There have only been a few times, maybe less than six, in the last few years when two movies opened with more than $30 million each, and only twice where two movies opened with more than $40 million. In both those cases, the computer animated family film won the weekend, but this time, the combination of star power, director and genre might combine to allow American Gangster to remain in the top spot come Sunday even if Bee Movie does more business over the weekend.

With two movies set to bring in close to $80 million or more, that doesn't leave much room for returning or other new movies, which is bad for Martian Child (New Line), starring John Cusack, which is likely to take up a distant rear somewhere amidst the returning movies, many of which should be giving up theatres and crashing to make way for the Titanic Twosome.

This Week's Predictions -

1. American Gangster (Universal) - $42.4 million N/A

2. Bee Movie (DreamWorks/Paramount) - $38.7 million N/A

3. Saw IV (Lionsgate) - $14.0 million -56%

4. Dan in Real Life (Disney/Touchstone) - $7.4 million -38%

5. Martian Child (New Line) - $5.3 million N/A

6. The Game Plan (Disney) - $3.5 million -43%

7. 30 Days of Night (Sony) - $3.2 million -52%

8. Michael Clayton (Warner Bros.) - $3.1 million -37%

9. Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? (Lionsgate) - $2.9 million -48%

10. Gone Baby Gone (Miramax) - $2.4 million -38%

Last year, Sacha Baron Cohen's raunchy comedy Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan defied all the odds and expectations, taking the top spot with $26.5 million, which usually wouldn't be too impressive if not for the fact that it opened in just 837 theatres, averaging $31.6 thousand, the highest amount for a wide release in less than a thousand theatres and in the Top 3 highest per theatre averages for a wide release ever. And that was with an R-rating, too! Two movies competed for family audiences with Disney's The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause taking on DreamWorks' latest animated movie Flushed Away, done with Aardman Studios. The former came out on top for 2nd place with $19.5 million, just edging out the animated movie with $18.8 million, neither of them finding the success of their predecessors and Flushed Away falling into territory closer to 2005's Wallace & Gromit - The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. The top 10 grossed just under $109 million, an amount that could be bested if both new movies do as well as expected.

American Gangster (Universal)
Starring Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Josh Brolin, Armand Assante, RZA, John Ortiz, John Hawkes, Ted Levine, Common
Directed by Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Hannibal, Kingdom of Heaven and many more); Written by Steve Zaillian (All the King's Men)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Rated R
Plot Summary: In the late ‘70s, Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington) ran the drug trade in Harlem, quickly becoming the city's biggest druglord by importing heroin from Vietnam and selling it at a huge profit. Trying to put an end to the amount of drug-related deaths, detective Richie Roberts (Russell Crowe) led a specially-assembled task force to find their source, but what they find is not what they expected.

Review

Interview with Ridley Scott

Interview with Denzel and Russell

Once in a while, an idea comes along that's such a slam-dunk sure thing that one wonders why it hasn't happened before. This one is based on the real life crime story of a Harlem legend who became one of the first black druglords in a business run by other ethnicities, and it's one of those projects that seems like such a no-brainer that you might wonder why it's taken so long to get it made. It's certainly a question that will be asked after Ridley Scott's crime drama, which pits Oscar winning actors Denzel Washington against Russell Crowe for the first time since their 1995 sci-fi thriller Virtuosity, does so well this coming weekend. It has taken many years and incarnations to finally get American Gangster made, at one point being a movie helmed by Antoine Fuqua called "Tru Blu," until producer Brian Grazer finally found the perfect trio to bring Frank Lucas' story to life.

Aside from the sci-fi noir of Blade Runner and maybe 2004's Matchstick Men, this is Ridley Scott's first foray into crime-drama, and it couldn't come at a more opportune time going by the success of Martin Scorsese's The Departed last year. Even though Scott has been making movies for 30 years, his career peaked with the back-to-back hits Gladiator, Hannibal (the hugely successful sequel to The Silence of the Lambs) and the war movie Black Hawk Down between 2000 and 2002, before things settled down with a few smaller more-character driven films. For his first foray into true crime drama, he got the help of the real Frank Lucas and Richie Roberts (who actually became friends after the incidents in the movie) and hit the streets of New York to make this epic film with two strong dramatic actors.

Not surprisingly, Scott's Oscar-winning Gladiator star Russell Crowe has had a similar career path, and American Gangster is his third movie with the director following last year's mega-flop A Good Year, but in between Crowe had a hit with Ron Howard's A Beautiful Mind, the mildly disappointing follow-up Cinderella Man (both produced by Grazer), and the seafaring epic Master and Commander. Last year's reteaming with Ridley Scott was such a huge flop that some felt that Crowe's run as a box office star was over, but just last month, Crowe teamed with Christian Bale in James Mangold's remake of 3:10 to Yuma, which has done decent business for the season and genre, proving that Crowe's career is back on the upswing, and his character in American Gangster, police detective Richie Roberts, is another one that should appeal to his fans.

Denzel Washington has worked regularly with Ridley's brother Tony Scott--three times starting with Crimson Tide in 1995 (ironically the same year he appeared in Virtuosity with Crowe), followed by Man on Fire and Déjà Vu in 2004 and 2006--but this is the first time he's working with Ridley, who is a far more respected and consistent director. In the same years that Scott and Crowe have risen and crashed, Washington's career continues to be on the rise, having starred in many movies that have opened over $20 million starting with Remembering the Titans in 2000. Denzel has always had a strong following among African-American audiences in large cities, but over the last ten years, he's expanded that audience greatly, finding a much wider audience with movies like Remember the Titans, Training Day, Man on Fire and 2006's Inside Man, the latter teaming him with Jodie Foster to become his highest opening and grossing movie. He is obviously a strong and proven box office draw, although he's only had two movies cross the $100 mark, Meet the Titans and 1993's The Pelican Brief, which probably had more to do with his co-star Julia Roberts. Putting him in the shoes of gangster Frank Lucas will certainly appeal to those who liked him in his Oscar-winning role as a bad cop in Training Day, his first teaming with Antoine Fuqua, who was supposed to direct this film under its previous guise, and some might consider Lucas the protagonist for the things he did for his family and the people of Harlem. However the film does, Washington will be sitting pretty having collected a $40 million paycheck, once for the movie that didn't happen and then another for this one.

Scott has also assembled an amazing supporting cast including rappers Common and RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan, the ever-present Chiwetel Ejiofor, who also appeared in Inside Man with Denzel, the ever-present Cuba Gooding Jr. who plays Nicky Barnes (subject of last week's doc Mr. Untouchable) and the always-great Josh Brolin, who is having a fantastic year between this, Grindhouse and the upcoming Coen Brothers' movie No County for Old Men. More importantly, Scott got the much-loved black actress and Harlem mainstay Ruby Dee to play Denzel's mother, which might be considered an amazing coup.

Brian Grazer's Imagine Entertainment has had many huge hits over the years, but this one might be more in line with their Eminem biopic 8 Mile which was a similar event movie among young urban males when it opened in early November 2002. The drug aspect of the movie follows movies like Brian de Palma's Scarface, the late Ted Demme's Blow and Joe Carnahan's second movie Narc, but the combination of Scott and his two stars should help the movie bring in a much larger audience, at least on par with The Departed. Except that Scorsese's movie only had one black character played by Anthony Anderson, so it wouldn't be nearly as much of a draw for young urban males as American Gangster, and let's face it, they haven't had a strong movie with an African-American lead in many months. The movie will obviously be the first choice among guys from 15 to 50 this weekend, although a good amount of women (of all colors) might be interested in seeing it for its good-looking male stars as well.

The movie has been screening for weeks for critics and other audiences who have mostly been raving about how great the movie is, a few journalists claiming that it's a Best Picture contender, comparing it to last year's The Departed which finally won director Martin Scorsese his much-deserved Oscar. The marketing of the movie has been exceptional with simple posters that just show the main leads or the words "American Gangster" on a black poster with a splash of red blood, and Universal has also been able to tie it into the popular BET series of the same name, which will run a profile on Frank Lucas this week, mere days before the opening of the movie. Rapper Jay-Z was so inspired after seeing the movie that he made a mix tape album of music inspired by the movie. The only drawbacks might be the movie's R-rating that might prevent some of its potential teen male audience from seeing it and its 2 and a half hour running time, which might minimize the number of screenings per print, but as we've seen way too many times in the past, neither of these factors will have that much of an effect if people really want to see it.

Just over a week before opening, a screener of the movie was leaked onto the internet, making it far easier for those who have been waiting to see the movie to see it for free by merely downloading it, and the piracy quickly got out of control as it was made into bootleg DVDs that have been circulated rather extensively. This has been happening a lot this year, first with Eli Roth's Hostel: Part II then Michael Moore's documentary SiCKo and most recently with Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween. Surprisingly, the last of those was hurt the least--if one could actually prove that it hurt any of them--although it's certainly disconcerting to know that some of the people who may have rushed to buy tickets opening weekend might just download it for free. In this case, it's probably not going to hurt the movie that much, firstly because not everyone who wants to see the movie will have the means to do so, plus this has already been pegged as a must-see event movie that a lot of people will want to see in a theatre to get the audience experience, something that might not be the case with a documentary or a weaker horror sequel. The demand for the movie might have allowed for an opening weekend over $50 million but the piracy will probably knock that back a bit but won't completely kill the movie's opening.

While American Gangster won't have much competition for adult males in the coming weeks, it's definitely the kind of movie that would do huge amounts of business opening weekend as a lot of people rush out to see it, but it might not have quite the staying power of The Departed. Only time will tell if the internet leak can really hurt the movie, especially when it's the kind of thing that hits the street on DVD by opening day anyway, but it should prove to be a solid hit to kick off the holiday season.

Why I Should See It: Pitting Denzel Washington against Russell Crowe should create a new dynamic in the crime genre, especially with a master filmmaker like Ridley Scott at the helm.
Why Not: The movie's two and a half hours long and the two actors only meet in the last ten minutes in a similar way as the disappointing summer action movie War.
Projections: $40 to 44 million opening weekend on its way to around $120 million total.

COMPARISONS

Bee Movie (DreamWorks/Paramount)
Starring (the voices of) Jerry Seinfeld, Renée Zellweger, Matthew Broderick, John Goodman, Chris Rock, Kathy Bates, Alan Arkin, Patrick Warburton
Directed by Simon J. Smith (Shrek 4-D), Steve Hickner (Prince of Egypt); Written by Jerry Seinfeld (really, do you need me to tell you who he is?), Spike Feresten
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family
Rated PG
Tagline: "Born to BEE wild." (I've watched enough "Seinfeld" to know this couldn't have been one of his ideas.)
Plot Summary: After graduating from college, a bee named Barry B. Benson (voiced by Jerry Seinfeld) has difficulty with the fact that his only career choice is as a honey-gatherer so he ventures outside of the hive and meets a New York City florist named Vanessa (Renée Zellweger) who tells him how humans take and eat the honey made by bees. Barry realizes that his mission in life is to stop the theft of honey by whatever means possible.

Mini-Review: The thought of Seinfeld teaming with DreamWorks Animation should be a promising venture but this flimsy premise offers very few solid laughs, instead combining a scant number of cute gags with a lot of silly bee puns that get old pretty fast. As is usual, the animation looks great, offering flashy visuals that move at a frenetic pace, but it's lacking the characterization and storytelling that has made past DreamWorks efforts work so well. There are a few exceptions like John Goodman as a blustery Good Ol' Boy Southern lawyer who faces Barry in court (that's how silly things get), and a cameo by Ray Liotta is also worth a few laughs, but Seinfeld himself shows very little range, essentially yelling a lot, while Matthew Broderick does his usual nervous friend schtick from "The Producers" and Zellweger phones this one in without much effort. Sadly, one can't help but think that Seinfeld has completely dumbed-down his normal clever wit in order to appeal to younger kids, which may be fine, since they're probably the only ones who might possibly enjoy this. Rating: 6/10

Nine years ago, comedian Jerry Seinfeld concluded his nine-year run on his hugely successful NBC sitcom "Seinfeld" and took a much-needed vacation, only appearing very few times since then for things like the DVD commentaries, the documentary Comedian and more recently, for an appearance on NBC's hit sitcom "30 Rock." Surprisingly, he never has gone the route of his comedian peers by going from stand-up to TV, then making the jump to movies. Surely, Seinfeld could do some fun stuff in movies if given the chance, but instead of trying to make the transition to full-on actor, he decided that for his first feature film, he would make something that the whole family could enjoy, providing his humor and voice for a computer animated movie for the whole family. Despite never having done movies, Seinfeld's success on television in a show that's been kept alive by its insanely long-running syndication could help the movie in a similar way as Fox's The Simpsons Movie, which opened way bigger than anyone could have possibly expected, mainly since the millions who watched the show flocked to theatres opening weekend.

Wisely, Seinfeld has teamed with Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks who have had an insane amount of animated success with the "Shrek" franchise, which kicked off in 2001 and has grossed over $2 billion worldwide between three movies. This past summer, Shrek the Third opened bigger than the previous two chapters with $121 million, making it the third biggest opening movie of all time, but it ended up making less than the previous chapter. Still, it certainly proves that DreamWorks knows how to market animated movies like this one, and much of that success comes from putting the right star actors in the right animated roles, and having Seinfeld to promote this one must seem like a goldmine.

Joining Seinfeld in the voice cast is Renée Zellweger, who last appeared in the Weinstein Company's biopic Miss Potter which never got a wide release after a failed Oscar campaign, but she has voice experience having provided hers for DreamWorks' Shark Tale three years ago. Seinfeld's good friend Chris Rock also provided his voice to the movie, following his involvement with DreamWorks' Madagascar, which sees a sequel next year. Other actors who have done a lot of voice work in the past include John Goodman (Pixar's Monsters. Inc.), Patrick Warburton ("The Tick" and way too many to mention), Kathy Bates (Charlotte's Web) and others, and while DreamWorks is known for loading their animated movies with star power in the past, this is clearly Seinfeld's show and it's his involvement that will get people interested in seeing it more than anything else.

In recent years, the attraction of computer-animated movies has waned a bit, as seen by Pixar's latest Ratatouille which took longer to get to $200 million than many of their previous movies. Sony Animation has been hit the worst with both of their movies, Open Season and Surf's Up failing to deliver the type of box office we've seen from movies from Pixar and DreamWorks. On top of that, there's been many computer animated movies featuring insects starting with DreamWorks' early attempt Antz, followed a month later by Pixar's A Bug's Life, which was far more successful. Neither movie could have helped Warner Bros. and Tom Hanks when they released the star-studded The Ant Bully, which out-and-out bombed last summer. Last year this weekend, DreamWorks released Flushed Away, their third movie with Aardman Studios about rats in the London sewers, but it also was a disappointment compared to past efforts, which was worsened when George Miller's Happy Feet grossed over $40 million the following weekend against the James Bond relaunch Casino Royale. That would be only one of two weekends where two new movies opened with over $35 million, the previous time being when DreamWorks' Madagascar took on Adam Sandler's The Longest Yard over Memorial Day weekend. In both cases, the animated movie won, but this year, it's more likely that the adult-oriented gangster film American Gangster will win the weekend merely because it will be the first choice for guys who make up such a large portion of the moviegoing audience who view it as a must-see event movie, which isn't necessarily the case with Bee Movie. (Then again, Bee Movie is likely to be an hour shorter which will allow far more screenings per print.)

DreamWorks has been promoting the hell out of the movie for the last year or more, setting up high-profile press events at the Cannes Film Festival and in cities around the nation, as well as airing the funny "Bee Movie TV Juniors" during NBC's Thursday night comedy line-up, of which "Seinfeld" used to play a key component. (It's kind of odd since NBC-Universal has their own big movie to release this weekend, so why are they advertising the competition, eh?) DreamWorks has also gotten Barry the Bee into a number of McDonald's commercials as well as all sorts of other tie-ins, which can only help raise awareness that Seinfeld is back and generate interest among the adults that either will bring their kids or go see it on their own. With the only strong family movie in theaters being The Rock's The Game Play (and that's saying much), there's a big vacuum and desire for quality animated fare like only DreamWorks and Disney have been able to deliver.

Unfortunately, it has a lot more competition for the family market in the coming weeks leading up to the Thanksgiving weekend where it should pick up some slack, but one has to wonder if the movie is strong enough to sustain family audiences like other animated movies, especially if so much of its audience will be Seinfeld's 20 - 40 something fans.

Why I Should See It: If you like Seinfeld's humor, there's likely to be a lot of what made his show funny sprinkled amidst the kid stuff.
Why Not: Yeah, but let's face it. This is a kids' movie from DreamWorks, so surely, we can't expect any sort of contest to see who can go without buzzing the longest.
Projections: $36 to 40 million opening weekend and $135 million total.

COMPARISONS

Martian Child (New Line)
Starring John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Joan Cusack, Bobby Coleman
Directed by Menno Meyjes (Max); Written by Seth Bass and John Tolins
Genre: Family, Drama
Rated PG
Tagline: "The story of a man becoming a father...and a boy becoming a son."
Plot Summary: After the death of his fiancee, a science fiction writer (John Cusack) looks into adopting a strange boy named Dennis (Bobby Coleman), who claims that he's from Mars.

Mini-Review: Fans of John Cusack should be able to appreciate him in the role of adoptive father in a sweet but predictable movie that coasts along from one touching moment to the next, though it takes some time to adjust to Bobby Coleman's annoying delivery as the title character, a generally monotone and flat performance. You do eventually warm up to their relationship and the strange premise, as it builds to a teary moment that would have made a great ending, but then it continues with a silly montage and completely falters as it continues to pile on plot twists, each one resolving in an overly sentimental way. The movie isn't all serious though, and it has a lot of fun by offering supporting characters like John's real life sister Joan Cusack as his sister and Amanda Peet as a close friend with romantic chemistry. (Bringing in Anjelica Huston, Cusack's co-star from "The Grifters" was also a really nice touch for long-time fans.) We never do find out whether Dennis is from Mars, but after a certain amount of time, you really don't care anymore. The movie isn't great and it isn't terrible, but it requires a certain ability to suspend disbelief and to endure schmaltz in order to fully appreciate it. Really though, the only thing that saves it from being a Lifetime movie is Cusack's ever-present charm and personality. Rating: 6/10

It probably won't be too big a surprise when this small character drama barely makes a mark at the box office against the two powerhouses, but one can't blame its star John Cusack, who has had a healthy 20-year career starring in a variety of mid-range hits, the last one being the summer's sleeper horror flick 1408 based on Stephen King's novella, which grossed $72 million after opening with over $20 million. It would be Cusack's biggest opening since teaming with Julia Roberts for America's Sweethearts and his third biggest opening after the action movie Con Air. Unfortunately, he's had a rather erratic career, having the most success with romantic comedies like Serendipity and High Fidelity, but also having some big bombs like The Ice Harvest and Max. Oddly, it's the director of the latter movie, Menno Meyjes, who helms this PG drama from New Line, which is based on an award-winning autobiographical novel by sci-fi writer David Gerrold.

Surprisingly, family films are new territory for Cusack, if you don't include his voice work for Disney's animated Anastasia, and he's gone for something a bit more intelligent than Ice Cube's Are We There Yet? or Disney's recent hit The Game Plan. Martian Child isn't really a comedy as much as a character drama, which means it's going to be a tougher sell that relies heavily on Cusack, which isn't great since his career has been so erratic of late. In some ways, the movie is in the same vein as Billy Bob Thornton's The Astronaut Farmer earlier this year or the Anthony Hopkins vehicle Hearts in Atlantis a couple years back, but at least that had the help of being based on a popular Stephen King story.

Also appearing in the movie is actress Amanda Peet, who starred with Cusack in James Mangold's thriller Identity, and Oliver Platt, who appeared in the bomb The Ice Harvest with Cusack and Thornton. Neither of those co-stars will have much of an effect on people seeing it nor will the fact that Cusack is joined by his sister Joan--the fourth time the two of them have appeared in the same movie--and that there's a small appearance by Anjelica Huston, who appeared with Cusack in Steven Frears' The Grifters.

What's worrying is that this movie has been on New Line's release schedule for nearly two years but was plagued by production problems when director Menno Meyjes went off to shoot his matador biopic Manolette with Adrien Brody, forcing the producers to finish the movie on their own after delaying the movie for nearly a year. It's finally being released this weekend, but it's a bittersweet release that has a lot of baggage involved, much like the New Line comedy Mr. Woodcock, which faced similar issues, being released over a year after its original planned release date. Surprisingly, it ended up doing relatively well, grossing $20 million.

Although it would seem like a fool's errand releasing a family movie against DreamWorks' Bee Movie, this movie looks like it will be a different animal, one that's likely to appeal to Cusack's female fans from 20 to 40 years old more than it would be seen as a movie to take young kids to see. Presumably, a good portion of the audience will be those who read Gerrold's book, which could bring in an even older audience, but it's definitely going to skew more female than male by the nature of the movie's subject matter. It probably won't do that much theatrical business--it seems like something that one can easily see on DVD or cable--but there might be a small percentage of moviegoers who won't find what they want in the two other new movies. Still, New Line is selling the movie for what it is, rather than trying to sell it like a straight kids' comedy--it's kind of odd seeing truth in advertising for once-- but considering New Line's track record with family flops like Hoot and How to Eat Fried Worms, it's not looking good.

Why I Should See It: John Cusack playing a father figure is a new role for him, and it's actually one that suits him quite well.
Why Not: As tends to be the case with this kind of thing, if audiences find the kid too weird or annoying, it just doesn't work.
Projections: $4 to 6 million opening weekend and roughly $18 million total, maybe slightly less.

COMPARISONS

THE CHOSEN ONE:

Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten (IFC Films)
Starring Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, Bono, Steve Buscemi, John Cusack, Johnny Depp, Matt Dillon, Peter Cushing, Martin Scorsese
Directed by Julien Temple (The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, The Filth and the Fury, Earth Girls are Easy)
Genre: Documentary, Music
Plot Summary: Legendary filmmaker Julien Temple pays tribute to his good friend, former Clash frontman Joe Strummer, in this comprehensive about his life and music.

Interview with Julien Temple

Anyone whose read this column for any extended amount of time knows how much I love music and rock documentaries and this new one from Julien Temple, the filmmaker who was all over MTV in the '80s with videos for David Bowie and Janet Jackson, is a personal look at his good friend Joe Strummer, former frontman for the British punk band The Clash who died suddenly in 2002, just as he was starting to find a new audience with his band The Mescaleros. It's a very touching and artistic film that covers a lot of Strummer's early life before The Clash, but it also includes many tributes from those who knew or worked with him. Anyone who's ever been a fan of the Clash or Strummer's music should be fascinated by this comprehensive look at his eccentric life and while it's not a perfect documentary by any means--the lack of names next to those talking and the annoying campfire scenes that aren't explained for an hour are somewhat vexing--but it's certainly a noble effort from a filmmaker who was there in the early days of The Clash. And let's face it, it's kind of fun seeing actors like Johnny Depp, John Cusack, Matt Dillon and Steve Buscemi talking about Strummer and the influence he had on them, even though some might scratch their heads about what they're doing in the movie. Fortunately, they're countered with an amazing interview with former Clash member Mick Jones and of course, a wide array of music and images of Strummer, The Clash and the music that inspired him. The doc opens exclusively at the IFC Center in New York and the Landmark Nuart in L.A. on Friday with an expansion to other cities next weekend.

Also in Limited Release:

A Broken Sole (Shoemaker/Broken Sole) - This drama takes a look at six disparate characters in New York who are brought together by a shoemaker's shop on the fateful day of September 11, 2001. It opens in New York at the Quad Cinemas on Friday, as does…

Fat Girls (Regency Releasing/Here! Films) - Ash Christian wrote, directed and stars as a gay teenager trying to get through high school along with his fellow outcast Sabrina (Ashley Fink) in this dark high school comedy that also stars Jonathan Canoutte ("Tarnation") in his dramatic debut. It opens in New York and L.A. this weekend.

Darfur Now (Warner Independent) - Don Cheadle co-produced this documentary by Theodore Braun that follows attempts by six individuals to draw attention to and help the situation in Darfur, Sudan where poor refugee Muslims have faced genocide at the hands of government-commissioned assassins. It opens in New York and L.A.

Mini-Review: After seeing the disappointing "The Devil Came on Horseback," I was hoping this would be the definitive documentary about the situation in Darfur, but it has many of the same problems in that instead of focusing only on the people and situation, it splits its time between six people trying to make a difference without offering any real solutions or resolution. The part of the movie that follows Don Cheadle and his pal George Clooney on their own efforts to raise awareness is entertaining, but that's just one-sixth of the film, and some of the others featured aren't nearly as interesting with far too much superfluous material that has little to do with the problems in the region. Even the moments where survivors tell their tragic stories of the attacks lose some impact because there's so much of it that seems like they're reading a script or being directed to say things in a certain way, making it less real and convincing as it tries to drive home its point. (One scene of women chopping at a tree and talking about how they must do that because they can't go out in fear of being raped seems like it was done merely for the cameras.) Ultimately, "Darfur Now" doesn't accomplish what it sets out to do, which is to pass on information while inspiring those seeing the movie to get more involved in making a difference. Even worse, it seems like the producers of the doc are more concerned with winning awards than being effective, made obvious by the inclusion of an original song by Stevie Wonder in the closing credits, maybe in hopes of pulling a similar coup at the Oscars as last year's "An Inconvenient Truth." Frankly, there's a way to get a message across and this sort of talking heads doc by numbers isn't it. Rating: 6/10

Mama, I Want to Sing! (Fox Faith) - Charles Randolph-Wright (Preaching to the Choir) directs this musical drama about a preacher's daughter who rises from the church choir to international fame.

Next week, the month of November continues with another big family movie as Vince Vaughn takes on the role of Fred Claus (Warner Bros.), brother to Paul Giamatti's Santa Claus, in the season's first true holiday movie. Robert Redford, Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep star in the political thriller Lions for Lambs (MGM) and Alexandre Aja (High Tension) produces the horror-thriller P2 (Summit).