New at Theaters (Friday): “Drag Me To Hell”, “Up”

Best Bet(s): Two very different options this weekend by design this weekend, the Disney/Pixar animated family adventure “Up” and the  counter- programming from Universal Pictures’ horror movie “Drag Me To Hell” from Sam Raimi (”Spider-Man”, “The Evil Dead”).  And you’re on your own here, I haven’t see either on yet, BUT… I HAVE HEARD A LOT OF GOOD BUZZ about “Up”… so if its a family movie you’re looking for, that might be the one to check out this weekend.

New on DVD (Tuesday): “Killshot”, “New in Town”, “Powder Blue”

Best Bet(s): Some solid offerings coming out on DVD: the first good romantic comedy of 2009: “New in Town”, and then two movies I haven’t seen, but the cast should at least make them worth watching: “Killshot” with Mickey Rourke and Diane Lane and “Powder Blue” with Ray Liotta, Jessica Biel, and Forest Whitaker.

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Next Week at Theaters: “The Hangover”, “Land of the Lost”, “My Life in Ruins”

Next Week on DVD: “Defiance”, “He’s Just Not That Into You”, “Revolutionary Road”, “Spring Breakdown”

MY REVIEWS OF OTHER MOVIES CURRENTLY PLAYING IN THEATERS OR AVAILABLE TO RENT/BUY: 

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What a Valentine’s gift for movie theaters: a huge $168.12 million weekend… the biggest so far this year… $27 million more than last year’s Valentine’s weekend… and a 28% increase from last weekend.

And it wasn’t even close… with the remake “Friday the 13th” taking in more ($42 million) than the second and third place movies combined, the slasher movie also becomes the biggest opening of the year, passing “Paul Blart: Mall Cop”’s $31 million opening in January. 

Last week’s number one “He’s Just Not That Into You” slipped to second and new movies “Confessions of A Shopaholic” and “The International” opened in fourth and seventh place.

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “Friday the 13th” (2009) – $42.25 million (1st week)

2. “He’s Just Not That Into You” – $19.61 million
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 29% from last week)

3. “Taken” – $19.25 million
(3rd week, was #2 last week, lost 6% from last week)

4. “Confessions of A Shopaholic” – $15.41 million (1st week)

5. “Coraline” – $15.32 million
(2nd week, was #3 last week, lost 9% from last week)

6. “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” - $11.70 million
(5th week, was #5 last week, gained 7% more than last week)

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In a wise marketing release, the ensemble romantic comedy “He’s Just Not That Into You” grabs the number one spot one week before Valentine’s Day. 
The four new movies and holdovers “Taken” and “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” helped make it a strong $131.54 million weekend at the box office… the 3rd biggest of the year so far and it was up nearly 28% from last weekend.

 TOP MOVIES AT WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (estimated results):
1. “He’s Just Not That Into You” – $27.47 million (1st week)

2. “Taken” – $24.63 million
(2nd week, was #1 last week, lost 18% from last week)

3. “Coraline” – $16.34 million (1st week)

4. “The Pink Panther 2″ - $12.00 million (1st week)

5. “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” - $11.00 million
(4th week, was #2 last week, lost 21% from last week)

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“New in Town” is funny and cute, its like Bridget Jones in the U.P.

This supporting cast of folksy characters makes a mostly predictable formula better than your typical romantic comedy.
Renée Zellweger is back in a role that fits her, along with romantic interest Harry Connick Jr. and a fun cast of characters from New Ulm, Minnesota, this romantic comedy is the first true “date movie” of the year.

The movie opens with two of the quirkier characters from New Ulm in southest Minnesota – Blanche played by great character actress Siobhan Fallon (birthing coach in “Baby Mama” (2008), hostage in “The Negotiator” (1998), Edgar’s wife in “Men in Black” (1997)) and Trudy Van Uuden played by Frances Conroy – gossiping around the scrapbook table about Renée’s character coming to town.

Blanche and Trudy steal scenes back and forth until Stu the plant manager - played brilliantly by J.K. Simmons – is introduced, then the three characters shoot out one Min-uh-so-tahn one-liner after another.  Including Trudy Van Uuden telling Renée’s character Lucy how to spell her last name, saying ”thats double U, not dub-ya”.

Sure its a Minnesota stereotype… but they embrace it and all the actors fit right into this town of characters, including the waitress at the local diner, and yes, her name is “Flo”.

Renée’s character Lucy comes from Miami to the cold of southeast Minnesota and doesn’t fit in well with these well developed characters as the new President of the plant – which is the lifeblood of the town.

The premise of changes and downsizing at the plant also hits home for Michiganders in this economy with the prospects of job losses and plant closings, and the folksy characters of New Ulm not only are different from Lucy, they are leary of her arrival because it usually signals job cuts.

While she’s there, Lucy has one funny mishap after another as the “new person in town”, they range from her first introduction of cold weather at the airport to her crashing into a snowbank after her weekend flight home is cancelled.

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New on DVD (Tuesday): “College”, “Fireproof”, “Lakeview Terrace”, “The Lucky Ones”, “Pride and Glory”, “The Rocker”, “RockNRolla”, “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”

BEST BET: “Pride and Glory”, but from what I’ve heard… EVERYTHING on this week’s list *except*  is worth a rent, although “The Rocker” disappointed at the box office.  Don’t forget “Fireproof”, the romantic drama surprised critics at the box office and did very well for a small budget Christian movie.

New at Theaters (Friday): “New in Town”, “Taken”, “The Uninvited”

BEST BET: Finally… I hope… “Taken” is scheduled to open this weekend… I say that because after I saw the trailer back in August, the release date moved from September 19th to January 23rd to now this Friday, January 30th !!!  I have a feeling my review will be impacted by this massive delay.

Also new this week the cute and funny date movie “New in Town” with Renee Zellweger and Harry Conick, Jr. and the horror flick “The Uninvited” from the producers of “The Ring”.

MY REVIEWS OF OTHER MOVIES CURRENTLY PLAYING IN THEATERS OR AVAILABLE TO RENT: 

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