This week's "Chosen One" (see below), the period comedy Miss Pettigrew Lives for the Day (Focus), starring Frances McDormand and Amy Adams, will open in 450 theaters or so on Friday, but with two strong female-centric movies opening last weekend, it will probably only make around $1.2 to 1.5 million over the weekend, keeping it outside the Top 10.

This Week's Predictions -

1. 10,000 B.C. (Warner Bros.) - $42.3 million N/A

2. College Road Trip (Disney) - $20.5 million N/A

3. Semi-Pro (New Line) - $8.0 million -47%

4. Vantage Point (Sony) - $7.1 million -45%

5. The Spiderwick Chronicles (Paramount/Nickelodeon) - $5.4 million -38%

6. The Bank Job (Lionsgate) - $5.2 million N/A

7. The Other Boleyn Girl (Sony) - $4.7 million -43%

8. Jumper (20th Century Fox) - $4.1 million -46%

9. Step Up 2 the Streets (Touchstone/Disney) - $3.2 million -44%

10. Fool's Gold (Warner Bros.) - $2.7 million -40%

Last year, only one new movie was given a wide release, but it was a doozy as Zack Snyder's 300 defied all odds, grossing $70.9 million over the three-day non-holiday weekend, averaging $22.8 thousand per site including a couple dozen IMAX theaters, which helped put the film over the top. While one might expect this weekend to pick up from the pseudo-slump that's been happening the last few weeks, it'll be hard for the Top 10 to beat the $135 million made by the Top 10 in the same frame last year due to 300's success, though at least the Top 10 should gross $100 million, significantly up from last month.

10,000 B.C. (Warner Bros.)
Starring Steven Strait, Camilla Belle, Cliff Curtis, Omar Sharif, Tim Barlow, Marco Khan, Reece Ritchie, Mo Zinal, Mona Hammond, Joel Virgel Vierset, Suri van Sornsen, Joel Fry, Nathanael Baring, Joe Vaz
Directed by Roland Emmerich (The Day After Tomorrow, Independence Day, The Patriot, Godzilla, Stargate); Written by Roland Emmerich, Harald Kloser (a German film composer who is also co-writing Emmerich's next film 2012)
Genre: Action, Adventure
Rated PG-13
Tagline: "It takes a hero to change the world."
Plot Summary: In an epic story set during prehistoric times, D'Leh (Steven Strait) is a young hunter in a mountain tribe who falls for the beautiful Evolet (Camilla Belle) but when she's kidnapped by a band of warlords, D'Leh must lead a group to save her, facing the elements, fierce prehistoric beasts and other tribes which they'd never encountered before.

Mini-Review: As if we really need the bad summer movie season to start two months earlier, Roland Emmerich has outdone himself in his attempts to be Mel Gibson with this movie that's a cross between "Braveheart" and "Apocalypto" with a "Titanic"-level love story thrown in for good measure. Despite stealing liberally from movies as diverse as "Pathfinder", "300" and "Troy" (okay, maybe not so diverse), the film offers surprisingly little excitement as Emmerich and his co-writer, executive producer and composer, Harald Klosser, spend more effort on the film's visuals and sweeping score than coming up with a coherent story, let alone bothering to do any historical research into the times. Artistic license doesn't even touch upon the fact that this reality has mammoths living in the same time as ships and modern navigation in a world where snowy mountain peaks, deserts and rivers are all within walking range of each other... and of course, English is the universal language in this fictitious fantasy world that might as well be one of Emmerich's "Stargate" dimensions. Granted, most people won't be watching this movie for any sort of realism, but even the larger-than-life CG-enhanced action set pieces are few and far between with a long gap after the cool mammoth hunt before we see more of this land's creatures--the CG wooly mammoths are even more impressive in comparison to the giant killer turkeys that come later. When we finally get a sabretooth tiger (who we'll call Tony due to his resemblance to the cereal spokesman), it's for a ridiculous plot device in which Steven Strait's D'Leh saves it and has the favor returned later, and that's that. For what's essentially an action-effects flick, the plot is needlessly complicated, made sillier with a lot of talking heads and exposition in "caveman-speak," most of it so MST3K bad that you wonder if Emmerich is just asking to be mocked in the next spoof movie. Strait isn't terrible as the film's lead but otherwise, the acting is dismal and embarrassing across the board, and even the incessant voice-over narrative by the legendary Omar Sharrif quickly gets tedious. In terms of quality, Emmerich's latest is the cinematic equivalent of the television series "Cavemen" but at least the Geico commercials make an effort to get the historical accuracy right, and going swimming at the beach in March would probably be more desirable than enduring this premature summer dud. An atrocious waste of a perfectly good CGI budget. Rating: 3/10

After taking on aliens, giant lizards and global warming, filmmaker Roland Emmerich is going back in time, WAY back in time, to tell an epic story of when man ran with giant wooly mammoths and sabretooth tigers, which looks very similar to movies like The Clan of the Cave Bear and Mel Gibson's Apocalypto, the latter being the most interesting comparison since Gibson starred in Emmerich's The Patriot over seven years ago. Unfortunately, Apocalypto wasn't as big a hit of some of Gibson's previous movies, and that might be the case with Emmerich's film, which deviates from his normal sci-fi fare, and unlike Jurassic Park, there are no dinosaurs in the modern world, instead being set in a period where cavemen started to discover the bigger world. Older moviegoers may remember a 1966 film called One Million Years B.C., which introduced most of the world to one Raquel Welsh over forty years ago much like The Clan of the Cave Bear became a hit for Daryl Hannah after her breakout in Ron Howard's Splash a few years earlier.

Since Emmerich's movies tend to be more about the action and effects than the acting and writing—something that might be obvious by the fact it's co-written by a German film composer—it doesn't have much of a cast in terms of star power, although Steven Strait and Camilla Belle might be seen as young up 'n' comers. As a Seattle grunge rocker look-alike, Strait played the baddie in Disney's Sky High a few years back, followed by a starring role in Renny Harlin's action-thriller The Covenant. (He also starred in the bomb Undiscovered, but we don't talk about that movie around these parts in fear of putting the Weekend Warrior into a tizzy.) Strait will follow the part as a caveman hunter with a role in Kimberly Peirce's Stop-Loss later this month.

Hoping that this will be the movie that takes her to the next level—sorry, boys, this is PG-13 so don't expect any Raquel Welch levels of skin—Camilla Belle started working at a very young age, appearing in Alfonso Cuaron's A Little Princess and in small roles after that, but her big break came in 2005 when she starred opposite Daniel Day-Lewis in Rebecca Miller's The Ballad of Jack and Rose and a year later, she was headlining the horror remake When a Stranger Calls, which was a surprise hit. Even so, the most famous actor of the bunch would probably have to be the film's narrator, living legend Omar Sharif, the Egyptian actor best known for his role in Oscar nominated role in the classic Lawrence of Arabia.

10,000 B.C. is very much a director's movie, and though you might be hard-pressed to find anyone who'll claim any of Roland Emmerich's previous movies among their favorites, he certainly has an eye for the fantastic, huge CG landscapes that are often destroyed as was the case in Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow. The former of these was a huge blockbuster grossing $300 million in the summer of 1996, while the latter was also a huge hit, but it only grossed $186 million total. This is a very different movie for Emmerich, as he shies away from the New York destroying science fiction that's been so prevalent in his movies for a look at the past, and it'll be interesting to see if he fares better with the material than Mel Gibson did with Apocalypto or Marcus Nispel did with his Viking epic Pathfinder last year. Obviously, the CG visuals are going to be the biggest sell, and they certainly look more massive than either of those movies, morre like King Kong or Jurassic Park than a prehistoric version of Dances with Wolves.

In the past, Emmerich has been the king of summer, with his biggest movies being released over 4th of July and Memorial Day weekends, much like his compatriot Michael Bay, and at one point, 10,000 B. C. was originally planned for last July before it was realized that it might need more time for FX, when it was moved to early March. In the past, pushing a summer movie back to the spring or winter from the summer is a bad sign of lowered expectations from the studio, but last year Warner Bros. had an enormous hit with Zack Snyder's 300, a movie that normally would be a summer tentpole movie, and they've decided to claim the March opening this year, as well as next with Snyder's follow-up Watchmen. The success of Cloverfield a few months back proved that movies can be released at any time of the year and find an audience opening weekend, and though it's doubtful there's as much anticipation for 10,000 B.C. as Cloverfield (or 300 or Emmerich's past movies for that matter), Warner Bros. has done a good job with their commercials and an impressive HBO special to make audiences aware that this is going to be another action-packed epic on par with Emmerich's past films.

Based on past reviews of Emmerich's movies, it's doubtful that 10,000 B. C. will be making any critics' Top 10 list this year, but reviews probably won't have much of an effect on those who really want to see this. Even if this probably won't have nearly as big an opening as Emmerich's last few movies, it should do very well on Friday as the young guys who can't wait two months for the big summer blockbusters will rush out to see it, mostly curious about what Emmerich might do when doing a movie set in the past. It might not be so frontloaded with few other strong movies for that audience in coming weeks.

Why I Should See It: Roland Emmerich taking on the prehistoric times with CGI creatures? Yeah, I'm there!
Why Not: The problem with most of Emmerich's previous movies is that they tend to focus more on the effects and action rather than the writing and storytelling.
Projections: $39 to 43 million opening weekend and $120 million total.

COMPARISONS

College Road Trip (Disney)
Starring Martin Lawrence, Raven-Symoné, Donny Osmond, Will Sasso, Arnetia Walker
Directed by Roger Kumble (Just Friends, Cruel Intentions, The Sweetest Thing); Written by Emi Mochizuki and Carrie Evans (debut), Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio (The Bubble Boy, The Santa Clause 2 and next week's Horton Hears a Who)
Genre: Comedy
Rated G
Tagline: "They just can't get there fast enough."
Plot Summary: It's time for Melanie (Raven-Symoné) to go off to college but her overprotective policeman father (Martin Lawrence) insists on coming along for a "girls only" trip to check out the universities she has lined-up, turning what might have been a fun trip into a chaotic nightmare.

For those not into a prehistoric epic, another possible option is this family road comedy, starring Martin Lawrence and 'tween superstar Raven-Symoné, which follows the same formula as hits like Ice Cube's Are We There Yet? and others by putting Martin Lawrence on the road with kids, in this case an older teen girl looking for independence as she goes off to college.

It seems like only a month ago when we were talking about the career of Martin Lawrence, maybe because it was because Lawrence just starred in Universal's comedy Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, which didn't fare as well as some of Lawrence's past movies. College Road Trip is a bit different since its his second movie with Disney after last year's surprise Wild Hogs, which put Lawrence on a motorcycle alongside John Travolta and Disney regular Tim Allen. That movie was a PG-13 film released by Touchstone Pictures and geared more for audiences 15 and up, but this time, Disney has Lawrence doing a G-rated movie, hoping that he can find similar success with more family-friendly fare, much like Allen has with "The Santa Clause" trilogy and the 2006 remake of The Shaggy Dog. Ironically, Lawrence's only PG family movie prior to this was the 2005 comedy Rebound, which tanked when facing Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds. Unlike Roscoe Jenkins, this is the kind of movie that won't just appeal to African-American audiences and parents with small kids will see this as a viable movie choice due to its G-rating, something that can help bring entire families into see this over the weekend.

More importantly, he's joined by Raven-Symoné (Christina Pearman), who at 22 years old is one of Disney's hottest commodities thanks to her hit Disney Channel Show "That's So Raven" and her stint as one of the "Cheetah Girls," a career that has garnered the young actress tons of Kids' and Teen Choice Awards, and no less than seven NAACP Image Awards, making her one of the most influential people among young African-American girls than anyone else. Not only that, but Raven's been acting for a long time, having played Olivia, a second term cute kid on "The Cosby Show," before Miley Cyrus' dad was singing "Achy Breaky Heart." Like many of Disney's young ingénues, Raven is also a singing star, having released her first album—you might want to sit down for this—15 YEARS AGO, which spawned a hit single, and since then, she's released two more albums with a fourth on the way, and appearances on a number of Disney soundtracks. With all of that under her belt, it's surprising that Ms. Symoné hasn't appeared in that many movies since playing Eddie Murphy's daughter in both Doctor Dolittle movies, not that anyone will remember her from those. Essentially, whether or not you think Lawrence's career is shaping up or falling apart he'll have a strong back-up plan by teaming him with Raven, since she'll appeal to the younger crowd.

A number of African-American actors have had success with family-oriented road trip movies including Cedric the Entertainer with Johnson Family Vacation and rapper Ice Cube with Are We There Yet?, plus Robin Williams got into the act with RV in 2006, but it's been a regular thing for popular comics to eventually make kids' movies, as seen by the likes of Eddie Murphy and Steve Martin, who've had their best success doing kids' movies. Though at first glance, this might seem like the usual Disney kiddie fare, its more of a movie for teen and 'tween girls that offers the kind of bonding premise that they can see with their parents and families, rather than just being dumped off at the malls to see on their own, while the rest of the family sees something else. In that sense, it has some of the same strengths of other Disney films that have proven successful in this season including The Pacifier and Bringing Down the House, since they've been able to bring in a couple different demos.

At this point, it looks like Disney is releasing the movie into less than 3,000 theaters, which is odd, considering the success of previous Disney family movies when given very wide releases. Currently, the movie is estimated to open in 2,500 theaters, which is only slightly more than Roscoe Jenkins, but one can expect this number will be increased by a couple hundred by Friday, since there's so few movies playing ultra-wide currently. With that in mind, College Road Trip should have a really solid opening weekend, although it's likely to get murdered next week when the animated Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who opens, since that will be a much stronger draw. Even so, the only other kids' movie The Spiderwick Chronicles is heading out of theaters and girls and women won't have as much interest in Roland Emmerich's 10,000 B.C., so this should be a strong family choice.

Why I Should See It: Teaming Martin Lawrence and Raven-Symoné seems like it could produce comedy for a wide range of audiences.
Why Not: This looks like every other recent family road comedy, all of which pale in comparison to National Lampoon's Vacation.
Projections: $20 to 23 million opening weekend and $75 million total.

COMPARISONS

The Bank Job (Lionsgate)
Starring Jason Statham, Saffron Burrows, Stephen Campbell Moore, Daniel Mays, James Faulkner, Alki David, Michael Jibson, Richard Lintern, Don Gallagher, David Suchet
Directed by Roger Donaldson (The Recruit, The World's Fastest Indian, Species, Thirteen Days, Dante's Peak); Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais (Across the Universe, Flushed Away, Goal!)
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Rated R
Tagline: "The true story of a heist gone wrong... in all the right ways."
Plot Summary: Car dealer Terry Leather (Jason Statham) is convinced by his former model girlfriend Martine (Saffron Burrows) to rob the safe at a Baker Street bank, but the safety deposit boxes they rob contain dirty secrets that the British government and various local criminals do not want to become public knowledge, putting Terry and his crew on the run from everyone.

Review

Although the other two wide releases might seem fairly straight-forward in terms of their audiences, this heist thriller starring Jason Statham might face some of the toughest challenges despite the growing popular star who got his start in acting thanks to Guy Ritchie and has become quite a popular action star thanks to the likes of Luc Besson and Corey Yuen. This bank heist flick based on the true story of the "Walkie Talkie Robbers" is the latest film directed by veteran filmmaker Roger Donaldson allowing Statham to take on a meatier dramatic role, while still doing something that might appeal to his mostly male fans, who have flocked to see movies like Crank and "The Transporter" movies. Statham certainly is a big enough star now that he'll be doing the talk show rounds, some of which might help raise awareness for the movie, although few will feel that he's making much of a departure from his early days in Ritchie's early movies Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch.

Statham's main partner-in-crime is British actress and former model Saffron Burrows, who made her debut in Jim Sheridan's Oscar-worthy In the Name of the Father and has taken scattered roles in films like Wolfgang Peterson's Troy, though she's best known to American audiences for her recurring role on the ABC drama "Boston Legal." Otherwise, it's a fairly large ensemble cast of British actors, the most recognizable ones possibly being Stephen Campbell More, last seen in The History Boys and Daniel Mays, who played James McAvoy's wartime buddy in Atonement.

Donaldson's last movie was the indie feature The World's Fastest Indian, starring Anthony Hopkins, which Donaldson also wrote, but it got a fairly low-key release compared to some of his studio work like The Recruit with Al Pacino and Colin Farrell back in 2003, though his biggest movie to date is the 1988 Tom Cruise vehicle Cocktail. That grossed $78 million and he has had two other movies make in the $60 million range (Dante's Peak and Species) but Donaldson still isn't considered anywhere near an A or even B-List director, being very erratic in terms of box office.

Heist flicks have been fairly popular in this country the past few years with the "Ocean's" trilogy being the highmark for most people, though other movies include The Score starring Edward Norton and Robert De Niro and the recent estrogen-filled alternative Mad Money have done respectable business. The British are world-famous for their heist movies from the '50s, '60s, and '70s, many of which have been remade, most notably The Italian Job from 1969 (the remake starring Statham) and the Coen Brothers' remake of the 1955 crime-drama The Ladykillers. Besides not being a remade, but being based on an actual crime case, The Bank Job is somewhat different in that it's a period piece set in the '70s that retains all the "Britishness" of those films, something that might throw off American audiences.

That said, reviews should generally be good as this is the kind of movie that critics love raving about, though considering how few movies have been doing good or bad business based on reviews, they probably won't do much to help this movie, which has not received quite as big a push from Lionsgate, who is releasing the movie into less than 1,500 theaters, which is comparable to the release of William Friedkin's Bug last year. There's a chance that The Bank Job might cut into the older males that might go see Roland Emmerich's latest movie, but more likely, that movie will limit the number of younger guys who might try to see this, although the R-rating won't help with that either. This might find some curious American moviegoers based on Statham and reviews claiming it to be the "greatest heist film ever made" but considering that the film already opened in the U.K. one has to expect that pirate version of the movie are already out and about, which can also cut into opening weekend. Since it might be too British for anyone outside the big cities, the few who might be interested might feel this is one movie that will play just as well on DVD in three to four months later.

Why I Should See It: Jason Statham returns to British crime-drama with this retro-thriller based on a true crime story.
Why Not: Unfortunately, because Statham is an action star, one has to expect a certain amount of action… maybe it'll be enough to appease those looking for it, maybe not.
Projections: $4 to 6 million opening and $18 million total.

COMPARISONS

THE CHOSEN ONE:

Miss Pettigrew Lives for the Day (Focus)
Starring Frances McDormand, Amy Adams, Ciaran Hinds, Shirley Henderson, Lee Pace
Directed by Bharat Nalluri (The Crow: Salvation, Killing Time, and "Tsunami: the Aftermath" and "Hustle" for television; 2nd unit for Alien vs. Predator and Resident Evil); Written by David Magee (Finding Neverland), Simon Beaufoy (Blow Dry, The Full Monty, Japanese Story)
Genre: Comedy
Rated PG-13
Tagline: "Every Woman Will Have Her Day"
Plot Summary: Guinevere Pettigrew (Frances McDormand), a middle-aged starving governess looking for work in pre-WWII England meets Delysia LaFasse (Amy Adams), a frivolous actress and the prototype for the modern-day celebutante, who hires Miss Pettigrew as her personal assistant to help juggle the three men in her life, including pianoman Mike (Lee Pace), the one man who truly loves her for herself.

Interview with Amy Adams

Review (Coming Soon!)

Now usually, when there's a choice of a new Stephen Chow or a David Gordon Green movie, you can almost place money that they'll be some of my favorite movies in any given week, so color me shocked when I ended up loving this period chick flick based on a novel written way back in the late ‘30s. The film itself takes place in England during the era where war was starting to hit the city, but this is not a dark war drama ala Atonement, but a delightful old school romantic comedy carried by two amazing actresses, Frances McDormand and Amy Adams. My big-time crush and absolute adoration of Adams is probably one of the worst kept secrets on the planet, but she's wonderful as always playing Delysia LaFasse, a flighty and pretentious actress who is juggling three men at once, including the dashing Lee Pace from "Pushing Daisies" as the piano man who you really want to see Delysia end up with. Ciaran Hinds, who has been everywhere in the last few months, has a great role as the wealthy man who shows interest in Miss Pettigrew, which is another great role for McDormand, one that shows how great she is at doing subtle humor. (Diane Keaton take note!) Co-written by the Oscar-nominated screenwriters of Finding Neverland and The Full Monty, this is a great movie that'll appeal to anyone who loves old romantic comedies with fast-paced dialogue and fun and lots of double entendres, although it doesn't take it quite as far as Down with Love (another guilty pleasure romantic comedy). So yeah, there's a better chance that this movie will be more your thing if you're a woman or better yet, if you're asking a woman on a date, but any guy who has any kind of crush on Adams will want to see this for the tasteful amount of skin she shows off… and then you can pretend that you're just seeing it to appease your date.

If you enjoyed retro-comedies like Stephen Frears' Mrs. Henderson Presents than Miss Pettigrew should be for you. It will open across the country this weekend in around 450 theatres on Friday.

Honorable Mentions:

CJ7 (Sony Classics)
Starring Stephen Chow, Xu Jiao, Kitty Zhang Yuqi, Chi Chung Lam, Shing-Cheung Lee
Written and directed by Stephen Chow (Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle) with Kan-Cheung Tsang (Shaolin Soccer, Kung Fu Hustle, God of Cookery, The King of Comedy), Chi Keung Fong (Hooked on You, The Sparrow), Vincent Kok (Dragon Reloaded), Sandy Shaw (The Heroic Trio, Jet Li's The Enforcer),
Genre: Comedy, Action, Family, Sci-Fi
Rated PG
Plot Summary: Dickie Chow (Xu Jiao) is a young boy whose impoverished father (Stephen Chow) sends him to a private school where he's picked on mercilessly until Dickie's father brings him a present he found in the junkyard, a rubber toy
Of Note: Kung Fu Hustle director Stephen Chow returns with a movie geared towards kids about a boy and his alien.

Feature Interview with Stephen Chow, Xu Jiao

Mini-Review: Even if you're a fan of Chow's previous movies and his eccentric sense of humor, it might be somewhat of a chore getting through this kid-oriented film that's driven by the cuteness of its young lead and "his" pet alien, a primitive manga-inspired CG creature that looks like the illegitimate spawn of a Pokemon and a Telletubbie. Chow takes more of a backseat in this film to the impressive youngster Xu Jiao, an actress who gives a convincing performance as Chow's son, stealing many scenes with his delightful charm that's able to carry the film even when Chow isn't around, and the fact she's able to keep up with him in terms of comedy is nothing short of amazing. Otherwise, there's a lot of Chow's trademark strangeness, things like an enormous schoolgirl (played by a large male actor whose voice is dubbed of that of a little girl) and a school bully who acts like a character from a Johnnie To gangster flick and diehard Stephen Chow fans should appreciate the nods to his past films, even if some might feel that he's treading old ground when he shoe-horns martial arts and soccer into the story. The film gets surprisingly maudlin and almost cruel at times, even resorting to bathroom humor for laughs, but ultimately, it's Ms. Jiao and the odd yet adorable creature that saves the day, leading to a very sweet ending that makes up for some of Chow's more quizzical decisions earlier in the film. Like Chow's previous films, this might not be for everyone—kids will probably appreciate it more than their parents—but those with a twisted sense of humor should get a few laughs out of Chow's oddest film yet. Rating: 7.5/10

Snow Angels (Warner Independent)
Starring Sam Rockwell, Kate Beckinsale, Michael Angarano, Griffin Dunne, Amy Sedaris, Olivia Thirlby
Written and directed by David Gordon Green (George Washington, All the Real Girls, Undertow)
Genre: Drama
Rated R
Tagline: "Some will fall. Some will fly."
Plot Summary: A drama composed of intertwined stories about people in various stages of love in a small suburban town, revolving around local waitress Annie (Kate Beckinsale), who is trying to raise her daughter after separating from her alcoholic husband Glenn (Sam Rockwell). Just as a terrible tragedy befalls them, a high school student named Arthur (Michael Angarano) is discovering love for the first time with a quirky classmate (Olivia Thirlby), just as his parents' marriage is falling apart.
Of Note: David Gordon Green returns with his first movie since "Undertow" adapting Stewart O'Nan's novel of the same name. It opens in New York and L.A. on Friday.

Mini-Review: David Gordon Green leaves the South to infiltrate Todd Fields territory with this suburban slice-of-life drama that's on par with "Little Children" in terms of the writing and performances, including one of Kate Beckinsale's shining moments as a single mother going through the trials of separation with a husband who refuses to let go. Said loser is played by Sam Rockwell, who continues to bring a lot to every role, gaining sympathy from the viewer with the humor he brings to this pathetic Born Again alcoholic who means well but eventually goes off the deep end when he finds his ex-wife has a new lover. Before it gets to that point, it seems like so many other dramas introducing various characters from the community and allowing them to interact as it builds up to life-changing tragedies, but what's interesting is how the film contrasts the different stages of relationship—first love, sexual lust, divorce and everything in between through the various relationships. The intricate web of character dynamics is carried by some of Green's best writing and an eclectic but well-chosen cast that produces some fine dramatic work from the likes of Amy Sedaris as Beckinsale's co-worker and Griffin Dunne as Michael Angarano's father. By the end, the film has gotten overly dark and bleak due to the nature of O'Nan's story—it might be good to know that the novel gives away one of the film's shocking twists in the first few pages. Not everyone will be able to forgive this sudden turn of events, but it makes for an interesting counterpoint to the touching innocence of the romance between Michael Angarano and Olivia Thirlby (from "Juno") proving themselves to be two of the finest young actors working today under Green's guidance. Even though the movie does tread similar ground to other similar indie dramas, it never looks like an indie film due to the gorgeous way Green's long-time cinematographer Tim Orr captures the suburban environment, and besides her terrific performance as Annie, Beckinsale has never looked better than she does in front of Orr's lens. This adaptation makes a fine showcase for Green's talents as a writer and filmmaker that bodes well for his future work. Rating: 8/10

Also in Limited Release:

Blindsight (Robson Entertainment) - This new documentary from Lucy Walker (The Devil's Playground) follows the journey of six blind Tibetan teenagers who seek to climb up the north side of Mount Everest in the Himalayas. Shunned by their parents and villages, the teens find solace in Tibet's first school of the blind and a visit by blind mountain climber Erik Weihenmayer inspires them to climb Everest themselves. It opens in New York at the Village East on Wednesday.

Fighting for Life (Truly Indie) - Terry Sanders' documentary looks at a real-life M*A*S*H* unit with doctors and nurses fighting on the frontlines of the Iraq War, and the students at the Uniformed Services University who are working towards their careers as military physicians. It opens at the Quad Cinema in New York City.

Girls Rock! (Shadow Distribution) - This documentary by Shane King and Arne Johnson takes a look at a group of young female outcasts facing all sorts of issues of self-image who attend a one-week retreat at a camp where they use rock music to overcome their issues. It opens at the Angelika in New York, the NuArt Theatre in L.A. and other select cities.

Married Life (Sony Classics) - Ira Sachs, whose last movie Forty Shades of Blue won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005, returns with this period drama based on John Bingham's "Five Roundabouts to Heaven." Set in 1949, it stars Chris Cooper as a married business man who wants to leave his loving wife (Patricia Clarkson) for his younger mistress Kay (Rachel McAdams), plans that fall apart when his best friend (Pierce Brosnan) sets his own sights on Kay. It will open in New York and L.A. on Friday.

Mini-Review: Who knows where Ira Sachs' third feature went so horribly wrong, because the thought of a period drama in the vein of Todd Haynes' "Far From Heaven" with such an illustrious cast would seem like a sure thing. In fact, the film's retro look, an admirable combination of production design and cinematography, is really the only thing going for it. With far too many influences to count, the film is all over the place in tone, never knowing if it wants to be a relationship comedy, a serious drama or a Hitchcock murder thriller, so it throws in a bit of each, bogging things down with stiffly-delivered dialogue (co-written with Oren Moverman) and grueling talking heads scenes that might have been more interesting if done as a stage play. Most of the interaction between the characters rings false, making the entire plot seem obvious, contrived and unbelievable. Never did I think I'd see the day when Patricia Clarkson would give such a weak, phoned-in performance as she does here, but she's the worst of a cast of normally decent actors, none of whom are doing their best work, not even McAdams, who doesn't quite work as a blonde either. Ultimately, the movie goes nowhere and after a perfectly fine ending, it continues with two epilogues that makes this futile and misguided effort even more aggravating. Ultimately, "Married Life" serves very little purpose in the grander scheme of indie filmmaking or Sachs' filmography. Rating: 5/10

Paranoid Park (IFC) - Filmmaker Gus van Sant (Good Will Hunting, Finding Forrester) returns with his portrait of a teen skateboarder (Gabe Nevins) who faces serious consequences after witnessing the accidental death of a security guard outside a skate park. It opens in two theaters in New York City.

Mini-Review: Continuing Gus van Sant's run of ambient artsy films with this one based on Blake Nelson's novel about a skateboarder who witnesses a gruesome death but does nothing about it. On the one hand, it could be seen as a modern day "River's Edge" except that the tone is so lackadaisical and slow that it doesn't really fit the nature of the story. Instead, we get lots of gorgeous shots of skateboarding teens as van Sant teams with Wong Kar-Wai's cinematographer Christopher Doyle to create something on par with Steven Soderbergh's "Bubble" in terms of pacing, mostly using non-actors in every role, but it creates a strange tone that's hard to adjust to and the entire movie desperately needs an injection of coffee to keep us from getting as bored as the lead actor. Even though parallels can be drawn to "Elephant," this isn't nearly as interesting a story nor is it told as well as van Sant tries too hard to prove that he's in tune with today's youth, while making films that will interest him but not necessarily anyone else. The dialogue seems unnatural, and at times, the film enters the creepy voyeuristic nature of Larry Clark's films, though it's never quite as bad as "Wassup Rockers" in that sense. Either way, if this film really epitomizes the way that teens talk and act, with every girl in the movie acting like Avril Lavigne wannabes, then I seriously fear for the future of this country. Rating: 5/10

Next week, March rolls along with Jim Carrey and Steve Carell providing their voices for the computer-animated Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who (20th Century Fox), British filmmaker Neil (The Descent) Marshall returns with his post-apocalyptic thriller Doomsday (Universal), and the mixed martial arts drama Never Back Down fights for a share of the box office.

Copyright 2008 Edward Douglas