Also, Warner Bros. is sneaking their musical fantasy August Rush starring Freddie Highmore and Robin Williams this weekend on Saturday night in hopes of drumming up some word-of-mouth for its opening next week. The surprise indie hit Bella (Roadside Attractions), which has made nearly $4 million, will expand into 400 theatres, although that probably won't be enough to get it into the Top 10, as it adds another million to that.

This Week's Predictions -

(Numbers updated on November 15)

1. Beowulf (Paramount) - $34.3 million N/A (up 1.1 million)

2. Bee Movie (DreamWorks/Paramount) - $17.3 million -34% (up .3 million)

3. American Gangster (Universal) - $13.6 million -44% (up .1 million)

4. Fred Claus (Warner Bros.) - $11.5 million -38%

5. Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (Fox Walden) - $11.3 million N/A

6. Dan in Real Life (Disney/Touchstone) - $4.3 million - 28% (up .1 million)

7. Lions for Lambs (United Artists/MGM) - $3.7 million -45%

8. No Country for Old Men (Miramax) - $2.9 million 258% (up .1 million)

9. Love in the Time of Cholera (New Line) - $2.6 million N/A

10. Saw IV (Lionsgate) - $2.3 million -50% (down .2 million)

Last year, the weekend before Thanksgiving saw the release of two big movies competing for the top spot, but when the dust settled, George Miller's animated penguin musical Happy Feet had narrowly defeated the 21st James Bond movie Casino Royale with $41.5 million to Royale's $40.83 million, a margin of less than a million. The two movies killed off most of the returning movies, which all dropped between 48 and 60%, allowing After Dark's first Horrorfest to squeak into the Top 10 with just $2.3 million in 488 theatres. The Top 10 grossed $129 million, which might be a hard amount for this weekend's selections to match with such weak offerings, so one can expect the box office to be down once again.

Beowulf (Paramount)
Starring (the voices and performances of) Ray Winstone, Angelina Jolie, Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, Brendan Gleeson, Dominic Keating, Alison Lohman, Robin Wright Penn
Directed by Robert Zemeckis (The Polar Express, Cast Away, Forest Gump); Written by Neil Gaiman (MirrorMask, Princess Monomoke, upcoming Coraline), Roger Avary (Silent Hill, The Rules of Attraction, Pulp Fiction, Killing Zoe)
Genre: Action, Adventure, Animated
Rated PG-13
Tagline: "Pride is the curse."
Plot Summary: The classic Old English epic poem from 700 AD is brought to "life" (kind of) in this animated version of the tale about the Viking warrior Beowulf (voiced and performed by Ray Winstone) who comes to the rescue of a village plagued by a demon named Grendel (Crispin Glover) and incurs the wrath of his seductive mother (Angelina Jolie), who offers him great wealth and riches but then plagues him for the his entire reign as king.

It's been 12 years since Pixar's Toy Story defined what could be done with computer animation in a feature-length setting, and since then, the technology and the craftspeople involved with computer animation has been improving exponentially every year to the point where almost anything and everything can be done in the format. Surprisingly, the one aspect of animation that hasn't quite been captured which still limits the format is how human beings are realized using computer generated animation. Because of this, many recent CG animated movies featuring people like The Incredibles and Meet the Robinsons have gone for cartoony three-dimensional characters rather than realism. The other thing is that animation is still considered first and foremost kids stuff although Pixar and DreamWorks have tried (and mostly succeeded) in creating movies that could be just as much fun for older audiences.

One filmmaker who has tried to change both these things over the last few years is Robert Zemeckis, a director who first became associated with animation when he combined live action and animation in 1988's Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a hugely successful achievement that helped spawn movies like the Looney Tunes movie Space Jam. Six years later, Zemeckis used computers to put Tom Hanks' Forrest Gump into newsreel footage with famous presidents and others, which brought the technology forward even further, and in 2004, he made the full transition to animation director with the holiday epic The Polar Express, starring his frequent collaborator Tom Hanks performing five roles. Last summer, Zemeckis produced the follow-up Monster House using the same performance capture technique, though this time using actual kids to perform the parts and it didn't fare nearly as well. This time, he made Beowulf with more adult audiences in mind as he brings the classic English poem to the big screen in a way that could probably not be done for less than $200 million if it were live action. The story was adapted by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary, two powerhouses from the world of comic books, fantasy and genre films, Gaiman who wrote the graphic novel on which Stardust was based and Avary having recently written the Silent Hill movie.

Using the DreamWorks technique, Zemeckis has filled his movie with many top actors and a bit of star power in hopes of using that to get grown-ups into theatres, much like how Tom Hanks' part in The Polar Express helped get people interested in that movie. In what seem like strange casting considering his rather sizable girth, Zemeckis has British actor Ray Winstone of Sexy Beauty fame in the part of the muscular warrior Beowulf, in other words, he has cast against type realizing that using performance capture, he could take Winstone's performance and superimpose it on the perfectly sculpted CG physique. (A lot of the reasoning for this though is because Beowulf is shown much older in the movie so one needs an actor who can handle both demands.)

The movie's biggest selling point in terms of star power will probably be the performance by sexy Angelina Jolie, as Grendel's mother, a creature who can turn into a seductive female creature who looks not too unlike Jolie herself. This is Jolie's second movie of the year after starring in Michael Winterbottom's A Mighty Heart, but she's generally been very visible this year between the premieres for her movie and Brad Pitt's various festival appearances. At one point, the movie was thought to be R-rated and that her character might be nude or semi-nude but sadly, a desire for younger audiences with a PG-13 rating killed that quickly, much to the consternation of Jolie's many male fans.

Playing the corrupt King Rothgar is the always amazing Anthony Hopkins who could perform the phone book with sensors all over his body and people would go see it. (I'm just kidding, Mr. Zemeckis, please don't adapt the phone book using performance capture!) Oddly, the last time Jolie and Hopkins were in a movie together was in Oliver Stone's Alexander, a similar epic released in November that flopped badly and left a bad taste in many mouths, despite the number of director's cut DVDs that have been released since.

Rounding out the cast is the always great Brendan Gleeson, who most recently has been playing Mad-Eye Moody in the "Harry Potter" movies, but who has a lot of experience with these type of epic movies, having appeared in Wolfgang Peterson's Troy, Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven and the granddaddy of them all, Mel Gibson's Braveheart The beast Grendel is performed by none other than Crispin Glover of Back to the Future and River's Edge fame, which might seem like an odd choice although Glover does bring a certain sympathy to the character that will be necessary. Even so, it will probably be Zemeckis' name and involvement that will be a bigger draw to audiences than his cast considering his impressive body of work that have many fans among older moviegoers.

The subject material picked for his movie might have some scratching their heads since most people will remember the ode on which this was based as some boring thing in Olde English they had to read in high school, but it's being marketed more as an action and effects movie for those who haven't read it. Few people will realize that a lower-budget Icelandic film was released here last year called Beowulf & Grendel starring none other than Gerard Butler from 300 in the title role, and that made absolutely no money. It's obvious that Paramount is hoping to capitalize on the success earlier of this year of 300, even featuring a scene of the character yelling "I am Beowulf!" that hopefully will get the same males pumped up to see the movie in mass. The movie got a big push at the San Diego Comic-Con with promotional footage and a big panel presentation, although a lot of the geek squad have remained skeptical even with a number of teasers and trailers that showed up including a red band one that showed material which would be cut out of a PG-13 version. The PG-13 rating is a double edged sword for sure, because while it will help get the movie teen audiences who might have trouble getting in with an R-rating, it also might annoy older viewers who'll expect the violence and the sexuality of the original story to be softened up.

Either way, this is certainly a daring venture by Zemeckis and Paramount, especially considering how poorly the studio's Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow did when it combined live actors with computer-generated backgrounds over a year before Robert Rodriguez's Sin City and Zack Snyder's 300 proved that it can be done in a way that excites the cynical 20 to 30 year old crowd. The big problem is that you have all CG animated movies like Final Fantasy back in 2000, which left such a bad taste for anyone who thought animation could be done for the over 13 crowd.

Certainly, the technology has improved, but cynical teens and college-age males will probably feel that this looks similarly awkward and two-dimensional. One way they're getting around this is by presenting this epic in 3D and Real-D in about 700 theatres nationwide, something that will make it more interesting to that audience, as will the screenings of the movie in IMAX 3D, something that's greatly helped movies like Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Although it didn't get the 3D treatment, 300 made a lot more money than it might have by being screened in the larger scope of IMAX and there's little question that IMAX 3D will be the first choice for many moviegoers in the cities where it's available. With higher ticket prices and larger theatres, that could jack up the opening weekend of the movie by $5 million or more.

Fortunately, the only real competition for Beowulf's male audience is Ridley Scott's American Gangster in its third weekend, although it's already going to start losing theatres and even more next week when five new movies open in wide release. What might either hurt or help the movie is the fact that they're opening the movie early with preview screenings on Thursday night at 10pm, which might detract somewhat from the Friday numbers, but could help generate buzz and word-of-mouth as well. So far reviews have been generally good, so maybe the problems some might have with the animated format might be ignored once they see the movie, and if it as good as everyone says, this could wind up doing decent business over Thanksgiving despite the influx of new movies.

Why I Should See It: It looks like Zemeckis has created another stunning visual epic, one that will continue the evolution of what can be done with computer animation using performance capture.
Why Not: Hands up who else is disappointed that An-CG-lina Jolie has been covered up to get the movie a PG-13 rating?
Projections: $2 to 3 million on Thursday, another $31 to 34 million over the weekend and close to $100 million or slightly more in total.

COMPARISONS

Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (Fox Walden)
Starring Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, Jason Bateman, Zach Mills
Written and directed by Zach Helm (writer of Stranger Than Fiction)
Genre: Family, Comedy, Fantasy
Rated G
Tagline: "You have to believe it to see it." (Which means if you don't believe it, you don't have to see it?)
Plot Summary: Mr. Magorium (Dustin Hoffman) is the eccentric owner of the world's strangest toy store, Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, who claims to be 243 years old, but he's ready to retire so he passes the store onto his insecure store manager Molly Mahoney (Natalie Portman), who's not sure if she's ready for such a responsibility.

Interview with director Zach Helm (Coming Soon!)

Continuing the run of family holiday movies, here's a bit of an anomaly, being a G-rated family film based on an original that's also the directorial debut of Zach Helm, the award-winning writer of last year's quirky Will Ferrell comedy Stranger Than Fiction. It's a wild and crazy film driven by its visuals much like Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat or Tim Burton's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory a few years back, while also taking cues from classic fairy tales like "Pinocchio" which gives it a good jumping on point for parents and kids.

The main draw for the former might be the two box office stars that Helm cast in his first movie, Natalie Portman and Dustin Hoffman, neither of whom has done many if any family movies. This is definitely a first for Ms. Portman, who has mostly been doing R-rated fare from Zach Braff's Garden State to Mike Nichols' Closer, for which Portman got an Oscar nomination. But more importantly, she was the star of George Lucas' Star Wars prequels, which is probably how most kids will be familiar with Ms. Portman, even though she looks very different in this movie with her short pixie-like haircut. Dustin Hoffman also hasn't done very many family movies, having starred as the title character opposite Robin Williams in the Steven Spielberg produced Hook and provided his distinctive voice for the 2005 Warner Bros. family comedy Racing Stripes. Ironically, Hoffman is playing the same type of wacky character that Robin Williams has played so many times before, whether it was in Toys or Jumanji or Flubber, so this might be Hoffman's attempt at doing something to introduce himself to a much younger audience. Hoffman had one of his biggest hits of his career when he was pitted against Robert De Niro in the 2005 holiday hit Meet the Fockers, which grossed $100 million more than Rain Man and Tootsie, his previous two biggest, and he's generally been appearing in odd movies here and there, like last year's Perfume, not to mention a key role in Helm's Stranger Than Fiction last year. Neither actor really has a movie that compares to this one, though.

What's somewhat strange is that this movie is being released by Walden Media, who have established a reputation for adapting favorite children's books, some to better success than others, and this may be their first movie based on an original idea. While their movies with Disney like The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe and Bridge to Terabithia have been very successful, their collaborations with others studios haven't been and the first release by the newly-initiated Fox Walden imprint, The Seeker: The Dark is Rising, bombed. This time, they started the advertising earlier and have mainly focused on the colorful and magical world of Mr. Magorium, rather than showing much of Hoffman doing his strange affected voice, which might bother adults in the same way they had problems with Mike Myers' Cat in the Hat and Johnny Depp's Willie Wonka (at first). Little kids will certainly be thrilled with the commercials that are full of colorful toys and strange creatures, but even with the two stars, it's doubtful the movie will hold much interest to anyone over 10, particularly parents who might feel this look likes the kind of thing that will be grueling to sit through. The other problem, and what will ultimately keep it from doing as well as other similar family films, is that it doesn't have the name brand recognition of a Dr. Seuss or a Disney which is often more important to parents than anything else.

One aspect of the movie that gives it an advantage over other recent family fare like last week's Fred Claus is that it's rated G (as opposed to PG) which means that parents will be fine bringing their youngest kids to see it—and there are parents in some areas who will ONLY take their kids to G movies. Another thing that might give the movie a slight boost in New York City is if the Broadway stage workers are still on strike, which means that a lot of visiting parents with kids will be looking for something else to do, although there's plenty of other options for that audience including DreamWorks' Bee Movie and Warner Bros.' Fred Claus. Being a holiday-related family film, the movie's more likely to do more business next week over the long Thanksgiving week unless of course the reviews and word-of-mouth are so bad that it loses all its business to Disney's Enchanted or the other choices.

Why I Should See It: How bad can a kids' movie starring Dustin Hoffman and Natalie Portman be?
Why Not: Maybe you should check out the reviews for this one before answering that one.
Projections: $10 to 12 million opening weekend and just under $35 million total.

COMPARISONS

Love in the Time of Cholera (New Line)
Starring Javier Bardem, Giovanna Mezzogiorno, Benjamin Bratt, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Hector Elizondo, Liev Schreiber, Fernanda Motenegro, Laura Harring, John Leguizamo
Directed by Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Mona Lisa Smile, Pushing Tin, Donnie Brasco); Written by Ron Harwood (The Pianist, Oliver Twist, upcoming The Diving Bell and the Butterfly)
Genre: Romance, Drama
Rated R
Tagline: "How long would you wait for love?"
Plot Summary: Rejected by the beautiful Fermina Urbino (Giovanna Mezzogiorno), a young romantic poet and file clerk named Florentino Ariza (Javier Bardem) swears to devote his life’s love to the woman even after she gets married, and he sleeps with 600 other women to try to get over his loss.

Interview with Javier Bardem

Interview with Director Mike Newell

Mini-Review: Having not read the original novel, it’s hard to say how faithfully this movie sticks to it, although the fact that director Mike Newell has assembled such a great cast of talented Spanish actors for a movie that’s almost 100% in English despite taking place (and being filmed) in Colombia is something that’s hard to get past. Still, Newell does an impressive job recreating the turn-of-the-century Columbia and he has two strong leads in Bardem and Mezzogiorno, both whom do a credible job playing two characters across the span of over 50 years. Bardem is especially likeable as the hopeless romantic who turns into an unwitting Casanova while waiting for his lady love, though they might have been better starting with him later in the story, since he’s not as convincing playing someone in their ‘20s, especially when dressed to look like Charlie Chaplin. Over the course of his journey, he meets many women, all played by gorgeous Latina actresses who are more than willing to disrobe, which will be to the delight of any male dragged to see this by their wife or girlfriend, but at times, the movie is in danger of turning into a erotic sex romp, which takes away from some of the more serious aspects of the movie (like the "cholera" that’s going around during this time). What really drives the film besides Bardem’s performance is the excellent script by Ron Harwood ("The Pianist"), one that features beautiful narrative passages and dialogue that can be appreciated by those who enjoy literary writing. The running time is a bit excessive but considering the richness of the story and the number of characters and developments, it may have been impossible to tell this story in any less time and the humor injected into what’s a generally slow tale, keeps it entertaining. Certainly, this is a film that will mostly appeal to hopeless romantics, especially those who can understand and appreciate Florentino’s plight--if you could really call sleeping with over 600 women that—and that selective group shouldn’t have problems forgiving some of the foibles and faux pas made in the telling of the story. Rating: 7/10

For the third or fourth weekend in a row, we have one or two big movies with big marketing pushes and wide releases looking to make a move for the top spot at the box office and an underdog movie, being given a more moderate release but hoping to bring in some business despite having a lot of factors working against it. At least this one has some decent credentials, especially since it’s based on Colombian Gabriel Garcia Márquez’s 1985 romance novel, which was considered a classic among Spanish-speaking readers before being translated into various languages and creating as huge an impact worldwide. Márquez had already been awarded a Nobel Prize for his body of writing by that time, but it’s considered a literary classic even 20 years later when people like Oprah Winfrey have come out as fans, and she recently made it the selection of her Oprah Book Club, which includes millions of women in the country.

The film is directed by Mike Newell, who first made a mark in the United States by directing the Richard Curtis penned Four Weddings and a Funeral, followed by eclectic offerings like Pushing Tin, Donnie Brasco and Mona Lisa Smile before being given the reins for the fourth "Harry Potter" movie, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, making him the first British director to helm the franchise.

Fortunately, Newell has assembled an amazing cast for the movie led by Javier Bardem, who was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Julian Schnabel’s Before Night Falls and he’s been having a productive year after seemingly disappearing for a few years. Bardem was robbed of a nomination for his performance in the 2004 drama The Sea Inside, though it was nominated and won a Foreign Language Oscar, but then he disappeared for a while, returning earlier this year in Milos Forman’s Goya’s Ghosts opposite Natalie Portman. Bardem’s currently having success with the Coen Brothers’ new crime-thriller No Country for Old Men, which opened in 28 theatres last weekend and expanded wider this week, and it wouldn’t be too surprising if that movie actually winds up making more money this weekend than Cholera merely by the nature of it having a lot more buzz right now. The love of his life is played by Italian actress Giovanna Mezzogiorno, who has been nominated for four Davids (the Italian equivalent to Oscar), although few of those movies have been released in the United States except for the drama Don’t Tell, which was nominated for an Oscar and for which she received a prestigious acting award at the Venice Film Festival.

The rest of the cast are better known, including Benjamin Bratt and John Leguizamo, both actors of Latin background who have probably done more work in English than Spanish, plus there’s a character played by Catalina Sandina Moreno, who first broke on the scene with her Oscar-nominated performance in Maria Full of Grace, but has followed it up with a lot of smaller indie movies that few people have seen like Richard Linklater’s Fast Food Nation and Ethan Hawke’s recent The Hottest State. There’s also an appearance by veteran TV and film actor Hector Elizondo, and smaller roles for non-Spanish-speaking actors like Liev Schreiber and Laura Herring.

Despite such an amazing cast, there really isn’t one single actor that might sell this movie or get people into theatres, which is why the strength of the film lies solely in the fact that it’s based on such a beloved literary classic. Clearly, New Line decided to make this movie in hopes of repeating the success of their movie based on Nicholas Sparks’ The Notebook, and this film will certainly appeal mostly to women over 30, although they’re not exactly an audience who rushes out to see movies in theatres. Presumably, there’s some hope that the movie will bring in a Latino audience that may be familiar with the original novel, but it’s a problem when you’re turning a Spanish literary classic into a film made in English, despite having so many Spanish-speaking stars. This may be why New Line is giving the movie a moderate release into less than 1,000 theatres to see if it can find some of that audience and then build on word-of mouth.

Even so, it doesn’t seem like New Line is pushing this movie in the Oscar race as one might expect, and though reviews are generally mixed to negative, critics have mostly been impressed by Bardem’s performance that has him once again playing many different ages over the course of 50 years. The sad fact is that this looks like it’s going to be another bomb for New Line, who hasn’t had very much luck with their offerings this fall after both Shoot ‘Em Up and Rendition tanked. At least they have The Golden Compass coming up.

Why I Should See It: Javier Bardem takes on a classic literary role in a romantic epic that spans over five decades and a good amount of hot semi-nude actresses.
Why Not: Unless you’re a woman or a hopeless romantic, you’re not going to get much out of this movie.
Projections: $2 to 4 million opening weekend and $8 to 10 million total.

COMPARISONS

THE CHOSEN ONE:

The Life of Reilly
Starring Charles Nelson Reilly
Directed by Frank L. Anderson and Barry Poltermann; Written by Charles Nelson Reilly, Paul Linke
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Plot Summary: The late comic actor Charles Nelson Reilly performs his popular one-man show "Save It for the Stage!" talking about his life before and after achieving fame.

This film based on the late Charles Nelson Reilly’s one-man stage show actually opened in L.A. last weekend but since there’s nothing else even remotely worthy of being picked as "The Chosen One," we’re going to make an exception so that those in Reilly’s old stomping grounds of New York City might check it out.

For many years, Reilly was a joke to anyone who saw him hamming it up on various TV game shows, but before that era, he was a well-respected actor on Broadway, which may be why his one-man show had such a successful run as he toured the country with it. The directors of this film asked Reilly to perform the show one last time for their cameras and it’s a fairly amazing piece of work as the aged actor relays his early dysfunctional family life and stories from the early days of television and Broadway where he was bumping shoulders with some of the greatest actors of the last half-century. In recent years, Reilly has become an acting teacher and coach, something that shows more depth to the character than some might expect from his '70s TV persona. The movie itself isn’t shot or edited particularly well as it’s only a bit more produced than the usual filmed stageplays, but Reilly drives the film with an amazing performance that shows a lot of emotion and drama when needed, but is also chock-full of laugh-out-loud hilarity as one might expect from such a seasoned comedian. Sadly, Reilly passed away in May, so anyone who comes to respect his work from this film might not be able to show their appreciation, but the film might surprise anyone who’s ever casually disregarded Reilly as a one-joke pony. This incredibly moving piece of work should interest those who enjoy good theatre, especially off-Broadway autobiographical one-person plays. It’s now playing in L.A. and will open in New York City at the Cinema Village on Friday.

Also in Limited Release:

Southland Tales (Samuel Goldwyn Films) – Richard Kelly, the creator of Donnie Darko returns with his second film as a director, an apocalyptic sociopolitical satire starring Dwayne Johnson, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Seann William Scott trying to survive in 2008 L.A. after a nuclear bomb was dropped there. It opens on Wednesday in New York and L.A. and then in other cities on Friday after being the toast of the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. Oh, no, wait. They hated it there.

Review (Coming Soon!)

Eleven Men Out (Regent Releasing) - This long-delayed Icelandic sports comedy is about an Icelandic soccer team who decide to come out of the closet. It opens at the Regent Showcase Theatre in Hollywood.

Margot at the Wedding (Paramount Vantage) - The Squid and the Whale writer/director Noah Baumbach returns with another dark comedy, this one starring Nicole Kidman as Margot, the mother of a teen son who goes out to the Hamptons to visit her estranged sister (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who is about to marry an eclectic artist/musician (Jack Black). It opens in New York, L.A. and other select cities on Friday.

A Press Conference with Nicole Kidman

My Early Review from Toronto

Redacted (Magnolia) - 18 years after exploring Vietnam in Casualty of War, director Brian De Palma looks at the Iraq War in this story about a group of soldiers who stage a home invasion in an Iraqi home, one of the men raping and killing a teen girl there, causing friction among his peers. It will open in select cities, although apparently, it’s already in playing in hotel rooms all over the country due to the deal with HDNet.

My Dual Review with "Lions for Lambs"

Smiley Face (First Look Pictures) - Greg (Mysterious Skin) Araki’s drug comedy stars Anna Farris as an actress who accidentally eats her roommate’s marijuana-laced cupcakes leading to a wild drug-induced day of misadventures. After winning audiences over at various festivals this past year, it opens in L.A. at the Nuart before its DVD release on January 8, 2008.

What Would Jesus Buy? (Palisades Pictures) - Produced by "Super Size Me"'s Morgan Spurlock, Rob van Alemade’s documentary about the eccentric Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir, who are touring the country trying to save Christmas from consumerism, will open at the Cinema Village in New York on Friday and in L.A. on Wednesday, November 21.

Next week, it’s Thanksgiving and we can all give thanks for how many movies are being released. That is, everyone except the Weekend Warrior who has to find time to write about all of them. These include Disney’s animated-live action combo fantasy Enchanted starring Amy Adams (::swoon::), Timothy Olyphant becomes Agent 47 a.k.a. Hitman (20th Century Fox), Frank Darabont adapts Stephen King’s The Mist (Dimension), a dysfunctional African-American family gathers for This Christmas (Sony/Screen Gems) and Freddie Highmore shows off his musical talents as August Rush (Warner Bros.).

Copyright 2007 Edward Douglas