New Movies In Theaters This Week - Rotten Tomatoes

"New Movies In Theaters This Week - Rotten Tomatoes"

Snow White and the Huntsman is the only film in wide distribution this week. It is expected to take first place in the weekend box office race, with a total somewhere around $40M. (3700 theaters; 49% positive reviews; PG-13.) The top critics liked it much better than the fanboys, which is not necessarily a good sign. It seems to indicate that it is more of a dramatic, self-serious art movie than a rollicking entertainment. They used phrases like, "The soul of a haunting folk-tale." Roger Ebert liked it very much, awarding 3.5 stars and calling it, "A film of astonishing beauty and imagination." On the other hand, the Village Voice did not like it. That probably means it really is pretty good. In this world in which there are no guarantees, a bad review from the Village Voice is as close as you will ever get to a sure bet that the movie is worthwhile.

There are three new films in mini-distribution, all with awful reviews:

For Greater Glory (757 theaters; 21% positive reviews; rated R). A historical drama about an obscure Mexican conflict. The R rating is for war violence.
* "As earnest as a folk song, but like a folk song that goes on for two hours and 23 minutes."
* "If Michael Bay woke up one day and said to himself, 'I need to make a movie about religious persecution in 1920s Mexico,' I imagine it would look something like this."
* "Strains for epic sweep but gives itself over to historical oversimplification and pious melodramatics."
* "Takes its cues from the Mel Gibson School of Screen Martyrdom, making sure this education on Mexican history carries significant ugliness."

Battlefield America (188 theaters; PG-13; 17% positive reviews). You don't need any reviews, just the summary, which is self-reviewing: "A steady look at the underbelly of the youth battle dance culture in Long Beach, California." I don't know if I'll be able to get in to this one. The lines are already forming in my neighborhood, and I don't even live near a theater. And, by God, the people in line are all ... dancing.

Piranha 3DD (86 theaters; rated R; 20% positive reviews). General consensus: not really a sequel, but a lame, grade-Z rip-off of the original. On the other hand, one of the reasons for the R rating is "graphic nudity," so there's that.