Resident Evil: Extinction (Sony/Screen Gems) - $23.4 million N/A

2. Good Luck Chuck (Lionsgate) - $12.6 million N/A

3. The Brave One (Warner Bros.) - $7.5 million -45%

4. Sydney White (Universal) - $6.5 million N/A

5. Eastern Promises (Focus) - $6.1 million +1084%

6. 3:10 to Yuma (Lionsgate) - $5.7 million -38%

7. Mr. Woodcock (New Line) - $4.8 million -44%

8. Superbad (Sony) - $3.3 million - 35%

9. Across the Universe (Sony) – $2.9 million 423%

10. The Bourne Ultimatum (Universal) - $2.6 million - 37%

Last year, MTV Films' Jackass: Number Two, the follow-up to the hit stunt and prank movie based on Johnny Knoxville and his friends' MTV exploits, opened at #1 with an impressive $29 million. (That's the fourth highest opening for September.) Jet Li's Fearless opened in a distant second with $10.59 million, but the fact it opened in less than 2,000 theatres, meant that it had a strong per-theatre average. The Roland Emmerich produced WWI epic Flyboys with James Franco grossed just $6 million in 2,000 years, and after being delayed for a year, the Steven Zallian political drama All the King's Men starring Sean Penn, tanked with less than $4 million in 1,514 theatres. The Top 10 grossed $77 million, which might mean we see the first year-to-year drop this weekend unless either Resident Evil and/or Good Luck Chuck really break out.

Resident Evil: Extinction (Sony/Screen Gems)
Starring Milla Jovovich, Oded Fehr, Ali Larter, Iain Glen, Ashanti, Chris Egan, Spencer Locke, Jason O'Mara, Mike Epps
Directed by Russell Mulcahy (Highlander--yes, the original one, Resurrection, and more legendary music videos than you can possibly imagine) ; Written by Paul W. S. Anderson (Resident Evil, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, AVP: Alien vs. Predator)
Genre: Horror, Action
Rated R
Tagline: "Experimentation… evolution… extinction"… or better yet, the old stand-by, "What Happens in Vegas... Stays In Vegas"
Plot Summary: Survivors from the Raccoon City massacre (see the first two Resident Evil movies, if you must) travel across the Nevada desert only to face hordes of zombies and other creatures in the ruins of Las Vegas, which gets worse when they're joined by Alice (Milla Jovovich), who continues to try to survive and take down the Umbrella Corporation while being a danger to those around her.
Why I Should See It: Surely, the third chapter of this franchise will be closer to The Bourne Ultimatum than (insert your least favorite threequel of the summer) right?
Why Not: Resident Evil: Apocalypse sucked and now that I think about it, so did the first movie, so why do they keep making more of these?

The third chapter in the semi-successful franchise based on the popular "Resident Evil" franchise continues after a three-year gap, taking the zombie-fighting action out of Racoon City and into the desert, specifically in the area right outside a desolated Las Vegas, in an attempt to spice things up after the disappointing 2004 sequel. Of course, this threequel will continue Paul W.S. Anderson's career-long war with Uwe Boll to see who can adapt the most video games into movies, and this time, Anderson has brought legendary '80s director Russell Mulcahy onto the franchise. Mulcahy is the Australian filmmaker who helmed the original Highlander and tons of early music videos including The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star" which launched MTV. It should be interesting to see what his sensibilities bring to the mix. Resident Evil regular Milla Jovovich aka Alice has also been joined by the ultra-hot Ali Larter, who starred in the first two Final Destination movies, but has found new fame and success with her starring role in NBC's "Heroes" which conveniently enough, kicks off its second season next Monday. Unfortunately, horror sequels haven't been faring particularly well this year with Hills Have Eyes 2 and Hostel: Part II both tanking compared to their predecessors, and it has been three years since the last Resident Evil movie. Based on estimated theatre counts, Sony/Screen Gems isn't releasing Extinction nearly as wide as the saturation that helped Apocalypse make $23 million its opening weekend, but there's a fairly open market for the 17-to-25 male audience and the popularity of the video games should continue to drive the movie franchise's success. Expect it to top the charts with roughly the same amount as the last movie, maybe slightly more, despite the lessened theatre count.

Projections: $22 to 25 million opening weekend on its way to $58 million total.
COMPARISONS

Good Luck Chuck (Lionsgate)
Starring Dane Cook, Jessica Alba, Dan Fogler
Directed by Mark Helfrich (directorial debut by this well-established film editor); Written by the extremely awesome JOSH STOLBERG (Evan Almighty, The Kids in America)
Genre: Comedy, Sex
Rated R
Tagline: "True love is a blessing and a curse. She's the blessing. He's cursed."
Plot Summary: Charlie Logan (Dane Cook) is a man who has been cursed in that every woman he sleeps with finds true love with the next guy after him. Charlie's reputation as a "good luck charm" gets him into bed with a lot of women, but the one woman he's interested is the accident-prone Cam (Jessica Alba), but he's afraid to sleep with the girl of his dreams in fear he'll lose her.
Why I Should See It: It looks very funny and Jessica Alba is HOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!!! Mama Mia!!! ::whistles:: Homina, homina, homina!!! (That outburst brought to you by Tex Avery.)
Why Not: If only there were a way to fast forward over Dane Cook's bits and pause whenever Jessica Alba comes on screen… oh, the joys of DVD.

Comedian Dane Cook continues his run of Lionsgate comedies after last year's Employee of the Month and 2005's Waiting… and this one is a surprisingly high concept R-rated sex comedy about a guy who brings luck to the women he sleeps with but can't sleep with the woman of his dreams. While Dane Cook has a strong college-age fanbase from his hit comedy tours and albums, the real draw for the movie might be his gorgeous co-star Jessica Alba, who has never done comedy on the big screen before, except for little bits of silliness in the Fantastic Four movies, and she's being featured heavily in the advertising, mostly doing lots of physical comedy, which could help this be a breakthrough movie for her in the same way that Judd Apatow's blockbuster comedy Knocked Up allowed Katherine Heigl to bring her natural sexiness into the romantic comedy genre. Those aspects of Good Luck Chuck might help bring in more female moviegoers or the date crowd, but it looks a lot more like something that would be enjoyed by those who like the raunchier romantic comedies of Adam Sandler or the Farrelly Brothers. The R-rating might limit its audience from the teen girls that might normally go for something like this, but R-rated comedies have been very hot among the college and older crowd in recent months, which will certainly help. The movie also stars Dan Fogler, star of the Rogue Pictures comedy Balls of Fury, which is still in theatres, though it and Superbad have probably reached their audience and will leave room for Good Luck Chuck to take over. The movie has been pushed heavily by Lionsgate both for exhibitors at the annual ShoWest convention and with appearances by Cook and Alba at the San Diego Comic-Con and on Comedy Central, and Lionsgate even moved it from the dog days of August to a prime September slot. While it's more likely to wind up in second place, look for it to offer Resident Evil: Extinction far more competition for young audiences than some might expect.

Projections: $12 to 14 million opening weekend; $43 million total.
COMPARISONS

Sydney White (Universal)
Starring Amanda Bynes, Matt Long, Sara Paxton, John Schneider, Jack Carpenter, Crystal Hunt, Jeremy Howard, Samm Levine, Danny Strong, Davi
Directed by Joe Nussbaum (Sleepover, American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile); Written by Chad Creassey (Great Lengths)
Genre: Comedy
Rated PG-13
Tagline: "Freshman year is no fairytale."
Plot Summary: Sydney White (Amanda Bynes) is a tomboy freshman at Southern Atlantic University, who walks away from the sleazy sororities to join a home for outcasts and along with seven socially-challenged guys, she declares war on the more popular kids on campus.
Why I Should See It: You are Amanda Bynes' biggest fan!
Why Not: Because you're a middle-aged man, which would make the above extremely creepy. (Me, I've never seen any of Bynes' movies, not one, and I'll probably keep it that way.)

I've always wondered what would happen if you combined the story of "Snow White" with the collegiate humor of Animal House and I've finally gotten my wish thanks to recently legal former teen star Amanda Bynes' latest comedy. Attempting to offer a bit of competition for Good Luck Chuck among younger women is this new comedy from the young actress who has grown up in public since her days with her own Nickelodeon show. Bynes' movies have been few and far between--Big Fat Liar with the mysteriously missing Frankie Nunez, What A Girl Wants and last year's gender-bending comedy She's the Man, both which made over $30 million. (Bynes also appeared in the insanely popular hit movie-musical Hairspray, which has grossed over $100 million.) What's impressive is that Bynes has been able to avoid the downfall of many 'tween stars like Lindsay Lohan, Hillary Duff, Mandy Moore and others, maybe by limiting the number of movies she did or finding better material, although it doesn't seem like Sydney White is really being promoted very highly by Universal, who have already made so much money on Knocked Up and The Bourne Ultimatum that they probably don't feel the need to put too much effort into this one. The movie has been promoted mostly through the popular MySpace, which should keep it from completely tanking, but I expect that I'll underestimate this movie just like I estimated Bynes' She's the Man, since she obviously has a silent but faithful audience who don't really spend much time in my social circles.

Projections: $6 to 8 million opening weekend; $20 million total.
COMPARISONS

Eastern Promises (Focus)
Starring Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Vincent Cassel, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Sinead Cusack, Donald Sumpter, Jerzy Skolimowski
Directed by David Cronenberg (A History of Violence, Scanners, Dead Ringers, The Fly, Existenz, and many more); Written by Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things, Amazing Grace)
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Rated R
Tagline: "Every sin leaves a mark."
Plot Summary: A British midwife (Naomi Watts) gets caught up in the world of the Russian mob when the diary belonging to a teen mother who died in childbirth takes her into the world of Nikolai Luzhin (Viggo Mortensen), the driver for a high-profile businessmen (Armin Mueller-Stahl) involved in a lot of criminal activities.
Why I Should See It: Cronenberg continues to be one of our generation's finest and most underrated filmmakers, and Viggo Mortensen delivers another strong performance.
Why Not: The one big fight sequence features Viggo Mortensen completely nude, so guys who might normally like a violent knife fight might get confused whether to enjoy it or not.

My Review from the Toronto International Film Festival

After a strong opening last week--averaging over $36,000 per theatre in 15 theatres--and a prestigious Audience Choice win at the Toronto Film Festival, David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises will expand into over 1,300 theatres this weekend, following almost exactly the same release pattern as his previous movie A History of Violence in 2005. The crime-thriller also reteams him with that film's star Viggo Mortensen, this time playing a Russian gangster, while Naomi Watts plays a nurse pulled into his violent world. (Incidentally, Mortensen and Watts have a few interesting things in common in regards to their previous films. See if you can guess what they are.) Reviews are mostly good so far, but the follow-up doesn't seem to have nearly as much buzz going into it, nor has it been promoted as strongly except for in the major cities where it played last week, successfully taking business away from Jodie Foster's The Brave One. The rest of the country might not be as open to a thriller about Russian mobsters, and it's not likely to play as well in the South and Midwest as History of Violence did, although it should still bring in some of the audience curious to see what Cronenberg does next. It also faces much tougher competition in its expansion with Resident Evil: Extinction and Good Luck Chuck compared to A History of Violence, which faced Serenity and Jessica Alba's Into the Blue. With that in mind, Eastern Promises will probably be fighting for fifth place against another successful guys' movie, 3:10 to Yuma.

Projections: $5 to 7 million in its expansion weekend and $18 million total.
COMPARISONS

THE CHOSEN ONE:

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Warner Bros.)
Starring Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck, Sam Shepard, Mary-Louise Parker, Paul Schneider, Jeremy Renner, Zooey Deschanel, Sam Rockwell
Written and directed by Andrew Dominik (Chopper)
Genre: Western
Rated R
Plot Summary: When young Robert Ford (Casey Affleck) joins the gang of the legendary Jesse James (Brad Pitt) in order to rob a train, he's able to get that much closer to his idol, but the relationship between the two eventually falls apart leading to… do I even need to say it?

Only Andrew Dominik's second movie after the 2000 Aussie crime-drama Chopper, which introduced the world to Eric Bana, this is his take on the American Western, adapted from Ron Hansen's 1983 novel about the last days of the country's most infamous outlaw. It's a very different than people might expect if they're interested in seeing another Western after 3:10 to Yuma, because there's very little action—a train robbery, a gun fight stand-off—and it's more about the relationship between two very different men, one who is so famous that he's constantly paranoid about everyone around them and one who wants that fame and adulation. I've said a lot about this movie in my review (linked below) but it's a movie that continues to stick with me weeks after seeing it, and I'm hoping I'll get another chance to see it in theatres.

While Brad Pitt is getting the most attention for the movie, including a recent Best Actor win at the Venice Film Festival, it's really Casey Affleck's Robert Ford that leaves such an impact, because he's someone who obviously thinks he deserves more and the way he reacts to ribbing from his older brother (Sam Rockwell in another entertaining performance) really rings true. Sure, the movie is long at 2 and a half hours, but you don't really feel it as you get absorbed into this riveting story, waiting at the edge of your seat for the face-off between James and Ford that's forewarned in the title. And yes, even knowing the outcome doesn't ruin that tension.

The best thing Dominik did though was to hire Roger Deakins as his cinematographer, because he beautifully captures the wilderness of the old West, and there's none of the usual Western cliches, as a lot of it deals with the aftermaths of the train robbery. Incidentally, Deakins also shot Paul Haggis' In the Valley of Elah (expanding this week) and the Coen Brothers' upcoming No Country for Old Men, which involves a similar face-off between two men with the American wilderness as its backdrop, and I wouldn't be too surprised if Deakins is up against himself at the Oscars this year. (After all, the guy has been nominated five times without a win, including for three of the Coen Brothers' movies.)

After playing various festivals to equal rave and confused reviews, Dominik's film will open in limited release, and hopefully, it will get enough interest to expand wider later, because it's really a movie that should be seen on the big screen.

My Review

;b>Also in Limited Release:

The Last Winter (IFC) - Indie horror auteur Larry Fessenden (Habit, Wendigo) returns with a thriller set in Alaska where a group of oil workers are left stranded in the wild after a crew member turns up dead and unforeseen forces start to terrorize them. Ron Perlman stars in this ecological horror film which opens at the IFC Center in New York on Wednesday.

Mini-Review: Alaska proves to be a fertile ground for Larry Fessenden's brand of terror, as he uses the vast open spaces to isolate the characters in a way not unlike John Carpenter's "The Thing," combining gruesome deaths and chills with a strong message about global warming and how the earth is fighting back against man's desire to plum its resources. On the one hand, the film is a dialogue-heavy character drama driven by strong performances from Ron Perlman as the oil foreman, James le Gros as an environmentalist studying the changes facing the Arctic and Connie Britton caught in between, causing the conflict between the men to escalate. It's interesting to see this type of love triangle within a horror setting, though at times, it allows for a bit too much melodrama. On the other hand, it often turns into an extremely creepy agoraphobic horror film that keeps you on edge, since you're never quite sure what is going on. Certain aspects of the film prove to be a logical extension from Fessenden's last movie "Wendigo" but it's a far slicker and better-looking film due to an obviously bigger budget than his previous three films. The sweeping crane shots across the Alaskan plateau is somewhat surprising in that sense, but so is a number of impressive set pieces. It ends on a suitably daunting, almost apocalyptic, note that's likely to have an impact on anyone who still thinks global warming isn't a problem that needs to be addressed. Clearly, "The Last Winter" is Fessenden's best film and a huge turning point for him as a filmmaker, promising even stronger work to come. Rating: 8/10

Interview with Larry Fessenden

Ironically, Alaska is also the setting for…

Into the Wild (Paramount Vantage) – Emil Hirsch stars in Sean Penn's adaptation of the Jon Krakauer novel about Christopher McCandless, a Virginia college graduate who gave up his worldly possessions to trek across the country, ultimately ending up alone in the wilderness of Alaska. Along the way, he meets all sorts of strange characters including ones played by Catherine Keener, Vince Vaughn and Kristen Stewart. It opens in New York and L.A. this weekend.

Mini-Review: What might be disregarded as a veiled remake of "Grizzly Adams" (or "Grizzly Man" for that matter) is a surprisingly artsy film from Sean Penn, combining strong character drama with gorgeous outdoor nature shots that would make Werner Herzog jealous. What's really striking is the mature performance by Emil Hirsch, whose boyish charm often tended to detract from the credibility of his roles, but he shows vast amounts of growth as this care-free character goes through an amazing transformation over the course of the movie to the point where he's almost unrecognizable by the end. "Into the Wild" is much more than just a coming-of-age film, because it's set in the tableau of a man vs. nature story in its purest form. Although most of the focus and the strength of the film lies directly on Hirsch's shoulders, he has a lot of support in the form of Vince Vaughn in a small but entertaining role, the always great Catherine Keener and Hal Holbrook giving a stirring performance as a lonely elderly man who really takes to Christopher. It's also nice to see Hirsch reunited with Jena Malone from both their early days, with her playing his sister this time, who also happens to narrate much of the film. Granted, the movie is just way too long and could have easily been trimmed by a good half hour by cutting out some of the more esoteric encounters on the road, but this is a powerful portrait of Christopher McCandless due to the way Penn combines gorgeous images of the Alaskan wilderness with powerful music and songs by Michael Brook and Eddie Vedder. Fans of Krakauer's novel and nature films should be suitably impressed with what Penn has done with the material, as "Into the Wild" turns a new corner in the actor's career as a filmmaker. Rating: 7.5/10

The Jane Austen Book Club (Sony Classics) - Robin Swicord, writer of Memoirs of a Geisha, makes her directorial debut with this adaptation of Karen Joy Fowler's bestselling novel about a group of women and a young single guy (Hugh Dancy) who get together every month to discuss the works of Jane Austen and the problems in their lives. With an ensemble cast that includes Emily Blunt, Maria Bello, Amy Brenneman, Maggie Grace and Jimmie Smits, it opens in select cities on Friday.

Mini-Review: A decent cast and a generally well-directed film is marred by the silliness of its hard-to-believe attempt to convince viewers that the power of Jane Austen's writing can cure all ills. Setting aside the fact that this is essentially another men-not-need-apply female-friendly movie on par with "The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" i.e. none of the women deserve the insensitive cads they're with, the film features fine performances from talented actresses like Emily Blunt--playing against type as the introverted Prudie--Mario Bello and Amy Brenneman. Maggie Grace isn't quite as strong as an adventurous lesbian, but Hugh Dancy tends to be the film's saving grace as a sci-fi geek who stumbles onto the club and discovers Jane Austen while getting romantically entangled with the female members of the group. Essentially, his Grigg is meant to act as the guy's view into the world of Jane Austen, but it doesn't hurt that--unlike most sci-fi geeks--he's easy on the eyes, which makes it easier to believe that the women might be ga-ga over him. Even so, the film's insistent claim that Jane Austen can bring dysfunctional couples together and cure all their woes is so incredible that it's hard not to smirk through most of the last act. As might be expected, fans of Jane Austen or Fowler's novel might be able to forgive the bland premise and writing, but others (i.e. men) might want to give this one a wide berth. After sitting through so much obvious, overly-cute romanticism, half of me hoped it would end with someone saying, "Maybe we shouldn't form a Jane Austen Book Club after all", and then I'd magically get the time I lost watching this returned to me. That would have been a much better happy ending. Rating: 6/10

The Beauty Remains (Emerging Pictures) - This Chinese Cinderella story from Ann Hu follows two sisters reunited on the eve of the Communist takeover of China in 1948, as the one considered an illegitimate black sheep (Zhou Xun) must work as a maid to her spoiled half-sister (Vivan Wu) in order to fulfill their father's will. It opens at the Cinema Village in New York on Wednesday.
Mini-Review (Coming Soon!)

The Man of My Life (Strand Releasing) - Zabou Breitman's drama set in the French Provencale countryside is about a man whose marriage is tested when he forms a bond with the gay man who moves in next door. It opens at New York's Quad Cinemas on Friday.

Randy and the Mob (Capricorn) - Ray McKinnon writes, directs and stars in this Southern comedy about Randy Pearson, an Atlanta man trying to keep his business afloat who gets into trouble with the mob because of a financial debt. McKinnon also plays his own gay twin brother, joined by Walton Goggins from "The Shield," and the two of them will be kicking off a tour through the South for the movie which won the Audience Award at this year's Nashville Film Festival, starting with Atlanta, Georgia on Friday.

Next week, September ends with Peter Berg's Mid-East thriller The Kingdom, starring Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner, and exactly four years after he teamed with Berg for The Rundown, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson takes his turn at suffering a Disney kid movie with The Game Plan. Robert Benton's latest drama Feast of Love, starring Morgan Freeman and Greg Kinnear, also opens.