Filed under: Weekend Playlist

This Weekend at the Movies: October 16, 2009

It's a wild weekend of law abiding citizens wielding black dynamite

Welcome back for my second week of breaking down all of this weekend's releases and it's only going to improve as I am adding additional features and information each week.

This week the changes include the following:

  • The films are listed in order of current popularity on the site, determined by the number of visits to the dedicated movie pages for each film
  • The MPAA ratings and reasons are listed below the trailers
  • A link to our picture galleries is also now included with a preview of the most recent image added.

As always, I toss in my two cents (for what it's worth) as well as a link to my review if I have one posted.

Hope this continues to help you in your weekend movie decision making.

Law Abiding Citizen
I enjoyed this movie quite a bit despite its problems and lackluster ending. Here is a quote from my review that I believe sums it up quite nicely:

Law Abiding Citizen is madness, mayhem and carnage all wrapped up into one big dumb actioner filled with plot and logic holes galore.

One word of advice, though, if you are interested in the slightest do not watch the trailer. I hadn't watched it before I went, but I did watch it while putting this article together and it gives away far too much. Just grab some popcorn and a Coke and have fun with this one. Don't take it seriously at all and you should enjoy yourself.

This film is rated R for strong bloody brutal violence and torture, a scene of rape, and pervasive language.
Black Dynamite
I skipped this one outright and don't have much interest in seeing it whatsoever… at least not in theaters. It could be fun, but it always seems to me that anytime someone sets out to make a straight-up old school movie it becomes ridiculous and doesn't at all touch upon what made the films that inspired it fun and entertaining. This is because the films that inspired it, in this case blaxploitation films, didn't set out to make a copy of anything as much as they set out to make a film. Films such as the recent Alien Trespass and 2004's The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra are excellent examples of recent films trying to duplicate a lost era and failing miserably. Perhaps I am wrong on Black Dynamite and I will one day find out on DVD, but I'm just not interested in checking it out in theaters.

This film is rated R for sexuality/nudity, language, some violence and drug content.
The Stepfather
Gotta assume this one is as bad as the trailer makes it look considering Sony didn't screen it for critics or even try to get websites to shill some bogus online widget or even promote the official website. After all, aren't most people going to try and catch the now expanded Paranormal Activity this weekend for their scares?

This film is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, disturbing images, mature thematic material and brief sensuality.
Where the Wild Things Are
Depending on where you turn this is either some masterpiece from the hand of God or a respected misfire, but one thing I have noticed is no one outright hates it (at least not that I've seen). While I didn't particularly enjoy it as you can read by clicking on my review, I still recognized it as a great piece of filmmaking with brief moments of enjoyment. Unfortunately, the narrative did nothing for me, which is what resulted in my primarily downer opinion. Perhaps you will feel differently.

This film is rated PG for mild thematic elements, some adventure action and brief language.
New York, I Love You
I skipped the local screening for this one simply because I didn't enjoy Paris, je t'aime that much and this is just the next step in that series. I watched Paris, je t'aime on Netflix and will certainly check this one out on video as well, but just didn't feel the urge to head to the theater.

This film is rated R for language and sexual content.


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Post #1
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i just got back from New York I Love You and Law-Abiding Citizen…..Amazing.
being a critic for my college paper, i attend opening night for these films
Where The Wild Things Are i gave a 2/5 because of the lack of compelling interest. it wanders alot.
Law-Abiding Citizen i gave 4/5 because of it's deep, compelling script and desire to show the insanity of a man
New York, I Love You i gave 4.5/5 because it was just plain good
An Education 5/5

- Vinny
( October 16th, 2009 | 9:21 pm )
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Post #2
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@Vinny: What's with the point five? Why not just use a ten point system? Here I am thinking that you rated Law Abiding Citizen one notch below perfect only to find out that four out of five is actually two (if not more) levels below perfect on your ambiguous scale. Not looking for a debate, just curious.

- GregM
( October 17th, 2009 | 1:02 pm )
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